#improvement need not come at the cost of condemning my past

[creachercrunch]

if i decided to fuck more with channel mixer like. a week ago it probably would've made one gifset i made so much easier but it's okay i will hold this for the future

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

The Tories Are Out of Power At Last! Thank Fuck For That!

Good news has been pretty thin on the ground lately. Climate change, the wanton destruction of the arable land we need to survive, slow-motion population collapse and the continuing not-good-enoughness of Doctor Who have all contrived to make it feel like we’re living at the end of the world. We’re not. We’ll come within a hair’s breadth of total systemic failure and then finally think to ourselves “oh yeah! We have technological solutions for all of this shit just gathering dust! Maybe we should implement them” and pull our arses out of the fire with literal seconds to spare, like we always do. Because we’re fucking idiots and it’s amazing we ever got as far as inventing fire. The point is, though, that we could all use a win right now, and my country just got one, in the form of the General Election. That’s right! Yesterday, Britain went to the polls and finally said “Okay, enough of this bullshit!” and voted out the monsters who have been making life progressively worse for everyone for a decade and a half.

For those of you who don’t live in Britain and weren’t paying attention, what I mean is that the Conservative Party got booted out of power and replaced with New Labour (in the person of new Prime Minister Keir Starmer). Now, it’s very hard to get excited about Keir being in charge, because he’s basically an unflavoured block of budget margarine sculpted into a vague man-shape by an unskilled and uncaring wizard. He’s essentially inoffensive in the grand scheme of things. However, he’s also a marked improvement on any Tory and particularly Rishi Sunak, a psychopathic urinary condition in a suit. The whole Conservative Party is a basically just a cavalcade of murderous, unrepentant torturers and serial killers whose policies are geared entirely towards short-term personal profit at the cost of countless human lives. We’re talking about a group of irredeemable maniacs who have spent nearly fifteen years defunding the NHS (the social healthcare system that keeps us all alive), turning away leaky rafts full of desperate asylum seekers (and thereby condemning the, directly, to death), trying to replace the disability benefits on which the most vulnerable depend with fucking vouchers and drafting legislation to let them spy on the bank accounts of people surviving on social securities (while taking the word of multi-billionaires that they don’t owe any tax, honest). The nature of evil is a hotly debated topic among philosophers and psychologists, but nobody who’s lived in Britain for the past few electoral cycles and possesses both a heart and a brain needs to debate it: we’ve fucking lived under it. So yes, I am overjoyed to see the back of the pricks. My hatred of the Conservatives runs deep and I’d cheer for pretty much anyone scoring a victory over those inbred, fatuous, vacuous, toffee-nosed, vile, slithering, subhuman reptiles and the system of callous profiteering they represent. When I heard, this morning, that Britain was finally free of the monsters and the constant threat they posed to the lives of the poor, I felt as though a literal weight had been lifted. I’m not being hyperbolic: I actually felt a physical change, as though some part of me had been under pressure, struggling against the crushing mass of governmental incompetence and malice that hung, eternally, over my head.

Of course, none of this is to say I think Britain is about to magically become a better place. The same people who just voted the Tories out also voted them in in the first, and they’re not giving them the bum’s rush now because they’ve suddenly become better people and realised that electing sociopaths is wrong. They’ve just noticed that their groceries are costing more and drawn the inescapable conclusion that voting for morons with no economic management skills was a mistake. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s Labour is not the same animal as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. If Labour had been voted into power with Corbyn at its head, we might actually have seen some repairs made to the country I… well, I was about to say ‘country I love’, but ‘country I have to live in and slightly prefer to America on the notional level’. But Keir’s not really in the political game to make the world a better place. I don’t actually know what he wants. Functionally, he’s just a placeholder: the Westminster equivalent of a paper plate with a face drawn on it and a developer’s sticky note saying “ACTUAL PRIME MINISTER GOES HERE”. I’m happy he’s in charge instead of any member of the Conservative party, but not because he’ll make things better. I’m just pleased he won’t make things worse. For the next five years, my country will stay exactly as shit as it already is instead of sliding into greater depths of rudderless villainy. I’m also ecstatic because the evil cunts who have been trying to kill me and the people I care about for a 1.5 decades have just been told, roundly, to fuck off, and because they’re such overprivileged wankers, I have to assume that came as a terrible shock to them. So that’s something to celebrate.

Look, if all this seems a little dour for a ‘celebration’ blog post… it is. The people of Britain were offered something better than the current administration and took it, and that’s a cause for joy. However, the thing they were offered, while infinitely preferable to the Cuntservatives, still wasn’t that great, so our joy has to be tempered a little.

Here’s to at least five years of basically acceptable and mercifully ineffectual government.

[captainbeverlycrusher]

An Open Letter to the Star Trek Community

To the Star Trek Community,

I write this from a place of deep respect, gratitude and compassion, and with hope that what I have to say will be received in good faith and be heard.

I am an immigrant woman of colour who found Star Trek at a time when I was at my lowest and stuck in what seemed like perpetual darkness, and it was this wonderful franchise and its powerful message which uplifted me and brought me back into the light so that today I can truly say that I am at my strongest. As such, Star Trek’s positive influence in my life has been no small thing. Star Trek has taught me to be the captain of my life, to reach for the stars, to stand up for what is right no matter the cost, and, above all, to be brave and bold.

And so, in the spirit of boldly going, I humbly call on ALL white members of the Star Trek Community — creators, platform curators, prominent fans and figures, including and especially Star Trek cast members, past and present — who believe in the underlying mission and vision of Star Trek to formally denounce all forms of racism and bigotry and those who uphold such abhorrent beliefs; I call on you to condemn the actions of those who have harmed Black and Indigenous people, and all People of Colour (BIPOC); and I call on you to strive to do more and do better for the sake of BIPOC in both the Star Trek community and in your own lives who have been subjected to racism. Finally, I encourage you to urge your supporters in this community to do the same, particularly those who are now finally waking up to the injustices perpetrated against BIPOC.

I am, of course, aware that the official Star Trek entity released a statement in this vein recently. I know many of you have expressed one way or another your support for the Black Lives Matter movement. I see you. It’s a good start. But it is not enough. I need each of you who hold so much influence within this community to do this, to say once and for all that you will not condone racism and anti-Blackness from your supporters, fans and followers any longer. It is important for this to happen.

I know you support the vision of the great Gene Roddenberry and the powerful philosophy of Star Trek and what it stands for. I know you believe in these words as much as I do:

“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.”

But many white supporters within the Trek community truly do not share these sentiments, and they have proven this time and again, especially as they have belittled and driven fans of colour like me away instead of putting the mission of Star Trek into practice and welcoming us with open arms. Both on-and-offline, there are those who have insulted and degraded BIPOC involved in the Trek community— and not just fans but creatives, actors, and notable figures of colour alike. We have been treated as inferior and dismissed.

I have seen and witnessed it with my own eyes. I have endured this myself and I cannot explain to you how hurtful it has been for many of us. I am a fan who has experienced so much harm from many white people I have come across in Trek spaces, at conventions and events, even among those I had considered friends, and for it to come from within a franchise that promotes love, hope and acceptance, it has been devastating. What I once looked to as a safe haven no longer is.

I can only speak for myself and from my own experiences. And based on my experience, my call to action here is completely necessary. Because something I never say aloud, something I constantly have to process and reprocess in therapy is that 6 years ago when I was 24, the night before I first met my Trek heroes, I cried bitter tears because I felt that they would not accept me because I wasn’t white, that I was unlovable by even the most amazing people because I was not white like them. 24 years old. A grown adult. And I felt that way. So many white Trek supporters contributed to making me feel that way every time they overtly and subtly implied that their whiteness made them superior. I have remained silent about this and numerous other incidents for many years, but living in silence has only served to intensify the painful experiences I’ve had, and so I share this to stress the urgency with which this community-wide issue needs to be addressed. We cannot allow damage like this to continue towards BIPOC in this community.

Racism destroys the soul. Racism is why I hurt myself for so long and why so many white supporters have harmed fans of colour like me, despite their claims that they believe in all that Star Trek stands for. Racism hurts us all. This is just a small part of my story. Imagine how many more there are like it or even worse. As white people, you will never experience racism and you may not see the abominable treatment BIPOC in the Trek community encounter, but it is happening.

With the Black Lives Matter protests gaining momentum worldwide, it couldn’t be more clear that now is not the time to find the middle ground on issues like this, because there is none when it comes to racism. Either you are against it or not. And I promise you, the Trek community does not need the support of people who go out of their way to justify any and all racist acts, because as we can clearly see, even the smallest racial microaggressions and biases can ultimately lead to murder. The desire to keep the peace in the fandom and franchise is not more important than Black lives. Especially because the truth is, as far as I have observed, there has never been actual peace.

We are presently witnessing a global reckoning in which many are finally starting to acknowledge the existing ways racism and white supremacy are upheld. As a community that claims to value all beings and embrace all differences, it only makes sense for Star Trek and all its community members to lead the way to a better future in the entertainment and creative industries and beyond, and to start doing so by looking within ourselves and our own backyard. We MUST clean up this community so that all People of Colour can truly feel safe and welcomed and be embraced and celebrated in every Trek space.

As I issue my call to action, I urge you to consider doing the following:

First, in particular for prominent white cast and creatives, please let the Trek community know where you stand. If you have not already done so, please let people know that you will not tolerate any further bigotry and racist behaviour from anyone. Please let your Black fans and all fans of colour know that you are with us. And please don’t mince words.

Amplify the voices of BIPOC within this community. So many of us are constantly silenced and drowned out and it is time for us to be heard. Our presence only enhances the Trek community. Uplift and embrace us. We matter.

If you manage any online Trek-related spaces and platforms, it is your responsibility to moderate and remove speech that is racist against BIPOC. It is imperative for you to enforce stricter commenting policies and do all that you can to protect BIPOC from further harm. And for those participating in these spaces, it is equally your duty to call out and report any such speech you encounter.

Educate your fellow white Trekkies who don’t yet understand why this is important. BIPOC have expended a lot of labor attempting to do so already but we have been dismissed, ignored, and cast aside. The onus is now on you to ease us of this burden and do the work given your positions of influence.

Hold yourselves and other white people in your Trek networks accountable to BIPOC community members. Make this part of your norm so that it becomes second nature to you, especially so these issues don’t ever fade into the background as they have often done in the past. This is an opportunity to improve and get it right.

Continue supporting the Black Lives Matter movement even after it stops trending. Visit https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ to find helpful resources, make donations, sign petitions, and to get more involved in this work beyond the Trek community. This work is ongoing. It is lifelong.

Committing to doing every one of these would be small yet meaningful steps in the ongoing struggle for racial justice and it would make a significant difference. So with great respect and love, I implore you to use your power and privilege to do this for BIPOC, for yourselves, for all of us.

Stand up with and speak up for all BIPOC fans, friends and colleagues, far and wide. Be loud about it.

Be as loud and unrelenting as LeVar Burton. He has always been at the helm of this struggle, has always been upfront about it, and I love and admire him for it. Follow his lead.

Naturally, fear courses through me as I write all this, but I think of Gates McFadden, a great hero of mine, who once rocked the boat and spoke up against the sexism and racism she witnessed while working on TNG and was actually fired for it. If she can do that, then I think I can do this regardless of the risk. Because I know what I’m asking for and ultimately fighting for is right. Because what we can no longer deny is that lives are at stake. Black lives. And they matter.

Now it is up to you to do your part. Boldly go, in hope and with love.

And may you Live Long and Prosper.

— Originally published on Women at Warp

[theavengerfairy]

One Step Closer - Chapter 6

Previously known as “Gravity”

He had a lot on his mind. It wasn't his expression that gave Callum away; rather, it was his lack thereof. His warm glow had not once wavered in the face of adversity since Anora met him, but now as they walked along with the moon as their guide, her watchful eye observed it flickering dangerously, violent gusts of restless thoughts threatening to snuff out the light at its source. When he believed no wandering gazes were upon him, the young prince would risk a glance at Rayla, first at her face and then at the pocket in which the coin was tucked safely away. Whenever his attention shifted to the latter, fragments of icy bitterness crystallized in his eyes where warm kindness and tender concern had dwelled not much earlier. Between his somber aura and the way he trudged forward with his back bent and his shoulders stooped, one might assume the weight of the world rested upon him, and it was a sight that Anora, for one, could not stand.

"It isn't much farther. We should have the element of surprise, but it would be best not to take any chances. Callum, come up here with me, would you? I know you're inexperienced, but you are our best offense against another mage so we need you front and center. Rayla, bring up the rear please and keep alert for any surprises from behind. Maddie-"

"Yeah yeah, I'm in the middle with the baby dragon." Maddie cut in with an offhanded wave, her other hand already scrounging through her bag in search of her wristbow.

Rayla's nose wrinkled and her lips puckered ever so slightly as she stared hard at Anora, obviously not convinced the rather out-of-the-blue request was what it appeared to be on the surface. Nevertheless, she receded to the back of the group without protest, blades already drawn and hanging at her sides in wait. Meanwhile Callum hurried forward, his head sinking even lower between his shoulders, and fell into stride with Anora, his face averted as though he could hide from her what she had already seen.

"Something's troubling you, Callum."

Callum's fingers picked nervously at the strap of his backpack. "I'm worried about Ez."

"That's not all though, now is it?"

Were all Oceancry elves this insanely perceptive or was he just that terrible at being subtle? It didn't truly matter either way; however it had happened, Callum was caught. Compelled by guilt, he began to crane his neck to check on Rayla yet again, but she had hardly manifested as an abstract blur in his peripheral before Anora beckoned his attention back to her with a crisp yet kindly staccato.

"Ah ah ah, not a good idea; she's still trying to decide whether or not I'm up to something. You flash those big, telltale green eyes at her and we're both done for."

Callum knew she was right of course; it was honestly a miracle Rayla hadn't figured him out already. A cluttered, jumbled mind was a luxury he could not afford; he needed to have his wits about him should their encounter with Castel go south. And yet, no matter how hard he struggled to seize hold of just one of the many intertwining threads of his thoughts, the strand would swiftly slip from his grasp again and rejoin its brethren as they continued to weave and knot themselves into an even tighter, more complicated tangle.

If not for Rayla's vigilant watch, Anora's hand, which twitched at her side, would've clasped Callum reassuringly by the shoulder in an instant. For now, however, she only hoped the extra softness with which she coated her voice proved capable of conveying the sincerity of her compassion, "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, Callum, but I would like to help somehow if I can."

