#i got my degree and my teaching license..... i just need a job and a flight!!!

[cutiepuff]

i am like 5 months away from moving to a foreign country

[l0t4n]

CAN THEY DRIVE??

a/n this is my first time posting to this account... Exciting... Please feel free to lmk any of ur thoughts I feel like I kinda exaggerated certain characters teehee

Contains the brothers + dateables. Occasional mentions of gn mc. Truly about their driving skill

LUCIFER

-yes, has his driver's license

-puts on the appearance of someone who is good at driving and well-adjusted

-when he's alone or when things ramp up even a little, however, his road rage is actually insane

-will literally lay on the horn at anyone who slights him, even a little

-when he's not alone and feels the need to protect his pride, will still be an angry driver but in a far more subtle way

-turns on his high beams, rides people's bumpers, cuts people off and break-checks them any time he can't quite make a big scene

-even when he isn't driving, he's an insane backseat driver, but to different degrees depending on who's driving

-occasionally backseat drives for Beel, Asmo or Satan but definitely plays it up just to mess with Mammon in particular

-will backseat drive for mc out of concern rather than jest

-still annoying

-good at driving on the surface but his anger makes him far more prone to accidents than most, third best driver out of the brothers

MAMMON

-Yes, has his license - otherwise the car in his room would be redundant

-surprisingly good at driving, understands and obeys traffic laws, overly cautious at times

-not out of genuine respect for those laws, just out of care for his car

-wouldn't bother being subtle if another driver pulls a maneuver that has the potential to mess up his paint job, will scream out the window or lay on the horn

-immediately stops and speeds off if the other driver tries to reciprocate

-will be SO annoying if anyone tries to eat or drink in his car

-even water he'll demand is thrown out before entry

-his brothers hate it. Isn't as harsh about it towards mc, but will quickly revoke their special privileges if they end up actually spilling something

-constant cycle of those cologne-y tree air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror

-has a million more unopened ones in the glove box

-car is clean at a glance, but trash is just barely hidden out of sight under car seats and in cup holders

-honestly pretty reliable driver, second best out of all his brothers

LEVIATHAN

-no, doesn't have a driver's license or a car

-says it's because he wouldn't even have anywhere to go, is partially correct in that assertion

-Mammon and Asmo tried to teach him to drive a while ago, he wanted to drive to a convention that was farther away

-couldn't so much as put the car in drive without panicking that he was imminently at threat of hitting something

-any time his foot even grazed the gas, he'd slam the breaks to the floor

-didn't take long to start crying about it

-Mammon stopped the short-lived lessons there, didn't want Levi's tears to ruin the interior of his car

-any time Levi needs a ride now, he'll either walk (very short distances), use public transportation (only if he can secure an isolated seat away from everyone else), or ask one of his brothers for a ride

-prefers when Barbatos drives him places the most and Mammon the least, although probably ends up being driven by Asmo the most

-if he did have a car, it would undoubtedly be painful

-COVERED in anime decals, maybe a custom wrap of Ruri-chan

-would probably be decent at driving if he got over his initial fears, but that's not going to happen

SATAN

-yes, he has his driver's license - it's just frequently suspended

-unlike Lucifer, will not wait until he's alone to exhibit severe road rage

-even worse than Lucifer, isn't above getting out of the car and slamming his fists against the driver's side window of whoever he's mad at

-backseat of his car is piled high with books he doesn't have room for at the HoL

-”sorry, you can just throw those in the back” -Satan, any time mc is trying to get into the front seat of his car

-seats and interior are probably also coated in cat hair, he can't stand to get rid of it

-so anyways back to his horrible road rage

-his repeated verbal (and physical) assaults on other drivers means his license is repeatedly (often) suspended

-when he needs transportation during these times he usually defaults to Beel

-on the few occasions he needs to resort to riding with Lucifer, he intentionally does shit to get him into trouble - diverting his eyes from the road and ruining his focus, reaching over and wiggling the wheel from Lucifer's hands, etc

-doesn't seem to truly question why his license, after being repeatedly suspended, has yet to be permanently revoked from him

-nor why it keeps getting reinstated faster than promised

-hint: it's Lucifer

-not a very good driver at all - being on the road has a way of bringing out anger even in people who are not normally prone to it, and sadly, Satan is nothing if not prone to anger

-when he isn't angry, he's exceptional at following traffic laws and probably has obscure details about them memorized

-jumps out of his car, even on the busiest intersections, whenever he sees a cat on the side of the road

-takes it home every time without fail

-this is actually a more pressing reason to keep him off the road compared to the traffic violations in the mind of Lucifer

-fifth best driver out of the brothers

ASMODEUS

-yes, has his driver's license

-his car is fucking insane

-fluffy pink steering wheel cover and dashboard cover AND seat covers, maybe a little leopard print thrown in, but only a little he's not an animal

-car is more heavily perfumed than Mammon’s, his air freshener hanging right next to the fluffy dice off of his rear view mirror

-backseat windows are tinted and one-directional, for Reasons

-will not drive unless music is blasting at full volume

-you can feel the vibrations from Britney Spears’s (or devildom equivalent) dulcet tones in your seat

-constantly on his phone while driving, taking photos and videos of himself, occasionally livestreaming

-projects the image of someone who does not care about traffic laws

-secretly a very good driver, never gets into accidents

-significantly more forgiving of other cars and much less prone to road rage than his brothers

-the best driver out of all of them

BEELZEBUB

-yes, has his license

-probably the most unremarkable driver out of all of them

-only got his license to take Belphie places, since he was the only one out of the two who could actually stay awake behind the wheel

-his shortcomings do not lie in his sin like Satan or Lucifer, but instead just from being a beefbrain

-not very perceptive, especially when he's driving to a restaurant or something - easily distracted by other goals and forgets the most important goal of driving

-don't hit things

-doesn't ever end up in a major accident, but may need to slam on the breaks from time to time

-apologizes accordingly for these instances

-car is overall not notable, depending on when you enter

-Lucifer makes him clean it weekly, otherwise fast food wrappers accumulate to the point of blocking the windshield

-keeps a pillow and blanket in the car for Belphie to nap with

-not a terrible driver, but not excellent either - fourth best out of the brothers

BELPHEGOR

-no driver's license

-literally no way he's going to stay awake behind the wheel

-tried to learn how to drive first so he could drive Beel places, but fell asleep while driving enough times and ran into enough things that they will not let him anymore

-felt apologetic about it at first, but got used to being driven by Beel everywhere quickly

-the movement of the car lulls him right to sleep anyways

-even if it isn't Beel driving he will fall asleep

-would prefer to sprawl out over the back seats but can fold himself up in the front seat if need be

-if he was capable of staying awake, would probably be a decent driver, if not very passive-aggressive

-would chronically drive under the speed limit like he's elderly

DIAVOLO

-Yes, has a driver's license - Barbatos insisted he got one, yet he hardly ever uses it

-almost always escorted places by designated chauffeurs or, less commonly, Barbatos himself

-thought getting his license would be his ticket to freedom, his teenage girl escape

-was so upset when he found out he wasn't even allowed to go to the DMV, everything was filed from the castle

-felt deprived of yet another commoner experience, still doesn't know why everyone hates the DMV so bad

-(stands for “devildom motor vehicles”)

-driving was fun for him at first, but since he doesn't really get the chance to drive normally it stopped being fun after a while

-even when he does get to drive, Barbatos’s backseat driving is insane

-double whammy if Lucifer is in the car too

-actually a pretty good driver, made sure to be responsible and study laws and techniques in advance

-doesn't even understand the concept of road rage, probably laughs it off every time someone pulls a dangerous maneuver in his proximity

-better driver than Lucifer, yet not on par with Asmo

BARBADOS

-yes, of COURSE he has a driver's license

-he's the one virtually everyone defaults to when they need a ride, anyways

-primarily transports Diavolo, but frequently helps the brothers get around too

-literally the safest possible driver you could ever dream of

-always doing the exact speed limit. Predicts unsafe drivers in his vicinity before they're even in his line of sight. Never slams the breaks or swerves for any reason

-got distracted once while parking, lightly scraped a curb

-the most horrified he's ever been

-dedicated the next few years to improving his driving skill, even though it was already exceptional

-dedicated driving gloves for every time he gets in the car

-very anal retentive about cleanliness in the car, especially

-hates having to crawl in there to clean shit up

-will obviously end up doing it eventually anyways. Sigh

-easily the best driver out of every other character, if not in the entire devildom

SIMEON

-no, he doesn't have a driver's license

-so fucking scared of cars

-he can hardly use a phone properly, still manages to cause problems with that, although understands how it could be worse

-a car is where it gets worse

-if he misclicks something on his phone, he may end up embarrassing himself a little, worst case scenario is a virus or needing to buy a new phone

-operating a car incorrectly could result in injury or death

-nobody bothers teaching him regardless, although he did greatly consider learning for a while, to help Luke get around easier

-just defaults to Barbatos instead

-it's probably a good thing he doesn't drive - without that fear of technology, especially of technology with high capacity to be harmful, he would probably be one of the worst drivers overall

SOLOMON

-yes, has a driver's license. Regrettably

-hardly uses it, only has a human world license, never bothered getting licensed in the devildom

-just teleports everywhere. Wiggles his fingers and does magic and goes where he wants instantly

-he literally predates the invention of cars so massively anyways so that's definitely what he did before cars too

-got a license because he thought it would be fun

-also the human world started actually cracking down on ID, he couldn't get away with the trust-based system that humanity used to operate off of

-human world officials are confused when he presents them with a driver's license twenty whole years out of date, however

-especially when his face is the exact same as the photo on his crazy old, visibly weathered license - as if he mysteriously hadn't aged…

-probably ends up in some kind of “man from Taured” style myth eventually

-might be the man from Taured actually

-fucking sucks at driving also

[cheeseburgersinparadise]

You do social work? Got any tips for someone wanting to switch to mezzo/macro stuff from engineering undergrad? I’ve already picked out some grad schools & my apps are in progress now

Omg good for you!!! Welcome to a life of moral superiority for basically no payoff ;)

I’m kidding (am I?)

