#udc jobs

[thestressedsimmer]

[doberbutts]

Oh, to be clear, I am saying that I think breed clubs should be more like the UDC in being dedicated to providing this to their breed, rather than saying "make it work with what we have", and my frustration about people campaigning every weekend and driving long hours but then complaining they can't do the same is *entirely* throwing shade at dobe people. It is very annoying to hear someone whine that they can't possibly make it out to the incredibly accessible (by comparison, to other breeds) options we have and in the next breath talk about how they're going to drive from RI to KS to show at the specialty. Like, you can't drive 2.5 hours to the temperament test literally invented to be easier for your dog to pass and supposed to require 0 training, but you can drive almost 24 for a four day show? Really?

Because I do think at its heart it's a breed club issue. If the breed club is not prioritizing ensuring that ALL factors of a breed are supported, then it will inevidibly leave some behind and you will have the issue you are currently having with your mudi. If there is no herding to be found then how can the breed club better support you? One answer is that the breed club could offer their own herding tests and move them every year to different regions to make sure everyone gets at least one chance to try within a dog's typical lifetime (UDC does this with their national for exactly this reason), or could work with what herding folks do exist locally to make sure it's offered fairly to all herders (gsd clubs often do this because people get weird with shepherds on stock), or could offer money pulled in from club dues to members to support them getting stock in exchange for allowing other members to work their dogs on said stock (the swissy club does this because a lot of people get weird about drovers on stock).

Tldr I feel strongly about this because it is my opinion that the breed club needs to be supporting you in this. You have named the problem, and you are not alone in that frustration. But I also think it becomes a self-defeating cycle- it is difficult in your region to herd with a mudi, so people don't do it, and so because people don't do it, no one offers it, and so because no one offers it, people don't do it, etc. If the club could provide even a smidge more support and make it happen that even just instinct tests are more accessible, more people would do it (as you have just said if the barrier of transport and time cost was removed, you'd be interested), and if more people do it, more people offer it, making it even more accessible than before.

When I first started Creed in Mondio, there were 3 other dobe people in this country loudly participating in the sport, which was also fairly uncommon. Nine years later and the amount of clubs have at least doubled and there's a dobe or two in most. As a result my travel time turned from a 10 hour ride to a 4 hour ride. I used to not even be able to do that, and now I can. I used to not be able to afford it and with my heart problems that long of a drive was incredibly dangerous. My situation has changed, and I have more ability to do this. But then, I was not trying to breed when I had Creed, and thus lies the original point.

A breeding dog from a breed intended to work should be evaluated on its ability to do said work. Otherwise how do you know if the dog you breed to compliments your dog's working temperament? How do you know if your dog is going to pass on "I would rather kill the sheep than herd the sheep" without making sure your dog does not want to savage the sheep? How do you know if your dog is going to pass on "I am terrified of the sheep and will desperstely try to escape the pen" or "I do not care about sheep but I do care about rolling in poop"? Breeding to a stud or bitch that has their HIT doesn't stop making this a gamble- if you don't know the total picture of what you're putting into the pot, you don't know what kind of soup you're gunna pull out either.

But, again, this is why your breed club needs to be doing something about this. This is not "use what you have and don't complain" but "why is your breed club not putting on these tests since the people in your local area refuse to be friendly to novices" and "people who complain about barriers existing that magically don't exist when they're doing something else are being hypocritical (largely dobe people)". As said, instinct tests should not require lessons, should be pass/fail, and should be offered at the *least* at the specialties put on by the breed clubs. Same with novice titles, honestly, but those take training. Breed clubs are supposed to be leading the way in preserving and bettering the breed. So why can't they help their members make sure that's actually happening?

Also, not sure if it's clear, but I'm also not saying that you can't show confo unless you get these instinct tests and novice titles (that *is* how UDC does it, you must pass the temperament test held in the morning of the show before you can do confo in the afternoon, unless you've already passed it at a previous show, but again that's waaaaaaaaaaay more accessible than things are for a lot of breeds right now) but rather that confo is a single piece of the puzzle.

In UDC, you need confo, temperament test, and a novice title to get a CH. You don't need to do it all the same weekend. A friend of mine got two of three required CCs for her CH and her temperament test last weekend. She got her BH last year. She needs one more CC to get her UDC CH and she should get it easily at her next UDC event. The dog is 3 and has been to 2 total UDC events, so not running out of time at all. It is possible to do it this way and not screw everyone over. The breed club just needs to actually support its members.

Dobe friend had a post of basically "share your controversial dog show opinions" and mine were as follows:

Breeds that require crop/dock should allow naturals to show next to them. At this point much of the world has it banned so by refusing to allow European or otherwise dogs to show alongside the Americans, all you do is further split the breed. Manmade decisions regarding ears and tails change nothing about the dogs genetically and thus should not be seen as a fault or DQ.

Breeds intended to do some form of work should have even a minor level of title or temperament test as a requirement for a CH. If your herding dog cannot pass a herding test, it doesn't matter how well it fits standard or moves or has correct angles. If it's really about breed preservation, then we need to address the problem of show dogs that can't work.

There should be written critiques. It is not helpful when the only knowledge you get is that the judge pointed at one dog and not the other. Give competitors more than "I guess the judge liked this dog". What made that dog better than all the rest? Show your work!

[whateven333]

Rant about reddit’s outrageously stupid takes on Bianca Pullman : [The Day of the Jackal]

!There will be some spoilers for the show below the cut!

Went on reddit after the finale to find the usual half-baked takes on the central woc protagonist. I should have known, but I liked Bianca so much that it slipped my mind that people would not care to like her as the just as cut-throat counterpart to The Jackal.

MI6 were never presented as “the good guys” -high level government organisation that does a bunch of top secret stuff, clearly don’t mind getting their hands dirty and are quick and obviously well-practiced in cleaning up the evidence too (quite easily offered to cover up the death of Emma). Also, from the start MI6 motivation for stopping the jackal is just to try and preserve their political relationships, -no impression that they care about any sort of justice, - why would they- government organisation that serves the government. So I don’t understand (but I know why) why people call Bianca a hypocrite for trying to take down the jackal with the tools MI6 provided for her. It’s her job, she’s not new to it, she knows what she signed up for and I don’t think she’s under any illusion that its practices are orthodox. She’s not working at an animal shelter, bottle-feeding premature kittens. She’s the kind of person who works at a place like MI6 and likes it, so I expect she knows she’s not a “good” person, though she may not accept it wholeheartedly.

Bianca and the jackal were both cunning and ruthless people, obsessed with playing a dangerous game. They may have been on opposing sides, but those sides were not “good” and “bad”.They played for their own teams, they were in it for themselves.

Yet the reddit somehow manages to argue that the jackal is a far more sympathetic character and Bianca is too unlikeable to root for at all…even though they are mirrors of each other.

A reason for this might be due to the show allowing us to see the jackal in moments where he seems to be reluctant/ regretful/ apologetic/ sombre because he's about to kill someone/ people who were not intended to be targets but instead ended up as “collateral damage” during his jobs*. He's only killing because he has to for his family (nevermind the fact that when he started as an assassin he didn't have any family as dependents, he just did it for money and because he could) also he was in the military -again he probably knew he wasn't going to be bottle-feeding premature kittens there (regardless of what his motivation for joining the military in the first place were whether financial or whatever).

*he just as easily lies, manipulates and uses these people for his benefit. At the end of the day they're a means to an end. An end he stubbornly clings to even though he doesn't necessarily need to ( he's plenty rich before the UDC job right ?)

Note: This rant is all over the place sorry 😅

I can accept people not liking a character but many of the opinions I've seen read like people just couldn't be bothered to invest in her, or perhaps they went in with the mindset that they were never going to bother to invest in her in the first place.

And funnily enough the qualities people say they enjoy about the Jackal are also many of the same qualities Bianca possesses too, -since they are mirror characters and all...

So the overwhelming amount of people who seem to absolutely love the Jackal but detest Bianca just really seems like the result of more fandom racism and misogyny yet again.

[our-future-is-up-to-us-2]

all of these are the prettiest things

Raaaaaaa another Narcovember fic! Originally just going to be a normal fic, but then I wormed the prompt in and we're back! Fic number 15 @narcosfandomdiscord

Prompt #20, Book Of Sleight Of Hand: Brace

Word Count: 1.1K

Relationships: Charles "The Jackal" Calthrop/Rasmus

Warnings: None

~ Read the fic under the cut ~

It’s always the quiet moments that draw them in. Peter sits about, examining blueprints, mulls over documents on his computer or phone, while Rasmus takes to watching him, or making some food.