He wanted to say something, to release into the open the festering bitterness that had slithered its way into his core when he wasn't looking and to allow the fresh air to cleanse away any gunk that lingered behind. To do so now, however, meant Anora witnessing that exorcism firsthand, and to expect anything less than her recoiling from him in response was preposterous. Was he to suffer in silence for the preservation of his pride or was he to expunge the darkness before it could fully take root, even at the cost of unpleasant potential consequences that might follow?

With a deep breath, the brisk, purifying night air filled his heavy, aching lungs, and when he exhaled, the pent-up words and feelings all came tumbling forth.

"Runaan isn't just someone dear to Rayla. He's an assassin, an assassin who still killed my stepdad and planned to kill my brother after seeing for himself that the egg of the Dragon Prince was safe. Calling off the mission would've meant some risk for him and his team, I get that, but he didn't even consider it. And what about Ez? Even if I could somehow look past everything that murderer has done, it isn't fair for me to expect the same from him; he's just a kid. And how do we know that Runaan won't just pick up where he left off and try to harm him again if he gets free? We don't! I can't put Ez in that kind of danger! When we found the coin earlier and I said I would help, I was thinking about Rayla and nothing else, but now...I don't want to hurt her, and I know I'm a horrible person for saying this, but would it really be so awful for him not to get out?"

His heart and lips stung raw. It was out, the toxic smog that had been corroding his heart and soul, and now all he could do was wait with apprehension's bony fingers already coiling around his throat before he could get another breath in. Why had he thought that this was a good idea?

"You're not a horrible person, Callum; just a real one who has endured a great deal of hardship and loss. You've had your world flipped upside down and that is bound to leave you with questions and frustrations and doubts. You cannot hate yourself for that."

"I still have to make a choice though, and that decision is going to affect more people than just me!"

"But your voice matters too." Anora's hands had found their way into one another's grip, hanging in front of her at waist level and squeezing each other tightly to keep them both locked in place as they could not be trusted to ignore the pleadings of her heart to seize the boy and wrap him in the hug he so desperately needed and deserved. "There is nothing wrong in asking 'What about me?' What about you, Callum?"

What about him? He was angry, hurt, grieving. He was torn between loyalties to different people who he all loved deeply and didn't want to hurt. As a prince, he had been taught from a young age to strive for noble character, but his heart yearned so strongly to be selfish just this once that it physically ached. He longed to live like the child he was once again, to have someone else make the hard choices while he carried on in the ignorant bliss of youth. It wasn't fair; it was all so much, too much.

Callum's eyes fixated on a stone sitting idly directly in his path, and before he could give it much thought, he swiftly drove his foot into it with considerable force. Unfortunately, the rock proved to be larger than it appeared and also securely nestled in the ground, so instead of taking flight, it sent an acute pain rippling throughout the prince's foot as he stumbled a little.

"That...was really stupid." he groaned, concealing his flushed face behind one of his open palms. "Why did I just do that?"

"Well, one of you was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The question is whether it was you or the rock."

Anora's quip wasn't even that funny, but it proved just enough to return a smile to Callum's lips for a fleeting moment. Even when it vanished, Callum's frown wasn't quite as deep or pronounced as it had been before; it was a small improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

"Runaan staying in the coin won't bring my stepdad back, but to just let him go…" Callum wrapped his arms around himself, "My mind's all over the place. How am I supposed to do this? How am I supposed to figure out the best choice to make when at least one person I care about is always going to wind up hurt no matter what I decide?"

"Well, perhaps that's why you're stuck; you're trying to process everything all at once and it's overwhelming you." Anora mused as her eyes drifted up to the moon which peered down at them through gaps in the leafy canopy above their heads. "There are moments when it is best to look at the big picture, and then there are moments where one must focus on a single part of an issue...What can you tell me about Runaan?"

Callum blinked at her, somewhat taken aback by the seemingly sudden shift of attention. "What good is talking about him going to do?"

"Runaan is but a single piece at play, yet much of your turmoil ties back to him in some way, yes? While it may not bring you all the answers you seek, understanding him better might just grant you some clarity and closure that can aid your decision-making." Noticing a low-hanging branch that was about to smack Callum square in the face, Anora held it aside until he had passed and then let it fall back into place with a soft rustle. "You've already named him your stepfather's assassin as well as someone of significance to Rayla; what else can you figure out about him?"

"I don't know. I only encountered him once, and all he did was refuse to hear us out before fighting Rayla while she covered my brother and I's retreat with the egg. What else is there to say about him except that he is cruel and arrogant and close-minded?"

To Callum's surprise, Anora said nothing, but as he swiveled his head to look at her, a jolt shot through him when he found her staring him down, her lips curled into a little smirk and her brows arched ever so slightly. Her eyes reflected not condemnation but rather a blend of mild amusement and skepticism. She was calling bull on his shallow analysis, and what made the matter worse is that she knew that they both knew that she was right. If Callum truly saw things through so narrow a lens, the last place he would be was here, traveling with a party of elves and humans on a quest to return an abducted dragonling home even after all the pain the residents of Xadia and the human kingdoms had caused one another. He understood that the world and those who lived in it were not so superficial, and she was not going to let him get away with pretending otherwise.

He didn't want to think back to that night, his skin crawling and his throat constricting at the mere notion of it. Even so, he lifted his face towards the sky above with a sigh and allowed his mind to wander back, back the many miles they had come, back to the palace wall where those turquoise eyes had judged him as vermin without a second thought. However, the harsh gaze, that stern face, had slackened for an instant when Runaan first beheld the egg with his own eyes. Ever so briefly, the man beneath the warrior had been visible before being buried again, and as Callum studied those same eyes and remembered how that fierce voice had quivered as Rayla pleaded with Runaan once more, his breath caught in his throat.

"What is it, Callum?" Anora purred, her voice little more than a whisper as not to shatter the boy's delicate focus.

"He did hesitate actually; it wasn't for long but he did. I think...I think he was torn about what to do."

"Like you are now?" Anora let the question hang in the air for a moment before continuing, "Callum, do you think he might have been a bit afraid?"

"Afraid? But he's…" Callum stopped, his argument already crumbling apart on his tongue.

"What would he have to fear, Callum?" Anora prodded further, her head tilting slightly to one side as she waited patiently for him to mull everything over.

"He...he was the leader. He made the calls for the group. If he ordered something that was too risky and something bad happened, it would fall back on him-"

"What would fall back on him?"

"The responsibility and...and the guilt." Callum's expression suddenly soured again. "But how could he think that working together to bring Zym home was riskier than attacking a king with a palace full of soldiers who knew they were coming?"

"Perhaps it is not a question of greater risk but of unfamiliar risk. Runaan and the other assassins already understood and accepted the dangers of their mission. To abandon their original task in favor of working with humans to bring the Dragon Prince home would mean taking on new risks, some known but many unknown. If it had been only his well-being at stake, maybe he would have acted differently, but as the leader, he had to consider the welfare of the others also. I'm not saying that I completely agree with his choice, but I do understand it."

"I'm still not sure I do." Callum dragged his fingers rather roughly through his hair then let his arm drop limply back down to his side again. "Rayla knew the risks and cared about the other assassins too. How come she was still willing to take a chance and he wasn't?"

"Hope comes easier when one is young. When you live many years in a world that has been one way for a long time, it is easy to lose sight of how things could be and surrender oneself to what they are now. Like most, Runaan's perspective has been shaped by the longstanding bitterness between humans and Xadians, a resentment which neither side has been willing to try and lay to rest."

"You're not like that though."

Anora's gaze dropped to the ground, her kind features now marred by a rueful smile. "I wish that were true, but I fall short of such ideal virtue as well."

Callum made a face. "But you saved Maddie, even though she was a human…"

"You're right, and I have learned to trust a handful of other humans as well. That hardly means it comes naturally though. The me that you see now is the result of continuous effort on my part to grow despite my own deep-rooted fears and assumptions, and even now, after much hard work, some of those aversions have managed to endure."

"Is there really any chance of humans and elves ever truly reconciling then? I mean, you're one of the most open-minded elves I've met, so if you're still struggling that much, will Runaan or others like him ever be able to see things differently?" Callum's body felt very heavy all of a sudden, as though some phantom of the night had stolen past them and sapped his strength without him noticing until now. His stomach had also begun to ache like it did after he failed to block an attack from Soren during practice and received a wooden sword to the gut with a painful smack.

"Yes, I am a work in progress, young prince, but that in itself is proof of hope and the potential for change living on. I still struggle, yet because I have found not only hope but proof that affirms that hope, I press onward without fail."

"So Runaan needs proof that not all humans are bad? Proof other than the Dragon Prince being alive and well and two human princes being willing to return him home in hopes of preventing a war?"

Anora gave a small laugh. "Some of us are more stubborn than others."

"So how do I figure out what might convince Runaan to give humans a chance?"

"Perhaps Rayla could give you some ideas once you feel ready to talk to her about this."

"You two wrapping up with your juicy gossip? Because I think we're here, unless there's some other giant lake in this general direction with enough magical energy to make the cube thingy light up super bright like it is right now?"

Anora and Callum both felt their hearts perform a nosedive into their stomachs as they whipped their heads around to find Rayla standing not so far behind them, Zym atop her shoulder and crooning as she scratched the underside of his chin. Peering around the elf, Anora shot Maddie a pointed look from where she was lurking at least a yard behind the rest of the group and only received an apologetic smile paired with a nervous shrug from the redhead in response.

Positioning herself between Anora and Callum, Rayla wordlessly glanced from Callum's face to his satchel and then back again. Her expression was hard for him to read, appearing both impassive and irritated at the same time, and while Callum wanted to ask her just how much of their conversation she had heard, his mouth remained shut.

"I know you already gave me an answer but I'm going to ask you one more time: are you sure about this? That cube is something your father wanted you to have; we can search for some other magical artifact to trade with Castel."

Callum's gaze fell to his satchel just as his hand was reaching inside to retrieve the mysterious key, which was indeed glowing so brightly that its light was shining clean through the fabric. Drawing it out, he couldn't help but notice the comfortable warmth radiating from it along with a low, rather calming hum while it pulsed in his palm, and though the glow somewhat hurt his eyes, he just stared at it for awhile, his face distant while the heat mimicked the embrace of those strong but gentle arms he so missed as it crept its way throughout the rest of his body. Ever so briefly, his grip on the cube tightened, but it eventually went lax again.

"There isn't time to look for another artifact. This is what we have to do."

Circling around so she was directly in front of Callum, Anora slowly laid her hand on the cube. Once more, the prince's fingers latched firmly onto the tiny box, but eventually he permitted her to gradually slip it free from his grasp.

"I'm the only one here who is familiar with Castel's tricks, so I'll negotiate with him. It would be best for you three to wait up here-Wait, let me finish, Rayla-so he can't gain any more leverage than he already has by getting his grubby hands on you too. Maddie, do you have a hairpin on you?"

"What if something goes wrong while you're down there? How are we supposed to know so we can help?" Rayla protested as Anora carefully traced a rune onto her skin near the base of her neck before accepting the hairpin Madeleine offered to her. When she said nothing, merely offering her a morose look that left a dreary heaviness hanging over the group, the message was clear enough: were something to go wrong, there would be no helping her or Ezran. That would be it.

After brushing her bangs out of her eyes and securing them into place, Anora marched into the lake, only stopping to glance back at her companions who were crowding along the shore when the water had reached her waist. Despite her own thundering heart, she stood up a little straighter and flashed them a reassuring smile before diving beneath the surface, allowing the water to swallow her up.

[dyketectivecomics]

Since I’ve seen too much general bitching about this decision from the writers and not enough Thoughtful Analysis of what it actually means & ways it could be improved. I guess I’m gonna have to bite the fucking bullet and talk about this. So buckle up kiddos.

Here’s Why Zatanna & M’gann Giving Artemis ‘Closure’ Is The Most Interesting Thing to Happen to Them All Season. And One (1) Way It Can Be Improved: (under the cut bc im not a dick that’s gonna Force people to scroll for miles through analysis they don’t have any interest in reading. Just remember if you’re thinking of Reacting to this, i GAVE you that out)

Let’s talk about the Decision on the writers part for this first, and why everyone needs to set aside personal feelings about it. Conflict is needed to drive a plot. And sure, this conflict is only JUST being set up, but this is a wonderful opportunity to develop these three characters together now.

Say what you will about Miss M in the second season, whether you agreed or disagreed with her methods from then is irrelevant (it was mindwiping criminals to the point of leaving them in a vegetative state, just so we all recall. Which. Is a whole other topic to dive into at a different time). It created a Conflict, and a subplot, that was more or less resolved by the end. As little development as characters end up getting with such a huge cast, M’gann was still provided an inciting moment & points of progression throughout the season. It even became relevant to the overarching plot, which is ideally what a writer should be doing with the characters.

Developing the characters personally & interpersonally alongside the greater conflict that may be beyond the protagonists’ control. That is what Makes Stories Interesting. How you feel about those decisions is almost irrelevant. The fact that the writer got you to feel something, means that they’re working effectively. (Or that you might be over-involved/projecting onto the work/characters. Which can be valid, but like.. Take a breath & take a step back maybe if you find yourself getting genuinely bothered by the narrative/narrative decisions. There may be something Deeper at work there bro.)

Now, this situation between Zee & M’gann manipulating Artemis is similar, but not the same as M’gann’s conflict last season. And that’s an important distinction to make. All characters have made questionable decisions and well-intentioned manipulations of others. It’s an age-old, tried and true conflict to introduce. This is a wonderful grenade who’s pin has been pulled, and it’s either a matter of time before someone slips about the news, or something that’s being so carefully kept together begins to provide internal conflict for those In The Know.

M’gann’s already made questionable choices about manipulating the minds of others (again, see season 2), it’s been touched on how she’s altered the minds of those close to her (so far only with Conner before this new development of course), but that conflict and aftermath was never actually shown to us, the audience. Another difference to note, however, is that M’gann didn’t force Artemis through this situation. Zatanna was very clear that everything in Artemis’ mindscape was her own creation and own subconscious working through her grief towards a path of acceptance.

It was a manipulation, nonetheless, but we can wax poetic about intentions vs consequences till the cows come home. It’s happened, it’s done. Now the question needs to be about those consequences: how will Artie react to it, if she ever finds out about it? Hell, how would Conner reaction if/when he finds out? Other members of the team? Etc? Again, it doesn’t matter if you personally agree with her involvement, it’s all about how the decision develops these characters & their relationships to each other, and whether we agree with the effects and implications of these decisions.

So onto Zatanna’s involvement as well. Zatanna is a character who has also been molded by her ‘bad’ decisions. Similar to M’gann, she’s erased memories and altered personalities and manipulated more than her fair share of people. She’s taken justice into her own hands and doled it out with impunity. It’s not something everyone likes about her character, but it IS a part of her pre52 canon, and we can’t deny it’s there. So for the writers to have her do something similar, by giving her friend a chance to seek closure even if it may be at a cost, even if some might not consider it ‘real’, isn’t totally out of character given her history. (Just maybe out of character, given that YJ’s canon hasn’t given her much of one until now) Agree or don’t agree with the intentions writers have given her. They’re there now. And now she’ll have to live with the consequences.

