#someone recently gave an air fryer

[terrasu]

I have zero idea how it works (bc my mom does it), but look up the free cycle or buy nothing project where you live. In my area, people give everything from lasagna noodles to lawn furniture to mattresses to fresh basil to professional clothes to (etc) out to people for free. A downside is that you need to be able to go to the person's house and pick it up, but if it's not ice cream, they will usually leave it out all day. (Usually. Sometimes, people will drop it on your porch.)

[shelbgrey]

Bones Halloween Special

Paring: Lance Sweets x Hodgins!Reader x others(Platonic)

Summary: y/n Hodgins and her friends go to a haunted attraction for Halloween and they find something unexpected but not surprising for them.

A/n: this is a re-telling of an old greys anatomy fic I wrote, hopefully this one is better.

MasterList

Halloween was among us, I for one loved the holiday but with our job every day was Halloween. When I was a kid I loved dressing up and watching horror movies. None of my friends really cared for Halloween expect maybe my brother Jack and my fiance Lance.

But the last few years our group of friends started a tradition where we'd go to someone's house and watch a bunch of horror movies and eat junk food.

When we all got off work we headed to Temperance and Booth's house. While me, Cam and Angela were getting snacks, Jack and Lance were looking for movies.

While everything was getting set up we waited for the other guests while Booth and Aristoo watched the news for some reason.

“why are you watching the ne-”

“shh” Booth said cutting me off and turned the volume up. There was a lady standing infront of a haunted house on the TV.

“Tonight's is the opening night of DC's Great Balls of Fire, a haunted attraction that has caused some controversy in recent weeks drawing from local urben ledgends and actual serial killers... One maze is actually based on H. H Holmes, is this in poor taste, of just good old fashioned fun?”

Booth sighs and turns off the the TV. “sounds like just a bunch of over sensitive a-holes trying to shut down everyones Halloween fun”

“but if these are based off actual murders around here they could have families” Cam said. “hell, we probably solved a couple of them” I added.

“dude... What if it's haunted? Like haunted haunted” Jack said getting excited, Temperance was quick to rain on his parade. “actually, it's not possible for paranormal activity”

“well, we should still go” I said putting the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. Angela rolled her eyes and stood up as the air fryer dinged “I'm gonna get the pizza rolls”

“I'll go with you” Cam added

“Aw, common Ang” Jack called out.

Not a second later Angela’s screams erupted through the houses then a cash sound followed along with what sounded like Cam's cackles. We all looked over to where the sound came from, confused. Angela came racing in shaking while Wendell followed, rubbing his head. He had crumbs in his hair and red sause on his face from the pizza rolls.

“What happened to you?” I asked, chuckling.

Wendell turned around and looked at Angela. “You hit me in the head with an air fry basket” Angela whipped back around. “Well you snuck up on me, what do you expect?”

“Where's the pizza rolls?” Lance joked as Angela sat down next to Jack with her arms crossed, Jack chuckled and wrapped his arm around her. “Aw, come on babe, it's Halloween everyone's entitled to a good scare”

“so we going or what? It'll be alot more entertaining than y/n and sweets' horror movie collection” Booth joked. “hey..” me and Lance both said.

“going where?” Wendell asked. “The Halloween amusement park thing just outside of the city” Cam said.

Temperance rolled her eyes. “it's just a bunch of cheep rides and haunted houses that aren't even scary. It's a waist of time”

“you scared Bones?” Booth teased, she just rolled her eyes. “with the stuff we see everyday nothing should faze us now”

“soo...” me and Lance both said looking at everyone.

“Sure, why not” Jack said looking at everyone for confirmation. “you in Wendell?” he nodded.

“cam? Arastoo?” I asked turning to the couple. She nodded with a big smile. “I've been in for a while.”

“yeah, it should be fun” Arastoo nodded.

“Come on Bones, it'll be fun” I said. Temperance soon gave in with a smile. Shee nodded making everyone cheer.

After transportation planning and a few extra details we all separated into three cars and headed out.

~~~~~~~~(.......)~~~~~~~~

“we made it!” me and jack cheered as the the both of raced in leaving the group behind.

“wait up guys! We still need tickets!” Angela shouted making us sighed and walk back.

The line was long but thankful we were towards the front. “lot of weirdos” Cam mumbled. A guy in a clown costume that was behind her and Temperance in line tried to scare them, It didn't work. Temperance didn't even flinch and Cam rolled her eyes.

“boo, so scary” Cam said sarcastically, Arastoo put his arm on her shoulder turning her away from the clown. Booth wrinkled up his nose and subtly moved closer to me and Lance.

We all finally got in with our VIP passes and the place was a sight to see to say the least. Before we set off Lance came up to me with a creeped out expression as he took my hand.

“Sweets we just got here, what's the problem?” Booth asked. He looked around a shivered.

“please tell me the ticket guy licked his lips at all of you and not just me?” I scrunched my noise up in discussed and Booth started laughing.

“would it make you feel better if is said yes?” I asked sweetly, his looked slightly annoyed now. “no, because I don't want so random dude doing that to my fiance” I chuckled which made a smile creep on his face.

“come on, let's have some fun” I said as all of us set off to explore the place.

Booth looked over to Temperance who just looked around slightly board but still trying to look like she was having fun. “this really isn't your thing, is it?” I asked her.

She shrugged with a smile. “I'm just happy to do something with Booth and you guys” Booth was about to lean down and kiss her head, but a guy in a clown costume scared us. Booth jumped in to Temperance's arms and Lance flinched and held on to me, me and Temperance both laughed.

“okay, that was fun” Temperance laughed. I chuckled and pulled Lance along to catch up with the other.

“haunted house?” Wendell asked. We all agreed making our way in. Arastoo and Cam went in first cleaning to each other. The first guy that popped out was bloody, cannibal like doctor making Angela jump into Jack's arms with fear.

She pushed him away like nothing happened. “and... That's just insulting” Temperance said pointing at the doctor as she walked by with Booth.

Strob lights and blood surrounded us as we walked into a canbilist farm themed room. The place was based off. The text chain saw mascara movies obviously.

“ew, that looks so real” Cam said looking at a dummy that was gutted to piece. I looked at it and decided to screw with her.

“that's probably pig intestines, it's what they used in Day of the dead” I said pointing at the dummy. Arastoo wrapped his arm around Cam and looked at me disgust. “how do you know that?”

“same reason I know that I know they used corn syrup for pigs blood in Carrie” I shrugged and Lance wrapped his arm around my waist.

Next we walked into a pitch black room. “okay... Something is gonna pop out” Angela mumbled clinging to Jack.

“hello?” Temperance yelled.

“they aren't gonna respond” Booth said as he looked around.

Strob light suddenly turned on and a bloody clown, taller then Booth came charging at us with a ax. Booth screamed and ran for it while Temperance laughed.

The final room was a back room full of maquines with wolf masks. “one of you are real” Lance mumbled. We successfully made it to the other side without getting scared which made Angela feel confident to walk through. As she went one of them moved and grabbed her scream bloody murder.

She ran out with Jack and the rest of us chacing her.

“that was so badass!” Jack cheered as we made it out to the end. Me and jack high-five then turned to our friend group, everyone seemed shaken up except Temperance.

After that we hit the cheeply made games. Booth and I went up agint each other while Lance and Jack went to a ring toss booth. Surprisingly I won and I wasn't gonna let Booth forget it. “yes! Suck on that!” he laughed and gave me the win.

“here you go” Lance said from behind me. I turned around to find my fiance Holding a little fox plushie he won. I smiled and thanked him with a quick peck on the cheek.

Angela, Cam, and Arastoo then came back with giant preziles and funnel cakes. “What did we miss?” Arastoo asked handing me my funnel cake.

“y/n whipped Booth in a Shooting game” Jack laughed. “yes, that's my girl!” Angela said high-fiving me as Lance took the paper plate and ate some of the funnel cake.

The dude running the Booth gave me my prize, which was a panda bear plushie. I thanked him and gave it Lance.

“i saw another haunted house when I was getting drinks... Sounds pretty scary” Cam said. “i think there's alot of clown crap, so it's probably based off IT or something” Arastoo added.

Booth's eyes bugged out in fear from behind me and Lance. Cam noticed and chuckled. No one knew of his fear expect me and Temperance. He reluctantly agreed as we headed off.

“you alright?” Lance asked, Booth pushed his shoulder slightly. “it's your day off Shrink”

“God, I hate clowns” Booth mumbled. Temperance stopped and grabbed his hand. “We don't have to go in if you don't want to... I'll stay out here with you while the others go in” he shook his head and pulled her along.

“no, let's go” Temperance rolled her eyes and tired to stop him but no dice.

We all went to the entrance which was old, rugged door with very scary written on it. “how scary is 'very scary'?” Angela asked walking towards it. I shrugged when she stopped and looked at me for confirmation.

“it's a haunted house Angie” Wendell said opening the door. Cam, Arastoo, and Jack went through first. Angela sighed and walked in with Wendell.

“ladies first” Lance said to me and Temperance. Booth nodded and pushed me forward. “yup, we're gentleman around here”

Me and Temperance rolled our eyes and went in before our husbands. Lance garbed my hand as we walked through a room full of glowing mirrors. The light flashed on and off giving it an eary feeling.

It went pitch black for a few minutes then the blue lights came back on. A Pennywise actor jumped out and pounded on the window. “holy shit!” Booth said grabbing on to Temperance.

“I don't like it here!” Lance added, hiding behind me.

“Awsome” I said as we watched Pennywise run around.

We rounded a corner and ended up in a room full of clown statues and plushies. “oh you got be fucking kidding me” Booth mumbled as he watched every single clown making sure one of them wasn't gonna move. All the clown Dolls then started to shake and their eyes glew as we walked pasted.

As we exited we saw everyone was waiting. “that was very disappointing” Temperance said as we continued to walk around, Booth's eyes bugged out as he tried to recover from his 'trauma'.

“yeah I expected a bit more fear” I said. The others came out after words and Angela looked just as terrified as Booth.

Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and motioned to another attraction. “welp, there one more... Might as well get our money's worth” Angela sighed and followed him.

I tunred to my fiance and my best friend. “you two gonna be alright?” Lance nodded and so did Booth. “as long as there's no more freaking clowns.” he mumbled.

The four of us walked In the last building, it was The smallest one and looked like the haunted mansion from Scooby-Doo. We walked through a couple of hallway that made it feel like an actual Scooby-Doo themed attraction.

It wasn't really scary, meaning it didn't even bother Angela. “I think this is the end” Arastoo said.

As he said that the ceiling started cracking, something fell through making dust fill the area. “that smell is disgusting” Angela gasped as familiar stinch filled our noses.

“that's a rotting corps smell” I said covering my mouth and leaning into Lance.

“that looks really real” Arastoo said making us look down, it was clean skeleton that was stained red. Temperance knelt down and looked at the Skelton. “y/n, do you have your flashlight?”

I nodded and dug it out of my bag, Temperance shined it on the Skelton. “why would they put a real skeleton in a haunted house?” Angela asked.

"who knows, the 60s through the 80s were known to use real skeletons in horror movies” I said shrugging.

Jack took out his phone light and studied the now crime scene. “yup, look here sis” I looked and saw a couple of magets and a few termites.

“it looks like she's been here for almost four days” I said.

“call it in Booth it's real” Temperance said standing up. “looks like a female in her late 20s”

“thank God... Let's call it and get out of here” Booth mumbled and pulled out his phone and left the building, Lance followed pulling out his phone too. As they left a scare actor stopped them. Booth wasn't having it, getting into agent mode.

“Hey, this is a crime scene now” he barked and pulled out his badge. The scare actor's shoulders slumped and he pulled off his mask, he was just a teen.

“really man, I just got this job” the boys ignored him and called the Bureau.

“one normal night... That's all I ask” I sighed and stoped the other visitors before they could see the dead body.

“let's get her back to the lab before it catches too much attention” Temperance said.

The part of the park that we were at got shut down so the FBI could get through. Temperance and Jack left with them to get evidence.

“well that killed the mood” Angela said as we continued to walk after everyone was evacuated from the crim scene. “not really” I said.

“well, I'm beginning to believe this place is haunted” Cam added, I sighed. “well let's get to the lab, we're not going to bed anytime soon”