At least, that’s when they’re not entangled in work, or each other. When the quiet moments come, things are gentle, and, as Peter disarmingly feels, very romantic. 

Rasmus hums to himself as he works, and every so often, they look up at each other, drinking in the moment, blushing and smiling like school kids. Of course, the feeling is not embarrassment, it’s the last thing akin to that. 

The Jackal supposes… Well, he doesn’t know what to suppose anymore, switching between architecture and transactions, Dark Core and a surprisingly plain email account. He’s still playing his game, still working through his job. He has not stopped being an assassin just because of Rasmus– 

And yet, and yet, he feels the pull, he feels both powerful and helpless, able to do as much or as little as he pleases. The taste of his lips, his body, all of him, is a powerful drug. 

Worse than that is his smile. Just a flicker of it, a small laugh, a stupid little thought that only Rasmus is amused by… Oh, how intoxicating.  

It’s the little things that make him want to drop those obligations and run. But his American hirer is counting on him, awaiting his shot against UDC. 

In a few short days, he’ll be off somewhere else. Whether it’s back to Spain, or coasting in London, awaiting a new target… 

His stomach lurches at the former. Wife and child, worrying about him, thinking about him constantly. 

Meanwhile, he’s here, in Estonia of all places, basking in the sunlight that is Rasmus. 

“I was thinking about this last night,” Peter says, and Rasmus looks up from the soup he’s started to boil, “Your name, Rasmus… Where does it come from? What sort of meaning does it have? Because Peter, god, it feels terribly ordinary.”  

And it’s not like Charles is much better. Far too regal. He notes. 

“Might be ordinary, but it’s you,” The blond chuckles, “And I love that. I love you. As for me?” He ponders it for a while, trying to trace it all back. “Rasmus… Well, it means ‘beloved’ if I remember correctly… And I’m Estonian, so it’d have to be Nordic.” 

Every thought in Peter’s head proceeds to stop. The article he’s reading doesn’t even matter anymore. He goes as far as to shut his laptop, placing his hands over his knees. He then watches them as they shake. 

It all makes sense. Of course, it does. Every hit that The Jackal is after, there’s always a plan, a method to his madness. But this? Angel, beloved, Rasmus, staring at him as his face starts to pale. 

And even worse, he just… Says that. Three little words: Like icing sugar on a cake, like an afterthought. 

He loves me.  

***

The Jackal attempts to summon up a sentence, a smile, a nod, anything. 

Instead, he’s paralysed. Stuck there, having to brace himself for an impact that’s already made contact.  

He’s managed to quell his shaking, biting the inside of his cheek to compensate. The words run through his head at a million miles an hour: I love that. I love you. Rasmus? It means ‘beloved’... 

He runs a hand through his hair, mulling it all over now. There’s a part of him that’s ready for this conversation, ready to ask Rasmus to come over and  soothe him, but by the time he’s snapped back to reality, he’s already there. 

The blond sighs loudly, eyes downcast, but he reaches out for Peter’s hand, squeezing it. “That was probably poor judgement on my part.” He murmurs, “I’m not even drunk… Just– A lapse in the moment. But… It doesn’t mean it’s not true. I do love you, Peter. But you don’t have to say it back, because that’s scary, and that’s making a commitment, and, hell, you’ll be going in a few days–” 

“I know.” The Jackal practically whispers, and Rasmus is just relieved to hear his voice again. “I know. On my end, I guess… It was very sudden. And in my brain, it was like everything shattered and then pieced itself back together again.” 

He opts to rest his head on the other’s shoulder, keeping his hand in his as he closes his eyes. He takes a few deep breaths, the silence less overwhelming now, and he recalibrates. 

He’s The Jackal. A fucking world-class assassin. 

And whilst he feels the most human he’s ever been, it helps to remind himself of his purpose. 

He supposes he can keep in contact with Rasmus, just in case. Just in case things don’t work out, just in case he’s ever visiting Estonia when he’s free from the clutches of it all, just in case he needs a break from Nuria.

He’s already taking a long break from her, and yet, her insistence on being in his life, well… It’s natural, but feels overbearing. 

Rasmus is instead soft, comforting, electric, wild. A new journey in a place he’s never been, a new spark that he hasn’t felt for anyone, because his first and only love was declared by the fates to be a waitress. 

But, that doesn’t make a wife, well, the be all and end all. If he can be an assassin without worry, then what’s the harm of two identities? 

He opens his eyes now, nesting his head there, in safety. 

“It makes sense, though, Rasmus. Everything makes sense with you. Your name, your smile, your infectious levels of positivity, beard, eyes– I feel like I’ve fallen under a spell with you. If Rasmus means ‘beloved’, then I won’t just… Leave that unfulfilled.” 

Peter adjusts now, sitting upright and facing the other man, running  his free hand gently across his cheek. He sighs, thinks it over, just briefly, seeing Rasmus’ eyes so wide, so adoring… 

There’s no turning back on him now. Because, then, it’s not just betraying him, but also betraying a deep and joyous part of himself that’s been waiting to burst open again, into the light. 

“Yeah?” The blond exhales with a smile. 

“Yeah. I love you, Rasmus. I really do. And I’m sorry that I’ll be leaving in a few, but better to tell you now than never.” 

The blond leans forward and pecks his lips, carding his fingers through his brown hair, “God, I’m so glad you did. I didn’t wanna pressure you, but it feels right. It feels good. And even if you have to go, long distance works just fine, doesn’t it?” 

Peter chuckles and settles for a proper kiss, a heartfelt one, deeper, and the laugh is still rumbling through him. 

“Oh, beloved,” He says when they part for air, “Long distance, short distance, any distance. If it’s for you, it’s just fine.” 

And Rasmus is stuck there, speechless, blushing stunningly, and filled with nothing but adoration. 

[daeagon]

My Reactions to the Season Finale of TDofJ

Time for the SeaSON FINaLe

😮‍💨 I wasn’t planing on doing this, but here I am

How did Jackal escape the Boats? I love the car chase but you get up a boat one last ep

😭😭😭😭😭

WHY IS JACKAL HOMOPHOBIC?! How hurt you!! I’m sorry ok! Please stop killing gay men!

Something something Bianca signed up to help people and has been told to do whatever it takes and she does that to a T, but goes too far, people die and she is dealing with the guilt and consequences, she does what she has been conditioned to do, continue, she is/has lost her humanity for this job and for what?

Say that again? (I can’t find the gif, but you know it)

*scarsactic* wow! It’s almost like that’s how J was in the army and Bianca is a mirror, woah

‘I quit’ SLAYYY QUEENNN!!! You leave them!

but now who’s the reckless loner??? It was a self fulfilling prophecy! She has become the Jackal in her own way, also she has no resources now

IS THAT BRITISH FORUGN SECRETARY THE MOLE?! He’s sus! Also love the music

HE IS THE MOLE! ITS A CONSPIRACY!! ‘Your friends’ WHO?! So he’s leading this, but why? What do they gain?

also Bianca’s going rogue I just know it

I’m so confused! Could the friends be someone the Jakcal has killed? But he was with the people who wanted UDC dead? He’s such a good villain that chuckle!? ‘let her deal with him’ CHILLS CHILLS! I’m so scared for Bianca! This feels like a trap

OH SHIT KID NOOO! what kind of Dr. Strange car flip is that?

Wow, that poor car, poor Jackal!

‘I’d say it was a pleasure, but it was not’ I love her already! Slayyyyyy

She’s cutting the brother off!! 😮

he’s going to the police, he’s telling, he’s going villain I can feel it!

Oh shit, daddy issues, that was cold Nuria! Cold! Don’t do that

THE CAR JS ON FIRE ITS GOING TO EXPLODE GET OUT!

calling the police is not as reassuring as you think it is

THE KIND RANDOM MAN LIVED!! Yippie! You might have some humanity in you yet!

this man just goes around stealing cars and seducing people

Awww I love Bianca and her husband!

MIRRORS TO THIS BEING JACKALS LAST JOB!!! 👀

identity change time!!

I could analyze that, I could, but I won’t (that being J’s scream as he pushes the evidence over a ledge)

oh no, is this another J in the wilderness ep? Bc I hated that time in Hungary

HE PUT HIS WEDDING RING ON!! BLENDING OF HIS 2 LIVES YESSSSSS

Their suspicion! They’ve seen the image! (Which some other have pointed out but it doesn’t really look like him)

but it’s interesting that normal people are being so suspicious of others and thinking twice about helping them, people turning on each other (what comes to mind is Nazi Germany and people snitching on their neighbors) very interesting!