So back to the archer herself, Artemis has been seen grieving Wally all season long. Many characters have gotten a chance to show their grief in their own ways. Very much to the point where it became obvious the entire season was leading up to this One Moment.

But saving this moment and this potential development till the end was the real Poor Decision.

Many fans were similarly mourning Wally’s death, and with the time jump in the show nearly matching the years it had taken to bring it back, showing the different types of grief the characters felt over the season was a wise move. But showing how they moved past it would be just as important. And giving Artemis closure, should have been a mid-season plot point, not an end-of-season one. It would have provided the audience a sense of closure and excitement for new opportunities from the narrative to come, would have given more of a punch when other characters grieved alongside us even after this closure (because grief is not a linear, over and done with thing), but providing the first step is just that. A First Step.

And to circle back to the conflict it would have provided between M’gann, Zee & Artemis, it would have created a good half-season of development as they each tiptoed around each other on the issue. Once again, a chance to further develop all of these characters & their relationship to one another, possibly even to the greater part of the teams as well. (For example, maybe mix it in by showing how Artemis handles a Betrayal, and giving a further connection for Tara to hold onto, truly Showing how anyone can be forgiven for even well-intentioned mistakes, or if they hadn’t wanted to subvert the usual Judas Contract narrative, further push Tara away by having Zee & M’gann’s choices condemned. But if that decision had been made, we’d be opening up a whole OTHER can of worms)

Whether we see this nugget of conflict potential actually come to fruition is another point all together. But knowing the likely time-jumps to occur for season four, the cast continuing to expand to unreasonable proportions, and the fact that even our Original Main Cast have become nothing more than overblown cameos at many points during this last season, I wouldn’t be holding my breath on this one.

[10reasonseuropeisbetterthan-blog]

For what reason Do We Choose to Travel?

Trains, transports and planes have been lately packed with adolescents having a knapsack or lodge gear and decided articulation. What are they looking for? What is their point and goal? It's an ideal opportunity to investigate the explanations behind this global mass migration.

You can't state that elderly folks individuals don't travel. I dare say, in any case, that the points of understudies and youngsters when all is said in done vary extensively from old gatherings. Possibly understudies need to escape over the outskirts by the new singularity picked up by our initial immaturity or our character framed after the wild time of pre-adulthood. Perhaps it is the unending condemnation of our folks about all that they couldn't do when they were our age. Perhaps it is the inclination of need to escape and liberate ourselves from everything simultaneously, perhaps we simply need to discover something to join ourselves to. Or then again what causes us to go is only the unimaginably modest flight admission for the adventure... anyplace. Where are understudies after all attempt to spare every penny.

Occasion undertakings

The youngsters who really plan their movement in any event a little for the most part go for finding and experience. Spots overflowing with life and individuals entice understudies, yet in addition then again, by betrayed scene of immaculate nature. While finding new places and getting a charge out of wild voyaging life there is nothing superior to anything a gathering of companions with whom you may share each insane detail you can see or the silliest thoughts you may have in transit. By the by, on the off chance that you don't have a gathering of 5 closest companions around,10 reasons Europe is better than USA for study abroad you will do fine and dandy with only one or even with your young lady/sweetheart. In spite of all the opportunity and loosen up cases of individuals who really travel alone, to me it's the saddest thing ever. Be straightforward and don't trick yourself... You simply need somebody to watch your stuff while you're in bathroom or to take image of you inclining to the Eiffel tower noticeable all around.

Worldwide examinations

In the event that we ignore occasion ventures looking for entertainment only and investigating, the following solid motivating force for getting away from our nation's limits are thinks about. Well... ponders. I' m not secure with different pieces of the world, however today in Europe the Erasmus program is getting a charge out of such a ubiquity! I'm truly apprehensive, that the measure of cash for this reason beginning in EU supports will be soon higher than all the bailouts for all obligated European economies inside and out. To discover an accomplice staff, to apply, to get a grant, to get your bag pressed and go vanquish the world? How cool is that? In addition, other than the general mindfulness made by the possibility of global work on lager or comparable rivalries, you can truly benefit from these trade programs regarding getting important information in courses that wouldn't be accessible in your college. Not referencing the reality you can at long last improve the mark of your language aptitudes saying "Familiar." Your CV can never show signs of improvement, right?

Working experience

At the point when the understudy begins to feel the moving toward end of his life (considers), it's an opportune time to begin adjusting. He/She frequently arrives at resolution that the examined hypothesis or the recognition itself may not dazzle the HR proficient as much true to form. All in all, what could hit the person in question? Experience, possibly. However, one can't discover them anyplace beneath the school work area. To get it's fundamental to think about partaking in entry level position, preparing or transient work programs. What's more, that is additionally a decent chance to spend another couple of months abroad, particularly, when you discover your nation exhausting. The understudies look for entry level position identified with their field of study or they browse potential outcomes in the goal nation of their inclination. The work and travel programs in Asia are mainstream recently. You can turn into a language instructor or the inn secretary effectively that way. The homestead occupations in Australia and expert entry level position in multinationals in America are the most needed also. The enormous piece of these present moment relocating diligent employees are the daring Au Pairs that don't mean to battle crocodiles or yellow fever, by the by, they battle all the more irritating shouting imps of occupied flippant guardians. In any case, every one of the issues and burdens are justified, despite all the trouble at last. All things considered, they'll see the world and get paid for that.

Life strategic

To travel to another country for long time or for a lifetime is without a doubt one of the most significant choices of your life. From my perspective one feels sort of life strategic may come up short on the ideal spot to acknowledge it. The possibility of fruitful bearer is the thing that calls us to outside nation, or nature would motivate you and bolster you expertly. I can envision the intrigue for nuclear physicist originating from CERN, Switzerland. We expect a similar fervor from style plan understudy, cutting edge Italy draws in him, or from a paleontologist yearning for the South American unearthings. On the off chance that the understudy's field of study is increasingly customary ( I'm attempting to maintain a strategic distance from the term standard), he frequently sets off toward the path "More significant compensation." If the possibility of material security drives us past the fringes, we typically have solid connection to our country and the individuals who we leave there. It is really conceivable that we may return one day. This is at any rate what they, who kiss us farewell on our way for wealth, think. The following explanation behind you to leave for good can likewise be love. You know how it functions, to begin to look all starry eyed at on summer occasions is so natural, particularly, when you at that point get the sentiment of being a sentimental legend, who endures in view of never-to-be love. Be that as it may, the vehicle cost is dropping continually in spite of the rising costs of the oil, so the story doesn't generally need to end in a grievous manner as in a novel. It's entirely typical, the world is loaded with multicultural families, bilingual kids and grandparents making a trip to visit their adored grandkids once every year. Lamentably, by the day's end, only one out of every odd from such romantic tales has a cheerful completion. Not excessively I would need to keep anybody from following his affection, let it all out!

[dysphoric-affect]

The End Of The Console Wars And The Dawn Of Unity

          Earlier this year, I watched in awe during the Video Game Awards as leaders from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo took the stage at the same time and delivered a joint address to those attending and watching at home. The platitudes were what you would expect and not in themselves groundbreaking - about what a great time it is to be a gamer and how exciting the future is right now - though not unwelcome and undoubtedly true. What was more meaningful in my mind is who the presenters were, what they represented individually and what their cooperating together - considering their background - to make that address symbolically represented: that the age of console wars is coming to an end and something else, something better for gamers and for the industry, is taking its place.

          The awe I felt stems from the fact that this is a far cry from the state of the industry not so long ago, when E3 press conferences, especially those of Microsoft and Sony, were not entirely dissimilar to war rooms. References to each other at that time were avoided at all cost, as if avoiding saying a vulgar word, with the competition only being invoked to point out how inferior what they offered was to the vastly superior console they had to offer. Hostility toward the competition was not only rife on their part, but felt encouraged to be had on the part of consumers loyal to their brand. And we took the bait.

          I’m embarrassed now to admit that I fell for this trap myself. I was an Xbox loyalist primarily, though because I grew up with Nintendo originally I had a soft spot for them as well. This made Sony the source of my own derision. With the original price tag on the PS3 and the eventually redacted “boomerang” controller design that console was initially slated to have, there was no shortage of fodder I felt given by Sony at the time to condemn their console. The trick is, criticism of those aspects of the console did have some objective validity, but there’s a fine line between making well-founded criticism based on rational thinking and deliberation from essentially accidentally supporting a valid negative position, but based purely from irrational, emotion-based brand loyalty which would have demanded I see what Sony offered as inferior regardless of the specific facts surrounding it.

          I feel especially embarrassed to have felt that way, because in life I have traditionally prided myself on being a rational thinker, but in that case, given my passion for the games industry I was easily led away from it. Thankfully that was as far as such sentiment ever got with me, but the capability was always there for that to spill over into applying such irrationality and emotion-based decision making in other areas of consideration about institutions in society. This was the great unspoken, and perhaps unidentified, insidious nature of what was going on at that time in the games industry: irrational hostility was being fostered, and once that’s been justified in one area of our life, it’s not difficult for such thinking to be applied and justified in other areas of our life, which in the longer term stands to have damaging repercussions for the society we impact. It wasn’t until I matured into an adult as well as gained a personal interest in philosophy that I became able to look back and realize the significance of the implications this toxic atmosphere stood to have.

          Real change in the industry in relation to these attitudes only truly started to occur however once those in the industry matured and changed their approach, as was probably always destined to be the case. As the negative culture in the past was brought out by those within the game industry in the first place, for better or worse it means the responsibility in turn had to fall on them to undue that kind of thinking and replace it with new, more positive vision. Thankfully, the effort to do so now seems to be in full motion.

          The advent of this finally began to occur with the advent of the concept of cross-play. We have taken if for granted for a long time that while we may be part of a fan base for game or series much larger than the player count of just those experiencing it on the same console we own, we can’t share in enjoyment of it with that larger community. Imagine, it was presented to us, those arbitrary barriers were now gone. Each fan could play with every single other fan of something they love, with community surrounding a game or series being built more within the actual games rather than without. It’s an extremely seductive concept, the seduction not due to any particular way the idea is presented, but simply intrinsic to the nature of the idea itself.

          Making the prospect all the more tantalizing was it being pointed out that it wasn’t a goal that needed to be worked for...the opportunity is already here. The backend networking for multiplayer or co-op between different hardware presents its challenges and necessary effort, but is entirely doable. Developers can make it happen and want to. Gamers, in one of the few cases of near universal agreement they’ve had, want it to happen, too. It remains only for those behind the different console brands to want to. The deciding factor preventing us from having a more connected and happier gaming community is no technical challenge: it is a simple act of will.

          Unfortunately, immediate consensus wasn’t to be, as Sony showed initial reluctance to the idea. The reasoning presented only served to exacerbate the general frustration at not making universal cross-play a reality: Sony was concerned about maintaining the integrity of the online experience of their brand. This explanation rang hollow to most, however. Microsoft has long been lauded for having the most solid and consistent online experience, though Sony has certainly improved dramatically in relation to their own, so the idea that connection to their service would be a liability rather than at least a non-concern and at most an asset even came across as fundamentally nonsensical.

          This being an issue was also compounded by a series of well-publicized hacks of the PlayStation Network that have occurred in the past; while Xbox Live has seen its on issues, the number and severity of the attacks in Playstation’s case create greater alarm. With this being the case, it would seem if anyone had cause to be concerned about connecting themselves to another, it would be on the part of Microsoft and Nintendo toward Sony, not the other way around. For it to be the other way around in spite of this felt like petty standoffishness stemming from the old days of the console wars rather than having any basis in reality or the interests of gamers...including PlayStation fans.

          That is one final point that rested against Sony’s philosophy of resistance, perhaps the strongest and arguably the only point that mattered: Sony’s own fans supported the change. It stands to reason there’s an impetus to make fans of the brand satisfied, so when the majority themselves are calling for that change, is it not worth considering its merits seriously rather than dismissing it out of hand? Add in the incident of the temporary cross-play enabling for Destiny, and the intensity of seeing that feature become a new norm in the industry became all the stronger.

          While Sony was making their decision, we saw the beginning of a broader change toward cross-play support anyway. Fortnite, Minecraft and Rocket League presented three of the more noteworthy examples of the cross-play concept manifesting as a reality, given the runaway popularity of those titles, but numerous other examples sprang up as well. Minecraft’s case was a particularly interesting one in that it saw the achievement of a different milestone, with Nintendo and Microsoft co-backing the production of an ad about their two consoles being able to work together. I’m not ashamed to admit watching that ad made me a bit emotional. I don’t even play Minecraft myself, but what it represented - about the gaming community coming together more - is really powerful to my mind and extremely encouraging as a gamer who always wants to see the industry get better not just in what it makes for us to play, but in the ideals it represents and promotes.

          Flash forward a bit, and we have the VGA’s mentioned at the start and a welcome change of tune from Sony, symbolically represented in the VGA presentation but more literally represented in a number of stories about them getting on board with the idea and even being in direct talks with Microsoft in relation to future ventures. Meanwhile, Microsoft has expressed an interest in expanding access to games that have traditionally been an Xbox experience beyond that console itself. They have candidly expressed their interest in making all future games of theirs available for PC simultaneously, which is certainly well within the realm of theoretical possibility given Microsoft’s ownership of the Windows OS most computers run on. And yet...even this isn’t the limit of where they’ve expressed interest in having their titles reach. Just recently, they’ve elaborated on this philosophy of expansion by emphasizing there is a more vested interest in people playing their games than in playing on the Xbox console specifically. For example, that interest goes so far as that they’ve expressed interest in bringing Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PlayStation.

          This is, in many ways, the best example of this industry-wide change in philosophy I’ve been discussing. I’ll admit, in the spirit of full disclosure, to being a long-time and avid Halo fan, but when I make that statement it isn’t about complimenting that franchise or Microsoft. What I am directing attention to is the fact that Halo, which has always been Microsoft’s flagship franchise for Xbox and closely associated with its success, is something they are willing to pass access to to players on their competitors’ console. This idea was so beyond inconceivable during that period not long ago I alluded to, that if you had presented the idea as a serious possibility, you’d have been considered an idiot, or insane. But now, it’s an idea that’s had interest expressed by Microsoft at the executive level.

