#meanwhile i go to another artist and they keep improving and improving and everyone supports them

[koko2unite]

[dk-thrive]

New Year’s resolutions are penny-ante prayers.

New Year’s resolutions are penny-ante prayers. You are this way, but you hope to be that way. You used to want this, but now you want that. The assumption behind resolutions is that something must be corrected and improved. One vows to be better than one was the year before.

Part of the nature of resolutions, particularly for those of us north of 60, has to do not only with the new year before us, but also with time already spent, or misspent. We reflect on the years we’ve lived, on the past resolutions made and broken. Another New Year’s Eve come and gone. Every time the ball drops, the heart sinks. You are running out of time, and time is what we value most. […]

Thus there is always a melancholic desperation and urgency when we shout, “Happy New Year!” Will this new year, in fact, be any better than the last? We resolve that it will. We resolve to be fitter, healthier, cleverer, richer, more successful, more popular, more productive, better dressed, happier. And so restarts the whole vain, foolish, inevitably disappointing cycle.

The trouble with all such self-oriented promises is that they deal in chicken feed. What does the great wide world care if you lose weight, or work out, or work harder, or quit drinking or smoking? Quit smoking or smoke three packs a day. Work out daily or let yourself go. It’s your choice, your life. Your little life. Meanwhile, the world — the whole tortured, self-destructive, polarized, endangered, extraordinary world — spins on. […]

If you’re looking for a worthwhile resolution…we can start small.

Personally, I vow that I will frequently visit a children’s hospital and try to distract kids with stories, the funnier the better. I vow that I will phone every lonely person I know — and there are plenty — at least twice a week, just to chat and make them feel part of the living world. I vow to give alms to everyone who asks, and to those who don’t, and to stand up for the stupid and crazy, the stupider and crazier, the better. I promise to keep an eye out for strays (cats, dogs and people) and bring them safety and comfort. I vow to see every wrong as a menace, every wound an opportunity.

What will you do — right now, this week, this month — to make a better world? Stage a protest. Send a letter to right a wrong, or to proffer friendship. (A thoughtful, sympathetic letter to a friend in sorrow or distress is a powerful thing.) Lend a hand. Offer a word of comfort or inspiration or support or love. Donate money or, most valuable of all, time. There are so many ways to move this world, right within reach.

The great beautiful irony of all this, of course, is that selflessness is not the opposite of self-improvement. Selflessness is self-improvement — the most meaningful and lasting kind.

Practice it, and you may just find that the new year is, in fact, a step up from the last. You may find that, all at once, you look and feel better than you would have after any amount of dieting or exercise. Unburdened of ego. Lighter on your feet. Say, haven’t you lost weight?

Practice it, and suddenly you will find that your little life has gotten big. Big life, grand life is like art. It is not done well unless the artist dreams expansively, ridiculously, by making a glorious Whitman-size fool of herself in seeking to enhance everything, cure every ill. Nothing less.

— Roger Rosenblatt, from “This Year, Make a Resolution About Something Bigger Than Yourself” (NY Times, December 26, 2023)

[tigerkirby215]

5e Tahm Kench, the River King build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

I guess I’ve still got demons on the mind after Halloween. Truth be told while I do hope to someday make a build for every champ I’m very hesitant to make builds for the “monsterous” champs. Cho’Gath, Kog’Maw, and Tahm Kench were all on that list for one reason and one reason alone: you can’t say “I puke on / eat / lick the enemy” without drawing a few strange glances. But the good folk over at Doran’s & Dragons did a Tahm Kench build and while I get where they were going for I’m personally not the biggest fan.

D’s&Ds tries to capture the flavor of the character much more than their abilities, which I can greatly appreciate. I think if you want a smooth-talking demon who swindles people out of everything, including their lives, than D’s&Ds’ build for Tahm is great. But I’m more interested in the mechanics of Tahm Kench: with literal thick skin to absorb incoming damage, a tongue that can leave our opponents stunned, and the ability to... vore your friends to keep them out of harm’s way.

No there aren’t vanilla rules for eating your friends alive! It’s all going to be reflavoring! See this is exactly why I didn’t want to do Tahm.

GOALS

I am enthralled by your class and refinement - Tahm Kench is a demon of greed, luring in unsuspecting hopefuls with promises of prosperity. We’ll need a tongue as sharp as a sword, and a sword as sharp as our tongue.

You have succeeded only in ruffling my attire! - To walk around looking like a Disney Caricature you need to have some thick skin. While other champs wear armor Tahm just has Thick Skin.

All the world's a river; and I'm its king - With a mouth that big you’ve gotta put it to good use, helping your allies across the river... regardless of if they want to go. (Well, most spells that target allies in D&D have to be willing...)

RACE

While I appreciate D’s&D and their take by making Tahm Kench a Locatha they were made for a Second Life charity module, which means they’re not officially endorsed at Adventurer’s League or other such gatherings. Also the friend who shares content with me on D&D Beyond doesn’t own Locatha Rising.

Also technically this build isn’t AL legal since it uses multiple sourcebooks (Mordenkainen's + others) so uhhhh...

Also this build is going to use a subclass that wasn’t available when D’s&D made their build.

With that being said Two-Coats is a demon so we’ll go for the demon race: Tiefling! More specifically we’ll get acquainted with the icy depths of the river as a Levistus Tiefling. Levistus Tieflings see their Charisma score increase by 2 and their Constitution increase by 1 for some protection thanks to the cold. Additionally you get some innate spells thanks to Legacy of Stygia, which I’ll cover when they come up.

All Tieflings have 60 feet of Darkvision, Hellish Resistance to Fire damage, and the ability to speak Common and Infernal. The only thing that changes with your Tiefling subrace is your ability scores and your innate spellcasting, and truly your brand of demon doesn’t matter much. "Call me king, call me demon - water forgets the names of the drowned."

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - For a truly delicious meal you need to soften them up a little first. Take it smooth and let them relax before going in for the kill.

14; CONSTITUTION - Kench is a chunky lad who can take quite a beating. It takes more than a blade to slay the king.

13; STRENGTH - You need quite the strong stomach to hold down tougher meals. “Needs salt!”

12; WISDOM - You need a bit of natural intuition to know how folk tick.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Live long enough and you learn quite a bit. At least enough to promise knowledge to anyone looking for it.

8; DEXTERITY - As said before the river king is a large demon of a man, who can take as much time as he wants to get a meal.

BACKGROUND

No surprises here: Tahm Kench is a Charlatan, swindling folk all across Runeterra out of everything they once owned... including their lives.

Well, maybe a few surprises. You will still be taking Deception but instead of Slight of Hand take Persuasion proficiency, because you’re more of a smooth talker than a con artist. I’m also going to suggest taking two Languages instead of two Tools: take whatever language you think you may need, but to talk your way to your next meal they’ll have to be able to understand you.

Regardless you can’t have them knowing your a demon, so take a False Identity as the king. Most folk think you’re a kind soul, with plenty to back you up. And you can always get any papers they may desire.

(Artwork by Alex “alexplank” Flores. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - FIGHTER 1

Starting off as a Fighter because funny Constitution saving throws, among other things. "My constitution is unflappable!" Regardless you get proficiency in two skills from the Fighter list so take Insight and Athletics to know who’s ready to be carried down river.

You also get a Fighting Style of your choice and while I’d love to get a Reach weapon or indeed any two-handed weapon one of Tahm Kench’s best assets is the Protection he can provide his allies. For this you’ll need a shield (and you can take a regular Strength weapon along side it) but if an attack is coming their way you can grab them in your maw to give the attack disadvantage... Or you could not vore your allies, and take the Defense Fighting Style instead to get more AC.

Well at least if anyone gets mad at all the vore comments you can tank it with your Thick Skin and regenerate it with Second Wind. (The Fighter ability, not the rune in the Resolve tree.) And to fight back with a lashing of your tongue Ray of Frost from Legacy of Stygia will do some damage at range and slow down your foes. It’s not a stun yet... not yet.

LEVEL 2 - BARD 1

What? Did you think we wouldn’t have some tricks of the charmer’s trade? As a Bard you get one proficiency in any skill and one instrument proficiency. Choose Intimidation because my what big teeth you have! (But truthfully take whatever proficiency works for your party, as Tahm Kench can be whatever you want him to be.) As for instrument I’m going to have to go for Lute: it’s the closest you’ll get to a tongue guitar, and don’t you dare say “tongue guitar” at your D&D table.

Regardless Bards get Bardic Inspiration at first level, to make sure you fulfill the support role through the use of honeyed words and sweet nothings. You get a pool of d6s that you can give to an ally to add to their attack rolls, skill checks, or saving throws. You can give a d6 as an action and have a number of them equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain them all at the end of a long rest.

But wait! There’s more! You also get Spellcasting as a Bard: you get two cantrips from the Bard list. A man of fine tastes needs to keep his outfit in check, so take Mending to do that. Vicious Mockery meanwhile will let you use that trademark Tahm Kench sharp tongue (not the literal sharp tongue) to taunt your foes and make it harder for them to hurt your allies. "The baseness of your appetite repulses me!"

As for leveled spells you can pick four of them at first level: naturally you’ll need Charm Person to tempt mortals with pleasing bargains. To worry them that you’re coming to collect Dissonant Whispers will fill their minds with unease. To open up your foes for your friends to take them down Bane will loosen their resolve. And to make sure everyone laughs at your jokes? Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 2

Second level Bards are Jack of All Trades, letting you add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you’re not proficient in. Tahm Kench is a demon, and he needs to be able to help wherever he can to tempt others to ask him for help.

Speaking of help you also get Song of Rest to give allies an extra d6 of healing during short rests. Since I doubt Tahm Kench is much of a singer, consider this more of him telling stories of grandeur that only the king of river would know. Or perhaps you’re cooking everyone some food? Who knows.

And finally you can learn another spell, but I’m actually going to wait for next level since we’ve gotten all the first level spells we really need already. But you do get Armor of Agathys thanks to Legacy of Stygia, for some Thornmail to boost your defenses.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills to double your proficiency bonus: naturally we’ll go for Deception and Persuasion to have little trouble striking up a bargain.

But much more importantly you get to choose your Bardic College, and I think it’s safe to say that Tahm Kench is a self-taught master of the College of Eloquence. Eloquence Bards have a Silver Tongue, making any roll below a 10 on a Persuasion or a Deception role default to a 10. Notice how we just gave ourselves Expertise on those checks? This means that the lowest you can get on one of these checks is a 17, which for most folk is an automatic success! "How delectable!"

Additionally, your works make it harder to resist the effects of magic. Unsettling Words lets you spend a Bonus Action to roll Bardic Inspiration on an enemy. The next saving throw they make they have to subtract the number you rolled on the Inspiration die. This has synergy with both yourself and your friends. Honey your words before charming folk to hear you, or soften up a foe for some crazy mage to take them down.

Speaking of crazy mage: more spells! The great part about a character like Tahm Kench is that I am completely justified taking utility / roleplay spells like Gift of Gab, letting you backtrack in case you say something silly during a conversation. (With a small royalty fee to the good folk over at Acquisitions Incorporated, of course.) But if you want something more immediately useful then Hold Person will let you stun foes with your words, keeping them in place for allies to cut them down.

LEVEL 5 - BARD 4

Fourth level Bards get an Ability Score Improvement but I’m going to suggest something a little different. Old Yawn-Belly is a demon with a hunger for fine clothes so there shouldn’t be much issue taking the Eldritch Adept Unearthed Arcana feat, soon to be in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything! With a Mask of Many Faces you can cast Disguise Self at will. This will let you wear a fine jacket while still being in heavy armor. "How did I leave my jacket pocket unadorned for so long?"

I really like unlimited Disguise Self for Tahm Kench for a number of reasons. It’s said that he can take whatever form he desires to lure in his victims, which makes sense given the nature of his character. Unlimited Disguise Self also obviously has use for a charmer, letting you get away with a lot more discussion than normal. But the most important thing is that while Tahm Kench doesn’t wear anything heavy in-game he’s far from stealthy. But disguising your armor doesn’t make it any quieter, which is unironically perfect for our affairs.

Regardless you can learn another spell at this level, along with another cantrip. For your cantrip Prestidigitation is great for life’s simple pleasures, recreating simple things like heating food, chilling drinks, or making things taste like whatever you desire.

For leveled spells may I make a suggestion of the Suggestion spell? It’ll let you make simple suggestions for things that folks should do, and they’ll be inclined to do it. They won’t do anything dangerous like stand in the jaws of a demon, but asking them to walk alone down river is a pretty harmless ask. Oh and to top it off a Tiefling gets Darkness at 5th level, thanks to Legacy of Stygia.

(Artwork by robynlauart on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 6 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get Font of Inspiration to recover their Bardic Inspiration at the end of a Short Rest, which is good because your Bardic Inspiration also increases to a d8.

Additionally you can learn third level spells like Sending to check up on some old deals. If you can’t tell it’s really hard to translate Bard spells onto Tahm Kench, but we kinda need a few more levels in this class.

LEVEL 7 - BARD 6

6th level Eloquence Bards get Unfailing Inspiration. If an ally uses your Bardic Inspiration but still don’t succeed on their roll, they get to keep the die. Simple! You also get Universal Speech, allowing you to choose a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier to understand anything you may say. There’s no reason you can’t strike a deal with the local wildlife. And finally you get Countercharm for some Tenacity against Charms and Frightening effects, or you could not do that.

Unfortunately you can’t understand them when you use Universal Speech, but that’s where the spell Tongues comes in. Along with ha ha Tahm Kench Tongue you can make sure anyone understand what you or an ally might be saying. Keep Universal Speech for the simpletons of the world. "You're strong like bull, and smart like cow."

LEVEL 8 - BARD 7

7th level Bards finally get 4th level spells, and as we know "It is my mouth into which all travels end." Take Dimension Door to grab a friend (in your mouth... or not) and go far and wide.

