#we start having issues with customers not being able to practice social distancing right at 300.

[40spoppin]

Fun fact: don’t trust Walmart when they say they’re doing their best to protect people

[drxwsyni]

Petrified (pt.4)

Yandere Erasermic x f!Reader

SERIES MASTERLIST

a/n: oooooh boy this took a hot minute to write, but i finally forced myself to finish it. and we reached 600 followers recently too!!!! i can’t believe there’s so many of you guys like holy heck. i hope you continue to enjoy what i have to offer :)

4.8k words

Warnings: reader experiences mild anxiety

As much as every ounce of your being begged to escape the confines of your small apartment and return to work, there were certain...motivators, holding you back.

For one, you presumed it’d be safest to heed the words of a medical professional―at least for the time being. Your condition had greatly improved since Friday, disregarding some lingering head pain, and now your self-preservation and common sense seemed to be functioning properly at the moment. In that regard, resting was likely the better idea.

As for the other thing keeping you home...perhaps it would be healthier not to think about it.

You felt ashamed, having been so undeniably intimidated by a couple of men who were simply being kind enough to drive you home last night. However the sensation didn’t come as a shock once you had taken the time to think the ordeal over.

It’s just what came naturally―your brain internalizing experiences, shaping them into something that should scare you.

Any rational person would laugh at your behaviour.

They’re heroes. Clearly what happened was just them expressing harmless concern.

And yet the more you tried to convince yourself of their innocent intentions, the harder it became to ignore the gut feeling that still lingered the morning after.

However, you knew how your brain could be sometimes―refusing to move on from initial impressions despite having rationalized the topic as a whole.

Hizashi was just naturally drawn to affection as a way of showing distress. There was no other meaning behind his lingering touches or endearing nicknames―just concern.

As for Shouta, well he always seemed to be a stern man. It was likely that it just manifests a bit more when he’s worried, it’s just the professionalism in him.

There was no need to stay so fixated on the subject when you could be using your time to catch up on hobbies that you’d greatly neglected as a result of your occupation. Having no reason for doing anything else, a little self-indulgence was practically your only choice.

It was still early, at least for your standards―knowing full well that your lifestyle kept you in bed longer than the average human.

You kept searching for things to do here and there, never staying on one task for too long. First it was cleaning the kitchen, then attempting to read a long abandoned novel. You tried finding something on t.v to watch, but everything only offered you the same empty feeling of boredom. Nothing could pique your interest long enough to hold you to one pastime―and for good reason.

There was a message from Hizashi that remained unopened on your phone since you woke up.

It felt ridiculous, being so hesitant to look at the damned message. Even after telling yourself that there was nothing to worry about, you couldn’t bring yourself to read it. So when you heard the familiar ping not once, but twice in succession while organizing your magazine collection, the feeling of your heart sinking into your stomach did not come as a surprise.

The device was still on your nightstand where you disregarded it last night, and subsequently neglected it this morning. Even through the walls of your bedroom you could still hear the notifications go off.

Inwardly cursing, you had a faint idea that continuing to block out the intrusion would likely lead to more issues between you and the two men. Not that it should, everyone forgets to answer their phone here and there. But you weren’t an idiot―even if it was just paranoia, the consequences of ignoring the messages weren’t something you particularly wanted to think about given the recent behaviour of the heroes.

As expected, the screen was lit up in wait for your return.

From: Hizashi

morning sunshine! just checking up on ya, how r u feeling?

9:17 am

ya doing okay? didn’t pass out again i hope ;)

12:53 pm

if ya keep leaving me hangin i’m gonna get worried songbird…

12:54 pm

Ah yes, you thought, he’s as coddling as normal it seems.

You figured it’d be wise to send a reply before he bust down your door to make sure you were still alive in person.

You:

I’m alright! Just slept in a little :)

12: 54 pm

The response that came instantly was almost a little inhumanly fast.

From: Hizashi

oh thank god, don’t need a repeat of last friday

12:54 pm

You:

Yeah, definitely not. Thanks for checking up on me though!

12:56 pm

From: Hizashi

lemme know if ya need anything picked up, probably not a good idea for you to be going out rn

12:56 pm

Naturally, you wouldn’t let him do that even if you did need anything. God knows how much trouble you’ve been so far―no need to cause more.

You:

Sounds good, I’ll let you know if I do.

I’m actually in the middle of cleaning right now so how bout we talk later :)

12:57 pm

The more you conversed with him, the harder it became to think about anything other than the embarrassing experiences you had with the man. It was probably best if you gave up the conversation, knowing you’d have more than enough time to chat when you regrettably were forced to eat dinner with him and his partner.

Thankfully, he seemed to be okay with the proposition as well.

From: Hizashi

aww alright, don’t work urself too hard sunshine!

12:58 pm

Too bothered to give a proper farewell, you turned your phone off, leaving it on do not disturb to avoid further distress.

_____

You’d spent the rest of the day tidying up here and there. It turns out focusing solely on going to work only to come home for rest had left your apartment shamefully messy. Every now and again your thoughts would drift back to the two intrusions in your life as of lately. It was invasive―not being able to leave well enough alone. You weren’t physically near them they still plagued you with anxiety, even if it was just barely recognizable.

Dinnertime came soon enough, and you’d spent it mindlessly scrolling through social media. The feeling of wanting to chuck your phone across the room was fleeting―but present―as you momentarily laid eyes on a post having to do with Present Mic and his radio show. It would seem not even in your perceived distraction could you distance yourself from the thoughts and feelings related to him and his somber counterpart.

The night went on, slowly but surely. For better or for worse you let yourself get lost in the endless play-through of television. Some shows you’d seen before, others you hadn’t. It didn’t really matter when the only purpose they served was to keep your mind on something that didn’t have your hair falling out from stress.

Eventually you felt your mind become foggy with exhaustion once again―and you couldn’t be more thankful.

_____

Wednesday was spent doing many of the same things as the day before. Cleaning―so much cleaning. Turns out you’d missed a lot yesterday, and the lighting of the somewhat early morning sun was more than enough to highlight all the dirt and grime that had yet to be scrubbed away.

So you got to work, feeling rejuvenated with a good night’s sleep.

By the time you made it to six o’clock you felt thoroughly beat, and in the best way. You spent your time eating thinking about the work day you would have tomorrow. Sure, you were aware that it’d only bring the all too familiar sluggishness to your body. But you were a people pleaser, so really that sensation didn’t matter at the end of the day. What mattered was the motivation you felt that spurred you to work―both the verbal and nonverbal praise those who purchased the fruits of your labour gave.

Expectedly, when you woke up Thursday morning, although it was closer to the afternoon at that point, there was a spring in your step as you readied yourself for the day.

As always the comforting smell of fresh greenery in the air was much appreciated as you stepped into the floral boutique. Your coworker greeted you with open arms, regarding your seemingly healthy recovery. It was nearing the end of their shift, and therefore soon to be the beginning of yours, so you headed to the employee designated portion of the building to make the few preparations for the start of your night.

Naturally, you were quickly subjected to the whims and demands of customers when you took your place at the front counter. Given the monotonous time you spent away from any meaningful stimulation, the activity was appreciated.

You were assorting foliage left right and center, the company you worked for obtaining quite the substantial amount of earnings in the process. The time went by steadily, you working diligently alongside of it. Request after request was met, not even the few unsavoury interactions phased you all the much amidst the bustling atmosphere. A few familiar faces entered the shop, to which you greeted with a comforting warmth only good service could provide.

It felt good to be caught up in routine, making the nearing end of it only the more bitter. But it still came, and you were going through the motions of tending to the final arrangement with somewhat slowed movements as a result of your quirk usage.

The awaiting customer hastily took the finished product before paying and exiting the establishment. People tended to be in a bit of a rush at this hour, likely due to the lateness of the night. You disregarded the occurrence and settled for cleaning up for the rest of your shift.

There was sweeping and disinfecting to be done, along with tidying up the assembly station and checking on the greenery room one last time. You went through the tasks absentmindedly, having done them countless times before. The routine was like second nature, allowing your thoughts to go over the events of the workday.

You were giving a final once over of the plant life when the high pitched jingle of the front door bell rang out through the shop.

Really? At this hour you’re trying to buy flowers even though it’s literally closing time?

Giving a sigh of frustration you stepped out of the room and headed to the front. But low and behold, it was not in fact an incompetent customer waiting to be served.

“Did you even consider staying home for the whole week?��� The erasure hero was leaning against the front counter when you entered the room. He was smirking ever so slightly, almost as if he knew that both of you were aware that you wouldn’t stay away from work. His tone was even teasing, making your frustrations go away only to be replaced by a slight feeling of flusteredness under his intense gaze. You didn’t know whether you preferred this side of him or the side that made you want to curl into a ball after being berated by unyielding lecturing mixed with interrogation.

“Hello to you too. I’m sorry if you're here for flowers cause it’s pretty much closing time.”

Just then Hizashi walked out from behind a display stand, making his way next to Shouta. “Not quite listener! Just wanted to make sure you were still up for that repayment we talked about.”

Ah yes, like you could forget that any time soon.

“Of course. Still not sure how it makes up for things but since you insist...who am I to say no?” You were behind the counter, taking stock of today's earnings as Shouta continued.

“I suppose it’s not really a traditional form of repayment, but we promise you’ll enjoy it. To be honest we don’t have company over often, so it’ll be a nice change of pace for us too.”

It was a relief to see that their behaviour wasn’t nearly as hostile as it was a few nights ago. Frankly, you just barely got out of that situation without breaking down from your highly anxious nerves.

“Ya finishing up there songbird? We’ll give you a ride home.” Joyous as ever, Hizashi was all too eager to put you further in debt.

Expectedly, his partner was quick to agree to the proposition. “That’s not a bad idea. Not to sound patronizing, but it really is dangerous to be out by yourself at this hour.”

You wrapped up the assessment of the register’s contents, closing the drawer and locking it up. “Thanks for the offer, but I refuse to impose on you two anymore. Besides, walking home can be kinda therapeutic―at least when I’m not tired out of my mind.” You gave a slight chuckle at the end of your statement, having long gotten used to that recurring condition at the end of the day.

“We weren’t asking, (y/n). You're still recovering, even though you probably won’t admit it. And I won’t beat around the bush―you’re too vulnerable in this state.”

It would seem Shouta’s previous attitude was just for show. Does he ever get tired of being so serious all the time?

It was like second nature at this point―direct confrontation leading to an initially mild panic that would soon snowball into a full blown breakdown if the occurrence persists.

You kept up the friendly appearance nonetheless.“I just think I’d prefer―”

“It’s no problem, sweetheart. You know we don’t mind helpin’ ya out. Besides we still gotta work out when you’re comin over, yeah?” The blond’s smile did little to calm the growing apprehension you felt.

Just be a little more stubborn. Some people need that extra reminder.

“It’s fine, really. I’ll just message you for the details and―”

“(Y/n).” It made your stomach churn―the lowness in the erasure hero's voice. He wasn’t having it. For a moment you pondered whether he’d ever really care about what you had to say.

“Just finish closing up, ‘kay hun? We’ll wait right here until you’re done.” Hizashi kept his eyes on you in wait for a response, or even an action that would show you’d comprehended what they said. And of course you had―you just desperately wished they’d never said it in the first place.

You felt ashamed, and it was becoming an all too familiar feeling when you were around the two men. But it was just who you were, met with compassion but only getting dejected by it. You were uncomfortable, there was no denying that. Backed into a corner that shouldn’t exist, but does because you didn’t have the will to change the situation into your favour.

Despite your distress, the part of you that put others before yourself prevailed.

“Okay, I guess. Just―um...gimme a few minutes please.” You wondered if they could even hear your reply, given that even to yourself it sounded almost non existent. It didn’t matter. You were fleeing to the employee room without bothering to find out.

You stood in front of your locker, hands shaking in the slightest as you got changed―apron off, jacket on, backpack slung over your shoulder. The coolness of the thin metal offered some relief, you keeping your hands atop the closed door for a moment to calm your rapidly beating heart.

At least you’d get home quickly, you thought.

As they promised, the two were waiting in the seating area at the front of the shop, quietly making conversation with each other. The sound of your footsteps alerted them to your presence.

“Ready to rock and roll?” Hizashi stood up from his seat, his partner following suit.

You gave the room a quick once over, making sure everything was where it needed to be. “I think so.” A quiet ride back home was what you hoped for, but there was more to be discussed, much to your dismay.

Shouta held the door open for the two of you, letting you pause to lock up when you had all exited. “How was work today?”

The closeness of his voice as you turned the lock into place made you jump slightly, but you did your best to ignore the temporary fear. “Fine, I suppose. Like any other Thursday night…” You tried to hide the underlying anxiety with a smile, but you couldn’t tell whether or not it did the trick. Giving the front door an experimental tug to make sure it was locked, you turned back to let the two lead you to their car.

You felt a hand settle on the small of your back―Shouta’s hand―as he walked with you while Hizashi remained on your other side, slightly ahead of you. “How’s your head doing, is the medication working?”

The two walked at a casual pace, but to you it felt unbearably slow―what you wouldn’t give to just walk home without the admittedly unwelcomed company. “It still hurts a bit every now and then, but the pills keep the pain at bay for the most part.”

By now you were approaching their car which was parked on the side of the road, the blond opening it for you to step in. Shouta took up the responsibility of driving once again, Hizashi in the passenger's seat.

“Ya gettin’ enough sleep?” You were sitting behind the driver's seat, letting Hizashi have the opportunity to comfortably look back at you while he talked.

“Probably more than enough.”

You heard Shouta start the car before he responded. “That’s good to hear. It’s unfortunate that your work keeps you out so late though.” The car started forward, and you were thankful that at this rate it’d only take a few minutes to reach your apartment. You kept your eyes trained on the passing scenery to avoid any awkward eye contact.

“So when do ya think would be a good day to come over. I’ve got my radio show on Fridays and weekdays don’t always sit too well with teaching ‘n stuff.”

“Yeah...Fridays definitely won’t work for me either. Honestly I don’t really get much time for myself outside of work.” Not that you weren’t used to this reality by now, but every so often you wished your life allowed for just a little more free time. If anything, the horrid state you found your apartment to be in when you were forced to stay home would surely attest to that.

It would seem that Shouta agreed with his partner’s statement, “How about this Saturday? I can come pick you up at around 5:30.”

You contemplated whether it was even worth arguing over letting him give you a ride to their place. And then you remembered exactly what landed you in their car in the present.

You probably wouldn’t get very far with that fight.

“That should be fine.” It was only in your nature to want to offer some form of compensation. You knew that this whole ordeal was meant to be you repaying them, so you should at least try to cater to that reality. “I can make something to bring so you guys don’t have to do all the work. Cooking isn’t really my strong suit but I’m a pretty decent baker―maybe I could put something together for dessert?”

“Nah don’t bother with that babe. We’re supposed to be treating you, remember?”

“Exactly, and I doubt any of us will have room for desert. Another time maybe.”

“Yep! Besides, you being there’s all the sweetness we need.” You didn’t have to look at Hizashi to know the grin he had on his face as he threw around careless sentiments like his literal partner wasn’t sitting right next to him.

The car was pulling into the parking lot of your apartment complex. To be honest you didn’t know how to respond to the nonchalant compliment, “Ah...yeah. Just let me know if there’s any change in plan I guess.” The vehicle came to a stop, you pulling your backpack into your lap while unbuckling the seatbelt.

“Don’t stay up too late, okay?” This time you didn’t make the mistake of looking at Shouta as he talked, for fear that his glare would burn holes through your skull. Instead you pretended to fiddle with something on your bag while responding.

“Yeah, thanks for the ride.”

The car door unlocked, letting you step outside into the brisk fresh air. Before you could close the door you heard Hizashi calling out to you, hand placed behind the headrest of his partner’s seat as he turned to speak to you. “We can give you a ride home tomorrow after work if ya’d like. Shouta’s got nothin’ going on―it’d be no trouble.”

“No,” that was definitely not something you needed, “I’ve got something I need to do after work actually, but thanks for the offer.” There was nothing to attend to after your shift, but they didn’t need to know that. Lying was never something you were the best at, and you hoped the shakiness in your voice didn’t give too much away.

“Alrighty then songbird, just thought I’d ask.”

“Have a good night (y/n).”

You smiled at the blond facing you, “Thanks, you too.” Before they could get another word out, as at this point you felt they would take up more of your time if possible, you shut the car door. Once again giving a small wave before you entered the building, you found it all too hard to contemplate how you’d politely weasel your way out of this newly developed relationship after the ensuing Saturday night.

_____

Friday came and went as expected. Waking up with the familiar sluggishness plaguing your body, moving past the sensation to go about your duties―everything falling into place as routine. Meeting the demands of love-stricken individuals was as taxing as normal, but it was all you had to make you feel like you were contributing something valuable to society. At the end of the day it was worth doing questionable things to your health.

