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piedpiperart · 2 years ago

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It was an interesting read. :) I know very little of the full DC universe, but yeah, you're totally right about that superman and batman thing. it's why Batman is my favorite hero from there. He shows you don't really need a fancy power to be one.

Right?!

It’s one of the main reasons why I like batman so much. I used to really hate Superman growing up and I never really knew why until later. It was cuz it bugged me how he’d always act like he was the know it all on justice, and viewed people with powers or groups or certain actions that didn’t fit his worldview as the bad thing that meant that person was bad.

Superman didn’t really get the black and white, and much like All Might, a lot of that gray is about discrimination. For a lot of small time criminals, they get to where they are because lack of education, money, support, etc. Batman knows this, understands it, makes charities as Bruce Wayne to support people like that. Superman might know but not understand. He’s also not rich so sure he might not be able to solve it really, but he’s still a daylight/spotlight hero. No one would expect Batman to do a press conference on discrimination, but that’s something Superman has the power (and responsibility) to do. It’s what Bruce Wayne does.

This discrimination is a lot like in My Hero Academia. Bad quirks are seen as villainous. Take Hawks and Miruko versus Spinner for example. All three are mutant/body changing quirks based on animals. However the only difference is that Hawks and Mirukos quirks are able to be fetishized by the public/media. Spinners Lizard mutations are seen as gross and momsterous, leading him to a life of crime because of the discrimination he got from kids, adults, when looking for a job, etc.

Miruko being a bunny quirk also had the added stereotype of being weak, meek, shy, etc. She feared getting stuck with those labels and made herself work to be seen and act differently to become a strong powerful hero. But her costume still shows her femininity, people still underestimate her, she’s not overly valued as a hero because she’s not seen as stronger than most of the top ten men heroes, etc.

Same could be said for Shinsou. Evil-stereotyped quirks get certain treatments and can lead to less choices in life for jobs, friends, etc. Stuff like that All Might isn’t aware of and won’t think to advertise or fundraise for.

It’s also the same for people with ‘good’ quirks. How many people do you think were chosen for a job specifically for their quirk? Like lie detector Tsukauchi. Was he pressured into police work? Could you imagine him being a chef or something else? It’s the same with heroes and villains. Could you imagine someone with shigarakis quirk running a coffee shop? Probably not and that’s the problem. Quirks are valued and that makes people valued differently.

Bakugo too is seen as a heroic quirk, but could also easily be spun as a villainous one. Depending on how he was raised and how/where he grew up, he could have been a hero or a villain. It was speculated that bakugos parents are middle class, maybe a bit richer. What do you think would have happened if Bakugo was poor? If he went to a school district in a different area? If they saw him as a thug instead of a hero. You think he would have been able to keep his snappy personality? Or would he be forced to keep his head down so no one would feel threatened and call the police on him?

There’s so many different layers to quirks and quirk discrimination that All Might and Superman type heroes are generally unaware of. You can see this with Iron man and the xmen. Iron man in the mcu wants the Accords, that have restrictions on mutants and want mutants to be documented. He, as a person without powers, doesn’t understand how this would affect the lives of people like Peter or Wanda (which is one big arguement I would have for having peter on team iron man but he’s also a gullible kid here so I’ll let it slide) and often in xmen comics the accords screw over many many mutants. (Prime example is Cloud 9) Xmen also have issues though. Take a look at Charles Xavier, who, in many comics and even shows like xmen evolution, puts much more time and effort into helping the mutants who could pass as normal humans or come from good backgrounds or have useful powers.

Take xmen evolution, where Charles doesnt put effort into helping the brotherhood as much as he could have. He doesn’t spend time helping the kids with problems that parents would, instead focusing on training and etc. Many xmen leave because they’re not receiving the help they need. Mutants like nightcrawler, beast, toad, etc. are often overlooked because they don’t have ‘cool’ powers. This can also be said for hulk. These type of powers are seen as less or worse or evil, etc.

In one spiderman cartoon, peter starts mutating uncontrollably into a giant spider. Xmen who look perfectly normal are like you should accept yourself for who you are, sorry we can’t help you. Meanwhile Beast knows exactly what Peter is going through and helps him in a way that actually matters, in a way that he needs. So. It shows that even within marginalized groups there’s different groups or levels within that can be at odds.

It also shows a lot of parallels to real life struggles with poc, lgbt, disabled, neurodivergent, and women’s rights,etc. in the LGBT community there’s many parallels to xmen and the TYPE of sexuality/gender you are. Gay people are discriminated against yes but they can and do often exclude trans people or people of more specific (or less marketable, etc) sexualities or people of color or disabled people within that community. Just like Xmen and certain good or bad powers. Or quirks and the discrimination surrounding that.

I think mutants or quirks in general that have a visible outward appearance are particularly interesting in this case. Media and society play a huge part in whether or not certain people are socially acceptable/good/bad. Back to the point about Spinner versus Hawks. Hawks and Miruko are fetishized by the media, hero society, etc. You don’t see Ryuku(I forgot her name but the dragon lady in MHA) who can turn into a full on dragon, being marketed the same way. Spinner and Gang Orca (I’m talking about in the anime not in real life, shush) are not being fetishized by the media or heroes, were bullied in much the same ways and are seen as scary. Ectoplasm too. You also don’t see them closer to the top ten heroes rank. You don’t see them much in the show either.

Even in Class 1-A, you see clearly what is being valued when you look at the main characters. What are their quirks? Ah yeah strong ones, right. But do they have anything that would allude to them not having a normal physical appearance? Nope. Tsuyu occasionally because while she is frog she can be marketed as sexy and cute to the public. Mina is harder to do than Tsuyu but still can be marketed as cute ‘despite’ her eyes, skin, horns, etc. You know who won’t be marketed like that? Tokoyami and Shoji and Kouda. You hardly ever see them in the anime either. Not main character material. Not classified as cute, etc. harder for business students to market them as heroes, seen as not as strong, etc. I guarantee the writers coulda made tokoyami a powerhouse, could have done so much with Mina’s acid or Kouda controlling animals.

So not only is it shown in anime, it’s also marketed that way to the viewers who prefer the cute boys, etc., it’s not as popular a show if the mcs aren’t cute. Same with MCU and DC movies. Justice league movie? Great but let’s take out hawkwoman and Martian manhunter. Only sexy men and one woman allowed. Avengers? Great but let’s focus on the ones without discrimination and limit parts with Bruce Banner and get villains that are aliens and very clearly ‘other’.

One movie that was great with this was guardians of the galaxy in that they had clear differences physically and not in a sexy alien fetish way. I liked that, that they were a ragtag group of very very different people and still made a family. (Leaving out the latest love and thunder movie tho) But in that show it was clear to see that the main characters were not all the stereotypical white men and women with cool and a useful powers. Sure they still had one white dude but I think it’s great he doesn’t have any actual powers.

Deadpool also does an awesome job with this!! Having disabilities, plus size characters, key women characters (domino) other than the one girl who was a plot device (Vanessa) and poc (russel and domino), etc. and a lesbian couple! Love it. And I love the found family aspects and the diversity! It makes me happy to see.

Even deadpool in deadpool 2 shows that xmen has issues within them. In that conference room most were white men tbh. They value certain kinds of people and often the rest of the mutants with unfavorable powers go with Magneto, just to be accepted even if he’s got evil and bad intentions. To me, Charles and Erik have bad intentions and don’t actually care about helping the mutants have a safe space, they’re mostly focused on how the rest of society will accept them. Charles wants to do it peacefully and magneto wants to do it forcefully. They don’t actually set up any kind of contingencies or start petitions and laws and policies that will actually help these poor kids. (Ex. Morlocks)

In the justice league too, you can see the characters with more physical differences like Martian manhunter, lagoon boy, beast boy, etc. aren’t many. They’re not seen as main character material, not able to be marketable in the same sexy way that Hawkwoman could be, etc. they’re underutilized in the league and underrepresented. Take killer croc or the killer shark guy. There’s literally so few of them around in DC comics and movies and aren’t marketed to the general audience. Like, there’s a reason why Marvel focuses on certain characters over others. Reason why they focus on avengers over xmen. But it’s changing and more diverse characters are being represented so that’s good. Hope they keep it up👍

Anyways this is getting super long so I’ll leave it here, sorry if it doesn’t make sense? But I just love talking about stuff like this

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cello-trash · 3 years ago

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Some autistic Jack head canons I’ve been thinking about regarding Jacks acceptance of his autism

Bob and Alicia knew he was autistic from a very young age but don’t tell him out of a misplaced thought that he’ll be better off not knowing and that he could be “more normal” that way

They esp don’t want the press to find out bc god knows what headlines they’d write

so Jack grows up knowing he’s “different” bc of how other people treat him but not knowing why

He gets officially diagnosed right after his OD when he really starts going to therapy regularly but he feels like it’s just another thing that makes him “fucked up” so he tries to mask even harder

Jack is esp sensitive to noise and he can get overstimulated easily. This makes hockey games hard sometimes. Usually he’s so focused on the hockey he doesn’t even notice how loud the arena is, but sometimes his head buzzes and he gets so overwhelmed that afterwards he has to just lay in the dark not speaking or moving for hours after the game

When he’s home, Bitty lays on top of Jack like a weighted blanket which is one of jacks favorite things. Bitty will feed him finger food and have him drink water to make sure he’s physically fine while Jack is nonverbal

When it’s an away game Bitty gifts Jack Monsieur Bun and Jack runs his fingers over the little stuffed animal and it calms him down

Things get better for Jack when he stops thinking of autism as something that means he’s a fuck up

it’s actually bc of Bitty he realizes this. He sees just how much stim toys and accommodations help Bitty with ADHD but sees how ashamed Bitty is of using them and when he tries to convince Bitty to use them when he needs them Bitty raises an eyebrow and goes “I’ll do it if u also stop being ashamed Mr. Zimmermann” and Jack goes “…oh…”

Once Jack gets some stim toys he realizes that he’s actually been stimming his whole life to calm himself calm down when he’s overwhelmed: the way he’d rock back and forth on the bench, the way he’d chew on his mouth guard, the way he’d tap his thighs in repetitive patterns, etc.

As he starts to mask less he finds that sometimes he’ll verbally stim by reciting people’s hockey stats on the bench (he memorized the stats for most of the NHL when he was a kid but mostly these days it’s Bitty’s stats) or flap his hands around

When the press see him do this he doesn’t really respond and just stares at them blankly until they move on… he doesn’t really see how him being autistic is their business

That changes tho when some other NHL Player in their division starts campaigning for AutismSpeaks and all of a sudden Jack is checking this man really hard constantly and getting into little fights with him

Of course people notice and he gets asked about it at a press conference

And Jack goes “well he’s either an uninformed idiot who should look into the orgs he works with before he does or he’s a piece of shit who represents a piece of shit organization” and he goes on this rant about all the shitty things AutismSpeaks has done/advocated for

And when the press asks him why he knows so much about it he goes “bc I’m fucking autistic. Y’all always called me a hockey robot with no emotions I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out.” And then he walks out of the press room

Bitty gives him the biggest hug and kisses afterwards and makes Jack his favorite pie (but not before they have hot sex)

Shitty calls him the next day and is like “bro I’m so sorry I called u a robot and made fun of u bro that was so ableist of me bro”

And Jack rolls his eyes and says “when the press called me an emotionless robot it always struck a nerve but with u it was always fond… u always stayed behind to explain jokes I didn’t get or play with my hair or whatever. U had my back and it was a joke… plus how do u know that I’m not actually a robot beep beep boop boop

Jack becomes an advocate for autism while he’s playing and then once he retires he does lots of fundraising and such

At first Bob and Alicia don’t get why he would want everyone to know that he’s autistic but after a serious talk with Jack they understand that they were thinking about it the wrong way. They were never malicious but they raised Jack during the peak of the “vaccine autism scare” and so subconsciously thought of autism as a curse

Jack jokes that thank god they didn’t actually understand that autism wasn’t a bad thing bc then they might have become Autism Parents tm and they’d have shitty puzzle piece tattoos

#i have so many more thoughts but this is already such a long post #if anyone made it this far and wants to hear more plz let me know and I’d be happy to talk more haha #omgcp #jack zimmermann #autistic jack

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abla-soso · 3 years ago

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Zionism is a colonial ideology that explicitly relies on the forceful removal of the native population from its homeland.

Israel as a state was created and funded by settler colonialism, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and the many massacres of civilians, headed by self-proclaimed "colonizers" and "terrorists" who went on to carry out even worse crimes while being the head of the state.

Yet time and time again, Israel gives the world some false, sad story about how the Zionists were just innocent immigrants fleeing from a genocide and how it’s the Palestinians who fought them just because they didn't want to peacefully co-exist with Jews, and how the Arabs refused to accept the partition plan and fought against the establishment of Israel because they hate Jews, etc., etc.