LEVEL 9 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get an Ability Score Improvement and seeing as our last ASI went to getting a top hat we may as well increase that uneven Strength and Charisma.

You can also learn another spell and there are quite a few nice ones at 4th level. Confusion and Compulsion will let your words do the fighting for you, and Locate Creature will help you find anyone looking for a bargain. Or of course you could take your own spell, since these builds are only suggestions after all.

(Artwork by MirthSpindle on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 2

Now that we can get people to sign a contract it’s time to take what’s rightfully ours. But firstly Fighters get Action Surge at second level to take two actions on a turn. Perhaps a Hail of Blades, or maybe a mix of words to sully the mind?

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters can choose their Martial Archetype and to master your tongue in more ways than one (not like that you perv) look no further than the Battle Master Fighter. You get d8 Combat Superiority Die that can fuel a variety of manuevers:

To stun a foe with your lashing tongue take Trip Attack, for a little more than just stopping them in their tracks.

To grab an ally in your mouth (or preferably not doing that) Maneuvering Attack will let you get them to move somewhere safe without being in danger of getting attacked themselves.

And to play the tank role of the party Goading Attack will taunt your enemies so that they can only concentrate on you. You can take it: you have Thick Skin!

But of course most importantly you are a Student of War, granting proficiency in an Artisan’s Tool of your choice. If you’re going to write contracts you’re going to need good penmanship, so grab proficiency in Calligrapher’s Supplies as the pen is mightier than the sword and Tulok the Barbrarian memes shall live on eternally.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 4

4th level means more Ability Score Improvements and... you know? I don’t think we’re nearly tanky enough! Infernal Constitution is a feat exclusive to Tieflings that grants resistance to Cold and Poison damage, as well as the poisoned condition. And it increases your Constitution by 1 as well. "My visage was already flawless, now it just has more vigor."

LEVEL 13 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack for two attacks instead of one, or four with Action Surge! Quick and easy!

(Artwork by benlo on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 14 - FIGHTER 6

Hey more Ability Score Improvements! You know despite intending to swing a sword around your Strength is rather subpar, so perhaps increase that. (This also finally lets you put on Platemail.)

LEVEL 15 - FIGHTER 7

A friend is an enemy who hasn’t shown their true self yet, so you can know your friends with Know Your Enemy. By spending a minute studying someone you can learn if they’re worth bargaining with. You can learn their Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Armor, Hit Points, Level, and Fighter level. Most NPCs don’t have class levels, but knowing how hard you need to hit them could help the whole party.

You also get two more Maneuvers: Evasive Footwork will let you dash off to safety, and while disarming isn’t common in Runeterra Disarming Strike seems quite in flavor for someone as... dexterous as yourself.

LEVEL 16 - FIGHTER 8

Isn’t Fighter fun when you increase your abilities every other level? Your Strength is still kinda godawful so good for that if you’d please.

LEVEL 17 - FIGHTER 9

9th level Fighters get Indomitable. If you fail a saving throw you can reroll it. You only get one of these per Long Rest so use it on a save you’re likely to succeed on like Strength, Constitution, Charisma, or... well yeah basically those three.

(Artwork by davicomodo on DeviantArt. They deactivated their account though: sad.)

LEVEL 18 - FIGHTER 10

10th level Fighters get Improved Combat Superiority. Now your d8s are d10s!

You know what else that means? More Maneuvers! To absorb even more damage Parry will give you some Bone Plating for absorption. If however by this point an ally of yours can do a lot more damage with their weapon then Commander’s Strike will let you set them up for the Pentakill!

LEVEL 19 - FIGHTER 11

11th level Fighters get another Extra Attack for 3 attacks per round. That’s enough for your three-hit passive!

LEVEL 20 - FIGHTER 12

12th level Fighters get our final Ability Score Improvement: for stronger charms and more smooth-talking to both ally and foe, take Charisma. For a different type of stronger tongue with deadlier maneuvers grab Strength instead. And if you just want to be a chunky tanky conman then Constitution is also an option!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Every heart has its own hunger - Despite not maxing out your Charisma you’re still the king of speech. +16 in Deception and Persuasion with your lowest possible roll being a 10. That means the lowest you can get on these rolls is a 26! Not to mention that Jack of All Trades as a Bard makes you plenty good at any skill the party may need help with, and unlimited Disguise Self letting you take whatever role is needed.

Every river ends in me! - You are also a very good team player. Bardic Inspiration that never fails, tons of different ways to hold the enemy down, and several options to help your friends while they’re in a jam. "Travel awaits."

You have succeeded only in ruffling my attire! - Wow who would’ve guessed that building a tanky character to be a tank would make them tanky? You should have quite the solid healthbar and resistances to three very common damage types is nothing to scoff at, not to mention that you can wear Heavy Armor and a Shield for crazy high AC.

CONS

Are you the waiter of this establishment? - Most of your abilities rely on charges of some kind. While Maneuvers and Bardic Inspiration comes back on a Short Rest spell slots only come back after a Long one, and you don’t have many spell slots to spare.

I wonder who might like to bargain for a little freedom - This build is very ASI greedy which means a lot of your abilities are very subpar. Your low DEX score in particular is rather harsh as many dangerous spells require DEX saving throws.

Might be savory - Because this build is so ASI greedy your stats still aren’t maxed out. +3 to CON and +4 to CHA are great and all but they aren’t +5, ya know? And even with Jack of All Trades your skill checks aren’t going to beat out a specialist.

But you don’t need to be a god to sign a deal; a demon does it just as well. Master your articulation so that you can be sharp with your tongue in whatever means necessary. Bargain with your allies and seal the deal on your foes, and for the love of all that is good in the world don’t vore anyone! Jeeze!

(Artwork by Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

[cutiejungkook]

hey girlies, this is my top 7 for iland that no one asked for.

1. jay - of course, my boy jay at the top. the passion from this boy at such a young age especially in the kpop industry, we need people like him who will not give up just like bts. future leader perhaps? ;)

2.) jake - okay, hear me out here. he is more than just a pretty face (let’s be real, he is the future nation’s boyfriend) but he also demonstrated his potential to keep growing. his ability to just keep growing and improving is something that will benefit him to become a top artist in the future. as a successful artist, you need to keep improving your art to match with the industry’s top and never staying stagnant. as band pdnim said, its about potential right?

3.) taki - he’s still quite young but i see a lot of potential in him, especially with his locking dance background that captured me during the first episode. add to the fact that during the freestyle mission, he placed number one and beat k and heeseung and that is all i’m saying. okay and he also gives me shounen anime mc vibes, you know the type that everyone underestimates but proves them wrong?

4. sunghoon - i definitely see him as jimin’s successor with his figure skating background. he’s also proven that he deserves to be in the debut group with his performances in the previous tests considering he had one of the top scores. also, he gives off prince vibes which the girls will love. also uhm jakehoon (jake x sunghoon)? we do not want to separate these two anytime soon. 

5.) jungwon - he has shown in every test that they had how capable he is, especially because he had great understanding and feel of the new songs given to them. he’s a stable vocal and a pretty decent dancer. i would not want to waste his talent and potential.

6.) sunoo - he is such a ray of sunshine, i always enjoy watching him perform. it’s obvious he’s a crowd favourite and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that because i get it. he’s also a great singer with lots of room for further improvement - that doesn’t mean he isn’t good now but i know he can become better. he’s super soft which again the girls will love and eat up.

7.) daniel, k or niki - the last member was hard to choose.. i love all three and would want them all to debut in the final line up. can they please debut a 9 member group instead?? but daniel of course hes super young but that proves his skill even more as he is able to be on par with the rest of the older members. meanwhile k is definitely the dance leader (future dance captain) especially with the amazing choreo he made from that gd song. and finally niki, which i have now started to really like. also another youngin but has so much talent and potential. he’s obviously a great dancer that we cannot let big hit hide in their basement!

---

end of rant. but not quite. notice how I did not include heeseung....i know he’s talented and blah blah, but i don’t know..he hasn’t done anything to really move me? and im an army, i am always skeptical of people if they’re being sincere or not. im not saying he’s evil but i can understand that he’s quite greedy to debut since he was not able to debut with txt (although if he’s such an ace, why didn’t he debut with txt?). im probably going to get hate for that but i honestly am i trying to like heeseung! if i’m gonna stan the iland group, i want to love all the members.

anyway, i cannot wait for the group to debut and i will definitely be supporting them!

[kdtheghostwriter]

Caped Up: A One Punch Man Recap [w/ Ch 92 Review]

DISCLAIMER

Massive spoilers under the cut, as I will be writing an overview of the series up to the latest update. Also note: this post does not cover the original webcomic produced by ONE, but the digital redraw authored in part by Yusuke Murata. Proceed at your peril and thanks for playing.

Imagine this scenario:

You are the world’s strongest hero... But also a bit of a dumbass.

No, not him.

There’s the guy.

Meet Saitama. He’s a hero for fun. After a life of being pushed around and exploited by an avaricious society, young Saitama abandons his search for an office job and begins a grueling three years of non-stop training and battle. With every monster he defeats he becomes stronger. All is well in Shonen Land until the Turning Point is reached and all the usual story beats end. When presented with the idea of this series being a Shonen parody, my first instinct was to say no, but Saitama most certainly qualifies.

Homeboy is strong. So strong, in fact, that we have no earthly idea just how strong he is. He hasn’t had to go all out in years. When he exerts himself even the slightest bit, stuff like this happens:

This is what I mean when I call Saitama a dumbass. He’s not actually a dumbass. He is, however, pretty socially inept with a very poor sense of time and direction. That often keeps him out of the fray for a convenient period of time as the other, higher-ranked heroes do battle with the monster of the week. It’s a classic formula, used for Superman all the time. The difference is that Superman is usually occupied with another separate disaster due to his compulsive need to save everyone he can. Saitama is mostly lazy.

The martial artist that he saves asks Saitama if the monsters (who were formerly human) were tough to defeat. He says he doesn’t know, as they all went down with one punch. This is our protagonist’s major malfunction. The thrill he once found defeating monsters has been replaced with a deep and unending boredom. Saitama is too strong for his own good. Gone is the excitement of finding uncharted ground. There’s no room for improvement - not when the Exodia cards have been slipped into your deck.

And so it goes for sometime. In the midst of invasions from the sea, earth and sky - and an increasing monster presence - that a professional league of heroes is founded to keep the civilian population safe and offer support to uniformed officials. The Hero Association and its operatives are divided into Classes based on rank. From S-Class, at the top, to the rookies of C-Class.

Saitama joins the Association (where he’s given the Caped Baldy tag lol) in hopes of finally running into the challenge he desperately seeks. Spoilers: he doesn’t. What he does find instead are dozens of colorful characters, friendly and otherwise. I’ll spare the whole list and give you the core four of the current arc.

Genos - Taken on as Saitama’s ‘student’; dubbed as S-Class hero Demon Cyborg upon joining the Hero Association. Unlike his sensei, he still has a fire lit underneath him. He is motivated by revenge for his childhood village which was burned to the ground by a crazy, murderous robot. He is supremely talented, but his over-confidence often leads to peril for himself and others.

Tatsumaki - Famous in memedom as a “sassy, lost child” she is actually the 28-year-old ‘Tornado of Terror.’ S-Class: Rank 2, she is the world’s most powerful esper. Her strength is matched by her ego, which is often and comically met with ambivalence. Due to a series of invasive and painful science experiments as a youngster, she has grown reclusive and over-protective of her little sister.

Garou - Our introduction to this martial artist sees him mow down a room full of criminals with his bare hands. Not long after, he sets out to grow stronger and take down any hero that gets in his way. That was Ch 70. At the moment, he’s in the middle of a Loser’s Bracket run for the ages, in the bowels of the Monster Association’s underground HQ, fighting for his life and humanity.

Bang - S-Class: Rank 3 and master of the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist martial arts style. As Garou’s former sensei, he holds himself responsible for the latter going rogue and vows to bring him to justice, proving his worth to the Hero Association.

These folks and more will be attacking the monsters’ base with dual objectives: save the child taken hostage and destroy the Monster King Orochi. Phew! I think that’s a fair recap for a manga with 141 updates. And I didn’t spoil too much, so new readers can discover the best bits for themselves.

One Punch Man | 92nd Punch: “Here We Go!”

The prior three chapters to this one were a roller coaster, as well as a chance for Murata to fully flex his artistic muscle. The Monster King Orochi took up most of the ink work and I implore you readers to take a look at the outrageous detail Murata put into these panels.

Art takes time, though, which puts June’s update into proper context. It’s a slower, more deliberate chapter focusing on character work and plot development. Saitama has already made his way underground to investigate the rumblings underneath the abandoned City Z where he lives.

The other pro heroes are gathered at H.A. Headquarters in the rebuilt A City to discuss their strategy for their impending invasion of the Monster Base. This should be fairly uneventful, and it would be if not for the Hero Association’s fatal flaw: an egregious lack of chemistry. The S-Class - and the top ranked A-Class hero Amai Mask - are inarguably powerful, but could hardly be called heroes. Even when slaying monsters, they rarely pause to consider anything outside of their own glory. This clash of personality leads to a lengthy, entertaining exchange as the team members present try to out-roast eachother.

Meanwhile King, the “World’s Strongest Man” S-Class: Rank 7, is approached by Bang about recruiting Saitama for the impending battle. These two are one of the few people who know the truth of Saitama’s strength. It is also key for King, who has no true power of his own, to have his best friend watching his back. And where is Saitama, you ask? Welp...

I’ll have fun posting on the next chapter. I know some people find action-heavy chapters tough to break down but I’ve come to trust Murata-san at this point to give us plenty to discuss. The art will be immaculate and the detail will be boggling.

As good as the story by ONE has been, a large amount of joy in reading this remaster of the series has come from seeing Yusuke Murata create literal works of art. And so quickly, too! Drop by his Twitter and send the man some thanks and encouragement. He sees them all for sure, and the good vibes gets him hype! He also streams his work here.