Anyway, seriously good for you. Social work is very difficult but very needed. I amost did the mezzo/macro route (called COSA in my program which is an acronym I can’t remember rn) but ended up with direct practice with a certificate in children, youth, and families. So I’m not super familiar with stuff you would wanna do for a more macro career, but I would definitely say get your social work license. It opens up more opportunity than just an MSW and also opens up higher paying jobs.

I would also recommend considering switching jobs to something more aligned with what you want to do once you get your degree. You’ll make connections and learn a lot about organizations and how they work if you work in one. It also gets your foot in the door and gets you some good experience to pad the ol’ resume when you’re looking for jobs.

Also, idk what program you’ll get in to or choose, but just know that your field work will likely be very hit or miss and it’s just the nature of social work and poorly managed orgs. My first round of field was AWFUL and I had basically 0 supervision for anything I was doing. Second round was great and I loved the org I was with. However, both are valuable in what they teach you.

And finally. Steel yourself. Social work is hard. It tests you. People are all equally unique, interesting, and infuriating. But you gotta respect those you serve. Listen, understand, and be empathetic.

Good luck!!! I may complain but I do not regret my decision. I feel more purpose in my life doing this than I ever did - I hope it ends up that way for you.

[lualewis]

Venting here because tumblr is definitely the "yell into the void" website.

For some reference, I'm a teacher. I started as an EA during the 21-22 school year and worked pretty well with the kids. Both administration and the special education department approached mh mother (we work at the same school) to ask if I'd ever thought about getting a bachelor's degree. They found out I already had one and switched to asking me if I'd thought about becoming a teacher.

For the most part I resisted, I don't like change and I was enjoying being an EA and had less responsibility than a teacher. During winter break one of the special education teacher quit. The school couldn't find a replacement so the teachers were offered a $5000 payout to give up their prep period and help cover that class. They still ended up with 2 periods uncovered (middle school so switching classrooms), and I offered to take those over. All of my students improved. Over half of them (I had 15 at the time) qualified to join general education classrooms. I enjoyed it and the students learned a lot.

That made me decide to actually become a teacher and I started the classes that summer. In my state, starring those classes qualifies you for an Intern Teaching License, or an Alternative License depending on the route you took. Each of those immediately qualifies you to take over a class full time while you are going to school. 4 of the teachers at the school I am at are currently doing that: they have their alternatives and are running classrooms all day, every day, they are full teachers.

Continuing, for the 22-23 school year, originally I had been told that if I get into my classes and get my teaching license, that special ed math class was lined up for me. Someone else applied and got the job while I was getting my school stuff set up. Because of that I got bumped to intern teacher, so I was basically an on site substitute. Right before the school year started, one of the math teachers quit. I was put in their spot with the implication that this position would be my job. Awesome, a teaching position in the field I love. Unfortunately for me, 9 weeks into the semester I found out I'd been listed as the sub not the teacher, so when the district had a forced transfer in the math department guess whose position they got.

Alright, fine, back to being a glorified substitute. Spent 6 weeks as a long term sub for 6th grade math around winter time, got them ahead and some of their grades started improving. Teacher came back and I was back to wandering. Outside of that, i became the first person contacted for math tutoring. I ran an after school math tutoring session, and the coincilors and social workers called for me regularly to help their struggling students. At the end of the 22-23 school year two math positions opened up at my school.

I applied for both and got interviewed for one. Administration told me one of my interview questions wasn't what they were looking for so they went with someone else but would keep me in mind for other math positions. I was also told that my interview went well enough that they shouldn't have to interview me again, they could use what they had to see if I'd work. Awesome. I didn't get the other math position either. It was implied to my mother later that they could only hire so many teachers on the alternative/intern license, and at the time we already had 2.

This did upset me a bit so I talked to my union representative to try to get my thoughts straight. The school had a math teacher, on site, who just needed a classroom and was passed over twice. He said it was probably related to the fact that I was new and I was still waiting for paperwork on my math endorsement to go through; he figured they went with someone who had it versus someone who had about two more weeks before it was properly added for me. Alright, I have a business degree, I can understand that. Even if the application flat out says that you were good for the position as long as you could be certified within 90 days of the 23-24 school year starting.

Over summer, one of those new math teachers had to withdraw and the position opened up again. I applied again; this time I had my math certificafion and held a 4.0 across two different teaching certifications (special ed and Gen Ed, it is not recommended you do both and most people fail out and have to pick one). I had the thing I was missing and was ready to go. It was implied (again) that I wasn't getting the position because of the type of certification I had.

At the same time, they hired two more teachers who just stared the alternative license stuff that I have. They literally took their first classes this summer, while I am a semester away from completing the program and getting the full license.

And I didn't get the math position. Rumor is the guy who got it has no teaching experience at all. That is all I have heard about the dude. Meanwhile I am being asked if I'll be helping with tutoring again and not getting a classroom.

I hate to say it, but I feel targeted and like admin isn't being honest with me. I think something else is going on and it is frustrating and exhausting to be pushed around like this. To be used as one of the primary people for students struggling in math, to constantly be told that I relate to students well and can break down information, and then not be given the chance to actually teach. I'm frustrated and sick of it.

[reallyquitestrange]

I had many problems with students and teachers alike in high school, one teacher in particular was extra terrible and every one of her 6 period, 30+ student classes hated her (that's 180ish people that hated this woman) So I started a movement in my period for us to all attempt to transfer out into different biology classes and because I specifically had already transferred out of 2 other classes that year, the office was trying to say 'you can't avoid people you don't like working with'. Well, I had an amazing physics/earth science teacher my freshman year who I liked to visit during lunch, I complained to her about this biology teacher and what does this DR. who left college teaching to come to a failing public school tell me? "She's not even licensed to teach, she only has her biology degree, but she is 'working' on getting her teaching degree."

My mom is a tough woman and sometimes we don't get along but she has ALWAYS gone Toe to Toe with school administration for me and my sister. So I told my mom this info since she had already been called into a meeting to 'talk about her daughters issues with authority'

according to my mom this was the conversation:

Admin: Thank you for comin-

Mom: Switch my daughters class.

admin: We can't do that she's already switched several classes this year and she needs to learn-

Mom: How can she learn from someone without a teaching license?

Admin:...Where did you hear that?

Mom: My daughter told me and I don't know where she got the info but based on your reaction, you are going to transfer my daughters class.

Admin: We will make a one time exception, she really shouldn't be spreading around rumors about teachers-

Mom: It doesn't seem like its a rumor, I have an actual job to get back to. have a good day.

And then she left the office, called me during my lunch and relayed what happened and I was sent a note to change bio teachers that day. I did end up telling basically EVERYONE about the licensing and that teacher was removed later in the year after she had a breakdown in class from a kids mother screaming at her over the phone for not allowing him to answer said call from his mom. His uncle had just passed and his mom was calling him to tell him she was coming to get him. He was an A student who never played on his phone so he was only on it if it was important.

[thelikesoffinn]

What does a social worker do? At their job I mean. I thought they were mostly volunteers, you know, everyday-helpers without any specific knowledge? Because I can't really underatand how you know so much about trauma and coping and stuff, do you need that at work?

I'm sorry if it's dumb to asks, but we don't have social workers in my country, me thinks, so I'm really confused.

Ugh, straight to the heart, petal! How could you! (Jk ily all good I swear ❤️)

What a social worker does really depends on the country you live in. So I can't 100% narrow it down to a specific explanation because a social worker from the US, one from South Korea and I will all work really differently.

But, in most countries, at least a bachelors degree is needed to become a social worker. In my country specifically, it can be in social work, social paediatrics, social sciences (with limitations), sociology (with limitations), early childhood paediatrics, and paediatrics. Each of these courses essentially teach the same things with different focal points - social pediatrics will pay more attention to upbringing, education and such while social sciences are more focused on social sciences are more concerned about societies influence on the individual and so on. (Personally, I'm a huge advocate for social work as a major, btw. It combines social paediatrics, social sciences, paediatrics, and sociology, which gives you a well-rounded skill set.)

As for what exactly we do...well, that really really depends. On your country, as stated priorly, and then on the area you work in. In my country, social workers are basically everywhere.

We work in hospitals, hospices, retirement homes, and homes for the disabled and sanatoriums. We work in schools, kindergartens, and orphanages. We work in jails, courts, and police stations - both with victims and offenders. We work in offices where we do counselling for refugees, parents, pregnant people, couples, youths, elderly, those with debt, those with ailments, and those who just need help.

We're mediators, we're financial advisors, we're there to explain medical mumbo jumbo in simple layman's terms, we're there to find out why a teen doesn't want to go to school anymore, we're the people who carry abused children away from their abusive families, and we're there to make sure a victim isn't harmed further just because the police and the court can't be bothered to protect their boundaries.

So, as you can tell, it's pretty difficult to narrow down what exactly a social worker does because we pretty much do everything. Especially in my country, because we don't need extra licenses of anything.

Once you've got your bachelors degree, you can work in all those areas I mentioned, which obviously requires a pretty extensive education and knowledge in many different fields.

But the one thing all those areas have in common is the main question social workers run by.

"What does the individual need to live the life they want?"

So, in all those areas, we always listen to the individual - their wants and fears - and then take a good look at them - their history, the people around them as well as where they live and where they grew up. That is always in order to find out what resources the individual already has and which one we can still activate but also to see what is still missing so that the individual gets to live the life they want.

So, as an example, let's say we have... Thomas O'Malley. A dude in his mid-30s, recently released from jail. His charges read drug abuse and causing bodily harm while under the influence.

Now that he's out, he needs to find both a job and a flat, and he wants to get back into playing football. Jail helped him to get clean, but now that he's out, he's scared that he might relapse. And lastly, Thomas really wants to see his daughter Mary again, but his ex-wife Duchesse doesn't want him to.

As a social worker, we'd write that list down and then get to the questions to find out what resources Thomas already has. Maybe his brothers best friend owns an apartment building and is willing to rent one to him? And if he's scared he might relapse, is there anyone that would stay with him for a while so that he's not alone? At least until we can secure a buddy for him?