I love the family dynamic! I wish this way my family!

DONT ANSWER THE DOOR!!! OH NO ITS ISOBEL

She’s so awkward, why is the husband hitting the 🧍‍♂️

I love that old couple! Please don’t kill them 🙏

NOOOO!

‘This will all be over soon’ FORSHADOWI N HELLO??

(I forgot to keep adding oops)

‘for the ones who have died’ GURL SHUT THE HELL UP YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEM!!

‘No’ YES!!! TELL THEM NO BIANCA!! I genuinely love a black woman telling someone in the government no!!

WHY ARE YOU GOING TOT HE BORDER WHEN YOUR RUNNING FROM THE POLICE?!

please don’t kill them! 🙏

don’t smoke kids! Remember that!

THEY REMIND HIM OF HIS PARENTS 😭😭😭WERE?!! Are they dead! Probably

DAMN! That’s cold, but understandable

HOLY SHIT! SHE STABBED HIM IN THA BACK LITERALLY

This poor man, he’s been in a car crash, stabbed, he’s going through it

HE JUST PULLED IT OUT! DONT DO THST!! It’s keeping blood in! If you pull it out you’ll start bleeding out!

oh he angy

HE WAS REGAINING HUMANITY/NOT BURRYING IT AND HE GRTS STABBED IN THE BACK

’why couldn’t you have just let it go’ (that’s Bianca’s fatale flaw)

HE LOOKED AWAY ANSBABSFHAND

I don’t know how to feel about these events

DOES HE SEE HIS PARENTS?!!!

He’s always surrounded by bodies, that’s so sad

then immediately cut to Bianca’s family

’one last thing’ I’ve heard this before

The way J calls Nuria ‘my love’ 💕 I love it

‘Are you ok?’

YOU CAN SEE THE BLOOD FROM THE OPEN STAB WOUND?!! (I’m getting the ick from the idea of a stab wound in the shoulder I feel like I can feel it ick, also bc I’m left handed the thought of getting stabbed in the left shoulder ewww)

Something something him hiding his pain (real)

THIS PHONE CALL FEELS LIKE A GOODBY

Oh no! I feel so bad for him! Get him his wife!!

WELL SHIT! Bianca is in Spain! OH NO SHES GOING TO KIDNAP NURIA NOOOOO!

it’s a trap, none knows but Isabel and Vince (he’s also done absolutely nothing this season, which is sad bc I love him! He has so much potential)

As a person I was watching this with said ‘that’s going to go boom/make a big boom’

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨BIRD ALERT 🚨 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

BIRD ALERT!!!

It was in-fact a big boom

He’s on a bus now???? What is with these jumps? First from a boat chase to a car? Then this???

love the music as always 👌 this soundtrack is amazing!

BIRD tour bus!!!! BIRD ALERT!!

And he’s free to go?? These police need to step it up! How much is your budget anyways? Bc it’s far too much in the US

I LOVE THIS DETECTIVE WOMAN!!! She’s so done

VINCE ACTUSLLY DOES SOMETHING YIPPIE!! I also love him

SHIT

SHE KNOWS HIS NAME

SHE FOUND HIM OH SHIT! Confrontation time!!

He just dropped a gun into a bin 😭 he’s going home!

And he wants his money!

WHOS THAT OTHER WHITE WOMAN WHO ARE YOU! I don’t like you, I think she’s going to sell him out or working with the British foreign secretary dude

Is the good woman who’s been helping J is she a middle man?

This feels fishy, I don’t like it

NO NO NOOOOOO THEY GOT NURIA NOO GET AWAY FROL HER

WE DO WHAT THE JACKAL WOULD DO WE WAIT?!? THE PARALLELS TO JACKALS MISSION IN AFGANSIST AND DAKNERJDJFJFBDHFHFBDB

Do not touch Nuria, don’t even think about it!

What? B are you ok?

Ohhh she’s going against instructions!

he’s so getting away

*cough* *cough*

DONT DISS THE FUCKING BUSCITS!

why is she packing?? IS SHE LEAVING? NOW

slayyyy queen!

I’m so confused, the American woman left the hotel, and the man went up, is there a bomb there or something? I’m so confused

THR CARTOON PLAYING WHAT??

(I actually finished the show and have been going back to put my thoughts, but I’m feeling numb)

NURIA LEFT!! PLEASE TALK PLEASE! Also Girl where are you going? Your husband is an expert in this HE WAS TOO LATE!! It’s so tragic

HE LEFT THE BAG HE LEFT EVERYTHING BEHIND FFOR HER BUT HE WAS TOO LATE

im killing myself /j

Someone kill me now (like J is about to d-)

The person I was watching this with ‘don’t try need a warrant? (To B&E) Their secret service agents they don’t need a warrant”

SHES GONE AND SHE TOOK THE KID 😭😭

Oh? Oh no! That warning is a little late but I knew I liked you!!

hes leaving too

OH NO THE BROTHERS THERE! 1 how did you get it? 2 how long has bro been there 😭 3 your dead

yup

also I love Jackals turtleneck/shirt, it’s very gender

There are mother things I could say but I won’t for everyone’s sake

THE RED LIGHT

ITS THE READ LIGHT FROM THE OPENING

he’s just holeing up in his secret lair

the reflection and that red light akakensjsnnsdjsndb

BIANCA HE HAS A FAMILY!!

THE CONTRANS

YESSS ITS THE SCEENE!

HE CAN SEE HER/KNOWS/ IS ONE STEP AHEAD AND SHE ONLY SEES HERSELF LOOKING ABCK AT HER AND HE SEES HER FACE/LOOKS AT HER FOR THE FIRST TIME ANDNFJSJD

Anyone who were in charge of this decision/set design/camera angle deserves all of the awards!! All of them! This show is genuinely breathtaking and so beautiful!!

SHES IN HIS REFLECTION BUT SMALLER OH THE SYMBOLISM AND COMMENTSRY OF THE WORKD

she sees her reflection and turns away oh it just writes itself

THE SEXY NECK CRACK SIR I AM BARKING

oh the things he could do to me

The alarm is just going to make it easier for J to move around the house bc you can’t hear anything over it

I love that he’s just like tf are they doing now

hey bitches

THE RED LIGHT

Vince is dead, welp. You were cool while you were alive (we all expected this)

another scene from the opening

remember that time B went on a mission to take out Norman? Clearly she doesn’t

it’s so quiet, the house is also so dead and empty, the moonlight makes it feel dead

THE HORROR MIVOE VIBES

ohhhh she called him Duggan

‘why do you’ skzndbnsdbdb

for some reason my brain keeps thinking of ‘why do you persist after all I have done’ from Arcane 😭

‘because I like to win’ is that is? This really is a personal grudge for her now, not for the people who have died? Not to bring a criminal to justice? Wow

she charges in thinking she is the cat but she is in his house and he is the cat

Last resort

’it doesn’t have to end this way’ ‘it does’ ACORDING TO WHO

AND THEN YOU SHOOT EHT

BIANCAS DEAD

WHAT NOOOO

NO

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THA

SHES NOT DEAD ( she is, I’ve already gone through this stage)

she’s dead

I genuinely feel numb, I loved Bianca! She made this show amazing! She was so fun! I loved her

all that for nothing

my current mood ^

AT LEASE BIANCA GOT TO SEE HIS FACE IG! She did win, but at what cost

this is so morbid, she’s really dead I can believe it but I don’t want to

WHAT ABOUT HER FAMILY!!!!

NURIA NOOOOOOOOO! Welp season 2 find your family

oh he angy.

Noooooooo this poor man, he’s so sad, the wet cat energy! HES CRYING

Please Nuria

Ok first of all get your suitcase/gun back, you’ll need it for season 2! I don’t make the rules the plot does

ANOTHER CAR CRACK WHAT THE HECK! Does this man ever get a break!!

you really need to focus on the roads damn

Who was that other car? BIANCA!! 🤡

OU NO ISABELLS IN CHARGE OH NO OSI WATCH OUT!!

Ohhh get her Osi!

Coveruppppp!

BIANCA KNEW IT WAS A TRAP SHE PLANNED FOR IT 🤡

S2 Osi vs Isabell but Osi is rebelling calling it now

THE PLANT!

that feels symbolic, but I don’t know how, was it all an act? ‘I killl everything’????