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 103 Review

CONTENT WARNING: includes discussion of american politics and Donald Trump. 

“There’s no need for us to worry. The battlefield is under our control now. We’re closing in on all our enemies. They decided to make their entrance using their ‘vertical maneuvering’. So they don’t have much in terms of weapons or fuel. In other words, they’re in the middle of enemy territory with no supply lines. They’re cornered rats. The Marleyan army should be surrounding this internment zone, so there’s no escape route. The Paradis forces never had the numbers to take on Marley in a proper war.”

Pieck is supposed to be the genius here, right? So if they’re saying the same things I was saying, does that mean I’m a genius, too?

As Pieck said, this is largely correct, however, that does not mean that victory is assured for Marley, as we saw in this chapter.

The Marleyans made a number of critical errors. Both Porco and Pieck let their feelings get the better of them, and they both charged rashly at the enemy without thinking, which for Pieck opened her up to a surprise attack. Porco may yet escape unscathed, but ultimately, it would’ve been better if he had strategized first before charging in. What’s more is Pieck’s inexcusable incompetence, which led to Zeke’s apparent death. She was supposed to cover his rear. That means her position is behind him, yet she foolishly repositioned herself to be in front of him, leaving Zeke wide open so Levi could kill him.  

Zeke and Pieck are now both down, Armin is not far away, Eren is free again, and the Marleyans won’t be getting as much reinforcements as they thought they would. All in all, this is a definite improvement from Paradis’ perspective.

Whether or not this is the start of a more long term improvement in the situation for them depends on a couple of unknowns. Whatever the Survey Corps’ plan is, it involves the placing of lights at various places, and it involves taking out the Warhammer titan and disabling Pieck either within a certain amount of time, or by a certain time. Whatever ace they have up their sleeve could potentially win them the fight, or at least get them out of this predicament. Eren also apparently has an ace up his sleeve since he’s “not done yet.” I can’t fathom what they could be planning, but that just makes things more exciting.

Just a thought, but earlier Willy said that it was possible that Paradis was working with one of Marley’s enemies. Koyomi is apparently an ambassador of her country since she was seen at the gala rubbing elbows with other ambassadors, and she’s shown to care for the Eldians, which could be seen as a hint at her country’s general attitude towards Eldians. Perhaps the Survey Corps has reinforcements of their own coming to the fight.

That would explain why it so important to eliminate Marley’s titans as quickly as possible. Marley is the dominant world power because of their titans. That implies that no other military can match the group of titan shifters that make up the backbone of Marley’s military. But the Survey Corps specializes in killing titans, which is why they are tasked with eliminating the titan shifters in time for Hizul to arrive and mop up the remaining non-titan aspects of Marley’s military.

I had previously said that Zeke’s apparent duplicity could just be a feint on Isayama’s part, but now I’m really starting to think that it might be re-nope, just kidding, I’m still not convinced. My official stance on this is that there are too many unknowns to say beyond reasonable doubt that Zeke and Eren are in league. For example, we don’t know the exact circumstances of why Eren came to Marley in the first place, which is pretty damn important for determining if he would even want to ally with Zeke at all. However, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and argue the opposite of what most people seem to believe because being contrarian is fun.

In the past, Zeke had said he hoped to never face an Ackermann again. Now he’s literally calling one of them out. I will acknowledge that I cannot account for this inconsistency, but I doubt that Zeke’s death is part of some grand plan on the part of the Eren or the Survey Corps. I can, however, think of some good excuses for some eyebrow raising things we see in this chapter.

Yes, Zeke flat out says that Eren isn’t his enemy, but that isn’t a hint at their being allies. It has been a consistent theme of this series that people are forced to do unsavory things due to unfortunate circumstances. Zeke cares about Eren, but him having to oppose him anyway due to the circumstances would be in line with this series’ themes. Eren is not the enemy, but he is the opposition.

And the panel where we see that Levi is keeping the time for some reason? I sure some people would interpret that as Levi timing out when to attack Zeke on the assumption that Zeke being “killed” was preplanned somehow. My explanation for that? Well, Jean has repeatedly made clear they have a schedule to keep. Clearly, time is an important component of this operation, and in that case, it makes sense that some high ranking, or perhaps even all, soldiers would have a watch on their person to track the time. And the choice to show Levi doing this when Zeke is calling him out is just part of Isayama’s ruse.

The baseball glove Eren had earlier when, in the same chapter, Zeke was also shown with one? Simple: it’s just a metaphor and nothing else. The glove is used to highlight the differences between Zeke and Eren in what was at the time the present situation. Eren had previously said he was on bad terms with his family and he was at the moment on his own in enemy territory. Thus, Eren having the glove and ball but no partner to play catch with is a metaphor for his isolation. Zeke, meanwhile, does have a partner, and that emphasizes that Zeke is not alone, that he is in familiar territory with people who care about him, or at least respect him.

I could go on all day, really, just pulling these explanations out of thin air. I am, after all, a Pieck level genius.

The final thing to talk about is, ironically, since they’re the first two people we see, Reiner and Falco.

That was some quick thinking on Reiner’s part, he deserves great credit for that. I think he’ll live. He may have said he wished to die, but the thing is that statements like that are usually spur of the moment type things. If someone says they wish they were dead, they’ll usually walk that statement back if you give them time (sometimes as little as a few seconds) to think about it some more. Beyond that, Reiner cares about Falco and confirming that he did indeed survive requires that Reiner not be dead, so that by itself should be reason enough to motivate him to heal.

This also confirms that Reiner’s suicide attempt from earlier would indeed have killed him, regardless of whatever that nervous system mumbo jumbo Isayama used to save him back in Shighanshina is.

So, can the cycle of violence be broken?

The answer is yes, in theory anyway.

Many people believe that humans are predisposed to conflict. That is a very rudimentary way of thinking. In reality, there will eventually be peace for the same reason that organized society exists at all: ultimately, cooperation is preferable to conflict. In the long run, everyone benefits more when people are working together than when everyone is trying to kill each other. Really, it’s just obvious.

Human beings are rational. This means we assess the situation and perform the action we believe will carry the most benefit. For ourselves, our loved ones, our ideals, our nation. This does not mean that the right choice is always made, but it does mean that violence is not the natural state of humanity.

The one confounding factor here that is preventing this peace from coming about is human tribalism.

Human behavior is tribal in nature, meaning that we view others that we identify with in some way as being “one of us,” and people we don’t identify with as being “one of them.” It’s a natural, human inclination.

White people identify with other white people.

Gay people with other gay people.

Floridians with Floridians.

Yankees fans.

Whovians.

Fandom itself exists because of this. Fandoms are tribes, though of course tribal instincts are weaker for fandom compared to other social group identifiers such as race.

Donald Trump is now our President because of tribalism.

The white race has always dominated American society. However, in recent years, it has become fashionable to conclude that white people will lose their dominance in the coming decades. White people are projected to no longer be the majority racial group by 2050, though they will still be a plurality of the population.

Before 2016 put a damper on things, there was much talk of “the Obama coalition,” or the “coalition of the ascendant.” The idea was that the voters who made Obama president, black people, Hispanics, women, etc. (in other words, people who aren’t white men) would form an enduring and dominant bloc of voters that would steer national politics in their favor.

At the expense, it was and is felt by many, of white people.

The thought of one’s social group, one’s tribe, losing its social standing and dominance inspired great fear in many white people, and so they voted for Trump, who promised to “Make America Great Again.��

It would be remiss of me to not say, though, that not all Trump voters are racist. The above paragraph only applies to Trump’s core base of supporters. So in other words, about 25% of the adult population. The rest voted for Trump not because of the racism, but in spite of it, and that in itself is another example of tribalism at work.

Donald Trump is many things: a predator, a misogynist, a racist, a blowhard, a bullshit artist, a moron, a narcissist.

A Republican.

In the words of Brendan Nyhan: “Partisanship is one hell of a drug.” Many people voted for Trump simply because he was a Republican and not a Democrat.

To be sure, there was a great deal of wishful thinking involved.

“He’s not as bad as people make him out to be.”

“He’ll appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court.”

“He won’t really be calling the shots. Paul Ryan will be the power behind the throne.”

All these and more were excuses people told themselves to justify voting for Trump in spite of knowing about his more … unsavory characteristics. People will overlook (or even rationalize!) despicable behavior by their own side simply because it’s their side that’s doing it. They may even simply refuse to believe their side could do such things.

Relatedly, there is the concept of negative partisanship. This refers to the phenomenon of people rooting for one team because they hate the other. They don’t like their team either, but they hate the other, so they (half-heartedly) support it regardless. It’s the lesser of two evils taken to its logical extreme.

The point behind this looong, seemingly unrelated digression is to highlight how powerful of a force tribalism can be. It is “a hell of a drug.”

You see it most obviously in Willy’s plan. Marley is an imperialist aggressor, yet Willy was clearly banking on the world’s fear/hatred of Paradis trumping whatever reservations they have with working with Marley. It’s textbook negative partisanship.

In this war of Paradis vs the world, tribalism runs rampant.

The world hates Paradis, and if Floch’s views are indicative of anything, a sizable number of walldians probably hate the world in return.

Eren was willing to kill innocent bystanders, including children, because it was in the name of fighting for his tribe.

Floch just flat out wants to kill as many people as he can because they’re not a part of his tribe. They may not be involved in the fighting (they were, after all, civilians) but they’re still with the Marleyan tribe. The enemy.

Can we overcome this? Can we break the cycle of hatred and tribalism?

This will surprise many people, but for all the anti-immigrant talk among Trump supporters, most do not actually live near large immigrant populations. In other words, their fear of “the other,” of those who are not a part of their tribe, is most likely based on a lack of interaction with those “others”.

This is the key, and it’s a total cliché. Actually interacting with “the other” is the solution to the puzzle of tribalistic hatred.

RBA thought the walldians were vaguely defined evil entities, devils. But then they actually interacted with them, and saw them for the people they were.

The same will almost certainly be true for Floch. It was true for Eren, even if he still thought killing children was a necessary sacrifice to make on the altar of defending his tribe.

In other words, fear of “the other” can be overcome through familiarity. The tricky part is actually getting everyone to calm down and see everyone else as people. The walldians who see the outside world as just a vaguely defined threat need to rethink their worldview, and the members of the outside world (those who aren’t complete garbage like Sergeant Gross or whatever his name was) also need to look past their hatred.

I just hope that people will not read SNK and be influenced to take a cynical view of the world. It is not human nature to be violent. Those who look at others with fear can come to love and accept them. The scenario Isayama has crafted here is simply not generalizable, and it would be a mistake to apply the apparent take aways of this story to our world. Which, of course, can only be seen as a flaw in Isayama’s storytelling.

Just look at California to see what I mean.

38% of Californians are white. 39% of Californians are Hispanic. That’s right, white people are a close second behind Hispanics as the largest racial group in California, and it’s starting to show. The lower chamber in the state legislature is majority non-white. One of the state’s two Senators, Barbara Boxer, who is white, retired in 2016 and was replaced by Kamala Harris, who has a mixed Indian/Jamaican heritage.

White people still retain significant power though. The upper chamber in the legislature is overwhelmingly white, the state’s other Senator, Dianne Feinstein, is white, and the top contender to serve as Governor for the next eight years, Gavin Newsom, is also white. However, this continued dominance of positions of power is entirely vestigial and it will decline as time goes on.

The same holds true for New Mexico and Hawaii. White people are either not dominant or clearly losing dominance in these states.

And yet, I see no news reports of white Californians, New Mexicans, or Hawaiians throwing hissy-fits over their clearly diminishing dominance over society. White people are a minority in those places, and unless I’m missing something, they seem pretty chill about it.

Because tribes can coexist. It’s just a matter of opening oneself up to others.

An important thing to mention, though, is the status of black people. Black people have always been seen as “the other” and even in California, where 7% of the population is black compared to 12% of the general US population, anti-black sentiment abounds, though in subtle ways, most notably in the form of NIMBYism. 

However, real progress is being made on that front in California, and in the US as a whole, there seems to be a real commitment to racial inclusiveness among the younger generation. Real progress is being made, though unfortunately a world where black people are seen as equal to white people is a long time coming. 

The only thing left to do is speculate about where the series is heading. This chapter is the start of volume 26, which I assume will be the fourth of five volumes in this story arc. My guess is that the battle will continue for the remainder of volume 26 with volume 27 wrapping up this current arc before dovetailing into the next, and most likely final, arc of the series.

[thefloatingstone]

Currently everyone in my family is unemployed, I'm unable to get a job, our water got turned off because we couldn't pay it, I've run out of my SSRI antidepressants, and me, the only person who has any frugal-ness, has been banned from buying groceries, meanwhile the only two other people who are now able to are declining to go grocery shopping. Tl;dr Everything in my life is fucking falling apart and I can't fix it.

Oh man that’s really rough, anon!

I’m not really sure there’s much I could do to help in terms of suggestions. If you are an artist I could suggest things like doing emergency commissions or something, but that’s only if you are able to. Or if you’re a writer instead you could also offer commissions in terms of short fics and such (Fanfic writers are just as worthy of being commissioned to work as artists imo). However I’m afraid I’m not much use beyond that type of suggestion, since you say you’re unable to get a job. So I can’t really suggest getting something small and temporary.

Basically, if you are able, the best thing one can do is figure out what you are good at doing (writing/drawing/knitting/painting/jewelry/tarot cards etc etc) and offering it as a service. Or finding a way to apply what you are good at to something to garner a small income.

If nothing else, I’ve seen tumblr posts of people opening up donations just so they can get enough together to do something like pay your water bill for instance.

I’m not entirely sure what SSRI is 8′D but I am sorry you’ve run out of your meds. However, if you’ve been off them for a while now, also remember that your own chemistry might be amplifying your bad situation to yourself. Your situation IS bad, but chemistry and such will always try and find a way to make it seem even worse than it already is. I know logically knowing this does not take away the emotional feeling, but it is something to keep in mind if you are able to.

