#maybe to pay for tuition in america or...

[3dsben]

Would it be funny if Deaf!Layton tried paying Luke, only for the kid to close his eyes? (And when he tries paying Clark directly, he closes his eyes too?)

[Kinda like this post below]

Layton37

Yes it would be very funny (& very mean of them to do) Someone take his money Please

[vaguely-functional-directions]

It's like when someone says something that you don't agree with but don't know specific facts to really be able to disagree (?) and also do not want to get into a debate

[hiiikiko]

𝖈𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖎𝖓 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖜𝖊𝖇

[1: spider-man’s more awkward than i thought..”]

spiderman!ellie x reader | tlou m.list

synopsis: ellie is in your biology class, she’s the quiet teachers assistant, who also happens to double as your agency’s part time photographer, but you notice that lately she’s been acting strange..

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

You never really noticed her before, to you, she was just the nerdy TA and your agency’s assistant photographer but right now, you needed her to be your saviour. You were failing your biology class, a side effect of how many modelling gigs you’ve picked up to pay your tuition but what good was paying your tuition if you couldn’t even pass your classes? That’s how you ended up practically begging Ellie to tutor you.

“God, please, Williams,” you sighed, taking her hand in yours, “I’ll do anything! I’ll even pay you or I could speak to the agency—.”

“I-it’s fine, Y/l/n, I can do it,” she pried her hand out of yours and nodded, “Just put in a good word with your boss, yeah?”

You practically jump when she says that, “Oh thank you, thank you so much! Um, do you have my number?”

Ellie bashfully nods, “Uh, yeah, I have all the model’s numbers..”

You nod, “Okay, cool! Let’s meet at my place tonight, yeah? Maybe around 6? I’ll send you the location and the door code.”

Ellie straightens up, “Uhh.. can’t do six.. can we do it earlier? Maybe 4..?”

She looks a little nervous about asking, her eyebrows are furrowed and she’s staring into your eyes, anxiously waiting for your response, “Oh.. yeah that’s cool!”

With that, you go your separate ways.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

At your apartment, you prep it for your visitor, shoving your clothes into your laundry hamper, putting out some snacks, straightening up your ‘living room,’ it wasn’t really a living room, given that you lived in a small studio apartment, it was really just a corner of your apartment with a couch, rug, and coffee table. Come on, it was New York and you’re a college student! This is as good as it’ll get for now.

Just as you’re folding a blanket, you hear a thud against the glass door leading out to your balcony. Just as you’re about to take a step towards it to inspect it.. ding dong! You jump a bit, forgetting all about the peculiar sound and making your way towards your front door. Peaking through the peephole, you see Ellie, she’s awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck, camera bag resting on her shoulder and her bangs messily in her face.

“Hey,” you smile and open the door to let her in, “Uh, make yourself at home.”

“T-thanks,” she nods, taking off her shoes and putting her bag down, “Nice place you got.. very, uh, homey. Oh, you a fan of Spider-man?” She nods at the Spider-Man poster on your wall and the Spider-Man t-shirt you’re wearing.

You giggle at her attempt at making small talk, “Thanks, can I get you anything? Water.. soda.. tea..? And, yeah, I know it’s kinda ‘fan girly’ of me but he’s just so fuckin’ cool, y’know? ”

“I’ll take a water,” she sits down on your couch, she looks really tired, not sleepy tired but she looks like she just fought Captain America.

“Shall we get started,” you place the glass in front of her and sit on the floor, the fluffy rug underneath aiding as a cushion, she nods and the two of you get to work.

The first few tutoring sessions went just like that, they were stiff and awkward but eventually, you realized that Ellis isn’t just a nerd that occasionally takes your pictures, she’s also really funny and is actually a really good teacher, she’s patient but doesn’t treat you like you’re dumb. She talks you through the formulas and makes sure you understand each chapter by quizzing you. She’s actually not awkward about this after all, she seems confident when she’s talking about cells. Watching her is nice, her eyes light up when she gets to a chapter that she is obviously interested in and a small smile falters on her lips. You never really realized it before but not only is she really smart, she’s also REALLY hot. Like, the way her veiny arms l flex when she reaches over for her glass of water, the veins flexing under her tattoo, the way she gazes at you through her eyelashes, and her smirk when she gently teases you for getting a problem wrong.

On one particular tutoring session, the rain pattered heavy against the thin glass on your balcony doors, creating a serene, almost cozy atmosphere. You and Ellie were sitting close together on the floor, a thick textbook resting on the coffee table in front of you, you could feel her breath against your neck and her voice was deep and raspy, almost like she’d been out in the rain earlier, and—

“Hey, you with me?” Ellie waves a hand in front of your face, “Hm, maybe we should stop here for now, yeah? It’s getting la— shit, it’s 7?!”

Your expression fell at the thought of her leaving, so you thought ‘fuck it’ as you decided to try and get her to ‘sleep over.’

Ellie scrambled to get on her feet, grabbing her bag and putting her battered converse on, “Oh, you’re leaving? But it’s pouring out there, wanna spend the night?” You graze her arm with your hand, you know it’s wrong to wanna sleep with your TA and your coworker but.. it had been so long since you got any.. and shit, how could you stop yourself now? You could feel her lean muscles underneath her baggy jacket.. you had no idea she even worked out.

Ellie’s eyes flicker to your hand, almost like she was considering it, “S-sorry.. I really gotta go, see ya Friday, yeah?”

And before you could say anything else to try and convince her to stay, she was out the door and you could hear her footsteps echoing down the stairwell.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“The nerve that girl has!” You throw your hands up, “She didn’t even consider it.. I mean, look at me! An up and coming model offers you the night of her life, you say yes!”

Your friends nod in agreement, “I just don—.” Just as you’re about to make another comment, you see Ellie come into the lecture hall, a band-aid on her eyebrow, ouch. What in the world could have happened between 7 p.m. and this morning?

Your friends turn to see what’s got your tongue, then one of them speaks up, “Haven’t you heard? She is always getting weird scratches.. a guy in my last class said that she tends to get in a lot of fights, crazy, right?”

Ellie gets into fights? You scoff at the idea, no way, she’s the most gentle person you know, you can barely feel her touch when she adjusts your hair during shoots, besides she’s way too awkward, you can imagine her trying to talk herself out of a beating, no way. Right?

