#the downside to it being open to public access is the families who bring kids there who then proceed to scream at the top of their lungs

[currentlyonstandbi]

visited my state’s public library today

[jaceyneedsabetterusername]

Sex Tape

Pairings: Johnny Depp x Reader

Request: “ If you take requests, would you consider doing johnny reaction to like theirs sex tape getting leaked? Reader may also be a celebrity or not. Whatever you prefer “ - @fanficshitandother 

Warnings: Mentions of sex but no actual smut

Word Count: 1800

A/N: Sorry this one is so short. I was having a harder time writing it than I thought I would. I hope you enjoy!

__________________________________

Shit. 

You knew this was a bad idea when he suggested it but no. He just had to have this video “for when he was away filming.” It always ended like this, though, right? It always started out as fun and games until bam! Celebrity sex tape leaked! 

The gossip talk show video that your best friend had sent you was still playing on your phone and you watched in silent horror as the red haired woman talked about your sex life to her male counterpart as if she had any actual right to have an opinion. In the top corner was a picture of you and Johnny at the red carpet for the premier of the Crimes of Grindelwald, his arm around your waist and both of you smiling for the paparazzi pictures. “Okay, guys. You are going to want to hear this,” She started, clasping her absurdly long acrylic-clad fingers together and holding onto her knees, “So there has been yet another sex tape leaked and I want you to guess who’s it is.” She looked over to her co-host. He had a push broom mustache that was bleached blonde to match his hair. 

The man hummed before waving his hand, which also donned long yellow acrylics, “I swear, Laurel, if this is another Kardashian or Paris Hilton tape, I’m gonna scream. That’s such old news.” 

“Actually, it’s someone that I certainly didn’t expect. Johnny Depp and his wife, Y/N L/N.” She dropped the news and the co-star’s mouth dropped. 

“Are you serious? Like Jack Sparrow, Sweeney Todd, Willy Wonka, Johnny Depp?” He asked in total shock, “I didn’t expect that either! But you know what? I feel like he’d be really good in bed.” 

He and Laurel both laughed, “You’re so bad!” She squealed, hitting him with the paper notes in her hand, “But, between you and me,” She leaned in, as if she was telling an actual secret that wasn’t being broadcast on the internet, “I did see it.” 

“And?” 

“It was pretty hot, I can’t lie. That Y/N is a very lucky girl indeed.” The pair giggled like a pair of school girls. 

You were absolutely mortified. How did this happen? How many people had seen it? Who had seen it? Oh God… all you could imagine was your family stumbling across the video or, debatably worse, Johnny’s kids. This had to be one of the worst moments of your life. 

You turned off the video and quickly dialed your husband. “Hello, love.” He greeted cheerily on the other end. The faint sound of cars passing in the background told you he was probably driving home from the meeting he had been at. 

“Did you see it? Did you hear it?” You asked frantically. 

“What?” He asked, confused.

“The video! The video got leaked!” You ran your fingers through your hair messily, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. 

“What video?” He questioned, not sounding like he fully understood what had happened, but then you could almost feel the weight of realization falling on him, “Wait, our video?” 

“Yes! Our video!” You were yelling at this point, not at him but at the situation and thankfully he understood that. 

“Okay, okay. We’ll- Hang on my manager is calling. Probably to tell me about it. I’ll be home in five minutes. I love you.” He signed off your call quickly before hanging up without giving you the chance to respond. 

While you waited for him to get there, you spiraled down the rabbit hole that was the tabloids and social media. Your phone buzzed off the charts as everyone from your sister to Helena Bonham Carter called you to ask if you were okay. Of course, you weren’t. But it was one phone call from a former college roommate, Sheila, had really gotten your blood boiling. 

“It’s okay! If anything, this is just going to make you more famous! Look at all the other celebs who’ve had their sex tapes leaked. They’re like, super famous.” Sheila sounded more excited than she should have, which certainly made you question her motives behind calling you in the first place. Since marrying Johnny, you’d had the unfortunate displeasure of having to cut a few people off from your past who had randomly called you up after years of little to no contact, asking more favors in the movie industry, money, or even just for the clout of saying they knew you. There really was such a downside to this whole marrying famous person thing that nobody ever really talked about - not that you would take it back, though, of course. You loved Johnny more than anything. 

Still, when the words left her mouth, you felt a flash of anger swell up, “Contrary to what a lot of people might believe, being famous actually kind of sucks,” You spat angrily, “And call me crazy, but I don’t exactly feel thrilled at knowing the whole world as access to a video of my naked ass!” 

“At least it’s a good naked ass, though! Your boobs are looking pretty good too. Did you get them done?” She asked bluntly, still not a care to be heard in her voice. You swore you could almost detect a fake valley girl accent too. 

Your mouth dropped open in disbelief at the words coming from her voice, “I can’t believe you.” Without giving her a chance to respond, you clicked the off button before flipping her off through the screen, though you knew she couldn’t see it. The audacity of some people. 

The front door swung open, drawing your attention as Johnny hurried into the house, setting his bag down by the front door. “How bad is it?” You asked, knowing his manager must have told him the full extent. 

“Do you want the truth?” Johnny saw as panic and humiliation swept across your face, knowing that perhaps that wasn’t the best way to break it to you that it was pretty bad. He stepped forward and wrapped you in his arms, “I told Harrison to take ‘em down. Whenever he found one, he said he’d get it deleted. 

You sighed defeatedly, “That doesn’t stop the fact that a bunch of people already saw it.” Your arms wrapped around Johnny’s torso and you allowed your head to fall against his chest, trying to calm yourself with his scent- exotic spicy cologne and old books. 