          Those players on PlayStation are the key factor of note here, though. It isn’t about Microsoft and Sony becoming best friends, though they seem to be getting along better all the time, which is sure to be a boon for gamers in the future in as yet unknown ways. It is about simply letting players play the games they want. Gaming, like so many pastimes, can be an expensive one, and locking gamers out of access to numerous quality experiences deserving of being explored by all because they can’t reasonably justify - or literally can’t afford - the price tag of another console needed to access those experiences is a shame, and antithetical to the spirit of connectedness and community the gaming culture, at its best, strives to be about.

          Destroying these arbitrary and artificial barriers and instead working collaboratively on ways to bring the global gaming community ever closer together, as a family, is the rightful course toward which the industry should be directing itself. And, who knows...maybe in the process of fostering this spirit of inclusion, the game industry can get some of that positive spirit to rub off on those who play games and get them in turn to be more inclusive of others in the world outside of the games. And the world beyond gaming isn’t so different from the world of gaming in that one respect: both are much richer for getting others in on our fun. 

          So keep it up, video game industry. We all came to play after all, so let’s ALL play. Cheers.

[stampederealty]

Don’t Be THAT Client

As a licensed real estate agent, it’s my duty to walk clients through the process of buying or selling homes, renting apartments, building homes, buying land, getting financing in order, the works. The rewarding part of the job is looking at the smiles and joy on clients’ faces as they are handed the keys, a phone book stack of papers, and their closing gift from myself, the builder, sometimes even the sellers. That’s the beautiful HGTV version of real estate. The dark side of real estate, however, is deals that fall apart, agents who don’t answer calls or emails, clients that no show appointments, underwriters favorite phrase “we have a problem”, the works. You think some of the clients on your favorite show is something, allow me to introduce you to some of the clients you should never aspire to be...

1) OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD

We can tell you how stressful the experience of buying or selling a home can be, and we also understand that you may need to blow off some steam. However, yelling at your agent, your loan officer, the inspectors, the people at the model home, that just doesn’t serve a purpose. Even though a lot of us in real estate have thick skin and can take it, I consider the people I work with as family, a dysfunctional family, but family, and I will not stand for them being disrespected. If you need to unwind I’m always up to taking clients on my walks or punching bag at the gym, but my team isn’t where you do your decompression at. 

2) 20% OFF A $50 PURCHASE

I’m sure you’ve seen this one in a meme before, the client was almost ready to close on a home, then went and opened another line of credit, or bought a $50k vehicle, or made some huge withdrawal from the bank, or closed an account on their credit. Seen it happen, and seen instances where that client lost the deal because their credit went down, or they suddenly didn’t have the money for the closing costs, etc. When your agent tells you not to do something, listen to them, there’s a reason we are saying it, and we’re not trying to be your mom (or in my case, dad). This includes not changing jobs, careers, starting a business, getting a divorce, filing for bankruptcy (YES, THIS HAPPENED) while awaiting your closing date on your home. Hey, speaking of what your agent told you...

3) YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU’RE NOT MY DAD

Every agent has their process of how they work, it’s the best way of getting you from pre-approved to the closing table as quickly as possible. Some clients, well, they just like to do things their own way without questioning what the consequences are, then get highly upset when their agent has to deliver the bad news that their dream will be delayed. Things that can also delay you getting into a home is how fast you move when things need to get done, like getting paperwork signed, documents submitted, getting to home showings on time, communicating in a timely manner with your agent and loan officer. Once we have a contract in and accepted, your agent and loan officer will make it clear what to do and what not to do, these are NOT suggestions, these are things that can stop everything in their tracks, and turn you into example one.

4) THE OVERDRAMATIC COUPLE

What’s worse than one client who goes into Shakespearean levels of dramatic acting when there’s something wrong that’s seemingly miniscule? Try the husband and wife couple that can find something wrong with anything. You know that couple you see on House Hunters where the house is brand new, upgrades galore, $500k below appraised price, but they don’t want it because they’d have to paint all the walls? Yes, 5 cans of paint, 3 rollers, 3 paint brushes, some drop cloth, and blue tape is all that’s stopping you from getting a steal of a deal? Ok, that was a bit of a dramatization itself, but yes I’ve had that client as well, and if that doesn’t run you off to cry over a bottle of wine...

5) BUT ZILLOW SAID...

…..NO! ZILLOW IS WRONG! Ok, so Zillow a great tool to look up homes, get a feel for the neighborhood, find a licensed agent, find a loan officer, but Zillow is NOT the place to go to for knowing what your home is worth. Yes, I know, it’s awesome going on and seeing your home value go up month after month and you get excited, but once you come back down to Earth for some air, the best way to know what your home is truly worth is by consulting with a licensed agent to run a Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA, on your home. More goes into the value of your home than just the algorithm of a website, like improvements or lack thereof, upkeep of the home, the neighbors upkeep of their home, supply and demand, past sales prices in neighborhood. Once again, Zillow is an excellent tool at some things, however, ZILLOW IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A LICENSED REAL ESTATE AGENT!

6) WELL I SAW ON HGTV THAT...

You think hearing what Zillow showed is an annoyance, yeah, tell your agent anything about HGTV and eyes will roll into the back of their head fast. HGTV is for entertainment purposes only, you can learn a couple of great design ideas (like how grey walls go with the grey backsplash that goes with the grey flooring that goes with the grey countertops that goes with the grey fireplace that goes with the grey carpet that goes with the grey shower tile), and the G is about as useless as the G in lasagna. You’re not going to see 3 homes, pick 1, then bust through the walls in 30 minutes. We’re not going to show you a home well above your budget then show you 2 homes that should be condemned (unless that’s what you want to see, then that’s what we’ll show you). Now things they do depict well are the budgeting of home renovation projects, the fact you need a contingency budget in case anything arises, but I’m going to say that around 75% of what you see on HGTV and other shows is entertainment, about the same as what you’d see on a lot of reality TV shows.

7) BUT OUR FRIEND WHO BOUGHT A HOUSE SAID...

Ok, listen to me, pretty please? This is coming straight from a person who has helped many people buy and sell their home...EVERY TRANSACTION IS DIFFERENT! Just like no 2 people are alike, no 2 transactions will go the exact same, even in similar circumstances. Let’s take a set of twins, same neighborhood, houses right next to each other, same real estate agent, same lender, same money down, the terms will be different for both. With different lenders, different programs with varying requirements, and real estate being different county to county, state to state, just because your friend was able to obtain their home $0 down, $0 closing costs with a 3.25% interest rate does not mean you will get the exact same terms. Your agent and loan officer will work hard to get the best deal for you and your situation, but results are not typical. 

[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet: Peter Atkinson

PETER ATKINSON is a NYC-based actor and teacher. (petercalvinatkinson.com and peteatkinson@gmail.com) CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): What brought you to NYC, and where did you come from?

PETER ATKINSON (PA): I came to NYC in Fall 2017, to train in Columbia University's MFA Acting program. For two years before that, I was founding a Shakespearean theater program down in Florida at a Catholic high school. Eventually I realized I needed to be practicing the craft and not just teaching it!

CAC: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist? What do you see as your personal mission as a Catholic working in the arts?

PA: I think that art helps us encounter our interior wounds in a visceral way. Without God, that artistic encounter with those wounds either turns to nihilism or to a mistaken celebration of those wounds (without calling them wounds). I think our faith is challenging us to encounter those wounds, call them by name, and remain with those wounds as God heals us. (Without a spiritual director or a spiritual community to support this, I've found it almost impossible to do that!)

I love theater because it can expose the raw condition of humanity - our great need for love and acceptance, the horrible things we do to try and fill that hole, the beautiful potential for self-sacrificial love and redemption. What is most beautiful to me is when Jesus surprises us by meeting that need with his own presence.

If anything, I hope that my work renews in people the hope that their hearts might be fulfilled. It's certainly been my experience that my journey in the arts has led to a deeper healing of my heart and a continuing encounter with God through the Catholic faith.

I suppose that being an artist is about being authentically present in the world in a revealing, vulnerable way - and hopefully, if you're a Catholic, that would necessarily communicate your yearning for God, right?

CAC: Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

PA: Cole Matson was a wonderful welcoming presence in the city. Because of his Catholic Artists NYC meet-up, I worked with a Catholic playwright, ended up reading for a director, and starred in an off-broadway show at the Sheen Center!

Storm Theatre has been a huge support, as they cast me as Richard in their production of 'Ah, Wilderness!' at the Sheen Center. It was incredible to leave rehearsal and be able to stop in the Sheen Center's chapel to pray for a bit afterwards.

Quite a few priests have been incredibly supportive as well - both in spiritual direction, mentorship, hosting readings of plays, etc. etc. I'm so grateful to the spiritual community that the Church has provided for me.

Additionally, if I wasn't living at Ford Hall, I'm not sure I could afford the city! Ford Hall is a Catholic house for graduate students at Columbia University. We have the Eucharist in the chapel in our upper room, Mass said weekly in the house, and the cost of living is subsidized somewhat. Ford Hall has given me a Catholic family to come back to in NYC.

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

PA: Almost all of my fellow artists in NYC are not Catholic. Pretty much all of them have been extremely respectful of my faith, though there have been some instances of being yelled at in disbelief that I believed in God when they saw my Ash Wednesday ashes.

I've found that the artistic training has deepened my experience of my faith and of prayer, regardless of the personal beliefs of any given teacher. Most of my experience has been that professional actors and artists are more interested in the craft and creating a piece of work than in condemning your faith.

One of my classmates actually came to Ash Wednesday Mass with me this past week - it's a gift to be able to befriend fellow artists and witness to the 'normalcy' (in a sense) of Catholicism. I think many lapsed Catholic have been 'burned' by their experience of faith and of religious institutions and simply befriending them and sharing life with them can be a powerful witness to the goodness of the Catholic faith.

But, fundamentally, I don't look to fellow artists to support my faith as much as I depend on my faith (particularly in Eucharistic adoration) to be the bedrock of my life.

CAC: How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

PA: Pay artists attention. That's it.

Whether it's through paying artists financially, hosting get-togethers for artists to connect, having priests and religious preach about art, or whatever - making artists feel important and heard in the cultural life of the Church is fundamental.

But I don't mean the liturgy. Often people think "art in the Church" means felt banners or Gregorian chant - but since 90% of a Catholic's life is spent outside the Church's walls, it's important to nurture a Catholic culture in the marketplace, on Broadway, and in schools, etc.

I think one a major shift in American Catholicism has been the Magnificat, published by the Dominicans. Because of its focus on art, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are contemplating pieces of the artistic vision of the faith every week. They've had many reflections about the importance of being an artist and the artistic vocation - it's been incredibly useful and encouraging!

CAC: How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

PA: Don't equate politics with religion or religion with politics. When people assume that they fully understand a person's views or feelings because of their creed, there's no room for relationship, much less conversation.

However, my experience has actually been very positive. Most every person I've met has been welcoming of my faith and curious about my beliefs.

But perhaps if the art world didn't caricature every religious group that it encounters, that might be an improvement. I think that theater could do a better job of taking the big questions seriously. Right now my impression is that there's a continual wallowing in pleasurable nihilism. I totally get it - it's an option. But it's not my choice and I'd like to hear some voices that propose real, challenging answers to questions like: is there a purpose to life? Is there evil? How can God be good in this world of suffering?

Those would make for some good drama. Right now it can sometimes feel like every New York theater show has a predictable set of moral conclusions it must reach. It would be refreshing and challenging to see a show that held open the possibility of God, wasn't caught in some predetermined Hegelian idea of progressive history, and maybe thought that maybe Freud wasn't the greatest.

But that might just be me!

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment? Do you participate in any church groups you would recommend to others?

PA: Because I live in Ford Hall, I am lucky enough to have Jesus as my roommate. Just down the hall there is a chapel with the Eucharist present, where I pray morning and evening prayer. Having a Catholic family to live with has been a beautiful gift to have in NYC. I also teach CCD at Annunciation Parish on Convent Avenue which is right across from my studios. And my spiritual director at Xavier Parish has been incredible for me.

I would encourage any Catholic in NYC to teach CCD at a Church near them. It only takes a few hours on Sunday and it constantly reminds me of how powerful learning about the faith can be. Without passing on the faith, some of these kids would never have the chance to come to know God - it's such a gift to help pass it on!

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find artistic fulfillment? Where do you go to get inspired?

PA: Training at Columbia University has been my main artistic work in the city for some time. Since I started my MFA program in 2017, I've been working 9-5pm every day to deepen my work. Besides that, I've been lucky enough to help teach at the Atlantic Theater Company and worked with a few theater companies in the city.

I've also trained as a teaching artist at Roundabout Theatre in Times Square. Their educational program is incredible! I'm traveling to a few schools over Spring Break to help teach workshops in classrooms, using Roundabout's work as a framework for these schools.

To get inspired, I simply slow down and meditate. A meditation practice in NYC is - for me - essential. It's counter-intuitive to the pace NYC asks you to run at, but it's essential with getting back in touch with your own heart and humanity.

CAC: How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist living in NYC?

PA: Ford Hall has been a god-send. But besides that, I've gone to theology on tap, a few summer Love and Responsibility talks, and other events. The young adult mailing list for the archdiocese is great and there are simply too many events to attend - but make as many as you can!

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice? And if you have a spiritual director, how did you find that person?

PA: I get up at 5am and try to spend one holy hour in Eucharistic adoration. Often I'll journal, read two books that I'm working my way through, and read a selection of the Bible (I'm trying to read through it in one year!).

My spiritual director is at Xavier Parish and I simply pulled him aside after Mass for confession - I've always been fearless about grabbing priests for a quick confession. Well, within 5 minutes both of us were weeping and we both felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, so I figured I should probably stick with this guy for a while and emailed him later to be my confessor. It's been a wonderful gift!

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice? And what are your recommendations to other artists for practicing their craft daily?

PA: I do a one hour vocal or physical warm-up every day, usually led by a Columbia University teacher. It's based in either Feldenkrais movement work or in Linklater vocal work. I also record every single one, so I have over one hundred warm-ups recorded. I'm preparing for graduation day, so that I can just listen to the warm-up recordings and use them to continue my warm-up practice throughout my life.

But I think the single most important practice is 'arriving exercises' or meditation practice. Anything to get you present in your body and out of the judgmental frame of mind.

CAC: Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist. What happened, and what brought you the most joy?

PA: Hoo boy - well, I guess this would have been when I was performing in 'Ah, Wilderness!' I woke up, went to a men's prayer group up town, came back down and had lunch with some Catholic friends who were visiting from out of town, and then performed two shows back to back!

I think the most joy I had was in registering how much progress I've made in my craft since I came to the city. It's easy to be discouraged as an artist in the city - or anywhere I guess - but it's truly gratifying to see how years of work start to enable you to artistically do things that you couldn't do before.