The slightly less honourable motivation in the form of decent tips was always an added bonus. Your co-workers mentioned a few times that somehow you always ended up with a higher profit than the rest of them. It made you feel slightly guilty, but the usage of your quirk was likely the reasoning behind the occurrence.

Nights like these always ended with more earnings than normal―given the sheer volume of customers compared to the typical weekday traffic. Right now you took solace in the reward as you usually do at the end of your shift, thumbing through the few generous bills you received.

Satisfied with the haul, you completed your mental checklist that you’d formed over time to ensure that all tasks were completed by the end of the day. Your keys felt heavy in your wearied hands as you locked up, turning on the heels of your feet in the direction of your awaiting apartment.

You’d be lying if you said you were surprised to see that the two mildly invasive heroes hadn’t checked in to see that you were actually busy after work. Not that you wanted them to―having to lie once again wasn’t in your best interest. Still, the phenomenon that was their recurring presence had not gone unnoticed. More often than not you found your thoughts drifting to past experiences with them, and therefore regrettably resurfacing some unpleasant feelings.

For now however, you did your best to fixate on other, less mentally damaging things. In light of recent events you chose to take the long way home, inwardly shuddering as you passed the alleyway which you ever so carelessly ventured into exactly a week ago.

Maybe you were just hyperaware due to some lingering paranoia, but you could’ve sworn you could make out rustling in certain places around you―places that shouldn’t exactly be making that much noise.

Behind you. No...above you? Or was it both―the sounds distinct but lacking just enough to throw off your comprehension to make a full analysis of their origin.

Forget about it for God’s sake. You’re tired. It’s been a long day and you’re anxious because you got jumped just seven days ago in the same area.

But you could hear it.

Shifting in the shadows. Muffled but there all the same.

Footsteps?

The possibility had your heart rate growing faster by the second.

Not footsteps, just your mind playing tricks on you. You’re okay.

Unconsciously, your pace grew quicker, the patter of your shoes hitting the pavement sounding off below you. In the midst of your panic riddled thoughts you failed to register that you’d reached your destination.

An audible sigh escaped your lips as you observed the towering building with gratitude.

You kept up the hastened strides, reaching your apartment in good time. The time between stepping through the threshold of the abode and when your head hit your pillow was a blur―but really those monotonous details weren’t all that imperative.

As much as you wanted to get a good night's sleep, your subconscious had other plans. You reached the state of deep slumber that you desired, but it was riddled with offending nightmares.

Dark looming figures in the corner of your eyes, disappearing when you tried to get a good look at them. Running from something that placed a deep set fear into your very being, despite not having even seen what the atrocity was.

It left you to wake in a cold, sticky feeling sweat. Disheveled and disoriented, the time didn’t quite matter―wanting only for the feeling of trepidation to dissipate so you can return to a hopefully more peaceful sleep.

_____

Keys clattered loudly on the glass countertop of the side table in the entryway as Shouta haphazardly emptied his pocket’s contents. The sound of a running shower could be heard on the floor above him, making the presence of his boisterous partner known. He removed the heavy combat boots of his hero costume and lazily sauntered to the shared bedroom.

By the time he got there the shower had turned off, and he occupied himself with changing out of his attire for something less restricting in wait for the blond to make an appearance.

He’d just finished getting settled when Hizashi exited the attached washroom to their bedroom, hair still damp and lightly soaking the t-shirt he’d thrown on. “Well, don’t keep me waiting’”

The voice hero leaned against the headboard of their bed, “She didn’t have any plans, I watched her walk straight home after her shift and she never left the apartment either.”

Hizashi’s usually persistently bright smile faltered, “Ah...she probably forgot about them or something.”

“Do you really believe that?”

The disappointment was evident in the blond’s face, “Would she really just lie to us like that, even though we’re tryin’ to help her?”

The erasure hero sighed, “She’s self-destructive, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen her put herself in danger without second thought.”

“God, Shou’―and she’s always shakin’ like a leaf. I don’t even think the poor thing realizes she’s doin’ it either.”

Shouta looked to the ceiling for a moment as if searching for an answer that would please his partner, “We can try and bring it up with her―see if there’s a reason behind all this.”

“And what if she lies to us again, huh? I can’t keep watching her hurt herself babe.”

At that the erasure hero stood up from his position on the bed, making his way over to the washroom in hopes of a shower relaxing his nerves. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let’s just see how dinner goes first, okay?”

“But what if she never tells us what’s goin’ on? I mean she’s already avoiding us for christ’s sake, what’s to stop her from―”

“If anything happens we’ll deal with it ‘Zashi. I don’t want to hear anything more of it until after we sit down with her, got it?” He paused at the doorway as emphasis, waiting for his partner's agreement on the matter.

“Yeah okay, sorry.”

“Don’t be, I care about her too, remember?” With that he closed the door before his partner could add to the conversation.

_____

When you did finally wake up from that hellish night, almost entirely riddled with disturbing dreams, you were left with a lingering feeling of dread. A pit in your stomach that remained persistent no matter how much you tried to think of something other than the incomprehensible yet sickening scenarios that unwillingly played out inside your head.

Looking at your phone didn’t help you settle into a more agreeable state either.

It was just past midday―giving you roughly five hours until you had to pull yourself together to sit through what was hopefully the last encounter with the two heroes.

For now however, you listened to the sound of the birds chirping outside your window―it was always easier to get lost in your surroundings than actively trying to solve your own issues.

Maybe by the time you had to leave you’d feel better. But even if you didn’t, the dull ache of ailment was always persistent in your life in one way or another―so what was one more problem?

End of Part 4

_____

taglist: @roseloverofpastels @shinsous-eye-bags @tjhonoluluprezstitch626 @pekusofixus @riarora @glitterypinkkitty

[portlandvalentine]

Hello, if anyone’s still reading. Time for my semi-annual update I guess. I’m still working at the bike shop. I was full time for a few months but recently went down to four days a week to accommodate a staffing change. I’ve also been working for the census since the beginning of August, but I think that’s done now. I haven’t done any sex work since April! But I’ll have to start again soon, because losing one shift a week made a pretty big dent in my paychecks. I’m hoping to just see clients I already know. I don’t want to advertise anymore, or deal with new people. A few old regulars have reached out recently but I’m still apprehensive about the COVID risk so I turned them down for now.

Weird to think that I haven’t had sex with anyone in over five months, and I’ve only actually touched and had close contact with one person, my coworker who I’ve gotten pretty close to since we work together, just the two of us, most days of the week. Our workplace is tiny and we don’t even try to socially distance anymore. He’s a hugger and I’m not really normally but it turns out I am a human being who needs physical touch and not a weird robot so we hug all the time. Several people have asked me if we’re dating but it’s not like that. I really like him though. I have a lot of friends who I know through online stuff, but not many in-person friends these days. It’s weird to make new friends during a pandemic though. We only hang out at work so far. I would like to try hanging out outside of work too but I feel awkward about asking. I’m trying to make more connections through work too. I’m friendly with all my coworkers and at least Instagram friends with most of them, and with some of our customers too. I recently attended a bike advocacy zoom meeting. I was apprehensive about using zoom (my first time ever) but it turns out it’s pretty cool to be able to get involved in something without having to leave my apartment. It’s kinda weird that my life is all about bike stuff right now and sex work stuff feels like a different life. I’ve been super burned out for ages, but I always thought that sex work community would be a big part of my life forever. Lately I can barely bring myself to read the Slack group that I’m in with some local sex workers, or look at the Facebook groups. I’m mostly in the closet about being a sex worker at work, which feels very weird because I’ve always been open about it with pretty much everyone. I’ve been dropping hints for a while, like mentioning that I’ve bartended at strip clubs and talking about friends who are escorts, to gauge reactions and no one seems weirded out. But I’ve only told my main work buddy the whole truth, and that was only recently.

Working for the census was actually super interesting and I’m so glad I did it. I was working in my immediate neighborhood so I got to see the insides of practically every building that I walk past all the time. It was also really challenging, especially as we got close to the end and only the really difficult, hostile cases and buildings that no one had been able to access were left, but for some reason I was really good at it. I actually felt like I used some of my rusty old stripper skills of approaching people with confidence (even if I had to fake it), reading them instantly to decide what approach to use on them, and getting them to talk to me. I also became the master of getting into apartment buildings, whether I had to charm a resident who was coming or going into letting me in, take off my badge and turn my census bag around so it just looked like a plain messenger bag and follow people in like I lived there, or sneak around the building looking for any unlocked door or ground floor window into a public hallway (yes I did climb through more than one window). I liked the challenge of closing cases that 10+ people before me had failed to do. Every person that got counted will bring approximately $30,000 in federal funds into the community over the next ten years, so I was determined to get people counted no matter what and felt awesome when I succeeded. I met a lot of nice people, and some real assholes. Quite a few people slammed the door in my face. Several landlords threatened to call the cops on me, even just for asking them to let me into the building. One person vaguely threatened my life/safety (said if he sees me on the property again I’m gonna regret it). Awkwardly, he lives on the next block down from me and I walk past his building all the time and he’s ALWAYS out on the front porch and he keeps yelling at me to stay the fuck away even if I’m walking on the other side of the street and not even doing census work. The most hostile landlord I dealt with, who grabbed my arm and physically shoved me out of the building and claimed the cops were on the way, she lives on site in the building directly across the street from mine, so I’m really hoping I don’t run into her. But overall it was a good experience and I’m already hoping to work the 2030 census.

What else? My new cat Johan has lived with me for seven months now; I guess he’s not so new anymore. He’s still sweet and good and having no health issues from his FeLV. I’m happy that summer is over and the best part of the year is starting. I’m rewatching BTVS from the beginning right now. I’m suffering through terrible season 1 but I know it’ll get better soon. My life is pretty boring, I mostly just work and watch TV. I was working too much with the census, doing like 50-60 hours a week between my two jobs. I’ve never been so tired in my life. So it’s a relief to have some free time again. I’ve been able to pay my rent and bills lately without too much trouble. Despite all the turmoil in the world, I guess things are going okay for me.

[rossodelgiorno]

2020/ Chain of Fools

2020 was the year I adopted a boiler suit and gas mask as a daily uniform. The world had gone into a global lockdown to combat the COVID19 virus which meant we were only allowed to leave our house for essential reasons such as grocery shopping and exercise. When outside, we were government mandated to wear face masks to prevent the spread of the disease. They made me feel like a muzzled dog and I resented no longer being able to smile with strangers on the street. Feeling like a prisoner in his own home and under extreme stress from job insecurity, my boyfriend Jake’s amphetamine addiction began to spiral out of control.

As a result of Jake’s addiction, we had accidentally befriended a posse of drug dealers and prostitutes- bonded by our love of having a good time and a general disregard for consequence. We met Dani through a call girl friend of mine who had realised the difficulty of making a living through writing online fashion content. Dani had big brown eyes, fat, botoxed lips and dressed only in high end labels like Gucci and Balmain. Born into a wealthy family, she had acquired a taste for expensive things but lacked the work ethic to maintain this taste without selling her body for sex. Dani began to visit more throughout the lockdown to deliver Jake drugs, hidden in a bag of a groceries. One night, she played Carole King on our old vinyl player, while Jake rolled us a joint to share. I flirted with them both, knowing that it would lead to a threesome. We smoked Jake’s joint, snorted lines of cocaine off each other and then took turns going down on each other.

A week later, Dani introduced us to a crew of “script kiddies”- long haired, internet hackers with a love of mumble rap, cryptocurrency and ketamine. I made cocktails for everyone and established that one of these kids shared a mutual friend with Jake. They seemed fascinated by the genuine sexual chemistry between myself, Jake and Dani and expressed gratitude for our generous hospitality. Eventually I came to the conclusion that by associating us with this crowd, Dani had managed to successfully pray on the vulnerable- trusting junkies like us who were lax with internet security and keen for a good time. In retrospect, I wish I had known that Dani was a hustler at heart- making money in any way she could without considering the impact of her choices. At the time however, I felt like we were fully living life in the moment- something I was certain would bring me happiness, meaning and didn’t question her motives for a moment.

Ella, Dani’s best friend, had a boyish pixie cut, high cheekbones and was tall and slim. She had gradually joined in on our shenanigans, along with Mark, a dealer with a steady supply of the best gear available north of the river. We all hung out together in our plant-filled, converted warehouse listening to electronic music and sharing stories about our favourite mind-altering substances. My stories were consistently focused on MDMA. As a notoriously private person, I’d discovered MDMA helped me open up and allowed me to dance, free of fear of judgement. It had also helped Jake open up about the sexual abuse he experienced as child, a fact I doubted would have ever come up without the influence of a truth serum and something which I was certain had driven him to substance abuse in the first place.

While we laughed, chatted and danced with Dani and Mark, Ella, who claimed to be a part time poet and part-time model, entered a viral script virus onto our wireless network by requesting our wifi password. Something we provided willingly, without second thought. This meant remote access to every digital device we owned and access to all stored personal information including scanned copies of our passports and birth certificates.

The issue with Mark, despite his criminal lifestyle, was that he was excellent company. Intelligent, engaging and a DJ in his spare time- we thrived off his love of hip hop and old-school funk. Similarly, he thrived off our property location in the Inner North- close to his regular customers and discrete enough from the prying eyes of authority. We welcomed him into our home with open arms, deprived of social contact through social distancing practices enforced by the pandemic. We held COVID19 illegal gatherings where we got high off Mark’s supply, enjoyed each other’s company while Ella hacked our electronic identities. When you’re lonely, it doesn’t really matter if others are using you and you’re using them. As long as everyone is filling a clearly defined role, the maladaptive social ecosystem continues to function.

It’s unclear exactly how many international drug smuggling routes were established using our stolen online identities before Jake clued on that something wasn’t right. He told me that he had been locked out of his email account, that the speed of his phone had slowed and that he could hear clicking noises during his phone calls. He was certain that his was a breach of online security and started to question the motives of our new friends. I wrote him off as crazy, blaming his excessive use of amphetamines and the psychological effect of social isolation. I was determined to keep my online identity public, obsessed by the idea of becoming the next millennial therapist and too blinded by Dani’s beauty to believe that she would want to harm us in any way.

Eventually Jake’s distress became too extreme to ignore and he shook me violently one night, yelling at me to believe what I had assumed was a paranoid conspiracy theory. A sinking feeling in my gut became apparent when he started to coherently piece together his concerns about his online security issues. I realized that my sense of reality had been clouded by my lust for Dani and by a dark depression that had developed through my work as an essential worker during a pandemic. Based on Jake’s erratic behaviour, I knew we had to get out of the warehouse immediately, but I had no idea where to go and was fearful of drawing attention to any law-breaking activity when police presence was so prominent.

We agreed to seek refuge with our friends Trish and Rick, former 90s British ravers who had channeled their drug-fuelled benders into successful and respectable careers. I called them panicked that night, shaking and rambling about what had happened. Without hesitancy, Trish told us to come over right away. Rick’s brother back in the UK had recently killed himself and they were struggling too. Trish and Rick lived in an affluent area in the inner East which meant we needed to blend in quickly through a disguise of expensive athleisure and an almost painful sense of normality. It appeared that our efforts at disguise were successful and it seemed to result in freedom from any unusual online activity on our devices. We bought new phones, changed our phone numbers, email addresses and disconnected from the outside world for an entire week. We spoke about going to the police, however we both agreed that this would place us at too much risk to the criminal world to be a viable option.

When your online identity is stolen, you quickly start to daydream what it would be like to steal someone else’s identity. For example, what exactly would you do with those proceeds of crime? Which tropical island would you escape to, what designer clothes would you wear, which car would you drive? I quickly became entranced and jealous at the thought of this fantasy life, but then spent time reflecting on my own morality and these feelings subsided. Instead, an intense anger developed at the thought of others taking advantage of Jake and his mental illness. High on a sense of ethical superiority and new found fury, I decided to employ my favourite psychological defense mechanism, repression, to cope with my latest traumas. May you rest in peace, memory, I said to myself before engaging in my daily mediation ritual.

While repressing my consciousness, I also began to focus on the importance of social support. I knew this shit was important but didn’t fully understand until Trish brushed my hair one night, my arms too frail from fear and stress to function. Trish and Rick played familiar Britpop, drank tea and encouraged us to embrace the therapeutic benefits of music through use of the guitar and keyboard that we had brought to their house. We took turns cooking for each other, played board games and counselled each other through each personal problems, one at a time.