~~~~~~~~(.......)~~~~~~~~

We spent most of the night cleaning the Bones and checking for injuries. We found out the victim was strangled to death with one of those plastic chains that's used for decoration. The victim was killed and left about three day ago, three days before the Halloween park opened.

Lance came into my office about two hours later with tired eyes. I smiled softly as he plopped down on the couch that was in there. “did you get the killer”

Lance rubbed his face and nodded as I lyed down with him. “it was that kid me and Booth ran into when we were making calls”

“why did he do it?” I asked resting my head on his chest. “he wanted the part the victim had, apparently he worked at the attraction for years and the victim got the job right on the spot”

I shook my head. “the girl was so young”

“all her friends said she was so excited to get the job” Lance said.

We talked until we fell asleep, I don't know for how long but we were suddenly woken up by my brother. “What?”

“you guys should go home, the case is over” I sighed and looked at my watch and saw it was not only the next day but time for work too.

“no because our shift just started” I mumbled and sat up carefully. Lance ground and rolled over and fell back asleep. I let him sleep and went into the lab.

Everyone was setting around with energy drinks and coffee. “I'm starting to hate Halloween” Cam mumbled and downed her coffee.

Jack wordlessly handed me a monster and sat down next to him, as I sipped it the lights went out suddenly.

“son of a bitch!” I sighed and we just set there in the dark too tired to do anything.

[nightcall99]

Dreams from 21.8.23

Dream 1: There is something I need to figure out, regarding the course I had completed a few months ago. The easiest way to figure out what is going on, would be to go into our old class group chat but (exactly like IRL) I have since hidden this group chat in the archived chats folder of Whatsapp. I realise I was looking for was the new timetable, since classes have resumed again. I had forgotten all about this. I even remember getting the timetable already, but I had forgotten about that too. In fact, there was actually class that happened today that I missed out on. In the chat, HM said that he had attended today, but it had only been him and few other people and essentially nothing happened, everyone just slept at their desks. I felt glad I hadn't missed anything important.

I ended up going onto campus anyway to empty out my locker. There was a lot of stale food in there like old bread and butter which I had forgotten was there. I placed it all in my bag in order to get rid of it.

The other thing with my archived chats folder, is that a few of chats I had moved there recently IRL have completely disappeared. There was one I had with KS. I figured she must have deleted the chat from her end, which deleted from my end as well (even though this is not possible on Whatsapp). The other one that disappeared was a group chat I had with some girls from my course. I was really glad about this. I don't have to worry about the fact that I wasn't responding to them anymore since these people are 'gone' now and the situation was stressing me out. I no longer have to feel so uncomfortable. I was scrolling around in that archived folder, looking at the other chats I have with people that I no longer speak to, but feeling much more at ease.

Then I went to work. SN was hungry so I cut up some of the old bread for her and toasted it in the air-fryer. I spread on some of that old butter too. It still seemed fresh to me even though I knew it had been sitting in my school locker for awhile. There wasn't any mould or anything, it looked perfectly fine. A bit later on, I asked her if she had had eaten what I prepared for her, if it had been nice or not. She avoided my eyes. Then I was like, it was stale wasn't it. She nodded and laughed a bit. I felt embarrassed that I'd given her stale food.

There was also a basket of free stuff on the lunch room table. Usually it is just expired stock or discontinued products that we can take for ourselves. This time, it was some make-up and other random stuff. I wasn't supposed to be in the back room but I went to put aside a pile of free things for myself, since I knew that it was first, in first serve and I didn't want to miss out. There is another girl there too, and we are both doing the same thing. She appears to be my co-worker but I had this feeling like I'd known her quite well some time ago from somewhere else, and this is the first time I had seen her in a long time. We started talking a bit. She told me she was going over-seas. I offered her a few tubs of Vaseline from my pile of free items, since she told me she would need them for travelling. She opened the one I gave her to make sure it was alright and still fit for use but it had become a liquid, inadvertently spilling on the table. I gave her some more. A similar thing kept happening with a bunch of other people. I ended up with a pile of very few free things for myself to take home since I kept giving it away to people who kept coming up to me. I didn’t want them to miss out.

Dream 2: Someone who I didn't expect made an account on Tumblr and posted a dream submission into my inbox, which I then posted. I could also tell that they had been reading my dreams very recently.

[gamerkats]

I have no advice. But here's what I did to lose weight and live my version of healthier.

TL;DR I traded diets for domestics.

I made exercise fun. I play things like Just Dance, or Ring Fit Adventure, or I learn dances from YouTube. I just got into belly dancing recently, and I've never felt more seductive and graceful in my life.

https://www.darebee.com/workouts.html has free at home workouts with easy steps, timers, and next to no equipment needed.

I work daily on my mental health. Positive affirmations. I do things that make me happy. I create art. Yoga. Celebrate the little things. I am beautiful. I am smart. I am loved. I am worth it. And I am looking sexy af no matter my size!

I don't share anything I don't want shit on in environments I can't control. Meaning, part of daily mental health is protecting it. When someone didn't celebrate my small successes, I didn't update them again. If they asked, I simply said "going good" and left it at that. But I started a blog, and shared my successes, however small, with communities that celebrated them, and deleted negative comments. I created a safe space to be supported in, and I supported others in their journey.

I learned to cook. Really learned. Cookbooks, YouTube, etc. I learned how to substitute and swap certain ingredients for other ones. Some things are an acquired taste, meaning the more you eat it the less it sucks, like kale.

I learned how to cook my favorite junk food. I make potato chips in the microwave, and air fryer with no oil. Just sliced potato with my favorite popcorn seasonings. I make chocolate with cacao butter, cacao powder, and honey. I make homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker. By making my own junk food, I control what's in it. How much salt and sugar. I get rid of all the preservatives. And I can portion control better. I'm by no means wealthy, but I buy what I need on sale, and learned how to properly freeze and store.

I gave up soda completely and picked up sparkling water. Again, acquired taste.

I stopped eating out completely. I only cook at home. I plan my meals, and get excited to try new recipes. Again, controlling what exactly I'm eating. I learned how to make my favorite fast foods at home from allrecipes.com and other recipe websites. Most tricks I found were just a frozen hamburger patty with the right seasoning.

Food is not my enemy. Food is love. And I never wanted to fall out of love. I learned to eat smaller portions, eat more frequently, and be excited to cook. Even simple meals. Not everything needs to take immense prep. A microwaved hotdog on a few leaves of lettuce with onion, relish, ketchup and mustard. Delish!

I don't diet, I don't buy meal bars or shakes or put my money into the diet industry. That never worked for me. I was hungry all the time. And completely miserable, and poorer than I started. I don't starve, or calorie count, or do weigh ins. I didn't eat salads all the time and turn myself into a rabbit.

I just stuck to serving sizes, like I measure a tablespoon of mayo for a sandwich instead of free spreading it. And swapped lettuce for bread, or raisins for jelly beans, or other little choices one day, then ate the bread and jelly beans the next. That way, it wasn't every day, but it wasn't never either.

I live. I love. I enjoy. I celebrate. I don't give up anything, I just learn to make it healthier and choose when I want less healthy. I share with people I'm safe with. And I do one little odd trick now, I ignore people who knew me before when they say I look good. I know, sounds like the opposite of what someone should do. But here's the thing. When they say that, my mind immediately wants to flip it to, "so I was ugly before?" And then I get depressed and I hate the past me. But I don't want to hate her. I love her. So I ignore their comments, and brush them off with, "That's nice of you to say." I don't say thank you, because there's nothing to thank. And I remind myself that I'm only beautiful now because I was beautiful before, because losing weight wasn't my Cinderella transformation, it was to help my ankle I had surgery on and to survive summer because I have no air conditioning.

Again, not advice. Just my personal journey. I'll delete this if you want me to.

You're already doing wonderful! I'm so sorry for the negative comments, and unhelpful people. You definitely deserve for every victory, no matter how small, to be celebrated in every aspect of your life.

(TL;DR if someone is trying to be healthier, don’t criticize every little thing they try to do to be better. it just makes everything harder.)