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

During that night’s tutoring session, you ask her about the bandaid, “Oh,” her hand darts to her forehead, “This? I, uh, got it when I fell off my skateboard..”

Convincing enough, right? But the tone in which she said it betrayed her statement, damn, she was a shitty liar.

“Hm,” you hum, still not completely convinced.

Ellie’s eyes rest on yours for a moment before going back to this week’s chapter. Usually, you could focus pretty well but right now all you wanted was to ask her more about the cut, right as you’re about to bug her again, she interrupts you with a question of her own. “Hey, uh, are you booked for that shoot on Sunday?”

You can tell she’s trying her best to act as nonchalant as possible but the way she’s nervously tapping her pencil against the textbook, the way her teeth gently bite her soft pink lips, and the way her eyes look like a deer caught in headlights betray her rather calm tone.

“Yeah, didn’t Regina tell you? She booked me a few weeks ago, something about how they want a ‘fresh young face’ or whatever,” you on the other hand, have mastered the art of being nonchalant, your voice calm and your eyes never leaving the paper of your textbook.

“R-really?” Ellie looks like a puppy who’s owner just shook a bag of treats before forgetting she’s supposed to be feign the whole ‘mysterious loner’ shtick, “I mean, uh, cool, cool. I’m gonna be there too, so, uh.. yeah.”

“Mhm,” the rest of the night carries on like nothing happened, Ellie continues teaching and you continue ‘listening,’ which was a little hard because your eyes kept drifting to her eyebrows again.

There’s something about her that you just don’t get.. if those rumours are true, which you highly doubt because look at her, she’s smiling while talking about RNA… be so for real right now, there’s no way BUT if it is true, why is she so gentle? Sure, she’s clumsy but her personality, she’s not hostile, hell, she blushes whenever you graze her hand. You know how the rumour mill works and it doesn’t just churn out baseless rumours, most have some kind of truth to them, so, how did someone make one about Ellie being so violent, you wonder.

“Uh, Y/n?” Ellie’s eyes move towards the balcony doors, “Can you, uh, please stop staring? You’re making me nervous..”

Your face erupts in a blush, the sweet red colour creeping up your neck, coating your ears, and finally, sweeping over your face, “S-sorry, just spaced out.. haven’t been getting much sleep, you know?”

Ellie nods, “Yeah.. I get it.. neighbours arguing a lot ‘nd stuff, right?”

You nod before realizing, “I never told you that.”

Ellie lets out a forced chuckle, “Uh, you did! Well, you didn’t tell me directly, just heard you say it… God, please believe me, I’m not stalking you, I just heard you say in passing, I swe—. Um. I should go, it’s getting late..”

“Huh, it’s only 6..?” You stand up with her, hoping she doesn’t leave so soon.

“Sorry, but I really should—?”

You grab onto her bulky jacket, tugging on the sleeve a bit, causing it to slip down her shoulder a bit and reveal her shirt underneath, huh, it looked like…

“Hey,” she blurts out and straightens out her jacket, “Wh—?”

“Oh my god, is that a spider-man tshirt?” You jump up, a smile creeping onto your face.

Ellie is washed with relief, “Uh, yeah! Gotta love the, uh, the guy, right?”

Nodding you say, “Totally! You should’ve said something sooner, I’m like his biggest fan, I even have an, allegedly, signed poster of him!”

Ellie’s ears burn bright, “R-really? Can I see it?”

You scramble to your room and pull out a small signed flyer, “See?”

Ellie gently holds it then she snorts and mutters, “Yeah, that’s not real.”

Your expression falters, “Wh-what? As if you’d know,” you pull it from her grip, your pride hurt and internally kicking yourself for spending so much on what could be a damn knock off.

“Oh, I think I’d know a thing or two about ‘Spider-Man’,” she chuckles.

“What does that mean,” you shoot her a glare.

“Oh, nothing.. I just, uh, met him” Ellie is scrambling for any way to cover up her loud mouth.

“No way, really?!” You jump up.

“Y-yeah, a few times actually.. back in my first year of college, he let me take some pictures of him a few times for the paper.”

You squeal and begin to bombard her with questions, “What was he like? Is he tall? How does he sound? Wh—?”

Ellie is patient with you and answers all of your questions, stretching she takes a look at the clock and jumps up, “Fuck, I really should get going, it’s rainy and the parade is tomorrow and that means more cr —.”

“More, what?”

“Uh, more cramped subways!” (Ellie is internally patting herself on the back for coming up with a word that begins with ‘cr’ instead of saying criminals.)

“Oh, alright.. see ya.”

Ellie is out the door quicker than you could say ‘your friendly neighborhood spider-man.’

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

It’s the day of the parade and everyone’s spirits are high. Today, everyone is celebrating the election of the new city mayor. There will be a parade, drone show, and a market. Even you’re excited. You and your friends are making your way through the crowded streets when you bump into Abby, your ex. She must be here for her family, Abby’s family was widely renowned. Her dad isn’t just a highly esteemed surgeon, he’s also CEO of Oscorp and has very close ties to the city officials. You don’t really want any drama, so you pass by without giving as much as a nod.

“Hey, Y/n,” you hear through the crowds, a groan leaving your lips before looking up and meeting green eyes instead of blue ones.

“Ellie! What’re you doing here? I thought you would hate this kinda stuff.’

She holds up her camera, “Just takin’ photos, the Daily Bugle needs some front page stuff and they assigned it to me.”

“Oh, very cool,” you smile, “S—,” Just as you’re about to ask her if she wants to check out the stands with you, you feel a hand grip your shoulder, it’s Abby, fuck.

“Hey, Y/n, long time, huh? Wanna come see my dad, he’s been asking about you, oh, so has Manny.” Before you could reject her, Ellie is already walking away and Abby is steering you to the city hall building.

Abby drones on and on about her latest lacrosse victories and about her latest conquests, you just nod and try to space out. Normally, you wouldn’t go with her but you so desperately wanted to meet with her father. Being in premed meant you need as many connections as possible, so you were hoping Mr. Anderson could give you some pointers.

As the two of you round a corner you feel a rumble then hear a boom.

“What the fuck was that,” Abby stops and runs up the stairs, your feet are frozen in place but you quickly pull them from their cemented state and chase after her, “Abby, stop! It’s too dang—!”

