#what if you took a physical labor job but also made it a design challenge mindfuck and then you made it also incredibly dangerous and tricky

[shilohtx]

cries so much art to hang

[just-here-for-the-moment]

For the DIFFERENT POV GAME:

I want Javi’s POV on this whole adorable scene.

Okay, my Queen @quica-quica-quica, I want you to know that I suuuuucked in a huge breath when I saw this Ask, because I was entirely unsure if I could do this. It seemed like a really hard challenge, but FOR YOU I’ll try anything.

I dug in to see what I could do, and of course because I can’t just write succinctly I had to start waaaaaay back in the beginning of the story to get Javier where I needed him for the phone number scene… hope that’s okay!!

Thank you for challenging me this way! This went from scary to amazing in just a few days! I love you so much, my friend!!!

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Coffee Shop Girl (a companion piece to “For Now” told from Javier’s point of view)

Word count: 3000+

Rating: mature, 18+ only

Outline: Javier Peña x “You” (Austin coffee shop barista; cis/het female reader; “blank canvas”/no physical description/no name/no use of “Y/N”)

Warnings: slow-burn; references to previous hiring of sex workers; cigarette smoking; Javier masturbating

Javier Peña felt like he was at loose ends. Not for the first time in his life, but it’s different feeling ‘lost’ as a young man than feeling ‘lost’ when you’re on the wrong side of 40. At least a teenager can still expect their whole life ahead of them. Since leaving the DEA and the fight in Colombia behind, he had been feeling directionless.

Spending some time at his dad’s ranch in Laredo had helped, the way that hard labor and sweat always does. It left him too tired to ruminate, to sink into the blues and feel sorry for himself. He had lined up a teaching job at a university in D.C. but it didn’t start until the fall semester, and Javier wasn’t looking forward to an entire blazing-hot summer on the ranch. So when his friend Bill called from Austin and offered a short contract job doing consulting for one of the state agencies, he jumped at the chance.

Javier landed at Mueller Airport at 2:00 in the afternoon on the second Saturday in June. He made his way out of luggage pickup to the Hertz desk and signed for a rental car. It didn’t take him long to find the apartment complex where Bill had arranged for him to stay. Bill’s coworker’s son had graduated from UT Austin in May, and the lease wasn’t up until August, so everything worked out perfectly. Javi could sublet for the remainder of the summer, and the apartment complex was close enough to the office that he could take the bus, meaning he wouldn’t have to put too many miles on the rental car or pay for parking downtown. A small, blandly furnished one-bedroom apartment near work was perfect. He could make it work for two months, and he had certainly lived in much worse places during his years traveling.

On Monday Javier was introduced around the office and given his portfolio of cases to consult on. He also found out that the coffee in the office was total shit. He had spent too many years drinking government-grade slop at the DEA and other agencies to put up with it now. He wasn’t one to complain, or to order any of the frilly new designer coffee drinks that seemed to be making the rounds among the ladies in the secretarial pool, but he had noticed a coffee shop between here and the bus stop. Some local place, one of those Austin things where they boasted about fair trade and locally roasted beans. If they made a decent cup of black coffee he could splurge, buy a cup on his way into the office each day.

The bus dropped him off at the corner at 7:45, so he could grab a coffee and still be on time to work at 8:00. Punctuality wasn’t always his strong suit, but Javier wanted to at least make a good impression while he was consulting. You never knew who might be a network contact to something good, and he didn’t want to screw Bill over after he had recommended him for the contract.

Tuesday Javier tried the coffee shop and found out that their coffee was not only decent for the price, it was actually good. Wednesday he went back again, this time brushing fingers with the pretty barista by accident. He offered her a “thanks” and then went on his way. Thursday he walked in and stood patiently in line behind two stoner kids trying to make up their minds between breakfast tacos and blueberry muffins. The pretty barista was there again, and she waved him over with a smile, indicating he could skip to the counter and leave the hippie kids in line.

“Black coffee, right?” Her smile actually reached her eyes, and for a moment Javier was very glad for all of the body language and psychology classes he had ever had to sit through. It was nice having a pretty lady smile at you to start your morning, and even better that this one already knew his order. She was quick, he figured, and good at her job if she had his order memorized after only two days as a customer. Not that ‘black coffee, to go’ was a difficult order, but he hadn’t expected to become a regular so quickly.

He smiled and nodded, “That’s right. Thank you.” He looked for a wedding ring and then for a nametag on her black apron, but didn’t see either one. He slid a rumpled $5 bill across the counter, larger than the singles he had paid with the previous two days, but she was nice. “Keep the change.”

He thought he saw her bite her lip as she turned away, and while she was fixing his cup he took a moment to check her out. He wasn’t some kind of pervert who would goose her from over the counter, but from what he could see she was attractive. Hell, most women were attractive to Javier. He suddenly realized it had been a while since he’d gotten laid. His last relationship was years past, and he no longer visited prostitutes regularly. Javier wasn’t a ‘reformed man’ by any means, it was just that that habit had been limited to a specific time and place in his life where he wasn’t stable enough to have a long-term relationship, and it had the added bonus of gathering intelligence.

The barista turned back to him with the cup and when she handed it off their eyes locked and their fingers touched again. He saw her pupils dilate and recognized the little spark that turned over in his own gut. Damn, she really was attractive. But Javier didn’t want to be the kind of lecherous guy who hit on a woman while she was working. Too many men mistook the minimum of customer service friendliness for a sexual invitation. Or worse, like the men who hit on waitresses on purpose since they couldn’t be outright rude to stop them. Javier suppressed a smile and took the cup from her, nodding his thanks.

On Friday when he breezed into the coffee shop he saw the pretty barista smile from behind the counter, and she immediately turned and started pouring his to-go cup. She turned back and gave him the ‘what’s up’ chin nod while holding his cup up. Javier walked up and he slid a few singles across the counter to her.

Javier gave her a warm, “Thanks,” and winked at her. That was at least a harmless bit of flirting, in line with her bright smiles and her friendliness so far. If she liked it, great; and if not, then at least he hadn’t made her uncomfortable by asking for her number or hitting on her directly. When he said, “See you next week,” she smiled that bright smile back. Javier noticed that it again reached her eyes, lighting them up just a bit more than last time. A good sign.

The weekend dragged but Javier filled it up with errands: a run to HEB for groceries and to Highland Mall for a new shirt. If there was the possibility of a date sometime in the next few weeks he at least wanted to wear something other than his work clothes. Saturday night he ordered pizza and watched a movie on TV, some lame action movie with giant muscled guys shooting way too many bullets, and of course all the curse words and a sex scene edited out for network TV. Can’t let the kiddies hear the word ‘shit’ while they’re flipping channels, but watching Stallone blow a guy’s head off is good for their growing brains. He finished his pizza and a cigarette and then felt that tug, the loose ends, a little bored.

Javier took a shower and his mind went to the pretty barista, that smile, the sparkly eyes. He thought about those eyes looking up at him through her lashes, or down at him from on top. He wondered what her skin felt like, imagining the rest of her naked, spread out, touching him all over. He felt a little bit creepy touching himself to the thought of her, hoping it didn’t make him a bad person, hoping he would see her again on Monday. But fuck it, he needed the release. Javier came, spurting hot in the steamy shower as he leaned his head on his forearm and groaned into the cold tile wall. He wished he at least knew her name.

Sunday Javier slept in and then did laundry, tidied up the apartment, and took a jog around the neighborhood. He tried to talk himself out of a repeat of Saturday’s shower. It didn’t work.

On Monday Javier lit up as soon as he stepped off the bus. The first week of the consulting gig had gone well, but today was a big meeting and he knew the agency was not going to like his recommendations. He was constantly trying to quit, but at least he had cut back recently. He was down to a pack a day and only one cup of coffee. That had to count for something, right? Maybe his doctor would finally get off his back about that.

He smoked as rapidly as he could on his way to the coffee shop, and stubbed the cigarette out as soon as he reached the big window that overlooked the street corner. He tucked his sunglasses into the top pocket of his blazer and opened the door to the coffee shop.

The pretty barista was smiling, looking right at him and already holding up his cup of coffee like a game show model holding a prize. Javier felt his heart give a little squeeze, and he smiled and winked at her again as he approached the counter.

“You psychic or something? Or am I just that predictable?”

“Both, maybe.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him and gave him a toothy grin.

Javier opened his wallet and saw that his smallest bill was a $10, but he decided not to ask for change back. She was attentive to her customers, she had surprised him by having coffee ready, and she was cute. “Great service, keep the change.”

Her face lit up and she turned to put the money in the register. Javier turned and exited the front door, and then decided to look back through the big plate glass window. She was looking at him, and Javier realized that meant that she had watched him leave. He hoped he wouldn’t have to tip $10 every time to get that look. He lifted his cup, nodded at her, and then made his way to the office.

Tuesday she had his coffee ready again, so he gave her another wink with his smile, and he thought that she purposely put her fingers in a spot to touch his as she handed the cup over. He paid with a $5 bill again, and then thought about her smile and her touch all the way to the office a few blocks north. He didn’t want her to think that the overtipping was him trying to come on to her; it really was nice to have his order ready to go every day.

On Wednesday she had his coffee ready again as soon as he walked in, but Javier supposed that was a testament to the bus schedule more than his own punctuality. This time he paid with singles. But he didn’t want her to think the smaller tip was because of anything wrong with her customer service, so he smiled a little more warmly, turning the charm up as much as he dared without just outright hitting on her. He noticed she was looking again through the glass as he left. But of course the only reason he knew that was because he had looked, too.

On Thursday Javier decided that it wouldn’t hurt to flirt a little more obviously, but to give her an out in case she wasn’t interested. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or fuck up his supply of good coffee, so he decided to take it a little slow. When he got to the corner he glanced into the window of the coffee shop and saw the pretty barista looking right at him. He took that as a good sign that she might be receptive to his flirting. He opened the door and let someone exit, then walked up to the counter. She pointed at his cup sitting on the counter in front of her, smiling that bright smile.

He arched an eyebrow up. “You trying to get rid of me? In and out so quickly?”

She grinned at him. “Depends on how long you were planning to stay. We close at 1:00 a.m. after open mic tonight. After that you gotta go somewhere else.” That was the most that she’d spoken to him yet. Javier decided to take his chance.

“And what time do you get off, after the morning shift?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” She winked and then bit the inside of her lips, like she had said something she shouldn’t have.

Javier decided to be direct. At least that would give her the chance to say ‘no’ if she wasn’t interested. He locked eyes with her and said, “I am.”

He was relieved to see her flash that big smile, all pretty soft lips and sparkly eyes. “I finish at 1:00, after the lunch rush.”

“Good to know.” He stuck his hand out to shake. “I’m Javier, by the way.” She continued to smile as she gave him her name. When she took his hand she gave a good firm shake, not like one of those women who went limp as soon as they shook a man’s hand. Javier liked her even more.

He fished a few bills out of his wallet. “Can I maybe stop by after your shift, take you to lunch sometime?”

“You can do me one better than that.” She reached down to grip the lid and spun the cup. He saw her name and seven digits scribbled in Sharpie. “My phone number’s on the cup.”

Javier gave her the eyebrows, very much enjoying how direct she was. It was nice to get a clear signal from a pretty lady, instead of having to play guessing games and worry about overstepping. He pursed his lips and nodded in approval.

“You do that for all your customers?”

“Just the best tippers.” And there was her pretty smile and her wink again, so soon after the first one.

Javier decided to give her both barrels. He put his hand out again, palm up instead of a handshake. When she put her hand in his he lifted her knuckles to his lips and pressed a soft kiss, giving her a look from under his eyelashes before he let go.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Javier picked up the cup and left, and gave her a warm smile through the glass as he walked away. As soon as he got to the office he jotted her name and the number on a scrap of paper and tucked it into his wallet. He felt hopeful in a way that he hadn’t for a long time, and he rolled the cup endlessly between his palms while he considered his options. Options. Something he sometimes had taken for granted in life, until those moments where they suddenly ran out.

Javier drained the last of the coffee and then scribbled over her number with a Sharpie before tossing the cup in the trash. No sense in letting her number out into the world where some creep might find it. He smoked his third cigarette of the day out on the plaza and thought about her smile, the brush of her fingers on his, the way she approached him directly. He could use a friend in town, one who wasn’t a guy at the agency or an old college buddy. One who was soft and sweet and might be open to a date… or more. He checked his watch and calculated the hours until 1:00 p.m.

Normally he wouldn’t go back to the coffee shop until tomorrow morning, but it wouldn’t hurt to pop back over there today at the end of her shift, see if she wanted to grab lunch, right? He hoped it wouldn’t scare her off, going back so quickly. He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray by the lobby door and jogged back up to his office, taking the stairs two at a time. He wanted to finish up, get this meeting over with, see if he could get over to the coffee shop before she left. He sat in the meeting, watching the clock hands spin slowly, listening to someone drone on about a budget issue that didn’t impact his work, and which could have been a memo in the first place. He felt his irritation creep up the longer the meeting went on.

Finally the meeting closed and Javier hopped to his feet. He told Bill he was headed to lunch and then jogged back down the stairwell instead of waiting for the elevator. He walked the few blocks to the coffee shop, keeping an eye on his watch. He hoped he wouldn’t miss her.

When he got to the coffee shop he opened the door and let his eyes adjust to the dim light for a moment. And then he saw her, slinging her bag over one shoulder and coming out from behind the counter. Javier smiled.

She stopped a foot away and smiled softly, “Hey.”

Javier realized he was still wearing his sunglasses, no wonder it was so dark. He took them off and slipped them into his blazer pocket. He really hoped she wouldn’t think it was weird, him coming back so soon.

“Hey, I’m glad I caught you. Are you busy, or can I take you to lunch today?”

Her face lit up. Good sign. “No, I’m not busy. I’d love to go.”

She gestured out the big window, “There’s a sandwich place around the corner, and a park we can go sit in.”

Javier felt his face split into a wide grin. “That’s perfect.”

---

Just-here-for-the-moment’s masterlist

The only tag list I have: @quica-quica-quica @anaaaispunk @justanotherblonde23 @gracie7209 @nicolethered @honestly-shite @driedgreentomatoes @dihra-vesa @1800-fight-me @the-queen-of-fools @juletheghoul @kesskirata @honeymandos @silverwolf319 @mourningbirds1 @greeneyedblondie44 @spacedilf @maxwell–lord @anxiousandboujee @cevvie @sherala007 @writeforfandoms @libellule2001 @deadhumourist @mandoalorian @javierpinme @eri16 @mandocrasis

[seoloquent]

project: dance, dance, revolution

summary - you hate that ai robots are beginning to take over the entertainment industry, but you have no choice than to help them. but what if it all didn't turn out to be what you thought it was?

pairing - johnny and fem!reader

genre - strangers-to-lovers!au, robot!au, comedy, fluff

word count - 10.101

warnings - cw! food, there might be some grammatical errors... i'm depending on grammarly on this one

author's note - this is for @pastelsicheng's ai project #14320 collab! this was honestly such a challenge for me since i have been in a writing slump for over two years i believe, but i'm glad it gave me the push i need. i am still super rusty, but i think the dialogue is cute, so i'm happy with it! thank you so much emmy for sharing your great idea with everyone, and i hope you all like it!

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Johnny AI AU - seoloquent

Kun was terrified.

Despite experiencing your various emotions throughout the five years of being your manager, he has never seen you this angry before. But, honestly speaking, he couldn’t blame you. He’d be just as mad if he found out his boss went behind his back and signed a contract with a company he hated. As much as he could sympathize with you though, Kun just couldn’t get himself to understand why you were so upset about working with LSM Incorporated. If he were in your shoes, he’d be doing backflips off the wall! The amount of exposure, and revenue you are potentially going to be receiving… Kun just does not understand what the problem is.

Although your strides were long and strong, Kun was able to keep up with you while making sure he kept his distance, as if a dark cloud followed behind you. As cautious as he was to not have you blow up at him, he still tried to convince you to not make a scene within the conference room by his desperate protests; in which you kindly ignored. Every single word that left his mouth went through one ear and straight out the other as you paid him no mind. You were in a tunnel vision; the only person you wanted to talk to right now was your boss.

Pushing the door open with much force (that Kun had to catch before it slammed onto the wall behind it), you caught the attention of the CEO of your company, as well as Lee Soo Man of LSM Inc. They flashed pleasant smiles your way, completely oblivious of your angry state.

“Y/N, just the person we wanted to se-”

“Are you serious?!” You slammed the contract papers down on the table, your eyes wide and fierce as they stared into your boss’s eyes.

Your emotions were still fresh from when you first received the signed contract papers from Kun about an hour prior. The feelings of betrayal and violation lingered within you, and the uneasiness it caused made you sick. How could someone lack so much human decency that they justified going behind their employee’s back, an employee that has their trust in them at that, and force them into labor; which they have already voiced that they did not want to do? It baffled you, and you were hurt, as you believed that you and your CEO had a great business relationship. But he took that open communication for granted and took advantage of you.

After realizing that you stormed in with anger rather than excitement, he pursed his lips and looked down at the papers, chuckling to himself. “Oh. So you’re still opposed to the idea.”

You couldn’t believe your ears. “Of course I am!” Your voice rose as your eyes grew bigger. “You never talked to me about it again after the first time; what made you think that I changed my mind?”

“Y/N, I have to get you to notice that you are not the only one signed to this company. This will not only be good exposure for you, but for us as well.” He justified. He kept his voice calm, not only to calm you down but also to keep a professional demeanor in front of his newly established business partner.

“Oh, so you’re doing this for yourself?”

“Of course not! This is for the benefit of not only you, not only me, but for the company as a whole.” Your CEO reasoned. Before you could respond, he cleared his throat and turned to Lee Soo Man. “I’m sorry, but will you excuse us for a moment? I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation in front of you as our partner.”

Normally, you would be embarrassed that you presented this side of yourself in front of a potential partner, but embarrassed in front of Lee Soo Man? You care more about a monkey’s opinion about yourself more than his opinion. Besides, it doesn’t seem like he’s phased by your reaction at all. Strangely enough, when you turned toward the founder of LSM Inc., you realized that his arrogant smile had never left his face since the moment you stormed into the conference room. It gave you chills. He seems so artificial that you wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a robot himself.

After Lee Soo Man gave his, “No problem,” your boss stood up from his seat and escorted you both outside the conference room. The moment the door closed, your boss’s true emotion started to show. His eyes grew wide and his fingers grabbed onto his freshly trimmed strands as he breathed out a heavy breath of frustration. Equally as frustrated, if not more, you crossed your arms and made sure your gaze was unwavering; something you needed to learn after being manipulated many times from past experiences with people who work within the entertainment industry. You stepped your metaphoric foot down. Even if your boss had signed a contract without your acknowledgment, you were not going to do the job. That’s not your signature on the papers.

“Are you crazy Y/N?!” He yelled in a hushed tone, careful to not have anyone overhear your conversation. “How could you act like that in front of him?”

“Do I not have a right to be angry? You sold me away to a robot company Jack, a robot company!” You slapped the back of your hand on your other palm, now physically unable to withhold your emotions.

“I didn’t sell you away, you’re getting paid to do this job.” He spat. Now self-aware of how uncivil and unprofessional he was being, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to ease his nerves. You are going to get nowhere if you bickered like this, and if you keep it up, he knows he is going to say something he regrets.

Now keeping his tone soft, he revealed, “I chose you because you’re the best for this job.”

“Aren’t there other artists under this label who could do this? I’m sure they’re more willing to work with LSM than I am.” You matched his tone, hoping that this time you could get through to him.

“Those other artists can’t produce the same product as you can.” Jack shook his head disapprovingly. “Listen Y/N, I don’t want to waste any more of Mr. Lee’s time, so I’m going to make this short. I apologize in advance if you find any offense in this, but business is business.” You stared intently into his eyes, in hopes to understand where he was going with his next sentence, but his expression could not be read.

“If you can’t do this job, then I’m afraid that I’ll have to drop you from this label.”

You never knew what people meant by having their hearts drop down to their stomachs until now. You felt as if the wind was knocked out of you, your breath short and shaky and your knees weak. All these years… all this work you put in to make a name not only for yourself but for this company… it baffled you that all that effort could be thrown away so easily, just because of some AI company.

As much as you wanted to keep standing up for yourself and your role in the company, you knew there was no use. Your boss didn’t seem to give you a choice either, seeing that he walked back into the conference room shortly after his bombshell. The only thing you could find yourself doing is laughing bitterly to yourself while shaking your head. What in the world are you going to do now?

***

Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to go to a bar when you’re in a bad mood. The constant noise of chatter and the clinking of glasses did not soothe your nerves one bit. Rather, it made you even more annoyed, and on the brink of yelling out at everyone to just be quiet. Instead of making a fool of yourself in public though, you sat with your head under your arms, forehead resting on the cool surface of the bar. Kun, your designated moral support, sat next to you, tapping his glass of whiskey as he thought of what to say to you.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

That simple yet oh so effective sentence had you throwing your head back and releasing a loud groan. Your reaction had your manager shrugging, his face reading, ‘What did I do?’ You rested your cheeks on the palms of your hands as you thought: ‘What can I do?’

Gazing off into a space of nothing, you replied: “I dunno.” You shook your head, your hands still on either side of your face as you deadpanned. “I have no idea what I’m gonna do.” After a moment, something clicked in your head, and you set your arms down and turned to Kun. “Do you want to bail on them and start a company with me?”

He snorted at the inquiry. “You know we can’t do that! At least not right now. It’s way too last minute.”

You looked down at your arms with a sad expression and sighed. “You’re right.” Not only would it be an impulsive decision, but you had no motivation in you to own a whole entertainment company. “What am I gonna do?!” You cried out, your hands covering your face to hide your shame.

“Hey, hey, hey! Stop the whining!” Kun took your hands away from your face, revealing the pout on your face. “Everything is going to be fine! I’m sure of it.”

Kun, a big pep-talk kind of man, was always ready to reassure you when you were in doubt. And boy was he good at it. You still remember when you were growing anxious before your first big concert at an arena. The staff ran around the whole place frantically trying to find where you ran off to. Thankfully, your trustee manager was able to find your hiding spot, which was beside a vending machine in an empty hallway. His comforting words found a way to ease your speedy heart rate, and clear up your clogged mind. After that day, you knew you could always go to him when you were feeling down or unsure of yourself. He’s a friend you could always lean on.

