#starts teaching medicine at the academy

[hawkp]

Thinking about how Miles called Julian Jules in “Extreme Measures” and Julian didn’t even give it a second thought. A name he wouldn’t let his parents use, something we never hear Jadzia or Ezri say.

That privilege is reserved for Miles and Miles alone.

[dirtyheathencommie]

DEAR EDUCATIONALLY NEGLECTED HOMESCHOOLERS

I’ve gathered some resources and tips and tricks on self-educating after educational neglect. This is only what I did and what I know helped me. I’m about to graduate college with honors after having no education past the age of 9. I wouldn’t be here without the following. Everything is free, and at/well above the standard for education in the US.

The holy grail: Khan Academy. Nearly every course you could take is available here, in order and by grade level. Their open-source free courses rival some of the college classes I’ve taken. This is your most solid resource.

For inattentive types: Crash Course offers a variety of courses that are snappy, entertaining, and extremely rewarding. They work for my ADHD brain. They also have college prep advice, which is essential if you’re looking to go to higher education with no classroom experience.

To catch up on your reading: There are certain books that you may have read had you gone to school that you’ve missed out on. This list is the most well-rounded and can fill you in on both children’s books and classic novels that are essential or at least extremely helpful to be familiar with. You can find a majority of these easily at a local library (and some for free in PDF form online low key). There are a few higher level classics in here that I’d highly recommend. If it doesn’t work for you, I’d always recommend asking your local librarian.

*BE AWARE* The book list I recommend suggests you read Harry Potter books, and given their transphobic author you may or may not want to read them. If you choose to, I’d highly recommend buying the books secondhand or borrowing from a library to avoid financially supporting a living author with dangerous and damaging views.

TEST, TEST, TEST: Again, Khan Academy is your go-to for this. I don’t personally like standardized testing, but going through SAT and ACT courses was the best way I found to really reveal my gaps so that I could supplement.

Finally: As much as you can, enjoy the process. Education can be thrilling and teach you so much about yourself, and help shape your view of the world. It can get frustrating, but I’d like to encourage you that everyone can learn. No pace is the perfect pace, and your learning style is the right learning style for you. In teaching yourself, be patient, be kind, and indulge in the subjects you really enjoy without neglecting others. You are your teacher. Give yourself what others chose not to.

[sagan-starstuff]

XF Meta: Scully's Medical Training Timeline

At the request of @randomfoggytiger, I wanted to do my damnedest to make Scully's education and training timeline make even a little sense. I'm a physician (specifically a specialist in adult infectious diseases), and it's fairly clear to me that CC and Co probably didn't actually talk to any doctors about how medical training works. Love my girl - I'm a Scully Effect kid, I don't think I'd be a doctor at all if it weren't for the inspiration of Dana Scully. But her timeline is...iffy at best.

Disclaimer: My medical school and post-med school training occurred from 2009-2018, Scully's occurred in the 1980's-90's. From what I can tell, the durations of many residencies and fellowships don't seem to have changed much, but I can't say that for certainty for all programs at all institutions. I am also from the US, so I cannot speak to medical training in other countries.

Our girl was born in 1964, and so unless she skipped a grade (which some schools would do if students were classified as "gifted" or otherwise exceptional, she would have graduated from high school at age 18 in 1982 and went straight to college. Let's assume she didn't skip a grade, for the sake of argument.

You have to have a Bachelor's degree to apply to medical school. These degrees typically take 4 years, though if someone arrives at college with credits from dual-enrollment high school classes or AP exam credits OR if they take summer classes some people can complete them in 3 years. I don't know what the availability of dual enrollment or AP classes was like in the early 80's (and like CC, I'm too lazy to do the research to find out), so we can assume that Scully graduated from college in 1986.

Medical school is 4 years long - no shortening this at that point in time, and even now in almost all cases. So that puts medical school graduation in 1990 IF she's following a traditional timeline and went straight from college to medical school.

Now, if someone is going to go into practice they have to do a residency in at least one of a variety of specialties (Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, etc.) in order to be board certified and practice independently. There are very, very few job options in clinical medicine if you DON'T do a residency, so if you want to practice, you have to do it. Residencies can be anywhere from 3-5 years, depending on the specialty. You can also further subspecialize after a residency by doing one or more fellowships (typically 1-3 years depending on the fellowship) before sitting for your board certification exams and starting independent practice. For example - after medical school I did a 3-year residency in adult internal medicine, then a 2 year fellowship in adult infectious diseases to be eligible to sit for the boards and enter my specialty, so 5 years further training after medical school before I could get a job, get board certified, and practice.

Scully is a forensic pathologist. She would have had to do a 3 or 4 year pathology residency (both were options at the time) followed by a 1 year forensic pathology fellowship. You CANNOT perform autopsies right out of medical school, if you are going to be a forensic pathologist you HAVE to do this training. So, following a traditional timeline this puts her as having completed forensic pathology training in 1994 or 1995. Pilot starts March 7th, 1992, so this is loooooong after she's canonically already an FBI agent and teaching at the academy.

But our girl's a smart cookie, so let's take a little leeway with her timeline. Let's say she skipped a grade some time in K-12. This puts high school graduation in 1981. Let's say she ALSO graduates with a bunch of AP credit and does summer semesters and finishes her undergraduate degree in Physics in 3 years. This puts her as starting medical school in 1984, with graduation in 1988. She'd still need to do that pathology residency and forensic pathology fellowship - let's assume a 3 year residency, then 1 year fellowship, so she'd finish training in 1992.

Still doesn't fit.

Let's go totally off the rails here - we know Scully was recruited out of medical school to the FBI, so she didn't do a traditional residency at all - UNLESS the FBI has an internal forensic pathology residency. It would HAVE to be accelerated in some way - some programs combine residency and fellowship by giving less elective time and more focus to the fellowship content. It's not common but they exist. Let's say in theory the FBI has an accelerated forensic pathology residency that takes 3 years, in addition to the 20 weeks of the FBI academy training. This has her finishing residency AND FBI academy training some time in 1991.

This is the ONLY way she could have finished forensic pathology training AND the FBI academy with enough time to be a fully certified forensic pathologist and FBI agent with some time left to teach at the FBI academy before being assigned to the X-Files on March 7th, 1992.

I can suspend my disbelief enough to be on board with this. You'd have to be pretty damned special, which we know she is, to get recruited out of medical school by the FBI. Maybe they even developed the accelerated combined residency/fellowship just for her! She's Dana Katherine Motherf***ing Scully, people!

Now, IWTB is where things get REALLY unbelievable. (Disclaimer: I have not watched IWTB since seeing it in theaters in 2008. I'll get around to rewatching it someday soon. Probably with a bottle of wine. Not a glass. A bottle.)

Mulder and Scully go on the run in 2002. We don't know how long they were in the wind, but by 2008, she's been allowed to resume a career and is practicing at Our Lady of Sorrows. Clearly in pediatrics - but general pediatricians sure as hell don't do stem cell transplants, so she'd almost certainly have to be a pediatric oncologist. We aren't told what her specialty is specifically, but that's what she'd have to be to do a stem cell transplant.

(That scene in the OR isn't even what stem cell transplants LOOK LIKE but that's a rant for another day, back to my point.)

MEDICAL BOARDS DON'T JUST LET YOU CHANGE YOUR SPECIALTY FOR FUNSIES.

(Deep breaths. Serenity now. Ok, let's do this.)

Scully would have had to do an ENTIRELY NEW residency AND fellowship in order to practice as a pediatric oncologist. Pediatrics residency is 3 years long. Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship is 3 years long. In order for this to be even remotely possible, she would have had to START residency in 2002 to finish fellowship by 2008 and start her job at Our Lady of Sorrows.

And she's a former FBI agent harboring a known felon, on the run from government officials and alien hybrids who want her and Mulder dead.

There is absolutely no way even the smallest, most hard-up pediatric residency program is going to accept her with that hanging over her head. I'm not going to get into all the details of how rigorous and stressful the post-medical school residency application and match process is, but even if she didn't apply until she KNEW it was safe to come out from underground, she'd still have to explain a multi-year gap in her resume/CV to the program directors. Multi-year gaps in career and training without a reasonable explanation like a medical issue, time off to care for an ailing family member, time off for research, time away in a different, legitimate career are NOT looked on kindly when applying for residency positions. She would have a HELL of a time getting into a totally different residency.