His large hand came to stroke through your hair, “That is true,” He conceded with a heavy breath, “But, it also means that fewer and fewer people will continue to see it.” There was a pause in which neither of you said anything, only took a few minutes to hold onto each other while you thought about the future now, “Y’know, I can’t help but feel like this is partly my fault. I shouldn’t have asked to make the video. I’m sorry, Y/N.” 

You shook your head in disagreement, “I agreed to do it too. It’s on both of us. In retrospect, we should have put it on an actual VHS tape or something that would be more difficult to get into the tabloid’s hands.” 

You were tired of this - of this constant running from the vultures that prayed off your every misstep just to turn them against you and create headlining stories. You felt like you couldn’t even breathe without a scandal unless the media allowed it. You were just grateful that you happened to marry one of the most private actors in Hollywood, knowing that whatever pressure you felt, more public figures like Angelina Jolie had it much worse. Still, something inside you stirred, a decision that you’d stop living in fear. 

Johnny pulled back and gave you that infamous cocked eyebrow look of wonder, one that you’d mostly seen him use as Jack Sparrow. Little did everyone know, it was a gesture he’d picked up on doing in real life as well. “Do we even have a VHS player anymore?” 

You chuckled and buried your head back into his white shirt, “I don’t even know. I feel like there must be one laying around somewhere. And if not, I’ll go down to a pawn shop and pick one up just for you to use while filming.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean,” You leaned back, pulling on his shirt to bring him down closer to your level, “That if we’re going to be making you another one of these videos, it’s gonna be on something that stays only between us.” 

Your husband nearly choked on air, “Another one? After what just happened?” 

“Only if you want to and only if it stays on something physical like a CD or VHS that we can mutually agree to burn and destroy if anything happens.” You giggled and Johnny joined in with a low chuckle as well, “But… the video was leaked. We knew that was a risk when we made it. But, y’know what? I’m tired of living in fear of the paparazzi and public. They’ve already seen us fuck. There’s not much else we’ve got to lose.” 

His dark eyes flashed with mischief before he took off in a light jog down the hall without a word. You followed him, “Where are you going?” You giggled, turning the corner to find him digging through your little Harry Potter closet under the stairs. 

When he stood up, he shook his long hair out of his eyes messily and held up an old tape recorder that had to be at least twenty years old. Johnny swayed towards you, jokingly flirtatious as he spoke, “Well, Mrs. Depp, it would seem that you’re in luck because your husband likes to hoard old shit.” 

The grey and black machine seemed to stare at you and some hesitation set in again but then you remembered what you’d said: I’m tired of living in fear… there’s not much else we’ve got to lose. 

Johnny flicked open the side compartment and his eyes opened in surprise to find a tape still in there. He lifted it from the slide and looked it over, shocked to see that it appeared to be an unused blank tape, “Well, well, looks like we’re in luck.” 

Biting your lip, you looked up at him with those eyes before grabbing his hand and running upstairs to your bedroom, dragging him along. “The world thinks they’ve seen us fuck. They only got a preview.” 

“Only a preview? I thought we went pretty hard last time?” He countered with a low challenging laugh.

You turned around at the top of the stairs, one hand on the banister as you turned to face him. His body collided with yours, his hand reaching around the small of your back to steady the two of you and you arched your body into his, being sure to brush your body against his groin, “Oh, Johnny… we’re both throwing our backs out tonight.” 

[starryburglar-archive]

Ignis Info

Full name: Ignis Crane

Species: Human

Age: 19 ( verse dependant )

Sexuality: Heterosexual

FC(s): Tsugumi Hazawa ( Bandori ) || Makoto Nijima ( Persona 5 ) || Shailene Woodley

Bio: Ignis is the only child of the Crane family, a powerful and rich family from Germany. Their business? It used to be dedicated to selling to the public nothing but the most quality art products at an accessible price, while also participating in charities. That has changed, however, with the death of the previous head, Marcus Crane. It was a tragedy, all happening during a car accident – it was considered a miracle that his daughter, Ignis, survived with little to no injuries outside of a few broken bones.

The death of her father caused much pain to the little girl – she was six at the time, and the two of them were very close: he introduced her to the world of art, the basics of drawings and painting, that there are no limits to the imagination. Once he was out of the picture, however, not only did Elizabeth take over the company, changing the angle from art to calculators and office materials (and stopping the charities altogether) but also had complete control over her daughter’s agency and will for almost a decade. Strick classes, no light in her life, forced to become a perfect woman who knew multiple languages and how to behave like a proper upper-class lady. The few times Ignis defied her mother at first, the punishments could be either several slaps in the face of being locked in her bedroom for hours.

Ignis was scarred for life, being physically and mentally abused and without any way of contacting the outside world. But everyone has their limits – she reached her at the age of fourteen. She wanted a life, a normal life, to feel the sun, go to school like most teenagers, to simply… live. It took more than a couple of months, but her plan worked. With nothing but a small bag pack, her most important belongings, and cutting any way her mother could use to track her – so, no mobile phone, no credit cards, no electronic devices – and left the manor in the depths of the night, took the first train available to France, and left Germany during a cold winter’s night.

It’s not like she travelled to another country without a plan in mind. She knew exactly why to go to France and not anywhere else. That country is where the only living relative who actually cares about her lives: Marianne Crane, her grandmother and father’s mother. The woman, currently in her late 60’s, was surprised to see her only granddaughter, now fully a teen, at her door’s house so early in the morning. But it didn’t take too long for the woman to catch up to what happened – after all, she disliked Elizabeth Woodford from day one, never liked the idea of her son marrying her, and learning what she did to Ignis only increased her hate for the woman. They began a new life together, depending on one another, helping each other… Marianne did everything she could to help Ignis get enrolled into a decent High School. It started slowly, cutting ties with the past – such as cutting Ignis’ long hair to have it barely above her shoulders – and having new additions to the family, such as a Dalmatian whom Ignis named Shady.