“How are you so sure?” You asked, your voice so small that he almost missed the question.

“Think about it,” he set his glass to the side and folded his hands together, “this contract is only valid for six months. It’s not like you’re going to be working there forever.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “I know that; but still! I don’t want to do it at all!”

“You never know what will happen until you try though! You might end up liking it.” He nudged your elbow as he flashed a convincing smile.

“Me? Liking it?” You scoffed. “Kun, do you even know me?”

He pursed his lips and sighed. This situation was foreign to him since he always knew what to say. But now, it seemed like everything he was saying was making the situation worse. He wanted nothing more than for you to feel comfortable, but that mission is basically impossible knowing how much you oppose the AI industry. But still, Kun is a persistent man. He wasn’t going to back down just yet.

Finally, something clicked.

“Actually, your idea doesn’t sound half bad.” You cocked a curious eyebrow, surprised that he brought up something you spurted out carelessly. “Think about it: you’re still your own person. Even though you’re technically bound by a contract doesn’t mean that you can’t make a decision on your own. He did give you the choice to leave.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “So you’re saying that I should just leave the company?”

He shook his head. “No. What I’m doing is offering a deal. I want you to try to work with LSM for at least three months. If you try it, you might like it! If not, I will quit with you, and we can try to start a company on our own; which I know we both don’t want. But hey, that might be fun too.”

You thought about the proposal for a moment. It wasn’t too much of a bad idea. It was actually quite reasonable. Yeah, you aren’t looking forward to being surrounded by robots and their arrogant creators, but you guess that it’s worth a try. Just for the experience at least.

“I think we have a deal.” You held your hand out.

He took your hand in his and gave it a firm shake.

“Pleasure doing business with you, partner.”

***

You shivered upon entering the entertainment wing of LSM Inc. You were told that the lab would be a bit chilly, which is why you brought a jacket with you, but the cool air still found a way to nip at your skin through the material. You have to say, the lab was not what you expected it to be. Rather than it being some cold, plain science lab, it was made out to be much more casual. Your eyes settled on what looked like a lounge area for the employees, and you watched carefully as they conversed with one another with soft smiles on their faces. Scanning the place even further, you came across capsule areas, in which you assume where the AI robots stayed. As cool as the dome building seemed, you still couldn’t shake off the grudge you had against the company.

“Oh, you’re here!” A man holding a clipboard exclaimed. He ran over to you and Kun, flashing a bright smile. “Mr. Lee told me that we were to be expecting you both. I was hoping to greet you at the main lobby entrance, but I got caught up in another situation, so I apologize. My name is Kim Doyoung, I’ll be your guide for the day.” He politely held his hand out, and you shook it while replying with a small, “Hello.”

“We’re pleased to have you here with us Ms. Y/N. Please, follow me.” He motioned both of you to follow him. “I must say, I’m a huge fan of your music. I’m really happy that you decided to work with us for the next comeback.”

“Oh. Don’t mention it.” You shook your head while smiling slightly.

As Doyoung lead you to wherever he was leading you, he pointed out different areas to help you grow familiar with the lab. You learned that they have many recording and dance studios like regular companies do. You couldn’t help but wonder why, since they could just be programmed to sing the songs, but you didn’t bother to ask.

Finally, Doyoung stopped at a station, but his bright expression was replaced by a puzzled one. He looked around as if he were looking for someone. You, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stare at what stood before you. The tall human-like… thing, stared right back at you with a neutral expression. It gave you chills how real he seemed; like he could walk past you on the street and you wouldn’t bat an eye. Despite how anxious it made you feel, your curiosity outweighed that emotion, and you inched closer to get a better look.

Your tour guide caught you eyeing the bot, and that smile found its way back onto his face. He heard that you might be a bit opposed to working with the AI’s, so he was glad to find you expressing some sort of interest in their prized possession.

“He’s so human-” As if in a trance, you reached out a hand to touch the robot, but it suddenly stepped back just before you got to it.

“I’m sorry, but physical touch is not allowed unless permitted.” The robot announced before flashing a commercial smile.

Doyoung’s chuckled beside you. “For the safety of our bots, we have prohibited anyone from touching them.” He leaned in to add, “Too many fans at fansigns got touchy-feely.” He shook his head disapprovingly.

“Eager to get a feel of my bot already?” You heard a voice from behind you.

When you turned around, you felt as though you got whiplash. The man standing behind you looked identical to the robot standing before you. The only difference was that the robot had blonde short hair and was styled in fancy clothing whilst the man had long brown hair and didn’t seem to care much about what he had on. He had his hands in the pockets of his gray sweatpants, a sly smirk plastered on his face.

“You’re late.” Doyoung deadpanned.

“I’m not late, I was taking a nap in the Pod, and nobody cared enough to wake me up!” The mystery man shrugged.

Finally, you snapped back into reality, but you still had to verify that what you were seeing was real. When you finally accepted what was going on, you couldn’t help but laugh.

“How cute.” You snickered to yourself.

A puzzled expression masked the mystery man’s face. “What’s cute?”

“What is this? The Man and the Muppet?” Your comment had Kun nudging your arm and shooting you a warning look to which you responded with an apologetic gaze.

Not giving the mystery man any time to respond (merely because he does not have the patience), Doyoung spoke up. “This is Suh Youngho, he’s the head AI Developer of our department. He’s the creator of #S127.” Youngho put his hands behind his back and bowed as his greeting.

“I’m guessing his name is Youngho as well?” You pointed to the robot, still standing expressionless.

“He wishes, but no, we call him Johnny!” Youngho swung an arm over his identical twin of a robot, smiling brightly. “After a long and hard fight for it, he will be releasing his first solo album this year.” He wiped a fake tear from under his eye. “Johnny here is my firstborn, so this is going to be really special.”

“And you’re going to help us make it very special!” Doyoung cheered.

“Actually, speaking of that, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to give you guys a demo and you program him to sing it or something?” You asked.

Doyoung was quick to answer. “That would defeat the purpose of AI robots actually! The thing is, they’re supposed to learn to adapt to certain environments, like we do! So they learn how to sing songs and how to dance complex choreography just like we do.”

This time, Kun was the one to ask a question. “Aren’t you guys just putting more work upon yourself?”

“Yes, and no,” Youngho started, “It’s like a domino effect. The more work we give our bots means more research that needs to be done. The more research that is done, means there’s more data we get. The more data we get means a more refined bot, and then it loops.” Kun opened his mouth in an ‘ah’ shape and nodded his head after the explanation. “Hopefully we can get this bad boy to the point where we don’t have to do any more research and he can be a successful artist on his own.”

Even though this was all very interesting, you still couldn’t help but still be opposed to the thought of helping a robot making it in the entertainment industry. You caught a glimpse of the future as you fell into a daydream: AI’s getting a full sweep in wins at big music award shows, discrediting those who actually put their heart and soul into their work. Robots don’t have a heart, nor do they have a soul. Even if they do seem to “work hard,” they will never be on the same level as a human artist. It just won’t be fair, but what even is fair these days?

“So, to answer your question, we need Johnny to learn what it’s like to be a true singer-slash-songwriter. And to achieve that, he’ll be staying with you for the duration of the six months before his solo debut.” Doyoung’s words snapped you out of your daydream and you turned to him with furrowed brows.

“Oh, so this is going to be like ‘Take your robot to work day’ or something? But just for six months instead?” You questioned.

Doyoung looked up as he thought, nodding and shrugging seconds afterward. “Well, yes, but we were hoping that Johnny could get the full package. We planned for him to stay with you 24/7 so that he could really get a feel of your creative process.”

You did a double-take, eyes wide and mouth agape showcasing your shock.

“E-Excuse me? You mean to say that he will be… living with me?” You spoke low and slow, scared of the obvious answer.

You didn’t see anything about this in the contract papers; not that you read it anyway since you weren’t the one who signed them; but still! You could feel your heart race as you thought of him living in your apartment, those brown soulless eyes studying every move you made. The vision made you shudder.

“Affirmative.” Youngho nodded firmly.

Your heart wanted to burst out of your chest. “I’m sorry, but can you guys excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with my manager in private.” You said just before taking Kun’s hand and dragging him somewhere where the two scientists wouldn’t be able to hear your conversation.

“I’m living with the robot?!” You whisper yelled, careful to not have anyone nearby hear your anguish.

“In my defense, I had no idea about this.” Kun shook his head with his hands up.

You paced back and forth as you panicked. You lifted your hands, but not knowing what to do with them, you just clenched them into a fist. It seemed like your life was spiraling out of your control. Nothing is going your way, and it is driving you insane. You need to get your life back in order fast. If not, who knows what will happen?

“I swear, if he wasn’t the one paying me, I would kill Jack right now.” You grumbled.

“Hey, it’s not like Johnny is a real guy. I doubt he would try to do anything to hurt you.” Kun tried his best to reassure you, but it was not doing much to help.

“You don’t know that! We don’t know what those guys are capable of!” You pointed toward Doyoung and Youngho. “That Doyoung guy is nice, but I don’t know if I can trust him. And Youngho seems like he’s gonna be a handful.” You stared at the said man as he and Doyoung bickered, probably about him being late again.

Kun turned his head to see the two men bickering, and the only thing he could do was chuckle. “I think they should be the least of your worries.” His comment made you sigh deeply. “You’ll be fine, I promise you!” He put his hands on your arms to steady you, but you avoided his gaze as you stared down at your feet with a pout on your face. “You know I’m always on speed dial if you need me.”

You nodded your head, still avoiding his gaze.

“Hey,” his call made your eyes meet his. “If all goes wrong, we can always dump a bucket of water over ‘em.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. “Yeah, and then we’ll get sued and possibly go to jail.”

Kun smacked his lips and said, “Eh, I’m sure they’ll be able to fix the guy. A little water can’t do that much damage.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets. After a small moment of silence, he kicked your shoe gently. “So what do you say? You’re still gonna do it, or no?”

A groan erupted from your chest, and you brought your hands down your face out of frustration. You really don’t want to do this, but a deal is a deal.

“Three months. I’m giving three months.”

“That’s my girl!”

***

You found yourself pacing around your apartment in the early morning. It has been about a week since you first spoke with LSM Inc. From this day forward for the next six months (or three months you hoped), Johnny would be shadowing you at all times. You were a nervous wreck since you didn’t know what to expect from living with a robot. What if he suddenly malfunctioned and they blamed it on you? You can’t handle this type of responsibility. Or what if he malfunctioned and started acting violently toward you?

“Snap out of it!” You whisper yelled at yourself, hitting your temple with your knuckles. You always tend to scare yourself when you’re nervous. Everyone you have spoken to about this matter has told you that you had nothing to worry about, so you made it your goal to not worry. But why is it so hard?

DING!

You swore your heart jumped out of your chest when your doorbell suddenly sounded throughout your home. As much as you wanted your heart rate to calm down, it only began to race faster the closer you got to your door. When your hand touched the gold knob, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, then you finally opened the door.

Two identical men stood before you, flashing the same bright smile.

“Good morning to you!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully, to which you replied with a dazed “Morning,” before allowing them inside.

You eyed the two men as they entered your living room, confused as to why they were the only ones here. “Where is Mr. Kim?”

Youngho cocked an eyebrow before turning around to face you. “Who?”

“Your coworker. Doyoung, I believe his name is?” You answered.

“Oh!” He let out a hearty laugh. “You don’t have to call him that, it makes him sound old. And I’m older than him, so that kind of hurts my feelings.” He joked, but the only thing you could find yourself doing was nodding your head and looking away.

Sensing your discomfort, he cleared his throat before answering your question. “He’s busy back at the lab. I’m here to make sure John is all set before I leave him in your care.” You winced at his words. It only added to the overwhelming weight on your shoulders.

“Why do you ask? Did you grow fond of him already?” He slung his backpack from around his shoulder onto the floor. You peeked inside when he zipped it open, finding wires bunched inside.

“Uh, no, I wouldn’t say that.” You let out a nervous laugh. “I just find it a bit overwhelming with only you two here.”

A smirk grew on his face. “So, you’re overwhelmed by my great looks huh?” He flipped his hair and shrugged as if it was inevitable to be starstruck by him.

“I look exactly like you,” Johnny spoke for the first time since entering your home.

You had to hold back a laugh at the sudden comment, and Youngho’s reaction didn’t make it any easier.

“So? You’re inspired by me, so therefore I take the credit of our looks!” He stuck his nose up in Johnny’s face. When the scientist turned back toward you, he realized you were holding back a laugh as your pursed your lips and looked away. “What? You find this funny?”

You put your hand up and shook your head. “No, no.”

Youngho was happy to find you in a better mood than when you first met. Sure, you’re still on the shy side, but at least you’re laughing instead of frowning like the first time. He heard that you weren’t exactly on board with working with LSM, so he made it his goal to have this be an enjoyable experience for you. He hopes that one day your negative opinions about AI’s would change. They’re as special to him as music is to you.

“I need to set up Johnny’s things. Is it okay if you tell me where he’s allowed to sleep?” Youngho asked.

You tilted your head to the side, a puzzled expression finding its way on your face. “He sleeps?”

“Yeah!” Youngho nodded simply. “It’s like setting your computer on sleep mode. Machines need rest as much as we do. Johnny here is a hardworking man, he deserves to sleep.”

You supposed he was right. He might break easier if his gears were running constantly. Plus, he was made to function as a human, but you didn’t know that it was to this extent. To say the least, you were impressed at the attention to detail.

You motioned the two to your guest bedroom, and immediately Youngho got to work. Johnny stood next to you as the both of you spectated Youngho’s work, but you were shortly distracted by the robot.

You peered up at the tall machine with a curious gaze, and he turned to you with a kind smile.

“So, I’m not sure if this is an inappropriate question or not, but I’m curious.” Johnny nodded for you to go on. “Should I, like… talk to you like Siri? Or can I talk to you like a normal person?”

You were startled to hear Youngho’s loud snort in the corner of the room, but instead of him being the one to answer, Johnny did.

“You can talk to me like a normal person, don’t worry.” Johnny shook his head. “If it makes you comfortable, you can view me as a human if you’d like. I’m not that much different than you actually. We’re just wired differently.”

“Hey,” Youngho’s stern voice caught both of your attention. “Be proud of who you are, whether you are a human or robot. We’ve been through this John.”

Johnny nodded. “Right, right. My apologies.”

Youngho hated it when Johnny tried to tell others to view him as a human. Not because he believed that Johnny was trying to fool people, but because being a robot is his identity, and he should be proud of that. Sure, it’s not likely that Johnny could feel the feeling of pride, but Youngho could tell that Johnny was insecure. It worried him, but he didn’t want to tap into his database to change anything since he wants Johnny to be as authentic as possible. So for now, Youngho is keeping track of Johnny’s growth as an AI person.

Soon, Youngho was finished with setting up Johnny’s station. In the corner of the guestroom stood a white podium with a screen built in the middle of it. He let out a deep breath of satisfaction as he stepped back and dusted his hands off.

Before you could ask what it was, Youngho was already answering your unspoken question. “This is Johnny’s Communication Center. Every night he’ll have to transfer data from his system so that we’ll know what he’s been up to and see if he’s made any improvements. That’s if he’s not with me at the lab.” Suddenly, his face grew serious. “For legal reasons, I have to let you know that this station is strictly off-limits. There’s confidential information in here that belongs to LSM Inc.”

Even though you were curious, the last thing you wanted to do was get involved with the law, so you took note of his warning. Hopefully, it isn’t something regarding the invasion of privacy.

You shook your head before you could scare yourself even further. Positive thoughts. Think positive thoughts.

“Alright, on that note, I think my work here is done!” Youngho announced. “Can I talk with you in private?” He asked suddenly, pointing a finger at you.

“Me?” You had to double-check whether he was really talking to you or not. He chuckled as he nodded his head, confirming your wonders. “Oh, okay.”

You followed the man out of the room, leaving Johnny to check out the place he’ll be living in for the next few months.

After the two of you reached your living room, Youngho began to speak. “Hey, so, I really want to thank you for working with us on this project. I heard that you’re not the biggest fan of AI’s, so I was surprised to hear you signed the contract.”

You held back from rolling your eyes as the memories of your boss came up. “It’s not like I really had a choice.” You smiled softly and shook your head.

He tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

You tensed up when you realized what you just said. As much as you did not want to do this job, you made it your goal to remain as professional as possible for the sake of your reputation. After working in the entertainment industry for some years, you learned to keep your personal feelings apart from your job. If- no, when you do end up quitting the job after three months, at least LSM won’t be able to say anything negative about you.

Refraining from explaining yourself, you shook your head once more. “Nevermind what I said. Johnny will be safe in my care!”

Youngho pouted, his eyes scanning your face. He wanted you to elaborate, but he had no time to talk further. He needed to get back to the lab.

“Well, I hope so. Call me if you need anything. I need to get going.”

Nodding, you waved goodbye to him before seeing him off. Your feet ended up taking you back to your guest bedroom, where you found Johnny sitting at the end of the bed, staring at the wall in front of him. You caught his attention after you cleared your throat, and instead of staring at you with that lifeless gaze, he smiled brightly.

You mustered up the courage to walk up to him, still stopping some feet away though. Crossing your arms, you tried to think of what to say. While you thought, he examined your face, trying his best to read your expression so he to could come up with something to talk about. The silence was awkward for you, but Johnny never sensed the discomfort. He was happy to be here with you. You are the gold coin on his road to success, so he decided to cherish you.

“So… it’s quite early and I usually don’t head to the studio until the evening. Is there anything you wanted to do?” You asked.

“There isn’t anything I can think of…” he shrugged his shoulders.

Suddenly, your stomach grumbled and your hand covered it as a reflex. You were so nervous this morning that you didn’t have much of an appetite, but hunger was catching up to you now.

“I didn’t have breakfast yet.” You laughed nervously. “Are you… able to eat anything?” You felt weird asking such a question since he’s a robot after all, but who knows what he can and cannot do? Technology is so advanced these days. Besides, isn’t he made to live like a human anyway?

In all truthfulness though, Johnny isn’t allowed to eat-- sometimes. In special cases, he can nibble on a snack, but eating a full course meal was a no-go. But Johnny was aware of your discomfort of being with him, and he was determined to make you feel the opposite. As long as he doesn’t clog his gears, taking the risk should be okay.

“I know of this breakfast house Youngho likes to go to every now and then. Do you want to go there?”

Your face lit up at the suggestion. You were more excited at the thought of being around others rather than eating. Being in the house alone with Johnny was really starting to suffocate you, and you needed out immediately. Maybe some fresh air and being surrounded by humans will make you feel somewhat better.

The two of you were quick to leave the apartment after you accepted the offer. Johnny led the way to the restaurant, and on your way, he let you know that it was not far from your home. Come to find out, it was within walking distance. You wondered how you never noticed the humble breakfast house, but after thinking about it for a while, you realized that you are always on the go. Ever since you moved to your apartment, you never took the time to stop and get to know your surroundings.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny’s question snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Huh? Oh… nothing, just thinking.” Finally, you noticed that you were standing in front of the restaurant. “Let’s head inside.”

Surprisingly, Johnny was easy to talk to. Even though he had somewhat awkward responses to your questions, it was never boring or dry. You got to know about his life in the lab, and even how Youngho decided to grow his hair out because people mistook him for Johnny so many times. His story was so interesting, and it kept you on your toes, itching to hear more. It was beyond what you could ever imagine.

“So what is your goal?” You suddenly asked.

He tilted his head in curiosity. “Can you elaborate for me please?”

“You know, like what’s your goal as a singer? Or even just as a living being?”

He sat back in his seat as he pondered on the simple, yet deep question. It’s something he’s never had time to think about. Actually, it’s something he never considered thinking about. Ever since he was first powered up, he has always been working. But working towards what, is the question he began to ask himself.

“I… honestly don’t know.” He shook his head after moments of thinking.

“Really?” Your eyes grew wide at his response. “If that’s the case, then why do you expect to learn how to write music? You need to have some desire or passion to do so.”

He crossed his arm over his chest and rested his chin on his other hand. “I guess you’re right… But how do I find out what my goal is?”

You shrugged your shoulders. “What are you living for? What’s your purpose? You have to ask yourself these types of questions.”

It worried Johnny that he didn’t have a passion despite calling himself a music artist. But he knew he needed to figure it out fast because he really does want to be successful in this field. But is there anything really to work for being the person he is?

***

The next day, you were back at the lab for Johnny’s first checkup. The first night at the studio was not a success, which wasn’t surprising considering that he had nothing to write about. This was exactly what you were afraid of. No matter how busy he might be, he hasn’t gotten the real human experience, so what really can he write about? Hard drives and wires?

“Hey Babysitter!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully after spotting you and Johnny some feet away.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Babysitter?”

“Yeah, you are taking care of my kid after all.” He laughed, ruffling Johnny’s hair, to which Johnny slapped his hand away. “How was the first day?”

You sighed deeply, thinking about yesterday’s events. “It went okay, but we made no progress in the studio.”

Youngho smacked his lips. “Well, that’s alright. We still have six months ahead of us. There’s still time left.”

“That’s true.” You nodded your head. “But on the bright side, Johnny treated me to the best breakfast I had in a while! So brownie points for that.”

Your words came out too fast for Johnny to stop you. He froze, his hand slapping his mouth in shock. He is dead meat.

“He didn’t eat with you, did he?” Youngho blinked at you. Sensing the tension in the air, you nodded slowly, but kept your mouth shut. “Oh my-” Youngho stepped back as if he was about to faint.

He clenched his fist against his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. You felt like you did something wrong, but you just couldn’t figure out what. You were sure Johnny would tell you if you did.

“Johnny, just head to the back, okay?” Youngho said, his eyes still closed.

“Yes sir.” Johnny rushed away without another word.

“Did I do something wrong...?” You asked shyly.

“No you didn’t, don’t worry.” Youngho sighed. “He knows better. If he eats too much he could clog his gears. But mostly, I just hate cleaning him out, it’s so tedious!” He groaned at the thought of all the clumps of food he has to take out.