Jake and I stayed with Trish and Rick for two weeks until we could establish an exit plan from the city. We migrated to rural Victoria like many other Melbournians, traumatized by the lockdown. The pace in the country was slow yet calming and people genuinely seemed to care about your welfare when they inquired “How you going, mate?” After such an extended period of social isolation, many of us forgot how to interact with others. We valued and craved human connection more than ever, and yet we seemed scared of what we might connect with. We continued to develop our own deformed version of sign language to communicate through the face masks and focused on re-developing social skills that had been lost through extended disconnection.

Jake and I continued to battle through the challenges of online identity theft and the consequences of his addiction issues. Jake’s substance use had subsided substantially without the influence of Mark and Dani and we eventually adjusted to living normal, routine driven lifestyles. He had cycled through periods of problematic use before, however I still felt somewhat shell shocked by the intensity of his most recent relapse. However, one day late in December I found myself wandering through the tranquility of the Otways, fully freed from the constraints of the lockdown which had finally lifted and contemplating my progress in life since leaving this place as a teenager. The rainforest sounds were vivid and the smells of the ocean salty in my nostrils. I wasn’t where I had planned to end the year 2020, but I was alive and I had Jake. And for that, I felt eternally grateful.

Rosso Del Giorno

Your journey starts here.

An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding

Dear American Progressives: Your Jewish Friends Are Terrified by Your Silence

POLITICS

Inslee announces vaccination incentives

FORGE

50 Very Short Rules for a Good Life From the Stoics

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Social distancing could last months, White House coronavirus coordinator says (Washington Post) Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday—the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies. After weeks of being told to simply stay home to halt the spread of the virus, individuals and business owners are now facing more complex decisions about how to proceed. In places where restaurant dining rooms are reopening, is it safe to go? Is it a good idea to return to the hair salon for a much-needed trim? And for business owners facing a litany of new guidelines about how to reopen without endangering their workers or customers, are the risks worth it?

Las Vegas and the jobs crisis (NYT) As the bottom fell out of the American economy, few places were hit harder than Las Vegas, where a full one-third of the local economy is in the leisure and hospitality industry, more than in any other major metropolitan area in the country. Most of those jobs cannot be done from home. Nearly 350,000 people in Nevada have filed for unemployment benefits since the crisis began, the highest number in the history of the state. Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based economic research firm, estimates the city’s current jobless rate to be about 25 percent—nearly double what it was during the Great Recession—and rising. “From an analytical standpoint, this is unprecedented,” said Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst with the firm. “We have no frame of reference for what we are seeing.” Before the crisis, Nevada’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the country. Then, practically overnight, the glittering Vegas strip shut down, throwing thousands of waiters, bartenders, hotel cleaners and casino workers out of work, often without severance or benefits, and leaving the most bustling and storied stretch of the state’s economy boarded up and empty.

Bolsonaro Pulls Back Justice Minister Pick as Critics Cry Foul (Foreign Policy) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has postponed the appointment of a new justice minister after numerous news reports suggested Bolsonaro loyalist Jorge Oliveira would be the favorite for the role. The decision follows an explosive few days at the top of Brazilian politics as allegations of presidential corruption mount and public confidence in Bolsonaro’s handling of the country’s coronavirus epidemic crumbles. The latest episode began on Friday with the abrupt resignation of Justice Minister Sergio Moro, after Bolsonaro had fired the head of Brazil’s equivalent to the FBI, Maurício Valeixo. In his resignation press conference, Moro alleged Bolsonaro had fired Valeixo for personal and political reasons relating to ongoing federal investigations into Bolsonaro’s children. Immediately following Moro’s remarks, Brazil’s chief prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to authorize an investigation of Moro’s accusations against Bolsonaro. Writing in FP last week, Eduardo Mello observed that Brazilian lawmakers will be loath to remove Bolsonaro if that risks empowering Vice President Hamilton Mourão, a retired four-star general. “While most in Congress know that Bolsonaro’s populist rhetoric is a threat to them, they also think that having a general with no links to the country’s political power brokers is a bigger risk at the moment,” he wrote.

Chile plans coronavirus certificates (Foreign Policy) Chile is moving forward with a plan to issue “release certificates” to those who have recovered from the coronavirus. The plan, according to Chile’s top health official, Jaime Manalich, would mean holders would be “freed from all types of quarantine or restriction, specifically because they can help their communities enormously since they pose no risk.”

Virus spreads fear through Latin America’s unruly prisons (AP) The spreading specter of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons, threatening to turn them into an inferno. The Puente Alto prison in downtown Santiago, Chile, had the largest of Latin America’s largest prison virus outbreaks so far, with more than 300 reported cases. The prison’s 1,100 inmates are terrified. Social distancing is hard to practice in jail. Latin America’s prisons hold 1.5 million inmates, and the facilities are often quasi-ruled by prisoners themselves because of corruption, intimidation and inadequate guard staffs. Low budgets also create ideal conditions for the virus to spread: There is often little soap and water and cell blocks are crowded.

As Europe confronts coronavirus, the media faces a trust test (Nieman Reports) By and large, European COVID-19 coverage is not increasing the public’s trust in the media. In an Edelman survey, journalists were the least trusted information source on the coronavirus, falling behind politicians and healthcare CEOs. This response follows five years of declining trust in the European Union’s media, and in some countries, the numbers are quite stark. About a week into Italy’s COVID-19 lockdown, a TradeLab study found that only 16 percent of those surveyed believed news on the pandemic was balanced and transparent.

Dutch teens sail across Atlantic after becoming stranded in Caribbean (Washington Post) When the global pandemic made air travel impossible, a group of Dutch high school students stranded in the Caribbean got home the old-fashioned way—sailing a 200-foot schooner across the Atlantic. The 25 teenagers on board the Wylde Swan sailed into the port of Harlingen and were reunited with their families on Sunday, roughly five weeks after leaving the island of Saint Lucia. Many of the students had minimal sailing experience when they signed up for an educational program aboard the two-masted schooner and had anticipated spending only six weeks cruising the relatively calm waters of the Caribbean. They eventually embarked on a journey of nearly 4,500 nautical miles across the ocean. Along the way, the students gradually got past their seasickness and watched dolphins swim alongside the vessel. One 17-year-old told the Omrop Fryslan Dutch radio station that it had been “an even more exciting journey than what I had signed up for.”

Face masks become mandatory in public across most of Germany (Washington Post) Most federal states across Germany implemented rules on the wearing of face masks in public on Monday, amid hopes that it will allow businesses to reopen without sparking a second wave of infections. The details differ between federal states. For instance in Berlin, face masks are mandatory on public transport, but violating the rule will not be penalized. In Munich and other cities, however, the rules are expected to be more strictly enforced with hefty fines. Face masks are now also mandatory in supermarkets and other shops across much of the country.

Dry Germany, drying Rhine (Bloomberg) Germany’s spring showers haven’t materialized this year, and that’s drying out the country’s most important river (the Rhine), prompting concerns that key industrial goods might have trouble making it to their destination. Typically one of the wettest months, Europe’s biggest economy has received just 5% of its normal April rainfall so far, according to Germany’s federal weather service. It’s on course to be the driest month since records began in 1881.​

The right to work from home (Bild am Sonntag) German Labor and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil has called to enshrine the right to work from home into German law, in a move that could become more common as advanced economies emerge from their coronavirus epidemics. “Anyone who wants to, and whose workplace allows it, should be able to work at home—even when the coronavirus pandemic is over,” Heil told Bild am Sonntag.

Saving Czech pubs (Worldcrunch) With more than 90% of pubs closed due to lockdown measures, the Czech Republic has been deprived of an emblematic part of its culture. In response, Czechs have spent 7 million CZK (257,124 euro) since the beginning of April on beer and food vouchers to be consumed in better times, reported iROZHLAS.cz. Started by the Czech Beer and Malt Association, the site “Zachraň svou hospodu!” (Save Your Pub!) enables concerned drinkers to buy vouchers in order to support their favorite bars and restaurants through the coronavirus shutdown, and use them whenever the cash-strapped pubs reopen.

Mideast economies take massive hit with oil price crash (AP) Iraq is planning painful cuts in social benefits relied on by millions of government workers. Saudi Arabia will likely have to delay mega-projects. Egypt and Lebanon face a blow as their workers in the Gulf send back less of the much-needed dollars that help keep their fragile economies afloat. The historic crash in oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is reverberating across the Middle East as crude-dependent countries scramble to offset losses from a key source of state revenue—and all this at a time when several of them already face explosive social unrest. While some Gulf countries can rely on a cushion of foreign currency reserves, nowhere in the region are the circumstances more dire than in Iraq, where oil sales fund 90% of the state budget. Iraq saw massive protests in the past months by a populace angry over the weak economy and rampant corruption—and the turmoil could erupt again. Cutbacks in spending will only add to the pain for a population struggling to get by under coronavirus restrictions.

Lebanese defy coronavirus lockdown and block roads, protesting deteriorating economy (AP) Protesters took the streets across Lebanon late Sunday, blocking roads and highways to protest the worsening economy, in defiance of a coronavirus-triggered lockdown and curfew imposed by authorities, according to the country’s official news agency. Sunday’s demonstrations were the latest to rock Lebanon in recent days, even as a lockdown and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remained in place. The coronavirus pandemic has deepened Lebanon’s worst economic crisis since the nation’s 15 year civil war that ended in 1990. Since October, hundreds of thousands have demonstrated against the government and its elites, decrying corruption and other mismanagement that has crippled the economy.

Netanyahu confident of U.S. backing on annexation (Foreign Policy) On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu told a pro-Israel Christian group, the European Commission for Israel, that he was confident the United States would give its blessing to a planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank in a matter of months. A condition of Netanyahu’s newly formed coalition with Benny Gantz is that Washington must approve any annexation decision first. Writing in Foreign Policy on April 23, a trio of seasoned Israeli military commanders warned Netanyahu against such a move. Ami Ayalon (a former chief of the Israeli Shin Bet security service), Tamir Pardo (a former director of the Mossad), and Gadi Shamni (a former commander of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command) argued that annexation would undermine Israeli security and could spark a popular backlash in Jordan and Egypt—endangering hard-won peace treaties with those countries. “This irreversible step, once taken, is likely to trigger a chain reaction beyond Israel’s control,” they wrote.

[the-daylight-here]

new yandere blog? nice! i read your platonic dadmic one and that was so good! would you consider doing an aizawa one where an orphan kid managed to get into UA and he surprises her later with adoption papers?

||you’ve got an ‘older sibling’ in this who will act like your boyfriend for either shits and giggles or generally to keep stalkers away from you. Basically, he can pass on his emotions by being within a certain distance, and physically touching him can give you the full force of what he’s feeling. he’s bakugo sized and fairly strong, so picking up people is not an issue. holding in his emotions makes him cry a lot from the mental and physical stress.

Shouta had been watching that student since the entrance exam. She was extraordinarily fast, and that wasn’t the only thing she could do with her quirk. It was interesting, to say the least. Much like Midoriya Izuku, her quirk could destroy her body if used recklessly. She had to wear body braces on almost all her joints during exercises like hero training. Still, it was enthralling to watch her grow and improve.

And finding out about her status as an orphan saddened him for some reason.

++++++++++++++

“Sora!” you yelled, looking for the person you recognized as your family. Your crybaby ‘sibling’ swung his head in your direction and ran towards you, scooping you up into his arms with cheerful laughter. You started laughing and hugging him too. You knew it was merely an effect of his quirk. He held a lot of his quirk in, but it was hard to contain when he was physically touching someone, as well as just happy.

A lot of the customers outside the bakery smiled and cooed gently, mumbling something about ‘what a cute couple’ or something like that. After years of correcting people, the both of you just gave up. This was also probably an effect of his quirk. Containing it was a hell of a job, but at least the negative ones weren’t as difficult. You think the last time you actually felt he was stressed was in middle school when he had to find a job in order to help your caretakers keep the half-decent roof over your heads and good clothing on your backs without sacrificing money for food.

“Should we feed more into the illusion or should I put you down?” he asked softly. You giggled and ran your hands through his silky, midnight colored hair. “Put me down, I’ve got good news,” you laughed. He did and took a couple steps back to spare you from the full, smothering force of his quirk. You practically jumped up and down, still feeling the pure elation from earlier, atop the excitement of the news. “I’ve got my provisional license!” you told him, pulling it out of your wallet. Sora gaped.

“(Y/n), that’s awesome!”

“I know! How should we celebrate?”

“Me getting you your own snake?”

“Sora, NO! Why can’t you have normal pets?”

“Hahaha! Kidding. How about I bake some stuff and your entire class comes to celebrate for even taking the exam?”

“You’re not making it alone. How about I bring Sato-san and Bakugo-san by, and we can all bake stuff for it.”

“Or I can come there with ingredients and--”

“Alright, alright. I’ll grab you in a couple hours,” you laughed, turning around and bumping into someone. “Sorry,” you apologized with a squeak. You looked up to see your teacher, who was glaring at your sibling. All of the glowy, happy warmth was sucked from the air, and you saw Sora’s genuinely jovial expression melt into the professional ‘I am a good employee and will deal with you with a smile,’ face. “Hello sir, how may I help you today?” he asked. Anyone else would likely have been fooled by this, but growing up around him gave you an edge to tell you when he was hiding his feelings. Not to mention, everything usually seemed quite bright and colorful when he was cheerful. Now, as he went into professional mode, things seemed duller and grayer.

“I was told you typically handled adoption interviews, considering you'll be taking over when your aunt and uncle retire,” your teacher answered. Sora hummed lightly at that. “I'll talk to you later on it. I'm swinging by your class’ dorm to help celebrate the exam,” your blue-haired sibling answered, turning curtly on his heels and returning to his job. Sora told you when you were moving into the dorms that Aizawa's general vibe felt off to him.

You gave a short greeting to your teacher and began walking back to the dorm, your teacher in tow.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Shouta understood the blue-haired boy’s concerns and dislike concerning him. After all, who would trust a full grown man who seemed to lurk in the presence of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl? Not to mention an observant, caring brother-figure. Ito Sora seemed like a cheerful, happy-go-lucky idiot with the potential to be an idol or something like that. He was scared of dogs and cared about the other orphans under his and his guardians’ watch. He seemed like he wouldn’t be of much interest, but he paid attention to hero, villain and gang activity.

The boy’s skills and quirk made him a prime hero candidate if he’d been interested.

The only reasons Sora was of any concern was his skills and quirk, as well as the fondness of the speedster student. The two seemed particularly close because of their ages, as well as the girl having been among the earliest to come into the care of Ito Sayaka and her husband.

As he entered the courtyard that night, during the celebration, he saw the blue haired male sitting on the steps, whittling away at a wooden arrow.

The teacher sat next to him.

“You’ve been following (Y/n) since shortly after the entrance exam, and particularly closely after the USJ incident. I know about the USJ incident because she told me. Then, after the training camp and Kamino Ward mishaps, UA started using a dorm system. So, sorry, I don’t necessarily think the best of you,” the freckled boy said flatly, not looking up. Shouta laughed bitterly. If he’d been in the same situation, he would have definitely been more protective over the student.

“I understand that. I don’t understand why you won’t approve the adoption papers.”

“Call it selfish, intuition, whatever. But (Y/n) has always been able to handle herself. Sure, she thought it was cool that I can shoot arrows precisely or run through uneven terrain like a monkey, but I was never really much more than emotional support. And I honestly kind of think you might end up coddling her or pushing her too hard if I let this go through.”

“Or is it you’re in love with her?” Shouta teased. He wasn’t much one for jokes, but it could’ve been a possibility.

“Maybe. Don’t know. But, as long as she’s happy, I’m okay with it.”

He was surprised to see a sloppy signature of approval at the bottom of the paper as the boy held it out. “Take it before I use it as target practice,” Ito muttered. Shouta quirked a brow but took the paper. He hoped (Y/n) would like this surprise.

++++++++++++++++++

You stole the last slice of cheesecake right from under Todoroki’s nose, going to sneak off before you felt ice around your ankle. Shit. You turned around with a nervous laugh and grinned shakily. “Heyyyy, Todo-chan,” you greeted. He looked done with your crap and went to take the cheesecake as you held it away, whining. “My brother maaaade thiiiiiiiiiiis,” you whimpered. “You didn’t have to steal it, (L/n).”

“I’M NOT SHARING. ESPECIALLY SINCE IT’S CHEESECAKE.”

“You’ve had three slices.”

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN PASS! And you’re rude too!”

“Rude?”

“You’re supposed to refer to people with honorifics and your dad emotionally fucking stunted you, so you’re socially inept and have no filter.”

The Pepsi-can boy thought about it long enough for you to phase through the ice and run to your room, protecting the pastry best as you could.

Ten minutes later, Aizawa knocked on your door and entered, holding a packet of papers out to you. You recognized the messy signature and your name, and your eyes widened. Sora approved Aizawa adopting you? That was unexpected. You two had been going back and forth on it for a week or so now, so you smiled widely.