Osi working undercover to trance Bianca’s steps???

The music ohh?

where are they?

😳

legggsssss

I JUST FELL TO MY KNEES IN A WALMART PARKING LOT

THATS SO HOT

I’ll bring her home by 8 vs your daughter calls me daddy too 😭😭😭😭😭

I NEED HIM I NEED HIS GENDER I NEED HIM I NEED TO BE HIM

ONC CHANCE PLEASE! JUST ONE PLEASE

I AM GOING INSAME. IMM LOSING MY MIND

THAT FIT

*hyperventelates*

I am not ok

I think this had changed the trajectory of my life

I’m never getting over this

HE JSIT WALKED PAST 2 POLICE OFFICERS THETES A JOKE BROO

he’s so cunty

serving

he’s so free! And light and happy!!

WHAT IN THE GOOD OMENS THAT IS A CROWLEY LOOK OMAJDMDKDNDNNDDBDBDHDBDRBDBDDBBDDBFBDSHHS

IM SHAKING

are they besties?? Slayyyy

I actually love that idea!

I need them, I love their friendship

also yeah, how did you survive??

wait, how does she know? WAS SHE RESPOSIBLE? IS SHE GOING TO BETRY HIM

HE TOOK HIS SUNGLASSES OFF! HE TRUSTS HER YESSSSS

ohhhh they’re going after the people who hired them yessssss REVENTGE

her name is Zina cool (it’s so sad that I’ve only just remembered it)

FIND YOUR FAMILY AND GET REVENGE!

that is how you do an ending

I am going to loop that song into oblivion, I need that ending injected into my veins!

THE GENDER

Nuria fumbled so hard damn

this is genuinely such an amazing show, it was a journey

I am so ready for Season 2!!!

[thirty-five-owls]

The Birdwatcher (The Jackal/Rasmus)

A single black stork takes flight, soaring across the dark blue dusk of the outskirts of Tallinn, Estonia. It had just rained; a typical, dreary Baltic night.

Perched on a nearby rooftop, the Jackal briefly took his binoculars off the shiny, modern venue he had been spying on, and turned to the bird’s path of flight.

He followed closely with the binoculars its slender neck and long body, gliding into the distance. The black stork is a rare sighting this far north in Europe, especially close to the city, so he was lucky to have seen one tonight.

But then again, the Jackal thought, it is the start of migration season. So perhaps luck didn’t have much to do with it, he had simply showed up in the right place at the right time.

Locking onto the bird from within the confines of the small round lenses reminded him of a feeling he didn’t particularly enjoy. When a target is able to remain stationary in his scope for this long, what closely follows is usually a swift extinguishing of life.

Almost against his will, his subconsciousness conjured up an image of the large black-and-red bird falling straight down, lifeless, from the sky, wings limp against its body. Or perhaps it would be a spiral?

He watched, like he always did, until the stork became a disappearing black dot in the far-off sky, the occasional flap of the wings so full of life, graceful.

He’d never kill a bird for game, mainly because birdwatching calmed him. Like now, a nice little distraction from the somewhat pressing job he had on hand of assassinating UDC, his most profitable target yet.

The venue itself, from the outside, was nigh impossible to penetrate. A day of reconnaissance made him sure of this: infiltrating from the inside was the only way to go. The Jackal lied prone on the rooftop incredibly still, chewing over this new conclusion.

It was at this moment that his breakthrough, as abrupt and unexpected as the stork, came into the viewfinder. A round baby face with brilliant eyes, dirty blond hair, that younger Estonian man stepped out of The Estonia Kontserdisaal into the cold, crisp night air, having just finished a work shift.

The Jackal watched him pause on the stairs, turn around, wave and loudly talk back to his colleagues, something in Estonian that was indistinguishable from this distance, white puffs of cloud rising and dissipating as he talked. Rasmus, that was his name. Rasmus shivered, stuck both hands in his coat pockets, and began to trek home.

Like a birdwatcher sitting all day under the sun for a glimpse of a rare species, being able to catch sight of Rasmus alone has made the Jackal’s day of watching the venue worth its time.

He pocketed his binoculars, slowly let out a long breath he’d been holding in, and got up off the ground.

[trynagraduate25]

Environment: Spotlighting the Unsung Contributions of those who hold The University of the District of Columbia together

As I spoke with Sandy Waters on the same day as President Edington’s Inauguration of him becoming the 10th president of the university, this topic only became one in which I wanted to discuss more just because of the dichotomy between the two parties that are all very crucial to how things operate all within the same institution. 

Before sitting down with Sandy, I just categorized her job at the university as a “librarian” and it wasn’t long before I realized how little I was selling her short. Sandy usually mans the front desk of the 6th floor in building 71 not only on Weekdays and Weekends, but during Spring Break, Summer Break, during the Pandemic - all times that Students and Professors alike were allowed to be home for. Sandy by her own words is a “Media Technician, here to assist students, faculty, and even DC residents'' and it took no time in seeing her in action as our discussion was interrupted three times as she effortlessly helped a student with the printer, helped another sign in to a computer, and wished a farewell to an older gentleman who was leaving for the day. 

Sandy is a class of 2000 UDC alumni in the very major I’m studying now but then it was called “Mass Communications” and has a history of being a photographer for weddings and general parties before she enrolled. She still has goals, and aspirations just as high as any student here as she told me she is still doing freelance photography and videography, and even a couple of documentaries that she wants to finish.

Sandy said sometimes she feels it’s a thankless job, but given that she does it all with such a joyous demeanor, I can’t help but to feel that her description of her job at the University is even in some ways selling herself short.

[sodafrog13]

random swans hcs under the cut ✌🏼

- alex and ash are identical twins and were both amab; alex found out she was trans and transitioned while they were still in high school (i think she actually just kept the name bc she liked it but even if she didn't, i'm thinking her deadname would probably also have started with an A)

- speaking of, both of them played football while they were in high school. alex was more of the star player of the two of them; ash was almost exclusively a bench warmer. their uniforms in current day consist of parts of their old football uniforms

- even though tony is their unofficial ""leader"", the whole idea for the vigilante copycat stuff was the davis'. not rlly much basis for this one admittedly but i think it makes sense, considering they're the most politically active (relatively speaking) of the fans

- and the reason why that is is that they had family who were living in san francisco when it got bombed. again, not much basis but it does make sense to me considering they're motivated enough to be picketing outside the courthouse during jacket's trial. i specifically also have a kind-of oc that's their little cousin who lives in SF; i shifted around some things to feature her in UDC, my beardjacket au fic, but she's existed in my mind even before writing that chapter and i'd like to flesh her out more one day

- i think they're both bi (w pref for the opposite gender) and that ash is ace. that's just on me :-)

- they make fun of each other for being gay All The Time. wlw/mlm hostility.

- ash moved out at some point and lives with his (boy)friend, jack. he still frequents the house somewhat often to hang out with alex, since they're so close, but he very rarely sleeps there anymore

- alex is a little touchy about the whole thing, but she gets it. she just wasn't ever thinking about the possibility of either of them moving out since they've basically been together they're whole lives so she's just been moody about it ever since ash brought it up to her. she's a lot better abt it now, though

- ash is a lot more organized than alex is. he was the only reason the house was ever clean; since he's left, alex really only cleans up if things are getting Direly trashy

- alex LOVES horror movies. ash thinks they're ok. they watch a bunch of them together and alex spends a lot of pocket money on VHS tapes of her favorites

- ash is more of a video game guy. they had a console in the house but he took it when he moved out; alex really only ever used it if ash was playing something multiplayer anyways so she didn't consider it a huge loss

- that said, they both love listening to music. they had a bit of an argument over who was taking what when ash moved out (since their collection was joint owned) and alex ended up keeping the records while ash took the cassettes since ash is the one who actually has a car

- both of them can drive but alex honestly doesn't need a car; she'd take the bus to work most days anyways since ash started his day earlier than she did and would be out the door before she even woke up

- the both have insomnia but alex's is decidedly worse. for some reason, the meds that ash uses don't rlly work on her so she ends up staying up and waking up late. she falls asleep at her job often

- alex works a boring office job. she tolerates it; it's relatively easy and pays fine and she learned some basic computer knowledge from ash so she's basically set on being there for however long she can.