“Oh my gosh! I wouldn’t have let him if I have known!” You exclaimed.

Youngho shook his head. “It’s okay, you didn’t know. He seems to be functioning well, so he should be fine.”

You were worried at the thought of Johnny breaking while under your supervision. Imagine getting sued by a company that handles AI’s? Your life would be over! You can’t let that happen, you won’t allow it to happen.

“Is there any way for me to know if he’s okay or not? Like does he feel pain or no?” You asked. You needed to know just in case you had to rush back to the lab if anything happens. You’re not going to be the blame for anything.

“Yes, and no.” Youngho went on to explain. “He can feel you if you tap him on the shoulder, but if you punch him, it’ll still feel like a mere tap. But the only time he does feel pain is when something in his system malfunctions.” You tilted your head, still not catching on. He found your expression cute, and he couldn’t hold back a smile. “Just think about it: when you’re using your phone, it can feel your taps as you scroll. But if you drop it on the ground, you don’t hear it screaming out in pain.”

“Ah, I think I get it now!” You nodded your head fervently.

“Right! But we did program him to feel some type of pain just so we will know if something wrong is happening to the important parts.”

“That makes a lot of sense… Man, you guys really have it all laid out huh?” You couldn’t help but be impressed at the amount of thought that went into creating Johnny.

“Yeah, well, it’s nothing much.” Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets as he shrugged nonchalantly. As laid back as he was acting, nothing could hide the blush that crept onto his face. He’s a sucker for people acknowledging his work.

“Well, as much as I want to argue with you about that, I have to get to my schedule! Kun is waiting for me outside and I can’t keep him waiting. I’ll be back soon!” You waved as you began to walk away.

Youngho waved back to you as he watched you exit the lab. He sighed to himself, not knowing what he was going to do with Johnny. But knowing that it is best to get the job done now rather than later, Youngho dragged his feet to the operation room where Johnny would be waiting.

Johnny tensed up once Youngho entered the room, and he avoided eye contact in hopes he wouldn’t blow up at him. Thankfully, Youngho didn’t have the energy to yell.

“Why did you do that?” The scientist asked simply.

“She was uncomfortable and hungry, so it was the only thing I could think of.” Johnny justified his past actions, but Youngho wasn’t having any of it.

“Let’s just get this over with, and then we’ll check your data.” Youngho sighed as he started to prep for the cleanup.

“Wait, wait! I have a question.” Johnny stopped him. “Do you have a goal?”

Youngho was taken aback by the sudden question. “Yes… I think so? I guess it depends on what the goal is for.” He wasn’t very sure if he had a set goal, but he did know that he is satisfied where he is right at this moment. The only thing he is concerned about is making sure #S127 remains on the rise.

“Do you think… I’m able to have a goal?”

“You can have the goal of winning a Grammy!” Youngho suggested.

Johnny scoffed. “Well, yeah, but I’m talking about for myself. Am I able to find a goal or a passion at least for myself?”

Youngho blinked at his robot. He was at a loss for words. It seems like a simple yes or no question, but there are levels to it. The right answer to this question was up in the air somewhere, and Youngho was finding a hard time finding it. What in the world did you do to his bot?

“I’m sure you can if you put your mind to it,” Youngho answered. He grabbed his phone and began texting you, suggesting that the two of you grab coffee when you get back to the lab. He needed to talk to you to figure out the meaning behind Johnny’s words.

Some hours later, you were at a Starbucks near the lab sitting across from Youngho. You were nervous you did something bad after all, but you couldn’t get yourself to figure out what you’ve done. But thankfully, Johnny was the first to speak.

“So, Johnny asked me a question that kind of shocked me. I’m supposing you asked him the same question yesterday.” He began.

“What question are you talking about?” You asked.

“If he has a goal. He’s been thinking about it really hard.”

You felt as if a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. You thought of something way worse, even though you talked to Johnny a handful of times yesterday, and the conversations the two of you had were never bad or questionable. Your nervousness always found a way to get to you still.

“Well yeah! He needs to have a passion in order to be a real artist. And to have a passion, he needs to have a goal.” You nodded.

“Are you sure he can have a passion? He’s a robot.”

You were surprised at his response. “Aren’t you the one who created him? I thought you would know this! Writing songs isn’t just jotting down words on a piece of paper you know. It’s much more to it than that.”

Youngho sighed. You’re right, and it bothered him. It’s not you that he’s bothered by, but the fact that he really doesn’t have everything figured out. He’s so used to being a genius and having questions answered before people could even ask them, but the fact that he doesn’t have an answer prepared for something as simple as this messed with his head. How did he expect to make a successful idol group if his idols can’t even write music on their own?

“I could always just give you a song to use.” You suggested.

“No, I don’t want that,” Youngho answered quickly. “We do that every comeback. We need to actually make some improvements.”

You took a sip of your coffee as you watched Youngho try to figure out what to do. You knew Johnny writing his own song was too good to be true, but you have to admit, there is a part of you that believes in him. If he can read and understand human emotion, there are chances for him to be able to write a decent song.

“What was your purpose in making Johnny and the other guys in the group?” You asked suddenly.

Youngho frowned at the memories that came up in his mind. “I actually didn’t create Johnny and the others to be idol singers.” You furrowed your eyebrows at the bombshell. “I actually intended for them to be soldiers.”

Your jaw dropped. You would have never thought of #S127 fighting in a war. It’s a complete 180 from what they are doing right now.

“What made you change your mind?!” To say you were shocked would be an understatement.

“I didn’t change my mind.” He laughed. “The government rejected my offer, but they told me about LSM Inc. and now here I am. Lee Soo Man suggested that I use my bots to make an idol group, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But it was either I make a group, or be broke with robots that have no purpose.”

So he was in a similar situation that you’re in right now. It made you feel happy to see that he seems to enjoy his current circumstances, but still, you can’t get yourself to accept that you have to share competition with AIs who can’t even figure out how to write a song on their own. Despite that, you were growing fond of Johnny, and you wanted him to be able to find his passion. He’s the only AI you would allow to win.

“I would have never thought of Johnny being a soldier.” You laughed, shaking your head. “Considering that this is your current circumstance, you need to figure out if they’re able to create their own goals for themselves. I understand the base goal is to win awards at big music shows and hit the charts, but there needs to be a better foundation.”

Youngho couldn’t help but admire you as you gave your advice. Not only are you beautiful, but you’re thoughtful, and the more you spoke, the more it attracted him to you. Where were you when he needed you the most? The company has worked with so many different artists before you, but you’re the only one that is actually helping. He just wanted to take you into his arms and thank you repeatedly at this moment.

From here on out, Youngho was determined to find out what Johnny’s goal is. Whether it is impossible or not, he is going to make sure Johnny becomes the best songwriter there is.

***

The three months had gone by before you knew it, and in all honesty, you didn’t want to quit the job. Johnny and you had grown closer the more you worked together, and you enjoyed seeing his progress as he worked to become a better and more authentic writer. And Youngho and you also hit it off very well, becoming closer friends the more you talked. You also realized that you were catching feelings for the scientist, but you ignored it, believing that it was nothing but a simple crush. ‘It will pass overtime,’ you would tell yourself.

Kun on the other hand did nothing to remind you of the deal that you made with him since he knew you forgot about it. He enjoyed seeing you have fun made him happy, he never liked seeing you in a sour mood. He too has gotten close with Youngho as well after going out drinking with him and Doyoung several times. Just like tonight.

This time, you decided to join the guys tonight for drinks at the bar. Once you found out Kun was hanging out with the two scientists, you felt left out and invited yourself to the next outing. It wasn’t like they minded though since they love your company.

“So, I heard that you don’t really like AI’s Y/N. Can I ask you why that is?” Doyoung asked.

You poked your lip out as you thought. “Well, it’s mainly because nothing they do feels true to me. It’s all programmed. Not only that, but they’re slowly taking over our jobs. I’m not exactly comfortable with that.”

Youngho shook his head. “I get what you’re saying, but that’s not necessarily true. AI’s, at least the ones we make at LSM, is made to function like humans. So everything they do is learned after we establish a little bit of a foundation we put in their program. And there are still significantly more humans who have jobs than AI’s, but I do get your concern.”

What he said had you thinking. You supposed he was right, but you still felt so odd about it. But you figured it’s just something that you’re going to have to learn to accept as time goes on. The only AI you trust is Johnny, and that’s all that matters to you right now.

“You might be right, but it’s going to take me some time to get used to them. I like Johnny at least.” You shrugged.

“And that’s all I need to hear.” Youngho smiled widely.

You giggled at his antics. “Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom really quickly. I’ll be back. Don’t buy any more drinks without me!”

“No promises!” Kun called after you, laughing afterward.

Youngho tapped his glass, trying to decide whether the question he has is worth asking or not. But he needed to muster up the courage since it’s an important question. For him at least.

“Hey, Kun, I have a question.” Youngho started.

“Hit me.” Kun nodded.

“Do you… like Y/N?”

Kun threw his head back in laughter. “What?! Where did that come from?”

Youngho could only scratch the back of his neck and let out a small laugh. He was embarrassed, but it’s something he has been wondering about forever now.

“He’s been waiting to ask that question for ages!” Doyoung exclaimed. “He wouldn’t stop bugging me about it.”

“Well, to answer your question, no I don’t. She’s like a sister to me.” Kun shook his head simply. “You should ask her out on a date. I’m sure she’d like that.”

Youngho shook his head fervently. “I don’t know if I can do that. Not right now at least.”

“You never know until you do it.” Doyoung sing-songed. Kun couldn’t help but laugh.

“Shut up, she’s coming back!” Youngho whisper yelled.

For the rest of the night, Youngho thought about you as the four of you enjoyed more drinks. He knew he had feelings for you, but he wasn’t sure if you felt the same as he did. For now, he just wanted to take more time to read your actions before he let you know of his feelings. He needs time to muster up the courage.

The four of you decided to end the night after realizing how tipsy you have gotten. Kun realized that you had a packed schedule the next day, so they needed to get you home immediately. He already knew you were going to regret it later on.

Kun had made sure you got up to your apartment safely. You stopped him at the door, saying that you could get in the house yourself, and just go home. He at least opened the door for you before leaving, hoping that you’ll get to bed right away rather than finding things to do around the house.

When you entered your home, you began to drag your feet toward your room, that was until Johnny stopped you in the hallway.

He leaned forward and sniffed. “Were you drinking?”

You giggled. “Yeah, I was.”

“You might want to get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.” Johnny pouted at your condition. Looking at how you were, you for sure were going to experience a hand hangover in the morning.

“Yeah, yeah, I will.” You waved him off. You stepped forward to start going to your room, but you paused and stepped back. You looked up at Johnny and sucked in a sharp breath as you thought. “You look a lot like Youngho.”

Johnny blinked, confused at the sudden revelation. “I am aware of that.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Are you just saying that because you are Youngho? Are you trying to fool me?” You poked your finger into his chest.

“No…” Johnny wasn’t sure how to respond to your absurd words. He’s never been in this situation before.

“Well, Youngho, goodnight. I will see you tomorrow.” You smiled at him. Rather than leaving, you stood there, staring up at who you believed to be Youngho through your heavy eyelids. Suddenly you got on your toes and pecked his lips softly. “Rest well Youngho.”

Johnny stood in shock after you left to your room. What was he going to tell Youngho? He has never allowed this to happen before. The kiss was so unexpected that he couldn’t dodge it! He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble.

The next day, Johnny was at the lab for the daily check-in.

“How was the night at the Babysitter’s?” Youngho asked as he plugged Johnny’s chip into his computer to retrieve yesterday’s data.

“She kissed me.” Johnny found himself blurting.

“She what?!” Youngho squeaked.

“She kissed me.” He repeated.

Youngho couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head, slapping his hand on his forehead. “Huh?!”

“She kissed me—“

“I heard you the first two times!” Youngho yelled.

Youngho suddenly turned around to his computer and rushed to retrieve any video data if there were any. And there was. The camera hidden behind Johnny’s eyes wasn’t always on, but they only started recording if Johnny felt that he needed to. Youngho played the video, nervous about what he’s about to see. But all that worry washed away after seeing your drunken smile. Seeing you kiss his robot amused him more than he thought, as he couldn’t help but snort and laugh hysterically at what he just watched. It was something he never thought he would see or even hear about.

“She thought I was you,” Johnny revealed, which shut Youngho’s laughter up.

“W-Wait, really?” He was shocked.

“Yeah. She kept calling me Youngho.” Johnny nodded. “I think she likes you.”

A blush crept up Youngho’s neck, and he couldn’t hold back the grin on his face. Knowing that you had the same feelings he currently has sent him over the moon. He just wished you kissed him rather than his lookalike.

Youngho waited until the evening to talk to you so that you were free from all your schedules. The two of you spoke at the convenience store near your apartment, enjoying a canned beverage.

“So… Johnny found out what his goal is,” Youngho revealed.

You gasped, clapping your hand over your mouth. “For real? What is it?” You were slightly disappointed that you didn’t know what it was first since you’re the one that is with him most of the time, but you could care less since the whole point is that he knows what he’s working for now.

“Well, his goal is to gain more of a human understanding. He wants to be able to truly write a song. And he found a passion in… people, to simply put it.” Youngho chuckled. “He talks more and asks more questions than he has ever had before.”

“That’s great! I’m so glad, I was really rooting for him.” You cooed.

“I just want to thank you so much. He has been making so much improvement since he started working with you. You really helped us out. You helped him out.” Youngho smiled softly.

“Oh it’s no biggie. I’m glad I was of some help.” You laughed. “He’s the one who did most of the work, so the credit should go to him.”

“I’m supposing that’s why you kissed him then? Because you’re proud of him?” Youngho asked suddenly, a playful smirk on his face.

“What?” Your eyes grew wide in shock. “I kissed him?”

Youngho’s cackles filled the air. “You don’t remember? Ah, I suppose you wouldn’t since you were so drunk last night. Johnny told me you thought he was I, and you kissed him.”

Your fingertips touched your lips after the memories started coming back to you. “Oh my gosh!” You groaned, dragging your hands down your face. “This is so embarrassing!”

“Don’t be embarrassed! Actually, I’m quite flattered.” Youngho reassured you. “Just be sure to kiss me next time.”

You brought your hands down from your face so you could get a good look at his expression. You had to figure out whether he was joking or not.

And to answer your unspoken question, he cupped your cheek with his hand and placed a soft kiss on your lips.

“Please tell me this feeling is mutual.” You whispered.

Youngho chuckled, poking your nose as he sat back in his seat.

“Don’t worry. I want you to be mine as much as you want me to be yours. You have me baby.”

[otpnessmess]

For you, there’s nothing I wouldn't do

Here it is finally! The first part of the Jasonette fake dating AU I had promised. I’m working on the following parts already as I will have a couple of weeks with a lot of free time. I’m so sorry for disappearing. Enjoy!

Ao3 - Masterlist

Next

-

“You’ve officially lost your mind, Jay, I swear to God.”

When Marinette had agreed to get up early on a Sunday morning because Jason had asked her to hang out, she didn’t think she’d regret it five seconds into meeting her best friend at their favorite restaurant. And she hadn’t yet, but it was very close.

“Nette, please, I’m begging you right now. Do you want me to kneel and plead? Because I will, don’t try me.” His blue eyes had always been her weakness and the puppy face he was making at her right now almost made her agree on the spot to whatever insane plan he had come up with. The keyword being almost.

“Alright, let me just reiterate to make sure I’m understanding. Your father is hosting a gala in a month and you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?” Marinette tried to keep her face as straight and serious as possible but it was proving hard since the words she had just said sounded utterly ridiculous.

“Pretty much, yeah. So, will you? I swear I’ll pay you if I have to, I just need you to help me out with this.” He had started to look hopeful since she had yet to outright deny him his request. “You know I love you Bug, and you’re the only one I can trust with something like this.”

Damn, he was good at telling her exactly what she liked to hear, and Mari was just not strong enough to say no to him, though she did plan to at least make him sweat a bit more for it. “Oh really? And what if I asked you for, I don’t know, a new car?”

Her forced attempt at being difficult hadn’t flown under Jason’s radar as he seemed to pick up on it and smirked. “We both know you would never ask for that since you refuse to let me pay for anything every time we go out, but if you did ask for that, know that I’m ready to do whatever you wish me to do. Do you maybe want an apartment? You did mention wanting to stop paying rent… ”

Despite the teasing tone in his voice paired with the sly smirk on his face Marinette knew he was dead serious which, even if it flattered her that her friend would even think about doing such a thing for her, made her backtrack on being difficult immediately.

“No! Argh, you’re impossible. Fine, I’ll follow along to whatever your brilliant plan is, but don’t you dare buy me an apartment, you crazy knobhead.” The look she shot at him tried to be venomous but seemed to be ineffective when the brightest grin took over Jason’s face as he moved to sit by her side to squish the living daylights out of the tiny woman.

“I swear I don’t know what I did to deserve you Nette, I love you.”

That earned him a playful smack on the arm as Marinette gave in and chuckled at his antics. “I love you too, you goofball. Now, get off of me and finish your breakfast.”

The man sat across her once again looking like the cat that got the canary, Cheshire grin in place. “You’re the best."

She pretended not to notice the way her heart paused for a beat when she saw the way Jason was looking at her, with caring eyes as if she was incredibly precious. Instead, the woman hid her face behind her mug of coffee.

"W-why do you need me to do this anyway? What do you need a fake girlfriend for?”

Jason’s demeanor instantly changed, his shoulders squared up and he frowned. “The annual gala my father holds for the company’s investors and partners is always full of old men who are full of themselves-”

“Doesn’t that remind me of someone?”

“Oh shut up, I at least have a good reason for it. They’re nothing more than a bunch of old hags who like to brag 24/7, and since this gala is in their "honor” they can bring guests with them. If I have to go by another year hearing them pitch their daughters and grand-daughters to me hoping I’ll date one of them, I’ll simply kill one of them. Some of the girls over the years have been nice but for every decent one you can actually talk to, you have at least 9 others doing the most ridiculous things to try and get your attention. I assume it’s what they are asked to do but I swear… And everyone else gets out of it too. Dick is already married to Kor'i, Tim is forever married to his job and Damian is not old enough for most of them. So that leaves me, the handsome Jason Todd, to carry the family’s weight on my shoulders.“

She snorted at the theatrical sigh he let out before laying his head on the table, immediately regretting it as he looked up at her with a glint in his eyes. "That’s where you, my dear Miss Dupain-Cheng come in. If I have a girlfriend, those girls will have to effectively back off of me as well, and I won’t have to restrain myself from being incredibly rude to them.”

“As if you could actually restrain yourself from being rude.”

Whether he didn’t hear her or just decided to ignore her comment Mari didn’t know, but once the monologue had been delivered, he leaned back on his seat with his signature smirk. “I’m a genius, I know.”

It took a whole lot from Marinette not to smack her dumbass of a friend again, but even she had to admit no one deserved to have their space invaded as she knew Jason had had in some of the other events his father organized, and if he was being truthful with her, then this gala was shaping to be even worse in that regard. If she could help her friend it would be enough for her, but in doing this she would also have an opportunity to design a gown to wear and hopefully get some people interested in her designs. Maybe she didn’t regret agreeing to this that much anymore.

“You’re one hell of a crazy person, Jay. You’re lucky you’re my best friend.” She rolled her eyes and nudged his leg with hers under the table with a smile. “We’ll have to do some planning this month and you better be ready. I’m not meeting your family for the first time as your fake girlfriend without running through each and every way this could catastrophically end.”

His shoulders relaxed as he nudged her leg back, relief flooding his face seeing her so committed. “Don’t worry Bug, they will love you, and I’ll explain everything to them after this is over, but if they are in on it from the start I just know one of my brothers will screw it up. I think we can pull it off though, and you know I’m always up for a challenge.”

The already familiar confidence rush that ran through Marinette whenever Jason reassured her that everything would be fine made an appearance once more, and at that moment she completely trusted themselves to be able to make do with this crazy-ass plan. After all, Jay was stubborn and always ready to jump in head-first into the weirdest situations.

Newsflash. This time he wasn’t.

Jason had known it was risky to ask his best friend to play pretend so he could get rid of the sticky girls from the gala.

Not because he thought she would refuse, but because of his own feelings.

Truth is, he was in love with Marinette and had been ever since five months into their friendship they encountered two thugs trying to rob a teenager on their way to school. Jason had put one of them down but, before he could go for the second one, Marinette already had knocked him out.

Her breathing was just a bit labored from throwing the man over her shoulder and one of her pigtails had come off from where the robber had grabbed it, but then she turned to wink at him with a smile before going to see if the teen was alright. Red Hood could only feel the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

Knowing Marinette was potentially able to kick his ass at any given moment had made him feel all kinds of things, and he was already a goner by the time she was back by his side.

That same night, and back in his bed, Jason was mulling over the earlier events. Read: thinking about Marinette. He had never felt so flustered around the tiny woman and it had proven to be a hard task to get her out of his head even when she had left for her own house several hours ago.

One thing led to another and soon he found himself reminiscing about the past months spent in Marinette’s company. How she always seemed to brighten up any room she walked into, making him feel like he should look away but being unable to. Her caring nature taking over whenever someone in need of help was in the vicinity, the tenderness with which she treated people’s injuries, be it physical or emotional.

Jason remembered the first time he had been at the receiving end of it. It had been the time when his identity as Red Hood was also revealed to her.

In his defense, he hadn’t expected Marinette to arrive early to his flat for their movie night only to find him trying to get the cuts all over his abdomen and arms to stop bleeding. Time seemed to freeze as they stared at each other, one sitting on a barstool at the kitchen isle, the other standing at the door with a bag of snacks in her arms. Marinette, being the quick-witted and resourceful person she was, recovered astoundingly quickly from her stupor and started chastising him while tending to the cuts herself while he could only look at her in awe.

Later, when he explained where he got injured, she didn’t seem fazed by discovering his identity. If anything she seemed…smug?