Due to the lack of communication with other people – either because she didn’t see that many people or wasn’t allowed to talk period – Ignis has a hard time opening up to others. Not to mention she avoids talking too in-depth about her family outside of her grandmother and her father; to avoid the bad memories, of course, but also to prevent from being recognised as the daughter of a rich family. Despite the awkwardness at first, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s a sweet girl who will offer a hand to others if necessary. Another downside to not be used to social interactions is being quite slow in the romantic department, not catching up to flirting or the like as fast as most people.

                                 -----------------------------------------------

V001: Timid Artist

Default main verse. All the information necessary is at her bio page; this is also her default “College Verse”, in which she’s studying to get a degree in arts. Aside from getting paid by walking the dogs of the neighbourhood, Ignis accepts commissions online and gets paid via Patreon. She would like to teach young kids how to draw, or just be a Kindergarten teacher in some shape.

V002: Sanctuary Underneath the School

Amour Sucre verse. After moving with her grandmother, Ignis never thought she would end up assisting to a school like this. Very pink and bright, even the same sounds like out of a romantic comedy. But she does her best to live her daily life as normal as possible, being careful to not get recognized by who her mother is by accident. She usually spends time in the basement where she paints the walls… very illegal, but is where she goes to find peace and leave behind expectations and mean girls.

NOTE: Age is 16 - 17 in this verse within the context of the original Amour Sucre. If it goes into the realm of MCLUL, then her main age is 19 and she’s ( in most versions of this AU ) married to Castiel Heinsworth / @kindcstguardian

V003: Hiding in Plain Sight

Alternate main verse. Ignis underestimated the persistence and resources her mother has at her disposal being a millionaire and all. She and her grandmother had to react quickly, moving to a country which they were sure her mother wouldn’t suspect of them living there. Marianne, luckily, made the process easier than it could’ve been thanks to some old friends from said country, but is still a sad departure.

V004: A Stranger in the Chat

Mystic Messanger verse. It all started with a mysterious cell phone. Ignis had only picked it up to return it to its owner if given the chance. One thing led to another and curiosity killed the cat – it’s still strange how all of this was happening not too long after moving to Korea with her grandmother. And now, the artist was stuck in a mysterious apartment with nothing but her backpack, her cell phone, and a private app to RFA’s chat log.

V005: Royalty from Beelzenia [Private w/kindcstguardian]

Madness of Duke Venomania verse. The Crane aristocrats, like any other citizen from the Beelzenian Empire, share the same physical features. Brown and red hair or eyes. Ignis inherited the red eyes from her father, who inherited them from his mother way back when -- the bright brown hair, on the other hand, came from her mother.

The happy family didn’t last for long, as her father tragically passed away. The reason? Poison. Someone had poisoned the aristocrat kind man, leaving his wife and daughter alone in the world. This is when the lady began to show her true colours -- Ignis saw just how cruel and despicable she could be. Elizabeth spent the majority of the following 12 years shaping Ignis into the perfect, passive little wife, all while searching for a suitor for her.

Soon enough, much quicker than Ignis would’ve anticipated, she was engaged to Sateriaris Venomania.

V006: Speechless Lady

Royalty verse. Ever since her father’s death, Ignis has been living under an iron grim. Always occupied, always with etiquette lessons on how to be a proper Lady of society. She knew what her mother was trying to do. It was so obvious to her and the staff of the mansion. Ignis Crane was to be made into the perfect bride to be, so the search for a husband would be easier on her end and Elizabeth Crane could arrange a marriage for Ignis. All for the sake of money, titles and recognition.

She couldn’t say no, she couldn’t say anything ever. Ignis was nothing but a puppet for her mother, to be toyed and played with until she was perfect.

V007: Witness my Resolve

Persona 5 or Sweet Persona verse. Despite doing the impossible, Ignis didn’t feel like she had accomplished much. Sure, being with her grandmother and as far away from her old life as possible, down to the point of moving to Japan, was leagues better than the life of abuse she endured for so long. And yet, nothing about her had changed -- Ignis was still a pretty reserved girl who had trouble interacting with others and opening up ( not to mention the language barrier as a new obstacle ).

Things didn’t get better once she began attending Shujin Academy. All alone and timid, not many people tried to talk to her, and those who did struggle with their broken English or her broken Japanese. The gym coach, Mr Kamoshida, didn’t make things better for her. He kept pushing her forward under the excuse of “It will help you open up!” but it only made her more anxious, not to mention the guy itself freaked out, even if Ignis never knew why for half a year.

Imagine her surprise, the following months, when the pieces began to fall into place. It all happened one day after class, all Ignis wanted to do was return to Sakamoto Ryuji his school book that he had forgotten at the end of the class, but instead of simply returning it to him and leaving, she ended up on a reality much like her own but very different at the same time.

That’s when she saw them. The two boys and one girl, one being Sakamoto, all dressed up in leather, black or red, and wearing masks, with them was a strange-looking cat ( and it talked! ), and in front of them was Kamoshida... a Kamoshida that resembled her worst nightmares, one that made her feel scared for the first time since she ran away. The strange creatures immediately captured her, bringing her up to Kamoshida, who only laughed at her suffering. And all Ignis could think of was... Why? Why was this happening? Why couldn’t she do anything to escape? But, is running away the best option?

Then, she heard a voice. ‘My, my, you have finally awoken, my child,’ and her head spin and hurt like hell. ‘Running away can only get you so far. Is this how you really want to live your life? Afraid like a mouse, constantly running? Deep down, you know you don’t want this,’ her body juggled in all directions while still feeling the firm grip of the monsters, she was trying to escape. ‘I am Thou, Thou art I. Let me grant you the means to push forward and not turn back in fear.’