It could happen - if anyone could do it, she could. But there's absolutely no way there's enough time for her to complete that training by 2008.

"But sagan-starstuff, it's CC, it's X-Files, we know there was no show bible and no one but the fans gave a shit about continuity or things making sense, there's no logic just vibes"

I KNOW, OK. I KNOW. And I love this insane, beautiful masterpiece anyway. I love exploring the possibilities of how and when it all could have happened with my fellow insane Philes who work so hard to glean meaning and order from this perfect mess of a show.

But couldn't CC have talked to one (1) doctor about what medical training is like at some point between 1993 and 2018? Just one?

Anyway. Yeah. That's my meta. Scully's training timeline makes no goddamned sense. Compels me, though.

@randomfoggytiger, this is for you. Honorable mention to @precedex-files who I ranted about this with in messages a while back.

[that-one-i-think]

Even even more on the relationship of former prince now servant Liochant and Garte who are both prisoners of the King of Tu'la, because this is both a really funny and really sad Au to me.

In this AU, I do think that Garte was a good father to an extent. He very much loved all three of his kids (especially feral Vylad cause he was entertaining) but his drive for power overshadowed it. He trained, played with, and taught his sons but as they grew the more his mind turned to gaining power. After Vylad died in a robbery, his grief turned him towards wanting to gain even more so that is when he arranged Garroth and Nicoles marriage to tie O'khasis and Scaleswind together. And after Garroths death, it got worse and left him vulnerable to Zane's manipulations. After a certain point, even Garte finding out that Zane had planned Vylad's robbery and subsequent death didn't even matter, for only power did. (I also LOVE just pure evil Zane, because I like to think that Zane didn't care so much for power than he did the Relics. Love MCD Zane)

His search for power did lead to his downfall and eventual entrapment by Tu'la after being betrayed in an alliance, much like how he was originally going to betray Scaleswind. He very soon came face to face with his actions and the consequences of what would happen if he had succeeded and finds he does not like the taste of his own medicine. So he turns from a power hungry and angry King to a bitter and kind of sad lord. Garte feels regretful.

Due to his high position, he is actually treated rather nicely and is more of a guest than an actual prisoner. He is allowed his own room and general freedom around the palace because he has no means of escape. No allies or ability to survive in the harsh dessert as he is already nearing 70. So he is just a heavily retricted guest and finds tht he hates everyone and everything in the castle except one single abused servant, Liochant. Come to find out Liochant was the original prince of this castle and the King murdered his entire family....... This made Garte realize how fucked up Zane was for his actions in Falconclaw.

Garte starts using Liochant as a way to repent and make up for his actions. He tells Liochant about Ru'aun, the language, the cultures and about his family and his actions. Eventually he even manages to teach Liochant how to fight like a Ru'aun knight. He becomes Liochants mentor of sorts, as they were the only ones prisoners. Though Garte kept Liochant at arms length emotionally, that did not change. He became better, but the man needs therapy.

After one brutal punishment Liochant recieved when he was 17, boiling water to the side of his face, Garte decided that his little friend needed to leave, so he did the one thing he was good at. Helping princes disappear. He starts genuinely educating Liochant about Ru'aun, telling him to join the guard academy and hide his meif'wa features until after admitance. When Liochant does manage to flee at 20, he is proud. Cause he finally did something right and not to his own benefit. He now hopes that Liochant can meet Garroth and become proof that he did do something right for his son to see.

Unfortunately, Garroth doesn't let Liochant get a word in before the distrust starts and Liochant finds that him stuck between difficult truths and safe silence.

[cozzzynook]

I remember reading a fan fic that had Rodimus wanting to become a medic instead of a leader. Soo Medic Roddy Au

Rodimus didn't go to any academies but he did a have a few older mentor's in Nyon who were retired field Medics. Everything he learned about medicine came from their teachings and advice, by the time the war started Roddy was a skilled healer but he kept it a secret unless it was an emergency or if Ratchet needed extra hands in the Med-Bay.

When he became a prime thanks to The Matrix he quietly mourned the loss of not being able to chase his ambitions of being a 'licensed' Medic even though the war is over. However despite not being able to help others the way he wanted, Rodimus still drops by a clinic or hospital to help with funding or repairs. After all it's the least he can do for them.

:)

Mmmm maybe he can be a healer or medic when the lost lights journey is over?

Maybe thats where Drift and Ratchet find Roddy. He’s hard to get a hold of since he specializes in hard to treat illnesses. Therefore he’s traveling a lot and always needed somewhere.

[grubus]

Little guys time!!! This comic is called "Star Instructor, Master Baek". Dude used to be in an evil demonic sect, reincarnates into the body of a chronically ill teacher, decides to become The Best Teacher at Martial Arts Academy for MONEYYY (to get medicine for himself)

I am caught up to the latest chapter and tbh going back to the start and seeing the art style change and improve.... nice.

Behold, Baek teaching lil kids how to punch!

[sarnai4]

College Days (and career plans)

After seeing a really fun Yona of the Dawn AU fanart with the characters in college, I started thinking about the Dragons crew.

Hiccup: Engineering. He's going to become an inventor and has already done some of that. He'll probably have his own company after graduation that makes just about everything. Need a replacement limb? Phone? Cylindrical item that will lead you to various reptiles and the journey of a lifetime? He's got you covered on all fronts. If it can be built, it will be.

Astrid: Law enforcement. She's eventually going to a police academy (cue the movie of the same name), so she wants to be prepared. She'll become a police captain in the future. It'll be very obvious why crime rates are plummeting in whatever city she's in.

Fishlegs: Zoology. He's always been into science, so he's going to become a zoologist to study animals all over the world. He absolutely loves his work and probably brings a few creatures home to study for a little longer before taking them back to the lab.

Snotlout: Drama. He's planning on becoming an actor. His work as Sir Ulgerthorpe has convinced me that he at least could be good on a stage. Plus, he's a drama queen. Maybe he'll get on the screen one day too. He's also considering if he wants to try out screenwriting and/or directing eventually. If he does become a director, he'll be one of the best and most bossy somehow.

Ruffnut: Digital communication and media/multimedia. She's honestly not here for any reason other than it's where Tuffnut and their friends are. That said, the twins are going to become YouTubers, so she figures she might as well become good at making videos.

Tuffnut: Crafts. He missed how Ruffnut's idea will actually be useful in their future job and thought this sounded fun. His reasoning is that he'll make some cool crafts to show off to their viewers. He's probably right, but there are still a dozen sighs directed his way because of this choice.

Dagur: Undecided. He's gone through business to see if he wanted to be an entrepreneur, then wasn't sure if he should just go to an entrepreneurship degree, had a few in between, and the latest one was psychology to try to understand his mind. At this point, he's hoping he sticks with something long enough to graduate on time with the credits. Can't say he isn't getting a well-rounded education, though. Just don't even get him started on career plans. He figures that he'll teach martial arts to pay for bills until he comes up with an idea he can keep for longer than a month.

Heather: Music. She's going to become a singer and probably be a vocal and guitar teacher later on. She's the only member of the group who we've heard sing and not sound bad (minus Snotlout surprisingly in my opinion. Oi oi oi), so I can see her doing this. She's not planing on being some superstar or anything. Just most likely at some venues and on YouTube, so maybe Ruffnut's new skills can help out.

Mala: Doctor of medicine for surgery. She's in the doctoral program (because I'm convinced she is a nice amount of years older than the others) and going to become a surgeon. This is something she's wanted to do for a while since she enjoys healing people. Meeting the others made her want to do this even more since she's sure at least one of them is going to be in a terrible accident one day and will need a good surgeon. Her bet is on Hiccup, the twins, or Dagur.

Throk: Criminal justice. He's already graduated, but he is receiving specialized training to become a body guard. When he gets free time, he comes around to spend time with the others. He's part of the bet with Mala and bets that Ruffnut will NOT need a surgeon because there's no way he's allowing such harm to come to her.

Atali: Women's studies. She's going to run a women's shelter when she graduates. She is also considering getting a master's.

Minden: Physical education. She's following her bestie and going to teach self-defense to the women Atali helps out.

(bonus)

Gobber: Welding engineering. He loved this in his university days and started up his own company. This is how he got Hiccup into making things too.

Stoick: Political science. He joined the marines when he was younger and became a high-ranking officer before coming back home to care for Hiccup.

Johann: Law. He became a slimy lawyer who always gets the really dangerous criminals off and puts away innocent people.