“What’s with that face? I expected more of a reaction:”

Her smile only grew at that as she put on the last bandage around his arm. “I’m glad you finally told me, but I kind of…already knew? I mean, I had my suspicions. You two had roughly the same measurements as far as I could tell, you also happened to go MIA whenever there was an emergency a time too many for it to feel like a coincidence. Also the little stunt you pulled the other day talking to me in the mask? You should’ve at least tried to fake your voice or something.”  Once she was done she patted his head with a wink and left him to process everything while she prepared the popcorn.

That wink had been so cheeky it left him swooning, heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Wait. That had felt familiar.

Oh.

Oh.

Jason was brought back to the present with such force he thought someone had slapped him. Laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling at 3 am he couldn’t tiptoe around the issue anymore. He wondered how he hadn’t reached this conclusion much earlier.

He was in love with Marinette.

He was in love with his best friend.

Dear God, he was so fucked.

That had been the moment he accepted he was so utterly in love with Marinette, and even though Jason had hoped that what he thought was a very one-sided love would subside eventually, with each passing day where he got to know her better and better he only fell harder for her.

Why was he even thinking about all of this? Oh right. He had asked Mari to play pretend as his girlfriend that same afternoon.

What could possibly go wrong?

Marinette had taken it upon her to have their lie be as believable as possible, which meant she wanted them to at least plan out what they’d do if certain situations arose while they were navigating the gala. What this meant was that the following month they had spent a whole lot of time together, maybe too much for Jason’s sanity to remain as stable as it could.

Even if he was used to meeting her at least twice a week and spending their weekly movie night together, Mari practically lived in his apartment now. And he wasn’t complaining at all, but by the gods, if it wasn’t so damn distracting to have her around. She would often keep him company while asking questions about the people who would attend the gala, working on her dress for it, or simply walking around the house jokingly complaining about how Jason tasteless choice of furniture and decorations made the living room look like a yard sale.

Oh, and there was also all the teasing. There had been a consistent amount of it between them before, but now it had turned into a constant stream of cheeky comments, smirk exchanges and usually a smack or two from Mari.

All in all, Jason had lived through both the most blissful yet most frustrating month of his life and the worst of it had yet to arrive, though time did pass by way faster than he would’ve hoped for.

And just like that, the big night was upon them.

-

And that’s it! Hope you liked this little thing and look forward to the next parts! Thank you a lot for reading <3

Tag List

@vixen-uchiha @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tbehartoo @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @queenmj10 @mochegato

[willowthephotographer]

HOROSCOPE COLLECTION | CANCER

Presenting our next Horoscope Collection, CANCER.

THE MOVEMENT OF THE HOROSCOPE COLLECTION IS ABOUT USING THE MODERN MEDIUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO TELL THE STORIES OF THE ORIGINAL MYTHOLOGIES. THE CONSTELLATIONS WERE STUDIED AND VIEWED AS MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES. DIFFERENT CULTURES, COUNTRIES, AND REGIONS HAD THEIR OWN DEPICTIONS AS WELL. GETTING TO LEARN ABOUT EACH ONE HAS BEEN COMPLETELY RIVETING. WHILE EDUCATING MYSELF, I GOT TO LEARN HOW IN-DEPTH THESE ZODIACS REALLY ARE.

THE DEPICTION OF CANCER IS OF THE CRAB OR LOBSTER.

I would like to tell a tale in from greek mythology. Hera was constantly hurt by her husband, the King of the Gods on Mount Olympus, Zeus. Zeus made a child with a mortal, this child was named Hercules. Although not physically together, the child bared a reminder of the infidelity. Hercules married and had kids of his own. Hera, out of anger, cursed him into a lapse of insanity. Leading him to kill his wife and kids. The mortal king of the land punished Hercules to the “12 labors". As Hercules was succeeding in each trial, during his battle with the hydra Hera started to worry that Hercules would succeed in killing the beast. Hera sent one of her most beloved and loyal servants Cancer to distract Hercules. Cancer braved on to stop Hercules. Pinching as hard as Cancer could to Hercule’s ankle. Although distracted, Hercules was able to crush the Cancer and win against the beast. In remorse over what the little cancer warrior did, she took the crushed Cancer and placed it into the sky. Creating the constellation as a reward for the Cancer’s sacrifice.

FOR MY PHOTOGRAPHY CHOICES, I DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING ARTISTIC AND POETIC FOR THE SYMBOLISM. I WANTED TO INCORPORATE THE ASTROLOGICAL MEANINGS AND HOROSCOPE SYMBOL IN MOVEMENT. SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS ONES. THE HOROSCOPE CANCER COLOUR REPRESENTS AS SILVER AND METALLIC. AS A WATER SIGN, I WANTED TO USE THE OCEAN, RAIN, AND SKY. WE WAITED FOR THE RIGHT TIME OF DAY TO CREATE THESE PHOTOS.

CONNECTING LINKS

“The symbol of the Cancer Zodiac Sign…” https://greekmythology.com ”Of all three water signs, Cancer seems the best “ruler” of rain.” https://ohioastrology.com

The unveiling day for each horoscope will be at my Exhibition on December 27th, 2022. I’ll be saving the best of each photoshoot for the grand opening! tickets will be available closer to the date as well as location details.

IT’S SO INCREDIBLY FULFILLING TO BE DOING ANOTHER ARTIST PROJECT AGAIN! EVERY MODEL IS OF THE ACTUAL HOROSCOPE AND I’LL ALSO BE WORKING WITH AMAZING ARTISTS, MUAS, JEWELLERS, DESIGNERS, AND MORE. CHECK OUT THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA BELOW. HELP SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES.

Model and mua Samantha st jean did a wonderful job once again in this photoshoot. she is always braving challenges and shining beautifully. A big thank you to Connor Rumbold for jumping into the cold water with us to add additional effects into the water and film behind the scenes.

[africanfemalearchitects]

AFA Open- Chat Series with Tosin Oshinowo pt 1

Listen to the important advices and conversation shared in this IG Live conversation with @tosin.oshinowo about the practice, being a woman in the field to planning ahead your career.

Moderator: Today, we are chatting with Tosin Oshinowo a Nigerian architect, creative entrepreneur, public speaker and author. Find introductory background on Tosin Oshinowo here.

Moderator: Tosin, you're welcome. Thank you so much for being here, and accepting our invite at the last minute.

Tosin: It's nice to physically see you. You've created an amazing platform. Well done! It's so important to create these converging spaces, you know; and finally to realize that you're not alone.

Moderator: Yes, definitely! That is one of the main reasons I'm going to keep it going; since it's connecting more than one person. Otherwise, this would be just a blog about architects, but it's becoming a hub, and a networking platform. Tosin, please, tell us a bit about yourself.

Tosin: My name's Tosin Oshinowo, I'm from Nigeria. I registered CmDesignAtelier in 2011, but I didn't start operations until 2012. Everyone approaches business very differently: some people have a clear game-plan from the very beginning; but I didn't have one yet. I had registered a company, but I was still working for another practice. I was still finding my feet; you know, that fear - 'Are you doing the right thing?' or 'Should I really be doing this or stay where I am?'. It did take me a while to step out; and even when I did, it took me a while to accept that I wasn't going back to work. At the time I set up my company, I was going through a few life changes, as well. I was looking for something that, I felt, that rooted a background I hadn't had in Academia with, and the work life. A lot of people do have that problem where they do big designs and all of a sudden, they get to the office and have to make it straight. Something contradictory to what I was taught in that utopian-ideal of design school that doesn't exist in real life. It's a surprise when I tell people this. I actually took a sabbatical year. Because I felt I was soul-searching more than anything. Moderator: That's important! Tosin: And I had a safety net, if it didn't work out; well, at least, I know I would have tried. As you're older, you also have responsibilities. You've things you've to do with money, it's not just to be happy with your job, so I needed that security. In looking for that, I created this safety net for myself. When I knew it was going to work, I went and told my boss; you know what, I'm not going to come back! But I had to be certain for myself, that the decisions I was making, were going to pay off. Moderator: That's wise. Funny thing though, you said you started your practice in 2011 - I think I was just entering university. Tosin: Haha aw, you just made me feel old! I think it's important to let people understand with everything in life- especially, with creative design and maybe not innovative business models to-do-with technology that makes you think everything must be quick, and easy to adapt with and to. With The principles behind technology and the people who are starting it: there are so much that goes in it. There might be something that first worked or didn't that led to another path. I think it's important to realize in life that everything is about picking your iceberg. There's so much that happens underneath the water line that shouldn't be underestimated as less important. It might not appear overtime to be of value, but I promise you it makes a massive difference.

I was talking with someone over the weekend. We just got featured in Wallpaper Architecture Issue, which is a big deal! I was telling the person that the building that was featured - I did it in a weekend! And he said; the years of training and practice is what allowed you to do in a weekend. It's not the fact that you did it in the weekend. Now when I think about it like that, that's a valid point. It's a combination of experiences, exposure, practice, labor, and time that allows it to happen in the weekend. Moderator: It's also passion-fueled, and perseverance within the field to even be able to allow yourself to go through that process and to reach this level. About your beginnings, what were the struggles and challenges when you were entering the market - in-between contractors, consultancy?

"It's important to have that safety net of working for someone to understand the nuances and the businesses and the market, that you're relating in..."

Tosin: It's a very wide question. That's why you have to have so many roads before you start. I worked in a firm for four years when I came back to Nigeria, before I set up on my own. I had met people. I didn't realize at the time, that's where I formed a network of people that I work with. I work with the same structural engineer ever since, unless if the client imposes one. I met him on a project, and he was working for a structural company at the time - so it's seamless; you grow with your network. The work we were doing has changed, but we have the same base, which I think is important. We met the QS then, the services consultants, etc - you learn how to maneuver your industry when you work for someone else; especially in Africa where things aren't straight forward. A lot of things are about relationships here. It's not like the yellow pages you can open and say, I need to find this person. It's important to have that safety net of working for someone to understand the nuances and the businesses and the market, that you're relating in; and the people you'll eventually work with; because we don't do this alone.

You grow with your network.

Of course, it was challenging starting business, and as a woman, I was then exposed to things that I was not exposed to when I was working for someone else. When you work for somebody else, most of the time, by the time the project gets to your desk as a project architect; any discussion in relationships with clients have been done. You literally get the design brief, and this is your client and you start your work. When you work for yourself, and you have to do those relationships discussions with clients: it's a completely different board-game. I'm not married, so people start saying silly things here and there - and you have to learn very quickly as a woman how to maneuver that space, without creating offense; because at the end of the day - business is about relationships; and people work with people who they like. If you come across as difficult, or stiff no matter how good you are, people won't gravitate towards you. But as a woman, you have to learn very quickly, how to ensure that you're not giving them an encouraging green light to misbehave. But you don't want to create an awkward tension that makes them think you're not easy-to-relate with. I don't know if this is the same anywhere else in the world, but I can say categorically for Nigeria, that people do not seem to understand a woman in work and a woman they're trying to have a relationship with. It is not the same thing! And people in this environment, because you're friendly and unapproachable; you're giving them the green light. I'm not giving you a green-light, I'm just trying to do my job. In The Chat: It's an African-thing! Moderator: Have you faced any form of discrimination in the field, and how did you deal with it?

you have to learn very quickly as a woman how to maneuver that space, without creating offense...

Tosin: Of course, we face discrimination everyday. To be Honest, I actually have not been assigned a project because I'm a woman; and somebody's wife was not comfortable, I mean what do you do? We all have our handicaps in life. So, I make sure I push boundaries. I don't think people do this consciously. It's not an intentional prejudice. But if a client is telling you, you're a pretty girl, and my wife is not going to be comfortable. So what am I going to do with that? Scar my face so that your wife doesn't worry? Haha, It's just the reality. I know that there are certain works I will not get, but the ones that I do get, I'll make sure that I do it well, and hopefully see that as a reference point, for people who are interested in that kind of work, will ask for my service.

Moderator: It doesn't matter which field you're in, as a woman that definitely happens. There's a job I had to cancel due to the same reasons. Tosin: It makes you wonder how many other opportunities have you not been told; because it's not a pleasant conversation to have. The irony that it is a woman causing another woman not to get work, for instance. It is what it is. There's no point in crying on work you don't get. Work that you get, you kill it! Just make sure that it counts, because you also know you have this potential handicap - where you might not have the same opportunities as your male colleague; so you make the best of your situation.

"It's just the reality. I know that there are certain works I will not get because I'm a woman..."

Moderator: Keep moving! In Nigeria, how does a young female graduate architect find a tribe or community? Tosin: For example, I was an awkward person, in the sense that I went to school in the UK, and I count how many people I knew who were black in the UK, or studying architecture less alone Nigerian. When I came back to Nigeria, I was a fish out the water - I didn't know anyone; but I worked in an office; whether intentionally or unintentionally; I built a network. There are people here, when they see me in that community they were surprised I didn't go to school in Nigeria: you have to be intentional! You have to seek people out! You have to befriend people. If you're looking for a community, you have to make that effort. In my case, I met the community through initial networks of working in a local practice and then, finding my feet and meeting people; and I grew from then. Now, I don't focus on my Nigerian community alone, I'm focusing on my global community, and make an intentional effort. Look at this interview, you told me, and I made sure that this is important, that I want to do this - that I'm building the network. I'm very intentional. Anyone who wants to get ahead, needs to be intentional. You have to learn how it works elsewhere, and you learn from these relationships. Things are not always the same, and other things are.

If you're looking for a community, you have to make that effort. Anyone who wants to get ahead, needs to be intentional. You have to learn how it works elsewhere.

Moderator: Everyone who is at the beginning of their career, currently, this is what we are struggling with. We have to push ourselves, be uncomfortable, and make those connections. Also, don't think just locally. There's a way with African Female Architects or outside of Africa, as an example, I hope we are going to create or find ways to reach out and connect with each other, work together and support each other. What is your perspective on African and local Architecture- in your country, and the practice ?

We were brought into modernism. Modernism was populated across the whole world not just in Africa, yes, in many terms it took the climate into consideration : modernism in Europe look absolutely different from Modernism in Tropical, to North and South Africa; and there are certain consistencies of modernism. But if we are looking for specific identities: I think we are just beginning.

To continue reading part 2

[multipleservicelisting]

Biggest fashion trends reflect a world in crisis

Written by Fiona Sinclair Scott, CNN

To look back at the year in fashion is to look back at a year of crisis. In the first few months of 2020, as the severity and scale of the coronavirus pandemic became clear, businesses around the world faced incomparable challenges posed by the largest global public health crisis in generations. The fashion industry was not immune.

Making clothes became extremely difficult, and many of us — forced to stay at home amid job insecurity and health concerns — lost our appetite for buying them.

A recent report by consulting firm McKinsey and The Business of Fashion showed that fashion sales in China dropped significantly at the beginning of the year, while in Europe and the US they fell off a cliff edge in March. The same report predicted that fashion companies’ year-on-year profits will decline by approximately 90 percent for 2020, following a 4% rise the year before.

But the pandemic wasn’t the only crisis the industry faced. While the fashion world was already reckoning with uncomfortable truths about its impact and practices — from its role in the climate crisis and poor working conditions for garment factory workers, to its failure to create inclusive, diverse workplaces — the events of 2020 have only served to further highlight these problems.

Suddenly, fashion had to find its place in a world ill-at-ease with the ideas of fantasy, frivolity and indulgence that it has long depended on.

Dita von Teese walks the runway during a Jean Paul Gaultier show in January, shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic brought physical fashion shows to a halt around the world. Credit: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

For Shefalee Vasudev, founding editor of India’s Voice of Fashion magazine, this year has heralded “the great unmasking” of fashion. “The unseen other side of what we bring back home as a beautiful garment or product was revealed,” she wrote via email from Delhi. “Migrants walking back to their homes in villages, disowned as they were by the cities and their employers, was among the most poignant images that surfaced from India.”

Vasudev, who authored “Powder Room: The Untold Story of Indian Fashion,” pointed to “poorly paid laborers, unequal profits and (lack of) copyright credits to artisans,” as some of the most pressing issues laid bare by the pandemic in India. Meanwhile in the United States, and then countries around the world, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement put the issue of systemic racism firmly on the industry’s agenda. Brands awkwardly grappled with how to respond. Many got it wrong and were quickly called out for making token gestures.

A protester holds up a sign during a Black Lives Matter protest in front of the US Embassy in Vienna, Austria on June 5, 2020. Credit: Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images

“Plain and simple, I don’t think there is the intention behind (online gestures) to make long-lasting, sustainable change,” said Teen Vogue editor-in-chief, Lindsay Peoples Wagner, in an email to CNN in June. “Everyone can hop onto the BLM movement right now on social media, but what are you doing in your home, in your corporate office, with your connections, with the power you have?”

Months later, Wagner launched the Black in Fashion Council (with publicist Sandrine Charles) to drive better representation, advance opportunities for Black people in fashion and hold the industry accountable.

Writing from Nigeria, a country that experienced its own set of crises this year, Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, said along with the coronavirus pandemic, “civil unrest across African countries and the pandemic of racism, have been human disasters of epic proportions with countless lives lost, reminding us of the one thread that binds us all together: our humanity.”

To talk about fashion trends following a year defined by crisis may seem nugatory, but the themes that emerged offer a window into these extraordinary times.

Read on for one last look at fashion around the world in 2020.

Functionality

Face masks became the unrivaled accessory of the year. People made their own, brands produced unique designs and, almost overnight, they became the finishing touch to many outfits.

A face mask by Burberry Credit: Courtesy Burberry

Some labels went a step further by marketing new accessories — and in some cases, entire clothing lines — as having antimicrobial properties. While experts say it is difficult to assess whether antimicrobial treatments can protect wearers from Covid-19, the concept of protective fashion is itself a defining trend. We also saw high-fashion riffs on the idea, including Kenzo’s fetching beekeeper-inspired looks presented during Paris Fashion Week in September.

Comfort

Fashion platform Lyst looked at search data from over 100 million online shoppers and, in its annual report, found that Birkenstock clogs, Crocs, UGG slippers and Nike joggers were among the year’s most sought-after items of clothing.

Anna Wintour shocked the fashion when Vogue posted a photo of her wearing sweatpants to Instagram. Credit: From Vogue Magazine/Instagram

Reflecting a shift in both reality and mindset, loungewear replaced office attire, and floaty “house dresses” — comfortable enough to take you from home office to daybed — rose in popularity. The term “cottagecore,” an internet trend encapsulating the spirit of cozy, rustic living, generated huge buzz as TikTok users showed off their attempts to channel the aesthetic at home.

Pop culture, of course, helped underscore these trends. BTS’ music video for “Life Goes On” showed the boyband in matching pajamas, playing video games and staring wistfully out of windows. Oh, to be a young, rich, self-isolating idol.

From Big Hit Labels/YouTube

Statements

Statement-wear took on an entirely new meaning in 2020. From protest T-shirts in support of the Black Lives Matter movement to political merchandise in the lead up to the US election, people dressed not to impress, but to convey powerful messages.

A protestor wears a T-shirt reading “I can’t breathe” during a Black Lives Matter rally in Marseille, France. Credit: Clement Mahoude/AFP/Getty Images

According to Lyst data, searches for terms including “vote” were up 29% week-on-week in the US the month before the presidential election. And when When Michelle Obama wore her now famous “VOTE” necklace, designed by Chari Cuthbert, demand for the item skyrocketed.

Pre-election, Instagram was awash with celebrities posting selfies in hot pink power suits thanks to a campaign launched by workwear brand Argent and advocacy group Supermajority, encouraging women to exercise their voting power and further bolstering the power of pink to signal strength and female solidarity.

Whether intentional or not, Savannah Guthrie’s choice of pink suit (not by Argent) to interview President Trump during the NBC town hall did not go unnoticed.

Savannah Guthrie pictured during an NBC News town hall event in October 2020. Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Conscious

Growing demand for local, handmade, sustainable clothing isn’t a new trend. But the pandemic saw a rise in values-driven shopping, reflecting a shift in mindset among more prudent spenders, who, perhaps, also had more time to think about the brands they lent their loyalty to.

In a report issued in April, Lyst noted a 69% increase in searches for “vegan leather,” year-on-year.

In Nigeria, Akerele said that sourcing materials internationally became challenging, so designers and the wider community were incentivized to build more vertically integrated businesses. This, she said, reduced the industry’s carbon footprint: “It’s helped reduce waste in the system in a way that only sourcing locally on demand can; and empowered our community of artisans, craftsmen and local supply chains by generating income for them in the midst of inflation.”

Vasudev said that, in India, she noticed two shifts in behavior, both benefiting local artisans: “One was the overwhelming response to artisans selling directly online (aided of course by NGOs and crafts collectives). Two, a number of artisan funds and charities went up,” she said. “Indian consumers went out of their way to support the ‘karigars’ (artisans). By buying, donating, by prioritizing Made in India.”

Digital

From Shanghai to London, fashion weeks throughout the year went digital to present new collections safely. During London Fashion Week in September, Burberry streamed its show — filmed live in the woods — on Twitch, a social media platform more popular with gamers than fashionistas. Later that month in Milan, Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott swapped models for marionettes, cleverly presenting a micro-sized version of his collection in a video that embraced the absurdity of the moment.

Fashion designer stages show with puppets

Months before in May, Congolese designer Anifa Mvuemba, founder of the label Hanifa, streamed a mesmerizing 3D collection of her latest designs on invisible models. The innovative idea went viral, racking up millions of views on Instagram.

While e-commerce has been growing in popularity for years, the luxury fashion sector has, historically, been slow to embrace its digital future. The industry’s common gripes are about the loss of the physical luxury experiences like walking into a beautifully designed store, flipping through the pages of a glossy magazine or attending exclusive fashion shows.

While these attitudes were slowly changing before the pandemic, this year has drastically accelerated the shift to online. According to the aforementioned McKinsey report, we have “vaulted five years forward in consumer and business adoption of digital in a matter of months.”

Grégory Boutté, chief client and digital officer for Kering (which owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, among other brands), spoke to the Business of Fashion in December, telling the title: “Our e-commerce revenue during the first half of 2020 went from 6 percent to 13 percent of overall retail revenues year-over-year. In North America we were as high as 26 percent e-commerce — so already ahead of the 20 percent McKinsey expected for 2025.” He noted that he expects these gains to normalize, given these numbers reflect the fact that the businesses brick-and-mortar stores were closed for large parts of the year, leaving buyers with no option but to shop online.