Then came the second boom and suddenly, you felt the ground beneath you crumbling, fuck, this is it, isn’t it? Just as you’re about to accept your fate, you feel hands grip your waist and you’re flying..?

Through the dust, you can make out a red and blue silhouette. “I-it’s you!’

The masked figure looks at you, “Yeah.. i-it’s me.”

Uh, Spider-Man is a lot more awkward than you thought..

[perdvivly]

A problem I see with online discourse again and again is that political boarders are legible factors in shaping cultural beliefs and completely hidden online.

A take I see online a lot—from Americans—is that the point of education is to act as an aid for entering the workforce. To me, this seems unbearably bleak. Maybe this is me simply not being able to hack it, but I do genuinely believe that if I were the sort of person who believed that humanistic learning was worthless I would probably have already killed myself. That is simply not a world I want to live in and luckily for me not a world that I think we do live in.

But it’s very easy for me to form the belief education is valuable even if it isn’t tied to productivity because I was shaped by cultural forces that valued education. Tangibly valued it. The Home-Scotland fee rate for 2023 entry to university is £1820, and that’s *if* you pay, you could apply to SAAS and just get free tuition. Google tells me that the average annual cost for university in America is $71,703 before aid and $28,037 after aid.

I live in a world where university tuition is about the cost of a car, Americans live in a world where university tuition wipes a family out financially. And then we talk online as though we were talking about the same thing when very clearly we are not.

[suwbuns]

E-DATERS! | beomgyu’s genius plan

SYPNOSIS. moving back to korea from america, y/n is excited to reunite with her old friends and make new ones. what she doesnt expect is to find herself reuniting with her “ex-boyfriend” from 10 years ago who she dated over minecraft. what makes things worse? he happens to be her favorite streamer who she has been pinning after for years.

written + screenshot below! (not proofread lolol)

“this isn’t going to work” heeseung grumbled, folding his arms over his shirt. “and you’re an idiot for even suggesting this in the first place.”

“but who’s the idiot who agreed?” beomgyu retorted, his voice fading as he walked over to the kitchen to grab the stool from the counter, placing it beside his desk chair. “it’s genius. you just dont know it yet.” he patted the cushion material of the chair, motioning for heeseung to take a seat as beomgyu took his own.

“just stick to the plan,” beomgyu started, launching his minecraft and discord application on his computer while adjusting his microphone arm to where it stopped right in front of heeseung’s face. “i play, and you speak! if you don’t know what to say then ill be here to help you out.”

“this is going to end up badly,” heeseung sighed, adjusting himself comfortably on the stool and moving the pop filter closer to his mouth. “but i’m only doing this because you said that you would pay for my college tuition.” 

beomgyu tapped his fingers against the surface of his wooden desk, waiting anxiously for your username that would pop up under his friend request tag any minute now.

beomgyu himself knew this plan was stupid, there was no doubt about that. but if there was anything beomgyu was good at doing, it was creating last minute solutions. albeit, not good ones.

“i can reveal myself later,” beomgyu thought to himself, his leg shaking nervously under the desk. “im going to have to either way, atleast if things get more serious.”

after nervously waiting for what it felt like an endless amount of time, your username had finally popped up, beomgyu immediately clicking to accept your request. with only a second passing, the red notification bubble had appeared beside your profile picture.

y/n: heyyy

y/n: give me a second to log on, this computer is super slow lol

beomgyu: okayy, call me whenever you are ready :)

“she could call any moment now,” beomgyu rubbed his hands against the fabric of his pajama pants, attempting to get rid of the moisture that coated his palms. “you’re right, what if this doesnt work?”

“so youre telling me this... now?” heeseung deadpanned. “you know, after I practically strangled you to death telling you how stupid your idea was?”

beomgyu shruddered at the memory that occured less than 20 minutes ago, his life flashing before his eyes as he ended up in a headlock by the time he finished giving heeseung his entire spiel of the plan.

“you were the one who agreed!”

“yeah, and thats because your rich-ass agreed to pay for my tuitio-”

the familiar ringing of the discord call sound blared through beomgyus computer speakers, causing him to jump at the sudden noise. he stared at the notification pop up, allowing it to ring on, intimidated by its practically mocking presence.

“ohmygodshescallingwhatdoido” beomgyu panicked, his body shaking due to the adrenaline. the last minute regrets had began to arise, wishing to just flake from the current situation and make some out of pocket joke that would make you never speak to him again to avoid having to talk to you.

it was something that beomgyu knew for sure he could do.

“i dont know, maybe answer?” heeseung grabbed the mouse from beomgyus hands breaking his intrusive thought, moving the cursor to press the green answer button. 

“hello?” a voice sounded from the speakers.

beomgyu froze in his spot, his brain felt as if it was malfunctioning as he was actually processing that he was talking to the diamondgirl123, or in this case, y/n who had been declared off limits from the day he even found out about her. 

heeseung nudged the boy from his dazed state, his eyebrows furrowing towards him as he mouthed what beomgyu wanted him to say. 

“just say hi or something” beomgyu frantically mouthed back, logging onto their private server.

“hi!” heeseung said awfully too cheerful, making beomgyu form a tight lipped expression towards him.

“your voice is so deep bogum, i definitely did not expect that.”

beomgyu felt the blood drain from his face as heeseung chuckled lightly, thanking y/n quickly.

“my voice is deep too” beomgyu bitterly thought to himself. “deeper than his, at least”

he was starting to feel like this was an even worse idea, because the more heeseung and you began to talk, the more you seemed to grow interested. except for the fact that each time you gave a compliment, it was never aimed towards beomgyu himself, but towards heeseung.

and if there was anything that beomgyu couldn’t handle, it was his ego plummeting for the fact that the girl he was trying to win over, was being won over by him. except for it wasn’t really him.

beomgyu sprinted around the world waiting for you to join the game, running quickly to the spawn point when your join message popped up in the chat, dropping a flower to your character.