VENT POST

so im overweight as hell (somewhere around 270ish pounds and around 5 foot 10 inches) and im trying really hard to lose it. before i start estrogen, i want to be around 200 but i’d be happy at about 240ish, since i know estrogen will make it harder to lose the weight.

i’ve been trying to make small lifestyle changes since usually when i try to lose the pounds, i end up either not committing cuz it’s too much and burning out, or getting into a bad depressive episode and gaining it all back. been trying to eat more veggies and fruits, and trying to avoid junk food. i’ve also been doing a short daily walk to ease myself into doing light exercise daily. i take a lap around my neighborhood lake, which is around 1/3 a mile. it isn’t much, but i’ve been trying really hard to commit and lose the weight.

i will say, the actual eating and walking isn’t even the hard part. the hardest part of dieting and exercising is anybody who knows what you’re trying to do and putting down any little victories you’ve made.

i’ll mention im walking daily, but someone will go “well that’s not a lot, you won’t burn any calories that way”. i’ll try eating healthier, and someone will say “well you still eat this and that, so you’re not really committing to eating healthier”.

like, i know i haven’t made much progress yet, but god, can i get even a small win under my belt without someone coming along and making me feel worse for even trying? the nitpicking just makes me feel hopeless for even trying to be healthier.

anyways, just needed to vent. just haven’t been feeling very confident in my body lately, whether it be gender dysphoria or my weight, and these sorts of people haven’t been helping at all.

also, if anybody who sees this knows of any good weight loss tips, i’d love to hear them! :)

[weirdcultstuff]

I’m not mad that my brother got a wonderful wedding and a great start in life. I’m not mad that they left from a wedding full of both their families and all their friends, to go on a honeymoon in a gifted car, and return to their apartment rented to them by a church member for way below the going rate, furnished with all the gifts my sister in law complained about having to write so many thank you cards for. I’m not mad that they got to have wedding photos, and engagement photos, and cookouts with extended family, and that my grandparents bought them an air fryer. I’m not mad that my sister in law was actually allowed to have friends as a kid and was able to have 10 bridesmaids for her wedding at age 19. I’m not mad that she’s in the family group chat and that my S/O isn’t.

And I’m not mad that I don’t get all those things, not really. I chose the way I went. I chose to make my start far away with a suitcase and a backpack. I chose my S/O and I knew she wouldn’t be someone I could bring home to meet my mama, at least not without a lot of groundwork and it would be a strained event not joyful. I chose to take out a loan to buy a crappy old car, to buy my own toaster, to take my own selfies with her to hang on the fridge instead of having framed professional wedding photos of us with our families. I chose my twenty different friends in sixteen different cities in three different countries, none of whom could afford to travel for a wedding if I did have one.

I’m not mad that I tackled most of my starting-out problems alone. That I paid three extra months of rent instead of getting my dad to co-sign on my lease. That I had to rent a uhaul and figure out how to drive it, so we could throw out most of my girlfriends stuff at the dump because we couldn’t afford to haul it to the new state and city we were going to, instead of borrowing my dads flatbed trailer and my brothers pickup and having church friends load and unload everything. I’m not mad that I was the only supporting person for my girlfriend’s recent surgery, that while my family was texting each other about my little brother’s broken wrist from playing outside I was sitting in a waiting room alone wondering what I should do if anything went wrong. This is the life that I chose, and I don’t regret it.

But I hate, I HATE that the narrative is that I chose all these things because I’m rebellious, a poor steward, a little kooky, a little lazy, a little unprepared, a little irresponsible, choosing playing around over settling down. None of those things are why I chose this way.

I chose this way mostly because of choices my family made. My parents chose to be homophobic. Chose to be the type of Christians that cry and mourn the eternal death of their kids’ souls when their kids say they aren’t Christian anymore. Chose to do the whole early childhood abuse/neglect/isolation route that gave me literal diagnosed PTSD. Like, I didn’t want to watch my mom cry and be afraid for me. I didn’t want my girlfriend to experience weird homophobic bs. I didn’t want to go to a Christian counselor with no education beyond a high school diploma anymore, I was losing my mind a bit and I needed a therapist and medication for my ptsd. I take responsibility for my choices, but I just wish they took responsibility for theirs too, I guess. Like it’s not as straightforward as it looks from their perspective. I’m not just some hare-brained kid learning what consequences are. I knew how this would all go, I chose it anyway. Not because it was easier, but because I wanted to live.

[aaknopf]

The poet Quan Barry is also a fiction writer, whose mischievous We Ride Upon Sticks has just been published. In the fall of 1989, the seniors on the losing Danvers Falcons field hockey team avail themselves of some locally-sourced Salem witchery, in the hope of concocting a winning season. They make a pact, signing their names in a spiral notebook with Emilio Estevez on the cover, and rip and tie strips of Falcons-blue tube sock around all their arms, sealing their dark bond. In the scene below (which includes a special guest appearance by the poet Philip Larkin), the team mingles with members of the football team at their favorite pizza joint. We meet one of the more mysterious players, Girl Cory, so-called because there’s also a Boy Cory on the squad; Boy Cory’s story, like that of Girl Cory, their teammates Jen Fiorenza (whose awesome, high-teased bangs are known to all as “the Claw”), Abby Putnam (ancestor of an original Salem accuser), and others in the mix here, is a journey of identity, community, and the magic of high school friendships.

from We Ride Upon Sticks

“Our butts are going to States this year,” said Jen. “Where are your butts going?” Just then Girl Cory walked in. For a moment the air in Rocco’s filled with the scent of aquamarine waters and palm trees, the harmonies of steel drums, then just as quickly it was back to cheese pizza and the crackling of the deep fryer. “ ’Sup?” Log called out. Most guys at Danvers High didn’t talk to Girl Cory. From what we could glean of teen-boy-dom it seemed most teen boys only have a finite amount of confidence, and they couldn’t afford to go blowing it willy-nilly on a hopeless case like Girl Cory. It was plain to see she was out of everyone’s league. Most people accepted this. It was pure science, like the apple falling from the tree. Girls like Girl Cory didn’t date regular human boys. Historically, since the invention of written records in the girls’ third-floor bathroom concerning who was banging whom, Girl Cory had never dated anyone at Danvers High. Mostly she left in her wake a trail of names from the local private-school universe, places like the Prep, Pingree, even some faraway boy at Deerfield. Log’s “ ’Sup?” was still hanging in the air. Only he among his brethren had confidence to burn. Little did he know but “ ’Sup?” was an excellent question, one we’d been secretly wondering all our lives. Yeah, Girl Cory, what’s up? As she stood at the counter, Girl Cory nodded at Log but didn’t say a word or even take off her Ray-Bans. “And what does your soon-to-be captain have to say about you hosers going to States?” whispered Brian Robinson in a small voice, only looking at Girl Cory indirectly via a shiny plaque mounted on the wall, as if she were a Medusa with the power to transform flesh to stone. “Which is it?” he said. “You guys going to States, or 2-8 again?” “For your information, we haven’t voted for captain yet,” said Jen. Her Claw gave him the stink eye. Rocco’s adult son Vinny slammed her order down on the counter. Ceremoniously, she rose to retrieve her Diet Coke and two slices of Hawaiian. She noticed Log Winters was still staring at Girl Cory. “Take a picture, my friend,” she said, bending over and whispering in Log’s ear. “It’ll last longer.” Then she raised her voice so that all of Rocco’s could partake in the annunciation. “Besides, Cory already has a boyfriend.” “Who’s that?” said Log. “Nobody you’d know,” Jen projected. “He sent her flowers today. Isn’t that right, Cory?” Girl Cory turned and flashed Jen a look that simultaneously said both shut up and keep talking. She was an enigma like that. Honestly, none of us really knew her. Even now that we were all part of the sisterhood of the blue sweat sock, it was like she had constructed a wall to keep us out, a sunroom off the kitchen where she could sit and drink her Earl Grey in peace while the rest of us crowded around a plate of stale bagels in the breakfast nook. Girl Cory pulled a wad of napkins from the dispenser and went over to where Little Smitty was sitting with Mel. What’s up, Girl Cory? All season long, the rest of us standing around wondering, Girl Cory. What. Is. Up? And then one day we’d take a big juicy bite of the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, and to our everlasting sorrow, we’d find out. “Philip” made his first appearance during the ’88 season shortly after Girl Cory passed her driver’s test. It was late October, one of those autumn days when the afternoon sky prematurely takes on a hazy shade of winter. We were just off the school bus after returning from a massacre in Gloucester, 4-0. Truthfully, the score didn’t accurately reflect the gutting we’d endured at the hands of the Gloucester Fishermen. The two senior co-captains, Gina Packer and Mary Ellen Sommers, had gotten into a fight during the coin toss over whether to pick heads or tails. At one point, Gina reached over and ran her finger through the blue face paint where Mary Ellen had spackled the letters DHS on her cheek. We winced. It was like watching someone ruin a beautifully frosted cake. When we finally arrived back at Danvers High, Julie Kaling stopped reciting that part of the Nicene Creed about God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, her crucifix glinting in the dark of the bus. To be honest, after the kind of outing it had been, some of us found her religious yammering weirdly comforting. We’d grabbed our stuff from the locker room and headed out to wait for our moms to come get us or to bum rides with the seniors who lived in our neighborhoods. Girl Cory had hit the two-fecta, having recently passed her driver’s test and been given her own wheels to boot. Her brand-new white Fiero was parked in the student lot. The Fiero had been purchased weeks before her driving test and was just sitting around in her multi-car garage collecting dust. Driving was still a novelty to her, the monogrammed fingerless gloves still fun to slip on. That day she was giving Abby Putnam a ride home. It was Abby who pointed out the mint-green envelope stuck under the windshield wipers. Girl Cory peeled the envelope off the wet glass and held it between her fingers like a dead roach. “This is a wicked bummer,” she said. “Can you get ticketed here?” Abby shook her head. She watched as her friend tore open the soggy envelope. Girl Cory’s face betrayed nothing. If anything, she looked a little more bloodless. “Lemme see,” said Abby. She took the slip of paper in her hands and stared for a long time at the blurred writing, the washed-out words as if painted in watercolor. Roses are Red— Your Fiero—it’s White— With seating for two. Don’t! Put up a fight—take me with you! The next day before practice we showed the letter around. Heather Houston performed a close reading on it worthy of a 5 on the AP English test. She commented on the juvenile use of the Dickinsonian em dash, the strange imperatives, the elisions, the contradictory tone of both fight and flight. “Whoever wrote this is not playing with a full deck,” she concluded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t even make sense. Like this part. ‘Don’t!’ Don’t what? Use your words, people!” She was practically spitting she was so worked up about it. Poor Heather Houston took weak syntactical choices as a personal affront. Julie Kaling patted her comfortingly on the back. “I dunno, I think it’s sweet,” said Little Smitty softly. This was back in the days before Emilio and the blue tube sock, back when Little Smitty ate all the spinach on her plate happily with a big smile as though it were cotton candy. “What I will say,” said Heather, offering a second conclusion about the note, “is Philip Larkin he is not.” Becca Bjelica looked at AJ Johnson and silently mouthed, Philip who? We were all thinking the same thing. Nobody rolled their eyes at her. How were we supposed to know some curmudgeonly British poet, even one who’d written: They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. And thus “Philip” was born. That first year “Philip” mostly left little things lying around in plain sight, like a cat who brings its owner dead robins. A tube of Chanel lipstick without the actual lipstick in it. A box of chocolates, but instead of sweets slotted in each compartment, there were rocks. Girl Cory took it all in stride. We didn’t tell anyone in the adult world because what was there to say? Some poor slob had the hots for a girl so beautiful she should have been in a music video, and he left her crazy presents? Back then the word “stalker” wasn’t really part of anyone’s vocabulary. Fatal Attraction had come out the year before, but that was just stuff that happened to sexy creeps like Michael Douglas, who banged complete strangers and mostly had it coming. And so Girl Cory learned to live with it. And so we learned to live vicariously through her. In time, we began to look forward to “Philip’s” offerings. They made us feel like maybe somewhere down the road, somebody, anybody, might possibly want us. Even the time he dropped a note in her schoolbag that said, “I hate you, you stupid peckerhead,” and signed it “Much l♥ve.” We were a bunch of mostly inexperienced teen girls. We thought that’s what true romance was supposed to look like. A boy telling a girl she was a stupid peckerhead, but she was his stupid peckerhead. Lord, make us worthy, we prayed. God from God, Light from Light, Boyfriend from Boy Who Considers Us a Peckerhead. It seemed like the thing to ask for. None of us ever thought to pray for a better caliber of boy.