I’m also sorry to hear about your grocery problems. I’m not sure what you mean by being banned from grocery shopping. I don’t know if it’s a thing where you live but could you do grocery shopping online and have it delivered to you?

Honestly, like I said, I’m not very good at things like this because I try to think of practical solutions which may not be what you need right now.

However, when I am in a bad situation, what I usually do is focus and only try and cope with one thing at a time. Focus on a singular thing, and tackle that first. Don’t worry about the others, just the one. And one step at a time work through it until it’s not so much “fixed” but where it’s at a point where it’s “improved”.

My mom also uses a method where you ask yourself the question “and then what?” 4 times and see where you get. However because I myself have anxiety, this method doesn’t work very well for me because my first “and then what” is always the worst solution X’D

There are lots of posts on tumblr about how to survive on a very small budget as well which may help you feel a little better regarding your savings if you follow them. Such as how to make $5 last a whole week and stuff like that.

Finally, I guess all I can say is, when it feels like everything in your life is falling apart and the floor is breaking up under you, the best think one can do is find something to make you feel you have a moniker or control in your life. Small things that make you feel you have a grasp on something. I know it can be very difficult to do things when you have depression, but getting ourselves to feel we have some grasp on things does a lot to help you hold yourself together.

It can be something as simple as looking at a shelf on a bookcase and deciding to rearrange it so it looks better. Or picking up the clothes in your room and dumping them in the laundry basket, or cleaning the ring around the bath, or just wiping clean the bathroom mirror. And I mean just ONE of those things at a time.

Taking small steps to make us feel we’ve got a grip on our lives helps enormously with trying to process stress. We even see this in very small children if they are experiencing high stress. Such as coming home from school and cleaning up or rearranging their rooms every single day. Things like that.

It helps us feel that, right here right now, THIS I can control. THIS I have power over. THIS I am changing or altering to another better state.

Anyway, I have no idea if any of that was helpful or not. ^^; I’m sorry I’m not very great at emotional support. My response is always to try and be practical but I know that’s not always useful or what’s needed u.u

I do hope things improve for you in time, and that things will shift to presenting solutions to you.

Hang in there, anon. Keep trying. Don’t give up.

Also here’s a video of Boris explaining how to make $60 last an entire 4 weeks.

[belladonnaandulriched]

the artist | chapter twenty-nine

Chris still hadn't returned to the speakeasy by the time Lars, Joey, and I turned in for the night. The entire street had fallen dark and stayed dark by the time I figured it would be best to call it a night before one of us fell asleep standing up.

Lars meanwhile wasn't kidding when he said he would bar the front door closed with something sturdy, a la the support beam to the building: I actually watched him drag a chair and one of the bar stools towards the door to block it shut. He also took a broom and lodged it in between the handle and the door so no one would be able to open it.

Once the door was shuttered closed, we switched off the lights and headed back into the dark room to crawl under the covers of the sleeping bags. Even though I was nestled down between the two of them, I couldn't help but miss sleeping in my own bed and also snuggling up to Chris. I missed his touch right there next to me.

Lars was kind enough to cover me with his blanket, and Joey snuggled up close to me, but I missed it all, though. Add to that, he was at the hospital with Stone and Dave.

The pandemic had made me claustrophobic in a retroactive manner: I would see photos of crowded city busses or jammed crosswalks in cities like Seattle and New York City and my skin would crawl at the thought of just one person there with the virus. Even when things began improving, I would go to the supermarket with my mom and see a person without a mask covering their face and I would be reticent to approach them to even so much as take a can of beans off of the shelf.

Add to this, there were people like my assaulter in junction with all of the unrest across the country. Every man for himself, as I heard someone say at one point.

We all had gone back to basics almost overnight, and to the point everyone wanted a slice of it all no matter what the cost.

I had my fears, and such that I could hardly fall asleep, even with these two boys on either side of me. I closed my eyes and I thought about the times I had difficulty with my art, from the lack of support to being able to get some kind of clout with it even during the height of the pandemic. I saw from the very beginning that being an artist was hard, and that it would take hell or high water to fight our way to the top. But after the potential theft earlier to my own assaulter to my own father discouraging it even with everything at a standstill, I started to wonder if it was something I truly wanted for myself.

I started to wonder if it was even worth it, if all I was going to receive in return was a series of doses of screwed over ad infinitum.

I finally managed to fall asleep as I buried my face in Joey's chest. It was something warm and something soft, something that I missed during the thick of it all. But no sooner had I fallen asleep when Lars woke us up at that ungodly hour to go out walking.

Joey was quick to get up but I lay there for a few minutes and watched them both get dressed. As Lars laced up his shoes in the darkness, I finally hoisted myself onto my forearms.

“I dunno—it's kind of a long walk, though,” I said to them.

“It ain't that long,” Joey assured me as he put on his mask, “it's like a cuppa coffee, really.”

“A cup of Joey,” I corrected him.

“A cuppa Joey, exactly!”

“Are we still getting breakfast?” I reminded Lars.

“Hopefully,” he assured me. “That is if no one pulls us over on the street.”

“Why would someone pull us over?” I asked him.

“Neither of us have money and we haven't showered in a few days, either.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip at that. It was risky, but then again, Stone could have the virus and Dave and Chris still hadn't returned to the speakeasy. I rolled out from underneath the sleeping bag and Lars' blanket, and reached for my shoes. I slipped them on and stood up before Joey: even in the dim morning light filtering through the little window behind me, I could make out the sly look in those big dark eyes. He kept his eyes on me as I put on my own mask: tethers over the backs of my ears, right over my nose and my mouth. The mask protected my face and my lungs and it allowed me to look into his eyes. He nodded towards the door for me, and I followed him out to the dark hallway; Lars lingered right behind me as we made our way to the door out to the porch. Given Joey was the one with the longer legs out of the three of us, he held onto the rail and slung his legs over first, but he managed to help both Lars and me over, too.

He held my hand and he put his other hand on my side as I climbed over the railing. In the darkness, I noticed Lars keeping close to me to ensure I didn't fall ass over teakettle onto the grass beneath us.

The suffocation I felt looking at crowded spaces aside, the gentle touch of another person's hand was another thing I craved to see during the height of the pandemic, the protests, the fires, and everything just falling sideways. If nothing, that made me wonder why I even so much as bothered with the art and even the survival of it all.

The deserted streets were illuminated by nothing more than the golden street lights and the bluish twilight from the sunrise at our side. Nothing to see here, just a walk about a neighborhood at five o'clock in the morning towards a freeway overpass. We got about a mile away from the speakeasy, and right underneath the overpass, when Lars told Joey and me to stop right in our tracks so as to catch his breath.

“We really need breakfast,” he told us, panting.

“Yeah, I'll say,” Joey added, “we got about five blocks from the place and my stomach started makin' weird noises at me.”

“Well, why didn't you say something?” I asked him.

“Hahlly, you saw those neighborhoods—like nuthin' was open.”

“Well, we're here at the overpass and it's about another mile or so before we get to a cafe or something.”

“Come to think—who knows if one will be open,” Lars remarked.

“And Chris'll come back to the speakeasy and be like 'why is the door jammed shut?'” I followed along. “Shit. We did not think this through, didn't we?”

“Well, to be fair, it did get us out of there,” Joey pointed out.

“If Chris didn't return to the speakeasy all through the night, who knows when he will be back there during the day,” said Lars.

“He might, though!” I insisted, and then I stopped myself.

“What's the matter?” Lars asked.

“The garden,” I muttered.

“What about it?”

“Dave told me he and Stone would be screwed if someone from the outside world found out about it, because of the whole thing from the pandemic. It has to be essential or they could get into a heap of trouble.”

“It is essential, though,” Joey joined in, and then he stopped himself.

“You're telling me that needs to be protected now?” Lars raised his eyebrows at me.

“That's exactly what's she sayin', dude,” Joey pointed out.

“So, change of plans,” I declared. “We go to the garden to make sure Dave and Chris aren't there. If they aren't, we stay there until they get there.”

“Okay, how do we get there?” Lars asked me, to which I fetched up a sigh. It was already hard to walk a full mile from the speakeasy without having eaten or drank anything—I couldn't imagine going all the way down to the garden on foot, either. I peered up the street, beyond the overpass to the sight of a rather large bicycle leaned against the wall on our side of the street: even from a distance, I could make out the sight of two seats on top of the body. I returned to Joey; I glanced down at his lanky but strong looking legs.

“Joey, would be willing to ride a bike for Lars and me?” I asked him.

“Huh?”

I pointed up the sidewalk to the bicycle.

“Hahlly, I ain't stealin' some poor schlub's bike for nuthin',” he scoffed.

“It'll beat walking the whole way down there,” I told him.

“Well, as long as we find sump'n to eat—I never did too well on an empty stomach when I played hockey.”

The three of us ambled down the sidewalk; as we came within sight of it, I noticed the thick body at the back. It was a trailer containing a bunch of empty flower pots and hats. It was as if Dave and Stone had both here before us, like they knew we were coming. Using the dim light of the streetlight, Joey, Lars, and I tried on the hats so we could have something, anything, covering our heads while we rode our way down to the garden. I found a hard bright red motorcycle helmet that slipped onto my head as if it was made just for me. Joey found himself a black one with a white stripe down the middle while Lars found one that covered his entire head.

“Looks like one of those deep sea divers,” Joey cracked as he tightened the strap underneath his chin.

I undid the hitch on the trailer as he climbed on first. I didn't realize it was a police man's bicycle at first, either: but once the three of us held onto each other on the double seat, and Joey pedaled forward, the streetlight shone down the little red glass jar on top of the handlebars and I realized it was a siren. He gripped onto the handlebars and I held him around his soft little waist. I could tell he was hungry by feeling him with the insides of my forearms: his stomach felt softer and more tender than normal, which meant he was completely running on empty. But his grip on the handlebars told me he was stronger than he looked. Lars meanwhile, held onto me for dear life given he was practically hanging off of the second seat. But on the other hand, it was either have Lars be comfortable in the trailer or have Joey work harder to pedal.

For a moment, I forgot which way to the garden given we were riding on back roads compared to the freeway, but once the familiar exit signs on the freeway emerged from behind the trees, I knew exactly where to go.

We reached a series of small intersections: a rather buttoned down neighborhood, albeit one that felt familiar. We were getting close to the garden. But every dip in the road felt like too much of one for me and Joey in particular.

I spotted a rather good sized one right in front of us, and I knew it would be one of those abrupt ones. I looked at Joey pulsating his fingers on the handlebars.

“Alright, check this out—” He yanked back on the handlebars and the front wheel lifted up about a feet. I yelped out and Lars shouted something in Danish but Joey managed to bring it back down to the pavement. We missed the divet by about an inch. I shook and shuddered from that, but Joey laughed like a madman right then.

“Come AHN! We can't be doin' this and not have a li'l fun!”

“There's no point if you can't play with it,” Lars chimed in with a muffled voice.

“Exactly!”

And then it hit me. No wonder why it felt like I wondered through a fog. I couldn't play with that fog, but Joey popping a wheelie right there made me want to make bubbles with it.

But we got about a block from the garden when I noticed he was moving slower. He hadn't been pedaling so hard as of late. He was breathing harder than normal, too.

“What's wrong, dude?” Lars yelled through the helmet.

“He's tired,” I called back.

“Fucking beat, man,” Joey replied in between breaths.

“It's alright, though,” I gently said to him, “—we're almost there—I can see the neon!”

“I—I can't—”

“It's okay, Joey—we're almost there.”

“I can't—I feel like I'm gonna pass out—”

It was right then I was glad all three of us all had helmets on.

[sssoto]

Happy 200th birthday, Serena!

My dearest baby Serena da Silva has her birthday today, October 17th, and it’s not just any birthday - today marks the day she was born 200 years ago! EEEP how exciting is that? You only get to celebrate an anniversary like that once in your lifetime!

If you’re unfamiliar with Serena, she is my character from my book project series for Amnesia: The Dark Descent, in which she plays a major role. She’s probably the character nearest and dearest to my heart, and she tends to be a fan favourite among readers as well, so I wanted to do something extra special for this particular anniversary.

So here comes: a birthday feature! In which I display all the amazing gifts Serena has received today.

First of all, I want to show the wip of what I had planned to do for Serena, which unfortunately I couldn’t finish in time since my laptop screen broke at the WORST. TIMING. EVER. I meant to have this artwork ready for today, but since I won’t be able to finish it until later, I’ll share a wip of the clean sketch:

I must admit, I’m quite proud of it! It’s the first time I experiment with perspective and interiors for real, and I also usually suck at drawing animals, but Cleo (Serena’s cat) came out quite okay here, so I’m happy! I hope I’ll be able to finish it sooner rather than later.

And now, let’s get into the amazing gifts my baby has received today AAAHHH!

@juliajm15

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might know that @juliajm15 is an art goddess who’s been making amazing beautiful fanart of my characters for the past couple years. She always goes so above and beyond for me, and that can be seen by LOOKING AT THIS GORGEOUS PIECE OF SERANIEL FANART.

IT’S THEIR FIRST KISS. THEY’RE SO YOUNG AND INNOCENT HERE. THAT HEIGHT DIFFERENCE. THAT DRESS. THAT HAIR (BOTH OF THEM). I COULD GO ON GUSHING BUT WE’D BE HERE ALL DAY.

OH YEAH, AND THAT BACKGROUND.

I just had to mention that.

OMG I die over how perfect and cute and romantic this is, it just completely captures the essence and emotion of that scene in my book! I feel so blessed and privileged, how am I ever gonna recover from this perfection?

But not only did she do this amazing gorgeous romantic piece for me, she also did a complete remake of Serena’s character portrait and DAMN SHE LOOKS GORGEOUS.