“ask her if she wants to explore the world together” beomgyu lightly whispered, keeping an eye out on his discord to make sure no audio from him was picked up.

heeseung briefly nodded before relaying the question, to which you excitedly responded yes to.

exploring the world unlocked several memories for you both, allowing you two to bicker with each other and fill each other in on the gap that occurred due to lost time. with heeseung being beomgyus mouthpiece at least. within the time of talking, beomgyu had learned a lot about you and your personality, all the way from your coffee order to embarrassing childhood memories, beomgyu had found himself smiling the entire time and had wished that it couldve been him to be actually talking with you.

beomgyu felt the weight lift off from his shoulders, as he realized that almost two hours had passed and everything seemed to going well, almost too well.

“oh my gosh look!” you gasped, running over to beomgyu’s character and throwing him the book in your inventory. “do you remember when you wrote this when you first confessed to me?”

heeseung leaned over beomgyu’s monitor to take a glimpse of the contents of the book as he flipped through the pages, practically gagging at the amount of cheesiness 13 year old beomgyu managed to write.

“this is so gross,” heeseung scrunched his nose in disgust. “i cant believe i was like this back then” he said, playfully nudging beomgyu in a teasing manner, causing him to roll his eyes at the boy in response.

“hey, it was cute!” you laughed. “you treated me better than any other boy in my life has.”

“actually?” heeseung asked in amusement, cocking an eyebrow. “youre saying that 13 year old beom— i mean bogum, was a better boyfriend than everybody you’ve been with?”

beomgyu’s eyes narrowed at heeseung’s slip up, to which heeseung meerly shrugged at.

“ill be honest,” you spoke, completely oblivious to it. “you completely raised my standards.”

“wait, really?” beomgyu blurted, immediately slapping his hand over his mouth as his eyes widened at heeseung, who had mirrored his reaction.

“you idiot!” heeseung mouthed at the boy after a couple of seconds when he realized youve gone silent. beomgyu crossed his fingers hoping that you didnt hear him, or atleast if you did you wouldnt notice the change in voice.

“y/n, you there?” heeseung broke the silence, glancing at beomgyu whose face had paled.

“me? oh yeah.” you started. both beomgyu and heeseung let out the breaths that they were holding in, sighing in relief. “it’s just… you sounded a lot like this streamer i liked.”

“oh really?” heeseung sent a glare towards the boy who seemed to have a bead of sweat rolling down his face.“sorry, i think i just had some phlegm in my throat which probably made it sound like beomgyu.”

“you’re lucky i saved you,” heeseung was able to mouth, rolling his eyes as he turned to face beomgyu. “im the one you begged to do this, yet youre the one messing up—“

“how did you know that my favorite streamer is beomgyu?”

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TAGLIST. @openingssequence @suburbiataehyung @shinypieceofgarbage @koeuh @captivq @beowmgyu @qluvrv @ikaeryn @whippedforbeomgyu @i8lhee @heyanonymous123 @vanicogh @sulliefimmie @tae-ology @milkycloudtyg @ox1-lovesick @soobsfairy444 @sulliefimmie @jaxavance @peachenle @pokyloky @peachybeom @alpha-mommy69 @fatoompie @ashxxgyu @soobsdior @viagumi @rikismiel @luvsoobs @lovejunz @wccycc @enha-cafe @kaeslily @hiddenboopy @cashew00nut @merendis @reverbtunes @lcvesickgyuzz @dear-dreamie @fragmentationss @chuuinggummy @hafsa-hoofsa-heefs @beomsbeanie @shigamiryuk @soobliss @woncheecks @sserafimez @ahnneyong @ghostfacefricker6969 @flrtsbin @beomomb @cathaerin (closed)

A/N. poor beomgyu 😔😔 anyways guys i finally made a twitter to boast abt my faves and my life so if ygs wanna be moots hehehe 🤭🤭

[bonyassfish]

One of the many many bad parts of project 2025 that isn’t being discussed very much is the current right wing plan for education. And as someone currently studying for a PhD in education policy this part is close to my heart

basically, they want to slowly downgrade the department of education until it does nothing but gather statistics and data. they want to end the phenomenon of education as a basic common good, and they want to create a private system which conducts right-wing, white supremacist, christo-fascist propaganda.

is your kid queer or trans? Disabled? Mentally ill or neurodivergent? Someone who speaks English as a second language? Someone who isn’t Christian? Someone who isn’t white? From a working class family? Sorry, education is not for them. Maybe if you’re lucky they’ll get a voucher to attend the pat robertson school of bullshit; of course, that scholarship was paid for with taxpayer money, so you’re ultimately the one paying for it after all.

Public schools in America are not perfect, not by a long shot. But widespread right wing resistance to public schooling is not because they are genuinely concerned with the many things needed to do to better support students, esp all the groups I just mentioned above. It’s because they fear they’ve lost the war of public information and know that the only way they can keep their viewpoint being seen with legitimacy is through indoctrination.

This isn’t new, per se, but the more recent step that they have managed is not just to go out of their way to mold public schools into places of right wing christian fascism like having the Ten Commandments on display, but using money from the dept of education which could go to improving public schools to fund these “voucher” programs, where parents/guardians can use vouchers to send their kids to private schools. Not only does it cost an outrageous amount of money (Arizona is flat near broke thanks to their voucher and charter policies), but research has shown that most vouchers are being used to pay tuition for kids who were already in private schools, and are mostly being used in wealthier families. I know, shocker

And the thing is, gutting the department of education is just one of the many many horrific things that lie inside of project 2025.

Some articles about this all if you’re interested, also I didn’t talk about it here but it’s also devastating for higher education as well as k-12

[hpdfag]

Hi!! We’ve both been less active but I’m sure we both are still missing each other…how have you been, once again? I’m sure it’s very stressing to think about the idea of wedding now, it’s probably very frustrating too. I can’t confirm much for you, but I really hope and pray in my own way that someday you can fulfill that need, even if it’s not in the way you now wish it to be. These days are an example of that for me! I’ve always wanted to be a ballet dancer since I was a child (became an irl of a ballerina, you know!) but my mom could never afford or be able to bring me to classes, which frustrates me; I always wanted to be a professional dancer. Well, these days I got my first dance class! In fucking kpop!! And maybe it’s not what I wanted and maybe it’s not the career that I’ll have, but it still gave me so much happiness; it wasn’t exactly what I wanted for, but in the end it fulfilled and satisfied the little child in me. Ranting aside, I think that’s possible for you, too. Maybe the “picture perfect day” won’t be as you wish now, as you dream of; but maybe it’ll bring you just as much happiness you know? Wether it’s not a wedding, wether you fall in love with someone else in this reality, or even something else, I think it’s possible for you to find that happiness, somewhere, somehow. I can assure you! When we’re in the shit as teenagers we’ll always be scared, thinking that this truly will never end. But it does! Trust me, it does. I hope you’re feeling better now! About the uni thing I asked some days ago…damn I just remembered you’re America and you guys have to pay for your Universities and </3 I am so sorry?? If you could maybe move to Europe in the far future to study medicine maybe? I don’t know, but if I had a dream like that I’d want to chase it at all costs…but you should do what makes you happier and safer now! We’re young, we have time to dream. To change! This was a bit of a messy ramble honestly, but I’m still glad I put my thoughts out about this to you :} and I hope it brings some light to your ongoing day too!!