- she also does music on the side, specifically electronic stuff. not ever a thing she'd consider for a job but one of her favorite past times is smoking and jamming out on her synth. ash partakes in these jam sessions sometimes; part of me wants to say he plays a little electric guitar (and that he'd probably love guitar hero)

- ash works in IT. his computer knowledge is almost entirely self taught (esp considering he and alex's would be college years were spent serving in hawai'i) but he's damn good at what he does so it was pretty easy for him to get hired

- their relationship with their folks is... fraught. the whole reason they joined the army was to get away from them, particularly because their mom had always been rather nasty to alex because she favored ash and ash was always really annoyed by that. they thought is was the best years of their lives thus far. ever since coming back home to pick up their stuff when they got back from deployment, they cut contact with them (but not the rest of their family. that said, they refuse to go to any family functions if they kno their parents are gonna be there)

- alex is pretty butch and dislikes wearing fem clothing. ash is honestly kind of more wishy washy about the whole thing; he'd be open to wearing slightly more fem stuff like skirts if he wasn't so put off by the idea of being judged for doing so. most ""fem"" he'll get is painting his nails black every so often

- idk something in my heart just tells me they'd like karaoke. they'd both belt that shit out, no holds barred (but also fans karaoke night just sounds like such a fun idea. just all of them getting wasted and singing silly shit)

- they're just each other's #besties y'k? swans stick together their whole lives and all

[shayandevjobs]

Latest Directorate General Of Immigration & Passports Islamabad Jobs April 2024 Apply Online

The latest job vacancies at the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports in Islamabad for April 2024 have been announced through a recent advertisement. Applications are being invited for various positions regularly within the Ministry of Interior's Directorate General of Immigration & Passports. The eligibility criteria for each position are outlined below. Both male and female candidates are encouraged to apply for these government jobs in Islamabad. Successful applicants will be able to secure these new positions in Pakistan in 2024 upon completing the application process.

Date Posted 24-03-2024

Industry Government

Latest Directorate General Of Immigration & Passports Islamabad Jobs April 2024 Apply Online

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[oswanily]

Simblr New Years Resolutions 2024

I was tagged by @kissalopa, thanks darling!

What’s your Resolution for your Simblr?

First I would like to actually play the game so I have posts to queue, finally get through the two households I have left for rotation 9 of my BACC, and go back to the UDC for a while! That is my main goal, even though it's short term, i struggle envisioning long term goals right now. Also, I wish to reopen sims submissions for the BACC some time during this year. Also also. Post CC. Not regularly, just post the 50 wips i have completed. Also-also-also continue the "5 favorites" series. I hate tracking down CC, so I keep postponing it. I need to stop doing that.

What do you want from the Sims Franchise?

Fairies. Dunno what I'd do with them. I probably couldn't even get the pack because my laptop has no space left (it literally only has sims related stuff on it and my writing projects) so... yeah.

Any other New Years Resolutions?

Survive this damn year which started awfully bad. I moved three weeks ago, I haven't even settled in, and I will have to move again in less than six months due to the housing agency sucking at their jobs. This basically postpones all my plans (I am looking for a job but how do you find a job when you don't drive and don't know where you'll live...) and it's stressful and annoying. So my goal is to settle into the second new apartment that I haven't even found yet, and find a job if I can, but if I fail to all of this, oh well.

I don't know who has done this... so I won't tag anyone, but if you see this and really want to do it, feel free to say I tagged you (nobody will go and check anyways, that would be weird lmao)

[ausetkmt]

Florida’s Gamble Plantation romanticizes a Confederate past | Bradenton Herald

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article272640515.html

The Gamble Plantation in Ellenton, Florida. In 2023, the Gamble Plantation near Bradenton remains a romantic postcard to the Old South, where slavery is glossed over. Ellenton

On a sunny spring day at a state park in Florida, the United Daughters of the Confederacy threw a government-sponsored fundraiser.

A poster for the 61st annual Gamble Plantation Spring Open House promised “fun, excitement and learning for the whole family.” It was emblazoned with a Confederate flag.

Another flier from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection offered a chance to “travel back to the Old South.”

On March 5, cars packed into the lot of the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park near Bradenton.

Visitors wandered the grounds of the oldest building in Manatee County, where historical reenactors in 19th century period costume stood about.

“I Wish I Was in Dixie” rang out on a woodwind. Civil War-era goods and crafts were displayed beneath moss-covered oaks. Confederate and wartime flags flew.

But missing from the day’s events was any detailed mention of the majority who lived at the plantation and built its landmark home: enslaved people.

Walk Gamble’s grounds in 2023, and the decades of slavery that happened there are out of sight and out of mind.

“I think it’s great,” said Tom Goins, a visitor from Kentucky, said of the open house event. “I’m really surprised there’s not people out here trying to talk it down, because it is a memory of the days gone past and the Confederacy.”

A reenactor displaying a Confederate battle flag said, “I guess by some people it’s used for the wrong reasons. As a kid we used it as rebellious.

“There ain’t been no slavery in over 150 years,” he said, waving his hands dismissively.

In the shade of the Greek Revival-style mansion, crowds lined up for tours.

Inside, UDC members offered insights to the wealthy planter class lifestyle in mid-1800s Florida. The trappings of wealth — fine dishes, crystal, furniture — were preserved and displayed with care.

Lighthearted anecdotes, delivered with Southern tongue-and-cheek, told of the many inconveniences of life for some of Manatee County’s first white settlers.

Baths were a grimy affair. Beds needed frequent delumping. Mosquitoes were a constant menace. And so on.

“The history of the War Between the States is where we’re coming from,” said Peggy Veeder with the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). “We support veterans, we donate to local charity, we have a scholarship contest. We promote history.”

The one-hour tour spotlighted two historical figures: Major Robert Gamble, the plantation’s original owner, and Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate secretary of state whom the park memorializes.

Gamble first brought 10 enslaved Black men with him. That number had increased to 144 men, women and children by the time Gamble sold the plantation in 1858, and up to 190 by the 1860 census.

On the open house tour, a guide briefly described the classes of slave labor at Gamble: field workers, skilled laborers and house workers.

She described the house worker role as a “plum job.”

“Life was pretty good, as it could be,” the tour guide said, adding that children of enslaved people who worked in the house were often raised with white children of the household.

Then it was on to other subjects.

Missing were any details about how the enslaved people lived, the conditions they labored under, or what they contributed.

One visitor’s impression:

“A lot of the slaves had good lives,” Goins said. “It’s all the lives they had. And after they were free, they had nowhere to go. They had no one to take care of them.”

There is little to support or refute those claims at the state park.

While the exact conditions at Gamble have not been confirmed, historians have found that plantation owners often subjected enslaved people to extreme work hours, brutal whippings, sexual abuse, family separation, inadequate food, meager shelter and the denial of education, among other inhumane conditions.

At Gamble, there is only a ledger of slave names in the visitor’s center and a small sign on the property, next to the white-columned, two-story, 10-room mansion that the enslaved built brick by brick of clay and tabby.

Forever a Confederate shrine?

The United Daughters of the Confederacy purchased the then-crumbling Gamble Mansion and surrounding lands in 1925 before deeding it to the State of Florida.

The gift came with stipulations. A big one: the site must be preserved forever as a Confederate monument, with members of the UDC leading the effort to preserve it. The politically connected group has shaped the telling of the plantation’s history ever since, with the state’s blessing.

It’s also why the site is designated as the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial. Benjamin, often referred to as “the brains of the Confederacy” during the Civil War, is believed to have briefly stayed at the plantation as he fled to England after the South’s rebellion failed.

Benjamin was an accomplished lawyer and the first openly Jewish U.S. senator. He was also a slave owner and an outspoken advocate for it.

Benjamin’s connection with the Ellenton site is small compared to the enslaved people that built and spent many years of their lives there. The details of his stay at the home are surrounded in uncertainty.

“This memorial is dedicated to Confederate veterans,” says a monument raised in 1937. Elsewhere, a commemorative garden has bricks engraved with the names of members of Confederate heritage organizations.

As the grim parts of its history have faded into the background, the home has become an often romanticized landmark.

In the early 20th century, rosy postcards celebrated the mansion’s Southern charm.

“Steeped in legend and tradition it now stands in its original glory as a history reminder of the Civil War days,” one postcard reads.

‘It’s problematic’

Some see the park’s current use as a painful whitewashing of the past — one that paints a romantic picture of the pre-Civil War South without fully recognizing the atrocities that are also a part of its story.

“It’s a very exclusionary framework they have there. It’s problematic,” said Diane Wallman, an associate professor of anthropology and scholar of Atlantic slavery and colonialism at University of South Florida.