Viggo: Economics. He wanted to be very shrewd with his spending. He owns a company that seems like it's a tech manufacturing company on the outside but is actually smuggling a bit of everything.

Ryker: Criminology. He did this to understand just what risks the criminals who work for/with him could face. He works for Viggo (because of course he does) and is the VP of the business.

Krogan: Business management. On the outside, it seems like he's got a weapons manufacturing company, but he uses it to work with the Grimborns and hurt people.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Without defending the citadel of the mind, how can we build a beautiful city? Without the conviction of true propositions, whence do we think beauty will come?

- Sir Roger Scruton

La Sorbonne was named for its founder, Robert de Sorbon, chaplain and confessor of Louis IX. The history of the institution has always been closely linked with that of the University of Paris, one of the most important medieval universities of the French capital. Throughout the centuries, la Sorbonne became and remained a prestigious symbol of the university, training and teaching many of the great philosophers and masters of theology and history.

The University of Paris opened its doors in the 13th century. It was formed from a conglomeration of all of the colleges of the city's left bank. It was here that training occurred for all of Paris' clergy, administrators of royal institutions (courts of audit, courts, parliament, the council of state), as well as agents of ecclesiastical institutions ((bishops, abbots, education and hospital agents). Young students of the Four Nations at the time (French, Normandy, Picardy and English) came there to study law, medicine, theology and the arts. Thus, the University enjoyed unmatched prestige and international renown. In 1253, Robert de Sorbon opened his school on the Parisian Mountain, Sainte-Geneviève. The institution was primarily meant to train the poorest students (like many other colleges on the hill), but soon the Collège de Sorbon acquired a reputation, gradually becoming the famous theological faculty La Sorbonne .

The 17th century brought change. In an effort to bring new life to the old buildings, Cardinal Duc de Richelieu appointed architect Jacques Lemercier to undertake updates to the Sorbonne's structures. Cardinal Richelieu was very involved in the life of the Sorbonne and would go on to become headmaster in 1622.

The turmoil of the French Revolution would force the doors of the Sorbonne to close for a time. Starting in 1801 the Sorbonne housed simple artist workshops. During the Restoration, Louis XVIII decided to restore the buildings of the Sorbonne to their original purpose: education. In 1821, the Paris Academy and the École des Chartes (which trained students in archival conservation and preserving written heritage) took possession of the Sorbonne.

[fangirlvibez]

The Bradshaw son and Seresin daughter - part 5

Characters: Bradley Bradshaw x female!OC Madison Ella Hanscott, Son!OC Nicolas Peter Bradshaw, Jake Seresin x female!OC Quinn Kelsell, Daughter!OC Hazel Alexandra Seresin, Son!OC Benjamin Jacob Seresin, OC!Connor Malcolm Oxland

Warnings: in this chapter: mention of teenage pregnancy. Navy inaccuracy (Let me know if I forgot a warning)

Summary of the story: The 16 year old daughter of Jake Seresin gets pregnant. The dad: the 18 year old son of Bradley Bradshaw. How will the dads react to their kids becoming teen parents.

A/N: English is not my first language, so if there is any spelling or grammar errors: please let me know

Previous part - next part - masterlist

“I heard some officers talking in the hallway” he started. “They were talking about the Top Gun teachers that still won’t retire” Nick could feel Hazel stiffen up. Nick swallowed before continuing. “I’m 99 percent sure they were talking about our dads”

July 29, 2046

Top Gun

Bradley Rooster Bradshaw and Jake Hangman Seresin were in the briefing room about the look over the newest members of their Top Gun class. “Have they asked you to retire too?” Jake asked while opening the folder with all the personal information of their new students. “Yes, they did. I already told them that I will retire when I decide to retire” he answered, taking the same folder out of his pack of documents. “Let’s see which smart asses we need to teach this year” he sighed.

Bradleys plan was to retire when Nick would get accepted into the academy. But with him gone he decided to not retire. Work kept his mind from wondering how his son was doing. Where they could be. What happened with the baby. What they were doing with their lives. After 5 years he felt as guilty as he did when he found out they were gone.

Jake kept quiet as well. His plan was to retire when Benjamin would go to university. And he did. One year ago, he left for university to study medicine. But Jake couldn’t do it. He couldn’t retire. The house felt too empty with Benjamin off to university and Quinn still working and Hazel gone from the home. He wondered the same thing as Bradley: where could they be? How were they? Where they still together? Where they still alive? Before his thoughts spiraled to the worst case scenario, he cleared his throat. “Let’s see shall we” he said.

~~~~~~~~~~

“So that was Lieutenant Charlotte Alyssa Polman. She is the only girl we have this year.” Jake finishes the information on the red haired girl. Her picture vanishes from the big screen in front of the room. “We have two more to go over. Pilot and WSO” he touches something on his tablet and a new picture appears on the screen. The man had black hair and blue eyes. He had a small scar on his lip, only visible if you look very closely.

“Lieutenant Connor Malcolm Oxland, callsign: T-Rex, age: 26. He is WSO to …” Jake stopped talking when he saw the picture on his tablet and the name under the picture. “WSO to who?” Bradley asked. He was tired and ready to finish this briefing. “Come on Hangman, their name can’t be that difficult to pronounce can it? Can you hurry up? I need to go home and walk the dog.” Jake looked up at Bradley before signing and pushing a button. The picture appeared on the screen and Bradleys eyes widen.

“WSO to Lieutenant Nicolas Peter Bradfield, callsign: Dash, age: 23.” Jake finishes his speech. Bradley looked at the picture. Even though the surname didn’t match, he knew the boy or rather man on the picture. It was his son. His 18 year old son who looked older now. He wasn’t the skinny 18 year old anymore who he remembered. He was a muscled 23 naval aviator now. An aviator who was coming to Top Gun. An aviator he was going to see live in front of him within a week. “I need to call Madison” he said. Rushing out of the room and towards his office where he called his wife with the exciting but scary information he received.

~~~~~~~~~~

June 4, 2046

Top Gun

The Bradfield family had landed at Top Gun. Hazel had managed to get a week off work to come visit her boyfriend during the first week of Top Gun. The family was staying in a small beach house 15 minutes from base.

“They are going to be here, I know they will” Nick told his girlfriend the evening before his first Top Gun class. It was almost 10 pm and the kids were already sleeping for 2 hours. Hazel was already sitting under the covers. Her back resting against the headboard. “Yes, they probably will. But don’t let them get under your skin. Show them how of a great man you became. How good of a pilot you are” she said. “You deserve to be here. You can’t let them ruin this for you” Nick nodded. Hazel was right. He and T-Rex worked hard to get here. He deserved to be here. “You’re right, what will I do without you?” He asked, leaning with his hands on the mattress to give his girlfriend a kiss.

Nick woke up at 4:45 am to get ready for his class. He had to be in the classroom at 6 am sharp. At 5:30 he was knocking on his neighbours door. A tired T-Rex opened the door. “Yes, yes. I’m awake. Let’s go” he mumbled to his best friend. Nick laughed, T-Rex was never a morning person while Nick was up and about the moment his alarm went off. The duo started walking towards base. “I just realise Dash” T-Rex started. Nick looked up from his boots to face Connor. “We’re about to start Top Gun. We’re in the number one percent of the Navy” he said. Nick nodded. Honestly he couldn’t believe it himself. “Yeah Rex, we’re in the top 1%.” The Top 1%. The top 1% his dad was also in. The top 1% his granddad was in. The top 1% his father-in-law was in. The fact started to sink in.

20 minutes later Nick and Connor were sitting in the classroom. They were sitting at the pathway on the third row from the front. 10 minutes. Within 10 minutes the class will start and Nick will see his father and father-in-law for the first time in 5 years.

Those 10 minutes felt like hours before they heard a strong voice. “Attention on deck!” All aviators stood up, before they were told to sit down again. Two men walked down the pathway towards the front of the classroom. Nick looked up when their boots walked past him. He could see the grey hairs on the back of their heads. Both men stood tall before turning and facing the class. He could see his dad and his greying mustache. He could see his father-in-law with the same green eyes of his girlfriend.

“Let me introduce ourselves. I’m Rear Admiral Bradley Bradshaw. Callsign Rooster. This is Rear Admiral Jake Seresin. Callsign Hangman. We will be your instructors for the next 13 weeks.” His voice hasn’t changed in 5 years, while Nicks became deeper. Bradleys eyes wander over the new students. His eyes stop when he meets similar brown eyes. Nicolas Dash Bradfield. He really wants to know why he changed his surname. Nick stared back, not looking away. He was trying to see what emotion his dad was feeling right now.