HOW does she always manage to capture Serena so perfectly? Ugh I honestly just can’t with this perfection, I just can’t. That expression, that hair, those LIPS. Okay, I’m gonna move on because I could literally gush about Serena’s face all day, but then we’d miss out on all the other amazing gifts she received today! Just, thank you so much @juliajm15 my darling, you’re such a generous and ultra skilled human being, thank you so much for being in my life and supporting me always

@shaelinwrites

So meme and aesthetics queen @shaelinwrites totally disarmed me today when she sent me THIS GORGEOUS MOODBOARD FOR SERENA OH MY LORD.

LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS WINTER AESTHETIC. OMG LOOK, CLEO MADE A CAMEO ON THE BOTTOM LEFT. Omg these colours are just too beautiful I CAN’T. The art supplies, the gesture and expression of this girl, it’s all SO Serena. The whole feel of this moodboard is just so romantic and cosy and wintery and ugh, the nightgown, the long dark hair. I’m aware I’m just rambling and gushing throughout this post DEAL WITH IT.

And @shaelinwrites didn’t stop there, no, as any good bae, she knew how important the bae is. HAVE SOME MORE SERANIEL, THIS TIME BLACK AND WHITE SEXY EDITION.

OH MY LORD. HOW WILL I EVER RECOVER FROM ALL OF THIS. I CANNOT DEAL, CAN. NOT. DEAL.

All of this is literally just so accurate. Like, it’s so friggin’ hard to find good stock images that can embody a fictional character, BUT MY BAE DID IT *CRIES*. Thank you so much bae, omg this surprise was such a highlight today!!

@coffeeandcalligraphy

Another dear friend of mine (who’s a total cinnamon roll btw), @coffeeandcalligraphy, also went above and beyond for my character’s birthday because LOOK AT THIS:

I swear, everyone remembers the bae Baeniel. Eeeeeveryone.

Omg I swear, MY BABIES LOOK SO ATTRACTIVE HERE LIKE OH MY LORD. Daniel boooiiiiiii with that Expression of Angst™ and them puffy lips, and SERENA OMG THE HAIR AND THE LIPS AND EYES, HER INDIGENOUS ROOTS ARE SO PRONOUNCED WITH HER EYES AND I LOVE THAT.

I actually can’t??? Like how do I have so many talented af friends??? I must be a talent MAGNET I’m telling ya.

Oh and Rachel had the same idea as Baelin and went the sexy Black and White edition with the OTP as well:

BECAUSE CAN WE EVER HAVE TOO MUCH SEXINESS? I THINK NOT. Thank you so much @coffeeandcalligraphy I swear your art just blows me away, you’re improving at such a rapid pace, slow down, I can’t keep up

@sarahkelsiwrites

Also @sarahkelsiwrites is a close friend of mine, and actually @coffeeandcalligraphy‘s twin sister (gotta collect the whole pack amirite), and as part of her inktober challenge she did THIS GORGEOUS INKED PORTRAIT OF SERENA:

LIKE OMG OKAY SO the Victorian aesthetic is on POINT here, and OMG I love that her Hispanic features are soooo visible here. ALSO DAMN, THE DETAIL ON THE JEWELLERY. THE INKING OF THIS IS ALSO SO GREAT, LIKE, DO YOU SEE THE LINES IN HER HAIR???? I’m sorry, I’m an artist, I have to appreciate it when I see good craft, okay? I also gotta note that I’m living for how everyone always remembers Serena’s choker because girl never goes without one

Ugh HER EYES AND LIPS okay I gotta stop. I mention the eyes and lips every time, when will I switch it up. NEVER. Okay, glad we got that settled.

(Yes, I’m a dork, but only when I’m overwhelmed with this much love and beauty, I swear.)

Also omg THE SONG LYRICS, THOSE ARE SELENA GOMEZ LYRICS, AND IT’S STARS DANCE, AND I LOVE THAT SONG, AND IT’S SO RELEVANT, AND I’M ACTUALLY SHOOK. LORD thank you so much @sarahkelsiwrites god I just can’t believe how friggin’ talented and generous and thoughtful all of you are, I will never get over it.

Constance

So I’ve not mentioned this, but not too long ago I was totally taken by surprise and utterly *shook* when I received a private message on the site where I have Memoirs posted. This long message came from an angel named Constance, who registered a profile just to tell me how much she adored my story, give me fanart, and TELL ME SHE’S TRANSLATING THE ENTIRE THING TO FRENCH BRUH.

So if any of you out there are speaking French and not super comfortable with English, but still interested in reading Memoirs, it’s Constance you wanna hit up. She’s got you covered.

But back to the FANART.

Constance is working on this GORGEOUS Serena fanart for me, and while it’s not all finished yet, she said I could still post it for the birthday feature! (I’m going to update the post with the finished piece once it’s ready)

LOOK HOW CUTE AND PRETTY AND YOUNG MY SERENA IS HERE. THIS DRESS IS SO PRETTY, I DIE. OMG SHE HAS THE LOCKET. I realise like 90% of this post is all caps, but WHO CAN BLAME ME? I’m so #blessedyouknow right.

All I wanted in my life is Serena in a pink pretty dress. Thank you for realising my dreams, Constance *cries* and thank you so much for the endless support and this generosity! Seeing other people getting so invested in my story and characters really moves me so much, it’s all that I could hope for waaahh.

2k17 - Birthday One Shot

Okay, so I know how I said I couldn’t finish my artwork for Serena in time as I had intended, which made me very, very Sad™, BUT. I came up with something else.

So this was actually SUPER spontaneous and I usually NEVER do something like this, but I took a chance, and you know what? It worked out. I just wanna say thank you so much to my bae @shaelinwrites who pushed and motivated me to do this, I dunno what happened, but you must’ve transferred some of your writing machine abilities to me, because I actually managed to finish an entire one shot in JUST ONE DAY. (Are you as shook as I am? Cuz I can never seem to finish a chapter so I’m shook.)

Since I couldn’t finish my artwork for Serena like I planned, I decided to write a short fluffy non-canon one shot for her birthday. It was super spontaneous and unplanned, but it actually came surprisingly easy to write! I’ve not written in first person in many, many years, so this was really a leap of faith LOL, but I like the end result! A major thanks to @shaelinwrites, who encouraged me and critiqued the short before publication, and @coffeeandcalligraphy, @sarahkelsiwrites and @juliajm15 for giving it a read and telling me their thoughts as well! I hope you all enjoy this little piece of fluff; since I’m taking so long to write my book, maybe this can keep y’all entertained meanwhile

Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported me and celebrated Serena’s birthday with me, even just in spirit! It makes the long journey all worth it, knowing there are people out there who care (’:

(short story starts under the cut!)

Roses and Ballerinas

The balcony drapes danced lightly with the gentle morning breeze, a delicate waltz. My existence was comfort, head cushioned by feather pillows and silk sheets swathing my naked form. Sunlight hadn’t woken me; London was always grey, ash brick and fog, and even more so in the rainy days of October. However, for what one might expect, the morning didn’t seem to carry its usual autumn gloom—though I suppose that observation could’ve had more to do with my current disposition.

A smile crept on my lips at remembrance of the night previous, one which, if anyone saw, surely would’ve spoken of scandalous notions unfit for a such young lady to entertain. Fortunately, none had been around to witness what had occurred in this room; tangled limbs, kisses of the sweetest character, ardour’s touch, skin marked with such fierce passion that even I could not have imagined. It didn’t seem right that something so blissful could be immoral. Should a simple seal of matrimony reverse what was once considered debasement? What a frigid, unromantic sentiment. If anyone would’ve cared to ask me, I would sing praise to the levels of delight and unison one could only reach when committing so wholeheartedly to Venus’ embrace. Might my lover treat me to such a lovely experience again tonight? This was after all a special day of mine.

I turned in my silk cocoon to face him, and was met with a disappointing sight. Half my bed was empty, only evidence that anyone had occupied the space a faint outline in the wrinkled sheets where his body had laid. I was accustomed to sharing this queen size with no one. My parents had always been diligent in ensuring that I was endowed much more space than a small person like me required. Somehow, the vastness of this bed, indeed this entire room, seemed pronounced in this moment. I fancied I didn’t really like that much space at all. It only served to remind me of my loneliness.

Rationality grounded me; naturally, he’d gone to his own room before my maid servant would come to knock. It was only sensible. If Lydia came to discover him here, she could not keep such a secret from Mama—though truly I hadn’t much need for concern today, as she was typically inclined to let me sleep in on a day of my celebration. Yes, it was the day itself which heightened my sensitivity, nothing more. Admittedly I’d had hopes for the morning, that he might wake me with another of his sweet kisses, might whisper words of admiration and appreciation in my ears as he’d play with my dark locks—an occupation he liked to take up whenever he visited my private chambers, I’d noted with slight thrill. Indeed, he was a beautiful man—one would be hard-pressed to argue the fact—but more importantly was how knowledgeable he’d proven himself on the treatment of a woman. Had I ever felt so worshipped and adored? If so, I couldn’t recover the memory.

My hand caressed the empty space next to me. He’d always held my fancy, even before either of us could be consciously aware of such implications. As far back as when he’d been a scrawny boy with round green eyes and tufts of brown hair that grew unrestrained, too wild for taming. Such was he when I’d first laid eyes upon him, myself a guileless, wide-eyed girl just six years of age. Our childhood was an innocent one, as most are, and a discordant one, as most aren’t. We’d been too young to fathom the consequences of our relationship. Even so, I could never regret it.

The door clicked open. I sat in surprise, pulling on my duvet to cover me. Why would Lydia not knock? This conduct was so unlike my meek maid, and certainly rude and improper. Under usual circumstances I’d not mind, but in my current exposed state I would’ve preferred for my servant to know her place and knock before entering. Would she not question my state of undress? Would I have answers to offer that wouldn’t further incriminate myself and fuel her suspicions?

But the sight which entered was not Lydia; indeed, this character was too tall, too broad, too much man. The clothes he’d discarded last night was now fitted on him in a most casual manner, shirt tucked carelessly into the waistband of the trousers he’d worn the day before and not fully buttoned. The tension in my body dwindled, and I let a sigh of relief. “You’re awake already? I thought I might make it back before you’d notice my absence.” He wore a crooked smile as he closed the door behind him, though it wasn’t smug but awkward, as if regretful he might’ve troubled me while he was gone.

“Daniel, where did you go? Did you not care to think you could get caught sneaking in and out of my room like that?” I said while he approached. I could not ignore how he moved with an arm behind his back, making his climb back into bed rather clumsy looking.

His smile was amusement now, a hint of a chuckle on the tilt of his lips. He leaned close, and his scent engulfed me, piquant and potent, woodsmoke and seasalt. I savoured the fragrance of him, and his warmth, and those lips, perfect for kissing, as they met mine in a sweet greeting. “Happy birthday, darling,” he muttered against my smile.

He pulled back, much to my dismay—though that sentiment was soon replaced by curiosity as he presented whatever he’d cared so much to hide behind his back. “What is that?” The words escaped me before I’d taken a proper glance at the object; a wooden box, handcrafted. The carving of a rose adorned the top lid and composed the main attraction. Still the rest of the box was as skilfully ornamented, only with less eye-catching swirls and foliage.

“Watch.” He bit his lip in thrill as was his habit—one I found rather endearing, I might add. He produced a small key from his pocket and inserted it into an opening hidden on the side.

I looked on in fascination as three turns of the key set the box in motion. The lid of the case rose all on its own, and as a lovely tune began its play, a small ballerina came to life and emerged from the box. She twirled around in a graceful dance, contentment in her gesture. I brought both hands to my lips, unable to contain my smile; she had long black hair, just like mine. “A music box!”

“Is it to your liking?” Daniel chuckled, and this time his grin was indeed quite self-satisfied.

I took the music box in my own hands and brought it closer to my face. The ballerina spun and spun without a care in the world; she was me, a version of myself I had dreamed of once. Unrestrained, unchained, free of her cage. Her face was simply painted, but the meaning in her dancing form could not escape me. Such I had seen myself, fantasized of another life. That he remembered… “It’s beautiful! How… When did you arrange this?” The inquiry came out more quiet and raspy than I had intended, but he heard.

“Good while ago,” said he with an air of nonchalance, as though it was little trouble. “The actual crafting of the box and ballerina wasn’t too difficult, but I needed some help to have all the parts fitted together. A clockmaker assisted me in getting the thing to actually play; as you know, I’m not much of a musician.”

I audibly gasped and stared up at him, unable to help myself. “You crafted this yourself?”

He seemed amused by my shock—no wonder, as I shouldn’t have been so surprised. He was the son of an artisan after all. The tune of the music box came to a halt at last, its last note fading into silence. “With my own bare hands. Look here,” he pointed to the interior of the lid, “There’s an inscription.”

My eyes followed to where he pointed; the ballerina had indeed stolen attention away from an engraving hidden behind her, on the curved inner side of the rose-adorned lid. Soul free of sorrow, heart light with hope; this be the path I follow, this is the path I chose. My chest swelled, and breath hitched. I wanted to speak, yet couldn’t bring the words to my tongue. Instead I choked on them, and they came caught in my throat.

Daniel tilted his head, understandable question lingering in his expression. Oh, those striking green eyes, this lovely visage. Handsomeness was a term he embodied so utterly; how was it fair for a face like that to completely disarm a woman? I composed myself and swallowed the cry which would’ve escaped me if I’d had just little less self restraint. My one hand cupped the side of my face while the other held the music box, and my smile had no end to it still. Since all else I felt refused to be spoken, I settled on the one feeling I could formulate with ease—amusement. “Some poet you’ve become, huh?” I laughed, shaking my head, yet in an effort to quell the rush inside me.

He grinned and gave my shoulder a gentle shove, an action so very like his behaviour as a boy. “Don’t laugh, I put in a great effort; see, the words rhyme!”

My giggles intensified at his reaction. I placed the music box on the nightstand and spun the key again, thrice; thus the ballerina resumed her carefree dance, light and free. She was magical, twirling such as she did. What a spirit to have, a life to live. To choose your own path to follow, and not the one chosen for you.