Ignis felt a rush of adrenaline in her veins, enough to set herself free while feeling something take form in her face. A mask, a Venetian mask, and she knew what to do next. When she ripped it off her face, it felt like being born again. Her clothes changed to go with the others, her right hand now held a long silver trident and behind her stood her Persona, Jean D’Arc.

CODENAME: DA VINCI || PERSONA: JEAN D’ARC || ARCANA: LOVERS

Note: Since this verse will be used for the Sweet Persona AU as well ( a MCL AU heavily inspired by P5 ), her awakening takes place inside a different palace. Also, her age in this verse isn’t 19 but 16.

V008: Beginning Anew

Fire Emblem Three Houses verse. To be written in more detail later but here are some important tidbits:

Ignis is the only child of the Cranes, which is a respected noble family from the Empire. 

Her father died when she was young and, not too long after, her mother took control over her life, forcing her to be the perfect child.

It was unknown for 10 years but Ignis bears a Minor Crest, even though nobody can tell which crest it is. (That crest is one of the ones lost to history, the Crest of Noa)

This way of living was too much for her. At the age of fourteen, she fleed the place that used to be her home, nowadays known as the House Woodford, and left the Empire. 

She went to live with her grandmother, who is currently living in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

The girl has an affinity for magic; with the help of her grandmother, she enrolled in the Royal School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad. Her top marks and dedication guaranteed her a letter of recommendation to, later on, enroll in the Officers Academy as a student of the Blue Lions.

She’s 16 pre-timeskip and 20 post-timeskip.

She specializes in magic and sucks with most weapons except the bow. Her class is probably the Warlock.

V009: Obey me

Obey me verse. How did this happen? How did this come to be? One second, Ignis was on her way home from class, already thinking about what to cook for dinner and to also do some quick grocery shopping for the dogs, and then the next... She, well, si not even in the same familiar streets or in the same familiar town anymore. It took more than a couple of hours for her to catch up on what’s going on and even then this all feels like a strange dream. The Royal Academy o Diavolo?? She’s a transfer student from the human side?? There are demons in this realm?? At least half of them are named after the demons linked to the seven deadly sins? Oh boy, this is going to be wild.

V010: Overwatch

Overwatch verse. Tired of being forced to be basically a living doll --- never talking back, never acting out of line, always looing, acting and being perfect, always being AFRAID --- for her entire life after her father’s death, Ignis Crane decided to take matters into her own hands. It took at least a year to plan out and do it on her own so she wouldn’t be discovered, plus the many trial and errors she run across when building her own machinery, but once she was ready, the heist began.

Ignis cut her long, beautiful brown hair, leaving it as short as a boy’s haircut; her perfectly tidy and clean dresses were replaced by a worn-out hoodie, shirt, jeans and running shoes, all covered in dirty, paint or both; the hood of said hoodie covered her head, while a grey scarf covered her face just below the nose and a pair of goggles rested on the upper side of her face.

At first glance, Ignis looked like a street-rat graffiti artist ready to vandalize any wall no matter what. Well, good, the disguise worked. Sure, she carried around lots of spray paint cans but not all of them worked as intended, not to mention the flamethrower she had on her back alongside her backpack with money, some food and replacement parts. The spray paint cans had paint in them, yes, but at least half of them were modified to work as bombs -- her way to stop the police or omnic ( or anyone, really ) chasing after her by leaving them in a sticky situation against the ground or wall. She also carried lots and lots of bedbugs to leave on the ground. The flamethrower, which she found by chance some years ago, was cleaned and refilled with fuel ( which her bag had more spares in case it runs out ). Ignis does have one more ace under her sleeve, a bomb, but didn’t have time to make a lot of those and still inexperienced in that area, so those little guys are reserved for special circumstances.

Her main goal, at first, was to not only become a runaway but to also expose her step-mother for the vile that she is. Her first heist was to her mother’s money vault, after all, and Ignis took as much money as she could before leaving, but not without leaving a message with her spray paint: Elizabeth Woodford is a Talon associate, she’s an enemy of society --- Phoenix. A few days later, after she began appearing on the news as a fugitive and criminal, Ignis felt so much satisfaction for ruining with her mother’s perfect image that she thought of continuing on with this, to mess with as many asshole rich people as possible and steal ( some of ) their money for those who need it.

V011: Kamiaso

Kamigami no Asobi verse. In order for his plan to proceed without any inconveniences, Zeus decided to bring not one but two humans to the Garden, to act as teachers and guides to the gods. Kusanagi Yui was his first choice from the beginning, but picking another worthy human was a tough choice. In the end, after searching and searching, inspecting different countries and such, he found his second candidate.

Ignis Crane, after returning home from her college classes, was planning to rest for a bit before doing her homework and other house chores. However, just as she was about to lay down on the sofa, a powerful light engulfed her whole, blinding her. The last thing she heard was Shady’s barks as the scenery around her changed. -- she was no longer at her house in Paris, France, but in a world unlike any other, and soon to be tasked to get along and live with literal all-mighty Gods.