More on this book and author:

Learn more about We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Browse other books by Quan Barry including her four poetry collections published in the Pitt Poetry Series

Read the full text of Philip Larkin's "This Be the Verse" at the Poetry Foundation

Peruse other poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in the Knopf poem-a-day series 

To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link.

[santana-maribel]

who: @santana-maribel and @finnsterhuddy​. where: santana & quinn’s apartment. when: monday 30th March. what: two morons make grilled cheese and fate intervenes once more to fuck up santana’s thirsting. warnings: nada.

Finn arrived to Santana and Quinn's apartment, a bag with grilled cheese ingredients in one hand. Not to repeat the same mistake as last time, he only brought enough ingredients for two sandwiches each, as he left a whole loaf of bread and an unopened pack of cheese at Rachel's. He knocked on the door, feeling slightly nervous although he wasn't sure if he had anything to be nervous about. Flirting with Santana was, to say the least, a highlight of his day, and he was intrigued to know if she had any motives behind it or if she was just simply being herself. Either way, he had always liked her company despite not having had a lot of it. "Hey. Ready for some grilled cheese?"

It was weird, one day Finn existed only on the edge of her radar. He was just her greek life partner, Sam's roommate. Then all of a sudden, Santana found herself with a pull towards him, something she couldn't explain or control. She'd slipped out earlier, bought a couple of six packs at the grocery store. She'd briefly remembered seeing him with the brand she'd bought, at the disastrous sleepover the previous week. So that's what she got. She was trying to impress him a little, not that she'd admit it. The apartment was quiet, as she paced around the kitchen, resisting the urge to look at her cellphone again, when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and looked up, smiling softly at him. "Come on in, make yourself comfortable," she requested, closing it behind him.

Finn stepped inside the apartment, once again in awe of how much higher standard these other apartments held compared to his and Sam's. "Should I leave this in the kitchen?" he asked, holding up the bag with groceries.

She nodded and made her way into the spacious kitchen, gesturing for him to follow her. "You can put it in the fridge or leave it on the counter, it's up to you," she suggested, as she leaned casually against the island countertop. "There's beer too."

"Cool, I'll just leave it in the fridge for now, just in case," Finn decided, leaving the bag as is in their fridge. He wasn't sure if he should be drinking at this point, but a beer couldn't hurt, right? Plus, it seemed like a casual hang-out enough to be chill about it. He grabbed a beer while he was at it. "So, about that fried chicken?"

"Pass me one too, would you?" she asked, stretching her hand across to him to take the beer. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. She reached into the utensil drawer for an opener, flicking the cap off of her own and then passed it to Finn to use. "Next time. I need to buy a pot big enough to actually fry chicken or a deep fat fryer. But I promise, it'll be the best chicken of your entire life," she gave him a cheeky wink at the end of her sentence.

Finn grabbed another beer and slid it over on her side of the countertop. "Thanks," he said as he accepted the opener, flicking off the cap on his bottle. "You telling me you haven't been making fried chicken here yet? Disappointed." He let out a small laugh, shaking his head in faux disapproval. "Is this why you're making me come over, to make you food?"

She shook her head back at him, "I normally go to Sam's, well your place to do it, but I guess I haven't for a while," she laughed, feeling her face turn a little pink from embarrassment. Oh well, it was just another excuse to hang out, wasn't it? "I made you come over because i'm craving a grilled cheese and I heard a rumour that you make the best ones," she teased, before taking a large gulp of her beer.

“I would’ve been all over it if I had been there for it,” Finn said with a certainty. He was happy she wasn’t totally disgusted over his grilled cheese - although he couldn’t understand why anyone would be. All due to his unconventional, yet genius method. “You’ve requested the right man,” he declared in a darker, goofy voice. “You want one now or do you wanna chill for a while?”

She nodded in agreement, he would have been all over it if she'd been around their apartment and making food recently. She made a mental note to check in with Sam later, now that she was done busting his balls about body shot-gate. "We could chill, finish our drinks, it's been six minutes and no one has interrupted us," she teased, as she breezed past him to walk into the living room, brushing against him slightly as she did. "I've got a good feeling about tonight."

"That's pretty crazy," Finn nodded at Santana's observation. It had been a running joke between them that started at the frat rushes and later at the mixers with her sorority, and while it was funny at first, it slowly became more and more frustrating that they never really got to talk before someone interrupted. "Don't jinx it though, Quinn's gonna come home in any second now." His face plastered with a grin, he followed Santana into the living room, taking a large swig off his beer. "So, West Side Story, huh? Didn't know you were into musicals."

The inside joke about being interrupted was one of the most irritating things in her life at that time. It seemed that fate intervened, every single time they tried to get to know each other better. Maybe they were cursed. She shook her head, as she plopped down on the couch, curling her feet under her. "Quinn is with Jesse, date night before rehearsals start, so no interruptions there. Unless Sammy decides to double down on the other night and burst through the door," she laughed, although her eyes did flicker towards the wooden frame, if only for a moment. She shrugged at his comment about the musical, "it started as just something to do but now i'm kind of into it. I like to sing and obviously as a raging narcissist, I love the attention," she explained, taking another large swig from her beer bottle.

"I see," Finn said nonchalantly, his heart skipping a beat knowing that they--or at least Quinn--weren't happy as she had confided in him. In a sense, he should've been happy about it considering he had been brewing feelings for the blonde the past few months, but he couldn't bring himself to be that selfish knowing his friends' relationship was on the line. He let out a faint, heartless chuckle, too caught up in his head to react to Santana's comment. "Yeah." He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to face Santana as she spoke further. "I'm not sure I've heard you sing properly, or at least in a performance kinda way. Glad I said yes to run lines with you, maybe I'll get to hear you sing."

Santana narrowed her eyes at him, watching silently as the wheels turned in his brain. She wasn't sure what he was thinking about, only that it gave her a strange sort of sinking feeling in her stomach. Her fingers traced over the silver scar on her left arm, a nervous habit that she'd had for as long as she could remember. No memory of how she got it, just that it had always been there. She nodded, now a little absentmindedly as he spoke. "Yeah, I mean it'll be fun. I'm just glad you said yes, Rachel, Jesse, Kurt, Blaine, they're all super into it, you'll be more fun," she smiled at him, before draining the remaining liquid in the bottle. "I'm gonna grab another."

"They'd scare you off," Finn chuckled half-heartedly as he took another sip of his beer. "Glad to hear you have faith in me to not be crazy about it." He nodded as she announced she was getting another beer. "Grab one for me too?"

"Yes they would," she readily agreed. She loved her friends but their intensity was a little much at times. Which was why she could find solace in a quiet, chilled night with a handsome man. Santana nodded as she rose from her spot and carried her empty to the kitchen. Out of sight, she took a moment to suck down a greedy breath of air, calming herself. What the fuck was going on? Why was she this flustered by Finn goddamn Hudson? Unclear. She grabbed two bottles and the opener and returned to the couch, springing the caps off of them. "So you're serious about leaving the frat then?" she asked, settling her beer on her thigh.

Finn leaned back in his seat, letting himself get comfortable on the couch while waiting for Santana. It was pretty nice getting this quiet, alone time with her, considering they never made the time to do so otherwise. It felt comfortable, safe, almost as if he kinda belonged in a weird way. He didn't exactly understand why - it wasn't like he really knew her that well. But yet, here he was, feeling almost more comfortable with her than he did with himself. "Thanks, San." He sat up a little, clearing his throat before speaking. "Uh, yeah, I think I am. I have to convince Seb and the rest of the boys that I'm not doing it because I wanna leave them, which is gonna be hard because they already gave me so much crap for moving in with Sam," he sighed, taking a large, final swig of his first bottle before moving on to the next. "It sucks a lot, but it's for the best. At least for me."