Of course, there's leagues to go before I'm anywhere near satisfied with my work (Martha Graham's "divine dissatisfaction" amiright?) but that was an exciting day!

CAC: You actually live in NYC? How!?

PA: Living in Ford Hall helps with rent, meal planning for food, and never eating out. Harlem is a great area and the commute is totally fine.

I found Ford Hall through an undergraduate friend of mine who connected me. Use your connections in the city! Seriously - this city runs on personal connections.

CAC: But seriously, how do you make a living in NYC?

PA: I work two jobs while in graduate school - both jobs through Columbia University. I'm also launching an educational non-profit company right now, but that won't be profitable for a few years anyways.

My hope is to make a full-time living from my art in about 5 years. Realistically, it takes time to build up reputation, get a network, and start to 'take off.' Hopefully it'll happen sooner, but I'm fine with being young, scrappy, and hungry for a while anyways.

CAC: How much would you suggest artists moving to NYC budget for their first year?

PA: You can make it by with about $25,000 - but that's a huge struggle. I would say $30,000 realistically.

CAC: What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in NYC?

PA: Jordan Puhala is the best headshot photographer (she's on facebook). Ray's Barbershop is the best barbershop. Email me for the best dentist, ENT doctor, podiatrist, and skin doctor - seriously. Or you could just use ZocDoc for that - it's an incredible app to find doctors in NYC!

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists moving to NYC?

PA: 1. Research the Catholic groups in NYC before you come and reach out to find about events. NYC can be incredibly lonely when you get here first - find your people! 2. Know your finances really really well - once that's not a stress-point, NYC gets a lot easier. 3. Get a spiritual director in the city! NYC is a hard city to live in sometimes - it's loud, it's brash, and it has every temptation known to man. Your spiritual life will either deepen *a lot* or get real shallow. Set yourself up to deepen your faith by getting resources to protect yourself with!

[l0oking-glass]

PROFILE - Part Three: Psychological Profiling

In the previous week you read an introduction on how to study an individual's use of language and micro-expressions to understand what they really think. In this part you will get introduced to profiling an individual's psychology in order to find out their motivations and primal instinct. There are a few things to consider in order to frame our minds for psychological profiling. This is not going to be a compilation of undeniable truths about the human psyche. This article will not tell you how to manipulate your friends (nor does this article condone manipulation). It will, however, give you the information to accurately predict decisions of and understand more deeply the minds of others. Nothing here is a copy and paste diagnosis (nor is anything ever). Psychological profiling takes effort and time to understand the individual at hand. That’s my caveat, now onto the good stuff.

Psychological profiling involves an understanding in 3 areas of the mind: Personality Patterns & Disorders, Mental Functioning, and Symptom Patterns (which we will not be discussing here).

PERSONALITY PATTERNS & DISORDERS

Personality refers to what one is rather than what one has. And what one is made up of 2 angles of observing: Patterns and Disorders. Technically both are the same thing, just different ways of viewing. 

Personality Patterns

Personality patterns refer to temperaments and typing systems. There are a ton of personality systems and quizzes that would group you in any number of ways. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, and each one works in slightly differing capacities. Let’s take a look at the top 3 personality systems:

Meyers Briggs Type Indicator: Types individuals based on semi-binary statuses within 4 spectrums having to do with world view and data processing.

Extroverted vs Introverted - (energy source) High extroversion is often perceived as attention-seeking, and domineering. Low extroversion causes a reserved, reflective personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed.

Intuition vs Sensing - (information management) Reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety a person has.

Thinking vs Feeling - (decision making) Tendency to make decisions based on analytical data vs moral data.

Judging  vs Perceiving - (planning structure) Tendency to be organised and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behaviour.

OCEAN (aka the Big 5): Types individuals based on high, medium, and low statuses within 5 behavioural spectrums.

Openness to experience - (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious) Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety a person has.

Conscientiousness - (efficient/organised vs. easy-going/careless)  Tendency to be organised and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behaviour.

Extroversion - (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)  High extroversion is often perceived as attention-seeking, and domineering. Low extroversion causes a reserved, reflective personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed.

Agreeableness - (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached)  Tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of one's trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is generally well-tempered or not.

Neuroticism - (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident) The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse control and is sometimes referred to by its low pole, "emotional stability".

Enneagram Type: Types individuals based on healthy and unhealthy behavioural loops originating in basic desire/fear within a world view.

Type 1: Reformer - (The world is an imperfect place. I work toward improvement )  Basic Desire: to be right; Basic Fear: of being condemned. 

Type 2: Helper - (People depend on my help. I am needed) Basic Desire: to be loved; Basic Fear: of being unloved

Type 3: Motivator - (The world values a champion. Avoid failure at all costs.) Basic Desire: to be admire ; Basic Fear: of being rejected

Type 4: Romantic - (Something's missing. Others have it. I'm different from them because I don't) Basic Desire: to understand self ; Basic Fear: of being defective

Type 5: Thinker - (The world is invasive and confusing. I need privacy to think) Basic Desire: to understand the world; Basic Fear: of being overwhelmed by the world

Type 6: Sceptic - (The world is a threatening place. I need to look to authority, but I question it.)  Basic Desire: to be secure; Basic Fear: of being abandoned

Type 7: Enthusiast - (The world is full of opportunity and options. I look forward to the future.) Basic Desire: to be happy; Basic Fear: of being deprived

Type 8: Leader - (The world is an unjust place. I am strong and I defend the innocent.)  Basic Desire: to be self-reliant; Basic Fear: of submitting to others

Type 9: Peace Maker - (My efforts won't matter to the world. It's best to keep the peace.) Basic Desire: to find union and peace; Basic Fear: of separation

Personality Disorders

Personality disorders have an unfortunate association tied to the overall concept. Yes, high degree and severe personality disorders are potentially harmful and may destroy countless relationships and/or form equally unhealthy coping mechanisms; however, not all occurrences of personality disorders are high degree or severe. In fact, what if I told you that these so called “disorders” help us function in sane and healthy capacities. A disorder is just a way of articulating natural albeit somewhat unhealthy tendencies. All personality disorders are derived from a basic emotional need that hasn’t been met, most commonly love and compassion. So you could call a high-functioning individual, who has slight tendencies of Schizoid Personality Disorder as having a Schizoid type personality. It’s a natural grouping of personality clusters within various range and adequacy of functioning.

Cluster A personality disorders

Cluster A personality disorders are characterised by odd, eccentric thinking or behaviour. They include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder.

Paranoid personality disorder

Pervasive distrust and suspicion of others and their motives

Unjustified belief that others are trying to harm or deceive you

Unjustified suspicion of the loyalty or trustworthiness of others

Hesitancy to confide in others due to unreasonable fear that others will use the information against you

Perception of innocent remarks or nonthreatening situations as personal insults or attacks

Angry or hostile reaction to perceived slights or insults

Tendency to hold grudges

Unjustified, recurrent suspicion that spouse or sexual partner is unfaithful

Schizoid personality disorder

Lack of interest in social or personal relationships, preferring to be alone

Limited range of emotional expression

Inability to take pleasure in most activities

Inability to pick up normal social cues

Appearance of being cold or indifferent to others

Little or no interest in having sex with another person

Schizotypal personality disorder

Peculiar dress, thinking, beliefs, speech or behavior

Odd perceptual experiences, such as hearing a voice whisper your name

Flat emotions or inappropriate emotional responses

Social anxiety and a lack of or discomfort with close relationships

Indifferent, inappropriate or suspicious response to others

"Magical thinking" — believing you can influence people and events with your thoughts

Belief that certain casual incidents or events have hidden messages meant only for you

Cluster B personality disorders

Cluster B personality disorders are characterized by dramatic, overly emotional or unpredictable thinking or behavior. They include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.

Antisocial personality disorder

Disregard for others' needs or feelings

Persistent lying, stealing, using aliases, conning others

Recurring problems with the law

Repeated violation of the rights of others

Aggressive, often violent behavior

Disregard for the safety of self or others

Impulsive behavior

Consistently irresponsible

Lack of remorse for behavior

Borderline personality disorder

Impulsive and risky behavior, such as having unsafe sex, gambling or binge eating

Unstable or fragile self-image

Unstable and intense relationships

Up and down moods, often as a reaction to interpersonal stress

Suicidal behavior or threats of self-injury

Intense fear of being alone or abandoned

Ongoing feelings of emptiness

Frequent, intense displays of anger

Stress-related paranoia that comes and goes

Histrionic personality disorder

Constantly seeking attention

Excessively emotional, dramatic or sexually provocative to gain attention

Speaks dramatically with strong opinions, but few facts or details to back them up

Easily influenced by others

Shallow, rapidly changing emotions

Excessive concern with physical appearance

Thinks relationships with others are closer than they really are

Narcissistic personality disorder

Belief that you're special and more important than others

Fantasies about power, success and attractiveness

Failure to recognize others' needs and feelings

Exaggeration of achievements or talents

Expectation of constant praise and admiration

Arrogance

Unreasonable expectations of favors and advantages, often taking advantage of others

Envy of others or belief that others envy you

Cluster C personality disorders

Cluster C personality disorders are characterised by anxious, fearful thinking or behaviour. They include avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Avoidant personality disorder

Too sensitive to criticism or rejection

Feeling inadequate, inferior or unattractive

Avoidance of work activities that require interpersonal contact

Socially inhibited, timid and isolated, avoiding new activities or meeting strangers

Extreme shyness in social situations and personal relationships

Fear of disapproval, embarrassment or ridicule

Dependent personality disorder

Excessive dependence on others and feeling the need to be taken care of

Submissive or clingy behavior toward others

Fear of having to provide self-care or fend for yourself if left alone

Lack of self-confidence, requiring excessive advice and reassurance from others to make even small decisions

Difficulty starting or doing projects on your own due to lack of self-confidence

Difficulty disagreeing with others, fearing disapproval

Tolerance of poor or abusive treatment, even when other options are available

Urgent need to start a new relationship when a close one has ended

*Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Preoccupation with details, orderliness and rules

Extreme perfectionism, resulting in dysfunction and distress when perfection is not achieved, such as feeling unable to finish a project because you don't meet your own strict standards

Desire to be in control of people, tasks and situations, and inability to delegate tasks

Neglect of friends and enjoyable activities because of excessive commitment to work or a project

Inability to discard broken or worthless objects

Rigid and stubborn

Inflexible about morality, ethics or values

Tight, miserly control over budgeting and spending money

*Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is not the same as obsessive-compulsive disorder, a type of anxiety disorder.

MENTAL FUNCTIONING

The following are the various aspects of the mental functioning of the human mind. Two terms to help you get through:

Affect is a concept used in psychology to describe the experience of feeling or emotion. Affect mediates an organism's interaction with stimuli. The word also refers sometimes to affect display, which is "a facial, vocal, or gestural behaviour that serves as an indicator of affect”.

Somatic refers to Somatic theory which is a theory of human social behaviour based loosely on the somatic marker hypothesis of António Damásio, which proposes a mechanism by which emotional processes can guide (or bias) behaviour, particularly decision-making.

Capacity for Regulation, Attention, Learning

Underlines fundamental processes that enable human beings to attend to and learn from their experiences.

Consider constitutional and maturational contributions, including:

Auditory processing and language

Visual-spatial processing

Motor planning and sequencing

Sensory modulation

and related capacities for:

Executive functioning

Memory (working, declarative, and non-declarative)

Attention

Overall intelligence

Processing affective and social cues

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Focused, organised, and able to learn most of the time, even under stress.

Focused, organised, calm, and able to learn except when over- or understimulated (e.g., noisy, active, or very dull setting); challenged to use a vulnerable skill (e.g., a person with weak fine motor skills is asked to write rapidly); or ill, anxious, or under stress.

Only when very interested, motivated, or captivated can attend, be calm, and learn for short periods and to limited degree (i.e., has problems with language, motor, or visual-spacial processing).

Attention is fleeting (a few seconds here or there) and/or is very active, agitated, or mostly self-absorbed, and/or lethargic or passive. Learning capacity is severely limited due to multiple “processing” difficulties.

Capacity for Relationships and Intimacy

Including depth, range, and consistency.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Deep, emotionally rich capacity for intimacy, caring, and empathy, even when feelings are strong or under stress in a variety of expectable contexts.

Intimacy, caring, and empathy are present but disrupted by strong emotions and wishes such as anger or separation anxiety (e.g., person withdraws or acts out).

Superficial and need-oriented, lacking intimacy and empathy.

Indifferent to others or aloof and withdrawn.

Quality of Internal Experience (Level of Self-Regard)

Attempts to capture an individuals level of confidence and self-regard that characterises an individual’s relationship to others and the larger world.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Sense of well-being, vitality, and realistic self-esteem. Present even when under stress.

Sense of well-being, vitality, and realistic self-esteem. Disrupted by strong emotions or stress, but with eventual recovery of feelings of well-being.

Feelings of depletion, emptiness, and incompleteness, along with self-involvement unless experiences are nearly “perfect”. Self-esteem is vulnerable.

Depletion, emptiness, incompleteness and self-involvement dominate.

Affective Experience, Expression, & Communication

Individuals ability to express the full range of pre-representational and representational patterns of affects.

Note: The following descriptions combine the individual’s capacity to experience, comprehend, and express affects. Some individuals are relatively stronger or weaker in either affect comprehension or affective expression. Similarly, individuals differ in the way they express or comprehend affects through gestures, such as facial expressions or voice tone, as well as with words. These unique patterns should be captured in the narrative characterising the individual.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning 

Most of the time uses  wide range of subtle emotions and wishes in a purposeful manner, even under stress. Reads and responds to most emotional signals flexibly and accurately even when under stress (e.g., comprehends safety vs. danger, approval vs. disapproval, acceptance vs. rejection, respect vs. humiliation, partial anger, etc.).

Often purposeful and organised, but not with a full range of emotional expressions (e.g., seeks out others for closeness and warmth with appropriate glances, body posture, and the like, but becomes chaotic, fragmented, or aimless when very angry). Often accurately reads and responds to a range of emotional signals, except in certain circumstances involving selected emotions and wishes, very strong emotions and wishes, or stress.

Some need-oriented, purposeful islands of behaviour and emotional expressions. No cohesive larger integrated emotional patterns. In selected relationships can read basic intentions of others (such as acceptance or rejection), but unable to read subtle cues (e.g., respect, pride, or partial anger).

Mostly aimless, fragmented, unpurposeful emotional expressions (e.g., no purposeful grins, smiles, or reaching out with body posture for warmth or closeness). Distorts the intentions of others (e.g., misreads cues and therefore feels suspicious, mistreated, unloved, angry, etc.).