After that, we start to weave our own things into it. I'm going to make a pretty generic list down there so that you can imagine what it would look like:

1. Flat: Maybe rent from brothers' friend - call friend to find out what would be required.

2. Job: Call Mr. Jones from the Work Bureau so that Thomas is in their system so that potential employers can reach out to him. Also, since the client mentioned he has issues with writing a CV, contact Eric from the Job Bureau to hook him up with a free CV course

3. Football as a hobby - Contact Michael from the football association and ask about a trial session for their hobby league and what documents would be necessary to join

4. Relapse - Talk to Miss O'Malley, Thomas' parents, about staying with them until a buddy is available. Contact Miss Evernever from the BuddyProject to make sure Thomas is on their list and will be assigned a live-in buddy soon.

5. His daughter Mary - Contact either Miss Duchesse or her lawyer/social worker/whatever to find out why she doesn't want Thomas near Mary and what would need to happen before he's allowed to see her again and what middle ground can be found until then.

So as you can see, there's a lot of calling and e-mailing and all that stuff. Since i'm all about you helping yourself, I'd let the client do the calling themself as much as possible.

So if we stick with Thomas, I would let him deal with 1 - 3 himself - bar the CV course, because you mostly need to know someone to get into those easily, so I'd do that one - and I personally would do 4 and 5.

4 because it's often better if a "person of authority" makes such calls because it highlights a certain amount of pressure and serves as reassurance that the client actually wants that help and 5 because firstly, Duchesse herself may be more willing to talk to someone who's neutral, and secondly...well, if I talk to them first, I can make sure to phrase any information that is relayed to Thomas in a way that won't harm him, which mitigates the chance of a desperation-driven relapse.

That rundown is pretty much standard and can be shoved into any available area of social work. But of course, it's really only the very basic core of the job itself, and there's much more to it than just that. What exactly depends on where you're working and who you're working with. But I hoped this helped paint a picture for you!

[alcoholrehabilitationcentre]

What's the difference between pre-nursing and nursing college courses?

Pre nursing classes are the classes you need to take in order to get into the nursing program. You will also need to take placement tests when you first apply to a college so that they know where to place you in subjects such as English and math. You have to pass English and math at a certain level in order to get your degree. But some people need to take classes to advance to the level of skills needed in order to be better prepared to pass the course required for the degree they need. After you get these courses passed, you can start taking courses that you need to take and pass, in order to apply to enter the nursing program offered by that college. These are pre-nursing courses and they usually include subjects such as chemistry, biology, anatomy & physiology, psychology, and sociology. Your pre-nursing and your other courses like your English and math can be taken at same time. But generally all your pre-nursing courses have to be completed and an application to apply for the nursing program has to be completed and accepted and not every application is accepted and some have waiting lists. The better you do in your pre-nursing courses, the better chance you have to be accepted and to be higher up on any waiting list. It’s often the case you must pass your courses with a B grade, while most other degree programs can pass with a C grade.

Also, pre-nursing courses can generally be taken in any order and you can take as many courses at a time that is allowed or one at a time. Most can complete these in two years going full-time. However, you can’t take too long. Once you start in the nursing program, the college I went to everyone accepted into the program took the same classes at same times. No night courses offered. We all were together all day, every school day and clinical days; you rearrange your life to suit them. Not the other way around. This was for an additional 2 years of school. I ended up taking 4 years to complete a two-year degree, which is more than adequate to get you started in nursing and you generally get the same opportunities and pay differences if any was minimal whether you had a Bachelors or Associate degree, though there are a few minor differences. The Associate degree was hard enough to get but I wish I had gone for my Bachelors just so that I possibly may have been a little better prepared for the job ahead of me. But not everyone would need to and do just fine.

Overall, it is so worth everything you had to go through. What got me through was my philosophy on the whole nursing education experience. You lose so many people as you get further along, it can be intimidating. My philosophy was that I was not going to quit. So the only way out was that they would have to kick me out of the program or I’d have to be dead because quitting, was not an option. Well they didn’t kick me out and I’m still alive. I hope maybe that helps somebody else to get through.

One last note to keep in mind, the whole purpose of all that education, classes, clinicals, the main purpose for everything they teach and the way they teach, it’s to prepare you to pass that NCLEX exam to get your license. They need you to pass that to help that schools nursing program to stay in business and move up in ranks of best schools for nursing.

Good luck. Don’t give up. It can totally change your life in ways you can’t begin to imagine. It’s opportunity after opportunity. Don’t let anyone or anything ever take it away from you. It’s the hardest but most rewarding career. It might sound difficult. It is difficult. But worth every bit of blood sweat and tears it took to get you through.

Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. It is home to a number of excellent nursing colleges, both government and private. The following are some of the best nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh, based on factors such as their academic reputation, infrastructure, faculty, and placement record. The career prospects for nurses are good in Madhya Pradesh. There is a high demand for nurses in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations. Nurses can also work in the armed forces, the railways, and the government sector.

[the-prophesied-disco-gay]

Some jobs I've worked, with my favorite parts and why I can no longer do them:

Legal Assistant:

✅️ I will sort and file and organize with such focused joy that I must be reminded by an outside source to take breaks and eat and go home at the end of the day. There were case files piled everywhere, including the floor, when I started. By week 2 everything was organized and put away. By week 5 it was all databased in the computer system too. Give me something to organize and leave me alone and I will create order like it's my religion.

✅️ I loved the flexibility and variety. Sometimes I was taking documents to the courthouse to be filed and could grab lunch at one of the little places downtown. I got to try a lot I never otherwise would have. Sometimes there was a meeting and I got to play host and make my bosses look good while having a marvelous time. I'm very good at picking up on small things and using them to great advantage, like catching a note in one case file that the client had rescheduled a deposition because of a Celiac flare up, so when they came in I made sure gluten free cookies and cupcakes had been added to the bakery order. They were shocked and thrilled to have options for them available and commented on it not only to the attorneys, but also to their friends and family. I was so happy I'd been able to make them happy. My boss responded by getting me a gift certificate to a medical massage place. My spinal problems had prevented me ever getting a massage before and he knew that, so he told me to take a day to treat myself. Not only did they appreciate that sort of consideration, they practiced it.

✅️ this one is a twofer: the paralegal working there when I started was doing some things she ought not have. Things like messing with people's food if she was mad at them or "losing" stuff out of case files if the attorney had pissed her off, despite many of these cases being life or death and the clients not being at fault at all for whatever slight she had imagined. I told on her. I caught her adding pomegranate juice to the brownie batter for the brownies being made for an office party, knowing full well the junior associate was dangerously allergic to pomegranate, because she had been reprimanded for neglecting filing deadlines on one of his cases. He didn't even do the reprimanding. Even if he had, I wasn't gonna watch him potentially die over it. Fucks sake! I warned him about the brownies and when questioned she said she "didn't believe in allergies and maybe he would learn not to mess with her." She was fired on the spot. And so I got to learn how to be a paralegal! They taught me so much, and I got to try everything that didn't legally require a degree or licensing. I got to see that they actually care about the well-being of their employees, don't tolerate ableism, and are willing to teach emoloyees and help them expand their skills and knowledge.

So why am I not still there? I would be. Even as disabled as I am, I would be. But I left for college and years later when I looked into going back into that line of work, the practice had closed with the retirement of the main 2 attorneys and job listings for everyone in the industry:

❌️ must be able to lift 50lbs?? What? Apparently "sometimes the legal assistant has to refill the printer, and what if you can't lift a box of printer paper?" I dunno, maybe store the boxes at waist level or lower so individual packs can be gotten?!? But no, this shit is literally just there to screen out disabled applicants

❌️ must own a vehicle to be able to transport files to the courts and other attorneys and the post office, as needed. Understandable, our public transport sucks. No stipend for gas or vehicle maintenance or wear and tear. ....Excuse me?

❌️ 3 sick days per year and other time off must be requested 3 months in advance. Y'all seriously cannot accomodate a legal assistant giving "only" 2 weeks warning for taking a half day for an MRI? You're so disorganized and understaffed that you can't work around 4 hours with 2 weeks notice for an employee that doesn't even appear in court? Really? No, it's more ableism.

Pre-K Teacher:

✅️ curriculum. Oh my gods curriculum my love. I've never loved any part of any job more, ever. They would say "okay next month's unit is The Savanah (or the rainforest, or space, or black history, or poetry, or or or) and I would get to plan a whole month around the theme. Art projects that would provide opportunities to teach out both the topic and art techniques. Sight word lists based around the theme. Relevant books for story time. Songs and little plays. Adding stuff to the science and reading and art and sensory stations. Incorporating learning into play and allowing exploratory play to encourage organic learning. It was so much fun and I took pictures of the room at the end of every unit, with all their decorations and projects.

✅️ I got to change kids lives. The monthly units I described above? Oh better believe I used those to help raise these kids too.

"What did we learn about lions? Who does the hunting?"

"GIRLS!"

"That's right! And how about elephants, who are the leaders?"

"GIRLS!"

"Yes! What about birds? Who's prettier?"

"BOYS!"

"They are! Do y'all remember platypuses? Which one has the vennooommm?"

"BOYS!"

"Which seahorse carries the babies?"

"THE DAD!"

"How many genders do bees have?"

"THREE!"

"Y'all are so good at this! So, sometimes girls are strong and fast, sometimes boys are pretty, sometimes girls are the bosses, sometimes boys take care of the babies, and a lot of times gender doesn't matter at all! So it seems kinda silly to make fun of someone for being "girly" or "acting like a yucky boy" doesn't it? That's not very nice and it's silly anyway. So no more of that in this classroom okay? If you see someone doing something and you think about making fun of them, remember the bees and the lions!"

And it works. Reader lemme tell ya, it truly works. I have watched a 4 year old tell a 5 year old "you're black so you should do math like the NASA ladies so you can do space stuff! I'm bad at math but I can help with snacks!" I have watched a little girl struggling with writing sitting with a nonverbal autistic girl, absolutely enthralled with the magic she is being shown as the autistic girl shows her how to make letters with individual shapes. I bought flat shape blocks for one of the activity tables and these girls were making letters out of them. She drew shapes and connected them to make letters the rest of the year. There was so much room for differences with young kids. They were so willing and eager to learn, so open to new ideas and ways of doing things.

❌️ the director was a horrible person. Harpy, shrew, Karen, that sort of woman. Worst boss I've ever had. Treated the staff like garbage and encouraged infighting.