- 🧶

hi, im doing alright, just exhausted,, and i get what you're trying to say but i can't imagine myself falling in love with anyone else, let alone to the point of marrying them. even just considering it makes me feel sick, like im betraying hinata. i'd rather die

i've just been in the grief trenches the past few days, hence the elevated levels of complaining (my dad passed away 9 years and 3 days ago now, so its just. a rough time of year. it comes in waves)

and yeahyeah haha uni is EXPENSIVE here especially if you want to go to a good one, thats why im starting at community college and hopefully getting financial aid as well. the state im living in has a grant that pays for your full community college tuition if you get approved for it, which would be a LIFESAVER since the job search is taking for fucking ever /silly

and yeah, i could at some point move out there for med school, but i'm content with my current path in life i think. i can still work within the medical field even, working on in-house software and IT management and stuff like that. it's not what i wanted to do as a kid, but it's what i think will make me happiest. i cant handle being in charge of someone elses life, it'd burn me out too fast

im so glad you got to do your first dance class though!!! whether it turns into your career or you just end up doing it for fun, i hope you continue to have a wonderful experience.

[vomitdodger]

No it peaked significantly before that. By every reasonable metric considering k-12 education only (the kind that’s paid for by your taxes) which is REALLY what we are talking about. The DoE also deals with college BS but since you “essentially” pay for it, it should not be considered a quantifier. But given the astronomical costs of tuition and useless gender studies degrees with no future the only answer, again, is the DoE is a complete failure.

The best quantifier of the DoE would be “intelligence and graduation rates”. That “intelligence” being useful learned and properly mastered educational aspects for life. This alone is difficult to quantify even under the best of circumstances. Almost directly impossible other than by other metrics. It can’t be measured by “those going to college” rates (you pay for THAT) or even “high school graduation rates necessarily. It needs to be taken as a whole and not parcels in a limited space or time period, which is what the media and local pols do to sound “cherry”. Eg: this state/race/gender did “better” in this year compared to previous. But again, even graduation rates can’t be compared across time because the standards have been so far continually dumbed down over time. Ex: Oregon no longer requires proficiency in reading, writing or math. Absolute abject failure. The per pupil expenditures have continually escalated. Why? The unions of course.

Comparing the US to similar developed countries is again, only useful for trends across time. There can be no direct comparison. Too many variables. Only trends work. And we continually trend down.

But given all the above: DoE is complete and utter failure. End it.

I didn’t include resources. Look it up yourself from reputable sources not having skin in the game or getting kickbacks. There’s lots of “look what we did (this year)” in education. Yeah maybe…you were shit last year all you had to do was get on the bus and you’d do better. And that’s another example: attendance and tardiness are now racist. All this is to make our kids dumber, more lethargic in life and forever defendant victims. Such is the trend across everything in America.

And for the libtards, this is what you do that inspired me to respond and shit on you: you make a comment of no value or substance to the conversation. You are incapable of working with facts, reason, logic, historical perspective or compassion. Some of you on the fringe edge may read this and “get it”. Eventually.

For the rest of you retards…yes, I would like fries with that. Oh that’s right…you can’t even get a fast food job because you “protested for a living wage” yourself right out of a job and automation replacements. Because you don’t understand basic Econ. Congrats. You played yourself multiple times over and don’t even know it. Again…because you’re too stupid.

States' Rights is code for white status quo and white supremacy.

Federal laws hold states to a higher standard.

Anyone who wants to get rid of the Department of Education wants to make America a horrible backward place to live.

[ultravariety]

i decided to pay for linkedin premium since i thought it would help my chances of getting a job but it's really not helping. i keep seeing different posts from people, not just on linkedin but pretty much every social platform talking about how hard it is to find a job. and the amount of times i've gone out for food and the person before me is asking if they are hiring.

i'm still watching the bear season 3 but napkins... i cried. tina's struggle was so real and i was sobbing. and the coldness you encounter during the entire experience. it's so rare to feel like you are getting anywhere.

i've generally just been depressed about the world.

america and it's government for one. it's hard to watch. i think it's even harder to watch the vote blue no matter who crowd. i used to be a staunch believer in being an active participant in voting but ever since i saw that comment that was like "they encourage you to go through their systems for change so that you are stopped in the system" (not exactly but you get the gist) made me rethink it. why bother voting for the change we need when no one is bringing it to the table? it's hard to watch someone BEG for "vote blue!! vote BLUE!!" when active genocide and disenfranchisement has been happening under blue. like.. on god... are you dumb? blue or red you are FUCKED.

i love taking the opportunity to criticize the american government so it's hard to listen to people reinforce the system. voting isn't even equal!!!!! should've been your first clue that it's all fucked up!!!

maybe controversial, but we should start killing people. i wish death upon my premier. may his dumbass choke and fall down several flights of stairs.

i'm so serious tho. it's liberal brain rot to think we can hold hands and peacefully reach a "proper solution" to any issue. we need to start throwing bricks

OMG and the supreme court!!! kill them fuckers too!! everyone is so old and lame, i'm convinced if a firework blew up next to them they would go into cardiac arrest. honestly that goes for all of them, presidential candidates, government employees. all old asses need to GO. yes i am being ageist on this one. no i do not care, get them to do a cognitive function test before they get to work.

i hate it in canada too. and it's so fucked bc the problems just keep compounding and no politician is for the people. pretty much every politician is either a landlord or related to a developer so the housing crisis will never get fixed. and every monopoly insists of making life unbearable here. why was my phone bill $63? because they can. groceries? so expensive. and public transit is dogshit. and they are taking away culture centres too.