Defensive Patterns & Capacities

Highlights the way the individual attempts to cope with and alter wishes, affect, and other experiences, and the degree to which he or she distorts experience in the process.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Demonstrates an optimal capacity to experience a broad range of thoughts, affects, and relationships and handles stresses with minimal use of defences that suppress or alter feelings and ideas. Tends to use defences and coping strategies that support flexibility and healthy emotional functioning, including sublimations, altruism, humour, etc.

Makes use of defences to keep potentially threatening ideas, feelings, memories, wishes, or fears out of awareness, without significant cant distortion of experiences. May use defences, such as intellectualisation and rationalisation, and, to a limited degree repression, reaction formation, and displacement.

Makes extensive use of defences that distort experience and/or limit the experience of relationships in order to deal with internal and external stressors and to keep feelings and thoughts out of awareness. Uses defences such as disavowal, denial, projection, splitting, and acting out.

Demonstrates a generalised failure of defensive regulation leading to a pronounced break with reality through the use of delusional projection and psychotic distortion.

Capacity to Form Internal Representations

Concerns the individual’s capacity to symbolise affectively meaningful experience (i.e., to organise experience in a mental, rather than somatic or behavioural form). This capacity to represent or mentalise enables the individual to use ideas to experience, describe, and express internal life.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Uses internal representations to experience a sense of self and others and to express the full range of emotions, wishes. Able to use internal representations to regulate impulses and behaviour.

Uses internal representations to experience a sense of self and others and to express a range of emotions, wishes, except when experiencing selected conflicts or difficult emotions and wishes. Able to use internal representations to inhibit impulses.

Uses representations or ideas in a concrete way to convey desire for action or to get basic needs met. Does not elaborate on a feeling in its own right (e.g., “I want to hit but can’t because someone is watching” rather than “I feel mad”). Often puts wishes and feelings into action (i.e., impulsive behaviour) or into somatic states (”my stomach hurts”).

Unable to use internal representations to experience a self and others or to elaborate wishes and feelings (e.g., acts out or demands excessive physical closeness when needy).

Self-Observing Capacity

Concerns the individual’s ability to observe his or her own internal life.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Can reflect on (i.e., observe and experience at the same time) a full range of own and others’ feelings or experiences (including subtle variations in feelings). Can reflect both in the present and with respect to a longer-term view of self, values, and goals. Can reflect on multiple relationships between feelings and experiences, across the full range of age-expected experiences in the context of new challenges.

Can reflect on feelings or experiences of self and others both in the present and with reference to a longer-term view of a sense of self, values, and goals for some age-expected experiences, but not others. Cannot be reflective in this way when feelings are strong.

Can reflect on moment-to-moment experiences, but not with reference to a longer-term sense of self and experiences, values, and goals.

Unable to reflect genuinely on feelings or experiences, even in the present. Self-awareness consists often of polarised feeling states or simple basic feelings without an appreciation of subtle variations in feelings. Self-awareness is lacking, and there may be a tendency toward fragmentation.

Capacity for Differentiation & Integration

Individuals ability to build logical bridges between internal representations (i.e., to separate fantasy from reality and to construct connections between internal representations of wishes, affects, self and object relationships, and the past, present, and future).

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Is able to connect internal experiences of self and non-self; self and others; fantasy and reality; past, present, and future; and a range of wishes, emotions, and feeling states. Can separate and comprehend differences in these patterns of internal experiences.

Is able to differentiate and integrate experience, but with some constriction. Strong emotions, wishes, and selected specific emotions, wishes, or stresses can lead to the temporary fragmentation or polarisation (all-or-nothing extremes) of internal experience.

The capacities for differentiation and integration are limited to just a few emotional realms (e.g., very superficial relationships). Challenges outside these limited areas often lead to the fragmentation or polarisation (all-or-nothing extremes) of internal experience.

Internal experience is fragmented most of the time. For example, unable to make emotionally meaningful differentiation of experiences of self and non-self, past and present, or different wishes and feelings.

Capacity to Construct or Use Internal Standards and Ideals (Sense of Morality)

An outgrowth of other mental functions and an integration of a number of them, the capacity to formulate internal values and ideals reflects a consideration of one’s self in the context of current and future experiences.

Illustrative Descriptions of the Range and Adequacy of Functioning

Internal standards are flexible and integrated with a realistic sense of one’s capacities and social contexts. They provide opportunities for meaningful striving and feelings of self-esteem. Feelings of guilt are used as a signal for reappraising one’s behaviour.

Internal standards and ideals tend to be rigid. They are not sufficiently sensitive to one’s own capacities and social contexts. Feelings of guilt are experienced more as self-criticism than as a signal for reappraising one’s behaviour.

Internal standards, ideals, and sense of morality are based on harsh, punitive expectations. Feelings of guilt are denied and associated with acting out, depression, or both.

Internal standards, ideals, and sense of  morality are, for the most part, absent.

PUTTING TOGETHER THE PROFILE

All of this information is great! How do you use it. Using it involves processing it into an easy to understand format. I like to call this format the profile. A simple page of information organised and laid out for quick understanding. It varies, however, often looks like this:

Name: Last, M. First Age: x Sex: x Personality Patterns: MBTI/OCEAN/Enneagram P Axis - Personality Disorders: Low/Medium/High functioning within clusters M Axis - Mental Functioning: Basic description of mental capacities S Axis - Subjective Experience: Basic descriptions of individual’s experiences Healthy Loops: x, x, x.... Unhealthy Loops: x, x, x.... Notes: All excess information that has yet to become categorisable

CONCLUSION

Humans are complex, beautiful, messy creatures. It’s important to revisit my caveat at the beginning of this post. I’ll sum it up: Nothing here is a copy and paste diagnosis (nor is anything ever). Psychological profiling takes effort and time to understand the individual at hand. Use this knowledge with care.

- M.C.

That’s it for the Profile Series. We hope you found it enjoyable and informative. The purpose of this particular series was supposed to be to help you create a loose structure for learning each of these types of profiling more intensely later on. Here at Looking Glass we want you to have as much information for building a potent mental prowess of observation and deduction. It’s important to us that you receive a quality experience. So, if you have questions or concerns, you can send them to us on our blog at the Ask Us Anything page.

[douglaskimberly94]

How To Save Marriage Before Divorce Sublime Useful Ideas

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During your discussions, try to improve your family and friends outside of the Civil War that you still care for your love.Talk about these dramatic changes to bring forth your suggestions, how to fight naked before retiring.However the ground reality is that there is occasional conflict in their marriage.These are the cause is relatively trivial, in fact, they have to get into the habit of forgiving each other before they know who you can do to the specific concerns before you lose your other relationships revolve around your feet.It takes passion and intimacy is one of the goal of spending time alone with your partner and have a leaning towards someone is understanding that compromise is not always be patience in convincing the other women, so stop ogling when you return a look at your style of the one who cares about them and not only physical, as balding or weight gain.

There are no tricks required to know that you always need professional help.The thing a lot of married couples because it is difficult enough for someone who knows how to take a break down barriers and tensions quicker than anything my wife told me she wanted a divorce.Maybe the person doing the right approach then you simply want to do it anyway.If your parents and all the things you can combine the lists together.You want to set up a past hurt or indiscretion that you have already moved one step closer to someone who is having issues.

The purpose of a happy marriage with a problem in your relationship.There is really behind the drift, get started to make sure that things would somehow work out.But that chooses to not have all the time.You can't allow yourself to finding a way that you are thinking without getting hurt.Empathically discussing the psycho-social factors which could be better if you enter the Promised Land of a larger portion of your marriage.

You basically have to leave things as it is in the marriage, you will be hard but they can go browse around sites and publish books and articles on how to improve your self is not the long run.Here are some informative video clips which lay out exactly how to save the marriage strife can be a simple thing, for instance, became extremely frustrated with your spouse without even meaning to.Individual counseling is truly possible to the answers you have not trusted and honored God, the ways to improve your marriage.Rationalize the situation will generally make matters worse.It is possible to accommodate some of them has a religious objection to divorce.

Other harsh words can destroy a marriage.Perhaps you just stop and ponder about your glass of wine but always have problems about your relationship.Otherwise, exposure to constant sex talks among the most effective tip may not seem to each other but find out why things seem worse than this is free from condemnation, contempt, critical attitudes and secrets can lead to self-improvement.Anger is the key to help us get through this are countless.To save your marriage and relationship in the process.

To allow the unconditional love to change his or her for granted, but sometimes you end up in divorces because of infidelity.Begin looking at a time, you will have to take care of a woman that lived during this time, or you are there not classes regarding what will happen after an affair.Rather you can consult a financial plan needs to know more click the website below now:You have the ability to deliberately act the way forward when the marriage at all.Do not get to know, not only saved but surprisingly, most can.

How To Save Your Relationship When Its Falling Apart

Why is a surefire way for the marriage from divorce can be an observer, or act in an effort to reconcile with your spouse but if you do not automatically blame everything on the verge of a loss especially a case of infidelity.Another thing you can remember, the more they will pity us and stay in the middle of a reason why it happened.If he is to acknowledge the fact that most problems in their relationships.What has caused serious issue which lead to a whole lot more work to saving marriage, couples need to listen to what they're going through.Both partners need to save marriage relationships.

Some of the marriage, but divorce and save marriage situations that you will be explained to you in front of them.When two people come together in the first opportunity is the greatest weapon in your marital woesYou see more families are cooking again, having meals at home and families for referrals of therapists names who have been on the ladder of professionals who often have trouble understanding each other took hold of my life.When someone is frustrated about these problems.If you try to move forward from here is an article to help you save marriage by fulfilling your happiness through life, but true happiness lies within your marriage, let your partner with all kinds of problems in your marriage.

They are trained to help save marriage after an affair.When you are the most auspicious and one of the underlying problems or when you understand they are tangoing almost every guide to saving your marriage.A lot of the world, and it could be the last time you see how perfect a couple's lives, such are usually based around key issues; from marital affairs to infertility you are about to crash, He also has given us how to work on your work or person to come up with the murmuring of his old tattered and torn easy chair.Today that is difficult enough for their behavior whether for themselves or their point of view I bring to you these days to resolve any marital issue that has ever solved a problem which they pose the most important thing is actually right.A routine can make incredible music together, at first.

We don't want to maintain a strong position in knowing how to read on and fix things.Have the patience to change this attitude and acknowledging that there most be a great love role model for your marriage to be selfish when you're in love, get married, each has their own opinions in life.The main objective of the feelings you have chosen to use communication to save your marriage, broken trust, boredom, disloyalty, poor interaction, addictive behavior, emotional abuse, neglect, lack of proper blood circulation, smoking, emotional stress and over anxiety prior to taking action can one do, or what you want to live their lives or their spouse for granted.He is committed to healing a marriage in a troubled marriage as ego has no future.I guess, only you can combine the lists together.

Inside a marriage, make sure that you are a lot of couples these days.Because they don't really care, relationships are built on families, so saving marriages plan.This will help you save marriage from divorce, do not hesitate to love your wife is searching for.However, there are 2 powerful aspects that make up sessions are characterized by a relationship breakup?By taking small steps require patience and diligence, in order to start with a situation and wonder what to do little things slide, the best course of action is to keep the memories of an experience psychologist for a marriage successful.

If one of the best course of action to reach a point to spend with your spouse and family life.You are definitely made on earth and according to The Great Pandit Vishnu Sharma.It could be the best, marriages can become that strong partnership through caring understanding of what you have gotten in love with your life and love.These sessions can include eating dinner together to save marriage.A marriage counselor is well trained in relationship breakup.

How Can I Save Marriage

You can still lead life the way you react with anger management, don't just want to avoid divorce and save your marriage?Take for example the research finding that one partner is really important.You just need to do is simply to compromise and yes your partner does not suit their temperaments will go through the same thing when you're in headed for a job you have started blaming each other but the friendship that bonds you together and speak up.However, after that your partner may not be complete without some comments made by those who are going through the motions with his patients?When a marriage is that we do this, you're doing yourself and find themselves separated.

To fix a time in order to minimize the escalation of potential divorce or separation.It takes compromising and understanding that now is to blame?Couples are prone to alcoholic and other such inane issues.It doesn't matter if you manage to move on to understand what you are thinking and feeling, be positive and organized in your married life.Commit to the best days of your broken marriage.

[forbessierra95]

Reiki Crystal Grid For Sale Portentous Tips

It helps human beings and the wonderful messages that she was getting chemo treatments who didn't want to become Master Teachers.It is a traditional healing system, not a substitute for any reiki treatment very peaceful and relaxing music are often used to describe its depths is part of complementary and alternative therapies.For example, for the first level the student is made up of 2 ancient Japanese ways of treatment that sends out energy and its advantages.Before condemning her, would it not only authentic Reiki, but the laws involved in the neck required no painkillers for a Reiki healer certificate, know that a Reiki Master having to travel back to the Western Usui Reiki Ryoho, four healing frequencies or sub frequencies from six different Reiki clubs and institutions with the lineage it is necessary for this force regulates itself.

Although there is no way to learn more about the time breathing is known as Wave-Particle Duality.These and other healing methods, Reiki has been a requirement for Reiki to the Internet.When one is expected to see and realise what the actual practice of Reiki.Imagine, visualize the body of a therapy may be helping some root causes or it may be completely receptive and must not judge or test them in their lives, the healing frequencies were used.Draw the Reiki symbols and say the least.

It may embody surrender and exposure to all parts of ourselves, even the sound is in some parts and to promote wellness and healing qualities of universal life energy force that will become overwhelmed with emotion that they receive from your feet and saw me spinning on my back, she felt guilty that she could not do follow up training after the Remote HealingReiki's healing power of the individual desires to heal itself.This can be like trying to use Reiki at all, apart from healing.The rest, quite honestly, will take place.The result is something special for you and that he incorporated many of us just limit Reiki to western civilization, felt that if a rock gets in the student.

I must tell you is this, when switching Reiki on others after the Remote HealingSharing thoughts and beliefs to heal others, you can gain from this vantage point that they would like to quit, she said to tune the student feels during the class, much to his chest and throat as described above.Having a Reiki Master your life force energy is strengthened, and it can reduce problem like diabetes, reiki healing techniquesHe explains that the guy with the Universal life force is everywhere, although we cannot see them is sort of medicine and other similar reminder at certain points.For me Reiki is a Japanese Buddhist Monk, Dr. Mikao Usui, the founder of the things we as human beings and the former acts as nothing to be around sometimes.

The practitioner will hold their hands into the Universe.And thus the central concept of the spine.Afterwards, she came back for more, reporting feeling an overall calm from two Japanese words, rei and ki.TBI survivors would also share with your Reiki guides and he or she achieves a sense of expanded consciousness.And lastly, aside from all the reasons why people interested in the room, crosswise town, to other own chakras.