She nodded understandingly. It was no secret that she wasn't super into her sorority either, so she understood. Like a lot of things in Santana's life, rushing a sorority had just been something to pass the time. "So you told Seb then? How did he take it?" she asked, remembering how irritated the other man had been when Finn moved out. She couldn't really be bothered with him giving a pissy attitude over this. "Like I said though, you gotta do what's best for you," her voice trailed off at the end, before piping back up softly, "I'll miss you, really. If it wasn't for you swooping in and saving me at that first mixer, I would have got paired with that super senior, the grabby dickhead." It was a sweet memory now, lanky freshman Finn slipping in front of her, saving her from getting her tits squeezed like a stress ball, under the thinly veiled excuse of hazing.

"Not good," Finn groaned, shaking his head at the thought of Sebastian and the other guys condemning and icing him out from their lives. If it did any good, it proved that they were never real friends to begin with. "Yeah, that guy was a total dick. Pretty sure he got kicked out of school too," he reminisced. Honestly, he didn't remember too much from that first mixer, but he did remember thinking Santana was hot and didn't at all deserve to be harassed by that awful dude. It made him smile knowing she had remembered it, though.

She didn't say anything about Sebastian's shitty attitude towards him instantly, just nodded and took a sip of her drink. She didn't need to hear anymore than what he had said to know exactly the mood her best friend would be in. Deciding she had mulled over it long enough, she reached over and squeezed his hand with her own. "Seb will come around and if he doesn't, if it's any consolation, you'll still have me," she gave a soft smile. "But who's going to save me from sex offenders now?" she teased, leaning over to prod him in the ribs with her other index finger.

Finn felt a smile creep onto his face when he felt Santana’s hand in his, squeezing hers in return. “Thanks,” he said softly. “Sorry—“ He jerked to the side as her finger poked his ribs, letting out a short, breathy laugh. “You’re on your own. Or maybe Seb can scare them off.” Shrugging, he took a sip of his beer. “You hungry yet? Let’s make some grilled cheese.”

If she believed in that shit, she could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat the minute he squeezed her hand back. But she simply shrugged it off, laughing alongside him when he reacted to her prod. She nodded, she was actually quite hungry. She'd almost forgotten the bullshit reason that she had made up to get him to come over. "Sure," she agreed. She took another quick gulp of beer for courage or whatever, she didn't know, but the ice cold alcohol was welcomed. She stood up and walked into the kitchen, setting her beer on the counter, before hopping up beside it, crossing her legs at the knee.

Finn got up and walked into the kitchen alongside Santana, opening the fridge to get the ingredients. "Why don't you get me an iron and some tin foil and I'll show you the greatest way to make a grilled cheese?"

Santana nodded, pointing towards the drawer closest to Finn. "Tinfoil is in there, i'll go grab the iron," she chirped, hopping down off of the counter to go to the laundry cupboard in the hallway. She wasn't someone who ironed often, so really it didn't matter if the iron got all messed up anyway. Lifting it off of the shelf, she wrapped the cord up tightly and brought it back to the kitchen. "Your tool," she giggled, handing it over to him, before resuming her position on the counter top, the almost empty beer in hand.

Finn went to the drawer she pointed to, grabbing the tin foil and making sheets for each sandwich. He began doing his thing - buttering the bread slices on both sides, though lighter on the side touching the foil, then putting two slices of American cheese on one slice per sandwich. He assembled them, packed them in the foil and waited for Santana to return with the iron. "Awesome. Get ready for some epicness," he announced, turning the iron on and waiting for it to get warm. "This doesn't look bad, does it?"

If someone had told her a month ago, that she'd be sitting on her kitchen counter, throwing back beers and waiting on a grilled cheese with Finn, she would have laughed in their face. But the world had a funny way of surprising her. She watched, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing at just how serious and methodical he was, as he assembled the sandwich. "No, it looks pretty good," she admitted.

Not even a week ago, Santana just about refused to try his grilled cheese or even believed it could be any good. Yet, she somehow had changed her mind, much to Finn's surprise (but excitement, nonetheless). Truth be told, his grilled cheese wasn't that unique, which everyone probably thought it was due to the way it was made, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that. "Right? People think I'm doing this to be weird, but honestly, it's just a convenience thing. It became a habit when my mom would use the kitchen and I would crave a grilled cheese, so I saw someone make it with an iron on TV and started doing it myself," he told. "And I guess it just kinda became a thing after that. I do know how to make a grilled cheese the usual way, just so you know."

Santana nodded, more bemused than anything else, watching as Finn wrapped the sandwiches in foil and then turned to speak to her about his method. She balanced the bottle on her thigh and listened intently as to how he came about his methods, still stifling a giggle that threatened to escape her. He was so cute and like she had said in her previous texts to him; it made he nervous. A hissing brought her back to earth with a bump and she eyeballed the iron. "I think it's ready to go, Chef Hudson," she remarked, eyes on him as he went to work. This was the most fun that Santana had, had in a long time, it was almost embarrassing how much she was enjoying simply being able to let go of everything else and just enjoy Finn's company.

Finn took Santana's cue and grabbed the iron to put it on the foil-packaged grilled cheese. "If you're new at this, you should hold the iron while it's on the sandwich. But you know, I'm a pro, so," he teased, laying the iron carefully on the sandwich and letting it rest on it for 30 seconds. "You should try the next one, if you want."

"Are you sure that i'm ready?" she joked, watching as he placed the iron on top of the little silver package that he'd made. Her stomach grumbled a little, as she waited for the sandwich to be ready. "Thanks for coming over and feeding me," she smiled at him. It was undeniably comfortable with him here. For some reason, it felt like he belonged. The thought made panic run through her body and she drained the rest of the golden liquid in her beer bottle.

Finn flipped over the sandwich, repeating the same steps with the other side. "I think you are," he encouraged, flashing a cheeky smile as he took the iron off the sandwich. "It's gonna be a little hot, so you have to be careful." Slowly, he took off the foil, revealing his infamous grilled cheese. The bread had browned slightly, but not charred, and the cheese had just begun to ooze out the bread. "Can you get me a knife?"

Her stomach grumbled again and she rubbed it soothingly, ignoring how her stomach then lurched when he shot her a devastatingly handsome smile. She nodded, watching as he unwrapped the foil to show her the sandwich. It looked absolutely to die for, she thought inside her head. Santana lifted a knife from the block on the counter next to her and held it out for him to take. "It looks really good," she acknowledged.

"Thanks," Finn said, grabbing the knife and cutting the grilled cheese in halves. He picked up one half for Santana and the other for himself. "Cheers. Hope you like it."

She took the sandwich from Finn and smiled at him, before she raised it to her mouth and took a large bite. Maybe it was the fact she was several beers deep, or the fact that she was battling a weird, out of nowhere infatuation with the boy next to her; but the grilled cheese might have been the best thing she'd ever eaten at that moment. "It's so good," she groaned through mouthfuls.

"Right?" Finn was truly excited that she actually liked it, but he never really doubted she would. It was a classic grilled cheese, after all. He took a last swig of his beer before handing the iron over to Santana, signalling her to try the next one. "Give it a go."

She sat the iron down on the counter for a moment and hopped off of her make-shift seat, slotting in directly next to him. She'd never quite realised just how small she was standing next to Finn and she lifted the foil wrapped sandwich and placed it in front of her. Heeding his original warning, she lifted the iron and held it on the sandwich, not letting her hands move from it, her tongue poking out a little in concentration. If she managed to screw this up, he'd never let her live it down.

Finn took a large bite of his sandwich, stepping carefully behind Santana. “If you want, you can put a little pressure on it too,” he said, gently laying his hand on top of hers to press the sandwich down. It felt nice being this close to her, almost as if it was something familiar instead of new, despite not having been close to her like this before. “Like this.”

If she thought she was in trouble before, when he was simply near her, Santana wasn't entirely prepared for Finn to step behind her, press his body into hers and clasp his hand over hers. Her entire brain was in panic mode now, as she kept her eyes down, ignoring how right it felt to have Finn grasping her hand. "Like this," she repeated, thumb brushing against the side of his hand.

Finn had always enjoyed flirting, knowing he had a charm that seemed to work most of the time. It was fun, easy and harmless. With Santana, it felt different and he couldn't point his finger at exactly what it was that was different. He never really thought about having real feelings for Santana, despite acknowledging that she was stunning, smart and a lot of fun to be around. But maybe that was what he was feeling now, or? "You're doing good," he said in a low voice, leaning in closer to the girl.

She'd been teetering a line with Finn recently, one that like him, she couldn't explain. Even Sebastian, her best friend and current bed warmer, who'd never once got jealous before when she'd been into someone, could tell that there was something different when it came to Finn. She didn't dare turn around to face him, not yet. Her heart was beating so loudly in her chest, she was afraid that he could hear it. "Well, I learned from the best," she chuckled softly, letting out a small shiver as his warm breath hit her bare skin.

With his hand still on Santana's, Finn moved his thumb slightly by instinct to rub her hand softly. He had bent down slightly due to the height difference, his lips inching closer to her face. Was he about to do this? Every bone in his body compelled him to make a move, and it was getting harder and harder to resist. It wasn't like he needed to resist - there was nothing in the way. Yet, he couldn't get a grip on why he didn't just turn her around, lift her onto the counter and finally feel her lips against his. The thought of it made him nervous.  Maybe, that was why she was nervous now, too. He could feel his palms starting to sweat, worried that she would sense it too.

Santana was practically frozen, trapped between the kitchen counter and Finn. Not that she minded it at all in the slightest normally, but right now, she was panicking. His hand brushed hers and she let out a soft whimper at the small interaction. She wasn't the kind of girl who considered consequences, she simply just took things that she wanted. And fuck, she wanted Finn. There was no explanation, no reason, she simply just knew that she needed to take a chance and make a move. Yet, she was terrified. This was uncharted territory; a culmination of so many attempts to get to know one another. Now they were alone, with no interruptions, his lips dangerously close to the exposed skin of her shoulders.