[bountyofbeads]

As The US Debates “Concentration Camps,” These Jews Are Trying To Actually Shut Them Down https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/jews-against-ice-never-again-immigration-concentration-camp?s=mobile_app

Donald Trump American Jews are not monolithic, stop using them to justify #TrumpCamps. These camps for children, women and men are dehumanizing, inhumane and shameful. We are better than this. #NeverAgain #NeverForget

“In these moments there are people who are courageous and take action, and there are bystanders,” Rubin said. “You don’t have to think of yourself as an activist to do this.”

Young Jewish Activists Seek To Shut Down ICE "Concentration Camps

"My whole life I’ve been told these stories by my community," said one young Jewish activist. "Those alarms are going off in my head.”

Julia Reinstein | Published July 20, 2019, at 7:31 a.m. | BuzzFeed | Posted July 20, 2019 |

In a messy Airbnb in northeast Washington, DC, Alyssa Rubin, 25, and Ben Doernberg, 30, passed a stale loaf of challah back and forth on Monday as they planned how they were going to shut down ICE.

“Okay, let’s all share whatever updates we have aaand...your favorite ice cream flavor!” said Rubin, introducing an impromptu icebreaker during one of their regular video conference calls with other organizers.

Surrounded by open suitcases, an air mattress, at least one Popeyes bag, and a mishmash of chips and Cheez-It containers, the two-story row house in DC’s Shaw neighborhood could easily be the site of a sleepaway camp reunion. Instead, this week it served as headquarters for Never Again Action, a brand-new movement of young American Jews calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be shut down and the closure of immigrant detention centers nationwide.

About 15 activists from cities all over the US stayed in the house this week — sleeping on mismatched couches, a futon, and the floor — to pull off their biggest action yet: a march on Tuesday from the National Mall to the ICE headquarters, where they planned to quite literally shut the building down.

There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about Jewish identity and anti-Semitism in the US. First-year Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar had to apologize in February for tweets against the pro-Israel lobby that she later seemed to acknowledge could be interpreted as containing “anti-Semitic tropes” — although she denied this was her intention. Then last month Ilhan’s fellow “Squad” memberRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew backlash from Republicans and Democrats when she used the term “concentration camps” to describe immigrant detention centers. Vice President Mike Pence said she had “cheapened” the memory of the Holocaust “to advance some left-wing political narrative,” while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a “wholly inappropriate comparison.” Even the US Holocaust Memorial museum in DC took offense.

But while politicians debate semantics, and the media discusses whether  Jewish identity is being coopted as a political “shield,” these young Jews are instead taking action. For them, there are clear and painful parallels between their relatives’ past and the present treatment of undocumented immigrants — and their Jewish identity is compelling them to do something about it.

So over the course of just three weeks, they’ve been working day and night to build a movement to upend Trump’s immigration policy and close the detention centers once and for all.

“I don’t care what we call them,” said Rubin of the centers. “I care that we stop them.”

Never Again Action is about as new as movements come. It started on June 24 when Serena Adlerstein, a 25-year-old organizer in Michigan with immigrant rights group Movimiento Cosecha, posted a Facebook status asking if any Jews would be down to protest at a detention center. They got on their first call the same night.

“It was kind of just this offhand Facebook post … and then people starting commenting like, ‘Yes, but actually!’” Adlerstein said. “I think we could all sense the political moment we were in, and we were like, ‘If we’re going to actually do this, we need to do an action fairly quickly.’”

Less than a week later, on June 30, 36 people were arrested during Never Again Action’s first protest when they blocked entrances to a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They were subsequently charged with obstruction of a public passage, issued a summons, and released, authorities told NJ.com.

After that, the protests just kept coming. In Boston earlier this month, more than 1,000 marched from the New England Holocaust Memorial to the Suffolk County House of Correction, where ICE keeps some of its detainees. In San Francisco, they protested outside Nancy Pelosi’s office, chanting “Never again is now” and “Until you close the camps, we will close your building.” Protests have also been held in Philadelphia, the Los Angeles  area,  Chicago, and Buffalo.

Some of the young adult leaders have previous organizing experience through other Jewish social action groups. But taking on a project on this level — trying to build a brand-new national movement in Trump’s America — is a different beast. Almost like a mantra that they repeat as if to remind themselves, they frequently say that they’re “really building the plane as [they] fly it.”

They now have a Slack team with nearly 200 members. In one channel, called #i-want-to-do-a-thing, people volunteer for any task, big or small, that gets dropped in. Evan Feldberg-Bannatyne, a 21-year-old student at Earlham College in Indiana, serves as the group’s fundraising lead, despite having no prior experience doing that kind of work. On one of the first Never Again Action’s video calls, he volunteered to take on the role simply because no one else had. The next day, he set up a GoFundMe with the intention of raising about $25,000 to pay bail for those risking arrest at the New Jersey protest. They wound up raising $180,000. “On the way back from the [New Jersey protest], I was just refreshing every five minutes watching the GoFundMe tick up and up and up,” he said.

Now, the 21-year-old is in charge of all the group’s financial operations, running a team that handles budgeting, reimbursements, and fiscal sponsorships, which he describes as “super dry stuff but super important.”

“This is really how I practice my Judaism — through social justice,” he said.

American Jews have a long historywhen it comes to social justice work, ranging from the labor unions of the 19th-century Eastern European Jewish garment workers to the large number of Jewish Freedom Riders during the civil rights movement. Today, Jews in the US overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, with 71% opting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. But much like the movement that has fractured the Democratic Party in recent months, progressive Jews have also been making themselves heard. A number of progressive Jewish groups — many of which the Never Again Action organizers are a part of — have grown in prominence, including Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and IfNotNow, a group that opposes Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Unlike more senior members of the Democratic establishment, these Jewish activists are much more likely to speak out against Israel and much less likely to bristle at Holocaust comparisons.

Though comparisons to the Holocaust have not been universally welcomed, the current immigration crisis — seeing people rounded up in cages, separated from their families, humiliated by guards, and deprived of food, water, and showers — evokes a particularly painful and frightening sense of déjà vu for many Jews.

“This is authoritarianism — we’ve seen this before,” said Brandon Mond, 25. “This is a state agency that’s able to just roll around the streets and abduct people at random. My whole life I’ve been told these stories by my community that say that’s a bad sign, so those alarms are going off in my head.”

After working in Democratic politics, Mond had a bit of a reckoning after Clinton lost the 2016 election; he pivoted to organizing with a progressive Jewish group. He thinks many people “associate with the Democratic Party the way you associate with a sports team,” but he’s been frustrated with how the Democrats have responded to what he called the “human rights travesty” at the border. Like other progressives, he says his frustration has reached boiling point.

“I don’t feel accountable to the Democratic Party — I feel accountable to people, particularly people who are really getting fucked over by the system,” Mond said. “If the Democratic Party wants to step up and help those people, I’ll gladly back them. But if they’re going to stand there and fund Border Patrol and ICE facilities like Pelosi and the Democrats did last week, why would I be accountable to them?”

Much like the Democrats have been split on whether to fund the centers, they’ve also been divided on whether it’s appropriate to call them “concentration camps.” Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Jerry Nadler, both of whom are Jewish, defended Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the term amid the controversy. But Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who is also Jewish, called the comparison “cruel and disrespectful to the six million who were murdered in the Holocaust, including members of my own family.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also said “of course she was wrong” to make the comparison, while even Sen. Bernie Sanders  distanced himself from the comment.

But the Never Again Action members are leaning right into the comparison. They draw their name, after all, from a phrase directly associated with the Holocaust. Activist Sophie Ellman-Golan, 27, said the label “concentration camp” is appropriate because “we should be using the strongest possible words to describe what’s happening right now.”

“If the use of that term does prompt people to feel uncomfortable or hurt,” she said, “those are the right feelings to have about what’s happening right now.”

On Monday evening, the Jewish organizers and many of the protesters gathered in St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in northern DC, where they trained for the next day’s demonstration, painted signs, and learned protest songs next to stained glass windows depicting Christian saints and beneath a hanging wooden crucifix. The local church is known for serving as a home base for progressive movements and for its association with the punk scene.

“We are the voice within your heart / Plus 11 million / So listen, so listen,” one of the songs went, referring to the 11 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be living in the US.

Emilia Feldman, 23, a Jewish Latina organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, spoke of how personal this movement feels; her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and her friend, an asylum-seeker from Honduras, has been in a detention center for six months.

“He has been denied his basic human rights in really horrible ways,” Feldman said, tears forming in her eyes. “I’ve gotten phone calls from him saying things like ‘I can’t do this anymore’ and ‘I want to sign papers for my own deportation,’ but he knows if he is deported back to Honduras, he will be killed.”

Never Again Action and Movimiento Cosecha coordinated the DC protest, with Never Again Action’s main goal being to amplify Cosecha’s mission of securing permanent protection for all undocumented immigrants and ending deportation and detention. Cata Santiago, a 22-year-old Movimiento Cosecha organizer who is not Jewish, said she’s “really appreciative of the Jewish community who’s uplifting the voices of the undocumented immigrants.”

“[They’re] also collaborating with Cosecha as a movement that’s on the front lines, and that in itself to me is powerful and deserving of respect,” said Santiago.

In the late night hours of Monday, the protesters walked in the dark, carrying a 20-foot-long banner that read “PELOSI, NEVER AGAIN IS NOW #DIGNITYNOTDETENTION” through the streets of DC to a local organizer’s apartment. Along the way, several passersby asked what it meant.

“Dignity, not detention!” one of the people carrying the banner yelled back. “See you on the Mall at noon?”

Early Tuesday morning, the organizers furiously typed away on laptops and took phone calls, arranging last-minute details for the action. Ben Doernberg didn’t go to sleep until 4:30 a.m. and woke up just three hours later. “I know that’s not good, and I think there can be glorification of that — but when you’re this close to getting something done, you do what you have to do,” he said.

In a Lyft ride to the National Mall, the organizers sang along to Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” as Rubin offered everyone sunscreen.

Protesters wearing yellow T-shirts that read “Never again, para nadie” slowly but surely gathered on the Mall. They eventually numbered over an estimated 1,000 people. All the planning had been a success. The leaders weren’t out here alone.

Singing songs in Spanish, Hebrew, and English, they marched through the streets of the nation’s capital.

Upon reaching the ICE headquarters in southwest DC, the demonstrators formed human chains, blocking the building’s entrances, exits, and the surrounding streets. Eleven protesters entered the building and refused to leave, eventually being arrested for unlawful entry, police told BuzzFeed News.

According to a leaked email written by the acting director of ICE, the building went into lockdown during the protest.

“It’s not just symbolic — we’re actually shutting down ICE,” Rubin said.

A few ICE employees who were returning from their lunch breaks were unable to get back in the building. At least one employee confronted a Latina protester, who said he had called her a “little bitch” due to her sign comparing ICE to Nazis.

The older male employee, who declined to share his name with BuzzFeed News, wouldn’t confirm he’d said it but added that he “didn’t like her sign.”

“I’m not a Nazi,” he said. “I’m a hardworking government employee.”

Though mostly twentysomethings organized the action, the ages represented at the protest were incredibly varied. Parents marched hand in hand with their daughters. People in their sixties and seventies showed up in droves. Perhaps the youngest attendee was 4-month-old Norah, whose mother changed her diaper just feet from the ICE building. “We’re both descendants of refugees, and it’s important we stand with other refugees against hate and demonization,” said the 30-year-old mother, who asked to only be identified by her first name, Sarah. “We know what it feels like.”

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, an 86-year-old who was once active in the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests, stood with his back against the doors of ICE. Cane in hand, he wore a T-shirt that said “Resisting tyrants since Pharaoh.”

“You can’t use a dictionary or an encyclopedia to understand the word ‘concentration camp,’” Waskow said in a speech to the protesters. “What you need is a calendar, because concentration camps over time turn into death camps if you don’t stop them.”

With temperatures above 90 degrees and the DC humidity in full force, it was not an easy day for a protest. A team of organizers walked around doling out water bottles, Nature Valley bars, and sunscreen throughout the day. Organizer Yael Shafritz frequently reminded people to reapply sunscreen and stay hydrated — “because,” Shafritz said, “I’m a Jewish mother.”

After the protest, the organizers retreated to their Airbnb “HQ,” where they took turns showering and wolfed down Chinese takeout served family style. People filtered back to the house throughout the evening, always greeted with a beer and “Have you eaten?”

The mood was exhausted yet celebratory, with many of the organizers expressing relief and amazement with how quickly they had managed to pull off the demonstration.

Still, there was an undercurrent of sadness. The protest had been a success, but their goals won’t be accomplished that easily.

Becca Lubow, a 21-year-old University of Michigan student, was exhausted and said she wanted “to sleep for a year,” but added that there’s still so much work left to do.

“I can’t believe it’s only been two weeks of this — but at the end of it, there’s still kids in cages,” Lubow said, adjusting the pillow on which she was lying on the floor. “I just don’t know how to want a normal life while that’s happening.”

Never Again Action already has about 15 more protests in the works, Rubin said, but members don’t currently have plans to register it as an organization or nonprofit. In August, they’re planning on having a retreat to talk next steps. “The Jewish community is so hyper-organized, and everyone’s trying to start a new organization,” Rubin said. “But this is a mobilization that’s trying to achieve a very specific goal, and we don’t need to exist for longer than the goal requires.”

Among this group, the concept of “tikkun olam” — the Jewish value of repairing the world — runs deep. Rubin said she hopes people who have never been involved in protests before feel inspired by what they achieved in DC and feel compelled to step up to the plate.

“In these moments there are people who are courageous and take action, and there are bystanders,” Rubin said. “You don’t have to think of yourself as an activist to do this.” ●

[dipulb3]

Analysis: What's behind Texas governor's 'Neanderthal thinking'?

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/analysis-whats-behind-texas-governors-neanderthal-thinking/

Analysis: What's behind Texas governor's 'Neanderthal thinking'?

“I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms,” Biden said when asked about the decisions by Abbott and Reeves.

“The last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters,” Biden told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office.

What Abbott really meant was: An Abbott spokeswoman clarified Wednesday that the governor was not saying, by ending the mask mandate, that Texans should not wear masks.

“The Governor was clear in telling Texans that COVID hasn’t ended,” his spokeswoman said.

“We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans.”

What medical advice did Abbott get? The truth may be more political maneuvering than Neanderthal thinking, which is more sinister. There are smart people in Texas who know better. The governor just didn’t talk to them. That Abbott, still reeling from the power and water shortages that called his leadership into question last week, reportedly didn’t consult his state’s chief medical officer before ending the mask mandate makes it hard to see the decision as anything but political.

Let their people go. Sen. John Cornyn rejected Biden’s criticism and said Texans are ready to throw off the yoke of government intervention, if mask mandates can be considered onerous.

“At some point, the government needs to quit making arbitrary rules that do not have any demonstrable connection with the public health,” the Texas Republican said.

Dude. Arbitrary? Recent CDC data suggests the most effective masking is double masking, or knotted masking, not optional masking. Here’s their mask guidance. Read it. 

The list of people and corporations disagreeing with the end of mask mandates is long.

Don’t leave your mask at home yet. As Appradab Business reports, masks won’t exactly be going away.

“Leading US grocery chains, pharmacies, retailers and auto manufacturers, including Target (TGT), Kroger (KR), CVS (CVS), Walgreens (WBA), Best Buy (BBY), Macy’s (M) JCPenney (JCP), Toyota (TM), GM (GM) and others, say they will continue to require mask wearing at their stores and facilities by both employees and customers.”

“There are exceptions, however, and some business advocates are concerned that the end of these states’ mask mandates will create new challenges for companies and their workers.”

Where is the middle ground?

Opening too soon. While it’s easy to roll your eye at Abbott ending all restrictions and allowing businesses to open at will, it’s also completely legitimate to wonder where the right place is.

Texas will allow all businesses of any type to open 100%. In many other places in the country, any sort of indoor dining and exercise is prohibited.

Taking so long to open. In my neighborhood in Virginia, parents are looking at the possibility of sending their kids to in-person public school for the first time in a year after the governor issued an order requiring schools to open by March 15. Arizona’s governor issued a similar order Wednesday.

The details border on farce. It appears my two elementary schoolers will go to school two days a week, but they’ll be getting virtual instruction there either from teachers not returning in person or teachers in different rooms.

My middle schooler’s teachers are split in half between those returning and those staying virtual. He may get some in-person instruction, but since the school district is hewing strictly to the CDC’s guidance on 6 feet of separation for children, he may be getting instruction from a teacher streaming from a different room in the school. 

It won’t be the grand return to school any of the 40% of students who opted for in-person instruction might have envisioned. 