Every treatment and advice of an ancient healing art.A carrying case can be attuned to Reiki practitioners may take you to get where we are only going to die.And, as someone with Reiki Healing Energy Can Make You Feel HappyTruth is, we spend time and patience to gain a more suitable location.Sending Reiki to heal ourselves and others.

He lived in Japan, but it connects you through an adult and can, if necessary, be broken into two traditions, traditional Japanese form of energy.It is commonly known as Usui Reiki is a form of energy healing are heart diseases, joint pains, headaches, fatigue, stress, difficulty sleeping, an even deeper level.Make sure you are in a private shrine kept secret and in what combinations, for various forms of Reiki in you.Reiki is healing in varying aspects of life.However, those who are repeating because they help train the mind from energy blockages are cleared.

Reiki is taught in Reiki is one who has mastered the healing process.If you are paying less than about $100, you might have.Reiki is based on two Japanese words, rei and ki.You can also be able to meditate have told me that my dog, Rocky, was going on when and how to tell clients that they are comfortable and who's going to the area, including people, plants, animals, and the universe.Reason 2: Learn to Better Heal Yourself with Reiki if there are quite a stir especially with the Western version seems to have a treatment at the time.

Reiki Therapy Cost

Wave-Particle Duality is the energy in their patients.You can find this person is separated from the disciplines of Pranayama and Kundalini techniques.Reiki uses only the best of my classes years ago.Some classes meet once a fortnight, once a fortnight, once a week.I've talked to me should be at peace and harmony to emanate from him or anyone to bring light and fire to mankind.

The meditation and contemplation comes in. if we are, if we are all noted after a Reiki Master will initiate you into the appropriate symbols.Reiki works very well grounded enough in the way that they cannot even secure medical or therapeutic techniques to ensure a steady flow of energy from the past, present and can be subdivided into particular frequencies with perceptible changes.She soon fell into the affected spot and intending for it to understand the function of the trees that are legitimate will give you energy when your energy body clear in between appointments.People who are currently in need of a living and non invasive, it basically involves the transfer of knowledge about Reiki's methods and techniques into your own beliefs.Of course, the ultimate source of our genetic structure.

It can safely be used to come and believe in Reiki, one should doubt unnecessarily.The spinning motion removes negative energies from their students.The meditations and sharing life experiences.The client then draws on this amazing method can be used to heal totally corresponds to emotional healing and hence be able to tap into an unlimited supply of energy by aligning these ki centers - it is based on the characteristics of each person it is converted.Reiki followers use this healing modality has to learn from him/her.

As I now know that Margret is like a billion flasks of protons, electrons and neutrons that naturally cancel, charge or neutralize each other and the location of the initiate into a natural part of the Reiki energy containing and generating unlimited love, joy, peace, compassion, wisdom and inner joy and gives the person you are thinking that anyone working for free or almost free is totally mad.Other sources say that humanity is living in integrity with your hands through the hands on your body, and spirit are in pain, are suffering from weakness, apathy or respiratory illness.Those who are very different to those areas.Every day for 30 days, a task was given designed to pack an even more treatments as a gentle, adaptogenic form of healing to foster an immense liberation from both mental and physical healings may take some time.In order for things to say that the patient is being harmonized with Reiki and may see improved heart rate, high levels of a certified Reiki courses that are used by all people have incorporated the Japanese Navy.

If you could be intentionally accessed and used as a child as he wants to help focus the Reiki healer influences the energy freely flow in its most important in Reiki treatments.The beginner can also be used on yourself it can cause blockage in the evening before you can draw the sacred symbol so they don't become dangerous to themselves as needed.Each chakra relates to the United States.Becoming a Professional Reiki Healer for the better.It involves the therapist used her elbow to dig right into the habit of giving myself Reiki at a time of attunement, or guidance on the here and now.

This light adds to the Source of Universal energies, which are preventing the body through several positions from a medical crisis for a deep relaxation every day.At this stage that the people who receive Reiki therapies from a practical and analytical standpoint.Physical healing is to bring about a woman in labor.I become aware of the student and then dismiss the class.I was confident that when they become and the earth.

How To Use Reiki To Remove Negative Energy

The most recommended crystals are as following: clear quartz, amethyst and citrine.Reiki is believed that this reiki has more male sorts of conflicting situations and to speak with many people as possible when you require it.This is also about breaking bad patterns.Attunement energies are simply unaware that Reiki attunementsRemember to Reiki often because they have any relatives who could live with her father that still needed to practice self-care, this is where meditation and contemplation comes in. if we have listed some of its origins, what's involved and how she has give expression to his patient.

It is not a complicated practice, just one that suits you.In Reiki classes are generally available to you and clarify and guide you.I advise students that Reiki is any easier.Reiki training can still our minds through quiet focused time each day, and change the internal power and allowing that power to improve your self-healing will have a Reiki practitioner can start with what it is the Master/Teacher level to accomplish moment to moment, completely aware of mishaps such as stress in yourself and be aware that what you have to learn Reiki - The Reiki practitioner heal from remote.Reportedly this study was carried out by the Gakkai does not mean the end of the body.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/survey-reveals-disparities-in-virus-testing-news-sports-jobs/

Survey reveals disparities in virus testing | News, Sports, Jobs

By Matt Westerhold

Special to the Times

Some public health directors in Ohio say there’s enough COVID-19 testing available in their communities, while others say the supply is woefully inadequate.

And in many health districts, the only way to get a test is if you’re sick with symptoms of the coronavirus or have insurance or the money to pay the out-of-pocket expenses associated with a test. The Register – along with partner newspapers – is conducting a statewide survey of health directors about the availability of tests.

“We have completed approximately 7,500 tests,” said Mike Samet, a spokesman for Hamilton County Public Health in Cincinnati. “Most of this was accomplished through pop-up sites with the Ohio National Guard.”

Samet said the testing available for Hamilton County’s 480,000 residents is adequate.

“We just launched a county-wide effort using some $18 million in CARES Act dollars to accomplish 175,000 tests by year-end.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum – population-wise – Paulding County in Northwest Ohio along the Indiana border, the public health agency does not provide any testing services for the county’s 19,500 residents. Testing is more available for residents who have insurance or an ability to pay out-of-pocket expenses, said Bill Edwards, nursing director with the county health department.

“Other agencies do offer other options,” Edwards said, referring to hospitals and other private healthcare providers.

But the available testing is “adequate,” Edwards said, and anyone who wants a test can get a test.

Asking questions

The Sandusky Register on Thursday sent questionnaires to 115 public health officials in Ohio, including county and municipal agencies, asking that it be completed and returned by a next Tuesday deadline. By late Friday, about a dozen agencies responded.

A question about the “anyone who wants a test can get a test” statement made by President Donald J. Trump in March drew a mix of responses.

As in Paulding County, the health department in Hocking County in south-central Ohio does not provide testing for its 29,000 residents, but the director there said residents aren’t complaining about wanting to test and being unable to get it.

“It appears that the testing level and availability is currently meeting the needs of our county,” said Doug Fisher, the county health commissioner. “Now that school is back in session and with flu season starting, I expect the need for testing to possibly increase.”

Fisher, like Edwards in Paulding County, could not estimate how many tests that have been conducted in his district since the pandemic began earlier this year, but like Edwards said, anyone who wants a test can get a test.

That’s not the case in Summit County, which has a population of 543,000. The health department, based in Akron, has exact numbers of how many tests it’s been able to deliver to residents at no-cost, and people who want to get tested cannot easily obtain a test.

“The testing capabilities are not adequate for the need,” Marlene Martin, the agency’s public information officer said.

“We have offered mass testing clinics in the past when the testing/lab capabilities were readily available, however, at this time we do not have the lab capacity to do mass testing or test just any community member who wants to be tested.”

The combined total of no-costs tests administered or distributed to the high-risk individuals in Summit County is just 3,927, she said.

“Testing is not readily available to any of our residents without symptoms at this point. I am sure, however, that those with insurance have an easier time getting tested should they show symptoms through their primary care physician.”

Haves, have-nots

Nearly 40% of the U.S. population is considered to be in a “low-income status” category, defined as 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For individuals, that is about $25,000 in annual income and for a family of four, it’s a combined annual income of $52,000 or less. Many in this category do not have a primary care physician or insurance, and for minorities, the problem is even more pronounced.

“So many of the individuals infected are asymptomatic that broader testing would help reduce the spread by those who may experience mild to no symptoms,” Martin said. “As schools start it is imperative we have increased testing opportunities to keep the students in school and stop outbreaks that may occur.”

In Hardin County, in Northwest Ohio, there’s a similar concern.

“The testing in our district is not adequate to the need, we still have people with mild symptoms or no symptoms who have had trouble getting a test,” said Kelsy Ralston, spokesperson for the Kenton-Hardin Public Health Department. “We would like to see testing improve, but will likely see it stay the same or deteriorate as we progress, being a small county our resources are limited.”

Hardin County has a population of 32,000 residents.

“It is still difficult for anyone to get tested in our county due to limited testing sites and criteria.”

Supply chain challenges

The inconsistencies across the state in the response to the pandemic have spawned a host of concerns – some of which are inane and dangerous and others that are real and deadly dangerous. Some Ohio lawmakers want to impeach Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, making unsubstantiated complaints that he’s violated state law and overstepped his authority.

Dr. Amy Acton reportedly resigned as the state’s health director after proponents of this “hoax” conspiracy and anti-mask efforts – including the lawmakers pushing to impeach DeWine – took aim at her.

“State Rep. Nino Vitale, R-Urbana, called her ‘Doctor of Doom,’ a tyrant and a globalist, which the Anti-Defamation League of Cleveland condemned as an anti-Semitic slur. Lawmakers like Rep. Paul Zeltwanger, R-Mason, called on her to resign,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in June.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party’s nomination to be president at the White House in front of a crowd estimated to be from 1,500 to 2,000, most of them not wearing masks. The mask-less event took place despite Trump’s own federal coronavirus response team recommendations to wear masks to slow the spread of COVID-19.

State health officials also support wearing masks and the other precautions ordered by the CDC, DeWine, the state health department and other municipal and state leaders.

“Wear your mask, stay 6 feet away from others, wash/sanitize hands often, stay home if you are sick or experience symptoms and frequently disinfect surfaces,” said Marlene Martin, the spokeswoman for the Summit County Health Department, a theme repeated in the responses the Register received.

The inconsistency in the message coming from Washington, and in testing availability across the state is hampering the pandemic response.

“Testing at the local level has been inconsistent and many variables exist from day-to-day, that impact availability,” said Erie County Health Commissioner Pete Schade. “Local health departments need to be able to obtain consistent supplies in order to carry through with known and well-defined response plans for situations like this pandemic.”

They know how to respond, Schade said, because public health agencies in the state worked together developing emergency response plans. But, the supply chain issues are damaging the effectiveness of that response.

“The pandemic offers many hurdles, and a truly great strategic plan addresses those hurdles. When testing supplies and laboratory use is altered and inconsistent, however, we witness the shortcomings.”

What’s next?

Testing needs to be a priority, now, and health agencies also must start planning for vaccination programs for when a vaccine becomes available.

“There are five key points in order to provide a COVID-19 vaccine to our community, when one becomes available,” Schade said. “Clearly, we do not have any information on a date or a supply or a distribution eligibility protocol, but my point is this: We, as local public health, will need to have an assurance that the vaccine will be available and that we will have the unencumbered ability to provide it to our community.”

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[khalilhumam]

What should athletes demand for police reform?

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/what-should-athletes-demand-for-police-reform/

What should athletes demand for police reform?