But it’s clear to anyone familiar with real history and familiar with the writing of Zionist founders and Zionist militant groups that the Zionist goal was always to control the entirety of Palestinian territory and to have all of the Palestinians removed from it all.

Zionism's colonial nature was explicit from the outset and was leveraged as a selling point to gain European support.

When colonialism began to lose legitimacy, the term was retired.

Let's take a walk through history, to what Zionist leaders themselves said:

In 1862's 'Rome and Jerusalem,' perhaps the earliest Zionist text, Moses Hess asked France to "help the Jews to found colonies which may extend from Suez to Jerusalem and from the banks of the Jordan to the coast of the Mediterranean."

In 1891, leading Zionist thinker Asher Ginsburg (Ahad Ha'am) wrote that "when the life of our people in Palestine will develop to such an extent as to push out, to a small or large extent, the indigenous population of the country, then not easily will they give up their place."

Israel Zangwill, British leader of the Jewish Territorialist Organization (ITO), wrote in 1904 of "a difficulty from which the Zionist dare not avert his eyes, though he rarely likes to face it." It was that "Palestine proper has already its inhabitants." So what was his solution? "We must be prepared...to drive out by the sword the tribes in possession as our forefathers did."

Similarly, Chaim Weizmann referred to Palestinians as "the rocks of Judea, as obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path."

In late August 1898, the Second Zionist Congress established the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization and the first official Zionist bank. In 1902, the Anglo-Palestine Company Ltd. was founded as a subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust.

In 1902, Theodor Herzl, father of political Zionism, begged Cecil Rhodes to support the Zionist project and facilitate Jewish settlement of Palestine. Zionism was in Britain's imperial interest, Herzl suggested, "Because it is something colonial."

In his 1926, address to Nat'l Conference of the United Palestine Appeal in Boston, Weizmann said Palestinians "are in the country, and have been there for ages. We are the newcomers and have to become part and parcel of the country. We are planting a new people in the country.

In 1929, early Labor Zionist intellectual Berl Katznelson declared, "Zionist enterprise is an enterprise of conquest," admitting that "it is by no chance that I use military terms when speaking of settlement."

The Jewish Agency, formed in 1929 by the 16th Zionist Congress, was (and is still) tasked with increasing Jewish immigration to Palestine. Its fundraising arm originally operated under the auspices of World Zionist Organization's aptly-named "Colonization Department."

In 1930, Menachem Usshishkin, a powerful early pioneer of Zionism and leading member of the Jewish National Fund, stated, "If there are other inhabitants there [in Palestine], they must be transferred to some other place. We must take over the land."

In 1936, Ussishkin commented, "Now the [Palestinian] Arabs do not want us because we want to be the rulers. I will fight for this. I will make sure that we will be the landlords of this land...because this country belongs to us not to them."

In 1936, another leading Zionist, Arthur Ruppin, who led colonization efforts through the Jewish National Fund, declared, "On every site where we purchase land and where we settle people, the present cultivators will inevitably be dispossessed."

In June 1937, David Ben-Gurion wrote to Jewish Agency head Moshe Shertok, "Were I an Arab...I would rebel even more vigorously, bitterly, and desperately against the immigration that will one day turn Palestine and all its Arab residents over to Jewish rule."

On October 5, 1937, David Ben-Gurion sent a letter to his son Amos in which he wrote that "Palestine...contains vast colonization potential which the Arabs neither need nor are qualified (because of their lack of need) to exploit."

Ben-Gurion told the 20th Zionist Congress in August 1937, "New Jewish settlement will not be possible unless there is a transfer of the Arab peasantry," adding, "Jewish power in the country...will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale."

At the November 21, 1937 meeting of Jewish Agency's Transfer Committee, Yosef Weitz, Land Department chief at the Jewish National Fund, boasted that "transfer" not only "diminish[es] the Arab population," but also "release[s] it for Jewish inhabitants."

In 1938, Ben-Gurion reaffirmed these sentiments: "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. Politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves. The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down." At the same time, Ussishkin insisted, "We cannot start the Jewish state with...half the population being Arab...Such a state cannot survive even half an hour." Regarding the forcible ethnic cleansing of over sixty thousand Palestinian families, he added: "It is most moral." Ruppin agreed: "I do not believe in the transfer of individuals. I believe in the transfer of entire villages." He also wrote, "Land is the most necessary thing for establishing roots in Palestine...We are bound in each case...to remove the peasants who cultivate the land."

Moshe Shertok, Jewish Agency chief and later Israel's second prime minister, said, "We have forgotten that we have not come to an empty land to inherit it, but we have come to conquer a country from people inhabiting it."

On March 20, 1941, the Jewish Agency's Yosef Weitz wrote, "The complete evacuation of the country from its other inhabitants and handing it over to the Jewish people is the answer."

In 1941, Weitzmann told Ivan Maisky, Soviet ambassador to England, that "if half a million Arabs could be transferred, two million Jews could be put in their place. That, of course, would be a first installment; what might happen afterwards [would be] a matter for history."

In a 1941, memorandum entitled "Outlines of the Zionist Policy", Ben-Gurion recognized that "the majority of the Arabs could hardly be expected to leave voluntarily," noting, "Complete transfer without compulsion – and ruthless compulsion, at that – is hardly imaginable."

In mid-1947, the Jewish Agency presented its position to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. It declared "industrial development in Palestine" was "part of...the migration of industry from the old industrial countries to colonial or semi-colonial territories."

During the presentation, Chaim Weizmann-later Israel's 1st president-stated, "As compared with the result of the colonizing activities of other peoples, our impact on the Arabs has not produced very much worse results than what has been produced by others in other countries."

Moshe Shertok, Israel's 2nd prime minister, boasted of Zionism to the UNSCOP, saying "it will not be easy to find an instance in the history of colonization where a large scale settlement scheme has been conducted with so much respect for the interests of existing population."

Founder and longtime president of the World Jewish Congress Nahum Goldmann recalled Ben-Gurion saying in 1956, "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country."

In 1969, Moshe Dayan declared, "Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages...There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."

In 23rd of October, 1973, when the former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin asked Ben‐Gurion: "What is to be done with the Palestinian population?’, Ben‐Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said: "Drive them out".

#israeli history #zionism #settler colonialism #israel #palestine #stop asian hate

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anonymoushouseplantfan · 4 years ago

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Submitted: military influencer

A military influencer is someone who dedicates themselves to supporting and championing the military. Usually this is someone who’ll work with companies to encourage them to make products or do research that benefit the military (families, soldiers, vets, etc), collaborate on initiatives together, do fundraising, raise awareness for military causes. They also do mentorships, help vets find jobs, and help people tell stories about their service.

This should sound very familiar. Because the BRF are already military influencers in their own way with their work supporting the military, Remembrance Day, Bletchley Park, etc. They’re staffed by military aides, they served themselves. Harry already is a military influencer. That was his platform in the UK and his role in the Royal Foundation with the Cambs, including Heads Together. The only difference is that Harry wants the US military now and he thinks he can regurgitate the UK “Hero Harry” magic. It won’t work.

Some examples of other military influencers in the US – Gary Sinise, the ArmyWife 101 blog, Seal Team 6. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden during the Obama Administration can be considered military influencers for their work supporting military families and veterans. This is why the Jill Biden/Prince Harry stories are coming out now. Jill has already announced she will continue supporting military families as the First Lady and that is Meghan’s in to the new administration, by propping Hero Harry up. Celebrities that go on USO tours or show up at the Warrior Games/Invictus aren’t military influencers.

(Used to work for DOD. I had to track all military-related conferences and research efforts. There’s a magazine and an annual conference for military influencers, which is how I came across it a couple years ago.)

__________________________________________________________________

Thank you! This is very enlightening.

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evilelitest2 · 5 years ago

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Did Hillary Clinton Lose because of Russia, Sexism, or because she was too centrist?

...Can I take all three for 700?

Ok so one of the core divides in the Democratic Party right now is ‘who is to blame for 2016″ and the fact is there are multiple reasons. Basically in terms of how much we can judge hillary clinton, I think there are 6 types of issues, but let me make this clear, Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million votes. Also 2016 was our election to win, and by all rights we should have crushed the Republicans, so something went wrong

1) Structural Advantages the Republicans always have. This would have affected any democratic candidate regardless of who got the job, but we should have been able to over come this

Basically Republicans have a few advantages in Presidential elections due to undemocratic measures they constantly support. This includes

The Damned Electoral College

Citizens United gives a fundraising advantage to Republicans, especially regarding international donors

Old people always vote, young people rarely do

wide spread voter suppression, ID Laws, limited polling stations, reduced polling hours, election day not being a holiday etc

The media being generally useless

2) Things that were not Hillary Clinton’s fault, totally blameless, utterly unfair. This includes

Sexism, which was a major factor in 2016

The fact that Obamacare prices went up in the last weeks of the election

The Fact that for 4 year before hand everybody had been prepping for Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton which just made everybody exhausted

The Fact that Trump was given between 2-5 billion dollars of free media attention because he was good for ratings, and to make sure he would come back most of them only asked him softball questions and he got to host Saturday Night live.

And of course Russian hackers actively trying to help Trump win the election.

3) Things that weren’t Clinton’s fault, but she responded badly too them. Basically she was actually blameless, but she wasn’t able to handle the situation well.

The ultimate example of this was the whole Pneumonia issue. On September 11th, 2016, less than a month before the election, Clinton goes to a 9/11 reception and seems to collapse part way through and has to be rushed out. People aren’t told what happened and then initial reporting is that she suffered Heat Stroke. The story swirls until a few days later it is revealed that she had Pneumonia and got sick. Now Clinton getting Pneumonia is not a big deal and obviously not her fault, she got sick, that happens. But the fact that her staff responded to the whole thing with such an unclear manner allowed the whole thing to come off as a bigger deal than it was. Now obviously the conservatives are going to be like “Clinton is too sick to be president, unlike...donald Trump” no matter what you do, but because of this bad response the story gained more traction with real media outlets when it shouldn’t have.

There are plenty of other examples of this type of behavior from Clinton

4) Things that were Clinton’s fault, but she got blamed for it more than other politicians. You see this doubly when the media focused more time on Clinton than things Trump also did.

The most obvious example of this is the Email Scandals. Clinton did fuck up with how she handled the emails, but it was no way near worth the level of attention given to them at the time, I mean that was a bloody nightmare.

The panama Papers break up hurt her as well.

Voting for the Iraq war is a much more dramatic example of this, because that was one of her worse moves

5) Things that were 100% her fault and she messed up terribly

One of the most obvious example of this was when Clinton was like ‘OMG Nancy Reagan was so good on the AIDS crisis which...nobody made you do that Hillary Clinton, why would you say something like that?

Or when she ignored the Sanders team in Wisconson and Michigan warning her that those states needed more attention

Or....not giving any damn press conferences which yeah, of course Trump controls the media narrative if you don’t bother to push your own

Or not even really bothering to try to heal the wounds of the 2016 primary (compare this to Obama after the 2008 Primary)

Or not really having a good answer for the Wall Street speeches

The list goes on, Clinton ran a bad campaign and was a very bad candidate.

6) Finally, a specific subset of mistakes that Clinton made which were all based on the premise that “There is no way Clinton could ever lose to Donald Trump” Which lead to her and her campaign making a lot of decisions which in hindsight were really bad idea. Now if that assumption had been correct, they would have been good ideas, its just that they were based on a lie.

For example, picking TIm Kaine as VP was a terrible choice. You don’t pick a VP from your part of the Party, you pick a VP to make up for your own deficiencies. Even Trump knew this, he picked a mild manner fundamentalist nutjob to get the religious right, who didn’t like him, to come around (and man did they come around, they are his base now). Tim Kaine is a terrible choice if you want to win an election and need to maximize your own turn out....

But he is a great choice if you already ‘know’ you are gonna win 2016, and thus you are trying to pick a VP to support you once you are in office. Because he is loyal, he has the same interests as you, and understands your perspective.

Same with the choice not to co opt Sanders folk into the Cabinet. Why get people you don’t agree with when you are going to win anyways and get people who you actually like

Or making a play for Georgia rather than focus on holding your own base. Obviously clinton is going to win so might as well make our victory even bigger

This....backfired.

In conclusion, Clinton lost for a variety reasons, some of them her fault, some not her fault, but rememeber she barely lost in 4 states. If clinton had made all the same mistakes but the email scandal didn’t happen, she likely wins anyways. If the Email Scandal and Russian hacking happen but she picked a better VP, she likely wins anyways. If she ran the same campaign but Russian didn’t involve itself, or America was less sexist, she wins anyways. You needed all of these factors to come together and even then trump barley wins...while losing the popular vote by 3 million.

Also to be clear, my opinion on Clinton a politician (mostly negative) doesn’t actually effect whether she could have one, lots of people I don’t like win (Trump). Its just that she was extremely bad at PR which is kinda..important if you are running for president.