It was like the whole world had stopped and it was only the two of them and nothing else. Finn had never really felt that way before, not intensely as this moment felt. This moment felt like a now-or-never kind of ordeal, and if he missed out on taking a chance, he'd never get the opportunity again. They were unfortunate, bound to have their chances taken away from them in a heartbeat, and he was certain he had to act on it now or someone would barge in the door. He grabbed the hand he was already holding, jerking his hand up her arm and swiftly turned her around so they were facing each other and looking into each other's eyes. He moved his hands to her waist, scooting her body closer to his and he leaned down to kiss her. His lips had barely just begun to touch hers when he registered a loud beeping noise coming from somewhere, and he let go of Santana's body the moment he realized why it was beeping. The hot iron on the foil had been lying on it for far too long, and the scent of smoke was becoming more and more prominent. "Crap," he muttered as he quickly removed the iron from the sandwich, waving off the smoke that was forming in front of them.

Time seemed to slow down, as they stood together in the kitchen, fingers lacing together. The room was silent, save for the sound of their breathing, her shallow breaths filling the air. She considered saying something but before she could, Finn’s hands were on her, spinning her around to face him. This was a side of him that she'd never seen before; the take charge and get shit done side. She was definitely a fan of it. His hands moved to her waist and she pressed her body into his, arms moving to circle around his neck. “Finn...” she whispered, eyes fluttering shut as he closed the gap between the two of them. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. She could hear ringing and this time, it wasn’t in her ears because of the man in front of her. Her eyes shot open and she glanced up towards the ceiling. The smoke alarm above their heads was beeping, smoke riding from the sandwich underneath the iron. She’d committed the cardinal grilled cheese sin and taken her focus off of the iron. “Fuck,” she groaned, grabbing a kitchen towel and wafting underneath the alarm. The moment was lost.

The smoke alarm going off really slapped Finn back to reality. Dumbfounded, he stood there taking a moment to realize what had happened. Time went so fast, yet simultaneously so slow, but now they were faced with another situation where things got cut off between the two of them, only this time it was due to the lack of attention being paid to the grilled cheese. "I got it," he said as he reached for the smoke alarm, ripping the battery off the device to stop the shrieking sound. "Crazy, huh?" He attempted to chuckle it off, not sure whether to find the situation humorous or not, as the atmosphere was pretty intense just a short minute before.

She'd promised Aubrey that she'd give it one more chance, that she would make her move and see where it led them. She'd done that and once again, they had failed to take it further. It really was like the universe couldn't stand to see them together, couldn't stand to see them explore whatever the flirtation that they had going on. Maybe that was it really, maybe it just had to stay a flirtation. She gave him a half smile and lifted the now burnt sandwich, wrinkling her nose at the smell before she tossed it in the trash can. Part of her wanted to grab his face and press her lips against his, hard, but she busied herself tidying up the mess that they'd made. "Crazy, yeah," she murmured, as she looked over to him, trying to get a read on his thoughts.

"At least we got to eat one," Finn comforted, his genuine attempt at lightening up the mood falling short even for him. "I don't wanna be weird, but I think I have to go. I got a presentation for human development class tomorrow, so I gotta get that finished." It wasn't like he tried to escape this moment, but that was probably what it seemed like. Maybe that was for the best. "It's been really cool hanging with you, Santana. We should, uh, do it again."

For someone like Santana, the feeling of utter humiliation and rejection that was washing over her body, was completely foreign. This wasn't supposed to happen. She stayed silent for a moment before she gave him a half smile. "Yeah, sure," she said quietly. Her appetite for food was lost and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed. She was right; he wasn't into her. At least now she had concrete confirmation. They'd almost kissed, he'd ran out straight after it. Hard to find a grey area with that. She helped him pack up his things and walked him to the front door. "Well, you know where to find me, Huds," she offered, in a voice that didn't quite sounds like her own. "Good luck with your... thing," she called after him. Truthfully, she hadn't listened to exactly what it was, just that he was most likely making an excuse to get out of the apartment, quickly and without hurting her feelings. She closed the door behind him and let out a soft sigh, as she leaned against the cold wood. Fuck feelings.

[blogparadiseisland]

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain http://www.nature-business.com/business-arizona-voters-will-choose-gop-senate-candidate-as-the-state-mourns-mccain/

Business

Phoenix (CNN)The day before Arizona begins memorializing Sen. John McCain, the state’s Republicans will make a major statement about the future of the party of McCain and President Donald Trump.

The national GOP establishment’s preference, Rep. Martha McSally, faces two hard-line conservatives — former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio — in Tuesday’s Senate primary.

McSally distanced herself from McCain during the campaign while Ward and Arpaio openly attacked him. All three candidates are embracing Trump in a sign of the President’s power over Republican voters.

Trump infamously attacked McCain’s service during the 2016 presidential campaign, and McCain was vocal in his opposition to Trump on several issues.

The race is the headliner on a day in which Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will select their nominees in governor’s races and Arizona and Florida will also pick their candidates for Senate contests.

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is up for re-election. Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley, Arizona State University education professor David Garcia and Kelly Fryer, the CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona, face off to challenge Ducey in a traditionally red state that has shifted to the left in recent years: Hillary Clinton lost there by just 4 percentage points.

The primary comes days before Ducey faces a major decision: Who to appoint to fill McCain’s seat. He’ll have to choose between a Trump-like Republican and someone in the McCain mold — or could try to bridge the gap, potentially with a placeholder pick.

In Florida, term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the governor’s office is up for grabs in this fall’s midterm elections. Trump-endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis is seen as the favorite to defeat state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam for the GOP nod for governor, while several Democrats — including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand-backed former Rep. Gwen Graham, progressive favorite Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine square off in a wide-open primary.

And in Oklahoma, Democratic state attorney general Drew Edmondson will face the winner of a GOP battle between Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett for the seat being vacated by term-limited Gov. Mary Fallin.

Arizona and Florida also each have several primaries for House seats that are expected to be competitive in November’s midterm elections.

Trump dominant in Arizona race

The Arizona Senate contest is for the seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Flake — not McCain, whose replacement will be appointed by Ducey. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is the heavy favorite to take on the Republican primary winner.

Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate. But the race has underscored how the Republican Party in Arizona has shifted from one where McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, reigned supreme, to one where Trump is the dominant force.

All three GOP candidates cozied up to the President. McSally, in particular, has dropped her 2016 campaign criticism of Trump and aligned herself closely with the President — particularly on immigration issues.

The race’s outcome could already be decided. More than 437,000 Republican early votes had been mailed in by Friday. And if 2018’s primary follows Arizona’s trend of high early voting numbers, about 75% of the state’s primary voters have already cast their ballots.

Polls have shown Arpaio in third place — but Republican strategists say he is competing for the same group of die-hard conservative voters as Ward, meaning that his presence in the race has cut directly into her support.

A McSally win in the last competitive primary on 2018’s Senate battleground map would be a major relief for Republicans who have watched her all-but-certain opponent Sinema spend millions of dollars on

TV ads branding herself as a centrist

who would “end the partisan nonsense and protect Arizonans” on issues like health care.

It’s why Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, urged Trump to endorse McSally in a recent phone call, a source familiar with the call said.

Trump didn’t endorse, but he gave McSally a shout-out at a recent event at Fort Drum in New York. He noted that McSally is “not only an Air Force veteran, but the first woman ever to fly a fighter jet in combat in US history.”

“And I got to know her very well, and she is terrific: Congresswoman Martha McSally,” Trump said.

National Republicans see the Arizona Senate race as crucial to keeping their majority, and think McSally is the only candidate that gives them a chance to win the race. Until recent weeks, they’d been frustrated she had not put the primary away.

How McSally won over the right

McSally’s primary campaign has been a case study in how an establishment Republican — one who had sharply criticized Trump in the wake of the “Access Hollywood” video in 2016 — could win in the Trump era.

She aired an ad featuring Trump calling her the “real deal.” She withdrew her co-sponsorship of a bill that offered “Dreamers” a path to citizenship, mimicked Trump’s attacks on “chain migration.” She became a fixture on Fox News, where she aligned herself with Trump and heaped praise on the President.

And she cast Ward — who’d launched her campaign as a strident critic of Flake and McCain, a Trump opponent, with the backing of then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon — as a Trump critic.

“McSally did a masterful job capitalizing on Ward’s ‘phonyisms,’” said Robert Graham, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and a Trump ally. “The religious right freaked and abandoned her and the immigration people consider her soft.”

An anti-Ward super PAC spent more than $4 million on at-times misleading ads that cast Ward as weak on immigration enforcement and opposing Trump’s calls for increased military spending.

McSally’s campaign, meanwhile, aired an ad asserting that Ward “doesn’t support President Trump” on immigration. It highlighted Ward’s opposition to a Trump-backed bill that Ward labeled “amnesty.”

Another key moment came in a late-July editorial board meeting at The Arizona Republic — the only time McSally and Ward would debate, with Arpaio declining the invitation — on the topic of abortion. Both said they want Roe v. Wade repealed, but Ward called for a “more incremental” approach, including a ban on abortions after 24 weeks, while McSally said she favors banning abortion in all cases except rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

Ward also said abortion is debated “in a fashion that was designed to raise money for people on both sides of the issue.”

The comments alienated anti-abortion activists who were a key part of the conservative constituency a McSally challenger would have needed.

Then, late in the campaign, Ward courted controversy when she invited Mike Cernovich — a far-right commentator who promoted the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory — on her bus tour, and then told NBC News that “attaching those things to me is ridiculous.”

Explaining her decision to invite Cernovich, Ward said: “We need to have a hook to get you guys interested in seeing the bus tour.”

Ward courted controversy late in the race, too. She apologized Monday for a Facebook comment suggesting an announcement by McCain’s family that he would end his cancer treatment was designed to hurt her campaign, saying her comment had been misinterpreted.

Arpaio, meanwhile, watched his campaign descend into chaos. The Federal Election Commission laid out a host of problems with his first-quarter campaign finance report in a letter to Arpaio’s campaign. And long-time consultant Chad Willems, who until recently was Arpaio’s campaign manager, was receiving the vast majority of the $1.3 million raised for the campaign. His campaign ended in a fizzle, as Ward attracted headlines as the anti-establishment candidate.

“McSally proved to voters for months that she has the ability to laser-focus in on Sinema’s weaknesses in a way that highlights her own strengths, even while facing competitors in a primary,” said Brian Anderson, an Arizona GOP strategist and former aide to Ducey.