The future

Fashion’s recovery from the pandemic is set to be slow, with experts predicting a difficult year ahead for businesses. Trends seen during a year defined by crisis will not be left at 2021’s door, and they may permanently change the shape of the industry.

Some of these changes are positive and, when it comes to questions of inclusion and sustainability, long overdue. This year may have also accelerated fashion’s compulsion to look ahead in search of a brighter future. This is, after all, an industry filled with dreamers.

Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2021 collection presented in Shanghai Credit: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Bohan Qiu, founder of Shanghai-based creative and communication agency Boh Project, said he can already see more exuberant fashion displays emerging in China as the country returns to some semblance of normalcy. “I feel like people are actually going more vibrant, more experimental, more interesting rather than going more conservative,” he said via voice message. “And you can really see on the streets or at parties or at events in China, or at shopping malls, all the brands are displaying really colorful patterns, prints and embellishments. I feel like that’s really coming back, it’s like we’re celebrating.”

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/2KcIYzP

[potterzachary]

Reiki Healing Yoga Stupendous Tips

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Reiki Level 3 Manual Pdf

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What Can Reiki Healing Help With

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[delightfully-difficult-pirate]

Assassin’s Creed: Misthaven (6/18)

Summary: For hundreds of years, the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order have waged war.  For Princess Emma of Misthaven, that war has become personal.  After a mission gone wrong, the Templar Grandmaster, placed a curse on Emma’s son that is slowly killing him.  Emma will stop at nothing to save Henry, even if it means going rogue from the Brotherhood and consorting with pirates.

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Violence, Sex, Adult Language.

AN: A special thank you to @preciouscucumber for being an ever patient and diligent beta.  She is always challenging me to “Show, not tell” actions and feelings. To @cocohook38 and @utopiozphere for the awesome artwork they have created.  I love the bits they made for this chapter, so check them out!  And to @icecubelotr44 for her encouragement every step of the way.  This chapter also wouldn’t exist without all the fantastic people in the AC fandom, and Ubisoft who has been so generous with their designs, who have figured out how a hidden blade could actually work.

AO3

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Art for Chapter 6 by @cocohook38

Art for Chapter 6 by @utopiozphere

             Emma woke with a head full of cotton, eyes that felt like they’d had sand rubbed in them, and a powerful thirst.  This was how she usually felt after she’d overindulged in alcohol, but she didn’t remember any drinking.  All she remembered was…

              All she remembered was stabbing Jenny and hiding her body in the alley behind some rubbish.  Tying her tunic in a way that hid most of the blood and requesting a room from the barkeep.  Filling the washbasin with stale water from the jug in the room and trying to wash Jenny’s blood from the fabric.

              Emma closed her eyes and fought back the tears forming in her eyes.  

              Jenny.

              She’d killed Jenny.

              Forcing herself to get up, Emma placed her feet on the floor and stood, feeling a little unsteady.  As she reached for her tunic, which was hanging over the end rail of the bed, more memories assaulted her.

             Hook, bursting through the door.

             Hook, looking up at her with a shocked look on his face after she’d pushed him back from his inspection of her body for injuries.  

             Hook, cradling her close and crooning in her ear as she cried out her sorrow.  

             Hook… and the soft touch of his lips against her skin after he’d put her to bed.  

              When Emma pulled her tunic over her head, she realized that it wasn’t the one she had been wearing before.  Not only that, it wasn’t even one of her shirts.  It fit, though, and wasn’t stained with blood, so she wore it anyways.  Hook, she surmised, must have bought it for her.

              Just as she was thinking of the implications of Hook buying her clothing, there was a light knock on the door to the room.

              “Swan, are you awake?” Hook called.  

              “I am, and yes, you may enter,” she told him.

              Emma noticed the sorry state of the door’s lock, damaged by Hook’s dramatic entrance the night before, and reminded herself to pay the barkeep for the damages.

              “My men and I took care of the Assassin’s body during the night.  We buried her in the graveyard that the locals use for visitors who die while here,” Hook said as he entered.

              “Thank you,” Emma said, truly touched by Hook’s consideration for the remains of her compatriot.  

              “Ah, you’re welcome,” he said, scratching behind his ear with his hook.

              Emma smiled, finding his nervous tic endearing. He watched her, obviously hesitant, as she approached him.  Slowly, Emma reached up and wove her fingers into his hair and pulled his face down to hers.

              The kiss began as little more than a press of lips, but Emma felt a shock move through her system as soon as the two of them touched.  Hook’s arms came around her, holding her close, and she relaxed into his embrace. She pressed her tongue against the seam of his lips and they opened for her.  Their tongues tangled, but the kiss remained relaxed, never gaining the passion that their first had on the deck of The Jolly Roger.  Even so, this kiss was so much more.  

---

              Back on The Jolly Roger, Emma spent the remainder of the day trying to distract herself from her grief by helping Tristan in the galley.  She probably was more of a nuisance truly, but Tristan was patient with her.  Together, they produced a rather good goat stew.  Hook hadn’t been kidding about Tristan ability to make delicious food when he had access to the ingredients to do so.  It was also a nice change to eat meat that hadn’t been salted first.  She would miss it when they returned to sea.

              The limited social contact did its job.  The next morning, Emma was feeling more composed and decided to seek out Hook.  She found him helping Hawkins fix the rail the loose cannon had destroyed during the storm.  Thankfully, this was the last major repair that needed to be done while in Silverbrooke and they would hopefully be on their way to Camelot soon.  

              Emma waiting off to the side and allowed herself to appreciate the sight of a shirtless Hook , muscles straining pleasantly with the weight of the wood he was holding in place.  The kiss the other night still played on her mind and she wondered at the constant pull she felt toward the arrogant pirate.  

               She had hoped that the one night they had spent together physically would have dampened her desire for him, but nearly a week later, it was only growing. Additionally, she was becoming emotionally attracted to him as well.  

             Emma felt herself blushing as she remembered how gently her onetime lover had handled her in her distraught state.  Many men she knew would immediately run from an emotional and crying woman.  Not Hook, though.  Instead, he’d held her close and soothed her until she’d passed out from exhaustion.

             When the rail was finally in place and Hook free from manual labor, Emma approached him, trying to keep her eyes of the trails of sweat making their way down his chest.  It was wrong, she decided, to be ogling Hook given what she was about to ask.

             “Will you show me where you buried Jenny?” Emma requested.

             Hook nodded, his eyes soft, “Of course.  Just give me a few minutes to get cleaned up.”

             Emma returned to her cabin and dressed in her full Assassin garb.  Her blue waistcoat was a little loose after a few weeks of eating a sailor’s diet.  No matter how skilled the cook, he could only make the normally bland food taste better, not be more nutritious.  

             The sight of her in her official outfit must have surprised Hook, because he furrowed his brows at her when she emerged from below deck.  

             “It is only proper, when paying respects to a fellow member of the Brotherhood,” Emma told Hook before he could ask.

             Hook had cleaned himself up a little as well.  His greatcoat looked as if it had been recently cleaned and he’d donned a black velvety looking vest over his shirt.  

             They walked in silence through the town and along the path that lead into the woods to the west.  The informal cemetery, no more than a disorganized scattering of graves, was located in a small glade.  Hook led her to the freshest burial.        

             Only a rough cross made of branches marked it, but there was a flat piece of wood inscribed with the name ‘Jenny’ propped against the base.  Hook’s work, she realized; she vaguely remembered screaming Jenny’s name at him when she’d broken down.

             Emma keeled down at the base of the grave, vaguely aware of Hook returning to the edge of the clearing to give her some space.              

             “Jenny, there are no words in any language that would allow me to express how sorry I am,” Emma began, throat closing up as she lost the hold she’d had on her grief.  “No excuse I could give to justify my taking of your life.  We were sisters, comrades-in-arms, and I betrayed you.”

             Emma didn’t bother fighting back her tears; she allowed them to flow freely down her face.  “I do not ask for your forgiveness.  I do not deserve it.”

             Reaching into her pocket, Emma removed a pure white feather.  Normally, she would use it to collect the blood of her official assassinations, to prove she had done the job assigned to her. Instead, she made a shallow cut across her palm and used it collect her own blood.  She laid the now red feather at the base of Jenny’s grave.  

             “I can only hope that you show me mercy when we meet again in the world after this one, even though I was unable to grant you any.”

---

             Hook immediately took note of the cut on her palm, but remained silent as he handed her his black handkerchief to stem the bleeding.  This time, she tied the knot herself, but the sudden memory of him tying it with his mouth sent a shiver down her spine.

              “There is a hot spring not far from here, just along the river.  I would like to spend some time there,” Emma informed Hook, heading toward the shore so she could follow it further into the woods like the innkeeper’s wife had told her to do.

              “Is that wise, Swan?” Hook asked as he followed her. “Far be it from me to deny you the chance to refresh yourself, but what if your associate wasn’t working alone?  There could be another Assassin in the area.”

              Emma stopped and turned, releasing the hidden blades on her forearms.  “I am not a defenseless maiden, Hook.”

              “I’m not saying you are, Swan,” Hook raised his hand and hook in front of him, “but there is no need to put yourself in danger’s path if it is unnecessary.”

              Emma narrowed her eyes, unhappy with Hook’s assessment but recognizing the truth in his words.        Still, she was unwilling to give up the chance to soak away her stress.

              “Come with me, then.  You can stand guard, if you believe me to be in any danger.”

              Hook blinked at her, clearly taken aback by her invitation.  

              Not waiting for his answer, Emma continued on her way upstream; and after a minute, Hook joined her.  They walked in silence, but there was a tension underneath it that Emma hadn’t felt before.  She’d expected her invitation to involve at least one flirtatious comment from the pirate, but instead he’d was stoic as they searched for the hot spring.  

              After a mile or so, they came upon an area where the river widened.  Off to the side, there was a part blocked off by a ring of stones, creating a small pond where the warm waters of the spring were separated from the cold of the river.

              Hook did a quick walk around the shoreline then placed himself on a large rock facing downstream, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.  Emma chuckled to herself as she began to remove her layers of clothing.  She folded her attire carefully and placed it and her gear far enough away from the spring to remain dry, but close enough she could reach them should she need to arm herself quickly.

              Emma hissed lightly as she stepped into the hot spring.  Taking her time to adjust to the heat of the water, Emma slowly crept further into the pond. The water only came to her stomach at its deepest point, so she kneeled down in order to fully submerge her upper half. She moaned when the hot water came up and over her breasts.

              From the corner of her eye, Emma saw Hook shift on his stone seat and she realized that she must have been louder than she had thought or intended to be.  Regardless, she couldn’t help vocalizing her pleasure as she shifted herself to the edge of the pond and allowed warmth of the rocks to sooth the tension in the muscles of her shoulders.

              “If you are doing that a purpose, lass, I beg that you stop.  Or I may need to find private place of my own,” Hook called to her, his legs shifting again.

              “Why go off alone when you could just as easily join me?”

              Emma’s words hung in the air between them.

              After a minute, Hook replied, “That would be unwise, love, but I thank you for the invitation.”

              Taken slightly aback, Emma rose from the pond and carefully walked across the shore until she was behind Hook.  His breath hitched when she laid a hand on his shoulders. The muscles were tense, nearly as hard as the stone he sat on.

              “Why, Captain, would that be unwise?  We have already spent one night together.  Why deny yourself another day?” She asked, pulling lightly at his shoulder to get him to turn around.

              Hook denied her physical request and continued to stare resolutely ahead of him as he spoke.

              “Because your offer is not made with pure intentions, lass.”

              “You’re right.  I have the most decidedly impure of intentions,” Emma whispered in his ear, before biting lightly at the lobe.

              Her actions caused Hook to jump from his seat, muttering a few choice words about the powers of a siren.  He turned to face her, but quickly closed his eyes when he caught sight of her nudity.

              “Really?” She asked, incredulous.

              “Play fair, love, please.” Hook removed his greatcoat and held it out to her on his hook.

              Rolling her eyes as his dramatics, Emma grabbed the coat and quickly donned it.  “Better?” She asked.

              Opening only one eye at first, Hook released a sigh of relief when he saw that she was no longer naked.  Though by the ways his eyes slowly assessed her, she wasn’t sure the coat was doing much to calm his obvious desire.

              “Love, I would give up the treasure of Atlantis its self to spend another night of passion with you,” Hook said, holding up his hand when she made to approach him.  “But not now, not today.  You are grieving, Swan, and it would not be in good form for me to take advantage.”

              Emma’s face must have darkened a little at his words, for Hook quickly tried to clarify himself.

              “Not that I could take advantage of you, for you are a woman who can take care of herself.  But, lass,” Hook paused, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, “People like us, who have experience with death and the taking of life, that sometimes, in the aftermath, we seek to reaffirm our own living status by engaging in…. lively activities.”

              Emma watched as a pink tinge appeared on Hook’s cheeks and for a moment she wondered how a man who was so obviously open with his attractions could be so shy when speaking about sex.

              “I would not be a gentleman if I allowed myself enjoy what you are offering.  It would not be fair, to either of us.” Hook gave her a small smile, obviously hoping his words had come across more clearly this time.

              Emma took a step forward, and when Hook made no move to stop her, continued until she stood directly in front of him. Placing her left hand on his cheek, she lightly rubbed the small scar that adorned it.

              “Just who are you, Hook?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

              “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he replied, his smile now more full and genuine.

              “Maybe I would.”

--

              The afternoon following their trip to the hot spring, Hawkins declared that the Jolly Roger would be ready to return to sea the next day.  Killian was beyond pleased, anxious to get underway.  He knew that the ship wouldn’t have been repaired this quickly without the hard work of his crew, so that evening, Killian gave them permission to spend the night ashore.  

               As captain, Killian remained on board, checking the Jolly Roger from stem to stern to ensure that everything was in order. Hawkins and his sons had done a good job repairing the damage his ship had taken.  Starkey had made sure that the ship had been restocked with casks of freshwater, fruits, and he even stumbled upon a group of chickens roosting in a corner of the hold.  

              He expected to be alone on the ship, with everyone one taking their last chance to enjoy the pleasures the town had to offer. He was proven wrong when he came upon Swan laid out along the bowsprit of the ship, staring at the sky.  

              Not sure if she would welcome his intrusion on her solitude, Killian stayed back.  He busied himself by climbing the rigging and confirming the conditions of each sail for himself.  Thankfully, he found nothing amiss.  Everything was in perfect order for the remainder of their trip to Camelot.

              Killian returned to deck to find Swan watching him.

              “My apologies if I disturbed your stargazing, love,” he said.

              Swan shrugged. “I’ve never been good at finding the constellations anyways.”

              “Well allow me to rectify that, then.” Killian held out his hand to her.  When Swan took it, he guided her to the quarter deck, where they would have a better view of the sky.

              Killian stepped behind her, pressing her back to his front.  Swan tensed for just a moment, but then relaxed against him.

              “The first star you want to find is Polaris. Especially when out at sea,” Killian wrapped his hand around Swan’s wrist and pointed her hand toward the sailor’s guiding star at the end of the Ursa Minor constellation.  

              “Once you’ve found Polaris, you’ve found north. Now, what constellation do you want to find?” Killian dropped his voice and whispered in Swan’s ear.

              Her voice was unsteady when she answered him, “Draco, the dragon.”

              “It’s easiest to find the great dragon’s tail,” Killian said as he turned the two of them to face east.  He guided Swan’s hand along Ursa Minor, to the cup of the constellation.  

              “It wraps around Ursa Minor, and then all you have to do is follow it to the beast’s head.”

              Swan tilted her head to follow his movement of her arm and then allowed it to rest on his shoulder.  He pressed his cheek against the top of it, enjoying the sweet smell of her hair.

              “Tell me, Captain, what is your favorite constellation?” Swan whispered.

              Wrapping his other arm around her waist, Kilian turned them again so they were facing west.  He pointed her arm at Deneb, the top most star in the constellation of Cygnus.

              “I have always been partial to swans.”

--

              Emma felt her body being turned again by Hook and found herself staring at the constellation she had taken her pseudonym from.

              “I have always been partial to swans,” he crooned in her ear and she couldn’t help the shiver that traveled down her spine in response.

              “I would have guessed Pegasus.  A noble steed to carry you wherever you wished,” Emma said, tapping her foot against the ship below them.

              Hook chuckled and Emma could feel the reverberations against her back.

              “Aye, Pegasus would serve me well.  However, there is nothing quite like the transformative beauty of a swan.”

              Emma turned and stared deep into his eyes as he spoke, finding no hint of a lie in his words.  When Hook’s head leaned in and his eyes began to close, she didn’t pullback.  Their lips met in a gentle kiss.

              The kiss escalated quickly and Hook’s arm around her waist pulled her tight against him.  Emma could feel his growing arousal through his trousers, pressing against her stomach.  As much as it pained her to do so, Emma broke the kiss before they could go any further. Instead, she laid her head on Hook’s chest and listened to his rapidly beating heart.

              Emma remained wrapped in Hook’s arms until both their heart rates returned to normal.  When she finally pulled back, she told him, “It would not be wise for us to… dally this evening.”  As much as she desired another night with Hook, she was currently at her most fertile and did not want to risk another unintended pregnancy.  She had been only remembered where she was in her cycle upon returning to the ship after her failed seduction of Hook at the hot spring and had been doubly thankful for his gentlemanly nature in turning her down.  

              Hook tilted his head to the side. “I’m not sure anything the two of us do is wise, love.”

              Emma laughed, knowing he was right.  “Yes, but tonight would be extra hazardous.  There is a no moon in the sky.” Knowing Hook was an educated man, she hoped that somewhere in his learning he had read about the moon’s symbolism in relation to women.  

              Hook looked skyward, obviously to confirm her statement that there was indeed no moon in the sky.  

              “There is, indeed, no moon.  I take it that you are currently in the middle of your womanly cycle, then?” Hook asked.

              Emma felt her cheeks heat at his bluntness and cursed herself for her embarrassment.  She was a woman grown, a mother, she reprimanded herself.  She would be able to speak candidly with a lover about her cycle.  

              “I am,” she said.

Although there were other ways for the two of them to bring each other pleasure without having sex, Emma didn’t fully trust herself to not through caution to the wind in the heat of the moment.  It was better to avoid the temptation all together, as hard as it was.

              “Then allow me the pleasure of seeing you to your quarters, Swan, where I shall bid you a good night.” Ever the gentlemen, Hook held out his right arm for her to take.

              Rolling her eyes at his formality, Emma nonetheless looped her arm through his and allowed herself to be escorted below deck and to the door of her cabin.  

              “Good night, m’lady.” Hook brought her hand up to his mouth and placed a delicate kiss upon the knuckles.

              “Good night, Captain.”

--

             Alone in her cabin, Emma flopped onto her small bed.  Burying her face into the pillow, she let out a cry of frustration and cursed herself for a fool.  She shouldn’t have kissed Hook and wound them both up.  She had wanted nothing more than to strip Hook from his layers of leather and take him there on the deck of his ship.  Instead, she was alone in her cabin, exceedingly aroused, with only herself for company.  

              Knowing she wouldn’t get any sleep keyed up as she was, Emma stripped out of her clothing and laid back along her bed. The cool air of her cabin caused her nipples to pebble.  Emma reached a hand up and rolled one between her fingers, while the other hand traveled downwards.  Fingertips just grazing over her skin, causing the muscles of her abdomen to jump. She brushed them through the blonde curls above her womanhood before slipping them into her cleft.  Her body flooded with heat and she couldn’t hold back her moan of pleasure.  

              Emma wondered if Hook had returned to his cabin to take care of himself just as she was doing.  She imagined him sitting in the chair in his cabin, legs spread wide and his cock in his hand.  She slowly massaged her clit, matching the speed her imaginary captain was using on himself.  The captain would take his time to draw out his pleasure.  Up and down his hand moved along his cock, sometimes fisting over the head.

             Her hand moved further down and she pushed two fingers against her entrance. She pumped them inside, wishing it was Hook’s cock instead.  She pressed her thumb against her clit, which caused her muscles to ripple along her fingers.

             The imaginary Captain’s hand had picked up speed and his head was thrown back in pleasure.  His cock was flushed, ready for release, just as she was.  Emma began pumping harder with the hand between her legs and her thumb circling her clit, while the other hand continued to pinch and pull on her nipples.  

             In her mind, the captain reached completion and his cock shot his seed upwards, where is splattered onto his stomach.  

             The image brought her to the edge, so she curled her fingers within, aiming for her favorite spot. Finding it, she moaned long and loud as she crested. Her breath came in gasps as she rode the wave of her orgasm, gently teasing her clit to extend the ride.

              Sated, Emma was too relaxed to bother to dress in her sleeping gown.  She simply pulled a blanket over her nude form and fell asleep.

             The Jolly Roger left Silverbrooke at dawn six days after arriving.  Killian kept the ship moving due south at the fastest speed she could manage to make up time to offset the delay caused by the need for repairs.  The gods were apparently on his side; they clear skies and good winds for the entire journey so they managed the normally weeklong journey in only five days.  

              Swan had taken the news that the capital city of the kingdom of Camelot, also named Camelot, was not located on the coast, as she had been led to believe with aplomb.  Loath as he as to leave The  Jolly Roger, the river that connected the port town of Hedge’s Run to Camelot was too shallow for her to manage, so Killian booked passage aboard one of the river barges for himself, Swan, and fifteen members of his crew. He had intended to leave Starkey in charge of The Jolly Roger while he was away, but his stalwart quartermaster had insisted on coming along to Camelot, so Theo was left as acting Captain instead.

              The journey upriver would take half-a-day and once they were underway, Killian found himself quite enjoying the trip. Camelot was a beautiful country and the scenery along the river was a nice change from the endless miles of ocean.

              Swan had staked out a spot among the goods being transported, away from everyone else, and had so far spent the entire journey doing maintenance on an impressive collection of weapons.

             Seeing her wrist blades removed, Killian approached her and asked, “Lass, could I get a look at your wrist blades?” He’d always been intrigued by the Assassin’s trademark weapon but had never had a chance to handle any himself.

               Swan nodded, handing one of them over. “Have a care not to stab yourself,” she told him.