@mel-esprit you might enjoy this

#Ask EvilElitest #2016 eleciton #Hillary Clinton #Bernie Sanders #Elizabeth Warren #Donald Trump #2020 primary #Democratic party #Putin #Electoral College

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studyblxrr · 5 years ago

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Singapore Scholarship Interview Questions and Experience

Overview of scholars’ programmes and scholarships for which I went for interviews:

Scholars’ Programmes: 1. National University of Singapore (NUS): University Scholars’ Programme (USP) 2. National Technological University (NTU): CN Yang Scholars’ Programme

Scholarships: 1. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore Local and Overseas Scholarships (CAAS) (2 rounds) 2. National Technological University: Nanyang Scholarship 3. National University of Singapore: NUS Merit Scholarship (2nd tier; 1st round)

This post has been long overdue but... After my GCE ‘A’ Level a couple years ago, I applied for a number of scholarships and scholars’ programme locally. However, when I was shortlisted for the interviews for these, I realised there were very few platforms on which they actually shared in-depth information about how the interviews are conducted so now that I’m kind of done with all my interviews, I’ve decided to compile everything I went through and share it with you guys. I was actually also just shortlisted for the MOH Healthcare Merit Award / Scholarship interview, but declined to attend it (so I’m sorry to those who were curious to know what the interview would be like) because I’ve decided to enrol into CN Yang Scholars’ Programme. I’ll give you a breakdown of the reasons why in a bit. All right, enough rambling, now it begins!

CAAS Scholarship Interview

Result: Not offered (honestly because I did ZERO preparation for the actual interview lol halp)

There were two rounds of interviews for this scholarship. The first involved something like a ‘roleplay’ where we discussed how we would solve a simulated issue. I passed this round. Honestly, just speak up and try to ‘put yourself out there’ more, so that the interviewer / observer can hear your opinions better and ‘get to know you’ more easily.

The second round of interview is way more formal, with a panel including about 4 management/executive-level guys. I’m pretty sure one of the Directors was there. Since I did not pass this round, I won’t share my answers back then, but I think the trick is to really read up on Singaporean current affairs beforehand, read some opinion pieces (maybe from the newspapers forums), and know about CAAS well!!

The Interview Questions:

1. Tell us about yourself. 2. What are some of your strengths and weaknesses? 3. What do you know about CAAS?

4. Do you think females should also partake in NS? --> I answered this question very poorly (I think), but the interviewer then told me that I could’ve said something like... ‘females also serve the country in different ways, such as in the public sector, in their daily contributions to the workforce and even taking care of their children and their families for the future...and military / NS is not the only way one can contribute to Singapore’s society’

I can’t really recall the rest of the questions, but good luck!

NUS USP Interview

Result: Offered Summary of benefits: Basically a programme that entails 2 years of compulsary on-campus living (NOT sponsored accommodation, but simply a requirement of the programme) that focuses on critical thinking skills and nurturing all-rounded thinking regardless of courses pursued; known to be pretty rigorous, involving classes even after ‘lesson hours’ and intensive writing; according to my seniors, this programme really trains your writing skills so it kind of helps in the long run, with writing theses and all that. pretty cool programme imo.

The Interview: this was a pretty chill, casual interview if i’m completely honest. there were 2 interviewers -- a prof of the programme and a USP alumni.

Q: Tell us about yourself, in terms of how your life has been and what got you interested in USP. A: Well, I’d like to think that I have led quite a unique life in that I spent the first 10 years of my life living in Malaysia. And because my entire childhood was spent there close to nature, it shaped my thinking such that I have a greater appreciation for more hands-on and experiential learning. So, even when I came to Singapore for primary education onwards, I was constantly seeking ways to achieve a more balanced, and exciting education path for myself. For instance, in secondary school, I tried my hand in community service, which made me realise my passion for people (etc. etc. etc.); and then in Junior College, I decided to pick up photography because I realised that I was lacking the more ‘artistic’ aspect of life. So I did that, alongside my original interest in community service, which I continued to pursue with my own self-initiated Fundraising projects. Why I’m interested in USP is because I realised that there are multiple tiers to it that allow me to be exposed to a wider variety of knowledge fields and skill sets, and also more abstract and humanities-focused courses even though I’m interested in joining a science course.

Q: You mentioned that you spent the first 10 years of your life in Malaysia, can you tell us more about what you think of the sense of rootedness you have towards Singapore vs Malaysia? A: (I’m assuming this is pretty specific towards my previous answer and probably none of you will be asked this as well so I’ll skip on what I replied; but I gave a pretty neutral answer, saying that I’m thankful towards M’sia for having shaped me as a child to think the way that I do today, and towards S’pore for the opportunities I have had to grow even more as a more mature person etc.)

Q: What was your community service project about and what did you learn from it? A: It was a fundraising project that aimed to raise funds so that the organisation we were working with would be able to continue to sustain its operations, and fulfil its aim of keeping all its programmes free of charge. Because I was the student leader of this project, I was in charge of coordinating recruitment, attendance as well as liaising with managements to host our fundraising events. So through these, I was able to learn how to communicate better with others and negotiate for better terms for my project. Because I was doing this along with exams, and another year-long tuition programme for less fortunate children, I also learnt to manage my stress and the importance of pacing myself so that I would not overwork and burn out.

Q: Speaking of non-profit organisations, what do you think of them in general? A: I feel like ultimately, non-profit organisations are still businesses that require a certain amount of profit and/or revenue to continue sustaining their operations. So, in the end it’s still a lot of communicating with other for-profit businesses to sell their efforts so that they would be sponsored, and so that others would be enticed to give back to the community by helping to sustain the non-profit organisations. My fundraising project was actually able to give me more insight into the behind-the-scenes of running a non-profit organisation, and we realised that even donations had to be audited and checked, and the staff still had to be paid. etc. etc. etc.

Q: What do you think sets you apart from your peers such that you will be able to excel under USP? A: I believe that I have the passion and the drive to keep up with the rigorous programmes and classes at USP. I am also very ambitious, so I will constantly strive to improve myself. Because I’ve always been very receptive to both the sciences and the humanities and have equal appreciation for both, I am also confident in understanding and adapting to the style of USP. I also think that because of my experiences, I will also be able to bring more unique ideas to the table as USP and contribute to more meaningful discussions.

NTU CN Yang Scholars’ Programme Interview

Result: Offered Summary of benefits: Includes the Nanyang Scholarship and guaranteed overseas final year research project (5 to 8 months), guaranteed overseas exchange for one semester, guaranteed four years of stay in NTU halls of residence, opportunities for research attachment from Year One onwards, opportunities to attend an international conference with full subsidy, opportunities to meet top leading scientists and academics, opportunities for PhD study at NTU or Joint PhD with partner university (Minimum CGPA of 4.00 for application of a scholarship from NTU)

The Interview: again, a pretty chill, pretty brief interview. there was only 1 interviewer.

Q: Tell me briefly about yourself. A: (summarised achievements + passions/interests)

Q: Do you intend to do a PhD after you graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree? A: Yes, because........ (just talk about furthering your passions and a PhD honing new skills...)

To be honest, the rest of the interview was mostly the interviewer explaining what the scholarship and scholars’ programme would entail. It was quite an easy breezy interview.

NTU Nanyang Scholarship Interview (under SCBE)

As my first-choice course was Chemical Engineering, naturally I had my Nanyang Scholarship interview under the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (SCBE), with the Academic Chair and an administrative staff as the interviewers.

Result: Offered along with ADDITIONAL LEAD AWARD Summary of Nanyang Scholarship benefits: Full coverage of subsidised tuition fees (after Tuition Grant), Living allowance of S$6,500 per academic year, Accommodation allowance of up to S$2,000 per academic year (Applicable to scholarship holders who reside in NTU hostels only), Travel grant of S$5,000 for an overseas programme (one-off), Computer allowance of S$1,750 (one-off)

Summary of LEAD Award benefits: can expect up to SGD$6,000 reward in the form of one of the following four options: (1) $1,500 cash award per semester (max 4 semesters); or (2) Overseas Internship for 2 months at MIT or other world renowned overseas laboratories for research; or (3) Leadership development/ conference/ workshop; or (4) Overseas study trip

--> Trick: if you ever get such a top-up award, just opt for the cash grant as that’s the easiest to reap the full benefit. You’re better off sourcing for your own internships, as the MIT ones are not guaranteed to be available for your cohort, or there might be more administrative procedures for that.

The Interview:

Q: Tell me about yourself. A: (summarised achievements + passions/interests) -- you can talk a little bit about why you chose to study your course of choice

Q: Tell me more about your leadership positions in JC and secondary school. A: (again, summarise your achievements - phrase them in such a way that you end with a positive result that YOU helped to achieve)

More follow-up questions about past work experiences...honestly, just answer from your heart and be truthful. They don’t bite.

Afterwards, they pretty much just started telling me about the scholarship and how I can benefit from it. Following that, they offered me the LEAD Award top-up, which I did NOT see coming but was very flattered by.

NUS Merit Award Interview (under Faculty of Science, Pharmacy)

Result: Offered Merit Award (2nd tier) Summary of benefits: Tuition fees (after MOE Tuition Grant subsidy), S$6,000 annual living allowance, S$2,000 one-time computer allowance upon enrolment, Guaranteed an offer of a 1-semester Student Exchange Programme (SEP) with one of NUS’ overseas partner universities, Guaranteed offers of on-campus accommodation for the first 2 years of undergraduate studies, provided the Scholar submits a complete hostel admission application every year within the prescribed application periods, and fulfils NUS’s eligibility criteria for NUS on-campus accommodation.

The Interview:

I have to say that this was one of my worst interview experiences. The questions were pretty standard at first, asking about (again) yourself, your past experiences, why you chose your course of study. But after a while it took a dark turn. So, by this point I’d already been accepted into the Pharmacy course, so I was merely interviewing for the scholarship and NOT the course. Yet, the interviewer (one of 3 in the panel) started to bombard me with questions about why I got a B in A Level Chemistry (FYI: I had all A’s and a B in H2 Chem), what went wrong (his words, not mine), why I deserved to be given a scholarship IN SPITE OF THE ‘B’, what I will do to overcome this stupid shortcoming...... blah blah blah EXTREMELY TERRIBLE AND ELITIST INTERVIEWER.

But again, that was my experience. I could’ve just gotten a really mean interviewer. Just go in with an open mind. But I left the interview feeling really looked down on and...shamed. Which is sad because now that I am way past that, I wish I had gone back in and told him that grades are not what make a person.

And with that, we have come to the end of this reeeeeeally long (and overdue) post.

If any of you guys have anything to ask me about scholarships / scholarship application processes in Singapore, feel free hit me up in the ask box! :) Hehe.

Oh, and if you were curious, I accepted the C N Yang Scholarship + Nanyang Scholarship (with SCBE LEAD Award) in the end. If you would like me to talk more about how I am finding NTU life, how each Scholars’ Programme works, how I am benefitting from my scholarship, and so on, do ask away! (https://studyblxrr.tumblr.com/ask)

PS. For those of you who might be curious, my profile of entry was A’s in H2 Biology, H2 Math, H2 Econs, GP, PW and a B in H2 Chemistry. I was originally from the Raffles IP programme, with experiences in a fundraising CIP project and a year-long tutoring volunteer programme as ‘extra-curricular highlights’.

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4n6-anthro · 6 years ago

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How To Become A

Forensic Anthropologist!

Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology, and its various subfields in a legal setting. Forensic anthropologist assist in identifying deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed, mutilated, burned or unrecognizable.

Today, forensic anthropology is well established as a discipline in the forensic field. When physical characteristics (fingerprints, face, etc) which could be used to identify a body are tampered with, an anthropologists is called to investigate the remains and help identify individuals by using their bones.

Forensic anthropologists often assist in the investigation of war crimes (genocide, terrorism, etc.) and mass fatality investigations, like natural disasters or epidemics.

So, how do you become a forensic anthropologists?

The idea usually begins with a television show, or if you are like me, death and bones were fascinating to you as a child. There are various ways of arriving at the Forensic Anthropology career, I will explain the way we here is the U.S.A usually go about it.

High School Students:

Take all of your science classes, even physics!

• Biology will help you understand the human body, and how it works.

• Chemistry will help you understand the make up of life, and how the outside world can impact the remains.

• Physics will help you understand what happened the victims remains, example, how to determine if the person jumped, or fell off the roof prior to dying.

Math: Do not neglect it, you will be converting centimeters to feet/inches and so on. You will measure bones with various instruments, and you will need to understand some geometry when digging up a site, or sketching a room.

Arts: Drawing will be a lifesaver when it comes to osteology, not to mention if you must dig up a site. Photography, and working with clay is also good. Sketching the human form, and molding it will give you an advantage for the field.