“Kelli Ward continued to remind everyone,” Anderson said, “that she’s a ticking time bomb who can’t talk her way through a question about Pizzagate — let alone face an opponent like Sinema.”

Read More | Eric Bradner, CNN,

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain, in 2018-08-28 11:40:20

[captainblogger100posts]

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain http://www.nature-business.com/business-arizona-voters-will-choose-gop-senate-candidate-as-the-state-mourns-mccain/

Business

Phoenix (CNN)The day before Arizona begins memorializing Sen. John McCain, the state’s Republicans will make a major statement about the future of the party of McCain and President Donald Trump.

The national GOP establishment’s preference, Rep. Martha McSally, faces two hard-line conservatives — former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio — in Tuesday’s Senate primary.

McSally distanced herself from McCain during the campaign while Ward and Arpaio openly attacked him. All three candidates are embracing Trump in a sign of the President’s power over Republican voters.

Trump infamously attacked McCain’s service during the 2016 presidential campaign, and McCain was vocal in his opposition to Trump on several issues.

The race is the headliner on a day in which Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will select their nominees in governor’s races and Arizona and Florida will also pick their candidates for Senate contests.

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is up for re-election. Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley, Arizona State University education professor David Garcia and Kelly Fryer, the CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona, face off to challenge Ducey in a traditionally red state that has shifted to the left in recent years: Hillary Clinton lost there by just 4 percentage points.

The primary comes days before Ducey faces a major decision: Who to appoint to fill McCain’s seat. He’ll have to choose between a Trump-like Republican and someone in the McCain mold — or could try to bridge the gap, potentially with a placeholder pick.

In Florida, term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the governor’s office is up for grabs in this fall’s midterm elections. Trump-endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis is seen as the favorite to defeat state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam for the GOP nod for governor, while several Democrats — including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand-backed former Rep. Gwen Graham, progressive favorite Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine square off in a wide-open primary.

And in Oklahoma, Democratic state attorney general Drew Edmondson will face the winner of a GOP battle between Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett for the seat being vacated by term-limited Gov. Mary Fallin.

Arizona and Florida also each have several primaries for House seats that are expected to be competitive in November’s midterm elections.

Trump dominant in Arizona race

The Arizona Senate contest is for the seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Flake — not McCain, whose replacement will be appointed by Ducey. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is the heavy favorite to take on the Republican primary winner.

Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate. But the race has underscored how the Republican Party in Arizona has shifted from one where McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, reigned supreme, to one where Trump is the dominant force.

All three GOP candidates cozied up to the President. McSally, in particular, has dropped her 2016 campaign criticism of Trump and aligned herself closely with the President — particularly on immigration issues.

The race’s outcome could already be decided. More than 437,000 Republican early votes had been mailed in by Friday. And if 2018’s primary follows Arizona’s trend of high early voting numbers, about 75% of the state’s primary voters have already cast their ballots.

Polls have shown Arpaio in third place — but Republican strategists say he is competing for the same group of die-hard conservative voters as Ward, meaning that his presence in the race has cut directly into her support.

A McSally win in the last competitive primary on 2018’s Senate battleground map would be a major relief for Republicans who have watched her all-but-certain opponent Sinema spend millions of dollars on

TV ads branding herself as a centrist

who would “end the partisan nonsense and protect Arizonans” on issues like health care.

It’s why Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, urged Trump to endorse McSally in a recent phone call, a source familiar with the call said.

Trump didn’t endorse, but he gave McSally a shout-out at a recent event at Fort Drum in New York. He noted that McSally is “not only an Air Force veteran, but the first woman ever to fly a fighter jet in combat in US history.”

“And I got to know her very well, and she is terrific: Congresswoman Martha McSally,” Trump said.

National Republicans see the Arizona Senate race as crucial to keeping their majority, and think McSally is the only candidate that gives them a chance to win the race. Until recent weeks, they’d been frustrated she had not put the primary away.

How McSally won over the right

McSally’s primary campaign has been a case study in how an establishment Republican — one who had sharply criticized Trump in the wake of the “Access Hollywood” video in 2016 — could win in the Trump era.

She aired an ad featuring Trump calling her the “real deal.” She withdrew her co-sponsorship of a bill that offered “Dreamers” a path to citizenship, mimicked Trump’s attacks on “chain migration.” She became a fixture on Fox News, where she aligned herself with Trump and heaped praise on the President.

And she cast Ward — who’d launched her campaign as a strident critic of Flake and McCain, a Trump opponent, with the backing of then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon — as a Trump critic.

“McSally did a masterful job capitalizing on Ward’s ‘phonyisms,’” said Robert Graham, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and a Trump ally. “The religious right freaked and abandoned her and the immigration people consider her soft.”

An anti-Ward super PAC spent more than $4 million on at-times misleading ads that cast Ward as weak on immigration enforcement and opposing Trump’s calls for increased military spending.

McSally’s campaign, meanwhile, aired an ad asserting that Ward “doesn’t support President Trump” on immigration. It highlighted Ward’s opposition to a Trump-backed bill that Ward labeled “amnesty.”

Another key moment came in a late-July editorial board meeting at The Arizona Republic — the only time McSally and Ward would debate, with Arpaio declining the invitation — on the topic of abortion. Both said they want Roe v. Wade repealed, but Ward called for a “more incremental” approach, including a ban on abortions after 24 weeks, while McSally said she favors banning abortion in all cases except rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

Ward also said abortion is debated “in a fashion that was designed to raise money for people on both sides of the issue.”

The comments alienated anti-abortion activists who were a key part of the conservative constituency a McSally challenger would have needed.

Then, late in the campaign, Ward courted controversy when she invited Mike Cernovich — a far-right commentator who promoted the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory — on her bus tour, and then told NBC News that “attaching those things to me is ridiculous.”

Explaining her decision to invite Cernovich, Ward said: “We need to have a hook to get you guys interested in seeing the bus tour.”

Ward courted controversy late in the race, too. She apologized Monday for a Facebook comment suggesting an announcement by McCain’s family that he would end his cancer treatment was designed to hurt her campaign, saying her comment had been misinterpreted.

Arpaio, meanwhile, watched his campaign descend into chaos. The Federal Election Commission laid out a host of problems with his first-quarter campaign finance report in a letter to Arpaio’s campaign. And long-time consultant Chad Willems, who until recently was Arpaio’s campaign manager, was receiving the vast majority of the $1.3 million raised for the campaign. His campaign ended in a fizzle, as Ward attracted headlines as the anti-establishment candidate.

“McSally proved to voters for months that she has the ability to laser-focus in on Sinema’s weaknesses in a way that highlights her own strengths, even while facing competitors in a primary,” said Brian Anderson, an Arizona GOP strategist and former aide to Ducey.

“Kelli Ward continued to remind everyone,” Anderson said, “that she’s a ticking time bomb who can’t talk her way through a question about Pizzagate — let alone face an opponent like Sinema.”

Read More | Eric Bradner, CNN,

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain, in 2018-08-28 11:40:20

[computacionalblog]

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain http://www.nature-business.com/business-arizona-voters-will-choose-gop-senate-candidate-as-the-state-mourns-mccain/

Business

Phoenix (CNN)The day before Arizona begins memorializing Sen. John McCain, the state’s Republicans will make a major statement about the future of the party of McCain and President Donald Trump.

The national GOP establishment’s preference, Rep. Martha McSally, faces two hard-line conservatives — former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio — in Tuesday’s Senate primary.

McSally distanced herself from McCain during the campaign while Ward and Arpaio openly attacked him. All three candidates are embracing Trump in a sign of the President’s power over Republican voters.

Trump infamously attacked McCain’s service during the 2016 presidential campaign, and McCain was vocal in his opposition to Trump on several issues.

The race is the headliner on a day in which Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will select their nominees in governor’s races and Arizona and Florida will also pick their candidates for Senate contests.

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is up for re-election. Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley, Arizona State University education professor David Garcia and Kelly Fryer, the CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona, face off to challenge Ducey in a traditionally red state that has shifted to the left in recent years: Hillary Clinton lost there by just 4 percentage points.

The primary comes days before Ducey faces a major decision: Who to appoint to fill McCain’s seat. He’ll have to choose between a Trump-like Republican and someone in the McCain mold — or could try to bridge the gap, potentially with a placeholder pick.

In Florida, term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the governor’s office is up for grabs in this fall’s midterm elections. Trump-endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis is seen as the favorite to defeat state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam for the GOP nod for governor, while several Democrats — including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand-backed former Rep. Gwen Graham, progressive favorite Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine square off in a wide-open primary.

And in Oklahoma, Democratic state attorney general Drew Edmondson will face the winner of a GOP battle between Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett for the seat being vacated by term-limited Gov. Mary Fallin.

Arizona and Florida also each have several primaries for House seats that are expected to be competitive in November’s midterm elections.

Trump dominant in Arizona race

The Arizona Senate contest is for the seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Flake — not McCain, whose replacement will be appointed by Ducey. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is the heavy favorite to take on the Republican primary winner.

Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate. But the race has underscored how the Republican Party in Arizona has shifted from one where McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, reigned supreme, to one where Trump is the dominant force.

All three GOP candidates cozied up to the President. McSally, in particular, has dropped her 2016 campaign criticism of Trump and aligned herself closely with the President — particularly on immigration issues.

The race’s outcome could already be decided. More than 437,000 Republican early votes had been mailed in by Friday. And if 2018’s primary follows Arizona’s trend of high early voting numbers, about 75% of the state’s primary voters have already cast their ballots.

Polls have shown Arpaio in third place — but Republican strategists say he is competing for the same group of die-hard conservative voters as Ward, meaning that his presence in the race has cut directly into her support.

A McSally win in the last competitive primary on 2018’s Senate battleground map would be a major relief for Republicans who have watched her all-but-certain opponent Sinema spend millions of dollars on

TV ads branding herself as a centrist

who would “end the partisan nonsense and protect Arizonans” on issues like health care.

It’s why Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, urged Trump to endorse McSally in a recent phone call, a source familiar with the call said.

Trump didn’t endorse, but he gave McSally a shout-out at a recent event at Fort Drum in New York. He noted that McSally is “not only an Air Force veteran, but the first woman ever to fly a fighter jet in combat in US history.”