❌️ *constantly* understaffed. Every call-in was an emergency. Staff ratios are legally mandated, so lean staffing practices are especially impactful, but that sure as shit didn't stop management from doing it.

❌️ never enough supplies and every supply request was an interrogation and a battle. I spent hundreds of my own money to make sure units could be completed for these kids

❌️ parents. Oh lawd the parents. Most of them were neutral, dropped their kids off, picked them up, listened to the brief accounting of their day and info they needed to know, left. Some were a delight, helped in the classroom, asked questions and wanted to know more about their kid's day, kept track of who their kid was friends with and what struggles they were having and which subjects they were excited about. But some parents? Some parents were a nightmare. Think a restaurant Karen dialed up to 11. Demanding special treatment for their kids, exceptions to the rules, the whole nine. One woman demanded we punish the kid her child has bitten and punched, for irritating her child enough to "force" them to get violent (by not giving up their snack at snacktime so Precious Perfect Angel Baby could have 2 snacks). These people were unbelievable.

❌️ seven dollars and fifty cents an hour. With kids lives in our hands. These people were charging each and every one of these parents hundreds per week, per child. There were 10 total teachers. Each making $7.50 an hour. They were bringing in tens of thousands per month and paying about 3k per week on the ones keeping it all going and doing all the work, at a rate of about $300 weekly pay each. And then expecting us to pay out pocket for supplies.

Housecleaning:

✅️ got to make things clean *vibrates*

✅️ got to work without interruption

✅️ got to force my OCD to make me money instead of just wrecking my life

✅️ again, things that were not clean became clean because of me. I cannot explain the rush of happy chemicals I get from making something clean. If that emotion could be bottled directly from my brain we could solve world peace.

✅️ got to set my own schedule and work at my own pace and got to keep every red cent of my pay, which I also got to choose by setting my own rates

❌️ every time the economy dips, people stop paying for stuff like housecleaning first. They tighten their belts by cleaning their own home, maintaining their own yard, and cooking their own meals. Without UBI, those industries experience a collapse every time, with severity dependant on severity of the economic downturn. I couldn't survive the lean times of that cycle and had to move on, as many do

If we had true disability protection/accomodations and UBI, not only would I work, I couldn't be stopped from doing so. I live in a disabled household and every single one of us still works and creates and does stuff, despite not working "real" jobs. People will work. People have always worked. We survived just fine for tens of thousands of years before money was even a factor in this equation. We know that. The history is right there. We know humans will survive and thrive without financial motivation. We like teaching and experimenting and making things clean and nice and easier and more fun. We like learning and creating and the satisfaction of a job well done. People love to work. People hate being forced to do anything, including by threat of starvation. Remove the compelling force and see what we can and will do.

The reason people don’t want to work is that it’s just normal for them to be in bad work environments.

My issue with working at Walmart wasn’t the work itself I was doing. It was the circumstances around it. The concrete floor, lack of places to sit, having to put up with asshole customers, not getting time off for injuries, and bad pay.

If I had been given shock pads to stand on or a few chairs to rest on sometimes, if they paid me a livable amount of money and I was allowed to yell back at asshole customers, if they had given me any amount of training, I would happily work part time folding clothes all day and telling people where the swimsuit section is.

I’m a creative type. I’m a writer. I’m pretty smart, even. But if I could make a living folding shirts and listening to podcasts in one ear and helping people find the scented candles for 30 hours a week? I would. Leaves some mental space free for me to brainstorm. Lets me catch up on my reading with audiobooks.

But instead I was treated so badly by upper management and customers that I’m like legitimately a little frightened whenever I step into a Walmart now. And I only worked there for three months a few years ago.

I’m a good lower level worker. When I’m treated well. I like finishing tasks. I like being helpful. I like having some time to talk to coworkers and some time alone with my thoughts. I’m a frickin team player. And that’s how I was at my first job. I was treated well by my supervisor. I was trained. They were patient with me. I was so good at being low on the totem pole at that job because I was valued and felt like I was being listened to. I was able to sit still when there was nothing left to do which made it feel less bad when we were on a time crunch. I didn’t mind working hard at that job because it was fun even though I was doing all the low level stuff that the supervisors didn’t want do.

But at Walmart I was like that for all of two days. Then I figured out that nobody appreciated my work and if I worked in my normal people pleasing manner I’d kill myself because their standards were high and the rewards for meeting them were low.

So I slowed down. I started avoiding customers. I started taking a lot longer to get to my breaks and to come back from them. I became worse at my job because no matter how good I was at it there would be no reward, no appreciation, and I’d just be pushed further beyond my limits.

My only level of happiness from that job came from the people who were working with me. The old ladies and my department manager who made sure I wasn’t overextending myself. The one other young man working in the clothing department who always got sent with me to unload the heavy stuff and commiserated with me about the shoulder injuries, the hurting feet we were too young to have.

But none of that was enough to make me stay. We were constantly understaffed. I was constantly abused by customers and not able to do a thing about it. I was not paid much at all. So as soon as I had enough saved up for what I was trying to do and my last semester of college was about to start I handed in my two weeks.

I would have found a way to stay if I liked that job. If I liked that job I would’ve pushed myself to my mental limits to finish college and keep that job at the same time. Heck that job could’ve been a rest from college. A place to get away from it. But I hate that job so I got out as soon as I could.

I want to work. I want enough money to live sort of comfortably. I want to have some tasks to do to give my creativity a rest. I want to be a part of something. But the way that modern corporate run work environments are set up does not give me any of the things I actually want out of a job. And I think that’s the same for millions of people right now. A lot of people would happily spend their lives as a waitress or an Uber driver or a warehouse worker or a farmhand or any other “low skill” job you can possibly think of. But with the way the world works right now those jobs are absolutely miserable. It doesn’t have to be that way. I know because I’ve had a fulfilling part time minimum wage job that I looked forward to going to every week. A job where I was listened to and allowed to sit when I needed to. I miss that job. Especially now since I’ve realized that’s not the standard. It should be. People should look forward to going to work or at the very least not get mild ptsd whenever they set foot into a Walmart.

[integratedprimarycare]

Should Primary Care Behavioral Health Clinicians and Specialty Mental Health Clinicians be Paid Differently?

This is a question that is coming up, or should be, much more these days.  For a long time, primary care behavioral health clinicians (BHCs) and specialty mental health clinicians (MHCs) were likely to work in different organizations.  Different places pay differently, nothing to discuss.  In general, medical settings have more resources than mental health settings, so there was a general pattern of higher pay in primary care.  With the rise of ACOs and the growth of multi-state private health systems, it is becoming more common for both types of clinicians to be working in the same system and so be under one payment system.  Human Resources departments see workers with the same licensure, same degrees, same disciplinary designations, and put them on the same pay scales, what’s to discuss?

By BHC, I mean clinicians who work in primary care as part of the team.  They respond the day, often at the time, a patient with BH needs is identified. They tend to address immediate issues that are barriers to the patient’s functioning. They aim to return the patient to full management by the PCP in a few contacts, while standing ready for longitudinal relationships with patients when new needs arise. 

By MHC, I mean clinicians working in a specialty mental health model, no matter what the setting, that offer psychotherapy over longer periods of time targeting specific diagnoses. 

One of my current professional joys is teaching a course called Primary Care Behavioral Health Leadership, for the many BH clinicians who have been elevated to leadership positions as the number of BHCs in their organization grew big enough to need a manager.  In our regular discussions of the BHC/MHC workforce shortage, a new pattern has emerged: BH clinicians wanting to transfer out of primary care to specialty mental health work.  The most common reason is that primary care behavioral health is much harder.  It goes faster.  They have to see more different types of patient needs.  Working on a team, communicating with team members, and making care management calls are challenging and take time.   And they are always needing ongoing training in medical issues and approaches they didn’t learn in graduate school.  Specialty mental health is easier in that it is more predictable and often has lower productivity targets.  If the pay is the same, why go through the stress of learning a new approach?

The case for differential pay is captured in this one comparison: A mental health clinician generally is ready to do the basics of the job after the training they got in graduate school.  Successful functioning as a BH clinician in primary care takes additional training and a reorientation of perspective toward teamwork.

I’m not recommending differential pay just for a different title.  There are lots of programs where the "BHC"s function like MHCs (in a room most of the day, fully scheduled with patients, seeing mostly patients with MH issues).  These programs tend to have few warm handoffs and long waiting lists with lots of no-shows.  The job description should be for true BHC functioning, and include some sort of competency standard with internal training to keep everyone learning.  In that setting, I think the differential should be applied.

If you haven’t stopped reading yet and might want to look at job descriptions below.  These are descriptions of MHC and BHC positions, with the assumption that clinicians would use the MHC either as a professional landing place and/or as a stepping stone to the BHC position. The salary differential would determine whether the latter would become a common career pathway.

Behavioral Health Clinician 1 (BHC) – Licensed – Example of job description from FM Residency clinic in Oregon.  https://www.indeed.com/q-Behavioral-Health-Consultant-jobs.html?vjk=f689e6a2a317b4dc Job Specifics

Consult and collaborate on a multidisciplinary team to provide integrated on-site care, recommendations, and feedback to medical providers and allied staff

Have a clearly distinguished role from specialty mental health therapist practice model

Maintain a schedule and a presence in a clinic session that makes access by PCPs easy.  (One metric of the BH service will be visits with patients on the same day as their PCP visits.)

Practice in a population-based practice management strategy with flexibility to be interrupted to respond to urgent/emergency situations and “curb-side consults”

Utilize brief behavioral visits (20-30 minutes), most commonly in the range of 1-6 visits, which are provided in the primary care practice area and are seen as a routine primary care service.

Provide assessments, screening, or intervention services for about 5 patients per ½ day clinic with the primary goal of assisting the primary care providers with identification, treatment, and management of mental and behavioral health concerns.

Consult on psychological distress, behavioral problems/conditions, exacerbating chronic medical conditions including chronic pain. 

Offer targeted behavioral health and patient engagement skills training to members of other disciplines and trainees.