“We will start today with some basic dog fighting. We want to see what you’re capable of. How you work together and your skills in general. Rooster and I will be your targets. We already made pairs to fight against us. The first ones up are…” Jake started to explain, looking down at his clipboard. “Lieutenant Emmanuel “Razor” Sánchez with Lieutenant Nicolas “Dash” Bradfield and Lieutenant Connor “T-Rex” Oxland. The rest can start with some gym exercises. A trainer will be waiting for you in the gym hall. You’re dismissed” he said. Nick is the first one out of his chair. Too fast that Bradley doesn’t have the change to talk to him. Connor is shocked in how fast he was out of the room.

Connor runs behind his friend before he started walking next to him towards their plane. “What was that? Your callsign should be Flash with how fast you left the room” he laughed, hitting Nicks back with his hand. Before he can answer a loud voice came from behind him. “Lieutenant Bradfield” Nick stopped walking and turned around. His aviators sitting on his nose and blocking out the shining sun. Walking towards him was Bradley. Connor shares a look with Nick. “I’ll do the check up for our plane” he said, sensing that he wasn’t needed for this conversation.

Bradley stopped in front of his son. He could see the resemblance now he’s older. Madison always said he was going to look like him when he would be older. She wasn’t lying. “I’ll like to talk to you at the end of the day. 1700 hours. My office.” Nick nodded. Before turning and looking towards his plane. “Is that all Rear Admiral Bradshaw?” He asked, looking into his dads eyes. “Am I dismissed?” He asked. Bradley nodded and Nick didn’t hesitate to turn and walk towards Connor. He already knew this wasn’t going to be a calm conversation like he hoped it would be.

Taglist: @confusedpimp @dempy @michael-loves-chickens @massivedetectivestudent @starkleila @mirrorball-6 (if your username is crossed out it means I couldn’t tag you) (let me know if you want to be tagged)

[pyrokineticwarrior]

The 8 Schools of Stygian Academy

A school focused on training demigods, started by Devlin and Isabelle

Elysium Prep: Named after Elysium, the paradise where heroes and the blessed reside in Greek mythology. This name suggests a place of honor and excellence, where history is taught on heroic deeds and accomplishments.

Olympus Hall [hall number 1]: Combining the name of the Greek mountain home of the gods, Olympus, with "hall," this name symbolizes the demigods' ambition to rise to the heights of their divine ancestry. It evokes a sense of grandeur and aspiration and where many can study in the vast library while looking at statues of the gods.

Acheron Institute: Inspired by the river Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Underworld in Greek mythology. It's a place of deep learning and transformative experiences, and having to do with wading bodies of water- from open seas to treacherous channels.

Pyrrhia Academy: Derived from the Greek word "pyr," meaning fire, this name alludes to the fiery nature of Hades and his children. It implies a school that ignites and nurtures the demigods' powers and abilities, not just those who know pyrokinetics.

Charon's Reach: Named after Charon, the ferryman who carries souls across the river Styx. This name symbolizes the school's role in guiding and preparing demigods for their heroic journeys, much like Charon guides souls to the Underworld. It teaches how to trek through rough terrain, and it's more of a winding path all around the school.

Erebus Hall of Concealment [hall number 2]: Taking inspiration from Erebus, the primordial god of darkness and shadow, this place focuses on more of the mysterious and powerful nature of Hades' children. It's a place of deep exploration and understanding of how shadow manipulation occurs and how to better conceal.

Phlegethon Academy: Named after the river Phlegethon, associated with fire and destruction in Greek mythology. This place shows the brutal reality. It opens up on the intensity and challenges faced by demigods in their training, preparing them for the battles they may encounter.

Thanatos Medicinal Institute: Derived from Thanatos, the personification of death in Greek mythology. This institute mainly shows the importance of understanding mortality and the limits of life, teaching demigods to wield their powers responsibly. It's about healing and it makes many medics.

With @qceensofkings

[dragoncat91]

"Teach me, stepmom!" (Claude mom interaction with a Claude brother OC)

The king was putting on a front. And one of his queens read him like a book. Tiana Danica Riegan, former member of House Riegan in the Leicester Alliance across the mountain border, had sent the double nation prince, Khalid Kralsah, over to attend the same academy she had. He was with his grandfather, the archduke of Leicester, going by Claude Ramiel Riegan. Unfortunately Leicester and Almyra were still rival nations, so the grandson of an archduke having a clearly Almyran name would raise much suspicion.

“Our son is doing great, I know he is.” Tiana said. “Mother's instinct.”

“What brought that up...?” King Boran blinked and frowned.

Tiana crossed her arms. “Do you really have to ask? You're so obviously missing him and worried about him.”

“Ohhhhh.”

“Boran. It is okay for a father to miss his son. Kings, warriors, nobles, just as much as peasants and commoners.” Tiana bent her body toward her husband and raised an eyebrow at him. “But I know he's acing all his classes and thriving. He is my son after all. And yours. He will be okay.”

The king sat down and sighed. “I was just thinking about how tiny he once was. No bigger than a loaf of bread, less than a day old, and started a staring match with his father.”

“Did he win?”

“...Yes.”

Tiana left Boran to his paperwork after assuring him, once again, that it was okay to miss their son. She went to the palace lobby and made herself some food and drink. After some time, the son of the other queen approached her and stood behind her.

She'd been reading her book, taking drinks of her lemon tea and eating her raspberry tart, until she wanted a refill and saw him. “Uzair, bloody hell, how long have you been standing there?”

Uzair looked a lot like his father, he had Boran's yellow eyes, tan skin, and dark brown fluffy hair, but his features were overall softer. His mother, Jasmine, was a gentle healer and gardener. Tiana had been the first wife, but Boran had been betrothed to Jasmine since they were teens and Tiana had shown up on her diplomacy mission unexpectedly, and the king had fallen in love with two women back to back. It was still complicated but the three of them were making it work.

“I didn't want to interrupt your book or your brunch. I knew you'd see me when you wanted seconds.” Uzair said sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Tiana walked past him to refill her cup and brought it back. “Well then. What is it?”

“It may be a stretch. But how good are you with swordplay? Aunt Farah's busy...”

Palace General Farah was indeed leading a unit of soldiers on drill today. And was indeed a demon with a scimitar.

“Well, the bow is my area of expertise. But if you have a sword now, I can help a bit with it. Did your mom send you to me?”

Uzair shook his head. “No. Dad didn't either, actually. I just saw you out here and thought I'd try.”

Tiana reached out and patted his head. This young man...maybe because her biological son was abroad, but she was happy he came to her and willing to help him out. After all, he was, in fact, socially and culturally considered her son.

“Sure, I have time.”

He smiled. “Thank you, Tiana, stepmom. Oh, and Mom's been teaching me field medicine too. How to sling a broken bone. That sort of thing. Didn't know if you were interested in any of that.”

“In Leicester I didn't pay much attention to it. We had church monks with their healing magic.” She paused, then smiled at a memory. “I am aware Almyra does not have that and instead has...alternate herbal remedies. I will never forget the sight of your dad higher than wyvern pizzle after a nasty skirmish when they had to give him those.”

Uzair stared blankly.

“That's a story for another place and time.” Tiana chuckled.

[twistedwonderlandshenanigans]

May the Forth Be With You - Star Wars in TWST

Mostly my world building ramblings lol Please remember these are just all funky little headcanons and some (many) are prone to change!!

For starters, the Academy for Force Adept Individuals (that name is a wip lmao) has a much smaller student pool than the other "magic" schools, and as a result is a school not restricted to only boys, especially seeing as some species that are among the student body do not have definitive male or female distinctions. There isn't a definitive "dark" or "light" side- Force is merely referred to as a tool or energy, and not a "power". We know that NRC has kind of murky morals as it is, and RSA would stand to have a very strong moral view in contrast. This is why in a smaller school, with beings from all over (the interstellar "neighbourhood") it's difficult to try and teach one "way" or another, so the students are taught from as unbiased a standpoint as possible, as for most subjects that do not require the use of the force, droids have been employed to teach.