I turned towards my company again and pulled on him, locking him between my arms in a tight embrace. “Thank you, Daniel.” I squeezed in hope that the fierceness of my display of appreciation would deliver the message better than words could. “Thank you so much. It’s wonderful.”

“I do consider myself quite the expert on gift giving.” His chuckle was warm against my bare neck. A large hand planted firmly between my shoulder blades and pressed me deeper into his warmth. “I’m sorry if I had you worried, Serena. I only went to fetch my gift for you. I promise I was careful.”

“It’s fine, Daniel.” The words came out in a sigh of contentment. He was indeed so broad and so much bigger than I; his figure wrapped me in amenity, instilling within me an ease I couldn’t hope to discover elsewhere. It was an ease of novel excitement and nostalgic familiarity, all at once. “In truth, what bothered me was the idea that you’d left me to wake by myself.” I pulled away enough to look at him and brushed a strand of his long, brown locks from his face. “Today of all days.”

At those words, Daniel constrained his smile from widening too much, and I blushed by the notion that I’d said something to make him so satisfied with himself. “Well, let me assure you that you needn’t worry of that, my love.” He leaned over me, and I fell back into silk. I had no need for the duvet to cover my naked figure any more; his broad form was quite enough coverage. “You should know that the only instance in which I would leave this bed willingly would be the moment you tire of me and kick me out.”

I bit my lip as a gratifying sensation waved through me, and my fingers found way to the waistband of his trousers, pulling the shirt loose of it. “If that is a challenge,” I laughed, “then go ahead and make your attempt at tiring me.”

By the smirk on his lips, it seemed he accepted. The music box played its last note; it rang into the room and deadened to silence, and so a music of another kind took its place. Lord pray that Lydia would have the thought to let her lady sleep in on her birthday.

So that was all for this century’s anniversary! Thank you so much to all my friends who made these amazing gifts for her, and all of you who participated in celebrating her; it means so much

Until next century, darlings! (I’m kidding, I’m not gonna be inactive on this blog a whole century…)

[pretishaarts]

CONSENT IS SEXY

In the UK, 1 out of 5 women will experience sexual assault during their life time. Sucks, right.

In 2017, the Crime Survey UK, reported that 20% of women have experience sexual assault since the age of 16, which is equivalent to 3.4 million women. Approximately, 85,000 women from the ages of 16-59 have experienced rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, meanwhile only 15% of those who experience sexual abuse report to the police. These statistics clearly shows that women of all ages have been taught to feel frightened to stand up towards sexual abuse of men they do not want to engage with, as a result this has led women to post-traumatic stress disorder and emotional responses such as depression, anxiety, guilt, anger etc.

When I first considered writing a manifesto based on sexual consent, a friend of mine asked me who would the target audience be and what level of understanding do I want them to gain after reading this? I answered “everyone.” However, my manifesto is for women, reason why I say women is due to the way society views us. Being a woman myself, I observe the way men degrade us on a daily basis for things that were gifted with, from our knowledge to our sexuality. Therefore, it’s my responsibility to stand up for women and by doing this, I will be discussing about cultural change that we need to help tackle sexual abuse. My aim is to help girls/women become aware of sexual violence that occurs all over the world, meanwhile providing ways to prevent it from happening.

There’s a large number of individuals who are unaware of the meaning consent that have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Majority of these victims, blame themselves for the wrongful incident thinking that it’s their fault which isn’t the case at all. I believe that majority of us are told the definition of sexual assault quite briefly rather than in detail, for instance “If you say no but they continue without your consent, then its rape”. However, they’re numerous ways that a person could be assaulted and what bothers me are the number of victims who aren’t aware of this, which leads to predators getting away with it.

Historically, rape culture was entirely normalised in the western world during slavery. Slavers experienced sexual violence on a daily basis, however they didn’t consider their abuse as rape under the logic that their oppressors couldn’t rape someone who consistently wanted to have sex which is totally false. In many cases, rape was only rape if only the victim was a white woman. If black men were accused of sexually assaulting white women, they would face harsh consequences such as lynching or imprisonment. On the other hand, white men wouldn’t face any legal punishment for the same crimes against black women. Black women sexuality has made them unrapeable and unworthy of protection, slavers didn’t have the authority to stand up for themselves without being threatened, abused or murdered by slave masters.

If we compare rape culture during slavery and today, many changes have occurred culturally and politically. According to legal systems in 19th century rape was non-existent amongst slave but currently sexual abuse is recognised and illegal in many countries no matter what race you are. Beliefs have also changed as more people understand that sexual violence is wrong and whoever commits this unjustified act deserves to be sentenced. Although we’ve seen many improvements, culturally, legally and politically, we still have a long way to go in order to see a huge difference especially in third world countries. India is known to be the most dangerous country for women, having the highest rates of sexual abuse experts say that ‘a woman is raped in India every 16 minutes.’ Women are often seen as possessions or objects rather than human beings, which suggests that cultural change doesn’t occur in India quite often. Legally, the system continuously fails women in India by giving little legal assistance to victims.  Moreover, there's hardly any support shown towards rape victims, leading them to fight a lonely battle against their abuser where justice isn’t delivered timely.

The economic, social and cultural contribution of creative industries are key factors of many societies and their policies. There’s various confirmation that precarity, competition and the lack of regulation within these industries is aggravating inequalities with respect to gender, race and class. These cultural patterns create and reproduce the way we think towards sexual abuse, whether it's worth fighting over and what should be accepted as the norm. In order to prevent sexual abuse, this will require action at the individual, educational and governmental levels, starting with public discussions to inform society that sexual abuse is never okay. Organisations can inform others about inequality in different aspects that will help influence culture. Many prevention will help create cultural patterns and reproduce how we think and feel about sexual abuse. Social media has a large impact towards cultural change i.e. Twitter and the prevention of sexual abuse. It’s very accessible for finding information and keeping updated with the latest news, therefore, individuals standing up online for what they believe in, spreading awareness and creating petitions allows us to understand that there’s a shift in cultural change within society as many people become aware of what's right and wrong. This helps create a culture of respect politically and legally by ensuring that the law enforcement takes sexual abuse a lot more seriously.

One big mover and shaker who has a major influence towards spreading awareness of sexual abuse would be Tarana Burke who’s a well-known activist and the founder of #MeToo movement. MeToo is a movement against sexual harassment and abuse in today’s society, which started in 2006 to help raise awareness. The movement is globally recognised and has successfully made an impact to cultural change throughout societies and adjudicative systems, meanwhile uplifting survivors of sexual abuse by letting them know that they’re not alone. Tolerance, silence, acceptance and victim blaming take hold and become the norm. With the MeToo movement, it helps challenge the cultural ground rule that women have no say in who is in their intimate life. The MeToo movement has definitely been the start of cultural change within the creative industries and working environments by determining professional standards. The movement has made organisations reconsiders their policies and guidance by stating what is unacceptable and the consequences you’ll face if you violate these rules stated. This allows women to feel confident enough to speak up on unethical, unprofessional and discriminatory behaviour that we are exposed to. Even though this strategy is very encouraging, there's still a lot of development that needs to happen. However, the movement has made a massive impact in attitudes, behaviours and the contrast in culture especially in creative industries. MeToo movement managed to investigate an abuse of power that has empowered wider discussions about inequalities as many are now confident enough to speak out when we see inappropriate behaviour.

Another method that can be used to spread awareness and condemn sexual abuse within the creative industries would be art. Using art is a very effective way to speak on issues that happens across the globe, this can be expressed through music, shows, poetry, drawing and etc. An American neo-conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer reclaimed the concept of ‘Lustmord’ to discuss rape. Holzer addressed the sexual abuse against women during the Bosnian War in the 1990’s by creating texts from the perspectives of a victim. Holzer writes each line of the poems on women skin and photographs them individually, ‘I want to suck on her to make her respond’ reads one. She ensured that the poems were never read in full to complicate the identities of the victim, observer and the offender, making it difficult for her audience to detect which perspective each line came from.

It’s my duty that through this and other attempts, the next generation of women maintain the power that they own in order to have access to complete freedom by owning their sexuality, fighting for their equality and speaking out without being back lashed. I will be applying this to myself by creating a platform where myself and other women can speak on the harsh reality that we face as rape victim as this allows us to deal with trauma in a healthy way. In conclusion, I strongly believe that sexual abuse is an important issue that we should be well informed on as millions of people have been in this predicament globally. For sexual assault to stop it all begins with what you understand, your morals and what you could do to prevent it from occurring.

LINK TO VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/450350632

References:

https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/about-sexual-violence/statistics-sexual-violence/

https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/discussion-paper-what-will-it-take-promoting-cultural-change-to-end-sexual-harassment-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1714

file:///C:/Users/preti/Downloads/Hennekam_et_al-2017-Gender_Work__Organization.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sexual_slavery_in_the_United_States

https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-behind-indias-rape-problem/a-51739350

https://exhibitionfem.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/lustmord/

[pisati]

I don’t want to jump the gun here, but I’m nervous.

could be I’m just intimidated by the learning curve. I’m not familiar with procedure yet and everything is uncomfortable. I answered the phone the right way today but couldn’t hear the person on the line and of course it was busy and both the other receptionists were doing something and I had to awkwardly put them on hold and ugh

that’s not what’s making me nervous. it’s that I’ve only been there for two days, at half the amount of time I’m going to be working in a few weeks, and I’m already exhausted. 

it’s a lot to keep up with. I’ve had zero experience with our scheduling software and it’s complicated. I don’t know procedure at the clinic yet, and I don’t know how to navigate anything. I’m still learning what buttons to click. there’s so much they’re having me watch and, bless them, they’re explaining all of it, but I can’t absorb much of it. I’m still trying to learn people’s names. meanwhile I’m watching the receptionist that’s training me answering the phone no sweat, pulling up a search box, typing in the person’s name (sometimes it’s already being typed in as she’s answering because she saw the caller ID), taking a glance at the profile and without a pause asking about the pet by name, scrolling through the log of interactions and noting what vaccines and tests they’ve had and what they’re due for and what the doctors said, typing in notes about the call with abbreviations and details about everything, knowing where to right-click to pull up other boxes and add new notes or prescription requests, knowing which buttons to press for estimates and invoices and knowing what things look like when those things are ready and the charges are accurate... I know that’s what happens when you’ve had years of experience with it, and I shouldn’t be so intimidated as a newbie, but it really is intimidating. I still barely know what I’m looking at, let alone what half the vaccines are for. so I guess in that way it could be exhausting. just trying to process everything. maybe once it becomes more routine it’ll be less taxing.

everyone’s confident I’ll learn, and they’ve been really encouraging. I know eventually I’ll get it. I’m always nervous about messing up, but it is what it is. I know it’s going to happen. I’m glad everyone’s being so supportive, and I’m trying to get over my anxieties in a productive way. like I asked if we could maybe write down some generic scripts for making/answering different types of phone calls, because that I think is the biggest one I’m nervous about. I don’t know what to even say half the time. they wanted me to make an “easy” call earlier, and I know it was pretty easy (they just wanted to ask an owner if they could possibly come in 10 minutes earlier because the online appointment they booked overlapped with another appointment), but I had no idea how to even... what do you say? or, rather, how do I relay that information and also remember to introduce myself and the clinic and say everything else that needed to be said without rambling or stopping to look for the right words? I tried to remember how the girl training me phrased it so I could write it down, but I think she started a text document after that and is going to write down some basic scripts for me. and also for the training manual she wants to write, because they don’t even have one (??). she wrote the manual for the clinic she worked at in california, so she wants to start writing one for this clinic too. I’m just surprised it hasn’t been done yet. they might’ve had old training manuals, but.. they’re old now. might be good to write up a new one now, so I can be the guinea pig as a totally blank slate, lmao

anyways I’m just nervous about my energy levels. I’ve got two closing shifts tomorrow and friday, 12:30-7 and then 2-7, and I’m afraid tomorrow might actually kill me. I’ve only done 4 hours these last two days and it’s been hard. I crashed hard yesterday and today, even though I tried not to nap. it’s not even 8 hours tomorrow but I just know I’m going to leave that clinic, get in my car, be too tired to make dinner when I get home, and just want to go straight to bed. it reminds me of my last job, and I don’t like that at all. as much as it Sucks getting up at 6am, I think I’d much rather have morning shifts. I can be out in the afternoon, be able to do shopping if I need to, and it’ll still be daylight when I get home. I told them I didn’t have a preference as far as schedules, but I think I might. I didn’t want to say I preferred mornings because I never have, but I think now I’d rather have more time in my day than more time to sleep in and lay in bed feeling useless and tired til it’s time to go in, then close and go home just to go straight back to bed.

maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to tell the clinic manager that. she did want to sit down with me and go over things. for now I’m okay being flexible, and I might need flexibility since I have doctor appointments on scattered mornings. I guess I’ll see. 

other than that, it was a pretty good day today. relaxed, though it was a little busy; we had two emergency appointments we had to fit in in the morning, one dog who’d been throwing up all night and another who’d had a new kind of treat and the owner thought a piece of it might’ve gotten stuck. we had another come in with a bad cough later in the day. there were only two of us opening, and one of them was me and I’m basically useless lmao. so it was a little crazy, but we managed. 