Gym/PE Class: Stay fit! I repeat, stay fit! You will be working in odd conditions at times. Take on yoga for balancing and strength. Sometimes remains are in hard to reach areas, or you must squat for a long time to observe prior to moving. Fitness will help your back and legs to become strong and not hurt as much. We also spend a lot of time on a desk, so moving and being active is good for us.

English: learn to write proper emails, and the difference between how you write text messages and papers/professional emails.

Also volunteer in hospitals, morgues, old people homes, etc. You are probably used to being around the dead things, but don’t forget to keep in touch with the living and their needs. You need to know both the living world and the dead world, you are going to become the bridge between the two. Build your resume, do good in school and find a university or college that is right for you.

College/University:

Join the anthropology club, first semester, first week, first meeting, be there! (if there is no club, start it!) Go on trips (zoo, cemeteries, visit other schools/their anthropology departments, and go to conferences) ask professors to teach a five to ten minute lecture for the club, bake goods, fundraise, teach other departments and students about us. The friendships made within the club will become your network.

Take all of your general requirement courses seriously! (yes I know it feels like a repeat of high school, but your GPA matters for later on.)

Have a social life! Go out, but be safe. (College will not last forever.)

Make studying fun, create study groups, study outside and test each other.

Meet with your professors, go to their office hours, ask them about their research, a favorite book, or their favorite bone!

Start a dermestid beetle colony (if there is none)!

This is where you start to understand if you are a good fit, and if the work really is for you.

Visit the library, learn to research and write proper documents and papers. You will inevitably write grant proposals and thesis papers that will go way beyond 20 pages, it is normal.

If you can, take up a minor (forensic science is a fan favorite). Even a biology or art minor can help. Minor in something that is like a hobby for you, this will keep you mentally active and distracted for when you need a break from anthropology.

Again, stay fit! And try your best to eat healthy. And network, network, network.

Towards the last two years of your undergraduate degree do research! It can be something simple, like determining the sex between a female pelvis and a male pelvis, but make sure to present it, like at a conference where the Anthropology club will go and see it (winks). Professors might let you tag along and do research with them. Try and see if you can get something published, it can even be for the university’s newspaper, or magazine.

Take undergrad to make yourself distinct, and learn as much as you can.

Get your moneys worth!

Also, find a part-time college job to fund your partying and unhealthy food orders at midnight/three AM.

Plan your future, whether involves moving to a smaller location for work, or getting a higher degree.

Graduate School:

Not everyone will find an anthropology job with a BA or BS degree, the economy is not really our friend here. It might help to move, or relocate out of the big cities.

To PhD. or not? This is a big step that can take years to accomplish. It does not need to happen right away.

Getting a Masters degree is a great option. This is why your GPA, research, papers, and extracurriculars during undergrad were important. Distinct students make it into good graduate programs to do research, and to better learn the field.

Try not to pay for graduate school, often times the programs are funded through scholarships, assistantships, work, or even merit. Graduate school should not get you into more in debt, find the way.

Keep doing everything you did for undergrad, but amp it up. You have more free time to select and narrow your area of expertise (do you want to focus on children, adults, the pelvis, the skull, the process of decomposition, etc.). Make a killer thesis, and present your case. Show the world that you are here!

Also, keep a part-time/full-time job to fund your social life. Make time to hang out with professors (they are human just like you), colleagues, and friends.

Master’s are about two years, Ph.D varies by university or program and are a lot longer. Expect to educate as a Ph.D candidate, you will be teaching others, and make it fun.

Remember that you are more than your research, and your studies, they are a part of you, not the other way around.

Simple Steps:

Step 1: Graduate high school.

Step 2: Earn a Bachelor's Degree.

Step 3: Complete a Master's Degree Program. (Optional but you might need it.)

Step 4: Enroll in a PhD Program. (Optional.)

Aspiring Forensic Anthropologists:

• Need at least a master's degree in anthropology or forensic anthropology to find suitable work.

• Note: A doctoral degree (Ph.D) is needed to pursue research and tenured teaching opportunities in academia.

And Have Fun!

#forensic anthropology #forensics #anthropology #bones #science #references #how to become a forensic anthropologist

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herphdjourney-blog · 5 years ago

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What is “Inclusion”?

That question was the focus of this year’s Gender and Diversity in Organizations (GDO) Plenary at the Academy of Management (AoM).

Modupe Akinola, PhD, an Associate Professor of Management at Columbia Business School, said inclusion is: “Feeling like I can be myself and people are curious about my story.” Further, that “inclusion” is when people are not just curious about her identity but also about WHO she is and WHAT makes her who she is.

Derek R. Avery, PhD, the David C. Darnell Presidential Chair in Principled Leadership at Wake Forest University, said that inclusion is “when you can be exactly who you are and it’s OK.”

Other scholars shared insights on inclusion that I’ll touch on in future posts. I recorded the session so that I could cite them in my future work!

But first...under Modupe and Derek’s conceptualization of “inclusion,” let me introduce myself:

My identity:

I am an Afro-Latina, PhD student in organizational behavior, executive/life coach, entrepreneur, dancer, licensed Zumba instructor, traveler, and survivor. I’m from NYC and the daughter of 2 Central American immigrants.

WHO am I?

Hi! My name is Samantha and I am proudly multidimensional.

WHAT makes me who I am?

All of my life experiences these past 43 years.

Yes, I’m 43.

I started my PhD Journey at the age of 41 after 20 years of progressively advancing in nonprofit organizations doing fundraising and communications work on behalf of causes that I care about.

...after 10 years of teaching and performing Latin dance on stages around the world.

...after 2 bachelors degrees and 2 masters degrees.

...after several heartbreaks.

...after 2 near-death experiences.

...and after lots of world travel, including many visits to Costa Rica, where my mother is from, and Panama, where my father was from. He passed away but he was pretty awful during his lifetime (that’s a story for another post). My father’s awfulness & other grown men’s awfulness during my childhood led me to pursue the academic and professional experiences that shaped who I am today.

MY EDUCATION:

My undergraduate degrees are in Psychology and Women’s Studies. My 1st master's degree—was in Women’s History, which I earned in 2 years while working full-time. My 2nd master's degree was in Nonprofit Management. I earned that in 2.5 years while working full-time in an extremely demanding role. Toxic work environments led me to pursue training and certification in life/executive coaching. Now, I am pursuing a PhD in Organizational Behavior.

MY WORK:

I started working at nonprofit organizations during my undergraduate years. Besides the Help Center on my campus, where I volunteered for 3 years, my first off-campus job was an internship at a domestic violence shelter.

Immediately after college, I worked at a civil rights organization, a homeless shelter for women, and a reproductive health clinic.

I worked at feminist organizations for a while but although they espoused diversity values, their lack of a racial analysis or an intersectionality framework in practice is what led me to move on to racial/social/reproductive justice organizations.

My experiences advancing in those organizations is what led me to explore what “leadership” looked and felt like via additional education, workshops, books, blogs, conferences, etc.

Now--I am specifically interested in how people can thrive, not only survive, and I’m both fascinated and saddened by toxic workplaces...as well as by Jeffrey Pfeffer’s book, Dying For a Paycheck.

I study whiteness--not as a skin color but as a phenomenon of power and dominance. I also study thriving/flourishing, allyship, women’s leadership, courage/fragility, rage, love, intersectionality, CEOs, nonprofits, and philanthropy.

MY PASSION:

I have been dancing all of my life. As a kid, I also did gymnastics and cheerleading.

After graduating from undergrad, I also started dancing, teaching, and performing Latin dance around the world. I did that for 10 years until injuries and my intellectual curiosities channeled my attention back to nonprofit organizations and to my first master's degree.

MY DEFINING MOMENTS:

I had my 1st health scare in 2012: blood clots had traveled to both of my lungs from my left leg (a “pulmonary embolism”) but I had NO CLUE that was happening. All I knew was that it felt as though I was having a heart attack. I was hospitalized for a week but then put on blood thinners + watched over by doctors (and my guardian angels) for several years.

That was my 1st wake-up call.

I had been dancing all of my life but stopped and let the “work grind” take over my life. I had been relatively healthy all of my life, so I took my health/wellness/life/blood circulation for granted. My spirit and all of the cells in my body rebelled against me.

After that experience, I was so freaked out that I might die at any moment that I decided to pursue things on my bucket list, including more education and world travels...especially solo world travels, which freaked my doctors AND my Madrina (“godmother” in Spanish) out.

I had my 2nd health scare last year during the 1st year of my PhD Journey...a 2nd pulmonary embolism. You would have thought I had learned my lesson about the pitfalls of sedentary work life the 1st time around, right? 🤦🏽‍♀️ Now I am on blood thinners in perpetuity and more concerned about LIVING (literally staying alive) than I am meeting others’ conceptualizations of “success” in this “publish or perish” academic culture.

I bring all of the above into my PhD Journey, which is why so many of my social media posts are about wellness, self-care, and a #FitPhDJourney.

It’s not that I don’t “grind.” Folks only see the moments when I take a break to capture my life. Not when I’m interviewing research participants for my qualifying paper, analyzing data for my research fellowship, writing papers under huge looming deadlines, coaching clients, working on consulting projects, or laying on my couch depressed and unable to leave my apartment for entire weekends (yes, even coaches are HUMAN).

How do I deal with the stress of this PhD journey?

I try to find moments of peace, joy, and community. Those moments look different for all of us but for me, dance, travel, and adventures have always been my go-to stress relievers. And, since I recently decided to become a licensed Zumba instructor as an act of survival, I also post a lot about Zumba. 💃🏽 I’m aware that my mere existence in this world is resistance to what Max Weber described as the “iron cage” and what Barker & Thompkins described as “concertive control.”

So, circling back to the question of “What is Inclusion?” as I wrap up this very long post...

If we agree with Modupe and Derek’s definition of inclusion (and we should...BUT I will also share other scholars’ insights on other elements of “inclusion” in future posts, which may resonate in other ways with you), then I have questions for you:

Taking intersectionality into account when understanding the multidimensional nature of oppression, what are the implications for mentoring [PhD] students who have various racial, ethnic, gender, family, nationality, professional, academic, and life experiences?

How do we support [PhD] students in their various journeys in ways that challenge them and prepare them for the future THEY want without putting them in the aforementioned “iron cage” of “concertive control”?

If culture and socialization work as unconscious filters shaping our perceptions, how do you engage in reflexivity and mentor people who may or may not look like you...and may or may not want to BE like you “when they grow up” even though you’re amazing?

More to come on “inclusion” in future posts…

xoxo, Samantha

#PhDJourney PhDStudent PhDGrind AfroLatina SurvivingVsThriving Transitions

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thequeenofcronuts · 6 years ago

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Uncertainties - A Royal Romance AU Story Chapter 2 Gifts for Confidence

Uncertainties- AU The Royal Romance

Uncertainties main location Silicon Valley California.

AU Summary - Career life is busy for a group of six friends when they meet a captivating woman with a beautiful soul. New friendships are forged and new romances revealed. All the while hearts are torn and closets are cleared of skeletons. True love always wins in the end, right?

AU Warnings - This Stand Alone will include the following 18+ subjects: Language, NS*W, Verbal Abuse, and Abortion. If ANY of these subjects will cause pain or hardship in reading, please skip reading Uncertainties. That being said, each chapter will include its own specific warnings.

AU Uncertainties Pairings and Characters: Pairings and Characters: Drake x Riley / Liam x Riley / Liam x Olivia / Drake x Olivia / Maxwell x Savannah, including Hana, and Madeleine, and OCs **All characters from the Choices Book: The Royal Romance are owned by Pixelberry Studios (Any other characters are the product of my brain…I probably should apologize now. 🙃😉)

Chapter 2 Summary - Liam meets Riley and thinks she may be a great fit for a friend. Meanwhile Riley’s long time friend sees something different.

Chapter 2 Warnings - None

Chapter Word Count: 4,240-ish

Tags: @client-327 @dcbbw @carabeth @drakesensworld @purplegreyshrimp

----- The next day Riley receives the call from Liam’s assistant requesting a meeting to discuss a possible donation and also possible fundraising gala with the CEO of Innovative Toy Box. After the call ends she immediately starts a call with her long time friend and after two rings Kammie answers. “Kam, you are not going to believe this. I got a random call from a major company that might donate to Gifts for Confidence! For once I wasn’t making a cold call, they called me! Crazy exciting, right?!” “Riles, I have to say that is pretty wicked cool. So what’s the company?” “ Innovative Toy Box. It’s a technology company of some sort that makes futuristic toys, or something like that. I obviously have to really do my research. Which, my dear sweet friend, oh the lovely and kind Kammie, wou-“ Kammie finishes Riley’s question. “Would I help you mine information? Of course.” Kammie hears Riley exhale a deep breath. “Thanks! I mean this could let the charity partner with way more orphanages!”