Job Requirements            

Doctoral Level Degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in clinical psychology from an APA accredited institution – Health Psychology emphasis preferred; OR LCSW training (or other master’s level license) and significant primary care BH experience.  After 1/1/24, includes LMHC and LMFT

2 to 3 years of experience in behavioral health

Expertise in working with patients who have chronic health conditions

Behavioral Health Clinician 2 (MHC) – Licensed – This role is envisioned as a transition role for clinicians who have been trained in specialty mental health work and have their only experience in specialty settings.   There would be no timetable for their advancement to BHC 1.  Some may choose to remain in a BHC 2 position while others would want to take on additional functions and demonstrate competencies for the BHC 1 role.  They would see patients who are designated for and willing to accept a therapeutic protocol for anxiety, depression, substance use, or other specified disorders.  They could function in the therapist/care manager role for the Collaborative Care Model.  BHC 2 clinicians will be expected to see 3 patients in a ½ day clinic and will be scheduled with 45 min. appointment times. 

Job Requirements            

Doctoral Level Degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in clinical psychology from an APA accredited institution; OR LCSW training (or other master’s level license).  After 1/1/24, includes LMHC and LMFT

Preferred but not required - experience in behavioral health in medical setting.

[fahadventure]

If you have/ haven’t read my journey on TEFL already, I am sure you’re/ will be enjoying the journey and want to know more about it. For those, who might want to know, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) involves teaching English abroad or online where English is not the primary language. An Online English teacher has great demands worldwide! Teaching English online is a flexible way of earning an income from the comfort of your own home. You can read more about my adventures in  Fahadventure and can find the same article in my Blogger website.

When I was a Banker, I used to love travelling a lot and wanted to earn money while doing so. So, I left my job and started my life as an ESL teacher online and increased my rate as I gained more experience. My average rate was between $4-$6 / hour initially and I earn just a little over, according to my needs doing this part time. Nowadays, I have diversified my income sources, but here are some questions I had when I wanted to teach English from home.

1. Do I need to have a teaching degree or license? (No and Yes)

No — you don’t need to have a full-on teaching degree mostly but,

Yes — you have to have some sort of teaching qualification, like a TEFL for some companies or at least some hands on experience (1–3 years).

Before you panic and worry about all the time and money you have to spend getting one, you can get a 168 hours level 5 TEFL certification (120  hours is standard and enough)  which I did and can be done online and at your own pace. It is much much cheaper than a degree and way faster. 

Quite a few of my friends have teaching degrees,  but the online English schools were more interested in their TEFL  certificates then their actual degrees! As far I remember, The TEFL Academy offers several courses online now at discounted rates, which come with a several video modules with specific training for teaching online. They are also endorsed by some reputed companies. TTA offers168 hours LEVEL 5  course that provides extra modules on online/ business/ 1 to 1 teaching (if you finish the course before the time limit. I got one!)  and specific training to ensure your application, resumes, introduction videos for recruiters is done right.

The great thing about this TEFL compared to other providers, is it specializes in preparing you to teach both online and offline, as well as preparing you to teach English as a second language. By the end of the course, you will have a strong understanding of the online teaching industry and job market, how to prepare your lesson plans and how to motivate your students in an online classroom. I will talk about it in future articles in details.

2. Do I need to be a native English speaker? (No)

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually need to be a native English speaker. Speaking English as a first language, you can initially demand higher rate, but if you gain some experience, you can often raise your rate. I will write down about companies that higher non native English speakers to teach English online in a separate article.

3. What equipment and material do I need to have? ( laptop, internet, headset)

It really depends on the type of school and platform you teach on. Some online schools will require minimum internet speed (2 mbps reaching up to any amount maximum), specific RAM  and ROM preferences, operating system etc. Some will require you to know technologies based on Skype, Google meets, their own platforms like Native Camp etc. Some might demand a pair of good headsets or any earplugs as well. But all of them will ask you to keep a clean background,  noise free environment with casual decent dress ups.  most platforms will provide you the material as well. I personally teach with a notebook, which I sometimes use as a tab.

4. How much can I earn? ($4- $30 on avg)

It also depends on the type of organization you teach on. For most online schools, salaries range between $4-$30 on avg per hour. However, if you have your own private students, you can set your own rate.

5. Can I do this part time? (Yes)

The great thing here is for most companies, you decide how many days and hours you want to work! So if you want to teach English from home, you can work for a couple of hours for 1–2 days a week. This will help you earn extra money, on top of your day job.

6. Do I have to pay tax? (Yes and No)

Most online English School will sign you as an independent contractor, so you are liable for your own tax. So this means it’s up to you to declare (or not) your income.

#tefl #tta #teaching #english #teacher #language #language #education #ielts #learning #teachers #school #training

Notes: Please inform me politely if you find any information misleading, irrelevant or outdated. Most companies change their policies, salaries periodically. I’ll correct the information accordingly. Let me know for any guidance and find a sample introduction video, that got me this job! Find the same article in my Blogger website.

HAPPY TEACHING!

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

A Deafened Bard (Stephen Strange x Female!Reader)

I can explain. 

Please don't come at me for starting a new project before finishing Cult Girl Doctorate. I hit a wall and needed to take a break. I am trying not to let this one take up too much time.

Y/n is a sorceress-in-training who’s known for being hard to teach. Sensing her potential, Doctor Strange takes her on as an apprentice. 

You firmly believed that shattering the urn of Fei-Amie was the best thing that ever happened to you. 

It happened a year ago, but it still replayed in your head over and over again. You made a conscious effort to remember it vividly. 

Sure, it was terrifying, Stephen Strange's initial look of anger when he heard the ceramic shatter. It softened when he saw that the culprit was just a clumsy sorceress-in-training who looked on the verge of tears with remorse. Still, it was a face you never wanted to see again: his teeth bared, his already sharp features accentuated under the constraints of anger. 

It diluted into silent, simmering frustration that revealed itself to you in short sarcastic jabs and body language. 

"Just, stop." He cut you off after a string of profuse sorries. With no disarming smile in sight, you could tell he was tense. "Artifacts get broken all the time. Don't cry. It was an accident." 

His tone indicated that he was trying to convince himself more than he was you. You were a closed-off person and could hardly stand the idea that anyone out there didn't like you. The idea of the Sorcerer Supreme being mad at you, personally, made you briefly consider ritual suicide. You lowered your head. "Yes, Master Strange."

"Hey, butterfingers." He called out after you as you tried to make a painless exit. You looked back at him and he gestured to the pile of broken ceramic pieces. "You gonna fix what you broke?"

It hadn't dawned on you that an ancient relic could be fixed. Especially one that once contained the ashes of the ancient necromancer Fei-Amie. You were embarrassed to say that your knowledge of manipulating time was surface-level at best, and couldn't think of any other solution. 

You wordlessly gathered the pieces up in your skirt and carried them off, striking out any plans to go into town that evening. Instead, you poured through book after book for any instruction whatsoever on repairing broken artifacts. You ran out of desk space, so books were just floating in the air, suspended on pages that briefly mentioned relic breakage. 

You started to believe you were given an impossible task. Or perhaps all the resources you needed, he was withholding. Even so, you didn't want to go back to him empty-handed. You changed into your street clothes and opened a portal to the local craft store.

You returned with two types of extra-strong superglue and got to work. First, you made all the pieces come together and had them hover over the desk. Unconsciously, you began to sing as you pieced the urn back together. 

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

"Haven't heard that song in years." 

You dropped the tube of glue and the few remaining pieces fell back to the desk. "Master Strange!" 

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He said, though his apology was undercut by his smug tone. "Carry on." 

You picked up a piece and began to line the edges with glue. 

"Aren't you going to finish the song?" 

You looked up to see that he hadn't been just passing by. He was leaning against the threshold, watching you. 

"I don't usually sing for an audience." You laughed, uncomfortably. "Just me." 

"A man and his sentient cape should not count as an audience," he scoffed. "But, if you insist, I guess I'll have to just listen to Julie Andrews instead." 

"What's wrong with her?" You raised your eyebrows in surprise. 

"Oh, nothing. She's a treasure." He put his hands up. "But everyone gets to hear her sing. And I take it that only a very select few get to hear your rendition of my favorite things. I just have to be one of them." 

You blushed, suddenly forgetting all the words to my favorite things. 

"Girls in white dresses..." he offered, an impatient edge to it.

You swallowed. "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes. Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes-"

"Hey, butterfingers." He interrupted again. Before you could object, he pointed to the way that the pieces floated gracefully overhead at the sound of your voice. 

"I'd like to see Julie Andrews do that." He said with a wink.

"Looks alright," Master Strange said, running his finger along the tight seams that showed where cracks once were. 

"Will it still work?" You asked. That was really all you were worried about. 

"Beats the hell out of me." He shrugged. "I didn't know how to use it to begin with." 

"What?!" You spat back. "Are you kidding?" 

"I'm afraid not." He said, taking the urn and placing it back on its pedestal. "Don't worry, you did a good job. I'm not mad at you anymore." 

That was really all you needed to hear. "Thank you, sir." 

"You're an apprentice, right?" He asked. 

"I'm..." Your voice trailed off in embarrassment. "Between masters right now."

He raised an eyebrow. "If I were to ask around, would I receive glowing reviews from your last masters?" 

You admitted it point-blank. "No." 

"Let me guess," he folded his arms. "Something didn't make sense to you and instead of giving you the space to question it, they insisted you follow blindly." 

You wanted to throw your head back and shout in relief; finally, someone understood! 

"Bingo, bullseye." You put your hands up in surrender after being read so easily. "Right on the money."

"I see." He said, tucking that thought away for later. "Could I trouble you for one more odd job before you go?" 

"That depends." You folded your arms. "What is it?" 

He looked over his shoulder at his cape. "How are you with sewing?"

‘Sewing' was not the verb you would use to describe repairing the tears in the Cloak of Levitation. It was taller and stronger than you and it did not want to be repaired. It was closer to performing surgery on a fully grown mountain lion that could rip your head off at any minute. 

"Like putting eyeshadow on a cat," Master Strange said. It flicked its edge contemptuously, while still clinging to his shoulders for dear life. "I'm a licensed surgeon and it won't let me within 20 feet of it with a needle." 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." You said, thoroughly discouraged. All he'd given you to work with was a spool of thread and a pack of needles. 