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CONNECTIONS

Castiel Heinsworth :: [ Bae ]

:: Ignis ♥ At last I see the light [ Castiel ( kindcstguardian ) ] ::

Zen || Hyun Ryu :: [ Bae ]

:: Ignis ♥ Foolishly in love [ Zen ( kindcstguardian ) ] ::

Karamatsu Matsuno :: [ Bae ]

pending tag

Arthur Kirkland :: [ Bae ]

tba

Daria Novak :: [ Bae ]

pending tag

Kentin Bronsworth :: [ Martu ]

pending tag

[agilenano]

Agilenano - News: The New York Times will be free for high school students (over the next three anxious months)

America’s high school students are mostly sitting at home right now, alternating between scrolling Instagram, being bored, and being bored while scrolling Instagram. The New York Times wants to give them something to do. Through a deal with Verizon, the Times is giving free access to NYTimes.com and its mobile apps to American high school students for the next three months. The idea is that Times journalism can keep students informed as they deal with the dislocation caused by the coronavirus and the social constraints imposed on Americans as a result. “From April 6 to July 6, students and teachers will be able to access Times journalism online,” said Times CEO Mark Thompson and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg in a joint release. “This means that even while studying remotely, students will have deeply reported, expert journalism at their fingertips — from international issues to arts and culture to science, politics and more.” It’s a good deal for the kids, obviously, and it’s a good deal for the Times, for reasons discussed below. It’s also the latest event in more than two centuries of intersection between America’s newspapers and its schools — an exchange that’s mixed civic and commercial interests in ways that try to advance both. On June 8, 1795, the Portland Eastern Herald of Maine published an editorial proclaiming the merits of newspapers as a teaching tool. “Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers,” it argued, “but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools, and by the children in families…Learning in the hands of a few effects a nobility, but generally diffused is an effective barrier against the every invasion of the rights of man.” That combination — of honest hopes for improved social welfare and financial self-interest — has marked the relationship between newspapers and education across the two-plus centuries since. Newspapers-in-education programs took off in the United States in the 1930s and have both given students a window into the broader world and inculcated the newspaper-reading habit in generations of young future subscribers. No American newspaper has leaned into that project more than The New York Times, which has used its perch as a national newspaper to dip repeatedly into the education world. Just to look at the past couple of decades: Its Knowledge Network was an early attempt to link “Times content with faculty course material for both credit-bearing and continuing education courses” online, in 2007. In 2008, it bought a majority share of Epsilen, an online-learning platform. By 2010, it first partnered with universities to jointly offer for-credit courses, like a video class at Ball State’s j-school, and running a statewide initiative in Texas public schools. In 2011, it started offering teacher certification courses with an Arizona community college and continuing ed classes with USC. Those efforts developed at a time when the Times was seeking to diversify company revenue. But the cash crunch of the financial crisis led the paper to sell off its non-core assets and retrench around its central product, with many of those education partnerships falling away. (It sold Epsilen in 2012.) But they never stopped. (Did you know you can attend summer school at The School of The New York Times for just $5,825? Pay $95 to learn how to be a critic from A.O. Scott and Ben Brantley? Earn a certificate in virtual reality?) The decision to focus on its news product has paid off, of course, with a boom in digital subscriptions, a growing newsroom, and a generally robust future ahead of it. And some of its most noteworthy engagements with education have come with that core news offering. In early 2017, after Donald Trump’s election, there was a swell of audience interest in and goodwill toward high-level journalism, illustrated most clearly by the “Trump bump” in subscriptions the Times and others experienced. To try to capture a bit more of that spike, the Times launched a simple program that let anyone “sponsor” a Times digital subscription for a high school student. “Sponsor a student subscription and inspire the future generation of readers,” it pitched. Given that the marginal cost of an additional Times digital subscription is essentially zero, this functioned essentially as a donation to the Times — which, as a for-profit company and a proud institution, would find it difficult to just put a “Donate” button on article pages. Within one month, 15,500 donors had “sponsored” 1.3 million student subscriptions. (Some back-of-the-envelope math suggests that generated about $2 million for the Times.) Since then, the Times has gone back to the idea of sponsoring subscriptions for revenue. Last fall, it announced a partnership with Verizon to give free NYTimes.com access to students in Title I high schools (those with higher populations of poor and disadvantaged students). Of note in that announcement: Students and teachers only had access “when connected to their school’s network” — a situation very few American students are in right now thanks to COVID-19. Then there’s today’s announcement: The New York Times Company and Verizon today joined forces to offer all students and teachers in high schools within the U.S. free digital access to NYTimes.com. With students across the country impacted by school closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, this partnership will help to keep them educated, informed and connected. This time, crucially, access will not require being connected to a school’s network. Getting in will require teachers or school administrators registering and then giving over a list of their students’ emails. (So if you’ve got a bored high-schooler at home, you may need to bug someone in the school office to get this process going. Or, well, someone who is normally in the school office but currently in their living room.) Sorry, no homeschoolers. I’m going to assume that Verizon is paying the Times for the privilege here. (No details in the announcement, of course, but the Times could just as easily do this on its own.) But this would still be a very good deal for the Times even if money wasn’t involved and the PR benefit was nil. Most fundamentally, the Times gets millions of teenagers exposed to Times content — at a moment when, thanks to coronavirus, news consumption is waaaay up for all Americans. It’s easy to imagine these kids thinking of the Times as the place to go when they want to see the latest on the crisis — and some of them sharing Times stories in their networks. (It’s worth noting, of course, that the closure of schools means that any access to digital content is a matter of what resources students have at home — both in terms of access to a computer or smartphone and in terms of wifi or data access. Those can be wildly unequal from home to home, as America is finding out in its current experiment with distance learning.) Presumably, the students will get some version of the standard onboarding for new Times subscribers, which pushes newsletters and podcasts like The Daily. Those embed the Times into a daily ritual, either in their inboxes or their podcast app. And if a student subscribes to any, those will keep coming after the three-month free access is over. The Times also gets all those kids’ email addresses — admittedly, probably their school addresses instead of their Gmails — which (a) makes them registered, logged-in users, making it possible to learn their preferences and what kind of content they like, and (b) opens the door to future email marketing. (If I were the Times, I’d send every kid in this program an email in a couple months offering $1 or some other cheap price to extend access through the November election — another big potential hook to draw in even kids with limited interest in the news.) And all of this comes with no real financial downside. Not many teenagers have their own paid New York Times subscriptions, so there’s almost no risk of cannibalizing existing customers. The cost of providing access is just processing the email addresses and figuring out a marketing/onboarding plan. I am of the belief that the Times (and a few other national outlets, plus a larger number of niche outlets) still has a lot of potential growth in the education business. (The fact that coronavirus is currently accelerating distance learning and online education like nothing before will only increase that opportunity. As Scott Galloway recently pointed out, Google searches for “MasterClass” have passed searches for “business school.”) I’m on the record backing an education-ish acquisition like The Great Courses or MasterClass, as both a standalone product line and an upsell to a premium Times subscription. Education is a hard nut to crack; ask all the people saying MOOCs would take over higher ed a decade ago. But this sort of deal to bring in young readers is a no-brainer. Just for fun, here’s that piece from the June 8, 1795 Portland Eastern Herald — which survives today in the Portland Press Herald — advocating for the use of newspapers in education. #Schools #Education #Coronavirus #FeaturedArt #TheSchoolOfTheNewYorkTimes