Wallman led archaeological digs at the site in 2017 and 2018 that unearthed thousands of artifacts from the home’s past.

One of her graduate students, Matthew Litteral, sought out the locations of the slave quarters using a combination of historical records and remote sensing technology. Historic accounts describe dwellings “built of palmetto logs, and thatched with the leaves” and later structures built of tabby.

His research revealed a promising site: a field owned by a private landowner adjacent to Blackburn Elementary School, near the ruins of a sugar mill that was once operated by the enslaved workers.

Other records indicate there may have been slave quarters between the Gamble Mansion and the Manatee River.

“Though high probability areas for the archaeological remains of enslaved houses were identified, no excavations were conducted at these sites due to a lack of landowner interest and skepticism from Ellenton townfolk,” Litteral wrote in his thesis.

No additional excavations have taken place.

How could Gamble be re-envisioned?

Other parks that have been reinterpreted around the U.S. include the historic homes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and former plantation sites like Whitney Plantation in Louisiana and McLeod Plantation Historic Site in South Carolina.

In his 2019 research, Litteral recommended the creation of a new tour script and additional markers at Gamble that include more narratives of the enslaved, as well as collaboration with their descendants.

Those looking for a more inclusive account of Southwest Florida’s past don’t have to look far. Just across the Manatee River, Reflections of Manatee in Bradenton offers visitors stories of the many groups of people that have influenced the area’s rich history.

They include Native Americans, Cuban fisherman, escaped enslaved peoples who formed the Angola settlement, and pioneer settlers of European descent.

“Our community today is so fractured, and part of that is because people don’t see that they have a shared history,” Reflections of Manatee President Sherry Svekis said.

“I’ve never quite understood how Gamble as a state park can really only concentrate on the glorious plantation building and the life of Robert Gamble and the escape of Judah P. Benjamin without acknowledging the reality of who cleared the fields and who did the cooking.

“I think if we’re looking to try to move forward as a community, we have to understand that every group of people who has lived here has contributed to who we are today and what our community is today.”

UDC’s long history of control

Though the UDC gifted Gamble Mansion and grounds to the state, records indicate that they have maintained a significant say in what happens there over the decades.

For years, the group’s power over interpreting the park was enshrined in state law, which called on the governor to appoint three out of five members of the park’s advisory council from the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

“It shall be the duty of the advisory council to advise the Division of Recreation and Parks of the Department of Environmental Protection in the operation, restoration, development, and preservation of the Judah P. Benjamin Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historical Site,“ said the statute, which was repealed in 2012.

USF researchers found that there have been several attempts to expand the historical narrative at Gamble. But they were consistently met with backlash from the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

“It’s been a long fight. There was one in the 70s, one in the 90s, one in the 2000s. You had Florida Parks Service staff who were interested in changing the interpretation,” Wallman said.

During its first iteration, the Gamble served as a museum to the Confederacy itself, and rooms were dedicated to the different states that seceded from the Union.

“The new script included historically accurate interpretations for rooms throughout the mansion, and emphasized the daily lives and tasks of enslaved laborers,” USF’s Litteral and Wallman wrote in a presentation to the Society for Historical Archaeology in 2018.

But records show that UDC members, upset at the idea of changing the museum from a Confederate shrine, appealed to Thomas Gallen, a conservative state senator. The lawmaker pressured Stevenson and the park system to compromise.

“In the end, the back two rooms of the house were left to be commemorative to Benjamin and Confederate heritage. Many edits were also made to Stevenson’s original tour script by members of the UDC, and in the end almost all mentions of slavery were omitted,” Litteral and Wallman said.

In recent years, UDC members have maintained an influence through the park advisory board, which most state parks have.

The Gamble Plantation Preservation Alliance (GPPA) supplies volunteer power and financial resources and helps decide priorities for the park.

Its current president, Gail Jessee, is founder of the Confederate Cantiñieres Chapter of the UDC in Tampa. Jessee also has helped organize movements against the removal of Confederate monuments around Florida.

“As far as I can tell, every director of the board there has always been a UDC member,” Wallman said. “So they control a lot of what goes on there.”

Jessee and the Florida Division of the UDC did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

Documents from the board suggest its leadership may be open to change.

“The GPPA has been working towards improving the interpretive value of the park by developing more information on the enslaved that worked the plantation,” says a report signed by Jessee in 2022. “It’s a difficult task and little by little improvements have been made and more is planned.”

But Wallman and other scholars question what is taking so long.

“I would say they’ve made small baby steps,” Wallman said. “We noticed some shift in the tours, with a little more mention of the enslaved.”

“Those were the majority of the people who were living there,” Wallman said. “But they get maybe a few sentences.”

Small changes ‘at a slug’s pace’

Felicia Silpa is the only member of the GPPA who returned requests for comment. She is not a member of the UDC. The former trauma nurse got involved at the park while she was going back to school to study anthropology.

Silpa now serves as the park advisory board’s archaeologist. She has been studying Gamble Plantation for over 20 years and has published research papers and articles that question the lack of history of enslaved people.

“The Gamble Plantation can move beyond being a repository for the planter material culture to one of a more inclusive historical museum that places African Americans in prominent roles rather than erasing them,” Silpa wrote in her 2008 master’s thesis at USF, which provides an outline of how to make the park’s interpretation of history more inclusive.

“I don’t know why we’re moving at a slug’s pace,” Silpa said.

“Right now, it’s theater,” Silpa said. “We go in and we have somebody telling us the story. And the story is Gamble. He’s the central character. But we can add other characters. We can add the enslaved, and be honest about what their experience was like.”

In 2020, one update was made at the park that mentions the enslaved. A marker donated by the Gamble Plantation Preservation Alliance depicts what one of the palm cabins that Black inhabitants lived in may have looked like.

The marker offers little detail. Silpa said it’s a step in the right direction.

“I’m proud that we are moving forward. It’s about time,” Silpa said. “But there’s more that can be added to the story.”

Where historical scholars and the UDC can agree is that Gamble Plantation is worth preserving.

Park visitors call for change

State records show that Gamble Plantation gets about 50,000 visitors a year. Calls for change at the park are nothing new.

Visitors, community members, historians and activists have taken issue with how slavery is downplayed at the site. Here are some of their takeaways after visiting:

“While the informed tour guide knew about the slaves who lived here, built the place, and operated the sugar plantation, he only referred to them in response to my questions,” Bernard Leikind wrote in 2016. “There is nothing of slave life on display, and I saw no evidence of archaeological investigation of slave life.”

“Maybe it’s time for the State of Florida to rethink how it is presenting history at the Gamble Plantation,” Robert Plunket wrote for Sarasota Magazine in 2017. “At the moment, it would be an unpleasant experience for African-American schoolchildren.”

“At Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp... imagine if jocular tour guides focused upon the life and times of the Nazi officials, with only a nod to the 1.1 million victims who perished?” Vanessa Hua wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle after visiting the park in 2020.

“It’s impossible to imagine many black Americans — even those who determined that an ancestor had been enslaved at the Gamble property — would feel comfortable visiting the park given its Confederate memorial overlay,” Mark R. Howard wrote for Florida Trend in 2020.

Chandra Carty, a Manatee County woman with direct family ties to a man who was enslaved at Gamble, recently came forward to call for change at the site in an interview with 10 Tampa Bay WTSP. “They obscured what really happened here,” Carty said.

“Slave plantations should be a source of collective shame and sorrow, a historic source of healing, not a space to have a ‘Gone with the Wind’ moment or weddings or picnics,” John Sims wrote in a Tallahasee Democrat opinion piece in 2020. “And the idea that a former slave plantation, as a shrine, as a state park, is being used to memorialize the Confederacy, with taxpayers’ funds, with descendants of African slaves’ tax dollars, reflects a serious breach of moral accountability.”

Sims was a Sarasota artist and former Ringling College of Art and Design professor who in 2020 started a campaign to “rename and recontextualize” Gamble Plantation.

He died unexpectedly at age 54 last December, and Gamble hasn’t yet changed.

But his vision for reinterpreting plantation sites lives on, said Kyeelise Thomas, a Sarasota writer and journalist who is working on a memoir of Sims’ life and work.

“In John’s view, the park was named after a traitor,” Thomas said.

“He wanted to compel people to understand that if you can honor a stranger who was hosted on a piece of land in the state of Florida, surely you can honor the lives that worked, that toiled, that were lost on that land under the plantation system.”