He tried with sincere force to remove the cloak, but it wouldn't budge. "Of course, now it knows you're coming at it with the sewing kit and it won't leave my shoulders." 

"Maybe I can work with that?" You shrugged. You threaded the needle and hid it in your hand. 

You approached the cloak, only for it to shove Master Strange in your way like a human shield. 

"Listen, you naughty little blanket." He scolded, turning around to face it as if it were a puppy that had just wrecked the living room. "If you don't let her fix you, you're going in the washing machine. Extra spin." 

It shuddered, and, for a moment, you thought it was going to comply. You slowly took a step forward, only for it to dart as soon as your foot hit the ground. It made its escape with a large crash through the heavy wooden doors of the library. 

"Hey!" You shouted, chasing after it. "Get back here!" 

You caught a glimpse of it headed towards the relic room, so, without thinking, you opened a portal to make it there first. You reached it only seconds before the cloak breached the threshold, with only enough time to grab it by the edge. 

"Come here!" You exclaimed, giving it a full force tug. It tugged back, overpowering you to the tenth degree. It dragged you across the room and into the foyer. You yanked on it, only for it to escape from your grip and send you flying back into the wall. You wondered for a second how such a sturdy piece of fabric could possibly be in need of maintenance. 

"Bastard." You mumbled, rubbing the spot where your head collided with the wall. The pain didn't stop you, though. You were on your feet within seconds, pursuing the naughty blanket all over again. 

You heard the words of one of your many, many masters ringing in your ears; "never outrun what you can outsmart". Or maybe that was from a Garfield comic. Either way, whether or not you could outsmart the cloak was still unknown, but you had to at least try. 

You took a second to catch your breath and tried to remember where you saw it heading next. Downstairs, you thought. To the laundry room. The one place you would never look. 

You slowly but deliberately descended the stairs to the basement where the laundry was. You turned the light on and saw overturned baskets of towels, clothes, and sheets everywhere. And then a washing machine door slammed shut. You turned your head and saw a twinge of dark red hiding in the washing machine. 

You removed your shoes and socks to minimize noise, then picked up a fitted sheet that had been thrown on the ground. You mounted the washing machine and affixed the sheet to the front. The cloak would have to come shooting out the door, and you would ambush it. 

You forced the door open with your heel, holding the sheet like a giant net. As predicted, the cloak shot out like a bullet from a gun, getting caught in the sheet. It thrashed around aimlessly, trying to escape, but you had a tight grip and it wasn't going anywhere. 

"It's curtains for you!" You said, then laughed at your own joke. "Stop struggling!" 

It flailed and fought, but eventually ran out of energy and sunk to the ground. Not trusting it quite yet, you pinned it down with your whole body weight before releasing it from the sheet. As expected, it tried to fly away, but couldn't get anywhere.

"The less you fight, the faster this will go." You said, examining the fabric for any visible tears. The rip presented itself right away. About as long as your hand, right in the center. 

"What did Strange do to you?" You asked, pulling the threaded needle from your pocket. "Hold still, I'm going to fix it." 

Once the needle hit fabric, the cloak stopped trying to fly away and instead writhed about on the floor like it was about to die. You fixed the tear with as many stitches as you could make, then pulled it shut. Once you knew the thread was secure, you rolled off the cloak and let it fly free. 

It shot up, but froze, noticing something was different. It swished itself around, unaccustomed to the feeling of air not blowing right through its center. 

"You're welcome." You said with a shrug. "It's not like I had to chase you all around the sanctum to make it happen." 

Without any warning, the cloak scooped you up and squeezed you. Your initial reaction was that this was its revenge and you were taking your final breaths, but you could tell it was gratitude by the way it gently set you down on the ground. 

"Happy to help." You gasped for air. "Just remember this feeling if I ever have to do this again." 

"Not bad, butterfingers." Master Strange told you, though the tone of his voice conveyed he was impressed beyond a simple 'not bad'. 

"Not bad?" You protested. "I absolutely crushed it." 

He ran his finger down the uneven but sturdy stitching. When his face met yours again, he was smiling with genuine enthusiasm that managed to eek through his dry, sarcastic exterior. It came out as an admittedly very handsome sideways smirk as his eyes scanned you up and down. 

“If you don’t need anything else, I’ll get out of your hair now.” You said, heading towards the open doors. 

“Wait.” The doors slammed shut before you could reach them. You turned around to see Master Strange still examining the stitching. "You wouldn't leave without tea, would you?"

A pot of chai tea sat between you, filling the air with an aroma of spicy vanilla. You held the teacup in both hands, determined to never give him a reason to reinforce the "butterfingers" nickname he'd become so fond of. 

"Chai is my favorite." You said, letting the scent waft into your nose. "Yerba mate used to be my favorite, but if I drink more than two pots of it I get sick." 

"Yeah, definitely don't do that." He chuckled, bobbing his teabag up and down in the cup. "Out of curiosity, are you wondering at all why I invited you to tea?" 

"Oh, definitely." You nodded. "I was just wondering about that." 

"Would you believe it's just because I find you interesting?" He raised an eyebrow. "Good company, perhaps?" 

"Interesting? Absolutely." You agreed. "Good company is debatable." 

"I can't believe I never thought to trap the cloak in the washing machine." He rested his chin in his hand. "It seems so obvious now." 

"If it makes you feel any better," you shrugged. "It was mostly dumb luck and reckless disregard for my own life, considering it almost threw me off the balcony.” 

He glared at the cloak. “What did I tell you about trying to kill our guests?” 

It lowered its collar shamefully in his direction. 

“Don’t apologize to me!” He scolded. “Apologize to her.” 

It turned to face you and repeated the somber motion. 

“It’s okay.” You shrugged. “My family adopted a retired army German Shepherd growing up. I’m used to high-strung creatures that could end my life at any second.” 

“Well, rest assured, butterfingers,” He said, leaning back in his chair. “This will never happen again.”

“I, uh-” You opened your mouth before you could even really pick up on the implication he was putting down. “Wasn’t aware that there would be a chance for it to happen again?” 

“I suppose we should get down to brass tax, then.” He folded his hands in his lap. “How would you like to stay here?”

“Well-” You said, not wanting to come off as too enthusiastic, which you certainly were. “Not if it’s going to kill me-”

“If I could promise you that your life won’t be in constant danger, I would.” He cut you off. “But if you wanted safety, you wouldn’t have started studying the Mystic Arts.”

“Got me there.” You conceded, your made-up objection withering away. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch.” He shook his head. “I’ll help you train and in return, you help me preserve the integrity of the sanctum.” 

“So an apprenticeship?” Your eyes widened. "Are you saying you want to take me on as an apprentice?" 

“I know you’ve got bad associations with that title, but yes.” He answered. “If it brings back memories of your previous masters treating you like garbage, we can call it a ‘partnership’, if you’d like.” 

Partners with the Sorcerer Supreme? You thought, butterflies materializing in your stomach. 

"That sounds great, but-" You broke eye contact and fidgeted with your fingers. "I feel like I should disclose that it wasn't really all that one-sided. I am… notoriously hard to teach."

"And who told you that?" He tilted his head. "The ones who refused to teach you?" 

You hadn't thought about it that way. "I guess."

"The way I see it, you've repaid your debt and are free to leave," he began. "But seeing how dutifully you reassembled that urn, wrangled my favorite piece of defiant outerwear, and how desperately this place is in need of some life, it might be a good idea to keep you around." 

You put your hand over your chest to still your heart. "It would be an honor." 

"Excellent." He nodded. "That saves me the trouble of having to convince you."

He brought you to a small but comfortable room with a bed and connected bathroom. 

"There's plenty of closet space for all your clothes." He said, gesturing to an antique looking bureau set. 

You dumped your duffel bag out on the bed, revealing the extent of your possessions. "Thanks, but this is all I've got." 

"Travel light, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah, I moved around a lot growing up." You admitted. "Got no real roots and all that jazz." 

"That changes now." He told you. "This is your home now so I want it to feel like it. Make the space your own."

“I don’t know how I can thank you for this.” You lowered your head, still feeling undeserving. 

“Don’t thank me yet, butterfingers.” He chuckled. “I’ve been told I tend to be a little on the egotistical side. That I don’t work well with others.”

"It's actually [F/N], if you were curious." You said, sitting on the bed and folding your hands in your lap. 

"Okay, [F/N]." he smiled. "You've been in and out of enough apprenticeships to know the drill. Early mornings, late nights. And I've got a laundry list of odd jobs for you that I'm too important to do." 

"Naturally." You nodded. His dry self-awareness inspired a little confidence that he wouldn't be a complete tyrant. 

"You did a good job today." He said, bluntly. "Thank you for your help. Keep it up and you'll make an invaluable addition to the sanctum."

You smiled downwards. "Thank you." 

"Do you often sing when you're trying to focus?" He posited. "Just, as an aside." 

You could tell the gears in his neurosurgeon's head were turning, undoubtedly trying to pin some kind of diagnosis on you as doctors were known to do. 

“I guess it’s just a force of habit.” You admitted. “I used to play piano, so when I’m working with my hands, it just kind of happens. My last master was not happy about that.” 

"Oh, screw him." He waved his hand dismissively. "He pissed away an opportunity to nurture a sorceress with a special gift for the sake of tradition. That's a mistake I won't make."

Special gift? You thought. Nobody who practiced the Mystic Arts had ever referred to anything you'd ever done as a 'gift'. Annoyance? sure. A symptom of ADHD? All the time. But 'gift'? That made it sound useful.

[ao3cassandraic]

Hi hi hello, I also have a master's degree in library and information studies. Here are some things I did with it while working in libraries (not an exhaustive list; adding a cut because this got LONG):

Launched an institutional repository (a sort of digital archive for the products of academic research) and a journal-publishing platform. (Sysadminning the software? Me. Web design and associated concerns such as accessibility? Also me. Tech support? Me-me-me-me-me! Outreach, open-access advocacy, and content recruitment? Totally me. Coping with copyright issues? Me, myself, and I. Crawling a retiring professor's research website to put it in the repository before IT wiped it? That would be me. Crawling a research center's web presence to deposit all the PDFs from their working-paper series, and screenscraping their annoyingly inconsistent HTML for metadata? You guessed it, THAT WAS ME.)