              Killian took a seat on a bundle of wool and examined the weapon.   The blade was secure in a metal sheath and the assembly was fitted into the underside of a leather vambrace.  Swan’s vambraces were simply decorated.  A metal rendering of the Brotherhood’s symbol was inlaid in the leather.  In its center was a small five-petal flower, which seemed familiar, but Killian was unable to place.  The same flower was etched into the leather in various other places as well.

              Feeling along the sheath of the blades, Killian searched for the trigger that would allow the release of the blades.  Unable to find anything, he frowned.

              Hearing laughter from beside him, Killian turned to face Swan, and found her looking at him with an amused expression on her face.

              “Here,” she said, taking one of the weapons from him and holding it up to the sun so he could see inside.  “There is a small pressure switch on the inside of the brace. We press it by flexing a muscle in our arms in a specific way.”

              Swan grabbed his hand and guided his finger along the inside of the brace, until he felt a small bump in the leather. Killian pressed down and with a click, the blade ejected.

              “Older models were triggered by a ring worn on the pinky finger, but they also required the removal of the wearer’s ring finger,” Swan told him.

              “That’s some serious dedication,” Killian replied.

              Swan hummed, “It also made Assassins easy to identify. Thankfully, the design was improved upon around 200 years ago.  No more dismemberment needed.”        

              “It would be a travesty to destroy such lovely hands as yours,” Killian said with a wink.

              Swan rolled her eyes at his flirtatious remark and went back to sharpening a dagger with a whetstone.

              Killian continued to his study of the now revealed blade.  It was longer than he had imagined.  He pressed on the tip of it with his hook and watched in wonder as the top part of the blade receded into a portion below it.  The blade was three separate pieces, he realized, and each piece tucked into the interior of other.  Much like those nesting dolls he’d once seen in a market in Arendelle, imported from some kingdom far across the sea.    

              “Would you like to try it out?” The question caught Killian off guard and he looked at Swan in shock.

              “Here,” She said, reaching for his arm and rolling up the sleeve of his shirt.  He’d forgone his coat in deference to the heat of the day.

              Killian’s heart skipped a beat as Swan’s fingers skimmed across the underside of his wrist as she slipped the vambrace onto his forearm.

              “This won’t be the best fit, since these were made especially for me.  But it will give you a general idea about how they feel.” Swan pulled on one of the straps, securing the weapon to his arm.

              “Now, flex your wrist back.  That should release the blade.  Just make sure your fingers are out of the way or you may lose one.”

              Killian laughed and followed her instructions. With a flick of his wrist, the blade ejected.  It extended only an inch or so past the tip of his middle finger, but Killian remembered it looking longer on Swan’s smaller hands.

              “These are amazing,” Killian muttered.  

              Swan snorted. “They are pain to learn to use properly.  I was lucky I had magic, so I could heal the numerous cuts I gave myself.”

              “I stabbed myself more times than I can count when I first started wearing my hook,” Killian shared.  He held his wrist out to Swan, silently asking her to undo the buckles.  

              She did and then gently pulled the leather from his arm.  As she did so, her nails scratched along his arm, and that caused a shiver to travel down his body.

“Now, tell me lass, how do you plan to subdue this Rumpelstiltskin and keep him from destroying my ship on the way back to Misthaven?” Killian asked, taking a seat on the deck of the barge and stretching out next to Swan.

              If she was thrown off by his sudden change of topic, she didn’t show it.  She simply extended her right leg and gently kicked a leather satchel she had brought on board with her.  

              “I have a set of manacles that will render Rumpelstiltskin powerless.  As long as he wears them, he should pose no threat to your ship, or any of its crew.”

              “May I?” Killian asked, gesturing toward the satchel.

              Swan hesitated at first, but nodded her permission after a few moments of apparent consideration.  

              Killian pulled the satchel towards him and heard the familiar ‘clink’ of metal chains.  After removing them from the bag and the layers of cloth they were wrapped in, he studied the workmanship.  Though he was no blacksmith, he could tell they were well made.  There were small runes carved on each link and cuff, which he assumed gave them their ability to nullify a sorcerer’s magic.

              Out of the corner of his eye, Killian noticed Swan shift.  She looked uncomfortable and was scratching at the inside of her wrist.

              “Do they bother you?  Lass, you should have said!” Killian exclaimed, hastily re-wrapping and stowing the manacles back into the satchel.

              Swan shook her head, but Killian could see that she was obviously more comfortable with the chains packed away.

              “Do they work on all magic users?” Killian asked.

              “They are only supposed to work on those who practice dark magic,” Swan replied curtly.

              Killian nodded, letting the topic drop.  They lapsed into a comfortable silence as Swan continued cleaning her weapons.

              “Have you ever been to Camelot?” she asked after sometime.

              “Only once, just after I left the Templars,” Killian admitted.  A high-ranking member of the Order had been residing in the capital city when Killian had been enacting his revenge for the death of Liam.  “It’s a nice city, as cities go.  Right on the edge of a lake.  Smells overwhelmingly like fish when the weather gets too hot though.”

              Swan nodded, a contemplative look on her face. “And the castle?”  

              “Built on a peninsula with only a few connections to the city, from what I saw.”

              “We will need to scout the area when we arrive. There is a local Brotherhood base in the city, but I won’t be able to press for certain details without giving away too much information,” Swan admitted, fiddling with a throwing knife.

              Killian grinned. “I may have the perfect solution.”

Chapter 7

[naturecoaster]

Improving Lives with The Arc of the Nature Coast

In 1973, a small group of Hernando County residents sought a better way to care for the Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled citizens of the area. Many of these families had children or relatives who had been labelled “retarded” and were living in dark institutions away from their loved ones. These families created a local chapter of The Arc, a national organization that advocates for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to receive the same basic legal, civil, and human rights as other citizens. “Most of our first clients were previously kept in institutions, given basic medical care and a roof over their heads, but little more,” Mark W. Barry, Executive Director, tells me on a recent tour of their Neff Lake Campus. Mark graduated from Saint Leo University and worked for The Arc of Pasco County for 18 years before coming to The Arc Nature Coast. Now the two organizations are merging to better serve the population. “I went to an institution in 1980 and the population was on feeding tubes in stainless steel beds. I was convicted,” he shared with me. “There has been a silent civil rights movement for this population.”

Institutional life was pretty much all that was available for Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled citizens in early Florida. Image from of The Florida Farm Colony courtesy of Florida Memory. The Florida Farm Colony began in 1915 with the establishment of a legislative commission to study the needs of persons who were "feeble-minded" and epileptic. This resulted in November 1921 with the opening of the Florida Farm Colony for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic in Gainesville, Florida on a 3000-acre tract. This was the first state-funded program for residents with developmental challenges. It began with three buildings and 240 residents. What is Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled We are walking through a very old building that was once a chicken coop. Inside this 501c(3) nonprofit organization, clients are enjoying painting, drawing, making puzzles, reading the news, and learning how to be safe around lightning.

Nicole Tyrell teaches The Arc Nature Coast clients important life skills. While their outer features may not be the ones we admire in magazines, their joyful spirits create an energy of happiness throughout the renovated class, rest, and resource rooms. Caring for Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled people is quite different from mental health care, but the two are commonly confused. (A strong NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) chapter in Hernando County works to provide help to those with psychiatric disorders.) “Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled people tend to be steady and stable,” Mark explains, “They have intellectual instead of psychiatric challenges.”

Mark Graves, an expert equestrian and artists, works at Publix. Today, he is painting flowers at The Arc of the Nature Coast Neff Lake Campus. The Arc’s Neff Lake Campus is Beautiful... and Aged The Neff Lake campus of The Arc Nature Coast is approximately 30-acres of heavily wooded, rolling countryside. It is a beautiful, peaceful place with paths, a playground, and plenty of history. “The owner of the property, a chicken farm from the 1950s, gave the entirety to The Arc of the Nature Coast nearly 50 years ago for the purpose of providing a stable location for local citizens with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to come for day care,” Nancy Stubbs, Development Director of the organization explains. “We want to provide a quality of life for our clients that allows them to contribute to society and feel valued, moving toward independence, as well as take care of their physical needs.”

The Arc of the Nature Coast's current Learning & Enrichment Center. Nancy continues, “These buildings were renovated by prison laborers in the 1970s.” It is obvious that the former chicken coop and farm buildings are reaching the end of their useful life, and she explains that there is a fundraising campaign underway to redesign this amazing piece of property to meet the area’s growing need for The Arc’s services. A dedicated team works tirelessly to improve life for their clients, which include over 200 daycare and full-time residents in more than 12 locations throughout Pasco and Hernando Counties. It is headed up by Mark, who is one of only two Executive Directors of the organization since its inception and has been with The Arc for 39 years.

Mark Barry, Executive Director, and Nancy Stubbs, Development Director at The Arc of the Nature Coast's Neff Lake Campus. Nancy has a brother, Gary, who is a client of the program. “Gary is the nicest, happiest person I know,” Nancy shares with me, “He enriches my life, as do all of our clients.” Modern Buildings Ease Client Care In 2014, new group residential homes were added to the Neff Lake Campus. These 100% accessible buildings provide a much-improved environment for The Arc’s residential clients. A portico is part of the design, providing shelter for wheelchairs exiting vehicles during rainstorms. There are no steps. The wide-open floor plan provides a communal living, dining and kitchen area where caregivers can interact with residents and counters are set at wheelchair height, allowing residents to help in the kitchen.

Modern residential homes make care management better for residents and their caregivers. Each modern residential home has six individual bedrooms, a laundry room, a nursing/supervisor station and a guest room (in case someone needs to stay at the last-minute), besides modern restrooms with roll-in showers and many accessibility features that ease the strain of care.

Nikki Kostjukoff is a Home Manager for The Arc. She is seen here talking with Nancy in one of the group residential homes. “These features may not look like a big deal to most people, but when a resident needs help with bathing and toileting, these features make their lives better and their caregiver’s job much more manageable,” Mark explains, showing me the features of these custom designed homes by Palmwood Builders. Our Roots are Strong, and our Future is Bright.. “We are seeking funds to put five more of these homes on our campus, as well as a new Life Enrichment Center,” Mark shares with me. There is a beautiful mural on the side of the current building, but the building itself is showing its age.

The Giving Tree is part of The Arc's current Capital Campaign. The Arc Nature Coast started a Capital Campaign to build an Enrichment and Training Center to replace the old farm buildings and renovated chicken coop. There is a long-term goal to renovate the entire property, which can be found here. Serving all Levels of Need - for Life At The Arc, each of their clients is served for life. “We take clients from age 21, and we will continue to care for them throughout their entire life. One of our challenges is when a client outlives his or her family. Disabilities run in families of all income brackets and socio-economic groups,” Nancy explains.

Some clients have been with The Arc for 40+ years. Each client has an individual plan which is evaluated and revised regularly. The need is great. Some clients have been with The Arc for 40+ years. Each client has an individual plan which is evaluated and revised regularly. The need is great. “Florida has a huge backlog of Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled citizens in need of care. There was 24,000 on the backlist last time I looked,” Nancy continues. “Funding is our greatest challenge,” Mark agrees, “whether from the legislature, private donors, or grants.” Life Enrichment for Arc Clients looks like FUN

In August of 2019, they were treated to a “Gone with the Wind” Prom 2019 and it was wonderful. As you may guess, most of the clients at The Arc Nature Coast did not attend a Senior Prom.  In July, they were treated to “Gone with the Wind” Prom 2019 and it was wonderful! Cosmetology students from Bene’s Career Academy came out and gave the girls hairstyle up-dos and makeup, as well as manicures.

Cosmetology students from Bene’s Career Academy came out and gave the girls' hairstyle up-dos and makeup, as well as manicures. Limousine transportation was provided by Spring Hill Limo and the prom guests were dressed up with their dancing shoes on. PJ the DJ Services spun the tunes and the Spring Hill Enrichment Center was turned into an event venue for all.

Limousine transportation was provided by Spring Hill Limo and the prom guests were dressed up with their dancing shoes on. It took a village, but the memories made for these Nature Coasters makes it all worthwhile. The Arc Nature Coast hosts five dances per year. They are open to the public and held at the Education Center in Spring Hill.   The cost is $5.00 per person. All dances are from 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM. Three are left in the 2019 schedule, including Summer Sizzler Dance August 23, Halloween Costume Dance October 25, and the Christmas Dance-with Santa December 20. The Arc Clients Love to Give Back The goal of The Arc is to help their clients achieve independence through comprehensive services, including personal and social skills development. They are also supported in their household management, budgeting, and community interaction skills.   On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Arc clients go out on community outings and volunteer. In fact, Arc clients have volunteered over 2,500 hours in the community.

Those clients who are able like to work. Publix is one of the local employers who utilizes The Arc clients. Those who are able, like to work. Small groups of 5-10 workers go out to six different locations on a daily basis. We enjoy an excellent working relationship with local business in our area (including Publix, Wal-Mart, Accuform, Micro-Matic, Alumi-Guard, Carrabba's and more) while their clients enjoy their jobs. You can Help Financially, there is a huge need. The annual operating budget is $3.3 million. Then there’s the Capital Campaign. The Life Skills Center is really needed, as the 1950s buildings are pretty worn out.

I learned a lot during my tour of The Arc Nature Coast and even received a beautifully colored card from one of their clients. Call and take a tour. Meet the clients, teachers, nurses and staff that make this place so very special. Maybe attend a dance. You are sure to be glad you did. When you see funding bills for these types of organizations, take a minute to contact your legislators and tell them that you support these services and hope they will. How else are we going to take care of the need? If you want to donate today, click here. And make sure you look any intellectually or developmentally disabled person in the eye and give them a smile next time you see them in public. Take a minute to say Hi and enjoy their unencumbered friendliness. We all have value, lots of value, so take the time to see it in yourself and others. Image and text from FloridaMemory.com, an online reference tool for the Florida State Archives. Read the full article

[dixie78]

Pixar’s Sexism Under John Lasseter Ruined My Dream Job (Guest Column) – Variety

After years of exploiting his position of power at Pixar and Disney, pressure from the Me Too movement just recently ousted John Lasseter from his post as primary innovative officer. However Pixar has yet to attend to how John's sexist attitudes permeated its culture for decades, giving males license to mistreat females and sideline their careers.I was a graphic designer at Pixar during the 2nd half of my 20s. I understand people are stating that the environment there wasn't "that bad." I'm here to tell you that it was, and more than likely still is.At Pixar, my female-ness was an indisputable impediment to my worth, professional movement, and complacency within the company. The tension of working amidst such a blatantly sexist atmosphere took its toll, and was a major consider forcing me out of the industry.When I started at Pixar as an intern, I believed I 'd landed my dream task. My excitement was rapidly tempered by a flood of cautions about Lasseter's touchy-feely, boundary-crossing tendencies with female employees. It was devastating to learn, right from the start, that women were open targets for disrespect and harassment---- even at a world-renowned workplace in the most liberal-leaning city in the country. I was similarly informed to stay away from a particularly chauvinistic male lead in my department. Similar to John, this man's female targets had been reporting his vulgar, less than professional habits for years, but his position and behavior stayed much the same.I had my first uneasy encounter with this department head in a business cooking area, just two weeks into my internship. He cornered me with sexual remarks while openly leering at my body. Over the next five years, I white-knuckled my method through many unwanted, objectifying interactions with him, with Lasseter, and with other men; was physically groped by another male colleague; and was sidelined from jobs by the unofficial young boys'club casting system.Just after beginning on"Cars 2,"I was informed by a superior that I would be unwelcome from all our weekly art department conferences because Lasseter"has a tough time controlling himself" around young ladies. I was squashed to have my involvement in the filmmaking process---- and consequently my profession trajectory---- warded off simply because I was female. It was clear that the organization was working hard to protect him, at the expenditure of females like me.But Lasseter didn't need an intimate setting to make female workers unpleasant. He would provide me, and many other females, lecherous up-and-down looks( or undesirable hugs and touches)almost

each time we crossed his path on campus. These thoughtless encounters made it clear that we were sex objects to him. The whole Pixar labor force saw the sleazy spin that John brought to Pixar's Halloween celebration. If he found a lady appealing when she got on phase, he 'd ask her to spin around while he made suggestive comments, turning the occasion into yet another raunchy spectacle.Lasseter's open sexism set the tone from the top, pushing others to act like frat boys in simply about any campus setting. I'll never forget the day a director compared his most current film to "a big-titted blond who was challenging to pin down"in front of the entire

company, a joke that got gasps of disapproval.I eventually found much-needed assistance and unity with my fellow female co-workers. I realized that others had actually also been inappropriately touched or demeaned by men in the business. We knew what it was like to be regularly discussed in meetings or passed over for assignments, while men in our departments were frequently provided more than they could deal with. We joked about the clammy and unpleasant interactions we had with our socially awkward,"manolescent"peers in Hawaiian t-shirts and graphic tees.We each formed our own strategies for dealing with a system developed to safeguard male leads at all costs; males who typically treated us like outsiders or things. Determined to remain part of among the world's most visionary companies, much of us kept quiet about these discouraging experiences, because we understood that the cost for speaking out was high. We 'd experienced the fallout for females who questioned male leads---- who were branded "challenging, "had a difficult time getting cast on subsequent tasks, and were even laid off or demoted.Management groups throughout the studio were popular for cleaning up the messes of powerful male superiors, despite their bad habits or difficult management designs. The business's couple of female leads lacked backing and basic respect from the institution and the masses. Female leads were typically caught in no-win situations, forced to either reduce their abilities---- in order to make men feel more comfortable---- or take charge and running the risk of being labeled "tough "or" unlikable. "In 2010, Brenda Chapman was fired as director of "Brave"and her movie was given to a guy, a move that some employees perceived as evidence of the studio's deeply deep-rooted gender predisposition. This double-standard reality was later on echoed in my own experience with a number of articulate, outstanding woman leads whom the Pixar whisper network damned as "bitches."A female lead in my department as soon as begged her male employers to support her with a team to finish a challenging production job. Her male superiors repeatedly overlooked her demands, until the tension of the task led her into a state of mental and physical breakdown. When she entered into sabbatical to recuperate, her male replacement was offered a group of half a dozen artists to help him finish the very same task.When I received a perplexing performance evaluation after completing my 4th production, it felt I 'd never ever be similarly recognized

as an important possession by the business. The prolonged unfavorable column listed things like,"styles too numerous options; seems like she's attempting too hard; asks a lot of concerns."When I shared the file with my honest male mentor, who openly acknowledged the culture of sexism at Pixar, he said,"If you were a male, every one of those negatives would remain in the positive column."Physically and psychologically charred out after years of bumping up versus the glass ceiling, I left Pixar at age 30, wanting to discover a work environment where I might genuinely thrive.Lasseter set the bar shamefully low for the overall treatment of ladies in his empire, which likewise signals uncomfortable themes in the movies he's directed, produced, and supervised throughout the years. These jobs, which reach countless kids and grownups worldwide, have consistently cannot provide ladies equal voice on screen and behind the scenes.Disney and Pixar must acknowledge that females and underrepresented minorities are simply as capable, skilled, complex, and dimensional as the white fraternity of guys who have monopolized animation so far. Female narratives deserve first-rate storytellers, and women deserve to be dealt with as reputable equates to in any creative community.

[randomisemily]

No one said it was going to be easy, but no one said it was going to be this hard either.

When I was sixteen, I wanted to take classes to become a caregiver for people with all kinds of disabilities. I always scored well at the intro class, all my friends were doing it and it generally interested me. Throughout the next school year, I faced a few challenges, but the biggest came around May, when I started my five weeks internship at a local group home for people with physical disabilities.  It did not go well. At the time, I felt like it was my mentor’s fault. So I did the drastical thing and changed schools, tried the same program there. This time, the program was even more challenging. And on top of that - most of my classmates were either immature or hostile. In April, I did my internship. And failed yet again. For similar reasons. For the rest of the year, I had given up. Failed most of my classes simply because I knew by failing my internship, I had failed my year so why try and make “the best of it” anymore?

I felt so lost and it felt like I had waisted two years. I had realized that I wasn’t a social person, I was and still am introverted. And I wasn’t happy about that at all. Who doesn’t like to socialize? But I accepted my faith. I had to. I had to finish high school. So I researched what I wanted to do instead. And ended up at a new school, yet again, but in a entirely different program: graphic design.

During those two last years of high school, I also faced some major challenges. Math, for one thing. I had already struggled with it before, so I knew it was a weakness but it felt like math was a lot harder in this new program than it has ever been before. Nevertheless, I liked all the other classes, made some friends and generally had a good time. The last few months were extremely busy, but even when I kept on failing math, I did prove myself. I was a good graphic designer and graduaded proudly.

The world of graphic designers is a lot different from the world of caregivers. Graphic designers are not the biggest socializers in general unless we do it online, and we’re all both headstrong on what we think is ‘right’ or ‘the good way’. And we’re all creative. It took me those two years to realize that I was finally in the right place.

So, around that same time, alll my friends were getting their drivers permits, some of them already had their license. I wasn’t ready. I seemed dissinterested in their journeys and several stories of learning how to drive. But in reality, I was just scared. Traffic scared me. And the act of learning how to drive, did too. But right after I graduated high school, I also met my boyfriend. He was about to finish college (he’s not that much older than me, remember that it took me two years longer to finish high school). And he had a car and basically drove me around everywhere. In the beginning, it’s only kind of natural. He picked me up to go on dates, just like any gentlemen would. But after a year, I decided to no longer procrastinate and face my fears. I took my theory test and passed. But by that time, I had also finished my first year of college.

So circling back to school. After high school, I decided to try and go to college. The thing is: a high school diploma in graphic design doesn’t get you anywhere. Not really. Our teachers encouraged to continue our graphic design education in college. Many of us did and so did I. At least, I started a Communications program.

I liked it and made new friends. But it was harder than expected. At the end of the year, I had failed several classes and I spent my summer studying to retake those exams. Looking back, I still feel like it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was confident. I liked the program and knew I could do it. It might take me a little more time, but I figured I had time.

That’s also how I felt about driving. I was busy with school. And besides, I didn’t need to drive when I was still in school. A perfect excuse to procrastinate as long as possible. Facing my fears? Ha ha. Nah, I didn’t need to.