“Riles, I can’t even begin to imagine what this will do for everyone’s dreams in your office.” “Except Kam, I can’t let myself get too excited yet, I don’t even know what’s really going to happen.” Kammie sighs at her friend’s ever present practical mind. “Well then, I’ll be excited for both of us, and you be the serious downer you’ve been since the first day we met.” Riley takes a playful tone, “You didn’t just go there Miss ‘I had planned on sending my four years of college into oblivion as I partied like no tomorrow.’ Heh, how does our friendship continue to survive since we were randomly thrown together freshman year as roommates?” Kammie scoffs in reply, “Simple Riles, I made you way more exciting and you made me-” “Kam if you say ‘way less exciting’ our friendship is done at this exact moment.” They both burst out laughing.

“Okay Miss ‘Operation Save the World’ I’ve got the About Us page up from the company’s site. What’s the plan here?” Kammie hears the frantic clicking of Riley’s fingers on her keyboard already. “You read me important information, and take notes, from the pages on the website while I find any public financial statements, board reports, etc.” “I like this Riles. My job is actually simple enough this time around. Okay. Here’s the beginning of what they say about themselves on the ‘About Us’ page.

‘The mission of Innovative Toy Box is to provide children, alongside their parents, ways to use technology for enhancing life skills and lessons needed while still having fun. We believe it’s important to harness the future of technology, today, while we encourage the “good old fashion get out and play” style many of us remember from our own youth. From our app games, one for example, focusing on preschoolers, alongside their parents, learning to speak fluently in multiple languages, to our programming kits for older children teaching the most current coding skills while building robots as individual as their designer, we provide a plethora of toys for your child’s own technology toy box. ……’

“Riles that’s impressive! I think I want to build my own personal programming robot while learning coding, and I have no idea how that even works! What have you found?” Riley doesn’t answer right away. Still silence. “Um, Riles…Riley…” Riley’s tone is one of wonder when she finally speaks. “Their publicly released financials are incredible! I can’t believe a company like this would even hear about us, let alone call us!” Kammie laughs, “Well my little unbeliever, get ready cause it’s happening. Hey, when is your meeting?” “Friday morning. So I’ve got a lot of research to do. I want to know this company inside and out so they know we’re serious about this relationship. My only problem is…” “I got Riles, I’ll help in anyway I can. I know you’ve gotta keep your main job to pay the bills.” “Yeah, well that’s the life of girl with a degree in human services. Social Worker by day and charity worker … still by day. Gotta have two jobs. Heh. I’m just living the dream, aren’t I?” Kammie’s tone gets serious. “Riley Grace Brooks, you are wicked remarkable! You are the most compassionate, giving person I have ever known. You work to make a real difference in this world while loving unabashedly. Since our freshman year at USC I’ve seen that this has always been your dream. So you are living the dream. Keep living your damn dream girl.”

— — — — — Friday Morning

Riley’s voice is shaky as she talks to the receptionist in the lobby of the Innovative Toy Box offices. “Welcome Ms. Brooks!” Riley sees the woman’s name tag and mentally notes her name is Kelly. Kelly beams at Riley as she says, “Please take a seat while I check you into the system and contact Mr. Rys’ assistant. If I don’t have a chance to see you again before you leave, I wish you a wonderful day!” “You do the same, Kelly.” Wow, super nice and friendly lady. Riley thinks as she sits taking in the massive pure white lobby decorated with touches of more colors in the spectrum than she has ever seen at once. This would be completely intimidating if it wasn’t so carefree and…. happy? She continues to look around in awe as she realizes it feels like she is lost in a child’s imagination. All of the sudden a kind looking gentleman greets her. “Ms. Brooks, Welcome! We are quite excited to have you here with us today.” Riley feels some of the nervous tension release as she takes in the gentlemen’s kind smile. “My name is Thomas and I’m Mr. Rys’ assistant.” He extends his hand and Riley accepts a firm hand shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am .” “Likewise Thomas.” Riley replies as she still glances at the magnificent lobby.

“Thomas, this lobby is almost indescribable. The only possible description I could come up with would be that I’m lost inside a child’s mind. A child that is still pure of from the worries of this world. A child that is just allowed to be a child.” Thomas looks at the lobby and nods appreciatively. “Exactly what Mr. Rys was going for while in the designing stages of the building. He’d be quite pleased to hear you say that. You’d be amazed at how many people don’t take the time to ‘get it’. Even more of our own employees than you’d probably expect don’t either.”

Thomas motions for Riley to follow him and they begin to walk out of the lobby. “Allow me to escort you Mr. Rys’ conference room.” As they walk to a bank of elevators Riley looks around stunned. Somehow what should be stark white and uninviting is warm and cheerful. The colors of the furniture against the white background makes it unlike any corporate office building she has ever been to. That’s including every single company for children she has visited. As she and Thomas pass employees they all nod or say hello to Riley in recognition of the their visitor. By the time they reach the elevators Riley’s nerves have calmed immensely.

Thomas presses a call button and soon elevator doors open with Riley in awe again. Even the elevator is decorated wonderfully within the theme. Who thinks to decorate something as mundane as elevator in such detail? This is a fabulous place. I do wonder what this Liam Rys is actually going to be like. I can’t imagine someone who cultivates this kind of atmos- Thomas pulls her from her thoughts. “Ms. Brooks, the entire top floor is Mr. Rys’ office and I’ll be escorting you directly to his conference room.” Riley nods and can’t help but respond with a smile as she sees Thomas’ genuine one.

The elevator doors open and Riley walks out seeing nothing but white. White modern furniture, white walls. Such a drastic look and feel from the rest of the building. Thomas gives her a small knowing look as if he can read her thoughts while leading her into the conference room. “Please take any seat you wish. May I offer you some water, coffee, tea…” Riley tries to clear her parched throat. “Water would be lovely.” Thomas retrieves a bottle of water from the bar fridge and hands it to Riley while telling her, “I’ll let Mr. Rys know you’re here.” Riley takes the bottle of water thanking him and turns to the huge conference table. It's…round. I’ve never seen a CEO conference table be round. No head seat at the table for the someone of importance to sit. Again this whole room is white as well. She pulls out her laptop, notes, and charts from her carrying bag, and opens the bottle of water bottle while her laptop powers on.

Soon there is a gentle knock from a door she hadn’t noticed almost in the back corner of the room. As it slowly opens a very handsome, tall, well built man with blonde hair and deep blue eyes takes a few steps while clearing his throat. “Ms. Brooks, it is a delight to meet you.” He closes the door and takes the few steps his long legs need to reach Riley and offers a firm but considerate handshake, “Liam Rys.” He says as he takes the seat next to her with a wide, warm smile. Did the CEO really just knock on his own conference room door? That’s a first. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rys.” “Liam, please.” Riley nods, “Then Riley please.” Yep, he is easy on the eyes and charming. Soon Riley realizes she may have been gazing too long so she immediately says the first thing on her mind. “I have to say, Mr., er Liam, I have never seen the CEO of a company knock on his own conference room door before entering.” Meanwhile Liam sits back and is quite taken by Riley’s long raven hair, porcelain white skin, and bright blue eyes. Her eyes are in such contrast to her hair and skin. Hmmm, I think she is definitely Drake’s type…at least from what can be seen. I’ll have to make a point of describing her and telling him about her tonight. As he registers that she had mentioned him knocking before entering he realizes he may have been gazing too long. “Well Riley, I try not to be a ‘normal’ CEO. I feel it’s rather startling to be siting waiting for a meeting and have someone just barge through a door without warning.” Another wide smile is on his lips. “Shall we begin?”

Liam first gives Riley a slightly more detailed description of his company than the high level information that is on their website. Shes glad she completed the more in depth research herself, as understanding exactly what he is expressing helps her to relax even more. I’ve never felt more comfortable asking for money. She internally snickers. “So Riley, I’ve done a little bit of research on the charity you work with, but I’d like to hear about it from your view point first.” Huh, that’s a different and nice way to words, ‘tell me why I should give your charity a lot of money.’ Liam continues, “I also want to hear why you, Riley Brooks, chose to work for this particular one.”

Riley takes in a quiet breath as she realizes she’s not going to be giving her usual presentation to a large corporate donor, and begins like it’s just comfortable chatting. “Well, Gifts for Confidence works directly within a number of orphanages that our funds can sustain. No matter the age of a child when they enter an orphanage they have many different ranges of emotional needs, and while the orphanages do their best with the funding they receive, the obvious lack of funds do not allow for much more than the basic necessities. What our charity does is create and send a sort of…comfort ‘bundle’ that are age appropriate for new children entering the orphanage. The bundles include security blankets for little ones and popular character blankets for the older children. Also, they include age appropriate toys, books, coloring/school supplies, clothes, and some personal items which are given to the child so they have items that are ‘theirs’; belonging only to them. When you’re scared, alone, and confused receiving the comfort of these items that are specifically for ‘you’ makes a world of difference to these kids. It gives them confidence in the people taking care of them and in the new, scary place they’ve found themselves in through no doing of their own.”

Liam looks at Riley with amazing kindness. “This is a brilliant cause. I have to say I never thought of this kind of need specifically until my my best friend, Drake, and I found this charity online. To hear from someone so passionately explain it all, it truly makes me realize its importance. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, please tell me about why you have chosen to be involved in this particular area of need and this exact organization.” Liam notices Riley’s body slightly tense. “Please Riley, you don’t have to give any deeply private or personal information. I just want to understand this from another person’s perspective. While I have a passion for children too, my mind works with that passion in a completely different way.” His smile is so authentic and warm hearted Riley is certain he is definitely not the typical Silicon Valley quick dollar CEO.

With a sip of water Riley begins measuring her words, as there are multiple, very personal, reasons for who she is and the choices she makes in her life. “I have my bachelors degree in Human Services and my primary job is working with children coming into Hope Children’s Home from Child Endangerment situations. That work led me to hear about Gifts for Confidence, and I was soon volunteering at the charity until the need arose for a new Philanthropy Director and apparently they think I have the temperament for it, so here I am.” She shrugs her shoulders while grinning. The room is silent for a minute while there is a look of astonishment on Liam’s face. So giving, and a difference maker. Ok, so definitely Drake’s type with her beauty inside and out. “So you work two jobs with very emotionally situations? That sounds like a lot of stress. I’m sorry if that’s too personal.”

Riley smiles and shakes her head no. “Not at all. I love and believe in what I do. For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to make a difference and do something worthwhile. Yes, working at two organizations of this type does take an emotional toll, but to be frank, I also need to have more than one job. These kind of organizations pay as much as they can with the limited funds they have for operational and employee costs. Donors, and also our staff members, want as much of the money to go to the cause, the children who are the whole reason. It’s just that people forget it does cost money to run a charity. I’ve always believed that one of the most important factors in understanding the true measure of a charity is to understand their breakdown of funds. It’s sad that in a lot of organizations too much of the funding goes to fancy operating expenses and top employee salaries. But, enough about all that.” Riley looks at her charts and financial breakdowns she brought for her presentation.

“Liam, I do have our finical breakdowns and breakdowns of areas where funding is needed most. I can show you anything you might want to know or answer any questions you have.” Liam shakes his head as he tells Riley, “No, that won’t be necessary. I think we’re good. Is there someone I need to direct my staff to for contacting the charity so our organizations can begin working together?” Is he saying ‘yes’ with just this one conversation and not look at any of our numbers? “Well, when you’re ready to decide I’m the contact…for all of it actually.” She laughs. “Philanthropy ‘Director’ may sound like I’m over a department or something, it really just means that me, myself, and I direct the entire process.” Her laugh is harmonious, and her eyes are brilliant. Drake would be enthralled by her. “Riley I’ve already decided. This charity is amazing and if those working at it have the same passion I can’t wait to put this in motion. I’ll get my contact here in touch with you soon so we can start working on the donation, and the fundraising gala.” Riley’s head is spinning. “I’m sorry, but I am understanding correctly. You’re really serious about going all in, after just this conversation? What about your board of directors? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful…” He flashes her a bright smile. “The answer is yes, from just this conversation you have this company’s support, it’s my decision alone. When it comes down to the board, numbers are all that matter. Do you have any questions for me right now?”

Riley contemplates. Do I ask him my completely non-related question I’ve been curious about since walking out of the elevator? Why not, he seems nice enough. “Well I do have a question but it’s not about the funding it’s about this building.” Liam raises an eyebrow with an encouraging smile. “By all means Riley, ask away.” “I was telling Thomas as he escorted me up here that being in this building feels like you’re in a child’s imagination.” “That was my goal, Riley. Not many notice. You must be kind, caring, and smart.” Riley feels a blush to her cheeks. “So, when we reached your floor and I stepped off the elevator seeing all the plain whi-“ Liam interrupts. “Why is it so different up here? So, plain? I have two reasons. First, everyday it reminds me that I have a fresh canvas for this company in creating the forward thinking toys and programs we want to create. Second, the stark difference reminds me to never let my imagination go. To never let my ideas lose the magic.” Wow. Quite the cerebral thought process. “I understand. Everyone I’ve seen around here today seems to show that those sentiments trickle down from the top.”