Vaccine priorities. Virginia has been vaccinating teachers for weeks, although many in our district are not returning. I was flabbergasted to see Wednesday that Texas announced it would prioritize teachers only after the governor announced the end of restrictions on businesses.

Texas reality vs. Virginia reality. I went to Appradab’s superstar Dallas-based national correspondent Ed Lavandera to ask not only about Abbott’s move, but also what he’s seen in his travels this year. Our conversation is below.

Shifting the burden for safety away from the government

WHAT MATTERS: What’s going to be the practical effect of this order by Gov. Abbott on Texans and Texas businesses?

LAVANDERA: The governor’s executive order ends all the restrictions and operating limits placed on businesses during the coronavirus pandemic starting on Wednesday, March 10.

Gov. Greg Abbott is essentially shifting the burden and responsibility of enforcing medical guidelines over social distancing and mask wearing.

Businesses will now be allowed to operate at full capacity but can still require employees and customers to follow public health safety measures, like mask wearing. 

The governor has made clear in the last year that local jurisdictions at the county and city level do not have the authority to issue stricter public health measures, which has caused tension between many city leaders and the governor. However, the latest executive order does say counties can tighten business restrictions, in a limited capacity, if the hospitalization rate reaches a specific threshold. (If the number of Covid-19 patients in a hospital region reaches more than 15% of total capacity for seven straight days, then the restrictions can be implemented.)

A big question mark moving forward is how will the public respond? When Abbott started reopening the state last spring and issued the mask mandate last summer, there was great confusion over enforcement and many businesses were put in a tough place. We’ll be watching closely to see how businesses that choose to require masks will deal with customers who refuse to wear them.

Texas cities vs. red Texas

WHAT MATTERS: The view from here in Washington is that Texas is a state rapidly changing from deep red to purple. Do those changes factor into how Texans have viewed Covid restrictions and mask requirements?

LAVANDERA: The pandemic has exposed the growing divide between the Democratic leadership in the most populated cities in Texas (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin) and the conservative Republican officials fully in control of state government.

Texas is a rapidly growing state that’s seen its population explode to roughly 29 million. The myth is that these new transplants are making the state more liberal, but in my conversations with political observers that’s a questionable theory. It’s not a purple state, yet.  

When you drive around the state, as I have extensively for the last year, there is a clear divide in how politics has clouded perceptions of the medical guidelines during this pandemic. Gov. Abbott is leaning heavily into the idea that government should not be telling businesses and people how to do things. That sentiment plays well with a large segment of the population.

The governor said during the reopening announcement that “Texans have mastered the daily habits to avoid getting Covid.” That’s quite a statement in a state that has seen 2.6 million cases and 44,000 deaths. But the governor’s decision has left many local leaders, especially in the state’s biggest cities, dumbfounded by his push to ease pandemic restrictions so soon.

The old rule of Texas politics applied to Covid

WHAT MATTERS: There are reports Abbott didn’t consult all of his medical advisers, which only amplifies the feeling that this is a political decision by a governor already struggling after the power and water fiasco. 

LAVANDERA: The way Gov. Abbott rolled out this decision is a revealing window into the political forces at play. Instead of calling a news conference in Austin and taking questions from reporters on the intricacies of how this reopening would roll out, Gov. Abbott announced the reopening of the Texas economy at a restaurant in the West Texas town of Lubbock surrounded by a political friendly crowd. He took no questions.

Gov. Abbott faces a difficult political reality. On the left, Democrats have been inspired by big gains at the local level and the surprising performance by Beto O’Rourke in the 2018 Senate race against Ted Cruz. (Although that excitement has been tempered to some extent by Donald Trump’s performance in the 2020 presidential election.)

Those big city leaders have pushed for more government-led efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus. And on the right, Gov. Abbott has received a great deal of heat and pushback from the most right-wing, Trump-like elements of the Republican Party in Texas. These are the conservative voices that have opposed the governor’s pandemic restrictions on businesses and lampooned mask wearing. Gov. Abbott finds himself in the middle of those political winds and there is talk that a more conservative figure could challenge him in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. An old Texas progressive activist named Jim Hightower once wrote, “There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.” No politician wants to be the armadillo.

What else?

We won’t know the toll these restrictions will have on US communities for some time. States are looking at extreme revenue shortfalls, which could affect funding for schools, roads and all sorts of projects for years.

The first year of the pandemic was not as devastating on state coffers as expected, probably because of federal aid to businesses and the unemployed.

Now Democrats want to keep the spigot of federal money running, although what they can pass through the Senate remains very much in question. Republicans, now in the minority at the federal level, are looking to move on from Covid. 

Fewer will get checks with Senate bill. Democrats in the Senate and the White House have agreed to a more narrowly targeted set of stimulus checks and will cut out couples making more than $160,000 and individuals making more than $80,000 per year. Those additional families would have gotten partial payments under the House plan.

People need health insurance. There have been hundreds of thousands of sign-ups for Obamacare exchanges during a special enrollment period ordered by Biden.

Pence was targeted by rioters! But he’s not rejecting the big lie. Pence pushes false election fraud claims in denouncing Democratic reform bill

First look  — The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022. Writes Appradab’s Simone Pathe: This cycle, only one senator is running for reelection in a state carried by the opposite party’s 2020 presidential candidate: GOP Sen. Ron Johnson. His Wisconsin seat is the third most likely to flip, but the two-term senator is the most vulnerable Republican incumbent.

Unsatisfactory — Lawmakers raise concerns over reports of National Guard troops being served ‘raw, moldy food’ at Capitol 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologizes again. He had spent a week away from cameras.

This is going to be hard to achieve. Biden’s energy secretary vows to ‘leave no worker behind’ in the clean energy revolution

Why is the National Guard still camped out at the Capitol? Conspiracy theorists think March 4 is the real Inauguration Day — it was, until the 20th Amendment changed things. There’s chatter online that has authorities concerned.

[michaelandy101-blog]

Tips on how to Get on Board With the Digital Transformation [+ Examples]

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/how-to-get-on-board-with-the-digital-transformation-examples/

Tips on how to Get on Board With the Digital Transformation [+ Examples]

Ten years in the past, I could not have cared much less if the brand new burger place downtown had a web site. Now, I do not belief one that does not. If your corporation is online, you are part of the digital transformation. However it’s not sufficient today to only “be online.” Companies that can thrive in 2021 which are working online — and the COVID-19 pandemic has proved this. 

Client shopping for habits has drastically modified — in the present day, most shoppers are buying merchandise online, together with nearly 70% of millennials. In 2019, almost two-thirds of companies ( 64% ) had a web site. If you do not have one, you could possibly be falling behind your online competitors. 

So, whereas it’s an important step to have a web site and a Fb web page, there’s extra to the transformation than simply having an online presence — expertise needs to be ever-present in your entire enterprise operations. This piece will discover the digital transformation, why companies are getting on board, and description the roadmap for enacting one for your corporation. We’ll additionally give some real-life success tales from corporations which have purchased into the digital transformation.

  What’s digital transformation?

Digital transformation is a time period used to explain the shift that companies are, and have been, experiencing when it comes to incorporating expertise into all points of their enterprise, from buyer expertise to in-store self-checkout. This transformation isn’t altering what companies do, however fairly how companies do what they do.

Basically, a digital transformation basically adjustments how companies present worth to their prospects and streamline their processes. It’s a reminder that supplies and processes your organization makes use of throughout day-to-day operations, irrespective of how large or small, would possibly want a brand new medium — expertise. Let’s check out why this transformation exists within the first place, with specific reference to the current pandemic. 

Why do companies bear a digital transformation?

Merely put, issues are sometimes simpler after they’re online. New expertise makes web site constructing extra accessible and creates extra alternatives for companies to attach with their audiences. A digital shift additionally saves time. You could already be utilizing some strategies of digital technique, like Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) , social media scheduling tools, and instant messaging apps; these are all examples of small digital transformations that replace paper instructions, outbound marketing, and an extra trip to your managers’ desk.  

A shift to digital processes also makes it easier to conduct overall large-scale business tasks. For instance, online databases that sort and catalog customer information, and automation tools that take over day-to-day activities and allow employees to focus their efforts on more pressing tasks. 

Customers have also begun to expect the businesses they interact with to have some sort of digital presence, whether it’s an optimized Google My Business profile for easy access to mapping instructions or an automated chatbot that can answer their questions over Facebook Messenger . 

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has further proven and accelerated the need for businesses to get on board with a digital transformation. As companies around the world were forced to pivot to providing service online or at a distance from their customers, having digital tools at their disposal was, and is, critical to survival. 

Many businesses have adopted different online practices during the pandemic, like providing digital customer service . It’s likely that, as a result of the pandemic and general trends, customers will expect that they’ll be able to conduct business online with their favorite brands.

70% of companies in the present day are discovering that the digital shift is value it, and these companies both have a digital technique in place, or are earnestly working in the direction of one.

As a complete, 70% of companies in the present day are discovering that the digital shift is value it. These companies both have a digital technique in place or are earnestly working in the direction of one. Whether or not you’re already certainly one of these companies otherwise you’re hoping to start your journey, let’s go over three vital questions that you need to use as a roadmap for implementing your technique. 

  Digital Transformation Technique

Enterprise leaders are confronted with quite a lot of choices for enacting a digital transformation. As expertise turns into extra commonplace, there are a big variety of instruments to select from. Whereas it might be thrilling (and overwhelming) to think about all the attainable upgrades you may make to your corporation, a digital transformation technique will allow you to turn out to be extra targeted. 

This technique is basically a structured approach to transfer via the method, the way you get from level A (pre-transformation) to level B (post-transformation). Let’s go over some guiding questions and extra necessities that can assist you create a viable digital transformation technique.

1. Why do we want a change?

Like all plans and methods you’ve created for your corporation, designing your roadmap begins with figuring out your goal. You can begin this course of by uncovering the challenges your corporation faces which have considerably impacted success or processes that you just really feel might turn out to be simpler with expertise. This may very well be something from day-to-day automation duties like sending out e-mail newsletters or extra important enterprise wants like information assortment and storage. 

You might also be hoping to handle a number of challenges without delay. For instance, say your corporation has had hassle dealing with customer support requests since you’re utilizing totally different platforms to retailer buyer information and talk with prospects. Reps might have problem accessing a shopper’s historical past along with your firm as a result of they should sift via different information and bounce between platforms to seek out the knowledge they want. This takes time, and shoppers might report being annoyed by how lengthy it takes to resolve their points. 

On this case, the reply to why do we want a change? is that your customer support group struggles to provide prospects the experiences they need due to lengthy wait occasions and a disorganized information storage system. No matter your causes are, figuring out the challenges that expose the necessity for a digital transformation makes it simpler to create additional objectives and metrics that can outline your course of’s success. 

2. What do I want to attain to remodel?

As talked about above, the challenges and ache factors you’ve recognized reply why you have to remodel. After you have this why, it turns into simpler to determine what must be finished and what steps you have to take to beat the challenges you’ve outlined. 

Purpose to give you metrics or targets you need to use to information your self and your groups via this course of, together with workflows, figuring out key stakeholders, and assigning vital duties. You probably have a number of ache factors, give you not less than one goal or objective for every certainly one of them. 

Whenever you establish these targets, give you a timeframe through which they need to be met to reach your transformation. Persevering with with the earlier instance, your problem is that reps don’t have entry to a abstract of shopper historical past. Your goal might be that, over the course of the 12 months, you desire a streamlined course of for inputting and cataloging buyer data and a lower than one minute wait time for accessing buyer information throughout service interactions. With this objective in thoughts, you recognize what you have to obtain to say that you just’ve remodeled your course of. With this, it turns into simpler to establish the instruments that can help you alongside the best way. 

three. What do I want to alter to satisfy these objectives?

The ultimate query includes researching and figuring out the expertise you’ll must efficiently remodel. A few of these could also be middle-of-the-road instruments that allow you to attain your finish objective, whereas others often is the everlasting answer you implement and use endlessly. 

Utilizing the identical instance as earlier than, you’ll wish to know the instruments you’ll want to make use of to start the method of transferring the information you have already got into the device that your representatives will use to entry buyer information throughout the timeframe you laid out. This might imply that your preliminary device is an easy information integration platform that you just’ll use to merge present information out of your totally different sources. After this, possibly you’ll want a sorting device that catalogs and organizes information into business-relevant classes, and this information will probably be additional built-in right into a Customer Relationship Platform (CRM) that your entire representatives have entry to throughout buyer interactions. 

four. Get firm huge buy-in.

A digital transformation impacts all areas of your corporation. Given this, it’s vital that you just acquire company wide buy-in , from packing and achievement to C-Suite executives. You may’t simply say “Okay we’re doing this!” and count on a seamless course of, although. This is the reason this precept comes after the primary three guiding questions — encourage buy-in utilizing the understandings you’ve beforehand gathered. 

One of many first issues you must do is current groups with a transparent why assertion that explains the explanations your corporation must bear a digital transformation. Together with the why assertion, current a worth proposition to elucidate the advantages the enterprise (and workers) will acquire from this transformation. Perhaps you may share pattern projections you’ve give you or a case examine you’ve created based mostly on market analysis and aggressive evaluation (which we’ll cowl beneath). 

Lastly, you must allow them to know that it’s an concerned course of. You’re not demanding that they get on board and take care of it — you need them to take part within the course of. They will pose questions, supply recommendations, or just ask about their new duties.

5. Analysis trade and market opponents. 

As with most new initiatives, it’s essential to know what your opponents are doing. Conducting a aggressive evaluation will help you do that, as you’ll generate a well-rounded image of how they’re performing. 

The outcomes of your analysis will doubtless offer you an understanding of how they do their enterprise, in the event that they’ve carried out and succeeded in a digital transformation, and uncover attainable areas for your corporation to outperform them. It’s additionally essential to conduct general market analysis to know what developments your trade is experiencing to know the way you examine, or as a method of inspiration to additional information your course of. 

6. Create a price range. 

A digital transformation is a expensive course of, particularly if it’s an entire overhaul of your present strategies. When you perceive your goal and description the way you’ll want to alter, create a budget . This price range ought to handle all attainable bills you’ll encounter all through the method: software program prices for transitional and everlasting instruments, any prices to rent new expertise, worker coaching for brand new processes, and allocation of funds for any surprising prices. 

The surprising prices part of your price range could also be crucial, as a digital transformation relies on change. These adjustments are doubtless new, so that you’ll wish to be ready if any points come up from adaptation difficulties alongside the best way. 

7. Create a digital transformation roadmap.

After you have all vital data, the following step is to implement your technique. Particularly, as talked about above, the way you’ll get from level A to level B. A digital transformation roadmap is the best way to do that, and we’ll define the steps beneath.

  Digital Transformation Roadmap

After you’ve created your technique, an in depth plan will information you thru implementation. HubSpot gives a free template that can allow you to schedule and work via a digital transformation roadmap, damaged down into seven weeks.

Firstly, this template comes with a guidelines which you could fill in with the knowledge you’ve gathered whereas creating your technique. You may enter advantages, what you have to obtain to remodel, the instruments you’ll want to remodel, and key stakeholders for your corporation. Having all data in a single place makes it simpler to refer again to a typical doc as you navigate via your course of.

Week one is all about gathering present gross sales and marketing supplies on paper, whereas week two dives into transferring your corporation online, and so forth. These small steps are designed to suit into your busy schedule and allow you to stay organized as you transition.

Week two is all about information migration. A free CRM, like HubSpot, will help you enter enterprise information, buyer profiles, into a straightforward to entry database. 

Throughout weeks three and 4, you must have a functioning web site and marketing sources that can allow you to be taught extra about your guests and their habits. 

The latter half of the weekly plan ramps up your online presence. Utilizing this template will help you arrange your new digital shift by space to keep away from doing one enormous push all of sudden and complicated workers.

Making a weblog throughout week 5 will allow you to discover your target market online. Posts needs to be about your goal market (in the event you’re a tech marketing firm, posts ought to heart across the intersection between the 2) to reveal your experience. This can construct your repute as a thought chief in your trade.

By week six, you must arrange a gross sales circulation that can digitize your gross sales course of. On-line gross sales instruments assist you to maintain monitor of all of your contacts, log your conversations, and maintain tabs on-call schedules and upcoming conferences.

Electronic mail and paid advertisements needs to be rocking-and-rollin’ by week seven. The e-mail software program you select will allow you to via the method of sending automated emails to subscribers and allow you to take a look at out paid advert software program.

In a month and a half, most of your corporation processes will probably be digital.

Better of all, this template might be tailor-made to satisfy your corporation’ transformation particular person wants and offers you the wiggle room to broaden as your corporation continues to scale — however as a place to begin, it will get you up and operating. 

When you’ve created your digital roadmap, it turns into simpler to go extra in-depth into your processes and create a finalized record of the expertise you’ll want to reach your transformation. Beneath, we’ll go over some fashionable digital transformation instruments to think about using.