i expressed wanting to move away. my shortlist is spain, portugal, the netherlands or brazil

brazil seems to be controversial anytime i talk about it but it feels like people don't think south americans are people sometimes. "so much crime, corruption, it's dangerous, you can't trust".... i have to wait 3 years for 750m of road to be repaired. cops are always just lounging at construction sites. there are way too many charities and foundations set up by billionaires for tax write offs. assaults on transit are so much more frequent. healthcare is getting less and less funding people need to pay for services. kids are stupid as hell because education is also underfunded. mass immigration is burdening social services because we don't have enough resources to accommodate these people AND immigrants who are mostly international students are being targeted by universities and colleges so they can charge ridiculous tuition and leave them with no support. so as if it's really any better here.

and yet, when i talk about wanting to leave, everyone has an opinion. "oh it's not really that great there, it's over hyped" "it's still expensive to live there" "you won't have anyone" pls. i barely have anyone HERE.

i don't feel supported on decisions i want to make for myself. they are selfish wants so yeah i get it, but i don't care. i want it for me!!!! i am miserable!!! my mental health is in the gutter and the more time i'm subjected to living at home, the worse it gets. i'm drowning and people keep high fiving me instead of throwing a life support.

and more than anything, the lack of support makes me doubt my ability to do anything. maybe i'm not capable of finding a better job? maybe i'm not even deserving of better? is this just my burden to bare? will i never escape?

it makes me wish i was dead instead. rather be dead than live through all this. not even a glimmer of hope. there is not light at the end of the tunnel. i rather be dead than have to live all these years just for the pay off to come when i'm 50 or something. that's 20 more years of pain? no thanks.

all this to say, i know im not alone on this. many people are in my scenario. they are probably handling it better than i am. i'm not good at this - i'm not patient, and clearly not optimistic. i feel like i'm reaching the end of my rope.

[doculicious]

Nikki "Anti-Black People" Haley lost the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary. Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands each have their Republican Caucus on February 8. February 24 will be the South Carolina Republican Primary. I don't expect Nikki Haley to win her home state of South Carolina.

Her comments in New Hampshire in 2023 about the Civil War and Slavery during the days of Kwanzaa (December 26 to January 1) were a dog whistle to get certain voters in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary January 2024. As the governor of South Carolina where she was born and grew up in she saw firsthand that the American Civil War was about Slavery. For years she has gone by Civil War battlefieds, Confederate monuments, Dixie flags, slave plantations and slave cabins in South Carolina. She might have even stumbled upon a Klan rally once by accident. Her father taught at an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) in South Carolina. A result of the USA not wanting black students at white colleges in the 1800 and 1900s. White schools still don't want black students in this new century. I digress. Maybe she didn't like that growing up it was black students tuition and fees that were paying the bills at her house.

Hating black people does not stop you from being president of the USA. Take your pick of past racist presidents and those who owned slaves. The problem with her is that she is South Asian and wants to further their ability to come to America like her parents did. You can't do that if you are in basic denial of factual history of the USA that she in South Carolina can see every single day.

I am sure that while she campaigning in New Hampshire she did not stop and visit the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth New Hampshire. Slavery started in the North and ended in the South.

[purplebass]

What is your favorite obscure novel or movie? (It still counts as obscure if it has less than 10 fics on ao3)

I'll say three, maybe someone would be interested to read them :D because I barely see anyone talk about these and imo they are good! I love lesser known books and I have several at home that I still have to read, so I'll tell you about the ones I read lol

The first book is "Villette" by Charlotte Bronte. Maybe it didn't make much noise because unlike "Jane Eyre" (which is also another favorite of mine) it focuses more on the gender stereotypes and the main character's psychology and it's quite unusual. It's about this woman called Lucy who wants to become a teacher and she goes to France to pursue that career. Let's say it anticipated much of the later British lit from the late Victorian age so maybe that's why it passed unobserved, but it was good (and also heavy, it's deep)

The second book is "The Black Tulip" by Alexandre Dumas (father). I discovered this novel thanks to a famous anime called "The Star of the Seine" lol it is set in Netherlands of the XVII century. It's a spy and revenge and romance story about this gardener who wants to create this black tulip to win a prize but he's falsely accused of treason by his rival and goes to jail

The third is a book I also discovered thanks to an anime adaptation lol "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster. This is set in America in the 1920's and it's an epistolary novel about this teenage orphaned girl who can attend a prestigious college thanks to a secret benefactor who decides to give her a scholarship so she can have a better life after the has to leave the orphanage (she's almost 18). He accepts to pay her tuition but has a few conditions: he won't disclose his identity to her and the mc has to write him a monthly letter to update him about her progress at college (this story has an age gap romance but it spans over 3 years)

Thanks for this ask! ✨🌷

[941injapan]

June 17th- Free Day

Today was the last of our full free days here in Japan. While I have been to and seen mostly everything I hoped to see this trip, I still had one more destination to go to, a place that is half the reason I decided to do this exact program. Today, I took the train out to Kansai Gaidai University. Nestled between Kyoto and Osaka, I had come in with moderate expectations from a school that I thought would be a hole in the wall. I was dead wrong, I couldn't have been more off the mark on this one. This university campus was absolutely stunning, each inch of it felt so premium and high end. Kansai Gaidai came to my attention when considering learning a new language at UF. I had to take 2 semesters of a language anyway, so I figured I should pick a world destination and get a little more out of my experience by actually taking extra classes to achieve fluency or even a minor. Japan was the location I settled on for a variety of reasons. As someone who works in communications, I think it would be useful to me, maybe even open up a whole new plethora of jobs, by getting things like language and culture credits. My plan was to take beginning Japanese 1 and 2 for my last year of college, then delay or do a masters since I'm 2 years ahead anyway. Ill have to work for the rest of my life, so I should take my time and get the most out of college experience. So, this Kansai Gaidai University was where I was considering doing advanced Japanese courses. They posed quite a bargain in my opinion. You get a fixed tuition rate with UF, so no wild private school prices and all the credits work with UF, so you don't have to worry about transfer credits or even paying Kansai, you just pay UF. Each dorm room was very modern and clean, all single rooms with views of the mountains or city for, get this: 400 DOLLARS a MONTH! What in the world are we doing wrong in America. Back at UF I paid 1k a month to live in a DUMP on campus with 2 other people!?! Both the academic and living spaces here were so modern and nice for such a low price, it's given me an animosity for UF in all honestly. UF is a top 5 university in America while Kansai Gaidai is just another Japanese school, and it put UF to unbelievable shame. I felt embarrassed as a realize how normal it feels to get the bare minimum, and the money I pay for that. Robbery. Anyway, the surrounding area; Hirakata, was quite nice with all the amenities like a nice train station central hub area, as well as the river and a hospital. Overall, I would love to study abroad, but I need to take care of business at home first. After the university, I made my way back to Osaka to look around some more. I tried out the shopping district area as well as going back to Dotenbori. I really like Osaka and how it's laid out, a refreshing medium between the chaos of Tokyo and the inconvenience of Kyoto.