Liam smiles and sighs. “Not every place is perfect, as I’m certain you know that well Riley, but we do our best.” He looks at his phone. “Well, I’m sorry to have to go-“ Riley stands up for a handshake. “Don’t apologize, you only have all this,” she gestures in the air around the building “to run and manage.” She lets out a short laugh. There’s that smile and laugh again of hers. She could be great for Drake. “Liam, I’m so thankful that our organizations will be working together. Have a great rest of your Friday.” “Thank you Riley. Enjoy your Friday as well. I couldn’t be happier that our company will be supporting such an amazing charity.” And woman. As Liam leaves the room Riley packs up her things with a large smile on her face.

Leaving the conference room Thomas asks if she would like to be escorted down to the lobby. “I appreciate it Thomas, but I’ll be able to find my way out. Have a great Friday and weekend.” Thomas returns the well wishes as Riley steps into the colorful elevator thrilled with the way things turned out today. The elevator stops on the next floor down to let a blonde woman with piercing green eyes enter. As the woman pushes the button for her desired floor Riley gives her a warm smile and says hello. The blonde just stares at the doors tapping her foot with her arms crossed. As the doors open she looks Riley over and obviously isn’t threatened. “Coming from Mr. Rys’ floor I see. Whatever for I wonder.” She walks out of the elevator without another word. Riley knew it wasn’t a question just a statement, and from the blonde’s tone she obviously didn’t appreciate her being on Liam’s floor. Like Liam said. “Not every place is perfect…but we do our best. She shakes her head on the rest of the ride down to the lobby.

*** Friday Night - Riley and Kammie

Riley is waiting for Kammie at their favorite dive bar for their end of the week tradition when she hears a friend from behind the bar, “Hey Riles. Celebrating making it through another week? How many fingers of whiskey are we needing tonight?” Jeff teases. “I’ll decide that when, and if, my partner in crime shows up.” Just then Riley feels a playful slap on the shoulder. “Speak of the devil.” Jeff chuckles while he ducks under the bar before Kammie can reach him. “Kam you’ll never get me.” He sticks out his tongue. “Oh sweet, naive Jeff,” Kammie cackles, “one of these days you won’t be fast enough, or won’t have this bar to hide behind. Then you’ll be oh so sorry.” Riley gives Jeff a feigned look of worry. “Kam may look sweet Jeff, but damn the girl can pack a punch.” Riley raises her hands as if leaving the conversation completely. “But hey, it’s your life Jeff, not mine.” She and Kammie chortle together.

The ladies order and head to their usual table sipping their drinks for a minute. Finally Kammie gives Riley a devious look. “Sooooo, Riles. I confirmed something today that you didn’t even know you wanted confirmed. You can thank me later.” Riley eyes Kammie suspiciously. “I know that look Kam, and whatever it is you ‘confirmed’ I most certainly haven’t had enough to drink yet to find it out.” Kammie smacks Riley on the shoulder. “So first, about today. Do you think you’ll lock in the donation?” She notices the telltale smile forming on Riley’s face. “Actually Kam, he committed to it today.” “Great! But ok Riles, I know that smile. Spill, because I’m sure it’s about a certain CEO!” “Fine. Liam is incredibly kind, and smart, and -“ Kammie interjects. “Ohhhh, first name basis. Nice! I like it.” Riley rolls her eyes. “He also is easy on the eyes. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall,-“ “Ok, Riles, that leads me to the information that I confirmed today, because I love you. So maaayyybee after searching images of Mr. Rys, anndddd you’re correct, oh so gorgeous by the way, and a possible lengthy afternoon spent on a search engine, I can say, Riles he is most certainly single.” Riley raises an eyebrow. “So what I’m saying is, Riles, Liam Rys is quite the catch, and you, my dear, just stumbled into his life.”

*** Friday Night - Liam and Drake

Drake is sitting on Liam’s couch waiting for him to get home with a drink already in his hand. Not too long after he settles in he hears Liam come in the door making his way around the corner while concentrating on his phone screen. When Liam catches movement out of the corner of his eye, he about jumps out of his skin. “Drake! What the hell?!” He lets his breathing slow. “Why the hell did I ever give you a key?!” Drake tries to talk though his fits of laughter, “You should have seen your face, man. Priceless, and I wasn’t even trying.” Liam plops down on the couch as he finally laughs along with Drake. “And you gave me the key because I’m your best friend.” Drake shrugs. “So then, Drake, why don’t I have a key to your place, best friend?” Drake looks around the penthouse. “With this, why the hell would you want one?” Liam nods and stifles a chuckle. “Point taken.” Drake tries to look mad but can’t pull it off. “Anyway, drinks and tell me about the charity thing. From what we read, the charity sounded pretty great.” Drake says after taking a pull of his drink.

Liam gets up and pours himself a scotch, returning to the couch. They clink glasses and Liam starts talking. “Oh yeah, the charity is fabulous and I’ll tell you all about that later. I’ve already decided it’s the one we’re going with.” Liam pauses for just a beat. “But what I really want to talk to you about is Riley.” “The charity worker?” Drake quirks an eyebrow. “Don’t look so confused Drake. Sip your whiskey and listen. Riley is kind, generous, smart, and definitely has a sweet soul. She is a dedicated to her causes and loves working to make a difference. In fact wanting to make a difference for others seems to be what drives her. Are those values sounding a bit familiar, Drake?” Drake puts up a hand. “What does this have to do with anything, and why do I feel like your pitching an idea to me?” Drake takes a sip of whiskey and Liam rolls his eyes. “Just let me finish. She is absolutely stunning with raven black hair, porcelain skin, and these compelling blue eyes that brightly stand out against her other features.” Drake sits further back into the couch looking quizzically at his friend. “I mean she sounds great and all, Liam, but you’re not really a dark hair, blue eyes kinda guy.” Liam gives him a devilish smirk. “Precisely brother, but you are.”

#the royal romance #choices the royal romance #choices trr #trr madeleine #trr liam #drake walker #drake x mc #liam x mc #liam x olivia #drake x olivia #maxwell x savannah #trr olivia #trr hana #riley brooks #maxwell beaumont #savannah walker

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pingpongmoments · 2 years ago

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PINGPONG MOMENTS - Best Corporate Event Management Company in India

We are one of the leading Corporate Event Management Companies in Gurgaon, India. We provide custom-designed event management services that suit your budget and requirement. Brand recognition and brand activation are the mainstay of our event management service. We are specialized in organizing corporate events, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, partner meets, product launches and fundraising events.

Event Management Industry:

Today event management has become an organized business; it is all about generating excitement, an excitement that fires the mind and the imagination of those attending the event. This highly skilled operation needs a lot of experience and determination to stay successful.

We are one of the top Event Management Companies in Gurgaon, India. The entire organization of the event is limited not just to the event itself, but we do cover a host of other arrangements like decoration of stage, team group, dance troupes, light equipment etc.

How We Differ?

We have a team of dedicated employees who, backed by years of experience and practical exposure to event handling, is always determined in every situation to make your events beautiful and memorable within the budget. When a project is with us we take full responsibility from the concept till the completion and always take care of necessary arrangements before and after event activities that include setup, lighting arrangements, stage decoration, tear-down and move-out expenses.

Benefits we Offer:

We aim at providing the best quality work at the best offers to our clients with the following benefits:

End to End solution for all MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) requirements.

Event administration with budget planning.

Customer experience is outmatched every time

Long-term business relationships are built with different companies

We undertake all kinds of event services.

As a top Event Management Company in Delhi NCR, India. We provide custom-designed event management services that suit your budget and requirement. Brand recognization and brand activation is the mainstay of our event management service. We are specialized in organizing projects quite successfully inclusive of corporate Events, Conferences, Seminars, Exhibitions, Partner Meets, Product Launches and Fund Raising events, and we have a team that is capable of handling any pre-event and post-event activities at rigorous timelines.

Importance of Brand Promotion:

Brand Promotion is an important aspect of every business materialization and public reach. There are several questions the public expects to be answered. The safest and easier way to answer their queries is to provide a stage where we can publicize the product and also educate people via brand promotion techniques.

We help you maximize your profits in international trade via innovative and frugal marketing approaches and methods by which you can brand your products to a worldwide targeted audience where we use different brand promotion techniques.

To develop strong brand content, its event must be as effective as it should be. To spread brand awareness, a structured way of communication is followed so that direct interaction with the crowd can reap dividends and your product shows a positive image and trust.

#Corporate Event Organiser #Corporate Party Organiser #Top Corporate Party #Top Event Management

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seblaine-rph · 2 years ago

Note

If someone is wanting to do a college teacher rp some "teacher plots" could include:

-teacher friends competing for tenure or 'head of a department'

-collaboration on professional projects like papers to be published in professional journals

-dating (in secret or not) as some schools have a policy where dating a colleague is not allowed, or where you have to inform HR, so the plot could be a couple who is in the early stages and hiding things, but each is trying to decide when/if to bring up taking it public and to HR

-the teacher that is always late to class, and their colleague is always unlocking the lecture hall for their students

-a former graduate student has now graduated to professor/teacher and has to start seeing the people they work with as colleagues, not just mentors

-teacher 'book club' which is actually an excuse to get together and share food and drink (and sometimes discuss a book)

-professional development conferences out of town/state/country that involve a group of them to travel together and the hilarious hijinks that could ensue such as 'x and y get upgraded to first class because of overbooking', lost luggage, missing hotel reservations, etc (the bed sharing trope would fit here)

-gossip: romantic, professional, or platonic about different characters

-the teacher that always brings their colleagues coffee, treats, etc

-the teacher that seems to always be in their office (aka no home/social life/ or a lack of life/work balance)

All good plot thoughts, Tiger. I'll tag this for anyone thinking about taking the teacher rp route. I still think this would be a great Glee au. Canonically, we got to see how some of the mains fare as teachers. I could do with more rival glee coach drama. I'd also love to see who got to teach their dream topic, who had to settle like Schuester did with Spanish, who knows absolutely nothing about what they teach, who is getting in the dunk tank for the next school fundraiser, who is going to bribe the kids to win Teacher Of The Year, and who is going to accidentally skip out on chaperoning prom because they got drunk at home with their bestie.

#college rp #school rp #glee rp #glee rph #sebastian answers

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asmasheikh · 3 years ago

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How to Start an Event Planning Service

Ab Rehman is the founder of International Special Events Society (ISES), the founding director of the Event Management Program at George Washington University, and co-author of The International Dictionary of Event Management. “Suffice it to say, the marketplace is large enough to support and sustain your endeavor,” says Ab Rehman. “If you’re working in one special events area, there are many directions in which you can expand. If you’re just entering the profession of special events, there’s a lucrative market awaiting you on many fronts.”

What’s Inside

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning »

According to Ab Rehman’s research, profits in this industry continue to rise. Just a few years ago, Ab Rehman says, the average profit margin for an event planning entrepreneur was around 15 percent. His most recent studies, however, show profit margins can be as much as 40 percent. He attributes the industry’s good health to several factors, including the improved economy and the trend of corporate America to outsource their meeting-planning functions. Since you’re not some tech startup bidding for programmers, you can get started without a lot of money.

What Is Event Planning?

This question actually breaks down into two questions: What kinds of events are we talking about? And, what is event planning?

First things first. Generally speaking, special events occur for the following purposes:

Celebrations (fairs, parades, weddings, reunions, birthdays, anniversaries)

Education (conferences, meetings, graduations)

Promotions (product launches, political rallies, fashion shows)

Commemorations (memorials, civic events)

This list isn’t an exhaustive one, but as the examples illustrate, special events may be business related, purely social or somewhere in between.

Now we move to the second question: What is event planning? Planners of an event may handle any or all of the following tasks related to that event:

Conducting research

Creating an event design

Finding a site

Arranging for food, decor and entertainment

Planning transportation to and from the event

Sending invitations to attendees

Arranging any necessary accommodations for attendees

Coordinating the activities of event personnel

Supervising at the site

Conducting evaluations of the event

How many of these activities your business engages in will depend on the size and type of a particular event, which will, in turn, depend on the specialization you choose.

Why Do People Hire Event Planners?

This question has a simple answer: Individuals often find they lack the expertise and time to plan events themselves. Independent planners can step in and give these special events the attention they deserve.

Who Becomes An Event Planner?

Planners are often people who got their start in one particular aspect of special events. Business owner Martin Van Keken had a successful catering company before he decided to plan entire events. Many other planners have similar stories. This explains why planners often not only coordinate entire events but may, in addition, provide one or more services for those events.

Event planners may also have started out planning events for other companies before deciding to go into business for themselves. Joyce Barnes-Wolff planned in-house events for a retail chain for 11 years and then worked for another event planning company before striking out on her own.