Agilenano - News from Agilenano from shopsnetwork (4 sites) https://agilenano.com/blogs/news/the-new-york-times-will-be-free-for-high-school-students-over-the-next-three-anxious-months

[adventuresinlibraries]

Raz Kids- Reading Apps

The world of ed-tech is an ever-expanding universe. 

There are apps to teach toddlers and apps for older kids. And then there are apps to teach reading. 

I personally feel strongly that there is absolutely no substitute for reading one-on-one with a child. In scholarly terms, this hand-over-hand reading practice is referred to as direct/explicit instruction. Rupley, Blair, and Nichols (2009).  Children learning to read need guided practice so that they can receive help immediately when they struggle with a word or phoneme. According to  Rupley, Blair, and Nichols “ The key to direct/explicit instruction is the active communication and interaction between teacher and student. This style of teaching can be well structured or less structured in nature.” My gut feeling is that the positive feedback provided by the interaction and the attention the child receives creates a positive feedback loop and is a big part of creating motivated lifelong readers. 

Some of my happiest memories have been working with struggling readers and providing this type of instruction and watching the aha moments and cheering on successes. So, when I started reading about reading apps I was sad.  

However, they have their place in facilitating independent practice, one of the keystones to reading, stressed by experts like  Rupley, Blair, and Nichols. 

Raz Kids Learning A-Z won a 2018 Eddie Award for Educational Software and it is, according to the Raz Kids website it offers a  “teaching product that provides comprehensive leveled reading resources for students. With hundreds of eBooks offered at 29 different levels of reading difficulty, it's easy to put the right content in every student's hands.”

Let’s start with the price. A license for Raz Kids costs 99.00 per year for every 36 students. It is not available for parents to purchase on their own.

Raz Kids or Kids A-Z as it is called once loaded onto a device provides kids with access to a collection of leveled readers. Each book is read aloud, then can be read independently. The books are followed by short comprehension quizzes.

The benefits of this app are access to an immediate paper-free library of books written at an appropriate level for the child; the educator can track students progress working through these leveled readers, making data gathering easier; and the program provides comprehension questions so teachers can assess understanding as well as fluency. And, this app offers materials in Spanish, making it an ideal app to use in some bilingual households where children need reading help but caregivers may not yet be fluent in English. The narration for each story fits the text exactly, helping the reader associate letters with sounds.

The cons are: This app does not provide quality children’s literature! The chunks of text are just right. But when the app is reading aloud the readers are quick and the pacing of the reading is often too fast for beginning readers to follow. And, though there is a lot of importance placed on the comprehension questions, the app offers only multiple choice answers. Open-ended or fill-in-the-blank, cloze style, questions would develop writing and recall skills even more effectively. Also, the app makes it easy to game-the-system by offering the same reward if a reader redoes the module by quick clicking and remembering correct answers to earn stars.

To become truly motivated independent readers kids should be given stories that grab them, with breathtaking art and compelling characters. These stories are not quality children’s literature. 

One of the sets of fiction stories written for level G readers is the Carlos series. This series features a minority protagonist, yay! But Carlos is FLAT, FLAT, FLAT!

In one story, “Welcome Carlos!” Carlos is making a poster for his new school. He has recently moved from Mexico to the United States and has made a poster to introduce himself to the students at his new school.” Carlos has no feelings, quirks, or unique things about him except where he is from. He and his neighbor, Maria, whom he shows his poster to are completely devoid of anything to make them interesting to the reader. 

This app makes navigation easy. The Reading Room icon is a rocket at the left-hand side of the home screen. From there the reader can click on big subject icons to change topics or start a book. 

When reading or listening to the books the reader can move backward and forwards by tapping either side of the app but this is something the reader must intuit. There are no arrows to indicate this option.  

This Academic Choice Award winner is billed for ages 4-10. I was not able to get access to the material at the oldest level to see if the stories got more detailed and compelling as the app is locked by the educational institution that pays the licensing fee. This drives home the point that for most people this is strictly a teaching tool and not something a child would pick up for pleasure. 

Other apps I liked better were 

Reading Eggs an Ed Tech Cool Toy Award Winner for 2019

Mainly a phonics teaching tool, this app has is not free, At 9.95 per month for one child it promises to get kids reading in two weeks. It is available for parents, which means kids can start using it before they start a program of formalized education. The interface is playful and reminds one of Candy Land. Children progress along a phonics path, going through multiple modules to test fluency and learn letter recognition and later, phoneme patterns. Like most apps, it is easy to repeat modules for a higher score. Once a module is complete a child earns a new “pet” This creature appears as a repeating animation. Children can replay this animation for a chuckle whenever they want. 