In 2021, Sims teamed up with USF’s Department of Anthropology to host a four part series titled “Monuments, Markers and Memory.” It included a roundtable at Gamble aimed at pressuring the state to change the park’s name and broaden its narrative.

More than a monument

Like many Confederate monuments, Ellenton’s was established decades after the Civil War ended, during the Jim Crow era of segregation.

Common arguments for creating Confederate monuments include honoring the dead and preserving history. But critics say they were used as tools to rewrite history and uphold notions of white supremacy and “Lost Cause Ideology.”

The Atlanta History Center defines lost cause ideology as “an alternative explanation for the Civil War developed by white Southerners after the war’s end, (that) seeks to rationalize the Confederacy. It claims that slavery was not the central cause of the Civil War. Instead, it claims the primary motivations for secession were threats to the U.S. Constitution and the principle of states’ rights.”

“White peoples in power, including former Confederates, enacted racial segregation laws to create a society based on white supremacy — one that mimicked the Southern social, political, and economic order of slavery prior to the Civil War and emancipation. These laws were reinforced by social practices as well as race-based violence,” the Atlanta History Center says in its guide to interpreting Confederate monuments.

In Manatee County, documented cases of racial violence in the Jim Crow era included at least six lynchings and an active presence of the Ku Klux Klan.

“Confederate Statues Were Never Really About Preserving History,” a 2020 project by data journalism group FiveThirtyEight is titled. It found that Confederate memorials started going up by the hundreds in the early 1900s, “soon after Southern states enacted a number of sweeping laws to disenfranchise Black Americans and segregate society.”

“And this effort was largely spearheaded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who sponsored hundreds of statues, predominantly in the South in the early 20th century — and as recently as 2011,” the project reported.

One such monument, a 22-foot memorial to Confederate veterans and “the best traditions of the South,” was removed from downtown Bradenton in 2017 after protests for social justice.

Commissioners previously discussed Gamble Plantation as a potential home for it, but more recently expressed interest in reinstalling it downtown.

Throughout the South, many monuments like it have come down permanently as sentiment grows that they do not belong in public spaces.

“There’s no joy we find in the Confederate flag or any statue that represents that time,” Manatee NAACP Luther Wilkins previously told the Herald. “To other people, it would be a war that was fought for a family’s livelihood and way of life, but to us, it’s a bitter past. It’s a hurtful past.”

Gamble Plantation is just one example of Confederate symbols and culture that enjoy special protection under Florida law.

Despite several attempts to repeal them, current laws protect the Confederate flag from “improper use or mutilation.” Confederate Memorial Day and the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis are legal Florida holidays.

Park’s future is unclear

Though the UDC’s influence remains active at Gamble, it’s ultimately the state that decides how its history is presented.

A 2022 report by the Citizen Support Organization makes reference to a possible name change and reinterpretation of the park. But it is unclear if any plans are still in motion.

“In July 2020, we were informed our Park was to be ‘re-interpreted’ as well as a possible park name ‘change,’” says the document, which is signed by GPPA president Gail Jessee. “With this possibility overshadowing any CSO plans coupled with no communication from Tallahassee on whether the GPPA will be included in this new direction, it is difficult to set long-range goals to work toward.”

The state parks system is overseen by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. When asked if there were any active plans to reinterpret the site in 2023, FDEP did not give a definitive answer.

“The Florida Park Service is committed to providing resource-based recreation while preserving, interpreting and restoring natural and cultural resources, and the agency strives to do this in a positive and appropriate manner,” FDEP spokesperson Alexandra Kuchta wrote in an email.

“Our agency is always evaluating how we communicate Florida’s unique history across all state parks, including at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park.”

The park’s manager was prohibited from speaking with the media.

This story was originally published June 15, 2023, 11:40 AM.

[lboogie1906]

Alfred Charles Liggins III (January 30, 1965) was born in Omaha. He spent his early childhood in Omaha and at the age of seven moved to DC when his mother, radio mogul Cathy Hughes, took a job at Howard University. His mother and stepfather purchased the AM radio station WOL. He hosted a teen talk show on WOL, though he was more interested in the record industry than the radio business. He earned his high school diploma from Wilson High School.

He drove cross-country to California where he began working in direct mail advertising before landing a job in the record industry. He worked in sales and management for Light Records (1983-84) and as a production coordinator for singer Patrick Anderson. He moved to Washington in 1985 to help his mother, who was running the radio station alone. He attended night school at UDC and worked at the radio station during the day. He worked in the sales department at WOL (1986-94) climbing from representative to sales manager, helping the station rise in ratings and into the black. The family business began to grow with the purchase of FM stations in DC and Baltimore, thus the beginning of the Radio One empire.

He took over the day-to-day operations of the family business, becoming the president and chief executive officer of Radio One, with his mother retaining ownership. He earned his MBA degree from the Wharton School of Business. In 1999, Radio One went public and made history as the first female African American-owned company on the stock exchange. In 2000, Radio One purchased twenty-one radio stations from Clear Channel, more than doubling the company’s revenue. Radio One became the nation’s largest radio company, targeting African American and urban listeners with fifty-one stations in more than twenty cities.

In 2004, he expanded Radio One’s media sphere when he launched TV One. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[starrystar]

Teaching sucks sometimes. Anyone who is blind/low vision have advice for how to best give writing feedback to a blind student?

I was notified a few days before the start of the semester that I'd be having a student with accommodations that seemed consistent with blindness and at least partial hearing loss. I've done the UDC trainings and thought my materials were good to go, although I was worried about lecturing and in-class writing (it's a composition class). I reached out to the student wanting to chat about their needs, no response. Reached out to disability services and the UDC center and was told I was already doing everything I could/should be doing as far as materials, but was forbidden from doing anything in class that this student can't participate in (so no games that require a timed or visual element, no in-class writing unless I make a day of it and let this student do it in the testing center—which doesn't work when I just want them to do some reflective writing at the start of each day, etc.).

What I wasn't expecting was the freaking Canvas tools to be inaccessible! I normally use Speedgrader to annotate student writing. I was a little concerned about how that would work with a screen reader, but a quick Google search and a phone conversation with the accessibility folks both assured me that every function in Canvas is accessible. Nope! The screenreader does indeed read my annotated comments as long as they are only a few words long, but not in context with the rest of the writing. So if I comment something like "rewrite this clause using active voice," the student has no idea what clause I mean. In hindsight, I understand why it works like this, but in my rush and flurry it didn't occur to me that it would be an issue. The problem is compounded by the fact that I've been leaving feedback this way for 6 weeks and the student only just now complained to the disability office about me (without communicating with me at all)—the first I've heard anything despite a few emails from my end attempting to check in.

The UDC center said they'd "never seen this problem before" and then suggested I either 1) go back and do an audio comment reading the entire work aloud and interjecting my annotations when appropriate; 2) explain the context in each annotation, e.g. "In the fourth sentence of paragraph 2, after the word however, please add a comma"—which won't work because the screen reader only reads the first line of each annotation; 3) download it into Word and use track changes (the student submitted as a PDF). And I need to fix everything ASAP and allow resubmissions of everything because this student didn't have access to my comments to improve like the other students did.

This makes me want to just not give any feedback at all so everything is "fair." I mean, I'm not going to—I'm going to make this as accessible as I can for this student, hell or high water, but it's just so frustrating to find out after 6 weeks that I have to redo everything because of a lack of communication.

I have a disability and this is not a rant against disabilities and accommodations. This is a rant against people whose job it is to help me make things accessible "never seeing this before" about what I think is a fairly basic feature of Canvas.

[marylcna]

Discover the very best CNA Classes in DC: Your Guide to Launching a Rewarding Healthcare Career

**Title: Discover​ the Best⁢ CNA Classes‌ in DC: Your Guide to Launching a Rewarding Healthcare Career**

**Introduction**

Are you passionate about helping others and interested in pursuing a career in healthcare? Becoming a‌ Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) is a great way to start your journey in ‍the medical field. CNAs⁤ play a ‌vital role in providing‌ direct patient care⁣ and assisting nurses and other healthcare‌ professionals in various medical settings.

If you’re located in Washington, DC, and⁢ are looking for the best CNA classes to kickstart‌ your healthcare career, you’ve come to the right ‌place. In this guide, we will explore the top ⁢CNA programs in​ DC, provide ⁣information on the requirements ⁢for becoming⁢ a ‍CNA, and offer tips on how⁤ to succeed in your training and career.