Becoming Certified

Consider getting a degree or certificate from a local university in event planning or management. A list of colleges and universities offering educational opportunities in this field is available from Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

Also consider working to become a CSEP (Certified Special Events Professional) or CMP (Certified Meeting Planner). These designations are given out by ISES and MPI, respectively. Many corporations, and some members of the general public, look for these designations when hiring planners. Because of the research and study it takes to become a CSEP or CMP, clients know that these planners are professionals.

Target Market

The Corporate Market

Broadly speaking, there are two markets for event planning services: corporate and social. The term “corporate” includes not only companies but also charities and nonprofit organizations. Charities and nonprofit organizations host gala fundraisers, receptions and athletic competitions, among other events, to expand their public support base and raise funds. Thousands of these events occur each year, and although the large ones require specialized event planning experience, you may find smaller local events to start out with.

What’s Inside?

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning »

Companies host trade shows, conventions, company picnics, holiday parties, and meetings for staff members, board members, or stockholders. There is a huge market for these types of events. According to the Convention Industry Council’s 2012 Economic Significance Study, 1.83 million corporate/business meetings, trade shows, conventions, etc. took place in the alone.

The Social Market

Social events include weddings, birthdays, anniversary parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, Sweet 16 parties, children’s parties, reunions and so on. You may decide to handle all these events or just specialize in one or more of them.

The market for social events, especially birthdays and anniversaries, is expected to continue to increase over the next few years, as baby boomers mature. This group has children getting married, parents celebrating golden anniversaries, and their own silver wedding anniversaries to commemorate.

Startup Costs

How much money will you need to start your event planning business? That will depend on the cost of living in the area your business serves and whether you work from home or rent office space. It will also depend, to a lesser degree, on your own taste and lifestyle choices.

Keep in mind that while working from home will keep your costs low, you can’t start any but the smallest of event planning business on a shoestring.

What’s Inside?

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning »

This chart lists the startup costs for two hypothetical event-planning services. The first business is homebased and has no employees. The high-end business occupies 1,500 square feet of office space. The owner/manager of this business employs a full-time junior planner and a part-time bookkeeper, as well as temporary employees who handle clerical work and who may help prepare for various events. Both owners will derive their income from pre-tax net profit. Annually, these businesses will gross 185,000 and 450,000, respectively. The startup table lists pre-opening costs for the businesses.

Operations

Few, if any, event planners have 7-to-4 jobs. By its very nature, event planning tends to involve evenings, weekends, holidays and sometimes even specific seasons. How much time you must commit to working will depend, once again, on the specialization you choose.

As a general rule, social events involve more weekends and holidays than corporate events do. Some areas of the country and some types of events have “on” and “off” seasons. However, no matter what your specialization (with the exception of parties for young children), you can count on working at least some evenings as you coordinate and supervise events. The planning of those events, however, will be done mostly during business hours.

What’s Inside?

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning »

Here are the main tasks you’ll be completing as an event planner:

Research. The best way to reduce risk (whatever the kind) is to do your homework. For large events, research may mean making sure there’s a demand for the event by conducting surveys, interviews or focus group research. If you’re new to the event planning industry, research may instead mean finding out all you can about vendors and suppliers. Research also may mean talking to other planners who have produced events similar to the one on which you’re working. Or you may find yourself reading up on issues of custom and etiquette, especially if you’re unfamiliar with a particular type of event.

Whatever kind of event you’re planning, research should include asking your client a lot of questions and writing down the answers. Interviewing a client may not be what you immediately think of as research. However, asking too few questions, or not listening adequately to a client’s answers, can compromise the success of the event you plan.

Design. Your creativity comes most into play in the design phase of event planning, during which you sketch out the overall “feel” and “look” of the event. This is the time to brainstorm, either by yourself or with your employees. It’s also the time to pull out and look through your idea file. (You do have one, don’t you? If not, read on and take notes.) Don’t forget to consult your notebook for the client’s answers to the questions you asked in the research phase. These responses, especially the one regarding the event budget, will help you thoroughly check each idea for feasibility, preferably before suggesting it to the client.

Proposal. Once you’ve interviewed the client and done some preliminary brainstorming, you should have enough information to prepare a proposal. Be aware that the production of a proposal is time-consuming and potentially expensive, especially if you include photographs or sketches. Note that only the larger companies producing high-end events can afford to provide clients with free proposals. You should receive a consultation fee (she suggests about 1,50,000), which can be applied toward a client’s event if he or she hires you.

Organization. During this decision-intensive phase, you’ll rent the site, hire vendors and take care of more details than you might believe possible. You’ll be on the phone until your ear is numb. But before you do any of this, make sure you have a contact person (either the client or someone acting on the client’s behalf) with whom you’ll discuss all major decisions. Having a designated individual helps ensure that communication lines are kept open. Also, social events in particular sometimes suffer from the “too many cooks” syndrome. Having one designated contact helps you avoid being caught in the middle of disagreements between event participants.

Generally speaking, the bigger the event, the more lead time that’s required to plan it. Major conventions are planned years in advance. Although you may not be arranging events on such a grand scale, you do need to allow at least a few months for events like corporate picnics, reunions or large parties.

Coordination. After you’ve made the initial plans, turn your attention to each of the activities that form a part of the overall event. At this point, your goal is to ensure that everyone is on the same wavelength. Good communication skills are important. Make sure all vendors have at least a general idea of the overall event schedule. Even more important, vendors should be clear about what’s expected of them, and when. Vendor arrival times should appear in the contracts, but verify those times anyway. This is a “check and recheck” period. Make sure all your staff members know their roles.

Evaluation. The obvious, and in one sense the most important, test of an event’s success is customer satisfaction. The goal, of course, is to end up with a client who will sing your praises up and down the street, shouting it from rooftops. This is the client who will hire you again, and who will provide that famous word-of-mouth advertising for you.

There are several other ways to evaluate the success of an event. You can hire an event planning consultant; have someone who hosts extremely successful parties observe your event; plan a roundtable post-event discussion with your employees; obtain feedback from other industry professionals working at the event, like the caterer or bartender; or survey guests at or after the event.

Income & Billing

The goal in pricing a service is to mark up your labor and material costs sufficiently to cover overhead expenses and generate an acceptable profit. First-time business owners often fail because they unknowingly priced their services too low. According to industry expert and author Dr. Ab Rehman, fees are typically determined by three factors:

Market segment served. Social events have a different fee structure than corporate events. In the social events industry, planners typically receive a fee for their services, plus a percentage of some or all vendor fees. The two income streams produce enough revenue for a profit. In the corporate events industry, however, planners typically charge a fee for their services, plus a handling charge for each item they contract. For example, a planner buys flowers from a florist, marks them up (usually 15 percent) and charges that amount to the client. Another possibility is a flat fee, or “project fee,” often used when the event is large and the corporation wants to be given a “not to exceed” figure.

Geographic location. Fees are higher in the northeast United States, for example, than in the southeast. This difference reflects the variation in cost of living. In addition, areas of the country that have well-defined on- and off-seasons base their prices partly on which season they’re in.

Experience and reputation of the event planner. If you’re just starting out in the industry, it’s reasonable to charge less for your planning services while you gain expertise.

How, you may ask, are the above-mentioned fees-for-service calculated? Event planners we interviewed price their fees-for-service (the total cost to the client) using a “cost-plus” method. They contract out the labor, supplies and materials involved in producing an event and charge their clients a service fee of about 10 to 20 percent of the total cost of the event, with 15 percent being a rough average.

Marketing and Resources

Print advertising covers a broad range, from a free—or inexpensive—Yellow Pages advertisement to an ad in a glossy national publication costing tens of thousands of rupees. Even today in the online era, most planners agree that an ad in the Yellow Pages makes good business sense. A line advertisement, simply listing your business name, is often provided free of charge when you connect your phone (if you have a land line).

You can also opt for a display advertisement. These are the bigger, bordered ads in the Yellow Pages. There is a charge for these. If you do choose a larger ad space, be sure to include your logo. You may also want to consider advertising in your local newspaper. Many papers periodically (perhaps quarterly) publish special sections for brides- and grooms-to-be. These are good vehicles for promoting your event planning business if you plan to do any wedding consulting.

What’s Inside?

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning »

The problem, he notes, is that customers need to see what you do, and a word ad won’t accomplish that. He recommends networking and making friends in the industry. That way, he says, “People know you, trust you. They want honesty and integrity.”

Networking can help your business in two ways. If people have met you and know what services you offer, they may refer business to you or use your service themselves. Furthermore, networking with hotels, caterers and so on will give you a chance to meet some of the people whose services you may need as you plan events.

Although networking and word-of-mouth are the most common industry strategies for acquiring clients, traditional forms of advertising do have their uses. A distinctive card or brochure sent to a mailing list or to local businesses may attract new clients. A small ad in a local business magazine can help build name recognition. A website on the internet may allow you to attract customers unresponsive to other forms of media.

Resources

Associations

Convention Industry Council

International Special Events Society

Meeting Professionals International

National Association of Catering Executives

Professional Convention Management Association

Magazines and Publications

Corporate Meetings and Incentives

The Meeting Professional

Special Events Magazine

Meetings and Conventions

Successful Meetings

Trade Show Executive Magazine

Travel Weekly

Event Planning Software

There are hundreds of types of event planning software, ranging from inexpensive and basic packages to software developed for planning and managing large-scale conventions and trade shows. This software ranges in price from 2,00,000 to 4,50,000 of rupees. As your company grows, you will need to determine the types of software you will need. Check out Capterra for a complete breakdown of top event management software products like Eventbrite and many others.

Courtesy: Event Management Company in Lahore

#event #lahore #pakistan #decore #planning

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munlpcr · 6 years ago

Text

And So It Begins

Its been nearly 3 weeks since we first started seriously thinking about CAS and all that it entitled, and I’m excited to say that I think I’m ready to take this thing on. CAS in itself is not an impossible task by any means, but it forces you to confront and overcome personal obstacles associated with work ethics and motivation, as well as sharpen and reflect upon your already established strengths. CAS is a way to hone your determination, skills, and passion before you're thrown into the real life world, the deep end; and fortunately, thanks to CAS, you'll know how to swim (or at the very least tread water). And so, to officially start the show, welcome to my MUN CAS project and the three main things I’ll be doing to get started.

1. Research: The key part to any successful project is research, research, research! The more you know about you're topic the more effectively you'll be able to manage time and produce results. Organizing an actual MUN conference may sound like a one day half page plan, but in reality it is a very complex process. I must decide on a leadership structure, a committee schedule, topics, chairs, etc. Fortunately, I had the privilege of participating in the Inter-MUN conference of graduate Victoria Obando, therefore I’ll already have an idea of the most effective manner of organization. One unique factor that makes a La Paz conference just a tad more complicated is the factor of a bilingual student body. This means that there needs to be conferences in both English and Spanish, as well as topic guides, fluent chairs (people who lead the conference), etc. My plan for this step is very simple, I will basically use my research to formulate a plan based on what needs to be done and when, that way I can effectively form an agenda and I will not be caught unprepared. There are plenty of online resources for organizing and running a small scale MUN conference (pictured below), and I will also seek advice through the form of email from a variety of professionals in the field, including Michael Doyle, a man who (among many other things), served as special advisor to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan and has shared dinner with the Obamas. I’ve reached out to Victoria for her research and council, and I will email Mr. Doyle while I continue to carry out online research.

Featured above are just a few of the many sites I have begun consulting for this lovely, high-maintenance high-reward project of mine.

2. Basic Outline: As you all know, starting CAS in 10th grade is an excellent way to get a head start on whatever project you choose, however it does not mean that you are expected to have an exact plan complete with dates, times, and monetary amounts within the first 5 weeks. I tried this, and let me tell you that it does not work. Does not. No, just no. I felt a surge of anxiety because I felt unprepared and behind, which, despite the fact that that thought is extremely illogical, greatly affected my initial motivation for this project. Hence why I;’ve made my second step to, by this Friday, write out a basic outline of my car project, that includes rough conference dates, rough workshop dates, and an idea of when I need to order name tags, (paper) plaques, an award (A surprise for now!). In order to do this I’ll email Victoria about how ling ordering delivery took her, and I will also speak to teachers to see if they have any preferred dates. Overall, a basic outline will be an extremely effective step in initiating this beast of a project.

3. Basic Budget: My third and final step is a bit complicated, but fortunately I feel like the title gives a pretty solid explanation; think budget, but basic! Ok, ok, relax, I’ll go into a bit more detail if my audience insists so. Essentially, this budget will include raw costs of the first conference in order to give me an idea of just how many fundraisers I’ll have to organize for this thing to work. Some general fundraiser ideas include an MUN trivia night, a 3 v 3 basketball tournament, and a raffle. My plan is to have this budget outline done by Wednesday of next week, as I will have to use aspects from steps 1 and 2 to get a realistic look at prices and logistics.