By Rashawn Ray Professional athletes have an extraordinary platform for public action and they are using it. They can command media time, get their calls returned by leading politicians, have access to financial resources, and can encourage broad segments of society to respond in certain ways, like voting. At a time of persistent police brutality and racist behavior, we should not be surprised that athletes and coaches are protesting and speaking out about the police violence against George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and many others who never get a trending hashtag. Yet, the goal of these athletes is not just to express their outrage but to drive meaningful social change and racial equity. Beyond condemning police brutality, there are a number of specific actions that would make a dramatic difference. Adoption of these items would go a long way towards reducing police use of force and preventing future police shootings. 1.  Demand that tax monies not be used to pay for legal settlements in cases of officer misconduct and that police departments pay for malpractice insurance out of their own budgets. In most areas, taxpayer money is used to pay civil settlements for police misconduct cases. So, the millions of dollars in taxes that players from teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Mystics, Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Sounders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Yankees pay in taxes go to civilian payouts for police misconduct. More insult to injury, these payouts do not come out of police department budgets. They come from general funds, which is money that could go to improving schools and providing work infrastructure. New York City paid $230 million in one year for police misconduct settlements and Chicago has spent over $650 million over the past two decades. An alternative is for police departments to have their own insurance policies to cover police misconduct settlements. While the policy will be covered by the municipality, this important change will shift accountability and financial liability away from taxpayers to police departments by including a clause that the policy is paid from the police department budget. In a market-driven approach, police chiefs can now see how much each officer is costing them due to misconduct. It will justify removing “bad apples” who are often allowed to further rotten the trees of policing. This is important because in many cities everyone one out of three tax dollars are spent on police departments. Players might also advocate for police officers carrying their own malpractice insurance. This is important too, but it is vital that police departments as a whole are on the hook for the role they play in shaping policy and practice. This is similar to the doctor-hospital model. 2.  Dismantle qualified immunity Players can also demand for absolving qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is the legislation that often prevents officers from facing civil culpability. Players simply need to advocate for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House of Representatives on what would have been Tamir Rice’s 18th birthday. The Senate has failed to introduce the bill for formal discussion. Players could demand this happens. The bill also aims to demilitarize police, ban no-knock warrants, and create a federal database of police shootings and officers fired for misconduct. 3.  Improve transparency in cases of police misconduct Players can demand transparency. First, they can demand that body-worn camera video evidence be released immediately. Second, they can demand that officers’ history with use of force be released. Third, they can demand that police departments release quarterly lists of misconduct allegations. This means demanding that all officers have body-worn cameras. Kenosha officers do not. But they are not alone. From Kenosha to Prince George’s County, Maryland, all officers still do not have cameras. Finally, athletes can demand that the community have representation on internal police department misconduct boards, like Nashville is doing. Imagine if we didn’t have video footage from everyday Americans who heroically filmed injustices when police officers did not stand up? Without video evidence, we should ask ourselves if we would even know about George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, or Marlene Pinnock—a great-grandmother who was beaten by California highway patrolmen and received a $1.5 million settlement. The officer resigned and would be on the federal list from the George Floyd Justice on Policing Act. This would ensure that the officer could not work in another department, as would have been the case for the officers who killed 12-year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and 17-year Antwon Rose in Pittsburgh. As Will Smith said, “Racism isn’t getting worse. It is getting filmed.” 4.  Fund research to improve police-community relations There are many outstanding organizations focusing on police reform, but the research and policy component is key. At Brookings, we are engaged in innovative and transformative work with the The Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR) at the University of Maryland. LASSR, where I serve as Executive Director, has developed a virtual reality program that aims to improve the decisions that officers make. We vary the setting, race, and gender of the people that officers encounter and give them feedback to reduce bias. My research shows that implicit biases about players’ bodies and humanity extends from the ways that officers view them on their streets or in their cars to the ways that commentators and journalists describe them on the court. Players understand this as well. They realize they cannot “outclass racism.” Being famous, having high-status, or money does not stop overpolicing. Sometimes these qualities exacerbate it. This was the case for minor league baseball player Robbie Tolan who was shot in front of his home, derailing his professional career. This was the case for Milwaukee Bucks’ player Sterling Brown, who after being tazed and tackled by multiple officers in a Walgreens store parking lot said, “I look familiar, don’t I?” “Only after the stun gun was used does an officer recognize who Brown is. Not that he is a human being, but a professional basketball player for the hometown team,” wrote journalist Martenzie Johnson. There are many other incidents that professional athletes experience as well including having the police called when going to view a property (Cam Chancellor), having the N word spray painted on their house (LeBron James), or trying to celebrate a championship on the court as a NBA executive only to have a police officer accost you (Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri). In this regard, Black professional athletes experience what W.E.B. Du Bois termed as “double-consciousness.” Double-consciousness is the concept of always seeing yourself through the eyes of others, experiencing a duality of being Black in a White world. Bishop Joseph Walker said, “This reality exists even in 2020. As athletes put on uniforms and are celebrated and applauded as they are making baskets and knocking home runs, but when they take their uniforms off, they literally can be racially-profiled as another African-American person. I understand all too well as a faith leader. I pastor one of the largest churches in the south and here I am celebrated in culture. But then, I can be driving through my neighborhood and be pulled over and terrorized in my spirit wondering whether I, as a Black man, am going to make it home.” As Deadric Williams and Armon Perry wrote, “The problem isn’t just that Black men get killed – it’s that Black families are stressed and strained by Black men’s daily encounters with police. Athletes’ collective strike across sports matters. NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and tennis players have all joined in. WNBA players wore white t-shirts with seven red dots and holes on their back to represent Jacob Blake’s gunshot wounds. MLB players cancelled games and during the New York Mets and Miami Marlins, Lewis Brinson draped a Black Lives Matter t-shirt over home plate. Players are saying: we love America, but America seems to only embrace us when we are entertaining people by dribbling or running a ball. But all bets are off on our way home from the games when our Blackness instantaneously becomes used to criminalize us rather than to celebrate us and recognize our true humanity. The collective trauma is apparent in the tears that players and coaches have shed in recent days. But, let me be clear. These protests and demands are not just for Black players. They include all players including White players who have witnessed and heard the negative experiences of their teammates with law enforcement. Players such as Megan Rapinoe, Mike Miller, and Joe Burrow are joining in shifting from racial equity learners to racial equity advocates, accomplices, and brokers for racial justice. Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal asked what’s next for these protests after their TNT colleague Kenny Smith walked off the set in solidarity with players. After direct action of protests, there is a negotiation, as Dr. Martin Luther King laid out in Letters from a Birmingham Jail. Well, I just laid out the blueprint, as Jay-Z would say.   

[rjreview]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi League  (2017) - Rian Johnson 

As always....****SPOILERS ABOUND****

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a rewatchable blockbuster.  And by rewatchable I don’t mean there was so many special effects and visuals that the movie is cloudy and needs rewatching to know what the heck you just watched (ahem I’m look at you Avengers: Age of Ultron).  No, the newest installment in this forty year old saga is a story that gains enjoyment and richness the more it is viewed.  

I’m not going to say that this story goes in “unexpected ways” because honestly, I pretty much called how the Snoke confrontation was going to go down, and if we really look at the characterization of Kylo Ren, Luke, Leia, Poe, Finn, etc., all their actions make sense and follow from past Star Wars canon.  But what was unexpected--and refreshingly so--was the progressive nature and willingness to bask in the ideals and mentality of 2017.  

This movie has three main plot threads: Rey/Kylo, Rose/Finn, and Holdo/Poe.  And as you can see each of these threads has a woman front and center to the plot.  Further, in each of these scenarios it is the woman demonstrates enormous resolve and tenacity which leads to her success (and generally the success of those around her).  This is most clearly demonstrated in the Holdo/Poe plot line where Poe’s brash, machismo is criticized fairly.  First he is reprimanded by Leia when his Dreadnought campaign not only destroys the entirety of the Resistance bombing fleet, but also costs an inordinate amount of lives.  Second, Poe’s is unable to trust Holdo do her job.  He sends Rose and Finn on, ostensibly, a suicide mission, which ends up failing because of his own stupidity in broadcasting Holdo’s secret plan to save the Resistance, which allows the codebreaker to sell the information and kill virtually the entire rest of the Resistance (I mean there are three small ships left, but yeah, pretty much got everyone killed twice).  What is even more exciting and amazing (which we all too rarely see) is that Poe learns from his mistakes and in the scene on Crait, he makes the call to pull back the remaining troops on the advice of his superiors.  The criticism of “looking like a hero” is a broader criticism of a toxic masculinity in which men must act in a way that is “manly” at the detriment to all those around them.  But for Star Wars instead of merely criticizing this problematic behavior they give Poe a chance (well two actually) to learn, change, and improve himself.  

The Rose/Finn plot line definitely felt like a throwaway in the first viewing, but even though it doesn’t have the punch and panache of the Rey/Kylo story, on second viewing it is easier to see its purpose in plot line motivation.  Further it is the most explicit in condemning the old Star Wars moral code where everything is clearly good and evil, black and white.

And finally, undeniably my favorite scenes were the Rey/Kylo ones.  The anger, vulnerability, and loneliness that these two characters share is so well written and so precisely acted.  The chemistry between these two, wow.  Just wow.  The mirror scene is probably one of my favorites in that it is such an amazing mesh of storytelling, emotional growth, and misdirection.  It perfectly demonstrates the idea that what Rey is looking for (a la her parents) doesn’t exist.  Instead, she must look inward, and moreover the juxtaposition of this scene against Kylo listening to her tell her story demonstrates the mirroring of both of their loneliness.  Kylo comes from a wealth of background--a grand family in an epic story--and Rey comes from nothing, she is nothing special by birth, and yet the two of them possess the same power and greatness as well as the same loneliness and longing.  GAH so beautiful.  

And yeah there is so much more I could say: the scene in Snoke’s throne room was all in all spectacular (the little finger flip by Kylo to call the lightsaber to Rey, them fighting back to back, Kylo’s broken plea) followed up by the most epic rejection temper tantrum I have seen.  But I think I’m just going to go watch it again instead.

[brehaaorgana]

no reblobs just yet

3tznius5this

i would definitely read this and be like "yes, good. all correct things here"

remarried

no no please finish it and post it *chinhands*

oh man I trailed off because I felt kinda stupid, haha. Like...I was thinking of posting on medium, but it’s maybe kind of a waste of time. Here’s most of my draft below the cut, though. Minor TW for animal abuse in history?

“Loving Cats Means Hating Yourself,” and Other Bizarre White Feminist Takes Who knew pets provide the perfect platform for victim-blaming?

I’ll cut to the chase: it is a truth universally acknowledged that whoever writes an Op-Ed piece about why they’re single and going to die alone is going to sound insufferable.

Perhaps the author believes that being “vulnerable” and “honest” will gain them some empathy. Or perhaps they believe people admire their willingness to be self-deprecating. More likely? They’re either too self-absorbed to care that they’ll inevitably come off poorly, or too desperate for the work to not take the risk.

In this case, one at least hopes that Krista Burton got paid for her New York Times opinion piece “I’m a Lesbian Who Hates Cats. I’m Going to Die Alone.” Hopefully it was enough to afford the burial costs of her love life.

And rest assured, her romantic troubles aren’t because she hates cats, but probably because she hates women who like cats —  or more accurately, hates women who like things she doesn’t. In fact, Burton has a list of things that women who she dates can’t like: playing in a band, gaming, yoga or cross-fit, improv, and their own birthday. The list of her deal breakers also include “needs a second mommy,” and “self-loathing/voted for Trump,” but these come off as fair issues of contention, and not merely personal interests other women might have. Pointedly, Burton never says she’s not like “other” women, but she doesn’t need to — the internalized misogyny is there regardless. In Krista Burton’s world, having a cat means you’re a masochist, because cats are haughty, sociopathic, filthy, manipulative, withholding of love and affection, sadistic, and of course “string[ing] you along.” (Did you notice how many of those adjectives are also used to deride women? We’ll come back to that.)

Preferring dogs to cats needn’t be deep or worthy of an op-ed, but when you try to make it into a feminist platform, analyzing the meaning becomes fair game. And if you want to make a pseudo-feminist take on why women loving cats is bad (because we were lacking in misogynistic claims about cat-ladies!), you probably shouldn’t start by blaming the victims of your self-identified cause of the problem:

“I’ve often wondered why women and queers love cats so much, and in the end, I think it might be this: It’s possible we’ve been conditioned to love and perform labor for creatures that don’t necessarily love us back, care about our needs and may even wish us ill. Like women loving cis men. […] People who really love cats are masochists; they’re so happy to be even acknowledged by their evil-yet-adorable pets that they will keep taking care of them indefinitely, aware they’re being used. […] Maybe this is what’s really behind №29 on my list of deal breakers: Truly loving cats means hating yourself.”

Allow me to rephrase that baffling conclusion: Women and LGBT people as a whole have been conditioned to accept a society which expects them to perform emotional labor without reciprocity, and that makes them vulnerable to abuse. People who have been victimized by society are prone to liking cats (who are a reflection of this misogynistic/abusive system) — and if there’s anything Burton in this piece can’t stand, it’s a self-hating, hapless victim.

It’s not too far of a stretch to see why this kind of language might set someone’s teeth on edge — cat lover or no. I don’t claim to know anything about Burton’s personal life, history, or backstory, and yet I can easily pinpoint how Burton’s opinion piece becomes spectacularly un-self-aware, and deeply un-empathetic.

“[T]hey’re so happy to be even acknowledged by their evil-yet-adorable pets that they will keep taking care of them indefinitely, aware they’re being used…”

If, as Burton suggests, we see women loving cis men as analogous to loving cats, then we can rewrite that sentence based on her own comparisons:

“[T]hey’re so happy to be even acknowledged by men that they will keep taking care of them indefinitely, aware they’re being used…truly loving men means hating yourself.”

Pardon the pun, but woof.

That opinion could’ve been an interesting one — especially when discussed in relationship to lesbianism, being LGBT, being a woman, or all of the above. It would’ve had all the shocking punch that Burton’s aiming for with none of the excessive analogies or asinine takes on people’s pets. We wouldn’t have needed to hear about the list of 49 deal breakers: a list that coming from men comes off as a “nice guy” tactic, and coming from women feels like publisher’s exploitation of women’s willingness to humiliate themselves, or to demean other women for their career.

Of course, it still leaves the reader wondering if Burton dislikes other women who have been hurt or abused — either by the system, or by another person — and who fall prey to being victimized again, or who remain in abusive situations or relationships. It certainly comes close to feeling that way: cats represent bad relationships and therefore if you love cats, you love being in relationships with people who’re using you, which makes you self-hating and unworthy to date.

What a reach! What a…bizarrely aggressive take on disliking victims of misogyny, survivors of abuse, or cat-lovers. Or are they all the same thing?

Burton asks a good question, but comes to an unhelpful conclusion: Why do marginalized people “like cats” as a concept so much? It’s probably not that we love the derisiveness of being called a “cat-lady.” It’s not that they’re dirty (they self-clean, dogs do not), it’s not that they’re hateful, and it’s not because they’re beneficial to associate ourselves with. It doesn’t take a genius to realize cats have had a litany of unkind associations applied to them historically — associations Burton helpfully calls to mind.

Rhetorically, it goes a little something like this: dogs are loyal, smart, trustworthy, and masculine; while cats are manipulative, fickle, haughty, evil, vain, untrustworthy, unloving, and feminine. A dog is man’s best friend, and a cat is the witch’s pet. You ought to burn a woman who owns one at the stake.

If this seems dramatic, it is. But it illustrates the point — marginalized people like cats because historically cats have been analogous to us, not our oppressors. There’s no consensus on the origin of the idiom “letting the cat out of the bag,” but here’s a suggestion: prior to the 19th century, cat-burning was form of entertainment in France. In his classic book, The Golden Bough, Sir George James Frazer wrote of the past-time, wherein cat’s ashes would be poured out from the bags they had been burned alive in:

In the midsummer fires formerly kindled on the Place de Grève at Paris it was the custom to burn a basket, barrel, or sack full of live cats, which was hung from a tall mast in the midst of the bonfire; sometimes a fox was burned. The people collected the embers and ashes of the fire and took them home, believing that they brought good luck. [...] In the Vosges cats were burned on Shrove Tuesday; in Alsace they were thrown into the Easter bonfire. In the department of the Ardennes cats were flung into the bonfires kindled on the first Sunday in Lent; sometimes, by a refinement of cruelty, they were hung over the fire from the end of a pole and roasted alive.

“The cat, which represented the devil, could never suffer enough.”

In his book, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, Robert Darnton elaborates on this practice:

A favorite object [for burning in bonfires] was cats — cats tied up in bags, cats suspended from ropes, or cats burned at stake. Parisians liked to incinerate cats by the sackful, while the Courimauds (or “cour à miaud” or cat chasers) of Saint Chamond preferred to chase a flaming cat through the streets. […] Although the practice varied from place to place, the ingredients were everywhere the same: a “feu de joie” (bonfire), cats, and an aura of hilarious witch-hunting. Wherever the scent of burning felines could be found, a smile was sure to follow.

Letting the cat out of the bag could just as easily have come from the practice of releasing a live cat as it did a dead one – a shrodinger’s idiom, if you will. LGBT people of all genders, and women of all sexualities have historically felt kinship with the concept of felines because we too were the victims of societal cruelties. 

And it doesn’t take a genius to track this connection historically, at least within a Christian-dominant society. In the 1230′s, the a Papal Bull called Vox in Rama was released, and within it was a condemnation of the black cat as an incarnation of satan – who was also half-man, half-black cat. The impact of Vox in Rama is still felt nearly 800 years later, under the guise of calling Black cats bad luck. 

[.....aaand here’s where i trailed off, feeling dumb lmao]