Time passed by and I was used to both having my boyfriend driving me everywhere and having no time in the summer. I continued to fail classes in the summer. Though most of the classes weren’t ‘impossible’ to pass, one class did slowly seem to be: French. I hated to language and the prof. I often avoided going to the class, though that was an awful idea (you don’t say, right?). The prof was very big on attendance.

The Bachelor program is actually supposed to take three years. Many students fail graduate in that amount of time and obviously, I didn’t either. I was upset but I wasn’t suprised. However, after failing to graduate after year four, I started to lose all hope and self-esteem. The confidence I had gained after graduating high school, I gradually lost during that fourth year.

I’ve never been one to compare myself to others but at that time, I was 23 going on 24 and it started to hit me that I didn’t have a college degree yet, I even didn’t have a license yet. While some of my friends were getting engaged. And some acquintences were having babies. You know those Facebook posts, right? Every new baby photo, my heart would sink.

Eventhough I kept failing French, I was inspired by my thesis. I worked on it for months, sometimes until 2 AM. And as a graphic designer, I made sure that even the layout of the thesis was flawless.

At the end of May that year, it was time to defend the thesis. A presentation followed by a Q&A with two profs. I thought it was going to be a breeze. It was not. Why? I was wrongfully accused of plagiarism by my profs. Right when they uttered the words that would possibly destroy everything, I felt tears on my cheeks.

During that same meeting, I was able to convince my profs that I wrote it all. The ironic thing was that, one of the profs mentioned he couldn’t believe I had written this one chapter of the thesis because it was “too good”. As if I wasn’t trying to get my Bachelor’s degree, right? That particular chapter was the only chapter I had written all by myself, I hadn’t even used quotes.

Even though I received a good grade, I’ll never forget that day. And it’s really easy to think: why me?

But I was still failing French, which lead to having to take another year of college classes, including an four month long internship. But before the new year started, I wanted to take another shot at trying to get my license. My learner’s permit was almost expiring and that would come with some serious complications.

But after a total of three failed attempts at the exam, I sort of just gave up. I’ve had it. Let that damn permit expire, I thought.

And so I moved on to my, hopefully, last year at college. I actually went to my French classes this time. Paid attention. Did all the work and more. I had a tutor. But I quickly realized I was way too far behind. I knew it. My parents knew it. My tutor knew it and obviously my prof knew it as well. But I kept my head up and went to the exam with all the confidence I could gather.

I obviously knew it was my own fault, letting it get this bad. But I also felt like I had done a lot of improving, ready to try and achieve the impossible.

That January, the results were in. You can guess it. I failed. Badly.

It was a really stupid idea to go on a trip that weekend, but that’s what my boyfriend and I wanted to do. After that trip and many heartburns, I came back home trying to tell my friends and family I was going to drop out of college. I was done. I wanted to earn money. I wanted to get my driver’s license, yet again. But most of all, I wanted to go back in time.

My parents and siblings encouraged me to go through with it. I was almost there and all I could do is try. I knew they were right but I had also lost all confidence. This was the same feeling like when I failed my caregiver’s program back in high school. But this time it was twice as strong because I was ready to move on, do adult things. Live an adult life.

After a few long days, I decided to go to the internship I had gotten earlier that year. The internship turned out the be a great experience, unlike my other internships.

Four months flew by and I gradually realized I was worthy of being in this college program. But French, what to do with French? During my internship I went to French class and tried to do everything right, yet again. My life during those months was mostly about my internship and studying French. But no one was complaining, not even my boyfriend. He knew I was doing good.

In September, I finally graduaded college. I didn’t thank God, I didn’t thank my profs. I thanked my family. And I thanked myself. College is where I learned what te word “ perseverance” really entails.

So I graduated college. But I still didn’t have a license. I pocrastinated yet again. Luckily, this time, it was only after a month that I had enough. I took, may I add, very costly, driving lessons. And I also looked for a job.

Which brings us to today. I had recently signed my first labor contract and I’m starting at the end of the month. And I finally feel like I am ready to take my driving exam for the fourth time. So I did today. And I failed.

So here we are. After everything. I’m 25 and I finally have a college degree. And a job. But I still can’t drive a car to my job. Nope. So I keep thinking:

I knew becoming an adult was going to be hard. No one said it was going to be easy. But did anyone warn me about how hard it was going to be? And if they did, why didn’t I listen?

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Nick Fortosis of Geo 101 Design, a brand that sells cork mapsSome stats:Product: Cork MapsRevenue/mo: $2,000Started: October 2017Location: Zeeland MichiganFounders: 1Employees: 0Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?My name is Nick Fortosis and I am the founder of GEO 101 Design, a company that specializes in creating one of a kind cork maps with modern minimalist aesthetics. Our goal is to turn your love of travel into your own personalized home décor.Founded in late 2017, I run the business by myself and manufacture everything in my garage workshop in West Michigan. We have been steadily growing and are currently doing roughly $2000 a month in sales through our website and our Etsy shop.imageWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I am an engineer by day, but ever since I graduated college, I found myself looking for something to do in the evenings that didn’t involve sitting on the couch watching television or playing video games. I started exploring woodworking and soon found a way to combine it with my electronics background through CNC machining.I purchased a CNC router kit and put it together in my basement. After I had it up and running I was left with the realization that I didn’t have anything in mind to make with it! I slowly found little projects to make and started to increase my creative skill sets. I began to think about what I could make to sell, but still didn’t have any ideas that seemed to fit.I made some marble hexagon coasters for my wife for our anniversary. While they didn’t use the CNC, they were simple to make and were trendy at the time. I decided to sell some on Etsy. I was pretty paralyzed with indecision and lack of confidence in creating a product with my CNC so I used this as an opportunity to dip my toe in the water with a low risk product (started with $200 in supplies and have bootstrapped everything after that).It was slow for the first two months but then it took off (after adding professional photos). In the first nine months I ran that store (it was called Geometrikos Design), I had over $15k in sales. I put the shop on hold for the birth of my first child and started things up again a few months later, but by that time, people had caught on to how to make them and several competitors had popped up. It wasn’t completely detrimental to my business as I had a better product and a streamlined production process, but the newcomers were pricing theirs too low to compete with (a common problem on Etsy). While I was still profitable and making sales, I was ready to find something with a bigger moat and bigger profit margins, so I shut the shop down permanently.As this was going on, I still found time to tinker with my CNC. Once my friends caught on to what my machine was capable of, the requests started pouring in. Many of them are avid travelers, and wanted something to show off their travels, so I started cutting maps for them out of plywood. They looked pretty good, but weren’t very functional (needed nails to attach pictures or souvenirs) or very unique. This is when I got the idea to try and cut one out of cork. Cork is more visually interesting than plywood, plus cork is sustainably harvested and eco-friendly.imageTake us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.I have a rather unorthodox method of designing a new product. I need to establish my constraints first. So I started with what my limitations were and worked backwards until I could configure a product to meet those restrictions.My biggest constraint was time. By then we were awaiting the birth of our second child and to maintain a work/life balance (since this is in addition to my day job), I started to give myself time constraints. I wanted to create a product and run my business using less than 4 hours a week. So the goal for me was to try and make as much money in as little time as possible. This is where the CNC shines.While the coasters needed significant physical labor, for my maps I could program the CNC and have it run while I worked on something else, potentially doubling my output. I spent a lot of time optimizing my design so it would cut faster and with a better finish.Then came the pricing. I didn’t even make a prototype before I ran the numbers and found a material and price point I felt would be profitable and competitive. I used the popular pricing formula of (material + labor costs) x2 for wholesale and x4 for retail. If the end number was too high, I would look for ways to either make it faster or find cheaper materials.Describe the process of launching the business.Towards the end of my marble coaster days, I simply added my first US cork map to my Etsy shop. It didn’t fit the shop theme, but I just needed to see if it could sell. Within 3 weeks I had my first sale. I only sold 1-2 maps a month that winter (late 2017 to early 2018), but as it started to increase in early spring, I began to look outside of Etsy where I could have more control of my product and audience.imageIn February of 2018 I bought a domain and started my website using Shopify. It was really slow at first. I was completely responsible for directing traffic to the site and I was not very good at it. My first design of the site looked cool to me, but it was not set up to convert well. I was almost going to give up on it, but I did a small redesign with a more straightforward style, and I started getting sales, mainly through my instagram account. Not many at first, but enough to prove that my product could sell.On a whim I posted a picture of my maps on reddit. My daily website traffic that day exploded from 20ish visitors to over 1500! While many of the visitors were more curious than looking to buy, I really didn’t make any money off of the extra traffic, but it did open up some unique connections.Shortly after my post, I was contacted by Touch of Modern, a popular men’s fashion/flash sale site. They wanted to feature my maps in an upcoming campaign. The catch was that I needed to have over 50 maps created and ready to ship before the sale started. I think I had only $1500 in my account at the time but I decided to go for it and spent $1200 on material to boost my inventory (I usually keep little or no inventory and make maps to order). The sale went live in June and I sold a grand total of 8 maps. At first I was pretty disappointed, but it ended up being a blessing in several ways.First, was it forced me to streamline my process. I was able to iron out all of the kinks in production and found a few tricks that significantly reduced my cycle time. Second was it gave me a healthy inventory which came in handy a month later when a bike accident left me with a broken collar bone and five broken limbs. Instead of trying to make maps with one arm and on pain meds, all I had to do was slap a shipping label on the box and set it out for pickup. Without that inventory I would have had to shut down my shop for 2 months while I recovered.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?First and foremost, I believe professional photos are absolutely essential to getting people interested in a product. Without them most ads are going to be completely useless and social media accounts will be dead on arrival.My instagram posts brought in a lot of initial business. I made sure to engage and like and comment on my followers posts and hashtags I followed. I found a lot of interest in National Park lovers and hikers, so I would find popular accounts and engage with the commenters on their posts.imageI also started offering custom maps, since my CNC can basically cut any shape. I currently use an embedded Google form, but am working on a more streamlined approach.imageI tried Facebook ads a few times, but even with doing research, my campaigns all fell flat. I got to the point where I had to admit that I am just not good at writing ad copy and am basically gambling with my ad money. I found Google Shopping ads much more successful and easy to use. No copy or creative content is necessary, just a product photo. I started using Shopping ads right before the 2018 holiday season and my orders exploded. I was getting an ROI of over 300%.imageThis last spring I tried out Instagram influencers with varied success. I had a few that I was able to turn a profit on, but it was pretty modest and the work to find and vet them was too time consuming, plus subsequent shoutouts from the same accounts produced diminishing returns.imageHow are you doing today and what does the future look like?My goal has always been to double revenue year over year. We are on track to double our sales this year and get to $30k annual revenue, and hope to grow to 60k next year. While everything is great now, I worried that I would soon hit a wall where my mediocre marketing skills would hold me back.imageI recently contracted a local marketing firm to help increase my sales. My budget is on the low side ($500 a month) but the hope is to ramp up slowly and take advantage of the holiday surge and position GEO 101 Design to continue its growth rate into 2020.The biggest challenge I am facing now is designing a cork map of the world. I get custom order requests for it weekly, yet it has proved very difficult to design a map that matches the quality and detail of my other maps and still be reasonably priced. Just this week I think I had a breakthrough with a new material supplier and if it proves out, I hope to have something ready for production by mid-September, so stay tuned!I am also trying to create products at different price points. My current maps are high quality and have prices to match. I want to be able to offer something cheaper that may be an easier impulse buy. I also get a lot of requests from companies looking for very large maps (8ft+ wide), so I hope to figure out the logistics and necessary tools to make and ship larger products as well.In anticipation for the Holiday season and future growth, I have slowly been assembling a second CNC router. This will effectively double my capacity without adding any more to my weekly time allotment. According to my calculations, I should be able to scale to roughly $116k in annual sales before I need to seriously expand or modify my work schedule.The last thing I am working on is getting my website to generate more revenue than my Etsy shop. Last year it was roughly 30/70, but now I am approaching 50/50. At this point Etsy is easy money so I won’t shut it down, but I stopped paying for ads and now push all new people to my website instead.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?Running a business like mine is definitely a learning by doing exercise. The problems and obstacles I have faced, I never could have predicted. For example, the first year I had a large amount of maps that arrived at their destination broken or damaged.I had to scramble and figure out how to pack them better. There really weren’t any resources I could find that had packaging tips or guidelines, so I basically had to keep adding padding and protection until the complaints stopped. Thankfully I finally figured it out and have had only 1 damaged map this year so far, but it took a lot of unforeseen work to get to this point. You will never be able to predict all of the problems you will face, you just have to get started and deal with them as they come.It's also very important to price your product wisely, leaving plenty of margin to account for unquantified costs. You are going to have to deal with customer returns, raw material price increases, fraud, shipping rate hikes, electricity, gas, and dozens of other costs you never planned on. You don’t want any of these things to sink your business so you need to give yourself a cushion from the very beginning. I believe the formula I listed above is a good start, but each business is unique so do what works for you.What platform/tools do you use for your business?I have used Shopify ever since I began using my own domain. I have kept my toolset pretty minimalistic. To be honest, I think most of the third party Shopify apps are pretty overrated for businesses just starting out in ecommerce.I have no doubt they can help optimize and increase conversion rates, but if you don’t have a solid product and good understanding of all of the built-in tools Shopify has, the extra plugins aren’t going to make up for it.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?I’ll try and avoid the obvious ones that seem to get cited here over and over (for example, How I Built This)I have always closely followed the maker movement, which has influenced a lot I do. The Making It podcast is a great resource on setting up a shop and getting started selling your product.The Made for Profit podcast is even more focused on the business side of making, though they spend a lot of time talking content creation instead product creation.A book that I really enjoyed but I haven’t seen mentioned here is called “Boss Life: Surviving My Own Small Business”. It is the journal of an owner of a small woodworking business and goes into great detail about the day to day challenges of running a small business.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Fail quickly. Don’t worry about setting up the perfect website and the perfect product on day one. Focus on getting a minimum viable product to market as quickly as possible. And when you fail, figure out why and learn from it. Avoid just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. Your chance of success should grow over time if you continually improve and recalibrate based on your mistakes and failures.This also goes for money. You don’t need a huge bankroll or enormous inventory to get started. Bootstrapping your business can be slow going, but the risk and stress you avoid is worth it and helps you grow sustainably. Plus it makes you think before you spend. Throwing money at problems rarely fixes them at this stage.Where can we go to learn more?https://www.geo101design.com/https://www.instagram.com/geo101design/https://www.facebook.com/geo101design/info@geo101design.comIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM

[cynthiadshaw]

What’s the Most Important Lesson You’ve Learned Along Your Journey?

Every twist in our story, challenge we face, and obstacle we overcome is an important part of our story.  These difficulties make us stronger and wiser and prepare us for what’s ahead.  As we grow and succeed we may imagine that soon the challenges will fade away, but in our conversations with business owners, artists, creatives, academics, and others we have learned that the most common experience is that challenges never go away – instead they get more complex as we grow and succeed.  Our ability to to thrive therefore depends heavily on our ability to learn from our experiences and so we are asking some of the city’s best and brightest: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

Dawn Treader | a nonprofit who is raising awareness to defend and protect the rights of widows and orphans through the exploration of local artist, live music, and some dang good coffee

Mikaylah McGee

The most important lesson we’ve learned is, the process is more important than the prize. The process itself is the prize. Providing for orphans and widows is our oxygen, its our DNA. We don’t build homes for orphans and widows over night. It takes time. Our dream is to change lives all over the world but that begins with taking advantage of every hour and disciplining ourselves to be competitive for the helpless over time. We live for the PROCESS.

dawntreadertx.com @dawntreadertx @dawntreadertx

Ria Hartfield and my business is Locs By Ria

The most important lesson I learned so far was to believe in myself because and not sell myself short. I’m a self-taught stylist so I was very insecure about my work. I wasn’t 100% sure if I was even doing it right but my clients would be extremely satisfied with the results. Some of my clients won’t even go to other stylists. It took a long time for me to recognize my worth as a loctician and to realize that I really am talented.

@locsbyria

Loviatar’s | Vintage Event Rentals & Interior Curation

Photo Credit: @laurenapelphoto HMU: @sydneyannlopezhair

A valuable trait we have had to channel is patience. As designers that deal in predominantly vintage goods, we are always on the hunt for unique and eclectic items. Often times it would be easier to pick up a missing piece at a conventional retailer but we know that the end result is that much more rewarding if we put in the extra time to hunt down the perfect piece. We are finding that people truly do appreciate the little details and the story that is attached to each object, making our efforts worthwhile!

loviatars.com @loviatars

Letty Stewart | Lash Artist & Esthetician

 In my journey I have experienced so many things. It hasn’t been easy but with the help of my family I have finally found my dream job which is a Lash Artist at Peachy Keen Studio and I am so happy to be where I am at now. My obstacles in life have been tough from dropping out of high school to abusive relationships but I have managed to find the light at the end of the tunnel. My biggest accomplishments have been thanks to my husband. He’s inspired me to be who I am today. I know that my children will be inspired as well to be better and create a world full of joy and love.

linktr.ee/letty.peachykeenstudio

Joshua Harris | Professional athlete | Fitness consultant

Lynne Jones

The harder you work, the less you worry. When your work ethic is at a high level, that eliminates any doubt you may experience because you know how hard you’re working and that gives you an unwavering amount of confidence.

thepeakwork.com

Kiesha Hick | Entrepreneur, Eye Candi Bar

@thelavishluxe

The important lesson I have learned on my journey so far is, self importance, self development and patience, while coming out of my comfort zone, to do what I was called to do, empowering women, and giving them the confidence to look and feel beautiful!

@eyecandibar @eyecandibar

TK Kader | Author of the international best seller “How to Punch the Sunday Jitters in the Face”, Entrepreneur and Angel Investor

You can accomplish anything you want in life and become unstoppable as long as you practice belief x discipline.

@tkkader

Alexandra Goodman | designer

You are going to have some negative experiences. It could be as simple as someone not liking your work or being denied an application to participate in a local art show. You cannot let those experiences define you. Do not let them become setbacks. Keep pushing forward. Focus on the praise you receive from clients and their genuine appreciation for your creations.

etsy.com/shop/agoodmandesigner @agoodmandesigner

Acenette Gonzalez and Justin Ramirez | Owners of Maravilla Cacao Confections

A valuable lesson I’ve learned on my journey is collaboration is a key to success. I say this because collaborating with others brings inspiration from places you never thought to seek it from. It has allowed me to to create with others on different artistic platforms and see different points of views. All while helping that other independent business as well. The great thing about being a small business owner is the support from other small business owners. We all want to see each other succeed and that’s a beautiful thing to me.

@maravillacacao maravillacacao@gmail.com

Elena Jones | Mom | Wife | Entrepreneur

@katiemeckleyphotography

Moving to a new country has been a great challenge. To start again, especially while tending to young children, was much more difficult than I imagined. Throughout this journey, I have learned that success, in its truest sense, doesn’t come with haste or ease, but to those who exercise the three P’s: passion, persistence, and patience. First, in order to accomplish anything noteworthy, you have to have an unyielding passion for your work with a single, noble goal in mind: an objective that goes beyond your own material success and that truly benefits your clients and the greater community. If you don’t believe in the product or service you’re selling, then you need to be selling something else. Second, I have learned that very little can be accomplished unless you are persistent in chasing your dream; this means waking up in the morning with a plan of micro-goals to accomplish for the day and repeating that routine until you see results. Every day is an obstacle course that must be navigated with focus and tenacity. It also means adapting strategies that are not working, yet keeping your overall mission in mind. Finally, I have learned that nothing meaningful can be achieved without patience and that an enduring success can only be accomplished over time. The old saying, “good things come to those who wait,” may be dismissed nowadays, but it rings true in my life. The setbacks we experience—the lost sale, the incomplete checklist, the long-term client who decided to go elsewhere—are opportunities to better learn our business and grow in virtue. There is no such thing as failure as long as we continue to see the big picture and keep moving in the right direction.

@latinamomintheheartoftexas  @latinamomintexas

Magnolia Elvis | music producer & recording engineer

@Dj_ron_t

You have to always be prepared to work; even on your off days.

VibeLabDallas.com  ShoutOutMagnolia.com

Addie Roberts | Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Coach

The most important lesson I’ve learned is that people don’t thrive under more rules around what NOT to do with food. Instead, I’ve found that lasting change is made and people are able to flourish and achieve their goals when the coaching message is promoted as food freedom without obsession around what they’re eating.

generalwellnessnutrition.com @generalwellness  youtube.com/generalwellness

Kelly Harrod | Body Liberation/Self Love Advocate

The most important thing I’ve learned on my journey so far is the importance of flexibility. So many times we plan with good intentions as society tells us that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Some times life does it’s own thing, causing out beautifully crafted plans to fall by the wayside. Learning to be flexible has allowed me to be more forgiving of myself and others when things don’t go as I had hoped.

@the_self_love_squad @selflovesquadig

ChristFit Unashamed

Community is so important to growth of person physically, mentally, and Faith.

linktr.ee/christfitunashamed

  Ashton Lewis | Actor

Patience and persistence. If you’re working hard at what you want, don’t beat yourself up for, one, sucking at it when you first start. I’m a recovering perfectionist, so this is a hard one for me. And that’s an ego thing, right? If I’m focusing on how much I suck, that’s entirely about what other people think of my progress. But what other people think doesn’t matter: if I’m thinking about that I’m just torpedoing my own joy. Second, don’t beat yourself up for taking a bit to figure something out. Sometimes it just takes longer than other people. But what I’ve learned on my journey is that if you’re patient, and keep at those skills you’re trying to hone, they often open up and start blooming over time. It’s difficult to see in the moment but you look back and see what the journey was and how important it was to take the long path and struggle through it.

@actionlewis  backstage.com/u/ashton-lewis

Tre’Quwandous Love | Aspiring model Natural Hair Enthusiast and Hospitality expert

@shotbyadrw eyeofandrewphoto@gmail.com

You have to move in life knowing that the things you are seeking are also seeking you and will find you in the most divine fashion.