Here is a picture of the library at Kansai. What a difference.

[theliterateape]

The Quiet Part Out Loud

by Joe Janes

The people in our fast food restaurants who cook and clean and hand food to our customers and take their money are the lifeline of our corporation. They’re on their feet all day and pour their sweat and blood into their work and mostly not in our food. What’s the least amount possible we can pay them?

 -       Every Fast Food Company

Teachers set the tone and determine the quality of the experience for our students. Without them, we are nothing. Let’s raise tuitions and increase class sizes. Pay teachers as little as possible, the fewer the benefits the better. Let’s also value degrees over experience. We should also give ourselves raises and bonuses.

 -       Every College Administration

The people that keep our business on top are the ones who work in our warehouses and drive our delivery trucks. Let’s pay them as little as possible, admonish them for taking bathroom breaks, and literally work them to death. Ooh! And let’s buy a spaceship.

 -       Amazon

America is a melting pot. Land of the free and home of the brave. We are all created equal and deserve a fair chance to prosper and pursue happiness. You know I’m just talking about white people, right? And just men. Let’s also cut taxes for the rich and any programs poor people can benefit from. Can we make buying a gun mandatory while also taking away voting rights and banning abortion? Let’s also do away with those programs for youths and for mental health. Spikes in crime are good for business. We should also get raises and free healthcare. God bless US, everyone.

 -       The Government

Writers? I could write that. They should be happy just to have a job. If they’re not getting work, well, maybe they’re not good at writing the words like I do am.

 -       Hollywood Studios

Really, the best way for us to make as much money as possible is to pay our employees as little as possible without covering healthcare or retirement and making them pay for things, like uniforms and supplies. Whether they live or not is not up to us. That’s their business. We’ll do the least amount that’s legally possible while we also funnel money into changing those laws so we can eventually pay even less.

 -       All of Them

Got any you would add to the list?

[piscesgirl87]

thats probably how things work in ireland. but chicago pd takes place in america. kim is a cop so she probably has some kind of insurance that would have cover the cost of her medical bills. if insurance doesnt cover it i dont think kim would have let adam help her pay for it. maybe now but not then. soccer is after school activity so its free. violin if its private then they have to pay. if its part of school then no. ice skating isnt really that expensive. there are usually discounts for childrens and senior citizens. i never said i wanted adam to buy a condo for kim and mack. i used the word condo because thats what he almost bought for him and hailey. i want him to buy kim and mack a big, beautiful, expensive house with a big yard in a nice neighborhood like uncle theo’s house. im sure there are neighborhoods with big fancy houses that have kids around 😂 again if adam can afford to buy the condo in s6 that means he has more than enough money to buy a big, beautiful, expensive house and money for other stuff like vacations, mack’s college tuitions which btw there are scholarships and grants and aids for so she wouldnt have to pay anything unless she plays to stay in dorm, mack’s private extracurricular activities. even if adam can no longer afford to buy expensive house im sure there are big, beautiful houses that are affordable. idk it just seems insulting and unfair to kim he was ready to move in with hailey and buy a big, fancy, expensive condo with her after only few weeks of dating and knowing her for a year atp. but with kim he was dragging his feet about moving in with her after dating her for 2 years and being engaged to her. and now after 10 years and raising a kid with her he buys her and their kid a cheap, ugly, small, unsafe house instead of a big, beautiful, expensive place like he almost buy for hailey. he almost took hailey on trip to his uncle cabin but he has yet to take kim and mack on trip or vacation. its a good thing kim doesnt know about any of this. i hope burzek house burns down. not while they are inside ofc! maybe then adam will buy them a big, beautiful, expensive house like he should have in the 1st place. even if he cant afford expensive house im sure there are big, beautiful houses that are affordable. adam and kim arent the only characters in oc who have a kid. if cindy and herman can afford to pay for a nice, big, beautiful house with 5 kids and cruz and cindy with 2 kids then adam and kim who only have 1 kid can afford it too!

His “relationship” with Hailey was very different

They weren’t serious, they were having fun

What if he doesn’t have that kind of money anymore? What if he can’t afford it?

Kim and Mack literally don’t care

He bought a house for his family

They are fixing it up

But what matters most is the loving family inside of the home

Idk why this is such a big deal lol

Literally nobody cares

[classroomconfidentialblog]

“Teacher: If you don’t pay attention and do well in school, you’re going to have to be a garbage man.  Student: Miss Smith, my dad is a garbage man and he makes way more money than you.”

No one in their right mind should ever choose to be a preschool teacher.

If you are either supported by a spouse or maybe working your way through college or grad school or something, it might seem like a half-decent job opportunity. But in such a case, you could make equally decent money as a nanny helping far less children at once, and you can study while the baby is asleep.  

The pay early childhood educators get versus what their educator counterparts earn teaching elementary school and above is basically inhumane by comparison.  

Riddle me this: why is there no such thing as a preschool teacher’s union?  Why do preschool teachers get left out  of the tax write offs for classroom supplies even though we buy things for our classrooms with our incomes, too?  Why don’t preschool teachers fall under the umbrella for public service loan forgiveness?  Literally no one would be able to go to work if we weren’t watching all of their children.

It’s like preschool teachers are the ghosts of the education world. The illegal aliens. Except we don’t make as much money as actual illegal immigrants working under the table may very well be making.  