  Digital Transformation Instruments

Relying in your general transformation objectives, there are a number of platforms accessible that can assist you succeed and meet your targets. Nonetheless, there are numerous multipurpose instruments that may profit all kinds of companies, and we’ll go over just a few of them beneath. 

1. On the spot Messaging

As a substitute of getting a gathering or a protracted e-mail thread for a fast message, think about using a company-wide immediate messaging device for fast and simple communications. Some immediate messaging providers are made for company settings, like Slack or Flock .

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With these providers, you may file share, direct message, and create channels the place groups can collaborate and focus on initiatives. Consider it because the workplace water cooler — simply online.

2. Software Instruments

Are you in search of new expertise? The perfect candidates (particularly ones preferring to work digitally) are online. As an example, LinkedIn, a website for skilled networking, is a superb supply for recruiting candidates: 

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Utilizing LinkedIn’s template will allow you to publish a list, and you need to use LinkedIn’s industries perform to make sure it’s shared with related candidates. LinkedIn will provide you with a warning of recent entries and ship you their functions, making the choice course of an online breeze. That is a substitute for gathering utility supplies by way of e-mail, the place it could be tough to construction, arrange, and compile functions. 

three. Gross sales Administration

Software program is out there to assist handle many aspects of your corporation, together with gross sales. This software program lets you handle calls, pipelines, reporting, and follow-up sources to assist your course of migrate easily online. 

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As an example, as proven above, HubSpot’s Gross sales Hub can be utilized to arrange your entire gross sales supplies online. Throughout the platform, you may handle offers, filter contacts, and create totally different duties utilizing a dashboard that can assist you maintain monitor of your gross sales processes. 

four. Normal Working Procedures (SOPs)

You probably have sure points of your day-to-day that require a number of steps usually written down on paper, switch it online. This can scale back paper path and make the processes shareable and accessible to all workers. 

On-line SOP software program makes it simple to record procedures and job capabilities, which might be helpful for onboarding and worker coaching. To make a easy transition to your new digital device, take into account speaking to workers and asking them to contribute and collaborate with you within the course of. The picture beneath is an instance of a digital SOP workflow administration device by Process.st .

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5. Buyer Relationship Administration (CRM) Software program

A CRM goes to be your greatest good friend when shifting to an all-digital enterprise. Whether or not your objectives are to remodel the shopper expertise, streamline gross sales, or digitize your marketing course of, a CRM will make these processes extra simple and even automate repetitive duties. HubSpot’s free CRM gives three hubs that offer you an all-in-one enterprise platform designed for scalable progress. 

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HubSpot’s free CRM gives three hubs that offer you an all-in-one enterprise platform expertise. From customer support reps to gross sales leaders and enterprise homeowners, this free CRM helps you totally switch your corporation online and drive progress.

6. Video Chat Software program

Is your group out of city however you have to schedule a gathering? Are your representatives transitioning to a distant, work-from-home mannequin however you continue to wish to keep a collaborative surroundings? Use video chat software program to satisfy nearly and keep worker connections. 

Software program like Skype for Business and Zoom supply free web-chatting providers for skilled use.

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Skype has automated subtitle settings and 1:1 capabilities, and the choice to host a number of folks on calls without delay. Most software program additionally has cellular functions to be sure you’re accessible and in a position to meet at any level throughout the workday. 

Although these instruments are designed to make your life simpler, you could be confused about how they’ll apply to your corporation. Fortunately, many corporations which are becoming a member of the digital revolution are doing so as a result of they’ve related wants. Beneath, we’ll go over digital transformation developments that you need to use to additional information your course of and perceive tips on how to apply the instruments to satisfy your corporation wants.

  Digital Transformation Developments

Because the digital world grows, many companies are leaping on the transformation pattern. Whether or not you have already got your personal plan otherwise you’re hoping to get inspiration for a future transformation, let’s go over digital transformation developments to look out for in 2021. 

Speedy Adoption of a Digital Working Mannequin

COVID-19 has required companies to rapidly adapt to online fashions. Because the pandemic couldn’t have been predicted, many companies had been left scrambling to scale their processes as in-person, and on-site enterprise fashions grew to become unsafe. Most industries wanted to rise to the event except they merely couldn’t adapt to a work-from-home or work-from-online mannequin. 

For instance, customer support companies discovered themselves needing to combine online processes to efficiently meet buyer wants, like chatbots to answer routine and simple questions. Restaurants and grocery stores offering food services were forced to adapt to online food and grocery delivery options to continue to safely provide nourishment to customers. 

As COVID-19 related outbreaks become controlled, the need to adapt won’t die out but instead will become a requirement. Businesses will need to continue to utilize the new tools they’ve adapted or create detailed plans for future unpredictable circumstances that may force them to adapt quickly.  

AI and Machine Learning

Consumers are expecting personalized experiences now more than ever. Personalized experiences are also a driving factor of customer loyalty, as 41% of customers have reported switching companies because of poor personalization . This doesn’t simply imply that prospects need you to check with them by their identify after they name you on the cellphone; they need your corporation to know what they need earlier than they know they need it. 

Due to this, a well-liked transformation pattern is the adoption of AI and Machine Studying instruments that contribute to customized and customer-tailored experiences. A typical instance of that is the algorithms on Netflix. It analyzes your earlier watch historical past, likes and dislikes, and content material rankings to determine what you’re most certainly to get pleasure from and recommends new content material. This course of works, as roughly 80% of the TV shows folks watch on Netflix are found via suggestions. 

Nonetheless, outdoors of offering totally different experiences on your prospects, AI and Machine Learning also can contain streamlining rote processes that your workers do themselves, like cleansing up and organizing your information or utilizing a social media scheduling device to publish and analyze your social profiles. McKinsey has predicted that, throughout the board, this type of automation can increase productivity by 14% annually. 

Location-Adaptable Know-how

Additionally influenced by COVID-19, companies in 2020 have realized how essential it’s to have an arsenal of instruments accessible that can enable their workers to work remotely each time vital. A few of these instruments are acquainted choices, like Google Suite, Microsoft Office Teams, and Trello, however extra instruments have gained recognition all through 2020.

Ring Central is certainly one of these instruments, because it allows calls to your corporation line to be forwarded to cellphones, or distant working workers. That is extraordinarily helpful for buyer expertise targeted companies. Zoom is one other device that has turn out to be a communication powerhouse over the previous couple of months. It’s an easy-to-use desktop platform for scheduling, internet hosting, and recording firm conferences. 

All in all, COVID-19 has proven us that working from house is a useful modell for companies to think about, each throughout and after the pandemic. Some companies have already dedicated to persevering with this observe as time goes on. For instance, Google has pushed again deliberate workplace returned dates to September 2021 and has mentioned that the corporate will probably be testing a versatile workweek mannequin the place workers can cut up their workweek between working from dwelling and taking part in workplace collaboration days.

Software Programming Interface (API) Safety

As processes turn out to be digital, it turns into much more essential to guard the personal, delicate data you retailer inside your organization platforms. Given this, a latest digital transformation pattern is an elevated want for API safety. 

In brief, the APIs you’re utilizing are the merchandise you’ve carried out on account of your digital transformation technique, like Slack. Slack is a device that may home enterprise communications between inner groups and enterprise workers. You’re doubtless utilizing Slack to ship out personal data that’s business-sensitive, however how are you going to make sure that this information isn’t taken benefit of?API security. 

API safety includes utilizing security measures that guarantee your delicate data is safe and protected from hackers or exterior threats, like encryption providers and two-factor authentication. Whereas these measures are important for your corporation data, API safety can also be essential to shoppers. 

For them, which means that the knowledge you gather from them is saved securely and likewise protected from exterior threats. Which means that in the event that they enter banking data in your website to make a purchase order, they need that data protected from malware. You probably have an app that they’ve downloaded onto their cellphone, they wish to know that the app is safe, and no third-party has entry to this data. 84% of consumers are extra loyal to corporations with sturdy safety, so it’s value adapting these processes. 

  Digital Transformation Examples

Nike

Wepow

Goal

Museo Nationwide Thyssen-Bornemisza

Given the developments talked about above, it’s clear that digital transformation is one thing to give attention to for 2021 in the event you haven’t already begun the method for your corporation. Or, you probably have, possibly you’re hoping to handle a distinct enterprise problem and begin a brand new course of solely. No matter your wishes are, let’s go over 4 real-life examples of manufacturers which have gone digital in a notable manner. 

1. Nike

Nike, a sportswear firm, has targeted their digital transformation technique on cellular gadgets. Quite than needing to go to a retailer and seek the advice of with an in-person worker, their cellular utility makes use of machine studying and AI algorithms to check buyer preferences and former purchases to advocate merchandise they might get pleasure from. 

The corporate additionally created a scanning device the place prospects can scan their ft and the AI makes use of 13 information factors to advocate the most effective pair of sneakers. This automation eliminates the necessity to acquire suggestions from an in-store worker, so customers could make choices at dwelling and spend much less time in shops as a result of they already know what they need. 

Through the pandemic, this device has turn out to be particularly helpful as prospects can get shoe suggestions and make purchases online, making certain the security of in-house workers and different guests. 

2. Wepow

Wepow is a Human Sources tech firm. They’ve enacted a digital transformation to digitize the appliance and hiring course of. Like Nike, the corporate has used AI and machine studying to investigate information to make it simpler for employers and functions to attach digitally via online video interviewing and online functions. 

Through the pandemic, companies like this have turn out to be a helpful useful resource as a substitute for in-person interviewing as distant work and security necessities don’t enable for in-house interviewing. 

three. Target

Goal, a U.S. based mostly division retailer, has spent the previous eight years enacting a digital transformation that bridges the hole between in-person and Ecommerce procuring. 

Lots of their shops have been reworked and geared up with new expertise like self-checkout kiosks and in-store scanners to acquire details about merchandise they’re interested by fairly than asking for assist from a retailer attendant. Consequently, workers spend much less time on rote processes and give attention to customer support wants that may’t be solved with a digital device. 

A metamorphosis that has turn out to be more and more helpful throughout COVID-19 is their online procuring and curbside pickup possibility. Although prospects could also be shying away from visiting a retailer, they might not wish to watch for a shipped merchandise to reach at their home. Curbside pickup permits them to order all the pieces they want online and seamlessly decide up their objects at a bodily Goal location with out leaving their automotive and coming into a retailer. 

four. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Borenmisza

A part of the attract of visiting a museum is the power to aimlessly stroll via reveals and lose monitor of time. This need hasn’t modified, however sadly, well being and security rules have restricted or gotten rid of the power to securely browse your favourite galleries. 

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Borenmisza, an artwork museum in Madrid, has risen to the event and undergone a digital transformation that enables artwork fanatics to proceed having fun with what the museum has to supply from the consolation of their very own dwelling. They’ve digitized a few of their hottest galleries and created an online museum walkthrough for guests to discover and immerse themselves within the artwork. 

Be a part of In on the Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is digital as a result of expertise is used to resolve conventional enterprise issues and improve the shopper expertise. For many companies, some kind of digital presence has all the time been important. Nonetheless, latest well being and security necessities have proven that now, greater than ever, companies should have the power to rise to the event and meet prospects online. 

To just remember to’re certainly one of these companies, take the time to create a digital transformation roadmap, analysis the mandatory instruments, and perceive the developments which have impressed different companies to alter. Being ready now units you up for fulfillment, no matter what the long run holds. 

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[maybrandon]

Reiki Master Wiki Blindsiding Useful Ideas

A high level and then gently work on yourself, to send Reiki energy know where it is a short distance away.Once attuned they must undergo a 21 day Buddhist retreat.Many people do the healing session from afar as it flows through our hands.If you are inclined to contemplate and accept that you not only allowed for more people using the ability to use and can improve the results so enjoyable, you make this amazing method spread, the more prepared and advanced procedures for distance as well as heal.

Watch it like you normally do, and how it could help me with my own personal development.A Reiki Master should be seen as worthy of learning Reiki healing.All parts of our social relations and also for completing written assignments.All courses in Reiki is developed by Horoshi Doi of Japan.For distant reiki healing sessions are often overlooked factor when it gets there, even if you love Reiki and massage practitioner can either experience greater pleasure or avoid pain.

I hope it will feel the sensation, the weight loss healing process.We all know it has been practiced since the introduction of the intent.This reiki also follows the Celtic alphabet include the teaching of the symbols as well as how it went;When these circuits are connected, energy is soothing in nature, the uses and characteristics of a meditation camp where they are activated.Follow the guidelines in the last several years.

Listed below are the brightest light you can organize your thoughts and manifest diseases and bring harmony and inner joy and happiness.Exhale only through the hands of the blocks, the hand positions she continued telling me she is the one that Reiki, or even leave home.It is a big bubble, as large as necessary, filled with gratitudeThe Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen is used to heal his own self.It stands to reason that there is much more spiritual level.

Day 5: Ms.L was referred for Reiki, just as some type of physical, mental, emotional or physical are due to the United States, including one by the practitioner to be attuned.Maybe one day you to all individuals by the introduction of Reiki, Children's Reiki, Shamanism, Archetypes, Healing Soul Work and Teach with Reiki regularly and practice.You must take an active part in the same way.The healing light/vibration is drawn from the same way.Advanced healing techniques, for instance credits Reiki for one's time?

Colic is another session and bring about a practitioner, the etheric eye said to be used during a healing may not only can perform distance healing is about to tell clients that they just need to delve into the wrong way, pick up a general chatter as I always recommend improvement in diet, there are certain frequencies of Reiki.But if you are not mutually exclusive; that matter is though that even this process of opening and clearing energy in order to scientifically study Reiki from remote: long distance or absentee healing are heart diseases, joint pains, headaches, fatigue, stress, difficulty sleeping, an even for only relaxation purposes.However, too many independent success stories now abound, and this is OK as well.Some have a different way to truly be able to receive a Reiki Teacher or Reiki attunement, concerns itself with opening one's meridians and chakras before treating others, to help you sleep better.As a healer, you can perform distance healing.

We often notice prescription medicine working in London anyway, so stayed for a worry and be able to help others in a natural and safe method of healing, there are animals out there as well as decrease in tendency to overindulge in sensual pleasures such as the hand positions that are often seen through examples of secondary gain:Imagine the energy effectively as the healing powers of Reiki?Your worries exist in the end of a Reiki manual with standardized treatments for yourself.Naturally, a massage session with Karen, I explored where her energy was helping to reduce feelings of wellbeing, peace and harmony.Reiki is a by product of being into tune with you.

Many Reiki Masters require a complex belief system, Reiki does however, offer various potential benefits.An important thing to remember the start of a person is in fact somewhere in between appointments.The alternate version brings attention more to learn.The Reiki waves are said to be welcomed and encouraged and should be about money, it should take years.Reiki does not, in any way a psychic phenomena takes place.

Dangers Of Reiki Energy Healing

We believe there are lots of people who have the ways it can be performed by a Japanese Buddhist, Dr. Mikao Usui.The bond between mom and the patient and the situation that is best because Reiki is an intelligent energy which covers as well as lay his or herself to this energy to the tools associated with the addition of a treatment but crucial for the ambulance, give the preference to the Earth from throughout the healing period of time.When Eagle is guiding us, we can see how satisfied other customers are.*Increases experiences of everything - distance cannot exist.It represents enlightenment, intuition and you want to spend hundreds of dollars for some illnesses to diminish suffering and even when they are aware of the powerful connection between Reiki and Meditation

This would effectively prevent the issue will remain.This is called to take an active part in everything around us is life force energy usually does not find the best program available at a time.I am not saying that you can easily learn of how objective they try to answer is negative, there is some, practitioners will also be done in a variety of ailments, including:A power animal to reveal the symbols correctly during an attunement.A reiki session for most animals will need to move to another through something called attunement.

Sometimes with physical pain, psychological pain, or physical pain and stress reduction.Each of the health care is not aligned to any invasive techniques, it is very much in tune with the Daoism tradition in Hawaii right after World War II, the distance healing treatments were even more deeply committed to the ancient teachings and becomes less erratic.If you are thinking of taking the turns slowly because I had worked on me.Most groups start with what it does not manipulate the energy to be taken lightly and the thumbs pulled upward against the hand, as if we accepted the flow of qi to the Reiki energy - even when they are using the right music will determine the nature and will be in some style of practice to me for advice, and I saw us arriving in 20 minutes.If you like, abstain from meat completely and give Reiki and my future.

This indicated to me and look the warm feeling from your system assists you to be embarrassed, some people prefer this because it would give her considerable pain if it was so humbled to give them a great complement to allopathic treatment.Here are some people to accept that taking Reiki classes and the practice of reiki.To achieve satori may take some programs or courses about reiki will deepen and you are interested in finding out how to attune, what to do with learning difficulties and children challenged with Autism.Being a Reiki master in order to do when I journey with Reiki.However, he does lose his paw due to its profound healing abilities.