@trelovetrelove @TreCLove

Diana Pàez | social communicator and journalist | Founder and CEO of Let`s go By Diana Paez

My biggest lesson in this wonderful journey I have been gone through is to be patience and understand that good thing happens exactly at the moment have to happen,. sometimes we reject what we have and we don’t pay attention to the wonderful things around us. I have learned that every person in the world have a special place and labor to do while were living the life and enjoy every moment in the present can be the only thing that change our future. Every lesson will be a part of the process in our life and we need to take them as part of example to tell other people that fall off is not too bad when we can get up and be better. patience is part of the process to grow in every dream you want to make it real.

@letsgo.by.dianapaez letsgobydianapaez.com

Lizz Hurley | Visual Artist

The most important lesson I’ve learned so far is that sales don’t determine talent. Sales will come, focus on perfecting your craft.

lizzhurleyart.com @lizzhurleyart

Jacqueline | Empowerment Executive & Life Coach

My Starry Eyes My Intuition is My Superpower! You Never need to justify your existence. Say less than you know; show less than you have. What I practice in private I will be honored for in public. Leave All in a better space than before I arrive. Allow my potential to come out and play big on the planet. Permission Granted!

@jacquelineisms podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/permission-granted-the-jacqueline-show/id1475436982

  Blakk Juu | Hot New Rap Artist from keepit1hundredint

That if you don’t believe in yourself, then no one will so I think in myself beyond boundaries of measurements, I also learned you need active, positive people backing you up so much love to my label keepit1hundredint #usagainsthem.

@blakk.juu @usagainsthem @blakkjuu keepit1hundredint.com @BlakkJuu soundcloud.com/keepit1hundredint

Brittany Smalls | personal blogger

@filmmaker_j

I think the most important thing I have learned is that you should always stay true to yourself. People (myself included) put so much effort into trying to conform to society’s expectations, we often lose ourselves. For so long I was scared to put myself out there and go for everything I wanted because I would look at someone else and point out all of the things they have, that I don’t and I never stopped to acknowledge all of the qualities I have. Once I realized that I am not unworthy because I lack certain qualities someone else may have, my life changed and I gained so much confidence. I have never been happier. it’s made a huge difference in how I view myself, in my marriage and in my life all together. What makes you different, makes you beautiful.

@_sincerelynotyours

Maria Cruz | Paper florista

@kittyboo_

There are many things that I have learned and still learning, in a world we’re everything is “help me and I will help you” you kind of fall into a pattern of let me see how much I can get out of the situation. I have other colleagues that do the same thing and they always advise me pick your prices higher don’t sell yourself short, its never enough it’s always to low! They tell me. I learned that when you start doing something you love and greed gets in the way, it’s stops being something you love it becomes WORK and the reason I started my own small business was precisely because I did not want to work a job that made me feel prisoner of my life. And when greed comes into play that’s exactly what happens you become prisoner of money of greed and everything that involves. Don’t get me wrong of course i want to make money. I am a mother of four and I need to bring the bacon but being honest. Now three years in this business I have learned how to price, how to help my customers and be smart about my business. I can say we never stop learning EVER but with the right mentors around and a little patience I have learned a lot.

@katys_flower_wall

Mosiah Perales | Goalkeeper | Goalkeeper coach and Instagram influencer

Over little a year of my Instagram account (I made my account on May 24, 2018), is that if you want to get yourself out there on social media, you need to know what you want and the goal of why you are putting yourself out their, but when it comes to interactions with your followers and people who view your content, open your mind for other people’s comments and opinions even if they are negative. I’m doing what I love and making my passion more than a dream. If you want something, make time for it and be dedicated, don’t be afraid of failure, I’ve learned so much from failing. I was scared to put myself out there and what people would say but I didn’t let that distract from what I wanted. I want to influence people in a good way as well as get noticed and hopefully become a pro soccer player.

@fuerzagkeeping

Justin Stringfellow | DJ/MC

The most important lesson that I’ve learned in my journey so far is that there is always room for improvement in your craft. Like many artistic pursuits, the DJ field is very saturated. In order to stand out, you have to work really hard and constantly be improving. It’s also super helpful to have others to look up to and learn from. The journey of growth is just as important as the destination.

@justin.thedj mixcloud.com/JustinTheDJ

Astrid Garces | Branding Creator

Josben Rodriguez

Life is happening now and I have to be present to live it. not holding to anything in the past and not worrying about the future. Also it’s too short not to do what I love and what I am really passionate about.

@astrid_garces

Zach Rigsby | Fashion blogger & Design student

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my life is to never let anyone else’s judgment or negativity drive what I do or wear but instead to let criticism inspire me to become better.

@zach.rigsby

Bondie Metchore | Digital Marketing Consultant | Web Designer & Social Media Strategist

In life, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that change is inevitable. Things end, pain eventually goes away and there’s always a new goal to go after. Enjoying the actual journey is a blessing that we tend to overlook. Living life from a place of knowing that nothing is forever has helped me stress less during the difficult times and value more the beautiful moments that life offers.

In Business, I have learned that gaining a loyal client is more important than making a quick buck. People like to feel valued and heard and when you lead your business with love and service, clients always come back.

bondiemetchore.com @girldesigningdreams

Jonah Levine | Co-founder & Designer

The most important lesson I’ve learned is perseverance. The idea or the accumulation of ideas has in time been a bit of a struggle, but we put our heads down and figure out what needs to be done.

I’m very happy and proud of the brand that’s been created and we will continue. It’s a product for a niche market and we recognize that. Perseverance will get us through. Perseverance is what has gotten many things done in fashion and in life.

At L’Escalier we hope to bring the idea, the thought that while things may be difficult, perseverance can prove to be true.

shoplescalier.com @shoplescalier

Kyler & Kaelyn Silas (Ky & Kae) | Recording Artists/Musicians

When we were little, we were eager to be teenagers/young adults. Now we’re in middle and high school, and we just want time to slow down. We can’t believe in a few years, one of us will be off to college. Life is too short to just dream about what you want to do and not put anything into action. You have to always put your best foot forward and commit to whatever dream you want to come true.

@officialkyandkae youtube.com/channel/UCITNM6MLuu2CODIHATCuvQA bequestmusic.com

Zeke Jeremiah | Director, CEO/Founder of UTubeSensations and UTubeSensations Kids

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my journey is to trust the process. In the beginning I would get stressed out easily  because of so many things that would come up. Now I’m better prepared from experience, but mostly easy about it because things won’t always work out the way you wanted it too, so I relax and trust God through the process.

@campbell.zeke @UTubesensations @UTubeSensations-Kids @Forever-and-a-Day @zekejeremiah @utubesensations @utubesensations_kids

Trish Keller | Virtual Health & Fitness coach

The most important thing I’ve learned on my journey so far is how important the power of a positive attitude is. I started my journey in a pretty dark state, struggling with body image issues, unhappiness, feeling overwhelmed, and just feeling really stuck in life in general. Through coaching I learned to look at things in a more positive light, I started to look at myself through a more positive lens. Even on my harder days, when I’m struggling with competency issues or negative people, I’ve found a way to look at the lessons and the positivity in those less than ideal situations. And by doing that, I have gained self-confidence, self-worth, healthier habits, happiness, amazing friendships, and the incredible opportunity to help others find similar happiness for themselves.

@trish_keller linktr.ee/patriciakeller

The post What’s the Most Important Lesson You’ve Learned Along Your Journey? appeared first on Voyage Dallas Magazine | Dallas City Guide.

source http://voyagedallas.com/2019/08/21/whats-important-lesson-youve-learned-along-journey/

[webmarketingservicesfirm]

What Is The Blockchain?

Blockchain (i.e. Blockchain Technology i.e. The Blockchain) is a computer network that works by being shared freely among and used by many participants. The idea behind blockchain is that there are times when it is beneficial to have a permanent record of transactions. Those transactions can be the purchasing of property, the sale of goods or services, or the exchange of currencies. In its simplest form, a blockchain is just a list of transactions using a medium of exchange. In its initial implementation, that medium was a "coin" called a Bitcoin. Subsequently, many other coins were created and those coins are all used in their own blockchain. As of December 22, 2018, CoinMarketCap lists 2067 tokens (https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/). On the most basic level, they are all mediums of exchange for transactions that are put on a list. This list is called a ledger and this is intuitive as transactions are frequently economic. When new transactions occur, they are added after old ones. To make this run smoothly and prevent fraud, each transaction and the order it was done in must be confirmed before it is allowed to be added to the list. This confirming is done by specialist participants who (for a reward) do the analysis, to the benefit of the entire network. These participants are called miners, for reasons we will get into a bit later. If confirming is made deliberately energetically challenging and time consuming, i.e. difficult, each time a new item is added to the list on top of old ones, it becomes harder to change older items on the list because you will first have to reconfirm all the newer items that came after it. To visualize this, imagine you are a dog and you, like many dogs, bury things in the backyard. Say one day you bury a baseball. To do so, you have to remove some dirt, put the item in and bury it again. Every day, you put a new item in. You remove some dirt, down to the last item, and drop something new in, one after the other. Well, what if one day, you realize you want to get back something you buried 7 days ago. You miss your baseball. Well, that's unfortunate because you now have to dig down, and pull up everything you last buried. Digging down takes work. Lifting objects up takes work. It's a crude example but it conveys the idea: if an investment of someone's time and energy or computing power is needed to confirm a transaction, and you can't alter an old transaction without reconfirming everything that came after it, the labor necessary to fraud the system is unrealistic, except perhaps, for the most highly equipped and motivated adversaries. The structure of the blockchain, ideally, does a large part of the job of protecting itself from being damaged by a criminal. If there are multiple miners and you also add rules requiring that there be a consensus among a certain percentage of them that said decisions are valid (for Bitcoin, the percentage is 51%), the job of tampering with the blockchain becomes harder still. This leads to the final basic necessity of a blockchain, which is to recruit a large number of people to simultaneously confirm transactions have taken place and to determine in what order they took place. A consensus above a certain percentage of total deciders will become the official decision of the network and the transactions that have been confirmed will be added to the blockchain. To summarize, a blockchain is a distributed computer program running on many computers, each of which cooperate to either confirm that transactions were legitimate, or if their computers can't handle that much data processing, to at least maintain a current copy of the blockchain to assist other members of the network in maintaining their own records. Everyone needs an up-to-date copy of the blockchain. There is more to it of course, but that's the rough outline. One thing worth mentioning is that not all coins are meant to act as liquid financial instruments, be it currencies or speculative assets. Some are what are called tokens of utility. These are simply units used to quantify the number of transactions that occur between parties and are intended to remain relatively constant in value. As mentioned earlier, in blockchains, verification of transaction accuracy is carried out by specialist nodes called mining nodes. The users who operate them are called miners. The important take away is that when miners are the first one to confirm a long list of transactions, which are called blocks and those blocks are accepted by a consensus of other miners and subsequently added to the blockchain, those miners who got there first will get a little bit of the coin that blockchain runs on. This has two effects: 1) miners are motivated to keep confirming transactions, and 2) this is an organic way for the network to introduce new coins to the total number of coins that already exist. In this way, on a regular and constant basis, there are more Bitcoins in circulation, for example, than there were before. The amount miners make for confirming a block will go down with time (it's controlled by an algorithm), and this relates to why they are called miners. It's a direct analogy to physical mining. As time goes on, there are fewer gold nuggets in the ground. They become more scarce and therefore more valuable. It's a way to deflate the value of the coins over time and prevent inflation, which would happen if the number of coins grew without limit. Mining is done using a variety of computer chips. Once upon a time, a CPU could handle it. But as time when on, graphics processors i.e. GPUs, which are better at handling the math involved in confirming blocks took over. These were supplanted by specialized computer chips designed for exactly the purpose of mining and these are referred to as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). For some coins, an ASIC is table stakes to even try to mine. Other coins are designed to be mineable with a personal computer. Some coins can still be mined by individuals, but some are mined with such competitiveness, individual miners' only chance to be the first to confirm a block is to band together in what are called mining pools. These are teams of miners who share their computing power to work together to confirm transactions before other pools do. Your reward if the pool succeeds depends on how much processing power you contribute. In other words, your profit is proportional to how much you actually helped. Some examples of Bitcoin mining pools are: Slush, Bitcoin.com, Antpool, and BitFury (https://bitcoinchain.com/pools). China hosts the majority of Bitcoin pools. (https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/pools/) https://www.antpool.com/ http://www.bitfury.org/ http://mining.bitcoin.cz/ https://pool.bitcoin.com/

from Blogger http://www.jaredschlar.com/2019/01/what-is-blockchain.html via IFTTT

[theconservativebrief]

A prominent Christian think tank has come out fiercely in favor of better family leave policies, defending federally mandated family leave policies on theological grounds.

“Christian families can form themselves along a divine vision of work and family as holistic complements,” a report released Tuesday reads, “As citizens and culture-shapers, Christians should advocate for and develop policies and practices that protect, rather than fragment, family time.”

The report, authored by Katelyn Beaty and Rachael Anderson of the Center for Public Justice, advocates for changes both on a federal scale, calling for an expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act. Pushing beyond public policy, though, the report also specifically targets gender imbalances within families.

The report follows a Senate finance subcommittee hearing last week on paid family leave, and a growing debate over the government’s role in providing resources for child care. Prominent figures on the right, including Sen. Joni Erst (R-IA) and first daughter and presidential advisor Ivanka Trump, as well as Democrats like Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) have made the expansion of paid family leave a cornerstone of their policy strategy. Gillibrand’s bill with House cosponsor Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) — calling for at least partial payment to workers on leave for up to 12 weeks — was introduced last year.

”Christian teaching recognizes families’ crucial role in society to nurture and protect the sacredness of life at all stages,” the Center said in an email to journalists. “Paid family leave is an important way to promote family life and family cohesion, particularly for the many households that cannot otherwise afford to elect family care over paid work.”

But the relationship between child care, family life, work, and the evangelical community in America has not always been so straightforward. The history of the relationship between labor, parental support, and government programs to support family life in America has, for the past several decades, been strongly influenced by evangelical opposition to any perceived threat to the nuclear family.

While the authors represent just one Christian think tank among many, their report suggests that, for many evangelical communities, the “traditional” family model — a heterosexual married couple, with a husband who is a primary breadwinner and a wife who is a primary caregiver — is increasingly unsustainable, especially under current American economic conditions and family leave laws.

The report echoes a critique of capitalism, and of the devaluing of family life, heard elsewhere across the contemporary Christian world. Pope Francis, for example, has been a frequent critic of capitalist pro-corporation policies that minimize work-family balance.

However, this point of view has not always been prevalent among Christian leaders. It’s impossible to understand the history of family policy in America without recognizing the role that the nascent Christian right played in advocating against federally-mandated interference in childcare policy, and in advocating for the near-unbridled liberties of corporations. The relationship of Christianity to work-family balance, particularly when it intersects with state interference, has long been a complex and ambiguous one.

After decades of incremental steps and compromises, the current federal law, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, allows employees working at least 25 hours a week with companies with at least 50 employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family medical reasons. These include childbirth, adoption, and family illness. This is among the least generous policies in the world.

Meanwhile, the US lacks any semblance of universal child care, which can be a burdensome cost for many families. In fact, according to the report, “child care in the United States costs on average $9,589 per year, a significant portion of the annual income of a working-class couple. Yet if one parent stays home, one salary may not be enough to support the family.”

Still, the authors say, Christians have a role in reversing course in public policy around paid leave and child care as a way to uphold its value of families as a cornerstone of Christian life. “Christians who recognize the socially foundational nature of family,” the report urges, “must not only talk about the importance of family, but enact policies and create cultures that tangibly demonstrate its importance. Protecting and enabling family time at crucial moments — whether birth, adoption, illness or death — is one essential way to uphold the enduring value of the family.”

The report advocates for equal family leave for both mothers and fathers. It urges change in policy at both corporate and governmental levels to ensure that mothers and fathers alike are uniformly given the opportunity to, for example, take maternity or paternity leave, or take leave to care for a sick child.

In addition to advocating the broadening of family leave, Beaty and Anderson specifically target issues of gender imbalance in child care, including the expectation that working mothers work a “second shift,” balancing the bulk of housework and parental duties with a full-time job.

“A biblical account of work and family life … [reminds] us that work and family were each designed for good purposes,” the report says. “God did not intend work and family to be experienced as competing spheres of responsibility, but rather complementary ones. Christians believe that every sphere of life falls under the lordship of Christ and is thus a place of God’s blessing and provision. God calls many people to enter into a marriage covenant and to bear and raise children; God also calls many people to work ‘with willing hands’ (Proverbs 31:13) in order to provide for family needs, effect cultural change and take the gospel into the marketplace. Church teaching honors these calls of responsibility.”

Beaty highlighted the importance for Christians of challenging an unquestioning adherence to capitalist approaches to worker productivity. “Christians across the board would agree that the workplace should be a place of a humanizing effect on a person’s life rather than a dehumanizing effect. And so obviously any kind of work that creates physical or mental or emotional harm for a worker is to be critiqued and to be changed,” she told Vox in an interview Wednesday.

Still, she acknowledged that Christian leaders have work to do in ensuring they practice what they preach.

Citing the mixed track record of some faith-based organizations of providing sufficient family leave, Beaty said, “We see that there is often a gap between what Christian leaders say and believe theoretically about the primacy of the family, and the workplace, and cultures that they create that take time away from the privacy of the family. So we want to help address that gap.”

That gap has, historically, been tied in part to the “culture wars,” and the Christian right’s role in it.

The early 1970s ushered in a growing new wave of feminism and gender equality. With it also came the very beginnings of evangelical activism, eventually taking on the moniker of the Moral Majority, a coalition of evangelical Christian leaders and figureheads who actively sought to bring a (largely white) evangelical Christian perspective to the Republican Party, and into government more broadly.

The issue of government-backed child care rose to prominence in the “culture wars” as early as 1971, as more middle-class women pushed for the ability to choose between homemaking and pursuing careers outside of the home.

As Nancy L. Cohen recounted in 2013 in the New Republic, Congress passed a bipartisan Comprehensive Child Development Act in 1971. The act earmarked $2 billion (or about $10 billion in today’s economy) to open a network of federally funded child day care centers, to provide education, food, and medical care to all children on a sliding financial scale. The bill seemed like a shoo-in.

Then, President Richard Nixon vetoed it. Why? According to Cohen, the president’s special assistant and speechwriter, Pat Buchanan convinced Nixon that universal child care opened the door to government control of child-rearing and the collapse of the nuclear family. Buchanan (who is Catholic, but is often associated with the largely evangelical members of the Moral Majority movement) has frequently characterized his opposition to the act in the bombastic language of the culture wars.

In his veto statement, which was drafted by Buchanan, Nixon argued that if the federal government plunged headlong financially into supporting child development, it would commit the vast moral authority of the national government to the side of communal approaches to child rearing, and that it would in turn lead to the collapse of family structures.

Buchanan frequently made ominous reference, too, to communist systems of indoctrination, telling interviewers, “I had been to the Soviet Union, spent 18 days there. … They took us to the young pioneers, (laughter) and these 5-, 6-year-olds were chanting Leninist slogans. And you said, you know, what is going on here? It was eerie.”

Years later, Buchanan defended his position and took full credit for Nixon’s actions, saying, “The federal government should not be in the business of raising American’s children.” He added, “If we hadn’t stopped it, I think you’d have an entitlement program now of enormous size with these federal day care centers, and they would be growing and growing and growing once you got it on the books.”

Not only did Nixon veto the bill, but he reportedly rejected the pleas of his other advisers, who urged him to leave the door open to less costly alternatives. Federally provided child care in America was deemed not just pragmatically tricky, but ideologically unsound.

From then on, as Gail Collins writes in her history of the 20th-century female experience, When Everything Changed, debates over childrearing became central to the American culture wars. During the Gerald Ford administration, congressional leaders tried to resuscitate a more moderate version of the bill, only to face extreme backlash from grassroots religious groups. Thousands of letter-writers contacted their representatives, falsely accusing Congress of trying to make it possible for children to sue their parents for making them do chores, or creating “a godless Russian/Chinese type regimentation of young minds.”

Much of the outcry, according to Collins, was inspired by a hoax flyer about the bill, evidently authored by a Bible camp director from Kansas, that seems to have circulated around South and Midwest. The bill failed.

In an article in the journal Feminist Studies, Rosalind Pollack Petchesky explores how the Christian right became defined by two “interlocking themes”: opposition to feminism (and thus to provisions that would threaten the female-homemaker model) and opposition to government intervention in private corporations.

A “pro-family” ideology characterized by opposition to abortion, divorce, feminism, and homosexuality became de rigueur for Moral Majority figures like Buchanan and Jerry Falwell, linking Catholics and evangelical Protestants. Or, as the 1980 Republican party platform would have it, “We oppose any move that would give the federal government more power over families.”

While the Christian right never explicitly condemned family leave policies the way it, for example, mobilized against federal childcare, it nevertheless made firm its commitment to minimizing any mandatory or federal interference into family life. The preservation of “family life,” in the abstract — which is to say, as an anti-feminist, libertarian ideal — became increasingly synonymous, with the privileging of corporate license to set family policy as it saw fit.

Beaty stresses that her work at the Center for Public Justice is non-partisan, and that they do not formally endorse any particular policy position. Still, she said, “some of the [right’s historical] emphasis on protecting the free market, protecting corporations’ freedom — I think that’s giving the market too much control … over the primacy of the family. As Christians, we think that solutions to social problems are not just problems of individuals making decisions, but that there has to be kind of a concerted, common-good effort to create standards, policies, ethical, moral commitments for workers to choose time with their families.”

Noting that too many families don’t have the financial option to have a parent stay home with their child, Beaty said, “Pat Buchanan and other more politically conservative evangelical leaders of the ’80s and ’90s assumed too much about individuals’ ability to be with their families.”

While, of course, the report represents just one Christian point of view, it represents an avenue of possibility for Christian discourse, and the “pro-life” agenda, in America: a willingness to treat issues of life and family, and the structural inequalities government them, beyond the traditional American “hot-button” issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. In so doing, Christian advocacy groups have the opportunity to broaden and diversify their political reach, and speak out (as many did about family separation) about issues that transcend sectarian lines.

Original Source -> Christians are calling for better family leave policies. That wasn’t always the case.

via The Conservative Brief