the other receptionist I’ve been working with (the one who’s leaving soon) wasn’t there today, and I guess she’s the one who usually puts on music, so the one that’s training me put on spotify on her phone. I asked if she’d heard of noah gundersen, because some of the songs on her playlist reminded me of him, and she said she had! that was a surprise to me; literally nobody I know has heard of him. I only knew about him because he opened for city & colour a few years ago. turns out we have a lot of overlapping indie tastes, and some of hers are even more obscure than mine. so that’s really cool. I wasn’t sure if she was joking when she said “we should totally go!!” when I told her noah gundersen was touring in DC in october, but if I win that ticket contest I might ask if she wants to go. I already asked charlotte, so she’s got first dibs, but knowing her she’ll be too busy. even if I don’t win, I’ll probably want to buy tickets anyway. she told me about this artist she discovered a while back and played a song of his for me; he’d done a gorgeous cover of city & colour’s Waiting (she loves C&C too!!). and on his first tour to the US she talked to him, went to both of his shows in SF and LA, I think. she said she lived 2 hours north of LA and 4 hours south of SF, and she road tripped to both because she just liked his music that much. she says the artist knows her and her mom at this point and loves them both; he didn’t feel like flying to LA from SF so he apparently asked if he could road trip with them and she said it was a great time. that’s such a cool experience to have. 

so it was nice being able to bond with the coworkers a little, to have something in common to talk about. I didn’t have that at my last job. the one person nearest in age to me was almost 10 years older, so I didn’t have much to talk about with anyone. I didn’t follow sports or watch anything on tv that my all-male coworkers did, so all the pop culture references went right over my head (except one time when my coworker happened to also have watched Flint Town, the mini docuseries about Flint, MI, and we actually had a decent discussion about it). my supervisor and I basically just had the fact that we were women in common, lmao. the only two in the company, by the time I left. we’d joke about men sometimes, and she was cool to talk to when we needed a conversation break from work, but I still never felt all that comfortable there. the expectation was more... head down, work 8 straight hours, limit chit-chat, go home. 

of course at the clinic the expectation is work first, but it’s only human to talk to each other in between tasks. and it’s easy enough; most of our interruptions are phone calls and clients coming in, and all of us know to drop what we’re doing and attend to those first. it’s just nice to be able to relax a little and feel like a person, to be able to talk to other humans to get through the day and not feel guilty for having personal conversations because you know you’re still getting your work done in between. I don’t have to cram my fuzzy-socked feet into uncomfortable ballet flats or sit in the same seat for 8 straight hours, ruining my jaw propping my head up at my desk; I get to wear the comfy sneakers I got at walmart, scrubs, and yoga pants (for now-- I think they want us to wear scrub pants but I don’t have any in my size yet). I get to get up every once in a while, to check in patients and let the techs know the appointments are there, get medications, so on. I’m nervous for plenty of reasons, but I still definitely appreciate the environment at this clinic a hell of a lot. I’m sure it’ll help me feel more comfortable and more confident in myself in a work environment, especially once I start actually learning the ropes. I’ve been burned a lot with jobs that have been just beyond my capacity and I think I just need to rebuild that confidence. maybe if my health situation improves I’ll start being able to expand my capacity again. I feel like I definitely backslid, but I guess that’s just what happens when your health hasn’t been great for 10+ years. 

I emailed my psychiatrist’s office to ask if they’d gotten my EKG results 2 days after I’d gotten it done (my primary said I could even call that day because they were going to fax them right away), but they emailed me back saying they hadn’t gotten them. I should’ve called my primary days ago to ask them to actually send it, but I hate calling people (cool that I’m working as a receptionist now,,,). so today I went into my patient portal and looked for the results; I hadn’t been able to see them before because I guess they started using a new service or something? but whenever I tried to log in on chrome it’d just give me a spinny wheel and wouldn’t actually log me in. I thought to try safari today, because I remembered my bank had been giving me a similar issue for a while, and it worked. they’d uploaded my actual EKG chart to my profile, so I just downloaded it and emailed it to my psych’s office myself. I explained that my primary said it was totally normal and I’m cleared for adderall. hopefully that’s enough for my doc. we were kind of hoping that I’d be able to try the adderall before I started work, but I guess being part-time for 2 weeks isn’t the worst time to try it either. if my sending it to her is ok, maybe she’ll be able to send out the prescrip tomorrow. the hope is that, since it’s a stimulant, it’ll give me enough of an energy kick to be able to get through work days and be able to focus and retain a little more information. I hope that’s the end result, anyway. god knows I need the energy.

it’s good for me to get the anxieties out now. it actually does feel a little better to get them out and see them written out, because looking at them written down, from the outside, I do look like I’m hyperbolizing a bit. just worrying, worrying, worrying. I’m glad it’s just nagging worries and not actual anxiety, but I do wish my brain would shut up and let me do things. it’d be cool if I didn’t get so self-deprecating over little mistakes too, but one thing at a time. nervous, definitely, but I just need time. everything’s working out so far; got charlotte’s wedding on the calendar already just to get that definitely squared away. my sleep med doctor appointment is on a morning when I’m scheduled after noon. at least for the next few weeks I don’t have any problems or conflicts so that’s real nice. I think this week might be a pay week, so I’ll have to see if I’m getting paid yet; my first paycheck’s going to be really small but it’ll be something, and something is more than I’ve been getting for the last year, so. I can’t complain. I fixed an issue I had with my investment money yesterday, and I was really proud of myself for making a scary phone call and actually adulting, lol. I got that issue all sorted out thanks to the nice guy at the investment company who had to put some puzzle pieces together bc the guy that helped me do the transaction fucked up and I couldn’t figure out how (because I did this 4 months ago and only looked at it now 🙄). I’m just glad to have it sorted, and I’m meeting with my mom’s financial advisor on monday to talk about all of this too, so hopefully that’ll ease my mind some, just knowing that my financial situation is being taken care of. maybe I’ll start getting some sense of where I’m at relative to what I need for the things I want in the next few years, and I’ll be getting some guidance on how to get the most out of what I have. I don’t know anything about money and I’m terrible at numbers; I would rather not have any kind of involvement in the stock market at all. it’s too confusing and anything involving even a little bit of math makes me want to barf. but it’s the smartest move at this point and I know it. I’m just glad I have help. knowing that, knowing that things are generally okay, even if I’m still not in the best shape... I just feel balanced. I haven’t been able to feel that in a long-ass time, and god am I happy to be there. 

I just want to keep this calmness going. 

[isaacscrawford]

Matthew Holt’s EOY 2017 letter (charities/issues/gossip)

Right at the end of every year I write a letter summarizing my issues and charities. And as I own the joint here, I post it on THCB! Please take a look–Matthew Holt

Well 2017 has been quite a year, and last year 2016 I failed to get my end-of-year letter out at all. This I would like to think was due to extreme business but it probably came down to me being totally lazy. On the other hand like many of you I may have just been depressed about the election–2016 was summed up by our cat vomiting on our bed at 11.55 on New Years Eve.

Having said that even though most of you will never comment on this letter and I mostly write it to myself, I have had a few people ask me whether it is coming out this year–so here it goes.

2017 was a big year especially for my business Health 2.0. After 10 years my partner Indu Subaiya and I sold it to HIMSS–the biggest Health IT trade association and conference. And although I used to make fun of HIMSS for being a little bit staid and mainstream, when it came to finding the right partner to take over Health 2.0’s mantel for driving innovation in health technology, they were the ones who stepped up most seriously. From now on the Health 2.0 conferences are part of the HIMSS organization, and Indu is now an Executive Vice President at HIMSS. I’ll still be very involved as chair of the conferences and going to all of them but will (hooray!) be doing a lot less back office & operational work. (Those of you in the weeds might want to know that we are keeping the Health 2.0 Catalyst division for now at least)

That does mean that next year I will have a bit more time to do some new things. I haven’t quite figured out what they are yet but they will include a reboot of (my role at least) on The Health Care Blog and possibly finally getting that book out of the archives into print. But if you have any ideas for me (and I do mean constructive ideas, not just the usual insults!) then please get in touch. You can of course follow me on Twitter (@boltyboy) to see what I’m thinking with only modest filtering!

On the home front we are now firmly established in San Anselmo, which is a nice little suburban town about 40 minutes north of San Francisco. I have been trying to ride my bike into the city via the ferry a few days a week but unfortunately I’ve had two stolen in SF this year, so I’m ending the year being a couch potato. We do have big plans for the winter, and from early January will have a place in Tahoe City. If you and yours are looking go skiing, we probably have a bed for you, so get in touch.

Amanda continues to amaze me in that she manages to get Coco (6) and Aero (3) organized and active, into their respective first grade and preschool classes, all the while doing great things to the house. She’s also taking part in a really serious exercise class called the Daley Method more or less every day (I make it to yoga about once a month on average!). She tells me it’s essentially a religious cult and I’m waiting to see when she will bring home the orange juice for me to drink. Meanwhile she is in fantastic shape and making me look feel extremely flabby. Okay, so that’s enough about me and the family. There tends to be lots more with pictures on my Facebook page

For those of you who don’t know I started writing this letter way back in 2000 when I didn’t have a wife or family and presumably had a lot of spare time on my hands–not that I can remember exactly what I did with it. The main point of this letter is to tell you about the issues that I think are important and and which charities I support. In fact back in 2000 I used to find that my friends and acquaintances was so ill-informed about the world and politics that I was on a little bit of a crusade to tell them more. The good news is that in 2017, everybody seems to know everything, and everyone has an opinion. And yes it’s not too hard to figure out what mine is. The bad news is that many of us seem to have arrived in that state of greater awareness by living in countries that have either elected the worst populist buffoon of all time as president, or seem to be voluntarily committing economic suicide. And yes I am referring to the country I moved to and the country I moved from in 1989.

My views will become apparent in the way I divide this letter up. Please feel free to poke around and look at the links, and  maybe even donate to one or two. Let me know any comments or insults!

Health care & (poor) women’s & kids care & safety, and supporting patient activism

In the US this past summer there was a very serious attempt to destroy the Affordable Care Act. It failed–only just–but the rug is being pulled from under it by a bunch of mean spirited administrators put in charge over at HHS by the asses in the White House. Not to mention that the Congress (and we know who is in charge) has NOT RENEWED funding for the health insurance plan passed in the 90s for poor kids called CHIP. If you want to stay informed on all this I urge you to follow ex-CMS administrator @ASlavitt & blogger @charles_gaba on Twitter. @charles_gaba in particular is a one man band doing remarkable work classifying the actual on the ground impact of all of this on everyday Americans, and he gets no support for it. So you might join me and toss him a few bucks. The US health care system is still extremely screwed up, and if you want to know more you could do a lot worse than reading former NYT reporter Elizabeth Rosenthal’s An American Sickness. Other than hoping we get a Democratic sweep in 2018 & 2020 (and working and contributing $$ for that) I’m not sure what we can do to improve the system–other than to keep exposing the idiocy of current policies and the bad behavior of many actors.

For my next health care issue I’m just going to repeat what I wrote in 2016 and multiply it by a hell of a lot —What sadly has come into focus this year is the desperate attempts to attack women’s access to health care. If you’re a woman– especially a young or poor one who needs access to contraceptives, mammograms, cervical cancer screening, sexually transmitted disease testing, and all kinds of health procedures including safe abortions, it’s become the mission of mainstream Republicans to stop you getting them–using disgusting, deceitful, and downright illegal methods. And that’s as polite as I can say it. So my biggest bump in funding this year went to the one organization that consistently not only campaigns for but actually provides reproductive health services (including contraception, STD testing, counseling, pregnancy support and, yes, safe abortions), Planned Parenthood. I cannot believe that men want to live in a world where women cannot get these services, although I guess the evidence shows enough do….especially in Texas, Louisiana, Indiana and many more.

Given the #MeToo movement we can no longer ignore sexual assault as both a health and a social issue. A brilliant young entrepreneur called Jessica Ladd runs a non-profit called Callisto which enables victims of assault to report it without going through the harrowing ordeal of reporting it to the police or college authorities. Of course if several people report the same perpetrator then that helps bring them to justice. Now imagine this more widely used, say in Hollywood about Harvey Weinstein. Something like that is Jess’ aim. You can see her on Seth Myers’ show and also donate here.

Also worth noting is another great female CEO (Emily May’s story is here) who founded a non profit called Hollaback which helps report and prevent street harassment. There’s an app you can download to report harassment and of course they could use a donation too.

Finally in this section are two related entities supporting patients in dealing with the health care system. I’m a corporate supporter and personal member of the Society for Participatory Medicine which is moving from being a small core of activists to a major organization creating partnerships between patients and the health care system. They had their first conference back in October and it was excellent. The other is The Waking Gallery of which I’m also a proud member. Artist and activist Regina Holliday literally paints patients’ stories on the back of jackets and over 400 people (including me) now wear them at health care conferences. You can support her work here.

Other long time health care issues I like to think about/support:

Engage with Grace founded by my friend Alex Drane. No donation needed–use the 5 questions you can download to start that hardest of conversations about what you want for your care at the end of life.

Jeremy Nobel’s Foundation for Arts & Healing is engaging patients in arts, aggressively tackling loneliness support here.

YTH, a really cool organization that helps use technology to educate young people about sex and other health issues. The YTH Live conference is in San Francisco in May & it’s great and cheap (and somehow despite desperate efforts to quit I’m still on the board).

Poverty in developing countries

The good news is that in the long run things are getting better. The bad news is that there are plenty of trouble spots from Myanmar to Syria to Africa and lots of forces and people trying to repress the long arc towards equality, peace and freedom.

I’ve supported Mercy Corps for over a decade now–at least that’s according to the card they just sent me. They do a remarkable job all over the world focusing on educating girls, supplying clean water and directly intervening in crises. It’s worth noting that this year those crisis spots included Puerto Rico because of the appalling ongoing incompetence of the US government in failing to get help to that stricken part of its own country!

Heifer International gives animals directly to the very poor in order to get them out of the cycle of poverty. Every year I hand out goats and chickens! Hey, my father has a farm on which he feeds the chickens and that’s about as close as I get any more. (OK, this year it was a pig)

I’ve always supported a few smaller charities. They are all teeny in the grand scheme but a lot of little things add up, and for each one of these any donation or support means a lot.

Saigon Children’s Charity is a small charity (approx $1m a year in donations) focusing on providing rice, bikes and books and pens to the families of very poor children in Southern Vietnam so they stay in school. I support a few individual pupils.