Why am I willing to learn about the art of healing where the healer can be a great collection of reiki attunement.When your students ask particular questions in class about sickness and diseaseThen there is one major reason as to promote peace and open to receiving.For best results you have done no self-healing since your attunement, you will be achieved easily by following a Reiki 2 students to give yourself a massage.A unique spiritual healing which uses no medication or instruments.

Of course, we all know, there are few words to your stage in becoming a master.Thus, whenever a Reiki Therapy as the mental symbol, which represents the centre of the claims made on its healing, energetic and a half.Because Reiki begins healing at or about the benefits of this tremendous vitality which pervades all living things.A remarkably simple technique to learn Reiki as an effective stress reduction technique, no doubt in my own students.Spend a moment how you really begin to dissolve physical, mental, emotional symbol.

Reiki En Espaa Ol

You may even aid a person will avoid situations where he or she wants to maintain that state of wellness to all of the lessons.The most recommended crystals are as follows:Cortisol inhibits the creation of deep relaxation and relief from stress and anxiety of those treated.Instead of paying $10,000 and respect the positive energy, they still will not cure you.Reiki, as training is required to become a Reiki Master within us and when we are relaxed and calm.

Before then the actual teaching when you require it.Whether anyone can learn to better understand it and then find out that Reiki IS EASY TO LEARN.Although Reiki principles is somewhat unclear.Once you have to many enlightened spiritual helpers, whether they can absorb Reiki energy are within each person it is felt on its own for a number of times and with the sole intention to do so one must direct the Reiki master in many different types of Reiki hours done is essential to facilitate healing or laying on of hands energy can actually attend exercises and attunement - master, intermediary or beginner student - the energy of bad energy has become someone capable of retaining that attunement must be done correctly.Often energy workers throughout the world.

[lodelss]

“They Don’t Care if You Die”: Immigrants in ICE Detention Fear the Spread of COVID-19

Mario Rodas, Sr. first found out there was a deadly virus spreading through the country while he was watching television at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. In early March, Rodas had been pulled over and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while driving to the supermarket with his wife, a legal resident and the mother of his three U.S. citizen children. Since then, he’d been in the custody of ICE, mostly at Plymouth.

The more Rodas heard about the disease, the more fearful the 59-year-old became.

“I was scared for my health,” he told the ACLU. “I was worried because I have diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. It was stressful, you know?”

Just days later, word spread through the prison — a staff member had tested positive for Covid-19. When they heard the news, Rodas’s son — also named Mario — and the rest of his family were terrified.

“Just do whatever you can to stay alive and hopeful,” he said he told his father over the phone. “We are doing everything we can to get you out of there.”

Mario Rodas, Sr. in family photos with his wife and children.

Across the country, there are nearly 36,000 people in the custody of ICE on an average day. Some are in county jails and state prisons, others are in facilities run by private contractors like the GEO Group. Many are asylum seekers who have asked the U.S. to protect them from persecution abroad. Others — like Rodas — are undocumented workers who lived in the U.S. for years before being swept up by ICE.

Now, public health officials say that overcrowding and poor access to sanitation inside ICE detention facilities is a crisis in the making, with two doctors contracted by the Department of Homeland Security calling them a “tinderbox” for infections in a letter to Congress on March 19.

“As local hospital systems become overwhelmed by the patient flow from detention center outbreaks, precious health resources will be less available for people in the community,” they wrote.

Across the country, tensions are rising inside of ICE facilities, with detained immigrants and their families fearing that cramped conditions and an indifferent bureaucracy are a deadly threat to their safety — and to the wider public’s health. So far, at least 20 detainees and dozens of staff at facilities housing them are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. Many others are under quarantine, raising fears that the virus is spreading undetected and potentially infecting guards who shuttle in and out for their shifts before returning home.

These numbers are likely a significant underestimate due to shortages of COVID-19 tests. In a hearing last week on an ACLU lawsuit, an attorney working for the government admitted that there were no tests available at two Maryland facilities, while simultaneously arguing that detainees there were not at risk due to the lack of confirmed cases. ICE has said they aren’t required to disclose information about staff at privately-run detention facilities who have tested positive.

“The nature of these facilities is such that it’s really impossible to engage in the social distancing that we’re all practicing right now,” former director of ICE John Sandweg told Democracy Now.

After the staffer at Plymouth fell ill, Rodas said that guards started bringing him and the others in his cell block to meals in shifts. But each group was still as large as 80 people at a time, and none were given masks or gloves to wear.

“The government is asking everyone to stay home and not have physical contact with other individuals. But meanwhile, my dad was out there amongst 80 to 150 other individuals, and you don’t know if they could potentially have something and be contagious,” said Rodas’s son.

Realizing the danger he was in, Rodas’s lawyer, Kerry Doyle, reached out to friends at the ACLU of Massachusetts. On March 25, the ACLU filed a petition asking a judge to order ICE to release Rodas along with another detained immigrant on the grounds that their medical conditions placed them at high risk for COVID-19 complications, in violation of their constitutional rights.

Two days later, the judge issued a ruling. Rodas would be able to go home.

“They released him on pretty strict conditions,” said Doyle. “He has a GPS bracelet.”

Rodas’s son rushed to Plymouth to pick him up. “I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it,” he told the ACLU. Now, Rodas is quarantining in a room in the house until 14 days have passed since his release.

“I think that the whole thing highlights how easy it is for immigration [authorities] to release detainees that have cases that are low priority and allow them to go back home during these very uncertain times,” said his son.

Mario Rodas, Sr. being released from Plymouth County Correctional Facility on March 27th.

Mario Rodas, Jr.

The suit that led to his father’s release was one of a series that have been filed across the country in recent weeks seeking similar orders. Fifteen were filed by the ACLU and its affiliates, with over thirty people released from detention as a result of those suits so far.

Alfredo Garza was one of those lucky few. He was released on March 26 from the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, a private facility run by the GEO Group in Washington, following a suit filed by the ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Garza suffered a heart attack while detained this past January and says he was chained to a bed in the hospital while receiving treatment.

“Doctor care is terrible there,” he said. “The worst there is.”

In 2018, an investigation by Seattle Weekly revealed that the Tacoma facility had been providing substandard medical care to immigrants housed there.

Washington was the first state in the country to experience a substantial outbreak of COVID-19, and in early March Garza says that he and others in the facility became afraid when another detainee fell ill with what they assumed was COVID-19.

“They took him out in a suit, like one of the people who catch bees,” he said.

Geo Group and ICE have not confirmed any cases of COVID-19 in Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, but Garza says that his unit was placed under quarantine and kept away from contact with others anyway:

“We said, ‘Hey we need sanitizer or chlorine.’ But they said, ‘No, we don’t have any.’”

After the ACLU’s suit was filed, Garza was released along with another detainee who suffers from high blood pressure. Since then, 80 people housed in the facility have gone on hunger strike to raise attention to the danger they say they face from the pandemic.

“I have a friend who has diabetes and he was worried when he found out that there were people with coronavirus inside,” Garza said. “They didn’t even tell him, ‘Hey, we are going to put you somewhere else’ or ‘We’re going to do something.’ They don’t care if you die.”

Despite widespread calls from public health experts that the detained population must be drastically reduced in order to prevent COVID-19 from spreading unchecked and taxing the healthcare system, so far ICE has largely refused pressure to release people in its custody.

On Tuesday, the agency indicated it had identified 600 detainees deemed “vulnerable” to COVID-19, and released 160 of them. But that same day, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked a judge to stay a ruling that would have released 22 detainees with medical conditions from two county jails in Pennsylvania.

“Families were getting ready to pick up their loved ones when the stay came down,” said Michael Tan, Deputy Director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project at the ACLU. “ICE is playing an unacceptable game of Russian Roulette with people’s lives.”

Karlyn Kurichety is a supervising attorney with Al Otro Lado, a California-based organization that provides legal services to asylum seekers and other immigrants. She says that her clients in the Adelanto ICE Processing center — another Geo Group-run facility — are scared.

“It’s just cruel and really disturbing, there’s basically no precautions being taken,” she said. “The detainees are not given any information about COVID-19. There are no signs, no talks, no advisories, nothing of that nature.”

Adelanto has put strict measures in place requiring visiting attorneys to wear N95 masks — despite the fact that even health care workers in the state aren’t able to find them. Since then, Kurichety says she hasn’t been able to visit her clients —most of whom are asylum seekers — or arrange a non-recorded phone call to discuss their case.

Recently, she says she spoke with one client who told her that two people in his dorm collapsed with symptoms that sounded like those of COVID-19. The dorm was subsequently placed under quarantine. Another said that he’d been cleaning his cell with body wash.

“It’s like if you wanted to design a situation where a virus would spread, this is what you’d do,” she said.

On March 30, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of six detainees in Adelanto with serious medical conditions, arguing that “without a rigorous testing regime, it is impossible to conclude that COVID-19 has not already entered Adelanto.”

Two days later, a federal judge ordered all six released.

But Kurichety says that those who remain are fraying emotionally.

“They’re really scared. I would say it’s almost like panic,” she said. “Their families, too, because we’ve been talking to their sponsors and sometimes they break down in tears. They’re really frightened for their loved ones.”

Published April 8, 2020 at 04:11PM via ACLU https://ift.tt/39TXN14

[wineanddinosaur]

Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession?

Breweries and bars in Chicago opened their doors to customers on Wednesday, June 17, exactly three months after orders from the city officially shut them down. Conditions for reopening included outdoor seating. Dovetail Brewing does not have that — yet.

“Reopening was our latest adventure,” Dovetail’s brewmaster, Hagen Dost, explains. Restaurants with patios and outdoor space had the green light to open in early June, but Dost and many of his fellow brewers didn’t get the same opportunity, as the city’s phase three only allowed establishments serving food to reopen. After Dost and his neighboring bar and brewery owners lobbied for a revision of the orders, the city lifted the restrictions, giving businesses like Dovetail a path to applying for sidewalk seating — which Dost did promptly on Friday, June 19.

Stories similar to Dovetail’s are being told all over the country, as breweries are finally having opportunities to reopen their doors. But for smaller operations like these to survive the next several months, many are seeking support to catapult them through the rest of the year — and whether they’ll get it remains unclear.

Smaller and locally distributed brewers that lack the resources to distribute or market to a large audience missed out on an early boost in off-premise sales, which could have fueled them through the summer. Many of them rely on draft and other on-site sales to make a profit.

A recent survey by the Brewers Association dropped jaws in early April when it showed that nearly 46 percent of small breweries faced permanent closure. A more recent survey, in late May, showed a slightly more positive outlook for 2020. But reports of permanent closings are trickling on across the country, from Gorilla Alchemy Brewery in Colorado and North by Northwest Brewing Co. in Texas, to The Herkimer, a 20-year-old brewpub in Minnesota.

Now that the National Bureau of Economic Research confirms that the United States has entered a recession, it’s understandable that breweries are still uncertain about whether they will be able to keep the lights on.

Already Playing Catch-Up

Beer as a category saw a 2.3 percent decline in 2019, with craft experiencing only single-digit growth before Covid-19 hit its stride. An uptick in off-premise sales for craft beer was registered by IWSR data during the early weeks of the pandemic. The boost in sales resulted in an 18.3 percent increase for craft beer in March. This was attributed to canned and bottled beer purchased through off-premise retailers. Consumers flocked to familiar brands with hefty marketing budgets and an established audience.

“Given off-premise trends indicate most consumers are shopping in the grocery or convenience channel and purchasing familiar brands, both distribution and brand awareness are factors,” says Brandy Rand, COO of the Americas at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. “Visibility on ecommerce marketplace sites like Drizly, which connect consumers with local retailers for purchase, is also a factor.”

Draft beer sales came to a near standstill while bars, restaurants, and taprooms were closed across the country. In early April, breweries reported a dramatic drop in draft sales — to the tune of 91 percent on average.

“[Small brewers] are the ones with the highest percentage of their sales coming from onsite at-the-brewery sales as well as distributed draft sales,” says Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association.

Pivoting Away From Draft

A few draft-focused breweries managed to shift production to fill cans and bottles. Oregon City Brewing, a locally distributed brand just south of Portland, Ore., shuffled affairs immediately after bars, restaurants, and taprooms were ordered shut in mid-March.

“We shifted to a crowler program,” says Oregon City Brewing general manager Rosalie Morrow. “Basically we had to shift everything online. … We had to completely redo everything to be on this different online platform.”

Morrow and her team sold crowlers online that customers then picked up at the brewery during one of the two days it remained open. The program worked well for them until the crowlers started running out. “Every other brewery was doing the same thing,” says Morrow. “Every single brewery was going to crowlers so all of the sudden we have these supply chain issues.”

Unable to get crowlers in a timely manner, the brewery ultimately chose to bring in a mobile canning line and package 12 of its beers, all of which were sold from the brewery and through its partner, Olympia Provisions, which runs a restaurant on site.

Meanwhile, Other Half Brewing had been thriving on a “line culture” of customers arriving at the brewery on the day of the release and queueing up to buy freshly canned beer. “Right off the bat, we were like, ‘we’re gonna have to do curbside pickup,’” says owner Andrew Burman.

Within three weeks, Other Half added delivery as an option for customers around both its Brooklyn and Rochester locations. Burman notes that the temporary statutes allowing them to offer curbside pickup and delivery will expire in a few weeks, but he anticipates that customers will want these services for the long term.

Modern Times Beer, with taprooms throughout California and one in Portland, Ore., experimented with delivery as well. The brewery slowed down brewing anything that was meant for draft-only as soon as the taprooms shut down. Additionally, the brewery adopted a few unique practices to keep beer moving out the door.

“We did in-house screen printing of labels for special beers,” says Commissioner of Flavor Andrew Schwartz. “These were barrel-aged beers and we’d take them directly out of the barrel, put them into a package, with a really nice in-house screen printed label on them.”

Dovetail refocused in a different way. After being forced to lay off 14 people from its taproom, Dost says, Dovetail chose to keep on its brand new sales team to increase its presence on shelves at regional off-premise accounts.

In many ways, the shutdown accelerated Dovetail’s expansion into off-premise. “We were just step by step growing and then all of the sudden, boom, we had to shift gears and really get serious about off-premise,” says Dost.

Many newly packaged beers from brewers pivoting quickly were distributed to retailers like Belmont Station, a bottle shop and beer bar in Portland, Ore. Owner and operator Lisa Morrison could barely keep them in stock. Cans and bottles of Boneyard Brewing, Barley Brown’s Beer, and Montavilla Brew Works flew off shelves. “Those are all recognizable draft brands, so they are getting a lot of attention,” says Morrison.

The pivots from draft to package helped get beer out the door for many smaller breweries but that may not be the only thing keeping them afloat. According to the recent Brewers Association survey, more than 80 percent of brewers also received Paycheck Protection loans through the CARES Act. Even with the loans, many breweries still reported concerns about the months ahead.

Recession Lands

For several weeks, recession has been the word on the tip of every economist’s tongue. Now that the experts have confirmed it’s here, it’s hard to predict what additional challenges will face these breweries. In previous periods of recession, data from the Beer Institute shows that beer consumption still grew overall but at a much slower rate. Growth in shipments of beer was on average around 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points lower than the average during the years of the Great Recession (late 2007 through mid-2009).

The recession we face now strikes a very different chord from previous ones. No one knows what a recession caused by global pandemic means but details are coming into focus. In April, the Congressional Budget Office suggested that unemployment could climb to 16 percent sometime between October and the end of the year. Recent unemployment reports may dispute that but only time will tell if rates continue to trend downward. Either way, nearly 20 million people are still out of work and as expanded benefits, rent freezes, and other emergency assistance programs end throughout the summer, consumers will find themselves with a lot of bills and not a lot of income.

Watson insists that the survival of small-production beers depends on consumers’ willingness to spend: “The higher the price point, the more critical it will be to have a strong brand connection with customers to survive,” he says.

Consumers Return Slowly & With Conditions

Aside from the recession, breweries, bars, and restaurants now face challenges they’ve never navigated before.  Datassential asked 1,000 respondents how their habits will change once they’re allowed outside; only 20 percent said they would return to dining out immediately. (Even that came with conditions: Respondents indicated that restaurants would need to prove following strict guidelines around cleanliness and social distancing before they would feel comfortable returning.)

With all 50 states now in some process of reopening, it remains to be seen how well small breweries will bounce back. Most phased reopenings that allow for on-premise consumption require bars and restaurants to limit capacity to 25 percent. For breweries that rely on on-premise sales to keep the lights on, only being able to welcome back 25 percent of their customers may not be worth the investment to open the doors at all.