NOT basing this on the Old Republic, otherwise they would have had to have been taken in before the age of 13 as a padawan. They are still about 16-19 years old- transferring in from another academy somewhere else. The academy in TWST is a melting pot, and provides a good opportunity for students to learn more about the customs of those from around the galaxy and make (hopefully) lifelong friends. Along with your typical school subjects (history, sciences, maths, and language study of some sort) there are classes for agriculture, medicine and "survival"- reflective of the Agricultural Corps, Medical Corps, and Exploration Corps- to establish the basics in each, in case students are not selected as a padawan or they choose to get a job in one of those areas rather than serving as a Knight. (Force Knight- no light/dark connotations.)

There are elective classes for those as well ^^ for anyone who needs/wants extra credit in the main class or who just want as much practice as they can get in before going into the field they hope to pursue.

Other than those three ^ the rest of the electives also have clubs, as many classes overlap that specialize in certain skills Force users are being taught, but still provide the opportunity for them to learn, as well for upperclassmen to have a chance to tutor the newbies a little bit and give them experience in a leadership position (while still being supervised to avoid conflict)

A lot of the time, the clubs aren't directly related to the elective For example if the elective class is about how to change probability or to increase luck, many of those students enter the board game club However, playing against students that have mind reading as an elective, makes the game a little more fair But then there are students who also have been learning to shroud their presence using the Force, and can do the same for their thoughts, adding yet another element of difficulty. Yes there are classes that utilize their lightsabers and reinforce/ teach them correct form, but then there are electives for specializing and studying multiple forms.

P.E is mostly about building the physical strength and stamina needed to serve as a Knight- and I'm thinking that Force Knights tend to be more of a sentry, I don't think trying to cram a whole ass war is going to work for this. However there are also duels that rely solely on the Force.

Force users tend to be feared in TWST as they 1. are a relatively new 'magic' to really be 'discovered'/explained by other species in Twisted Wonderland, and 2. don't accumulate blot. Some people don't believe they really exist, the idea of midi-chlorians and people being able to manipulate them beyond their scope of understanding.

The Academy is located on one of the other islands in the Land of Dawning, isolated for the safety of the students, but recently started participating in SDC and magift/spelldrive competitions.

That's all for now dslfkjhsdlkfj come back tomorrow for more SW posting for twst lmao

[thegeminisage]

ok it's star trek update time. once again. i've fallen behind 💀 tuesday we did voy's "the cloud" and "phage" (out of order bc plex numbered them incorrectly/user error), wednesday we did ds9's "dentiny" and voy's "eye of the needle," and last night we watched ds9's "prohphet motive" and voy's "ex post facto."

the cloud (voy):

man this one sucked ass

well, i did like janeway's personal log. i love women getting to have the same normal problems a man would. i like janeway a lot, even if she still feels a bit stiff to me sometimes

actually, WAIT, why is the academy TEACHING captains they need to maintain a certain distance? like sure yes it's a bad idea to fuck your subordinates (even though picard said there was NO?? regulation on that...) but surely you're supposed to like. care about them. between this and deanna winning the kobayashi maru by killing geordi i'm starting to wonder if starfleet expects captains to simply not CARE about people. there's something larger at work in my brain re: this thought, like, kirk was always going on missions himself to protect people despite that putting him greater danger, and now they don't want captains to leave the chair or care about people...hell universe. and since picard never left the chair or cared about anyone it may have made for good policy but it made for BAD tv

ANYWAY.

accidentally got spoiled for neelix being the cook bc of reverse ep order lol

tom paris once again insufferable bc he's like dont invite the captain to poker night or whatever. for a rebellious felon he's really toeing that starfleet line. also, the LAST thing in the world i want is more holodeck but ESPECIALLY if i have to watch tom paris make out with realfake holo women on it. HOLO PEOPLE ARE ALIVE YOU FOOLS

i thought this episode was gonna be about coffee and it wasn't :( it was just a few jokes here and there

the nebula plot was stupid. you ram a hole in it and you're gonna fix it by ramming more holes? neelix is the only mfer that gets it. that said, i DO support women's rights to ram ill-advised things through holes - whenever, however, and as often as they like.

chakotay teaching janeway to find her animal guide (complete with the medicine bundle...) being played TOTALLY straight and serious just about ended me. like i knew they werent gonna be like "haha just kidding you are a REALLY gullible white person" at the end but watching them not do that was really really awful

harry kim just casually dropping he remembers being in the womb. alright.

janeway muting the doc when he is trying to speak :( holo-racist

i do like that firstly harry was like fuck tom paris im inviting janeway and secondly that she can play pool really well. those were nice touches. the non-racist janeway stuff was good! i just wish the rest of the episode had been good too lol

phage (voy):

i liked this one MUCH better. first of all, neelix in the cave about to get his lungs stolen very "mistew obama pwease hewp me" core. then perish. rip in pieces poor neelix :(

secondly, what an interesting ethical dilemma...can you kill a person to save a person? not in starfleet ig but if i was janeway i would have been real tempted. neelix is great

kes giving up one of her lungs to neelix was so sweet, actually. kes has grown on me a HUGE amount in a very very short time. i absolutely love her kindness, which was boring at first because i didn't really feel like she was being kind in a way that stood out from any run of the mill compassionate character. but her scenes with the doctor bring out the best in both of them, i think - like, he kicks her out initially, and then asks her to stay because he's in over his head. and rather than dismissing him she stays and asks if he wants to unionize. the fact that she's DETERMINED to treat him as a fully realized person when he doesn't even treat himself that way...she recognizes unmet needs and works to fix them, just because that's who she is. AUGH she's such a good personnn she;s gonna make a GREAT doctor

lung stealing aliens are way cooler than the slaver aliens even if they are horrible to look at. i LOVE how mad janeway got at them. she was like if i EVER see you again its on sight and i believe her. and she scared them so good they fixed neelix <3 kinda goes to show compassion wins...and that kind of compassion/adherence to morals in the face of personal loss and righteous anger IS a kirk move honorific. and winning because of those qualities is a kirk move. ugh i like janeway so much

"one day i'll surprise you mister tuvok" i love them. wah. tuvok reminds me SO much of spock...he's got that eyebrow thing happening

also, neelix getting his lungs removed totally makes this the spiritual sequel to spock's brain

destiny (ds9):

the whole time i was watching this i felt like sokka in that one atla episode. "can your science prove why it rains" core. like just because there are three cardassians and some river went somewhere...it's especially galling to me that kira buys into it completely. i always forget she's religious, and she's so SMART i didn't think she'd get caught up in the prophecy of it all.

recited the 35th rule of acquisition alongside quark which felt. bad. i still haven't forgiven him but i'm trying

cardassian lady accidentally flirting with obrien was EXTREMELY funny. that's twice now he's banged his head on the ceiling and it's incredibly charming

kira and sisko being buddies 🥺 kira like it's had to work for space jesus!!! so true girl. though she literally was sleeping with a space priest. their bits were sooo good though, you can FEEL how much he doesn't want the enormity of his role, and how much kira believes in him - and i personally get the sense it's because she's SEEN him work. like she believes in him on a professional level, as well, because he ALWAYS has her back. man i would totally believe he was space jesus too who can blame her he's amazing

i did at least like the rational explanation for the prophecies- that nonlinear aliens simply just tell people things. i do wonder why they can't just knock on the wormhole and ask those guys some questions, though

anyway, firmly mid. normally i love kira-heavy episodes but i just had such a hard time not going full sokka in this one. sorry, kira!

eye of the needle (voy):

THIS ONE BLEW MY TITS CLEAN OFF!! best voyager episode yet imho

firstly we are still sending things through holes. fantastic.

also, kes went from "eh she is boring" to "i would die for her" at warp speed......her scenes with the doctor are all SO good. kes recognizing his humanity when most people in starfleet don't know holograms are alive/don't care that holograms are alive, when HE HIMSELF does not think of himself as being alive...mwah. david cage wishes. it feels like an inverse of the data situation, because data WANTED to be alive but struggled to fit in with humanity, whereas the doctor didn't give two shits about being treated like a real person until kes started talking to him about it, and would in fact fit in effortlessly with "real people" were he not confined to the medbay.

and the doctor's bitterness! no one speaks directly to him despite asking him to function as an entire medical staff. no one remembers to turn him off, leaving him to suffer through hours of boredom, or people turn him off when he isn't ready, leading to problems with his experiments. and the existential dread of being abandoned on the ship alone while everyone else potentially transports home through the wormhole...and someone potentially forgetting to deactivate him first.