**Benefits of Becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)**

Before we dive into the best CNA classes in‍ DC, let’s first discuss some‍ of the benefits of pursuing a career as a CNA:

1. ‌**Job Security:** The healthcare industry is constantly growing, and there is a high demand for qualified CNAs in hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities.

2. **Fulfilling Work:** As a CNA, ⁣you will have the opportunity to make a positive impact ⁢on patients’ lives by providing essential care and support.

3. **Career Advancement:** Becoming a CNA can be‌ a stepping stone to furthering​ your career in healthcare, such as becoming a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Registered Nurse (RN).

4. **Flexible⁣ Schedules:** Many healthcare facilities offer flexible scheduling options, making it easier to ​balance work and personal life.

**Requirements for⁢ Becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant in DC**

In order to become a CNA⁣ in Washington, DC,⁣ you must meet the following requirements:

1. **Complete a State-Approved‌ CNA Program:** You must successfully complete a state-approved CNA training program. These programs typically last anywhere from 4 to 12 ‌weeks and include both ⁢classroom instruction and hands-on clinical training.

2. **Pass the CNA Certification Exam:** After completing your training ‌program, you will need to pass the CNA certification exam. This exam consists of ‍a written ⁤portion and a skills evaluation, and you must pass both‍ parts to become a certified CNA.

3. **Background Check:** Most states, including DC, require CNAs to undergo a criminal ‍background check to ensure the safety of patients.

**Top CNA Classes in DC**

Now ⁣that you⁢ understand‍ the requirements for becoming a CNA in DC, let’s‍ explore some of the‍ best CNA classes in the⁣ area:

1. **University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC):** UDC-CC offers a comprehensive CNA training program that covers all the essential skills and knowledge needed to succeed as a ⁢CNA. The program includes classroom instruction, hands-on training, and clinical experience.

2. **American‍ Red Cross:**‌ The Red Cross offers a renowned CNA training program in DC that is highly respected in the healthcare industry. Their program‌ focuses on providing students with the skills and confidence needed‌ to excel as CNAs.

3. **CNA Training⁢ Institute:** The CNA Training Institute in ⁣DC is another excellent option for those looking to become CNAs. Their program is⁤ designed to prepare students for the CNA certification exam and for⁣ success in ⁣the workplace.

**Practical Tips for Success in CNA Training**

– **Stay Organized:** Keep track of assignments, study materials, and important deadlines ⁣to stay on top of your coursework. – **Practice Active Listening:** Pay attention in class, ask questions, and participate in discussions to‌ enhance‍ your learning‍ experience. – **Seek Help When Needed:** ⁤Don’t⁤ hesitate to reach ⁣out to your instructors or classmates if​ you need assistance⁣ with any topics or skills. – **Stay Focused:** Remain dedicated and motivated throughout⁤ your CNA⁤ training to ensure⁢ success in your studies and future career.

**Conclusion**

Becoming a‌ CNA is‌ a rewarding and fulfilling career ⁣choice​ for individuals interested in healthcare. By enrolling in ⁢one of ‌the top CNA classes in DC ⁤and following the tips provided in this guide, you can‌ start ⁤your journey towards a successful career as⁣ a Certified Nursing Assistant.​ Remember, dedication, hard work, ⁣and‍ compassion are key attributes⁤ that will help you thrive ‌in this essential ‍healthcare role. Good luck on ​your journey to becoming a⁣ CNA‍ in⁢ Washington, DC!

https://www.cnacertificationschools.net/discover-the-very-best-cna-classes-in-dc-your-guide-to-launching-a-rewarding-healthcare-career/

[daeagon]

My Reactions to ep 9 of TDofJ

MAJOR SPOILERS!! fyi this is an actually image of me while watching this show, this and me crying

this is very long so fair warning!

I also watched some of this with my IRL friend, so I’ll add their reactions!

THE BOAR SCNEE! You don’t know how excited I was to see this since it’s in the opening credits, and they just have it in the first 2 seconds! I THOUGUT THIS WOULD BE A HUGE CHANCE SCENE!! Nope

Oh she angy

I also love J’s little head tilt thing, it’s so smooth!

I LOVE HER and this line is so fucking funny! (Don’t think about how I could connect this to Bianca’s character and actions in the show)

THE PARALLELS THE PARALLELS! they speak to me!

the way this connects to J and Nuria’s hug/J crying but it’s the opposite, B is crying and doesn’t get a hug, however her partner knows about her job!

I don’t have any photos but during J going home and speaking to his kid my IRL was yelling at him to stop speaking Spanish, I was going OH SHIT.

also my IRL thinks Nuria is very hot and she can do better

When Nuria was confronting J and saying is this real when pointing to her ring: DAMN

basically that whole bit was me and my friend being in shock and reacting to it and saying Nuria was hot!It was very fun and surprising

HE FUCKING SNAPPED OH MY GOLLY! I LOVE THIS TROPE YEESSSSSSSSSSS

my IRL was also wondering why J was just standing there, he really hit the 🧍‍♂️

THIS FUCKING SHOT! HOLY SHIT

this looks like a painting! I don’t know which one but this should be in a museum! THE LIVHTING!! (I feel like someone should look into potential Biblical references or connections in this show, bc Nuria is in paradise and that falls apart because of her curiosity, I’m sure there’s more this is just surface level)

when Nuria walked away my IRL repeated that and said as she should

WHAT IS GOING ON WIRH THE BROTHET OH NO! I think he’s in something deep

oh wait, this could be a setup/trap

WAIT NOOOO!

AND WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE GREATFUL FOR THAT?! F off! I USED TO LIKE YOU!

the way I need him to do this to me, and tell me everything is ok

but I know your fixing your marriage and that’s great but you have a man to unalive

I LOVE UDC!!! ‘Super rish people have to give up private jets so young people can have a future’ PREACH! PLEASE COME TO THIS WORLD PLEASE!! 🙏 This world really needs someone like UCD and River

YESSSSS QUEEN! If UDC has no fans I am dead (pun not intended)

but River launches tomorrow, that’s not a lot of time. I think UDC will die but River will still launch and the world will go into chaos

also very interesting timing of this show with recent events in NY, completely random thought

that’s the UK’s foreign secretary guy

’so where is the Jackal?’ Mans getting a boat, love him for that (to get to the island???)

I think I might be going to Spain at some point late next year, im actually so excited!

WHAT THE FUCK!! HELLO?!

WHAT?! It wasent the Jackal, was it? I DONT KNOW

Bianca’s so real for that

None is having a good time, J is mourning Norman, B is mourning her family even though they’re not dead

This song feels like a set up for the season finale, but there’s still time left in the ep

NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT THE REGRET FOR SNAPPING AT YOUR WIFE NOOOO

OH SHIT! B is going to Spain oh god

Ah shit, here we go again

Very pretty bird!

They are knows for their ability to mimic the songs of other birds, sometimes kept as a cage bird 👀, that could connect to J’s username on the dark web, someone posted an analysis about that

The fit is giving Sherlock Holmes/deer hunter

also side note the fits in this show 👌, I need them!

bird call in distance

I might be a sleeper agent for anything bird related

I really should expect everyone J interacts with will be killed but wow, knife in the sock

I thought for a sec J would dive/swim to the island, glad he’s not doing thst

That’s a crazy set up wow! I mean it’s to account for the shaking of the boat so it makes sense

Jackal is so homophobic, you killed Rasmus your going to kill UDC who hurt you?

OH NO! Ullie’s partner is convinced him to swim and he’s going to die and he’s going to have so much guilt nooooooo

oh no there’s a drone!

and that dead guy is still just sitting there, sure

He shot the guy on a jet ski, he’s going to shoot the drone, is he going to do this with one bullet?!?

I’ve been so invested and mesmerized, the mucus it’s so tense!!! I’m scared

What did he do to the drone?! Huh

HE HIT THE WRONT MAN!!

THE COUNTDOWN IS SO TENSE

I am on the edge of my seat

OH SHIT!!

THERE YOU ARE ARE YOU INSANE

omg, I am actually in shock this show, I don’t think I was breahting

your just going to sail away!

NO THE PARTNER NOO IM SO SORRY

THE MUSIC! principle down!

IM GETTING MY CHSCE SCENE! YESSSSSSSSS

THE SHOT COMPOSITION IN THIS SHOW IS ACTUSLLY INSANE!!

I’m shaking

they just cut it there

god I have to wait a week

what did I just watch

a masterpiece that’s what

I need a week to process that actuslly

This show, I don’t have the words for how good it is, this is some of the best TV I’ve watched in a while

Welp until next week 😭