Now I know that all of this sure seems like a heck of a lot, and the simple question is how do I make sure I actually follow through? In my opinion, the best way to make sure something gets done is to do it as soon as possible without hesitation. This is the method I use for both Spanish homework and journal entries, and I know that personally it is extremely effective!

In general, I am extremely excited for this opportunity, and I feel ready to take this challenge head on. I have already begun researching and emailing, and I’ve learned that by setting dates for small goals you can remain motivated while feeling accomplished and prepared. This project is just getting started, and I hope you all are ready for a long ride of obscure movie referees, subtle complaining, sarcasm, and of course Model UN discussion every Sunday night. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you next week!

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theliberaltony · 4 years ago

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarah (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump skipped out on the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, but this year he dominated the group’s event with his speech on Sunday, which marked his first major public event since leaving the White House.

[Related: The GOP Might Still Be Trump’s Party. But That Doesn’t Mean There’s Room For Him.]

Most former presidents generally take a step back from the political limelight once leaving office, but Trump doesn’t seem likely to do that. That means, in many ways, the next four years could be another Trump-fueled media cycle: centered on divisions within the GOP, with questions about how they affect Democrats’ strategy and, of course, how much the media should (or shouldn’t) be covering Trump.

Let’s break this chat into three parts:

How should the Republican Party think about Trump’s continued presence? Kingmaker? Or faction leader?

How should Democrats think about his continued role? That is, if Trump’s vision of the GOP wins out, how does that help (or hurt) Democrats politically?

And finally, how should the media cover Trump now that he is out of the White House? Are there journalistic questions of how much coverage he should receive? Or is that beside the point, especially if he runs in 2024?

Let’s start with the Republican Party. One question that is going to keep coming up is whether the GOP is divided. My question to you all is: Is it?

alex (Alex Samuels, politics reporter): In my opinion, no. The GOP is still the party of Trump, and I think his speech Sunday night proved a lot of that. What we saw at CPAC — over and over (and over) again — was a good number of politicians lavishing praise on the former president.

There weren’t any dissenting opinions, and the Liz Cheneys/Mitt Romneys of the party 1) were not invited, 2) declined to speak and/or 3) were booed at the rally by Trump and his supporters. Trump has his thumb on the scale of the party currently, and I don’t think the minority of anti-Trump Republicans is strong enough right now to fundamentally drive a wedge through the GOP

lee.drutman (Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America and FiveThirtyEight contributor): I do think, though, that the GOP is divided in terms of policy priorities, which is why there was very little discussion of policy at CPAC. The GOP is not, however, divided in terms of whether or not Trump is still the alpha male of the party. In the absence of a clear challenger, or a clear opposition faction, Trump is still very much in charge.

perry (Perry Bacon Jr., senior writer): There are different blocs in the GOP. In my view, there are: 1) the most Trumpy people (so say Rep. Jim Jordan in the House), 2) the anti-Trump people like Cheney, 3) the rest of the people in the party, who are fairly pro-Trump but may not be totally on board with everything he says or with him running in 2024. I think Group 3 is most Republicans, and Group 2 is very small.

But, Lee, what do you think are the policy divides? That seems right to me, but I don’t know what the policies are, so I don’t know what the divides are.

lee.drutman: I think the big policy divides are over economics. There is a wing of the party, led by Sen. Josh Hawley, that very much wants to lean into being a “workers party” with higher minimum wage, strong antitrust laws, etc. Then there is a more traditional libertarian economic wing, which is skeptical of all that. These divisions are below the surface, and probably will remain so long as Republicans are in the opposition. But we could see them play out at the state level.

alex: This was an interesting read on how young conservatives are split from Trump and their elders on foreign policy, too.

lee.drutman: On one level, it seems odd that CPAC leaned into “cancel culture,” since that is nowhere near a priority issue for most Americans. But on another level, it makes total sense. It’s a purely symbolic issue that can unite Republicans, and it also taps into a kind of grievance politics that has been successful for Republicans, proving great for fundraising and engagement.

sarah: But the fact that CPAC chose to lean into “cancel culture” instead of policy is telling, right?

[Related: What Comes Next For QAnon Followers]

lee.drutman: It’s very telling. And it’s exactly what the Republican National Committee did during its convention. Everything is about conservative values being under siege and about ‘radical liberal socialist Democrats’ trying to somehow change America, and Republicans fighting back against that. It’s a classic preservation story.

But the result of that is there is no forward-looking policy agenda, or at least nothing more than a handful of Republicans could agree on.

sarah: So how should the Republican Party think about Trump’s continued presence? Kingmaker? Or more of a faction leader?

lee.drutman: I think of Trump as the presumptive 2024 nominee.

sarah: Really?! Tell us why.

lee.drutman: Well, simply because he’s way ahead in the polling, and clearly wants to run again.

sarah: Are you talking about that CPAC straw poll?

lee.drutman: I was thinking about polling after the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 that found that a majority of Republican voters would support him in the 2024 primary (54 percent). That was way more support than any other Republican received.

sarah: Ah, I wouldn’t put too much stock in any general head-to-head polls this far out. They’re just not that predictive. Also, this is not a scientific poll, but the fact that Trump won only 55 percent of support in that CPAC straw poll is telling. Yes, it was still far more than any other candidate, but CPAC is his core base, and yet, 45 percent of attendees said they’d vote for someone other than Trump in the 2024 Republican primary. He’s obviously still very influential in GOP politics, but I think we lose sight that we’ve still got three years to go until 2024.

alex: I’d say Trump is a kingmaker. I think a lot of this boils down to the fact that Trump supporters still love Trump. Even after Jan. 6, 59 percent of GOP voters said Trump should still have a “major role” in the Republican Party going forward.

This is a rhetorical question I have, but what’s in it for the Trump loyalists at this point? Especially those with 2024 aspirations? Take Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, who netted single-digits in the straw poll. If Trump runs in 2024, where does that leave him?

lee.drutman: I think a lot of these single-digit pollers, like Cruz, are hoping that if Trump bows out, they can be his chosen successor, or if Trump does run, perhaps his running mate. At this point, they’re in too deep to have any other aspirations.

sarah: That’s right, and I’d assume, too, that over the next four years there is going to be a tendency to dismiss the Trump loyalists as only capable of showing fealty to Trump, but I think that’s shortsighted.

This wing of the party has spokespeople. They were at CPAC (Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott), and I think are presumably testing the waters for a bid. So maybe Cruz’s big takeaway from the weekend is that he shouldn’t run 😂 Meanwhile, DeSantis might seriously want to consider a bid (he won the CPAC straw poll that didn’t feature Trump.)

Remember, a much higher share of attendees — 95 percent — said they wanted the Republican Party to stick to Trump’s policies and agenda than endorsed him running again. So his policies/approach to politics isn’t going anywhere, even if he’s not the one to carry out the message.

But let’s pivot to how Democrats think about his continued role? That is, if Trump’s vision of the GOP wins out, how does that help (or hurt) Democrats politically?

lee.drutman: Democrats are facing tough headwinds because historically, the president’s party loses seats in the midterm elections, and Republicans are about to go on a binge of passing restrictive voting rules on the state level. Not to mention, they largely control the redistricting process.

But, since Trump is broadly unpopular and useful as a mobilizing/fundraising villain, I suspect Democrats are going to lean into Republicans as the party of Trump in their messaging and spend a lot of time on what happened on Jan. 6. And this helps Democrats on the margins, by reminding modestly affluent suburban constituencies in key swing districts what’s at stake, but I’m not sure it’s enough if Republicans turn the gerrymandering/voter suppression dials to 11.

alex: If Trump is still in the driver’s seat, an argument that Democrats could use is that you can’t separate those in the party from their leader — even if you have some GOP outliers. What Democrats have long argued is that even anti-Trump Republicans can’t cherry-pick the former president’s legacy: Republicans own Trump’s policies, and that included his tax cuts, a crackdown on immigration and unsuccessful efforts to undo the Affordable Care Act. Plus, a majority of Republicans at least implicitly supported aspects of Trumpism, like his anti-immigrant sentiment and the racism on display from those who stormed the U.S. Capitol, including white supremacists.

perry: A Republican Party deeply invested in Trump is going to be deeply invested in defending “the big lie” (that Trump won) and deeply invested in trying to make it harder for Democrats to vote and not willing to accept Democratic victories. So in some ways, a Trump-led GOP is a problem for Democrats but also for those who support values conducive to democracy.

alex: I agree there, Perry.

[Related: In America’s ‘Uncivil War,’ Republicans Are The Aggressors]

lee.drutman: The “big lie” is also going to be very powerful for Republican fundraising efforts going into 2022. There’s nothing like grievance politics to shake loose the donations, and I have to wonder if that’s part of the strategy here.

alex: Another rhetorical question I have is whether Republican fundraising efforts will be different from Trump’s fundraising efforts (i.e., will someone like McCarthy have to choose between the former president, who is a great fundraiser and has a history of supporting winning candidates, and his own incumbents?).

lee.drutman: I’d bet we’re going to see the former president on an awful lot of fundraising emails from both parties over the next cycle.

sarah: With the midterms coming up and Republicans defending 20 of 34 seats up for election in the Senate, I think Democrats are eager for there to be drama in the GOP. I just question how much drama/division there really is, as I’m not entirely sure Democrats have super figured out how to run against a Trump-like candidate super effectively.

But OK, let’s pivot to how the media should cover Trump now that he is out of the White House. Are there thorny questions of how much coverage he should receive? Or is that neither here nor there — this is a former president we’re talking about — and if he runs in 2024, that is news.

alex: I think the answer here is pretty simple. We’d cover Trump the same way we’d cover any other former president: If he makes news, we write a story about it. (Or chat about it!) And so far, Trump is still doing that. I do think part of the reason we’re asking this question, though, is because Trump left a lasting impact on the Republican Party in a way we haven’t seen in former presidents in quite some time. Usually, former presidents stay out of the limelight for a bit. Trump has not. So I think media institutions are rightly wrestling with the question of “where do we go from here?”

lee.drutman: This is a really hard question. On the one hand, he is the former president, probably the GOP front-runner and, at the very least, a highly influential kingmaker, so what he does is news.

On the other hand, Trump has also cracked the code on how to get attention, which is to be always starting fights because the media is inherently drawn to conflict. So there is a challenge for the media to exercise some judgement and restraint. Some of what Trump does might be newsworthy, but a lot of it will just be trying to get attention for the sake of getting attention.

In fact, I’d argue that Trump is currently the GOP front-runner precisely because the media gives him a level of sustained attention that no other candidate gets.

alex: Yeah, Lee. There are now definitely questions like “is Trump just sucking oxygen out of the room since he’s not a 2024 candidate (at least not yet!), and “is the media covering him in lieu of covering other things, like certain policy issues?”

[Democrats Are Split Over How Much The Party And American Democracy Itself Are In Danger]

perry: Trump is a relevant person to cover, of course. But I am seeing outlets essentially designate reporters to cover Trump, and I think that is a mistake. We are already getting too much “sources close to Trump” style coverage. Take, for example, that there were days of coverage about his CPAC appearance before it happened on Sunday.

Trump is not the president — so I am not sure I need to read all about his musings or what his aides are saying anonymously. To me, the media is in danger of covering Trump a lot because he is interesting and clicky, but not really covering “Trumpism,” and I think the latter is more important.

We need more stories on how state and local Republicans with power are pushing the identity politics and antidemocraic tactics of Trump right now, and fewer stories speculating about which candidates Trump personally is going to endorse for elections happening 15 months from now.

“What is going on with the Repubilcan Party?” and “what is going on with Trump?” are related but distinct questions. I worry that coverage of the second is going to become basically all of the coverage of the first. Every conflict and debate in the Republican Party is not best covered through the lens of Trump.

lee.drutman: You’re absolutely right, Perry. But what is Trumpism? Is it just “owning the libs” and perpetuating the “big lie” to roll back democracy at the state level?

sarah: That’s such a good point, Perry. And a good question, Lee. I’m not sure we know yet what Trumpism is. It’s still being defined.

alex: If CPAC taught us anything, though, I would say that Trumpism definitely includes a pushback against cancel-culture “wokeness.”

lee.drutman: Yes, Alex, totally agree, and as I said earlier I think the anti-cancel culture is the perfect symbolic issue to unite the party, avoid policy fights and fundraise.

sarah: There’s definitely the risk of a dangerous feedback loop in covering Trump here, though. The last four years showed us that Trump’s antics sell, and as such, the media often covers him in an undiscerning, play-by-play manner, missing the larger stakes, as Perry pointed out.

Readers gain little from that type of coverage, so it’ll be a challenge in the next four years to make sure our coverage reflects more of the stakes and less of the Trump-specific drama.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #A FiveThirtyEight Chat

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