i really like how janeway reacted to the news that the doctor might be alive. she was like "girl no way" and then kes was like "yes way" and she decided to investigate herself rather than be dismissive about it. she was very good in this episode overall but i like that she showed compassion to someone/something she wasn't even sure was alive. it was very siskocore of her.

and finally...that sweet a-plot. letswatchstartrek, my least favorite website that is absolute essential to my functioning, GAVE THIS A TWO. because "well it's season 1 we all know they aren't getting home this episode." those fucking idiots, that's WHY this episode is good!! it's about hope. do they understand nothing

like, everyone trying SO HARD to curb their expectations at first because the wormhole is so small and so decayed and the absolute MOST they can hope for is to get a message through...the agony of the wormhole going back to where they need to be but them not being able to get through and the only person picking up the phone being a FUCKING romulan who think they're prank calling him

and the way that like this predicament utterly humanizes everyone involved. janeway answering the phone in her nightgown. asking about this romulan's family. the barriers between starfleet and romulus breaks down instantly under the shared connection of being adrift without one's family. what a perfect illustration of the compassion one can have for strangers because deep down even aliens are made of the same stuff as we are.

and then of course by the end janeway is like it doesn't matter! secrecy doesn't matter! let's have hope for a minute let's believe this will work! and then IT DOESN'T WORK. or, actually, what's worse is that it could work, they could theoretically go back to the alpha quadrant 20 years ago, but it will fuck everything up if they do, and they can't even prevent themselves from getting stuck out here. all they can do is send the romulan home with their messages and then..........

............have no idea if he found a way to send them before he died ahead of schedule. like. ALL THEY HAVE IS HOPE. like of COURSE you know theyre not gonna get home in season 1 but THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT INSANE.

also, hi, b'elanna not having anyone at home who cares if she lives or dies...this retroactively makes chakotay's protectiveness of her so much more meaningful. everyone who loves her is already on this ship :( aaaagggh

prophet motive (ds9):

god this one sucked so bad. rare L for ds9 and a major one at that

i spent most of it googling whether or not people actually liked the ferengi episodes (to my dismey: yes, people on reddit think they're funny), but i also spent some time googling how many more episodes we had to suffer through this grand nagus bullshit (4) and getting my little guys stolen on chess.

i have been wanting to see the wormhole aliens again FOREVER and wondered why you can't just go and talk to them and then they show up in this of all places...they so nicely let people go through their wormhole and then this dude disrespectfully bothers them...

also, to SELL an orb back to the bajorans...i hope he dies. i hope kira specifically kills him and loots the orb off his corpse.

the only two moments of note in this episode were 1. quark talking ancient unknowable aliens into letting him and the nagus leave unscathed through a combination of fast thinking and being annoying, which would be charming were i not in such dire anti-quark straits 2. rom robbing the nagus blind LMAOOO good for him. i hope he shared exactly zero of it with quark

on a final note, the space station, unlike tng's enterprise, does NOT seem to be self-cleaning. thank god for that.

EDIT I NEARLY FORGOT JULIAN BASHIR B PLOT!!!!! he wanted to win so bad even though he knew there wasnt a chance 🥺 my poor HORRIBLY competitive fella. and then it was three days of marinating in the fact that he was never gonna win

also odo cold reading him about the acceptance speech lmfao. love that

ex post facto (voy):

i would have liked this episode a LOT if it had happened to anyone but tom paris. imagine if a guy you liked had special brain torture every 14 hours even though he was totally innocent and only a mind meld from tuvok could save him. like, picture almost any other trek character in this situation. bashir. riker. even bones. any of them could maybe perhaps do a little kissing of a married woman and get themselves into trouble and it would be one of my favorite episodes of all time. even the plot twist of WHY he was falsely accused was fun and clever. unfortunately, i simply cannot bring myself to care about tom paris.

tuvok my best friend tuvok. he DID HIS HOMEWORK! the eyebrow movements, the way he did the mind meld from the same position that spock melded with dr van gelder in dagger of the mind my beloved. all these things are unmistakably vulcan because leonard nimoy did them first and SPOCK is unmistakably vulcan, despite all his lifelong insecurities. now that i've met other vulcans properly i know that better than ever and i wish he could too.

ALSO, HI, MARRIED 67 YEARS??? lowkey sad he and janeway can't get it now but also, do we think he has BABIES? do we think he has GRANDBABIES?? grandpa tuvok my best friend AAAGHGH. also, since this series is 7 years long and also because of a spoilery gifset EYE happen to know pon farr is inevitable. but i bet his wife had to fix it herself back home too so ik she will forgive him

anyway, if i was innocent, there's no one i'd rather have on my side than tuvok. he went above and beyond the call of duty there. i was really surprised he powered through the meld and experienced being murdered so well. i mean he took that like a champ. that's on vulcan stoicism...also AUGH janeway INSISTING he not do that bc she knows it will be horrible and the long time she spent searching his face before finally agreeing to it. i would never want him to cheat on his wife but they could also theoretically hypothetically get it.

and finally, CUTEST dog in the world this episode. it's so odd looking it does such a great job at jumping around everywhere

TONIGHT: ds9's "visionary" and voy's "emanations"

[neoninky]

TWST OC Introduction: Astrid Piperita

I already did a speel on my TWST OC Astrid but now that I can draw again - I drew a proper portrait. So do over!

So anyone who saw the picrew I used as inspiration can see I didn't change too much in her design lol. It was one of the rare times where a picrew pre-design hit the mark just how I wanted it except that I did want her to look a little older. Anyhoo-

Name: Astrid Piperita Age: 22 Homeland: The Rose Queendom Race: Human Height: 5'0 First Appearance: 'Her Devoted Shield' (Diasomnia canon x oc) Background: Born and raised in the Rose Queendom, Astrid comes from a family of tea sommeliers who run various shops around the country and provide a direct supply to the royal family. She became interested in healing remedies and medical aid once she discovered her talent for healing magic specifically. Astrid steadied at the same healer mage academy that Reine's father, Revon Elfern, teaches and started practicing within the royal palace. Three years before the story, Astrid met Petra and Tai-Yang once they came to the Rose Queendom to continue their quest of shutting down fae poachers and illegal markets and quickly offered her services as a healer to aid them and the fae they rescued. Skills: healing magic and first aid, herbal medicine, tea making, sewing (both for medical and clothing repair purposes), also knows how to use a crossbow (not much of a fighter but she can at least shoot arrows)

Personality/Quirks: not shy but very soft spoken until she either gets really excited/distressed or goes into ‘work mode’, giggle-snorts often (tries to hide it but fails miserably), very nurturing and understanding, will not tolerate her patients/friends/family not taking care of themselves (woe unto ye if ye ain’t staying hydrated or taking ur meds), looks/sounds like the sweet sister type but is definitely the den mother type when need be. I want to make actual profiles for all of the OCs I introduce in my newest story 'Her Devoted Shield' because there's going to be a lot of them especially when the Zigvolts finally show up. Still, I am also going to draw all my Sacred Crown girls eventually as well. Keep an eye out for those. Likes, comments, and reblogs (NOT reposts) are appreciated and welcomed!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Riittakerttu Kaltiala

Published: Oct 30, 2023

Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, 58, is a Finnish-born and trained adolescent psychiatrist, the chief psychiatrist in the department of adolescent psychiatry at Finland’s Tampere University Hospital. She treats patients, teaches medical students, and conducts research in her field—publishing more than 230 scientific articles. 

In 2011, Dr. Kaltiala was assigned a new responsibility. She was to oversee the establishment of a gender identity service for minors, making her among the first physicians in the world to head a clinic devoted to the treatment of gender-distressed young people. Since then, she has personally participated in the assessments of more than 500 such adolescents.

Earlier this year, The Free Press ran a whistleblower account by Jamie Reed, a former case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She recounted her growing alarm at the effects of treatments that sought to transition minors to the opposite sex, and her escalating conviction that patients were being harmed by their treatment.

Although a recent New York Times investigation largely corroborated Reed’s account, many activists and members of the media continue to dismiss Reed’s claims because she is not a physician. 

Dr. Kaltiala is. And her concerns are likely to get more attention in the U.S. now that a young woman who medically transitioned as a teenager has just sued the doctors who supervised her treatment, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to the suit, the AAP, in advocating for youth transition, has made “outright fraudulent statements” about evidence for “the radical new treatment model, and the known dangers and potential side effects of the medical interventions it advocates.” 