Rivet 

This app was started by a group of engineers for Google who thought that machine learning could be used to teach reading even more effectively. It only works on Android and Fire devices right now. But, more is coming. 

This free app for android and offers access to 3,500 leveled readers. The stories vary but many use real books and some quality art pulled from the public domain. Most stories about people use photographs as illustrations so most of the art isn’t really fantastic to look at. However, the characters are approached with humor and the plots offer a few more contradictions and twists and turns. This, in turn, creates characters who are rounder and more relatable, such as in the story where Gabriel calls Papa Bee to ask about marriage. Gabriel asks what Papa Bee thinks about marriage. The pictures, mostly of Papa Bee’s world give the reader the idea that Papa Bee is the main character and the story is told from his point of view even though the language used refers equally to all characters and indicates a third-person narrator. Papa Bee says thinks about how good Mama Bee is to him and says “Marriage is great”  Then he thinks about when Mama Bee is sick and crabby. Mama Bee is shown sitting in a chair in her bathrobe with a hot water bottle, a thermometer, and an unpleased expression. He repeats his opinion that “Marriage is great!” The questions go on like this, for every positive statement, Papa Bee internally recalls a negative counterpoint but sticks to his story. In the end, when Papa Bee hangs up the phone the reader realizes that his family has been watching the whole conversation and they are pleased with his monitored responses. The situation is silly, the pictures introduce sight gags to reinforce the humor inherent in the contradictions, and the characters are real people. Readers will relate to watching family interact at less than perfect moments. And, Gabriel’s questions show a mentoring relationship that is nice to watch. The family comes across as being not quite round, but their sense of humor makes them less than flat.

The app is easy to navigate and provides stories about many different topics. Navigation within a story is done with large blue arrows to flip pages and the reader controls the pacing. There is an atomic cloud that hovers over the page and readers can drag it to a word they need clarification on. Tapping the top of the screen brings down the home and settings icons. The algorithm picks up on the reader’s choices to target selections to their taste. A child who chose a book about mermaids receives books about unicorns and rainbows in the next go but a child who chooses a non-fiction text about animals gets similar content suggestions afterward. 

The downsides to this app are that it collects data, the function to have the computer read is clunky and requires readers to click every word for a word-for-word narration of the story. Kids have a read-aloud option that records audio, which on one side is desirable because kids are encouraged to read out loud and reinforce fluency feedback as they listen to themselves, but digital privacy and footprint may be a concern. It does not quiz readers so this may not be as useful as an educational tool. But as far as providing independent reading practice for 4-10-year-olds it’s higher quality than Raz kids, in my opinion. 

William H. Rupley, Timothy R. Blair & William D. Nichols (2009) Effective Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers: The Role of Direct/Explicit Teaching, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25:2-3, 125-138, DOI: 10.1080/10573560802683523

[obscuraxrp]

The smoke settles to reveal AKIMOTO YUKI, a 33 year old raijuu-blooded of Sunseong. He is a songwriter, composer, and videographer who appears to be adept in shapeshifting and electricity manipulation --- but like most things in Sunseong, there must be more to him than meets the eye.

FACECLAIM: Taichi Mukai, soloist

APPEARANCE:

Human: nothing too unusual to see here; he looks like your typical homo-sapiens specimen, albeit one with unusual coloration. His eyes remain their natural pale blue-gray shade, uncommon for someone of East Asian descent, so those may warrant a few double-takes in passing on the streets. His hair is dyed on a regular basis to maintain its dark color, but if you catch him a few days after his last dye job, you’ll see the white starting to show through again under the black. He has baby fangs that are only slightly longer than regular human canines would be.

Natural: and now, his looks are definitely verging on bizarre. His eyes have paled to the point where his irises are almost the same color as the white surrounding them, and they appear to be filled with sparks which increase or decrease depending on his emotions. His hair has grown to resemble a mane, and no longer lies flat, taking on a life of its own as it is constantly crackling with electrical energy. His teeth have elongated into proper fangs, similar to a dog’s in their structure, and he’s grown claws as well.

Raijū: no longer humanoid in appearance, this form is actually not a concrete one. It can change depending on how much he concentrates on one particular variation: wolf, cat, fox, even a weasel. Usually, he doesn’t bother picking just one and will appear as a vaguely mammalian-shaped creature, white, and wrapped round with visible bolts of electricity.

Lightning: there is an additional form that Yuki does not have access to yet, in which he will lose a physical body entirely, and become something like ball lightning. It allows for better mobility, but has the downside that he is otherwise unable to do anything while trapped in the spherical form. What’s more, when returning to his Raijū or natural form, the energy released will cause a small explosion. It’s really more of a defensive maneuver than anything else.

BIOGRAPHY:

Theirs is not a small household, nor a quiet one. In a long line of children, Yuki stands somewhere in the middle, between his older brother, and the twins who are 3 years younger than himself. Fortunately, of their stupidly large brood, only Yuki and his oldest sister, Hanae, are afflicted with their father’s Raijū blood.

You two have to be careful, their father tells them when they’re old enough to understand their abilities. Don’t touch anyone, or let them touch you. Disguise your features. Do not venture out in public during storms. Keep your heads down and try not to stand out.

Of course, this just prompts Yuki and Hanae to do exactly the opposite. What’s the point of being magic if they can’t have fun with it from time to time? And surely it’s harmless to show off a little, at least to their friends and classmates. It’s not like a little shock here and there will kill anyone, not at their level. The only warning of their father’s they take seriously is the one regarding storms.