New on-premise measures, as required by local or state governments, will likely change brewery taprooms as we know them. “While yes, we’re open and we have people coming in and there’s revenue coming in, we have to staff every shift with twice as many employees,” says Morrow. “So we don’t actually know yet if we’re even covering costs.”

Burman expects that consumers will want services like online ordering, pickup, and delivery to continue to be available. “We are kind of under the assumption that we’re gonna change our business model forever,” he says.

Even if a second wave doesn’t materialize, consumers have become accustomed to a different experience with breweries and may demand that going forward.

The article Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/which-craft-breweries-will-survive-the-upcoming-recession/

[isaiahrippinus]

Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession?

Breweries and bars in Chicago opened their doors to customers on Wednesday, June 17, exactly three months after orders from the city officially shut them down. Conditions for reopening included outdoor seating. Dovetail Brewing does not have that — yet.

“Reopening was our latest adventure,” Dovetail’s brewmaster, Hagen Dost, explains. Restaurants with patios and outdoor space had the green light to open in early June, but Dost and many of his fellow brewers didn’t get the same opportunity, as the city’s phase three only allowed establishments serving food to reopen. After Dost and his neighboring bar and brewery owners lobbied for a revision of the orders, the city lifted the restrictions, giving businesses like Dovetail a path to applying for sidewalk seating — which Dost did promptly on Friday, June 19.

Stories similar to Dovetail’s are being told all over the country, as breweries are finally having opportunities to reopen their doors. But for smaller operations like these to survive the next several months, many are seeking support to catapult them through the rest of the year — and whether they’ll get it remains unclear.

Smaller and locally distributed brewers that lack the resources to distribute or market to a large audience missed out on an early boost in off-premise sales, which could have fueled them through the summer. Many of them rely on draft and other on-site sales to make a profit.

A recent survey by the Brewers Association dropped jaws in early April when it showed that nearly 46 percent of small breweries faced permanent closure. A more recent survey, in late May, showed a slightly more positive outlook for 2020. But reports of permanent closings are trickling on across the country, from Gorilla Alchemy Brewery in Colorado and North by Northwest Brewing Co. in Texas, to The Herkimer, a 20-year-old brewpub in Minnesota.

Now that the National Bureau of Economic Research confirms that the United States has entered a recession, it’s understandable that breweries are still uncertain about whether they will be able to keep the lights on.

Already Playing Catch-Up

Beer as a category saw a 2.3 percent decline in 2019, with craft experiencing only single-digit growth before Covid-19 hit its stride. An uptick in off-premise sales for craft beer was registered by IWSR data during the early weeks of the pandemic. The boost in sales resulted in an 18.3 percent increase for craft beer in March. This was attributed to canned and bottled beer purchased through off-premise retailers. Consumers flocked to familiar brands with hefty marketing budgets and an established audience.

“Given off-premise trends indicate most consumers are shopping in the grocery or convenience channel and purchasing familiar brands, both distribution and brand awareness are factors,” says Brandy Rand, COO of the Americas at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. “Visibility on ecommerce marketplace sites like Drizly, which connect consumers with local retailers for purchase, is also a factor.”

Draft beer sales came to a near standstill while bars, restaurants, and taprooms were closed across the country. In early April, breweries reported a dramatic drop in draft sales — to the tune of 91 percent on average.

“[Small brewers] are the ones with the highest percentage of their sales coming from onsite at-the-brewery sales as well as distributed draft sales,” says Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association.

Pivoting Away From Draft

A few draft-focused breweries managed to shift production to fill cans and bottles. Oregon City Brewing, a locally distributed brand just south of Portland, Ore., shuffled affairs immediately after bars, restaurants, and taprooms were ordered shut in mid-March.

“We shifted to a crowler program,” says Oregon City Brewing general manager Rosalie Morrow. “Basically we had to shift everything online. … We had to completely redo everything to be on this different online platform.”

Morrow and her team sold crowlers online that customers then picked up at the brewery during one of the two days it remained open. The program worked well for them until the crowlers started running out. “Every other brewery was doing the same thing,” says Morrow. “Every single brewery was going to crowlers so all of the sudden we have these supply chain issues.”

Unable to get crowlers in a timely manner, the brewery ultimately chose to bring in a mobile canning line and package 12 of its beers, all of which were sold from the brewery and through its partner, Olympia Provisions, which runs a restaurant on site.

Meanwhile, Other Half Brewing had been thriving on a “line culture” of customers arriving at the brewery on the day of the release and queueing up to buy freshly canned beer. “Right off the bat, we were like, ‘we’re gonna have to do curbside pickup,’” says owner Andrew Burman.

Within three weeks, Other Half added delivery as an option for customers around both its Brooklyn and Rochester locations. Burman notes that the temporary statutes allowing them to offer curbside pickup and delivery will expire in a few weeks, but he anticipates that customers will want these services for the long term.

Modern Times Beer, with taprooms throughout California and one in Portland, Ore., experimented with delivery as well. The brewery slowed down brewing anything that was meant for draft-only as soon as the taprooms shut down. Additionally, the brewery adopted a few unique practices to keep beer moving out the door.

“We did in-house screen printing of labels for special beers,” says Commissioner of Flavor Andrew Schwartz. “These were barrel-aged beers and we’d take them directly out of the barrel, put them into a package, with a really nice in-house screen printed label on them.”

Dovetail refocused in a different way. After being forced to lay off 14 people from its taproom, Dost says, Dovetail chose to keep on its brand new sales team to increase its presence on shelves at regional off-premise accounts.

In many ways, the shutdown accelerated Dovetail’s expansion into off-premise. “We were just step by step growing and then all of the sudden, boom, we had to shift gears and really get serious about off-premise,” says Dost.

Many newly packaged beers from brewers pivoting quickly were distributed to retailers like Belmont Station, a bottle shop and beer bar in Portland, Ore. Owner and operator Lisa Morrison could barely keep them in stock. Cans and bottles of Boneyard Brewing, Barley Brown’s Beer, and Montavilla Brew Works flew off shelves. “Those are all recognizable draft brands, so they are getting a lot of attention,” says Morrison.

The pivots from draft to package helped get beer out the door for many smaller breweries but that may not be the only thing keeping them afloat. According to the recent Brewers Association survey, more than 80 percent of brewers also received Paycheck Protection loans through the CARES Act. Even with the loans, many breweries still reported concerns about the months ahead.

Recession Lands

For several weeks, recession has been the word on the tip of every economist’s tongue. Now that the experts have confirmed it’s here, it’s hard to predict what additional challenges will face these breweries. In previous periods of recession, data from the Beer Institute shows that beer consumption still grew overall but at a much slower rate. Growth in shipments of beer was on average around 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points lower than the average during the years of the Great Recession (late 2007 through mid-2009).

The recession we face now strikes a very different chord from previous ones. No one knows what a recession caused by global pandemic means but details are coming into focus. In April, the Congressional Budget Office suggested that unemployment could climb to 16 percent sometime between October and the end of the year. Recent unemployment reports may dispute that but only time will tell if rates continue to trend downward. Either way, nearly 20 million people are still out of work and as expanded benefits, rent freezes, and other emergency assistance programs end throughout the summer, consumers will find themselves with a lot of bills and not a lot of income.

Watson insists that the survival of small-production beers depends on consumers’ willingness to spend: “The higher the price point, the more critical it will be to have a strong brand connection with customers to survive,” he says.

Consumers Return Slowly & With Conditions

Aside from the recession, breweries, bars, and restaurants now face challenges they’ve never navigated before.  Datassential asked 1,000 respondents how their habits will change once they’re allowed outside; only 20 percent said they would return to dining out immediately. (Even that came with conditions: Respondents indicated that restaurants would need to prove following strict guidelines around cleanliness and social distancing before they would feel comfortable returning.)

With all 50 states now in some process of reopening, it remains to be seen how well small breweries will bounce back. Most phased reopenings that allow for on-premise consumption require bars and restaurants to limit capacity to 25 percent. For breweries that rely on on-premise sales to keep the lights on, only being able to welcome back 25 percent of their customers may not be worth the investment to open the doors at all.

New on-premise measures, as required by local or state governments, will likely change brewery taprooms as we know them. “While yes, we’re open and we have people coming in and there’s revenue coming in, we have to staff every shift with twice as many employees,” says Morrow. “So we don’t actually know yet if we’re even covering costs.”

Burman expects that consumers will want services like online ordering, pickup, and delivery to continue to be available. “We are kind of under the assumption that we’re gonna change our business model forever,” he says.

Even if a second wave doesn’t materialize, consumers have become accustomed to a different experience with breweries and may demand that going forward.

The article Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/which-craft-breweries-will-survive-the-upcoming-recession/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/623088239052537856

[johnboothus]

Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession?

Breweries and bars in Chicago opened their doors to customers on Wednesday, June 17, exactly three months after orders from the city officially shut them down. Conditions for reopening included outdoor seating. Dovetail Brewing does not have that — yet.

“Reopening was our latest adventure,” Dovetail’s brewmaster, Hagen Dost, explains. Restaurants with patios and outdoor space had the green light to open in early June, but Dost and many of his fellow brewers didn’t get the same opportunity, as the city’s phase three only allowed establishments serving food to reopen. After Dost and his neighboring bar and brewery owners lobbied for a revision of the orders, the city lifted the restrictions, giving businesses like Dovetail a path to applying for sidewalk seating — which Dost did promptly on Friday, June 19.

Stories similar to Dovetail’s are being told all over the country, as breweries are finally having opportunities to reopen their doors. But for smaller operations like these to survive the next several months, many are seeking support to catapult them through the rest of the year — and whether they’ll get it remains unclear.

Smaller and locally distributed brewers that lack the resources to distribute or market to a large audience missed out on an early boost in off-premise sales, which could have fueled them through the summer. Many of them rely on draft and other on-site sales to make a profit.

A recent survey by the Brewers Association dropped jaws in early April when it showed that nearly 46 percent of small breweries faced permanent closure. A more recent survey, in late May, showed a slightly more positive outlook for 2020. But reports of permanent closings are trickling on across the country, from Gorilla Alchemy Brewery in Colorado and North by Northwest Brewing Co. in Texas, to The Herkimer, a 20-year-old brewpub in Minnesota.

Now that the National Bureau of Economic Research confirms that the United States has entered a recession, it’s understandable that breweries are still uncertain about whether they will be able to keep the lights on.

Already Playing Catch-Up

Beer as a category saw a 2.3 percent decline in 2019, with craft experiencing only single-digit growth before Covid-19 hit its stride. An uptick in off-premise sales for craft beer was registered by IWSR data during the early weeks of the pandemic. The boost in sales resulted in an 18.3 percent increase for craft beer in March. This was attributed to canned and bottled beer purchased through off-premise retailers. Consumers flocked to familiar brands with hefty marketing budgets and an established audience.

“Given off-premise trends indicate most consumers are shopping in the grocery or convenience channel and purchasing familiar brands, both distribution and brand awareness are factors,” says Brandy Rand, COO of the Americas at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. “Visibility on ecommerce marketplace sites like Drizly, which connect consumers with local retailers for purchase, is also a factor.”

Draft beer sales came to a near standstill while bars, restaurants, and taprooms were closed across the country. In early April, breweries reported a dramatic drop in draft sales — to the tune of 91 percent on average.

“[Small brewers] are the ones with the highest percentage of their sales coming from onsite at-the-brewery sales as well as distributed draft sales,” says Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association.

Pivoting Away From Draft

A few draft-focused breweries managed to shift production to fill cans and bottles. Oregon City Brewing, a locally distributed brand just south of Portland, Ore., shuffled affairs immediately after bars, restaurants, and taprooms were ordered shut in mid-March.

“We shifted to a crowler program,” says Oregon City Brewing general manager Rosalie Morrow. “Basically we had to shift everything online. … We had to completely redo everything to be on this different online platform.”

Morrow and her team sold crowlers online that customers then picked up at the brewery during one of the two days it remained open. The program worked well for them until the crowlers started running out. “Every other brewery was doing the same thing,” says Morrow. “Every single brewery was going to crowlers so all of the sudden we have these supply chain issues.”

Unable to get crowlers in a timely manner, the brewery ultimately chose to bring in a mobile canning line and package 12 of its beers, all of which were sold from the brewery and through its partner, Olympia Provisions, which runs a restaurant on site.

Meanwhile, Other Half Brewing had been thriving on a “line culture” of customers arriving at the brewery on the day of the release and queueing up to buy freshly canned beer. “Right off the bat, we were like, ‘we’re gonna have to do curbside pickup,’” says owner Andrew Burman.

Within three weeks, Other Half added delivery as an option for customers around both its Brooklyn and Rochester locations. Burman notes that the temporary statutes allowing them to offer curbside pickup and delivery will expire in a few weeks, but he anticipates that customers will want these services for the long term.

Modern Times Beer, with taprooms throughout California and one in Portland, Ore., experimented with delivery as well. The brewery slowed down brewing anything that was meant for draft-only as soon as the taprooms shut down. Additionally, the brewery adopted a few unique practices to keep beer moving out the door.

“We did in-house screen printing of labels for special beers,” says Commissioner of Flavor Andrew Schwartz. “These were barrel-aged beers and we’d take them directly out of the barrel, put them into a package, with a really nice in-house screen printed label on them.”

Dovetail refocused in a different way. After being forced to lay off 14 people from its taproom, Dost says, Dovetail chose to keep on its brand new sales team to increase its presence on shelves at regional off-premise accounts.

In many ways, the shutdown accelerated Dovetail’s expansion into off-premise. “We were just step by step growing and then all of the sudden, boom, we had to shift gears and really get serious about off-premise,” says Dost.

Many newly packaged beers from brewers pivoting quickly were distributed to retailers like Belmont Station, a bottle shop and beer bar in Portland, Ore. Owner and operator Lisa Morrison could barely keep them in stock. Cans and bottles of Boneyard Brewing, Barley Brown’s Beer, and Montavilla Brew Works flew off shelves. “Those are all recognizable draft brands, so they are getting a lot of attention,” says Morrison.

The pivots from draft to package helped get beer out the door for many smaller breweries but that may not be the only thing keeping them afloat. According to the recent Brewers Association survey, more than 80 percent of brewers also received Paycheck Protection loans through the CARES Act. Even with the loans, many breweries still reported concerns about the months ahead.

Recession Lands

For several weeks, recession has been the word on the tip of every economist’s tongue. Now that the experts have confirmed it’s here, it’s hard to predict what additional challenges will face these breweries. In previous periods of recession, data from the Beer Institute shows that beer consumption still grew overall but at a much slower rate. Growth in shipments of beer was on average around 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points lower than the average during the years of the Great Recession (late 2007 through mid-2009).

The recession we face now strikes a very different chord from previous ones. No one knows what a recession caused by global pandemic means but details are coming into focus. In April, the Congressional Budget Office suggested that unemployment could climb to 16 percent sometime between October and the end of the year. Recent unemployment reports may dispute that but only time will tell if rates continue to trend downward. Either way, nearly 20 million people are still out of work and as expanded benefits, rent freezes, and other emergency assistance programs end throughout the summer, consumers will find themselves with a lot of bills and not a lot of income.

Watson insists that the survival of small-production beers depends on consumers’ willingness to spend: “The higher the price point, the more critical it will be to have a strong brand connection with customers to survive,” he says.

Consumers Return Slowly & With Conditions

Aside from the recession, breweries, bars, and restaurants now face challenges they’ve never navigated before.  Datassential asked 1,000 respondents how their habits will change once they’re allowed outside; only 20 percent said they would return to dining out immediately. (Even that came with conditions: Respondents indicated that restaurants would need to prove following strict guidelines around cleanliness and social distancing before they would feel comfortable returning.)

With all 50 states now in some process of reopening, it remains to be seen how well small breweries will bounce back. Most phased reopenings that allow for on-premise consumption require bars and restaurants to limit capacity to 25 percent. For breweries that rely on on-premise sales to keep the lights on, only being able to welcome back 25 percent of their customers may not be worth the investment to open the doors at all.

New on-premise measures, as required by local or state governments, will likely change brewery taprooms as we know them. “While yes, we’re open and we have people coming in and there’s revenue coming in, we have to staff every shift with twice as many employees,” says Morrow. “So we don’t actually know yet if we’re even covering costs.”

Burman expects that consumers will want services like online ordering, pickup, and delivery to continue to be available. “We are kind of under the assumption that we’re gonna change our business model forever,” he says.

Even if a second wave doesn’t materialize, consumers have become accustomed to a different experience with breweries and may demand that going forward.

The article Which Craft Breweries Will Survive the Coming Recession? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/which-craft-breweries-will-survive-the-upcoming-recession/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/which-craft-breweries-will-survive-the-coming-recession