Here, Dr. Kaltiala tells her own story, describing her increasing worries about the treatment she approved for vulnerable patients, and her decision to speak out. 

--

Early in my medical studies, I knew I wanted to be a psychiatrist. I decided to specialize in treating adolescents because I was fascinated by the process of young people actively exploring who they are and seeking their role in the world. My patients’ adult lives are still ahead of them, so it can make a huge difference to someone’s future to help a young person who is on a destructive track to find a more favorable course. And there are great rewards in doing individual therapeutic work. 

Over the past dozen or so years there has been a dramatic development in my field. A new protocol was announced that called for the social and medical gender transition of children and teenagers who experienced gender dysphoria—that is, a discordance between one’s biological sex and an internal feeling of being a different gender. 

This condition has been described for decades, and the 1950s is seen as the beginning of the modern era of transgender medicine. During the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first, small numbers of mostly adult men with lifelong gender distress have been treated with estrogen and surgery to help them live as women. Then in recent years came new research on whether medical transition—primarily hormonal—could be done successfully on minors.

One motivation of the medical professionals overseeing these treatments was to prevent young people from facing the difficulties adult men had experienced in trying to convincingly appear as women. The most prominent advocates of youth transition were a group of Dutch clinicians. They published a breakthrough paper in 2011 establishing that if young people with gender dysphoria were able to avoid their natural puberty by blocking it with pharmaceuticals, followed by receiving opposite-sex hormones, they could start living their transgender lives earlier and more credibly. 

It became known as the “Dutch protocol.” The patient population the Dutch doctors described was a small number of young people—almost all male—who, from their earliest years, insisted they were girls. The carefully selected patients, apart from their gender distress, were mentally healthy and high-functioning. The Dutch clinicians reported that following early intervention, these young people thrived as members of the opposite sex. The protocol was quickly adopted internationally as the gold standard treatment in this new field of pediatric gender medicine.

Concurrently, there arose an activist movement that declared gender transition was not just a medical procedure, but a human right. This movement became increasingly high profile, and the activists’ agenda dominated the media coverage of this field. Advocates for transition also understood the power of the emerging technology of social media. In response to all this, in Finland the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health wanted to create a national pediatric gender program. The task was given to the two hospitals that already housed gender identity services for adults. In 2011, my department was tasked with opening this new service, and I as the chief psychiatrist became the head of it. 

Even so, I had some serious questions about all this. We were being told to intervene in healthy, functioning bodies simply on the basis of a young person’s shifting feelings about gender. Adolescence is a complex period in which young people are consolidating their personalities, exploring sexual feelings, and becoming independent of their parents. Identity achievement is the outcome of successful adolescent development, not its starting point.

At our hospital, we had a big round of discussions with bioethicists. I expressed my concern that gender transition would interrupt and disrupt this crucial psychological and physical developmental stage. Finally, we obtained a statement from a national board on health ethics cautiously suggesting we undertake this new intervention. 

We are a country of 5.5 million with a nationalized healthcare system, and because we required a second opinion to change identity documents and proceed to gender surgery, I have personally met and evaluated the majority of young patients at both clinics considering transition: to date, more than 500 young people. Approval for transition was not automatic. In early years, our psychiatric department agreed to transition for about half of those referred. In recent years, this has dropped to about twenty percent.

As the service got underway starting in 2011, there were many surprises. Not only did the patients come, they came in droves. Around the Western world the numbers of gender-dysphoric children were skyrocketing. 

But the ones who came were nothing like what was described by the Dutch. We expected a small number of boys who had persistently declared they were girls. Instead, 90 percent of our patients were girls, mainly 15 to 17 years old, and instead of being high-functioning, the vast majority presented with severe psychiatric conditions.

Some came from families with multiple psychosocial problems. Most of them had challenging early childhoods marked by developmental difficulties, such as extreme temper tantrums and social isolation. Many had academic troubles. It was common for them to have been bullied—but generally not regarding their gender presentation. In adolescence they were lonely and withdrawn. Some were no longer in school, instead spending all their time alone in their room. They had depression and anxiety, some had eating disorders, many engaged in self-harm, a few had experienced psychotic episodes. Many—many—were on the autism spectrum.

Remarkably, few had expressed any gender dysphoria until their sudden announcement of it in adolescence. Now they were coming to us because their parents, usually just mothers, had been told by someone in an LGBT organization that gender identity was their child’s real problem, or the child had seen something online about the benefits of transition. 

Even during the first few years of the clinic, gender medicine was becoming rapidly politicized. Few were raising questions about what the activists—who included medical professionals—were saying. And they were saying remarkable things. They asserted that not only would the feelings of gender distress immediately disappear if young people start to medically transition, but also that all their mental health problems would be alleviated by these interventions. Of course, there is no mechanism by which high doses of hormones resolve autism or any other underlying mental health condition.

Because what the Dutch had described differed so dramatically from what I was seeing in our clinic, I thought maybe there was something unusual about our patient population. So I started talking about our observations with a network of professionals in Europe. I found out that everybody was dealing with a similar caseload of girls with multiple psychiatric problems. Colleagues from different countries were confused by this, too. Many said it was a relief to hear their experience was not unique. 

But no one was saying anything publicly. There was a feeling of pressure to provide what was supposed to be a wonderful new treatment. I felt in myself, and saw in others, a crisis of confidence. People stopped trusting their own observations about what was happening. We were having doubts about our education, clinical experience, and ability to read and produce scientific evidence.

Soon after our hospital began offering hormonal interventions for these patients, we began to see that the miracle we had been promised was not happening. What we were seeing was just the opposite.

The young people we were treating were not thriving. Instead, their lives were deteriorating. We thought, what is this? Because there wasn’t a hint in studies that this could happen. Sometimes the young people insisted their lives had improved and they were happier. But as a medical doctor, I could see that they were doing worse. They were withdrawing from all social activities. They were not making friends. They were not going to school. We continued to network with colleagues in different countries who said they were seeing the same things.

I became so concerned that I embarked on a study with my Finnish colleagues to describe our patients. We methodically went through the records of those who had been treated at the clinic its first two years, and we characterized how troubled they were—one of them was mute—and how much they differed from the Dutch patients. For example, more than a quarter of our patients were on the autism spectrum. Our study was published in 2015, and I believe it was the first journal publication from a gender clinician raising serious questions about this new treatment. 

I knew others were making the same observations at their clinics, and I hoped my paper would spark discussion about their concerns—that’s how medicine corrects itself. But our field, instead of acknowledging the problems we described, became more committed to expanding these treatments. 

In the U.S., your first pediatric gender clinic opened in Boston in 2007. Fifteen years later there were more than 100 such clinics. As the U.S. protocols developed, fewer limitations were put on transition. A Reuters investigation found that some U.S. clinics approved hormone treatments at a minor’s first visit. The U.S. pioneered a new treatment standard, called “gender-affirming care,” which urged clinicians simply to accept a child’s assertion of a trans identity, and to stop being “gatekeepers” who raised concerns about transition.

Around 2015, in addition to the very psychiatrically ill patients, a new set of patients started arriving at our clinic. We began to see groups of teenage girls, also usually from 15 to 17 years of age from the same small towns, or even the same schools, telling the same life stories and the same anecdotes about their childhoods, including their sudden realization that they were transgender—despite no prior history of dysphoria. We realized they were networking and exchanging information about how to talk to us. And so, we got our first experience of social contagion–linked gender dysphoria. This, too, was happening in pediatric gender clinics around the world, and again health providers were failing to speak up. 

I understood this silence. Anyone, including physicians, researchers, academics, and writers, who raised concerns about the growing power of gender activists, and about the effects of medically transitioning young people, were subjected to organized campaigns of vilification and threats to their careers. 

In 2016, because of several years of growing concern about the harms of transition on vulnerable young patients, Finland’s two pediatric gender services changed their protocols. Now, if young people had other, more urgent problems than gender dysphoria that needed to be addressed, we promptly referred those patients for more appropriate treatment, such as psychiatric counseling, rather than continuing their gender identity assessment. 

There was a lot of pressure against this approach from activists, politicians, and the media. The Finnish press published stories of young people dissatisfied with our decision, portraying them as victims of gender clinics that were forcing them to put their lives on hold. A Finnish medical journal ran a piece that took the perspective of dissatisfied activists titled, “Why do trans adolescents not get their blockers?” 