Co-founded the first (yes, the FUCKING FIRST, I will die on this hill) campus-wide research-data management unit in United States academe to launch in response to the NSF's demand for data-management plans, back in 2011. Getting anything off the ground in academe is a whole-ass thing, y'all. But that unit is still running, more than a decade after I left the job in which I co-founded it.

Collaborated on the campus response to the NIH Public Access Policy (the central reason PubMed Central is awesome). Helped large numbers of researchers and research labs figure out what they needed to do; helped some of 'em do it.

Wrote and published some journal articles about what I was doing. One of them got called an "instant classic" in a major trade publication; it's still my highest-cited piece.

Did a metric ton of conference presentations and workshops, even some keynotes. (I actually enjoy public speaking way more than writing.)

Collaborated on various library and campus policies and procedures relevant to my work -- electronic theses and dissertations (oh, do I ever have stories about this; buy me a chai sometime), digital-preservation policies, research-data-related policies, and so on.

I eventually left libraries to teach in the same department I got my degree from. That's still what I'm doing. Here are some things I teach or have taught:

Relational database design and SQL

XML and various metadata languages that use XML syntax

RDF and linked data

Research-data management

Publishing industries, and how change therein impacts libraries, from ebook licensing to journal Big Deals to specialized reference to K-12 and college textbooks (and why they're a fucking racket, boo, down with Pearson and McGraw Hill) to the dissolution of so much responsible American journalism (I haven't taught this particular course in a while, so I haven't gotten to teach controlled digital lending -- believe me, if I were still teaching it I would!)

Digitization (of various carriers: text, image, audio, video)

Digital preservation (do NOT come at me with "it's just backups, right?" because I will rip you several new and unnecessary bodily orifices)

Media archaeology / basic digital forensics

HTML, CSS, and PHP (total-beginner to intermediate level)

Copyright, fair use, Section 108 library/archives superpowers

Basic project management

Basic web usability and accessibility precepts and testing (I do not teach modern SEO because I find it an unethical morass, however; I did teach it back when it actually meant "make good websites that serve users well")

The sociology of race, gender, and sexuality in IT and related industries

Privacy, confidentiality, why they're important and why they're crumbling under Big Tech, Big Data, and gen-AI surveillance onslaughts

Basic general ethics; ethics of Big Data and human-subjects research in particular

Introductory information security, and what it is about human beings that makes infosec such a slog

There is not ONE SHRED of the above list that is not useful in libraries. (Not all libraries nor all librarians, granted; we do have any number of specializations in this profession, and several of my own specialties are very tilted toward academic libraries and technology, reasonably enough given my background. For an example of important library stuff I don't myself teach: heaven bless all youth librarians everywhere, but that's not and has never been my area.)

And yeah, I'm a cis woman. And yeah, it would take a fucking Olympic stadium or three to house all of the disrespect (from techbros, from Ph.Ds, from students) aimed at me over the years.

So do not step to me with "why do you have to have a degree to be a librarian?" bullshit. I will BURY YOU with all the librarianny things I know and do that you most likely don't, and I will ENJOY IT.

Realizing I have probably doxed myself with the above lists. (I sure do teach basic OSINT techniques in my infosec course!) Eh, well, so be it. Reducing the disrespect aimed at my profession is important.

[findingmypeace]

11/26/2022

TW: emotional trauma

I’m on my phone so I can’t do a text cut.

I’ve been crying off and on for the past hour. Sometimes it takes me awhile to put my feelings into words. Tonight I finally fully understand why I’m so incredibly pissed off at my parents, besides the obvious. I was finally able to put into words what I felt this summer.

This is a very vulnerable post for me to make so please be nice. Going to treatment this time around put me in a very, very bad spot financially. I had absolutely no income. I asked my parents for help through many different avenues. Some that would cost them nothing. But in response to me asking for help I got comments from both my parents that were incredibly mean. For example, “You chose to develop an eating disorder and since you chose it now you have to fix it.” That was from my Dad. My Mom said, “You’re an addict and addicts die.” I didn’t care that she called me an addict. It was the fact that she is so nonchalant about me dying. It’s like she’s already accepted my death. And here’s the part that I put into words tonight. It’s not about the money/finances. I’ve thought that all along. It’s about the ‘lesson’ they were trying to teach me. They want so badly for me to ‘fix’ my ed (so I can live a life their proud of ie: make money) yet they think it’s incredibly irresponsible of me to get help. They’ve always thought that. The lesson is that I’m completely irresponsible for going to treatment. And how I interpret that is they’d rather have me die than to admit something is wrong. Last summer (summer 2021) before I went to treatment my Mom told me that I shouldn’t go to treatment because I ‘enjoy’ it. Her reasoning was that she attended a parent group with me (which is shocking) and I was laughing and smiling with the other girls. Going back to the conversation last summer, I told her that hurt my feelings. Her response was, “Well you don’t want me to lie, do you?” To my point, it’s clear they think this all some game to me. It’s a way for me to avoid responsibility of my life. Nevermind that I’m starting to have heart problems. That doesn’t matter. Before I went back to treatment this summer I told my Mom about the heart problems. After I finished explaining she said, “Well, I’ll let you go now.” And then we said goodbye and hung up. That’s in contrast to LS’s response of care and concern and actually having a conversation with me. Essentially, my parents don’t care. It’s just a stupid thing I’m doing in order to avoid my responsibilities and I need to be taught a lesson so that I can conform to their standards and live a “successful” life. Nevermind the fact that despite everything I have earned a Masters degree, become a licensed therapist, and I’m working on my Ph.D. My Mom also told me that all my treatment providers want is my money. That they don’t care about me and will ‘bleed me dry’. That makes me wonder if she thinks that about me since I’m a therapist.

This all came about tonight because every Christmas my family does a ‘gift exchange’. This is separate from the gifts on Christmas morning. Basically we draw names out of hat and then we give our assigned person our gift on Christmas Eve after a special Christmas Eve dinner. Just my luck, I happen to be giving to my Dad and receiving from my Mom. How the fuck did that happen? My sister-law-said she swears she did it randomly by picking slips of paper for each person. I kept thinking and thinking about it. First, because of the ‘lesson’ my parents were trying to teach me and because I’m in between jobs I probably won’t be able to afford a gift this year. Second, do I really want to give a gift to someone who only cares about me if I’m successful? Who thinks my eating disorder is a choice and a game I’m playing? But I don’t want to ruin the gift exchange and make it awkward for my siblings and their spouses. I’m still not going to visit them. But my brother and his girlfriend will be going up there and I figured I give my brother the gift to give my Dad. But should I really give him something? I’ve talked to my Mom once since July, which was a disaster and I spent the rest of the day in the hospital trying to keep myself safe. I haven’t talked to my Dad at all. The last time I talked to him was when he made that comment about me ‘choosing’ to develop my eating disorder.

Finally putting it all into words makes me never want to talk to them again. But like I’ve said all along, I miss them. I hate myself for missing them. I cheer on the Los Angeles Dodgers because that’s my Dad’s favorite team. I see the peppermint bark in the store and I think of my Mom because she would always buy that. I love them but they hurt me so deeply. Right now, I don’t know if I can ever talk to them again but I miss them so much.

[merryrogue]

I’ve got like. Tumblr neurodiversity. Some weird mix or middle ground between Autism and ADHD. With the attendant “WTF is even going on!!” and “I know I forgot something important but I don't know what” capital A Anxiety ramped up to 11 with the knob cracked off years ago. I just barely, “Cs get degrees!!” squeaked by got though college.

I got out to a basic job in a school that pays bad but has health insurance, and put my goals post dream of a teaching license and the art room on hold while Covid whimpered and howled outside the classroom I work in, and sometimes in it.

(if you aren't, officially, a Teacher, they’ll still give you a job. All of the dystopian memes about summers off and wills drawn each year, none of the grudging respect or retirement plans.)

(Half the money for all the risk.) 

If I want the art room? The things I love (art doesn't save people. Art is a stick to fight that wolf off with, so you can save your life.) the things I hate (people who hate art class were taught that they aren't good at it and have to sit there anyway “because I said so” wise.) 

If I want the art room, I need to go get a graduate degree on top of my “college grads earn a million more over their lives!!” degree.

Do you see those posts about “use the accessibility aids!!!” that go around? Generally around test season and major holidays.

 I got through college without Adderall. I tried the “mixes well with anxiety” kind and it did nothing but upset my picky jerk of a stomach, so I gave up. 

I got through college. I’m not going to get through “work full time, and go to college, and be a good family member and, and, and….” without /something/. 

So I talked to my doctor, who set my next appointment a month early but gave me the prescription. 

I waited for Saturday morning, in case it was bad. I waited until 9, when I woke at 6, to pin my slippery “bite down and do it” courage to the floor long enough to get it down our throats.

Nothing much. 

Nothing much happened. My list of to dos was a bit longer, more from remembering to write them down then things done. 

But. there’s always a “but”, “or”, and an “and”. 

The dog barked under my chair at 4. I’m generally smokey fried by 3, and in bed by 8. 

The dog barked, and I didn't care. I wasn't fried. I was in bed by 9, after spending the evening with my family, not in my bed waiting for a decent hour to sleep. 

I didn't care. The dog barked? So what? I wasn't an anxious fried lump waiting for bed. 

It isn't a cure all. It was a stick, some more rope. 

To get to what I want, I needed a bit more rope. I can think of studying after work and not feel sick. I can go do errands when I'm driving after work and talk about things at dinner after, and even enjoy it. 

It isn't a cure all. It was a stick, some more rope. 

I just need a stick. 

[sinigangsta-ao3]

Thursday Thoughts: How fanfiction helped me to reconnect with my identity as a writer

A little under three months ago (and after nearly one year of consuming fanfiction late at night, when my kids were asleep, and on incognito tabs on my mobile Chrome browser), I decided to take the plunge and enter the world of fanfic as a (GASP!) writer.

First, a little storytime...

I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I viscerally remember receiving a Bugs Bunny diary when I was maybe five or six years old and faithfully recording my thoughts, observations, and daily happenings. Every. Single. Night.

I took special care to hide my diary key someplace safe so that my parents couldn't unlock that tiny journal and read my childish musings (which, when I think about it, were probably misspelled descriptions of my kindergarten crush or complaints about my siblings).