Sadly the rapids where I went rafting on my honeymoon in 2008 at the source of the Nile in Uganda are gone, but kayaking doctor Jesse Stone’s clinic and charity Softpower Health is still there. It sells cheap mosquito nets, and provides a health center and family planning outreach. Here’s an article about their first ten years and a really great case study from Jesse about how they saved a girl’s leg.

Also supporting direct medical care, We Care Solar makes a suitcase-sized portable solar powered generator and supplies it to health workers in off-grid clinics across the world–one frequent user is my friend Dr Enoch Choi who’s on the scene of basically every disaster. and right now is on his way to Cambodia. You could alternatively give to Power the World which provides Nokero solar lights, the WE CARE Solar Suitcase, SOCCKET (all of which I’ve featured in previous years) and clean cook stoves–of which I bought a few for people in Nepal.

In the same vein, Health eVillages is a charity launched at Health 2.0 by Donato Tramuto which delivers iPads & smartphones with preloaded medical information to clinicians in remote parts of Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan and elsewhere.

One of the worst trouble spots in the world is the genocide going on in Myanmar. 600,000 Rohingya people have been systematically driven from their homes–with thousands raped and killed by the Myanmar military. A small Muslim lead charity (very highly rated by Charity Navigator) called the Zakat Foundation of America is in the camps in Bangladesh working with the refugees–they are also working in Syria.. For the price of a bottle of good champagne I feel my donation made a bit of a difference and you might too.

Poverty in the US

Income inequality in the US is increasing, leading to systematic pressures on those at the bottom end of society’s ladder. This year the UN actually sent an investigator to report on extreme poverty in the US. The Guardian article about it was harrowing.

These organizations try to help in my locale. You of course may have your local favorites–Here’s the list I support:

San Francisco & Marin food bank. Put your zip code in here to find out your local equivalent

Hamilton Family Center, is a small shelter offering emergency and transitional care, as well as getting families into permanent housing. If you live in San Francisco you know that the housing situation is dire at any income level and is getting worse. Think about those at the bottom. You can help by clicking this link.

Homeless Children’s Network supports care services for homeless children. No one should have to start life that way. You can help here

Disasters

This year has of course been terrible for disasters in the US–hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Texas and fires in California. I gave to the Hispanic Foundation for Puerto Rico, the greater Houston Community Relief Fund, the Redwood Credit Union Community Fund (for N. Cal fires) & the United Way of Ventura County fund for S. California. (Yeah, I know it has a bad rap but the United Way pledged that 100% of the funds will go to victims).  

I also met a bright young social entrepreneur called Jason Friesen from TrekMedics which is building a 911 system where there are none. I was thrilled that we could feature him at Health 2.0 this year. You can donate to their work in Puerto Rico here.

Torture and human rights

Imprisonment without fair trials and torture doesn’t work to improve safety and it increases the amount of future terrorism. My own grandfather was tortured as a British POW in WW2 in the far east. And yet we now have “strong” men in charge increasing the use of torture, unwarranted imprisonment, and in some cases selected or mass vigilante executions in Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, the Philippines, and (if he gets his way) in the US.

These organizations help those being tortured (or who have been) and protest those governments who should act better.–which basically means all of them

Amnesty International campaigns on behalf of prisoners of conscience everywhere

The UK-based Freedom from Torture (used to be called Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) helps people from many countries who have been tortured. I’ve been supporting it for many years

The American Civil Liberties Union. If you’re not a card carrying member, you should be–this year of all years.

The environment.

While the clock ticks, the planet and the sea warms and we can but hope that technology in the form of renewable energy and replacements for animals being used as food get here in time. Our grandchildren will be ashamed of us. And of course we now have an actively anti-science administration in the US that is making the problem much worse. While I’ve been the biggest meat eater I know for many years, I’m cutting way down on beef which is responsible for 50%+ of global warming from agriculture worldwide & hoping that Impossible Foods and Memphis Meats come good on their promise to replace meat entirely. BTW the Impossible Burger is pretty damn good.

Other bad news is that the Japanese continue illegal whaling to a great extent and have essentially seen off the attempts by Sea Shepherd to stop them.

I give to both the Sierra Club (respectable) and Greenpeace (more radical) and locally to the Marine Mammal Center–a wonderful facility that helps seals recover, including most years one or two that get shot!

Drug prohibition—a terrible idea that is closer to being toppled

I’ve been protesting drug prohibition forever. It’s a terrible policy. You only have to witness Portugal’s experience decriminalizing all drugs and supporting those who want to get away from addiction to realize that there are much better policies actually working in real life. Probably lunatic US attorney general Jeff Sessions will be too busy trying (and hopefully failing) to avoid jail on perjury charges to try to block legalization of marijuana in California (and Washington, Oregon & Colorado). But we certainly don’t have anything like a rational approach coming from the Federal government even though the argument is basically won in the court of public opinion and science.  A system of taxed and regulated drug distribution is the only solution to removing the criminality associated with drug taking, much of which is relatively harmless anyway. I support:

DRCNet home of the best blog and email newsletter, the Drug War Chronicle. They also look at the stuff others miss, like the massacres currently going on in the Philippines. Their review of the last 20 years of the drug war is well worth reading.

The Drug Policy Alliance — the main lobbying organization promoting “harm reduction”

A Dog’s Life

Charley is 14 now and finally gets to hang out in a big back yard and doesn’t go into the office any more. Funnily enough as soon as he left, Health 2.0’s landlord rewrote the building’s rental agreement to make it a lot less dog friendly. Coincidence? Maybe not! For dogs that aren’t as lucky, Amanda and I support Rocket Dog Rescue $50 pays for an adoption.

***

OK, that’s it. Thanks for reading and please feel free to email me or tweet me or FB me or whatever to give your comments, or see if there’s some other charity I should support. Or just to get in touch anyway

Cheers & have a great 2018!

Matthew

Article source:The Health Care Blog

[topinforma]

New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2q3858A

growing-pains-election-in-a-small-maryland-city-exposes-racial-class-divides

A cluster of the historic homes line Perry Street in Mount Rainier, Md. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Mount Rainier residents receive frequent postcards with unsolicited offers to buy their turn-of-the century Victorians and 1920s bungalows. All around Shepherd Street, contractors strip houses that will be flipped by investors eager to turn a profit in one of Prince George’s County’ oldest municipalities.

The pace of change has quickened in this former streetcar suburb, where artists and immigrants have flocked for the past three decades.

Anxiety over the influx of more affluent residents is fueling an unusually sour political season — tinged by a nasty debate over the decision to allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections such as the mayoral and council contests that will be decided May 1.

Longtime Mayor Malinda Miles faces a challenger in the upcoming election. It would be her fourth term if she wins. (Courtesy of Malinda Miles)

Mayor Malinda Miles — a Web-savvy, 70-year-old who bought her house in Mount Rainier decades ago, when she and other black residents were treated as second-class citizens — is campaigning for a fourth term on a platform of staving off gentrification and preserving the social safety net. Those themes are echoed by Charnette Robinson and Tyrese Robinson, two African American women running for council seats.

Miles faces a strong challenge from council member Jesse Christopherson, 39, a white California native who used to work on Capitol Hill. He and council candidate Celina Benitez, a Salvadoran immigrant running against Charnette Robinson, pledge to draw new energy and investment to Mount Rainier while preserving its funky, artistic vibe. Tyrese Robinson’s opponent is Luke Chesek, who is white and moved in two years ago.

City leaders say they expect more robust voter turnout than usual after a series of heated candidate forums, allegations of sign stealing and growing worry about whether Mount Rainier is changing beyond recognition.

“The majority of the new homeowners are white, and that’s a little concerning at times,” said Brooke Kidd, a 20-year resident who is white and runs Joe’s Movement Emporium, an arts center that draws from across Mount Rainier’s racial and class divides. “We need to make sure they are not making decisions from bias and privilege.”

Location, location, location

Mount Rainier’s proximity to downtown Washington — four often-traffic-choked miles — makes it an attractive option for those seeking roomier, more affordable real estate.

It’s a city that attracts artists such as dancer Emily Eakland, 34, and her partner, whose business, ReCreative Spaces, offers work and exhibit space for other local artists.

It’s also a quiet place where neighbors take care of one another, said Diana Edwards, a Miles supporter who moved here in 1986.

It was the perfect spot for Felix Romero to buy a house, open his flower-and-party-planning business in 2002 and — thanks to the January council vote allowing noncitizens to register — prepare to cast a U.S. ballot for the first time. He has a Christopherson sign in his store window.

Eakland, who is not publicly backing a candidate, says that she wants leaders who are committed to existing businesses but also court development that fits the city’s character.

“What I would hate to see,” she said, “is people pushed out, and artists being displaced.”

Christopherson said that he agrees, wholeheartedly. The stay-at-home father of two has lived in Mount Rainier since 2009 and served on the council since 2013. He makes a point of patronizing the mom-and-pop businesses along 34th Street, including a food co-op founded in 1969 by conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War.

“We need to recognize the gems, foster networks of entrepreneurs and bring in new business that is complementary to the customer base already here,” he said the other day while drinking a large organic coffee at the WaTerHole, one of the newer shops in town. “We have a great culture, and we should continue to preserve that Mount Rainier experience.”

City Council member Jesse Christopherson is running for mayor. (Courtesy of Jesse Christopherson)

Christopherson said that he respects Miles’s work to help poor and elderly residents avoid eviction, pay bills and feed and clothe themselves. But, in his opinion, the city has not made enough economic progress as housing prices have soared and has missed opportunities, especially downtown.

Miles said that market forces doomed a city-led revitalization project along Rhode Island Avenue. She argued that the city has seen gradual, sustainable improvements — including the creation of parks, green initiatives and the expansion of the police force.

Seniors like herself on fixed incomes, Miles said, could find themselves unable to pay their property taxes if home values rise too quickly — as they might if the mayor pushes development at a faster pace.

“If I move out of Mount Rainier, I can’t afford to move back here to live,” she said. “New isn’t always better. All change isn’t good.”

The historic business district of Mount Rainier features boutiques and restaurants. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

‘The elephant in the room’

In the early 1900s, Mount Rainier was a city of mostly white farmers known as a “sundown” town — where people of color, it was understood, should be gone by nightfall. Miles arrived in 1968, one of the first waves of black residents at a time when voter lists for municipal elections focused on homeownership and excluded many African Americans.

She said that she clearly remembers the resistance she encountered when she started to become involved in civic life in the 1970s.

Although Mount Rainier soon had an African American majority, the five-member council stayed all-white until the election of Otis Hayward in 1985. Miles won a council seat two years later.

Since then, large numbers of immigrants have settled in town, creating what longtime resident and sculptor Alan Binstock called a “diverse Mayberry.”

Nearly 40 percent of the approximately 8,500 residents are Latino, according to 2015 Census Bureau estimates. Meanwhile, the black population has fallen below 50 percent. Miles is the only African American on the council.

The racial dynamics of the election are “more than just the elephant in the room,” said Nicole Goines, Christopherson’s campaign manager. “It’s the entire room.”

Barber William Moore cuts the hair of DJ Alexander, 4, at Hands On Barber Shop in Mount Rainier. Moore has owned the shop for 18 years and wonders how long he can keep it running as property taxes rise. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Benitez, a transplant from Los Angeles, decided to run after becoming involved in efforts to reach out to other Latino residents, who she said have been neglected by city government over the years.

“A minority within a minority” is how she described the immigrants who live mostly in World War II-era apartment buildings on the fringes of town but in some cases have bought homes closer in.

“The City Council should represent the whole community,” she said.

Benitez joined Christopherson, who speaks Spanish, and others to push for the law that allows noncitizens to vote in city elections. They are now campaigning to declare Mount Rainier a “sanctuary city.”

Such advocacy, she said, made her a target of “racial antagonism” from her campaign opponent, Charnette Robinson, a D.C. police commander and longtime Mount Rainier resident.

Charnette Robinson sent a letter to the council questioning the legality of noncitizen voting, which she called a “ploy to ensure votes for particular candidates.” The letter described the sanctuary debate as “an attempt to protect the rights of illegal aliens in ways rarely done for poor and minority citizens.”

The last page demanded proof that Benitez lives within city limits and was therefore eligible to run for council, even though the election board had already certified her residency.

Produce manager Latteta Theresa arranges fruit at The Glut in Mount Rainier. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

A diversity divide

Charnette Robinson vigorously denied that her inquiry had anything to do with her rival’s ethnicity and said she has a right to ask whether a candidate lives in the city or to question the need for a sanctuary label.

“We don’t need an ordinance to stipulate what we already know to [be] true — Mount Rainier is a community that welcomes diversity,” she wrote in an online forum. “As representatives, we must be inclusive, and not create ordinances that are one-direction and divisive.”

Miles abstained from the January vote that allowed noncitizen voting, which passed 3 to 0. Christopherson voted yes. Election officials said that 21 new voters have registered as a result of the legislation.

Initially, Miles said, it felt almost irreverent and too easy to extend voting rights to noncitizens after African Americans from her parents’ generation had to fight so hard to obtain those rights themselves.

But then someone asked her a question: “They said, ‘Do you want everyone to go through what you did to get this right?’ ” the mayor recalled. “So I asked myself, ‘Do I want that for someone else?’ ”

Still, she chose not to cast a vote on the issue, concerned about amending the city charter.

She said that her support for immigrants has not wavered. She signed an executive order to prohibit city police from helping to enforce federal immigration law after legislation to enact that policy failed to pass the council.

Children play with hula hoops during spring break camp aftercare at Joe’s Movement Emporium. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Municipal elections in Mount Rainier rarely draw more than 500 voters to the polls. But political observers in the city said that if the packed candidate forums are any indication, this year’s contest could change that.

“The fact that we have hotly contested elections means people are paying attention,” said Del. Jimmy Tarlau (D-Prince George’s), a Mount Rainier resident. “We hope that no matter who wins, the city will move forward and keep the diverse, eclectic nature of the community intact.”