But I was trained that medical treatment has to be based on medical evidence, and that medicine has to constantly correct itself. When you are a physician who sees something is not working, it is your duty to organize, research, inform your colleagues, inform a big audience, and stop doing that treatment.

Finland’s national healthcare system gives us the ability to investigate current medical practices and set new guidelines. In 2015 I personally asked a national body, called the Council for Choices in Health Care (COHERE), to create national guidelines for treatment of gender dysphoria in minors. In 2018 I renewed this request with colleagues, and it was accepted. COHERE commissioned a systematic evidence review to assess the reliability of the current medical literature on youth transition.

Around this same time, eight years into the opening of the pediatric gender clinic, some previous patients started coming back to tell us they now regretted their transition. Some—called “detransitioners”—wished to return to their birth sex. These were another kind of patient who wasn’t supposed to exist. The authors of the Dutch protocol asserted that rates of regret were miniscule. 

But the foundation on which the Dutch protocol was based is crumbling. Researchers have shown that their data had some serious problems, and that in their follow-up, they failed to include many of the very people who may have regretted transition or changed their minds. One of the patients had died due to complications from genital transition surgery. 

There is an oft-repeated statistic in the world of pediatric gender medicine that only one percent or less of young people who transition subsequently detransition. The studies asserting this, too, rest on biased questions, inadequate samples, and short timelines. I believe regret is far more widespread. For example, one new study shows that nearly 30 percent of patients in the sample ceased filling their hormone prescription within four years. 

Usually, it takes several years for the full impact of transition to settle in. This is when young people who have entered adulthood confront what it means to possibly be sterile, to have damaged sexual function, to have great difficulty in finding romantic partners.

It is devastating to speak to patients who say they were naive and misguided about what transition would mean for them, and who now feel it was a terrible mistake. Mainly these patients tell me they were so convinced they needed to transition that they concealed information or lied in the assessment process.

I continued to research the issue and in 2018, with colleagues, I published another paper, one that investigated the origin of the surging numbers of gender-dysphoric young people. But we didn’t find answers as to why this was happening, or what to do about it. We noted in our study a point that is generally ignored by gender activists. That is, for the overwhelming majority of gender dysphoric children—around 80 percent—their dysphoria resolves itself if they are left to go through natural puberty. Often these children come to realize they are gay.

In June of 2020 a major event happened in my field. Finland’s national medical body, COHERE, released its findings and recommendations regarding youth gender transition. It concluded that the studies touting the success of the “gender-affirming” model were biased and unreliable—systematically so in some cases. 

The authors wrote: “In light of available evidence, gender reassignment of minors is an experimental practice.” The report stated that young patients seeking gender transition should be instructed about “the reality of a lifelong commitment to medical therapy, the permanence of the effects, and the possible physical and mental adverse effects of the treatments.” The report warned that young people, whose brains were still maturing, lacked the ability to properly “assess the consequences” of making decisions they would have to live with for the “rest of their lives.”

COHERE also recognized the dangers of giving hormone treatments to young people with serious mental illness. The authors concluded that for all these reasons, gender transition should be postponed “until adulthood.”

It had taken quite a while, but I felt vindicated.

Fortunately, Finland is not alone. After similar reviews, the UK and Sweden have come to similar conclusions. And many other countries with national healthcare systems are re-evaluating their “gender-affirming” stance. 

I felt an increasing obligation to patients, to medicine, and to the truth, to speak outside of Finland against the widespread transitioning of gender-distressed minors. I have been particularly concerned about American medical societies, who as a group continue to assert that children know their “authentic” selves, and a child who declares a transgender identity should be affirmed and started on treatment. (In recent years, the “trans” identity has evolved to include more young people who say they are “nonbinary”—that is, they feel they don’t belong to either sex—and other gender variations.)

Medical organizations are supposed to transcend politics in favor of upholding standards that protect patients. However, in the U.S. these groups—including the American Academy of Pediatrics—have been actively hostile to the message my colleagues and I are urging.

I attempted to address the rising international concerns about pediatric gender transition at this year’s annual conference of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. But the two proposed panels were rejected by the academy. This is highly disturbing. Science does not progress through silencing. Doctors who refuse to consider evidence presented by critics are putting patient safety at risk.

I am also disturbed by how gender clinicians routinely warn American parents that there is an enormously elevated risk of suicide if they stand in the way of their child’s transition. Any young person’s death is a tragedy, but careful research shows that suicide is very rare. It is dishonest and extremely unethical to pressure parents into approving gender medicalization by exaggerating the risk of suicide.

This year the Endocrine Society of the U.S. reiterated its endorsement of hormonal gender transition for young people. The president of the society wrote in a letter to The Wall Street Journal that such care was “lifesaving” and “reduces the risk of suicide.” I was a co-author of a letter in response, signed by 20 clinicians from nine countries, refuting his assertion. We wrote that, “Every systematic review of evidence to date, including one published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, has found the evidence for mental health benefits of hormonal interventions for minors to be of low or very low certainty.” 

Medicine, unfortunately, is not immune to dangerous groupthink that results in patient harm. What is happening to dysphoric children reminds me of the recovered memory craze of the 1980s and ’90s. During that period, many troubled women came to believe false memories, often suggested to them by their therapists, of nonexistent sexual abuse by their fathers or other family members. This abuse, the therapists said, explained everything that was wrong with the lives of their patients. Families were torn apart, and some people were prosecuted based on made-up assertions. It ended when therapists, journalists, and lawyers investigated and exposed what was happening.

We need to learn from such scandals. Because, like recovered memory, gender transition has gotten out of hand. When medical professionals start saying they have one answer that applies everywhere, or that they have a cure for all of life’s pains, that should be a warning to us all that something has gone very wrong. 

--

Medicine has become infected by ideology.

[ryogai]

Verse : Blue Exorcist

Age: 25

Nix was born in an estate, tucked away in the mountains and cut off from society. Even though she was born being able to see demons and the like, she hadn't actually seen any for a large portion of her life. Her family focused on praying to and paying tribute to a Shinto God by the name of Kuraokami. An ancient dragon but also a deity with power over the rain and snow. They were obsessed with creating a member with a high concentration of that very demon's blood. Finally the demon took interest in one of their women and Nix was the result of that temporary bond. The proof of her half-demon heritage was that her left arm had odd pale blue birthmarks that clearly resembled scales that developed in patches. This was was the result they waited generations for.

The family members were ecstatic over this development and Nix wasn't sure as to why until years later. Her childhood consisted of training without a clear explanation as to why. Why did she learn how to make and use various medicines? Why learn how to fight with a blade? All they would say was it was for 'her own good'. When in truth, they were wanting to make Nix stronger for their own purposes. It wasn't until she reached her early teenage years that she discovered the truth for herself. Their plan was to make her stronger and in doing so, they believed it would make her blood that much more potent. Why? For them to drink in the hopes of becoming closer to the draconic demon they so revered.

Even though Nix knew nothing of the outside world, she knew staying at home would result in her being bled out by her own family. So she gathered what supplies she could carry and snuck out in the dead of night. It was the first time she ever stepped outside the estate grounds and the last time she ever saw her home again. The following years were a struggle in various ways. Adapting and learning about society, a world completely new to her. It was thanks to an Exorcist that took her in after they noticed her being able to see the creatures usually invisible to the majority of human beings. They were the one to get Nix accustomed to this 'new world' and taught her all she needed to know. The years of training before hand gave their guardian the idea to officially train her to become an Exorcist as well.

Though when that kind Exorcist was killed, it left Nix alone once more. Sure, she had managed to become a Middle Rank Exorcist but was now left alone. Her demonic blood made her stronger than the average human but her guardian and friend advised her to keep her left arm covered. Such things were best kept secret when it came to the True Cross Order. It was hard to do, especially when her heightened anger would put her at risk of that side of herself taking over. Sadly, the friend passed away before they could find an item to help suppress it. So what did she do? Accepted the Order's offer to take a job teaching at the academy. Little risk of losing control in the heat of battle right..? Nix was not aware of the events that would take place, time later.

Nix has the Meister classifications of Knight and Doctor.

When Nix's temper breaks, snow will start to fall around a large area no matter the current weather. This is a sign that her demonic side had started taking over and things will only grow more dangerous from there. She thrives in the rain and bodies of water most though this means she can't handle the summer heat very well without taking breaks to cool off. Though she also has a high tolerance for the cold instead.