Want to hear something nuts?

My dear friend who isn’t even a US citizen is getting a full-ride scholarship to become a US-certified teacher.  That’s how fucked up it is to be a preschool teacher in the USA.  Those of us who are from here, born and raised, don’t even get full-ride scholarships to actually get certified to be a teacher here.  

Here’s another absurd and very true irony of being a preschool teacher at a lot of preschools.  If you are literally THE program, because you’re the lead teacher and without you, none of it would be legally possible, your own child can’t even attend the preschool for free.  What in the actual fuck is that bullshit?  

At that point, you have no business working for anyone else because you could start your own preschool out of a house where you are still offering that exact same program, and your kid could absolutely attend school with you for free.  That or you could be earning all the tuition yourself, and then send your own kid to another preschool  with all the income you’re now earning. 

This is how poorly preschool teachers are treated. 

More real life, bona fide examples... 

When I started working in early childhood education, I got paid $10 an hour.  This was in the 2010s.  

I know fully-qualified lead preschool teachers right now in 2022 who are still only earning $15 an hour.  And this $15 an hour is supposed to support not only their own cost of living as an adult, but also their children.  

What’s even more sad is how little the assistant teachers typically get paid.  They are usually hourly employees earning minimum wage or not too far above it.  

I know of a lead teacher who only made $500 more per month than they did as a TA, when the load of work on the lead teachers was absolutely insane.  

To put this into perspective, the starting wage at Whole Foods in America is $17.70 an hour.  A garbage man in the USA  can earn $52K a year out the gate, and over six figures after a while on the unionized job.  A nanny can earn $24/ hour.  An elementary school teacher gets paid $60-65K on average in the USA.  A server in a restaurant in the USA makes between $30-60 an hour. Meanwhile, a preschool teacher makes $11-21 an hour.

And when you factor in all the work we have to do, real talk, why would anyone say yes to that shit long-term?  

Why would you say yes to being in a work environment that basically feels more overstimulating than an actual circus, AND to being professionally scrutinized AND dealing with nightmare parents, AND nightmare colleagues, AND sometimes a nightmare boss, AND being surrounded by germs all the time AND doing things like scrubbing toilets AND changing diapers (depending on the age of your class), AND sanitizing a room full of toys AND constantly working outside of work hours AND lesson planning AND the onslaught of emails AND the never-ending administrative to-do list, AND being a photographer AND being an event planner AND being a graphic designer and digital content creator AND being held liable for a room full of children and their wellbeing...

... when you could choose a totally different more relaxing job where you only have to deal with ONE core responsibility? Like only bringing food out to tables? Or only ringing up customers at the cash register? Or only restocking grocery store shelves? or only emptying trash cans?  

Fuck, I mean as a preschool teacher I’ve had to empty trashcans, and a bunch of other shit, on top of keeping a room full of children alive.  I could have gotten paid a whole hell of  a lot more to *just* empty trash cans for a living, ya feel me?

[janmusija]

This is a fair enough point, but it seems unlikely that allocating such extensive amounts of time to often quite large general education requirements-- often enough classes for an entire year-- is really the most effective usage of one's time or (maybe even more importantly!) tuition. Sure, a few classes of general education may make you a better mathematician, say, but I'd be quite surprised if the marginal utility of yet another gen ed after just a few gen eds were remotely near that of being able to take another class that more directly relates to the degree you're pursuing, especially in areas where being able to specialize in something that requires a lot of groundwork to be laid in order to get to the frontiers is very important. I don't doubt that having experience in multiple fields and being able to connect them helps with abstract thought-- many of my own hobbies and other academic interests have some sort of bridging connection to mathematics and logic-- but I wonder how much benefit is really conferred in that regard by taking a class in such a subject, especially when often it can feel more like a chore thrust upon you and that can make it much harder to get something out of it. I'd be very surprised if taking general education classes due to a requirement were nearly as impactful has having broad side interests that one already followed in one's spare time.

Maybe I'm being too hard on this however; it's definitely true that the benefit from this is a whole lot more abstract and difficult to quantify than the benefit from taking a class in the subject you actually intend to study. Furthermore I'll admit my whole point about "already having academic hobbies" or whatever is kind of not particularly relevant to the discussion.

At any rate I'm still kind of not convinced that just because general education *is* valuable, even if it happens to somehow be optimal value at the levels that so many American colleges thrust it upon you, that you should have it, well, thrust upon you. I kind of feel like people should be free to choose whether they want to go a more gen-ed-ful route or specialize more fully-- especially when in the US and many other places you're paying quite a large price for the service of being educated. This is America dammit and I should be free to ruin my education as I please!!!!

uh tl;dr since I probably said the same things like six times in each paragraph: "Maybe, but how does the benefit conferred compare to specialized study? Especially when you factor in diminishing returns and possible lack of student interest? Albeit, it's also maybe not a fair comparison since it's difficult to quantify. Nonetheless, I feel like one should have a choice at least between gen eds or no gen eds"

why is general eduction such a thing.

seriously, I was forced through a bunch of this stuff in high school already. I'm really tired of having to learn a bunch of random trivia when I'm already dead set on going into mathematics academia. I mean, like, one of my gen eds was on roman culture and it's nice and all that I know some half-remembered trivia about ancient rome now but I would have preferred to have spent that time learning some model theory or something

I mean seriously [most american colleges] what purpose does making every single one of your students have to bRoAdEn ThEiR hOrIzOnS serve? I get that a lot of students might not know what they want to do and might want to shop around but it really sucks to be someone who knows what you want to do dragged around through all this random stuff you don't care about, and there should really be a process by which students like this can, like, opt out somehow if they demonstrate they have good reason.

Nota bene: I'm taking a literary analysis course to satisfy a writing requirement. I'm not going to write literary analysis papers when I do the things I had to satisfy this requirement to be allowed into (ie, trying to get a master's); it's literally irrelevant to what I'm doing. Do you know how much I, a mathematics student, need to be able to analyze poetry in order to do mathematics??? I've read Winning Ways, and even THAT doesn't require you to bust out your tinfoil hat to synthesize complete bs extract subtly hidden metaphor from deep in the subtext.

tl;dr I feel like my time is being wasted by general education etcetera

no idea what to tag this post with tbh, I dunno tumblr etiquette