From there, I eventually graduated to managing blogs (specifically, and to date myself, a Xanga), scribbling poetry in the margins of my textbooks, and attempting to write my own stories — original fiction and, yes, fanfiction (Harry Potter and LOTR, to be exact).

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, writing was not just a hobby; it was the most useful tool at my disposal to process what was happening in my life. Especially since I was one of four children, growing up in a very religious household, and I didn't have many outlets or spaces outside of my family, my school, and my little hometown to explore. To question. To articulate the multitude of thoughts that plagued my mind.

I was very sheltered. And not always seen or heard because, simply put, there just wasn't enough quiet or space for my voice to cut through all the chaos. So writing was my outlet. Writing allowed me to condense really convoluted and complex thoughts into something discernible — and, finally, people heard me. They understood me.

And I loved it.

And I was good at it.

So good that, when the time came for me to go to college, I decided to enroll as an English Literature and Communications double major. And I decided to use my four years in university to study and hone my craft. I declared emphases in Creative Writing and Literary Journalism. I wrote stories for my campus literary journal. I served as editor for two sections of our campus newspaper. I was a teaching assistant for creative writing and journalism classes. I got internships for external publications. I had ambitions to work for a magazine after I graduated and/or write long-form, special interest pieces as a freelance journalist.

... But then I got really depressed. For a multitude of reasons. But some big ones were:

Feeling marginalized on a predominantly white and very affluent campus, while my family was dealing with very serious socioeconomic problems back at home (another topic for another Thursday Thoughts blog post, I think...); and

Approaching graduation in the middle of an economic recession — and questioning my decision to pursue a fucking English degree when I needed to think about how I was going to support myself.

Sadly, this led to my (conscious or subconscious, I'm not really sure) decision to abandon my ambitions of writing professionally. And I got a job in Human Resources once I entered the workforce.

And I did not seriously write again for over a decade.

Fast forward to today...

Amidst a multi-year, global pandemic and an ongoing global social justice movement, I experienced another serious depressive episode and a major case of burnout. It caused me to take medical leave for half a year. I started antidepressants to cope with the extreme emotions I experience daily.

And it also forced me to start to do a lot of self-reflection (with full support from my partner and a licensed therapist).

For the first time in over a decade, I had time to pause. To remove myself from the capitalist grind of producing and working and never resting. And I asked myself: Who am I as a person? What is important to me? As I continue to live my life — and particularly now that I'm a mother and someone whose professional life is so grounded in taking care of others — how can I continue to take care of myself? And model what it means to live unapologetically and authentically?

Now, I'm sure you're probably thinking: "What the hell does this have to do with writing porny stories about cartoons?"

And this is my whole point: when I started writing fanfiction a few months ago, it helped me remember that part of who I am — part of who I've always been — is a writer.

And I had lost sight of that part of me when I, unfortunately, abandoned my plans to pursue a writing career.

As a space, fanfiction was easily accessible to me. I didn't have to worry about any barriers to entry, like finding an editor, or a publisher, or a distributor to share my stories.

I could just write. And post it online, regardless of whether or not it was "good enough" or "perfect."

So that's what I did.

I started to write a little fic about a young woman who was mourning the loss of one of the most important relationships in her life (it was really my excuse to channel my own grief of lost relationships).

And people started reading what I wrote. And they started conversing with me. And they began to share how much my writing meant to them, how I was able to make them feel things.

And then they asked for more. So I wrote a sequel about a young man who was dealing with major depression — and who needed to reconcile the mistakes he made and learn how to make amends with those he had hurt (truly, an excuse for me to write about my own experiences with depression and feelings of inadequacy and regret and wasted potential).

And people kept responding. And then I eventually started connecting with other fic writers — who quickly became sources of inspiration and help and shared commiseration. Who, above all, became friends.

And it reminded me of why I loved writing in the first place: because it helped me to feel seen. And it helped me to show other people - I see you too.

Writing has been the best way for me to make sense of the world. Writing has been the easiest way for me to connect with others. Writing has always helped me to understand myself better.

And, in a really silly yet beautiful way, writing fanfiction helped me to rediscover that part of me — the part who is a writer. The part that I thought I had completely lost sight of when I, unfortunately, abandoned my plans to pursue a writing career. The part that I thought I would never be able to find again.

Now, I feel very inspired. I feel connected. I feel creative. And, most importantly, I'm having fun.

I feel like myself. And if continuing to write little stories about cartoon characters is going to continue to help me feel this way...

Then goddammit, I will keep writing little stories about cartoon characters.

[ecto-american]

Hey I wanted to fuck around and ramble about how I specifically headcanon and like to portray Jack and Maddie career-wise for my fanfics/personal take on the DP canon.

So to start; I headcanon Maddie as having a masters in electrical engineering and Jack as having a PhD in Thanatology (the scientific study of death and the practices associated with it), though he has a bachelor's degree in mortuary science while also having a funeral director’s license.

Why these? Because I absolutely see Maddie as the builder and thinker, the one who can build things, and Jack as the theorist who knows everything there is to know about ghosts. I picked Thanatology because it was as close as I could find to studying ghosts in an actual applied scientific sense, but I liked the mortuary science because it felt like a good accompaniment. I originally had mortuary sciences as his PhD (if you’ve heard me talk about this before), but I found out that I was actually a big dumb because in the US, you cannot get a PhD in mortuary sciences ihsofsa so I did research for an alternative.

So how do their jobs work? Well, I think it's approached in a very academic-y sense. While I kind of play with it loosely based on the specific fanfiction, I generally say that their job is a sorta combination of any number of the following:

Research grants to study ghosts, from both the government and just private companies

Writing books/textbooks revolved around ghosts (like ectobiology, ghost hunting, etc)

Contract ghost hunting work (like being paid to get rid of ghosts from private residents/buildings)

Income from ghost invention patents (think their Fenton weapons and things like the Fenton thermos)

They do non-ghost research and inventing as well (since they seem to custom build their own computers and other various technologies, and even just things like the Specter Speeder can be marketed to a non-ghost hunting audience like the military, and Jazz implied in GNO that Maddie has a lot of inventions outside of Jack that she works on)

Paid to teach/give lectures or make appearances at seminars, conventions or speak at certain events

Since Jack in this is licensed funeral director, he also occasionally works with a funeral home, and sometimes I even headcanon that Jack and Maddie used to own a funeral home before they got the grant/funding to build their ghost portal (which I touch on a little later!)

Jack teaches part time at a local community college/university, teaching normally one or two classes here but sometimes more, and sometimes even as Casper High teaching ghost 101 safety

Maddie is also a licensed electrician that does occasional work related to that

And this is kind of where you may be asking: wait, aren't they kind of a joke? Why are you giving them all this credit?

Well, honestly, I really like to think of the Fentons as being actually fairly well respected academically and by fellow ghost hunters. There's a lot of scientists that you'll basically learn are real Weirdos, but that doesn't distract from the fact that they are incredibly smart people who made amazing breakthroughs.

To me, I headcanon Jack as being autistic, and that ghosts and the paranormal is a special interest in which he's actually an incredibly well respected scientist, who has the most accurate (as far as the paranormal studies scientific community knows) information and knowledge about ghosts. He's been writing and studying it for twenty years, and arguably, essentially proved that ghosts exists because of his ghost portal and living in Amity Park, where ghost activity boomed. While there's canon evidence dedicated to him being made fun of in Million Dollar Ghost, I personally like to think of this as more of other ghost hunters just kind of seeing how Awkward and ridiculous he can be socially. We also hear about Danny and Jazz dunking on them, but I think this comes more from two teenagers being embarrassed about their oddball parents.

I definitely picture the Fentons as still being the town weirdos because well. You see their oddballness every day. But most ectobiologists would only see Jack when he's presenting and read his work, where I imagine he's presented as a bit less goofy and more serious. Because it's a chance for him to essentially ramble on about his special interest and area of expertise without interruption to an incredibly eager audience that's going to be asking questions and wanting his opinions. To me, Jack definitely seems like the person who you don't really think about how odd he kinda is (purely because of masking and it just not really coming up) until you're really with him 1v1 outside of these of these conventions/lectures/classroom environments.

I don’t totally see Maddie teaching, because while I’m definitely picturing her here as being a very smart mind that would likely also be a good teacher; the specific reasoning why I say Jack would be the ones that does the teaching part time is because it’s literally perfect for him. It's an excuse for him to trap 25+ people in a room on a regular basis to listen to him about ghosts. He'd absolutely just one of those easy A teachers, where if you just show up and listen to him babble about ghosts for 1-3 hours and turn in the homework (he gives no tests, midterm/finals or quizzes), you get your easy A. It’s the similar concept with the seminars and guest lecture things; Jack is just much more enthusiastic and would want that solo speaking time, and Maddie knows how much it means to him, so I feel like she would let him have this.

Maddie herself, I feel liker her heart rests more in just the general inventing and building side of it. While she has an interest in ghosts, this also seems to mostly enjoy the physical side of inventing. I say this mostly because, again, in GNO, Maddie has a whole bunch of inventions that she’s working on outside of things she builds/helps Jack build. To me, this straight up personal invention projects, even though they’re still ghost based, tells me that her heart and passion seems to lie within engineering and not necessarily too much in the way of ghost theory.

The way his and Maddie's relationship works to me is that Jack knows more of the ghost related information and he relays this to Maddie for her to build what they need. For example, he'll tell her “this is what the Ghost Zone is like, these are the dangers, this is what we need to survive, etc” and Maddie will have the knowledge to design the Specter Speeder, and they build it together with Maddie being the primary leader and troubleshooter.

However, Maddie has the education and license to do the electrical work and knows how to properly build and submit the patents. Meanwhile, Jack will eventually do all the research and write and publish the book detailing what they learned about the Ghost Zone. Repeat the process with ghost weapons and other such inventions.

I like to think that Jack and Maddie were essentially going through the process of getting the huge government grant they'd need to build the actual ghost portal, which took a lot of prior research, convincing, pleas for money and getting the city permission and code permits to get the money and permission building it, hence the like 20 year gap between the prototype portal and the final portal. Especially since they obviously started a family during that time too.