As descendants of a creature of lightning, they become easily agitated during thunderstorms, and their powers run rampant. They’ve seen what it does to their father, and even as children, the pair are quick to realize this is not something to mess with, especially when in the presence of normal humans.

Still, word spreads quickly in their small community this way, about the Akimoto family’s strange children. Abominations, their neighbors call them, citing the stories their own kids bring home as proof of their accusations. Unnatural creatures. “We don’t need things like you around here.”

To avoid incurring further anger, and possible violence, from the townsfolk, his parents are forced to pack their family up in a hurry, and almost overnight, the Akimotos disappear from their home. They’ve settled in Sunseong now, and have slowly regained a normal rhythm to their day-to-day lives.

Since then, Hanae and Yuki have become much more careful about heeding their father’s earlier warnings, and do their best to give off the illusion that they are human. The rest of their years in Korea are spent in relative peace, with only the occasional slip-up in front of some local farm boy to cause alarm.

Yuki never goes on to college, opting to pursue his childhood interest instead. He moves to the central district with his sister as soon as he graduates high school, and has slowly built up a niche of his own there as a freelancer. His flat is more studio than an actual space for living in, but he doesn’t mind. It allows him to write his music and share it with the those of like mind, and that is all he can ask for now.

CHARACTERIZATION:

- Yuki has always been an obliging person. Too much so, if you ask his family and close friends. He doesn’t mind bending to other people’s whims, sometimes at the expense of discarding his own thoughts and opinions to go along with their viewpoints. This is mainly because Yuki is also a bit of a lazy child; he finds that it’s less effort and drama to simply comply, than to butt heads with someone over differences.

- He’s close with his entire family, especially so with Hanae. They initially shared an apartment when they moved to the city together. Now, they live separately, but maintain a constant correspondence, and are known to frequent each other’s homes on a near daily basis.

- Because he comes naturally charged up like a battery, Yuki has a hard time with electrical devices. The upside is that his electricity bill is lower than his neighbors, since he can just generate his own power if he wants to. The downside is that things like cellphones and laptops are easily destroyed in his possession, since one small spike in energy outburst can fry the chips inside them.

- Since he grew up in such a large family, surrounded by siblings on all sides, he’s become quite adept at taking care of others, both younger and older than himself. He’s prone to taking in strays - this applies to the typical small, furry, four-legged kind that most people think of when they hear that word, as well as the kind who are more humanoid in form and come with more complex problems attached - grooming them and helping them get back on their feet, before releasing them again if they want to leave.

- During storms, he becomes much more easily agitated than usual. He prefers being in his natural form during these times, and he hates being cooped up indoors. Since there are no open spaces here in the city like there are back home, he makes do with the next best thing. You can generally find him at the top of the nearest telephone tower, or similar structure. Anywhere high, and relatively far from people, will do.

- The cats and dogs he takes home because of the above impulse usually don’t want to go once they’ve settled in, so the number of pets he has keeps increasing. Occasionally, he can find a neighbor, a friend, or just some random stranger he’s met while window shopping downtown, who happens to be in want of a furry companion, and he’ll pass on one of his ‘children’ to them.

- For all his passivity and attempts to be accommodating with everyone he meets, there is one matter which he remains absolutely firm about. Yuki is, in fact, very unapologetic and proud of his beast-blood. He is cautious about who he reveals this fact to, but he will not deny his heritage if confronted about it. Should you take issue with what he is, then that is your problem, not his, and he will gladly show you the door out of his life.

- He has a very bad habit of playing ostrich when it comes to his personal problems. Issues he refuses to acknowledge do not exist in his mind, and he would rather turn a blind eye to the ceiling that’s collapsing atop of him than face the cause behind its wearing down.

SPECIALTIES:

Shape-Shifting ( Rank II: 60pts ): he’s been practicing since he could first begin wearing his human disguise. At first, it was just for fun, because he could do it, and he wanted to see how his friends would react when he switched between the two forms in front of them. His father started teaching him how to shift into his Raijū form after they moved to Korea, and he continued to practice until he gained full control over the ability. The only form he still cannot access is the ball lightning one.

Electricity Manipulation ( Rank I: 20pts ): he can naturally generate his own electrical energy, but learning how to control it and make it do his bidding has taken some time. So far, he’s only got the basic applications down. While he can somewhat manipulate how much energy he puts out at a time, it is still not advisable for people to make skin contact with him, especially normal humans who have no wards or spells to protect them from electric shock. In his human form, it is a minor jolt and feels like being hit with static electricity; in his natural form, it varies from something as brief as a shock from faulty wiring, to something more prolonged like getting tasered. Touching his Raijū form will usually cause immediate unconsciousness and possible permanent damage to your nerves.

INNATE ABILITIES:

Enhanced Senses: in particular, he has better vision, hearing, and sense of smell than most. This comes with night vision included in the package deal. As is the case with nearly all his innate abilities, the effectiveness of his senses increases the further he gets from human.

Enhanced Mobility: he may not have inherited their full grace, but as the descendant of a creature used to traveling with the fluidity and speed of actual lightning, his ability to move is at least a few bars above your average person’s. He has the benefit of having the improved agility, balance, and speed of a professional athlete without the physical training they go through.

Electrical Immunity: he’s not immune in all his forms. The amount he’s able to withstand increases the further he gets from being human: his Raijū form is the closest to full immunity; his natural form can take about the equivalent of an electric fence running on a constant current with only minor burns and numbness to show for it; his human form is the most fragile, but even then, you would need a strong, continual output of power to compromise him.

Storm Detection: before you go thinking you can use him as your personal live-read-weather-vane, know that he is only reliable at predicting thunderstorms, and only a few hours before the storm hits. Any other type of weather, he is useless for, so don’t delete your weather app just because you have him in your contacts now.