“And I got to know her very well, and she is terrific: Congresswoman Martha McSally,” Trump said.

National Republicans see the Arizona Senate race as crucial to keeping their majority, and think McSally is the only candidate that gives them a chance to win the race. Until recent weeks, they’d been frustrated she had not put the primary away.

How McSally won over the right

McSally’s primary campaign has been a case study in how an establishment Republican — one who had sharply criticized Trump in the wake of the “Access Hollywood” video in 2016 — could win in the Trump era.

She aired an ad featuring Trump calling her the “real deal.” She withdrew her co-sponsorship of a bill that offered “Dreamers” a path to citizenship, mimicked Trump’s attacks on “chain migration.” She became a fixture on Fox News, where she aligned herself with Trump and heaped praise on the President.

And she cast Ward — who’d launched her campaign as a strident critic of Flake and McCain, a Trump opponent, with the backing of then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon — as a Trump critic.

“McSally did a masterful job capitalizing on Ward’s ‘phonyisms,’” said Robert Graham, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and a Trump ally. “The religious right freaked and abandoned her and the immigration people consider her soft.”

An anti-Ward super PAC spent more than $4 million on at-times misleading ads that cast Ward as weak on immigration enforcement and opposing Trump’s calls for increased military spending.

McSally’s campaign, meanwhile, aired an ad asserting that Ward “doesn’t support President Trump” on immigration. It highlighted Ward’s opposition to a Trump-backed bill that Ward labeled “amnesty.”

Another key moment came in a late-July editorial board meeting at The Arizona Republic — the only time McSally and Ward would debate, with Arpaio declining the invitation — on the topic of abortion. Both said they want Roe v. Wade repealed, but Ward called for a “more incremental” approach, including a ban on abortions after 24 weeks, while McSally said she favors banning abortion in all cases except rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

Ward also said abortion is debated “in a fashion that was designed to raise money for people on both sides of the issue.”

The comments alienated anti-abortion activists who were a key part of the conservative constituency a McSally challenger would have needed.

Then, late in the campaign, Ward courted controversy when she invited Mike Cernovich — a far-right commentator who promoted the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory — on her bus tour, and then told NBC News that “attaching those things to me is ridiculous.”

Explaining her decision to invite Cernovich, Ward said: “We need to have a hook to get you guys interested in seeing the bus tour.”

Ward courted controversy late in the race, too. She apologized Monday for a Facebook comment suggesting an announcement by McCain’s family that he would end his cancer treatment was designed to hurt her campaign, saying her comment had been misinterpreted.

Arpaio, meanwhile, watched his campaign descend into chaos. The Federal Election Commission laid out a host of problems with his first-quarter campaign finance report in a letter to Arpaio’s campaign. And long-time consultant Chad Willems, who until recently was Arpaio’s campaign manager, was receiving the vast majority of the $1.3 million raised for the campaign. His campaign ended in a fizzle, as Ward attracted headlines as the anti-establishment candidate.

“McSally proved to voters for months that she has the ability to laser-focus in on Sinema’s weaknesses in a way that highlights her own strengths, even while facing competitors in a primary,” said Brian Anderson, an Arizona GOP strategist and former aide to Ducey.

“Kelli Ward continued to remind everyone,” Anderson said, “that she’s a ticking time bomb who can’t talk her way through a question about Pizzagate — let alone face an opponent like Sinema.”

Read More | Eric Bradner, CNN,

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain, in 2018-08-28 11:40:20

[blogcompetnetall]

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain http://www.nature-business.com/business-arizona-voters-will-choose-gop-senate-candidate-as-the-state-mourns-mccain/

Business

Phoenix (CNN)The day before Arizona begins memorializing Sen. John McCain, the state’s Republicans will make a major statement about the future of the party of McCain and President Donald Trump.

The national GOP establishment’s preference, Rep. Martha McSally, faces two hard-line conservatives — former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio — in Tuesday’s Senate primary.

McSally distanced herself from McCain during the campaign while Ward and Arpaio openly attacked him. All three candidates are embracing Trump in a sign of the President’s power over Republican voters.

Trump infamously attacked McCain’s service during the 2016 presidential campaign, and McCain was vocal in his opposition to Trump on several issues.

The race is the headliner on a day in which Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will select their nominees in governor’s races and Arizona and Florida will also pick their candidates for Senate contests.

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is up for re-election. Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley, Arizona State University education professor David Garcia and Kelly Fryer, the CEO of the YWCA Southern Arizona, face off to challenge Ducey in a traditionally red state that has shifted to the left in recent years: Hillary Clinton lost there by just 4 percentage points.

The primary comes days before Ducey faces a major decision: Who to appoint to fill McCain’s seat. He’ll have to choose between a Trump-like Republican and someone in the McCain mold — or could try to bridge the gap, potentially with a placeholder pick.

In Florida, term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the governor’s office is up for grabs in this fall’s midterm elections. Trump-endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis is seen as the favorite to defeat state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam for the GOP nod for governor, while several Democrats — including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand-backed former Rep. Gwen Graham, progressive favorite Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine square off in a wide-open primary.

And in Oklahoma, Democratic state attorney general Drew Edmondson will face the winner of a GOP battle between Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett for the seat being vacated by term-limited Gov. Mary Fallin.

Arizona and Florida also each have several primaries for House seats that are expected to be competitive in November’s midterm elections.

Trump dominant in Arizona race

The Arizona Senate contest is for the seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Flake — not McCain, whose replacement will be appointed by Ducey. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is the heavy favorite to take on the Republican primary winner.

Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate. But the race has underscored how the Republican Party in Arizona has shifted from one where McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, reigned supreme, to one where Trump is the dominant force.

All three GOP candidates cozied up to the President. McSally, in particular, has dropped her 2016 campaign criticism of Trump and aligned herself closely with the President — particularly on immigration issues.

The race’s outcome could already be decided. More than 437,000 Republican early votes had been mailed in by Friday. And if 2018’s primary follows Arizona’s trend of high early voting numbers, about 75% of the state’s primary voters have already cast their ballots.

Polls have shown Arpaio in third place — but Republican strategists say he is competing for the same group of die-hard conservative voters as Ward, meaning that his presence in the race has cut directly into her support.

A McSally win in the last competitive primary on 2018’s Senate battleground map would be a major relief for Republicans who have watched her all-but-certain opponent Sinema spend millions of dollars on

TV ads branding herself as a centrist

who would “end the partisan nonsense and protect Arizonans” on issues like health care.

It’s why Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, urged Trump to endorse McSally in a recent phone call, a source familiar with the call said.

Trump didn’t endorse, but he gave McSally a shout-out at a recent event at Fort Drum in New York. He noted that McSally is “not only an Air Force veteran, but the first woman ever to fly a fighter jet in combat in US history.”

“And I got to know her very well, and she is terrific: Congresswoman Martha McSally,” Trump said.

National Republicans see the Arizona Senate race as crucial to keeping their majority, and think McSally is the only candidate that gives them a chance to win the race. Until recent weeks, they’d been frustrated she had not put the primary away.

How McSally won over the right

McSally’s primary campaign has been a case study in how an establishment Republican — one who had sharply criticized Trump in the wake of the “Access Hollywood” video in 2016 — could win in the Trump era.

She aired an ad featuring Trump calling her the “real deal.” She withdrew her co-sponsorship of a bill that offered “Dreamers” a path to citizenship, mimicked Trump’s attacks on “chain migration.” She became a fixture on Fox News, where she aligned herself with Trump and heaped praise on the President.

And she cast Ward — who’d launched her campaign as a strident critic of Flake and McCain, a Trump opponent, with the backing of then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon — as a Trump critic.

“McSally did a masterful job capitalizing on Ward’s ‘phonyisms,’” said Robert Graham, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and a Trump ally. “The religious right freaked and abandoned her and the immigration people consider her soft.”

An anti-Ward super PAC spent more than $4 million on at-times misleading ads that cast Ward as weak on immigration enforcement and opposing Trump’s calls for increased military spending.

McSally’s campaign, meanwhile, aired an ad asserting that Ward “doesn’t support President Trump” on immigration. It highlighted Ward’s opposition to a Trump-backed bill that Ward labeled “amnesty.”

Another key moment came in a late-July editorial board meeting at The Arizona Republic — the only time McSally and Ward would debate, with Arpaio declining the invitation — on the topic of abortion. Both said they want Roe v. Wade repealed, but Ward called for a “more incremental” approach, including a ban on abortions after 24 weeks, while McSally said she favors banning abortion in all cases except rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

Ward also said abortion is debated “in a fashion that was designed to raise money for people on both sides of the issue.”

The comments alienated anti-abortion activists who were a key part of the conservative constituency a McSally challenger would have needed.

Then, late in the campaign, Ward courted controversy when she invited Mike Cernovich — a far-right commentator who promoted the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory — on her bus tour, and then told NBC News that “attaching those things to me is ridiculous.”

Explaining her decision to invite Cernovich, Ward said: “We need to have a hook to get you guys interested in seeing the bus tour.”

Ward courted controversy late in the race, too. She apologized Monday for a Facebook comment suggesting an announcement by McCain’s family that he would end his cancer treatment was designed to hurt her campaign, saying her comment had been misinterpreted.

Arpaio, meanwhile, watched his campaign descend into chaos. The Federal Election Commission laid out a host of problems with his first-quarter campaign finance report in a letter to Arpaio’s campaign. And long-time consultant Chad Willems, who until recently was Arpaio’s campaign manager, was receiving the vast majority of the $1.3 million raised for the campaign. His campaign ended in a fizzle, as Ward attracted headlines as the anti-establishment candidate.

“McSally proved to voters for months that she has the ability to laser-focus in on Sinema’s weaknesses in a way that highlights her own strengths, even while facing competitors in a primary,” said Brian Anderson, an Arizona GOP strategist and former aide to Ducey.

“Kelli Ward continued to remind everyone,” Anderson said, “that she’s a ticking time bomb who can’t talk her way through a question about Pizzagate — let alone face an opponent like Sinema.”

Read More | Eric Bradner, CNN,

Business Arizona voters will choose GOP Senate candidate as the state mourns McCain, in 2018-08-28 11:40:20