#you call yourself a community organiser etc

[kurohe]

Things you can do to actively participate in the revolution

Here's the list !

I know some of those will look really silly, i promise they are not. And obviously, this is not a checklist, you don't have to do everything. But they're steps that you can absolutely take if you wish to, and they WILL help.

(under the cut !)

1) Let's start off with a very easy one you can do right now: stop using Chrome. It's a google owned browser, and it sents all of your data towards it. Mozilla is a very good replacement, but almost anything will do, really. This may sound a little dumb, but you are revolting against capitalism as a whole, and this is a good first step !

2) Start stealing things from supermarkets and malls. I am not kidding. Little things, that aren't really monitored: a can of food, a lighter, a pair of socks. Condiments are particularly easy to hide in bags or pockets. Steal hygiene products, steal food.

Remember that you should have access to those for free, and you don't because a few rich guys don't want you to.

Additional tip: train station stores are very easy to steal from, because they're so busy. But don't put yourself in danger. Check beforehand if they check bags at checkout, look out for employees that might notice what you're doing. Don't be reckless.

3) In the same line, if you see someone stealing anything from a big store, no you didn't.

(this used to also say airports, but i've been told it's way too high risk as it's considered a federal crime. Thanks for letting me know)

4) I know a lot of people are scared of disrespecting rules. By fear of being caught, or by guilt. My advice is: start disrespecting stupid, meaningless rules. I don't have specific exemples, but you'll encounter them and wonder why you're doing that. Stop doing it. This will train you to be able to disobey autority way easier.

5) Put stickers everywhere. If you already have them, go ham. Especially on public property (lamposts are amazing). If you don't, buy them from artists or independant stores, not big brands. If you cannot afford them, remember that you can simply write stuff on an A4 paper and plaster it to walls. Or even post its !

6) Carry a sharpie with you at all time, the big black ones. If you see propaganda, scribble it out. Keep a look out for terfs stickers, maga posters, etc. Also good for getting rid of transphobic and sexist stuff written on public restroom stalls !

7) Buy locally. This means going to the market or small stores, and thrifting your clothes. If you can't for money or accessibility reasons, try trading with your friends, family and neighbours. Get communication going in your circles, and you'll realise there are a lot of things that you can simply trade with or buy from people around you. Like a jar of jam against some eggs, or a pair of socks for a t-shirt you don't wear anymore !

8) Learn how to sew. I know, that sounds dumb ! But i promise you, not only will it be amazing to trade with other people ("i'll sew back ur shirt and in exchange, you give me a can of peaches !"), corporations also haaaate when you know how to fix your clothes. Because they want you to buy more. You'll spend a lot less money if you know how to fix em

9) If you have the space and the money, grow your own food, and share it or sell it around you. Be careful, some assholes will call the FDA on you. Do that with people you trust.

Additional tip: growing vegetables and fruits can be a real nightmare. You can absolutely start by just growing some basil or mint :)

10) Organise. Join leftist groups online, even if it's just to see what's being said, you don't even need to interact. Follow creators, repost and share their content. By doing that, you'll stay informed on group movements like strikes, protests and boycotts, which you can then participate in. It's very important you're connected to other ppl and the movements that are started !

11) Unionize. I'm very sorry I don't know the exact way unions work in the US, but if you can, join one. They will help you in times of needs, especially if you're a student or a worker. If you're not sure how to do that, absolutely ask around to people you know are very active politically, around you or online. People will help.

12) Stay. Informed. Follow independant papers and news outlet. If you can afford it, give them a dollar or two. They are fighting everyday for access to unbiased information for all, and sadly, their independance means that they rely almost entirely on donations and people simply engaging with what they put out.

If you can't access those: do not get your news from TV. Ever. Or anywhere else that has been bought by the far right. Sadly, the majority of TV channels are just the worst.

And, most importantly: fact check. All of the time.

13) Share that information. Talk to those you trust and who are ready to listen to you, and tell them about what's happening. Get angry with them. Revolution stems from people coming together and realising that they're being used and profited off of. Share videos and posts relating to politics, especially informative videos.

14) Go to protests ! If you've never been, i know it can be scary. But you can stay in the middle (don't go all the way to the front, that's where stuff can get heated) and scream and walk with everyone else. You'll meet people who, like you, want things to change. Capitalism wants you to stay as unconnected to others as possible, and that's a great way to fight that.

Sometimes, there are sites that have a planning for all protests happening in a city. Look up if one exists for yours

15) Create and strenghten community. I know i really struggled with this one, because it's so vague. But here's a few places you can start:

-Go and introduce yourself to your neighbours, if you deem it safe. Give them a little gift if you can afford it, like a pack of pasta.

-Make new friends, even if they aren't deep friendships. You need connections. Online or irl, both are fine- don't stay isolated.

-If you already have community, go check on them right now. Ask your friends how they're doing, and if they need anything- ask how they're being impacted by what's happening right now politically.

16) Look for ways to fuck over the institutions in easy ways. One example that went around tumblr a lot is letting dandelions grow in your backyard, because landlords fucking hate it. If you work in retail or fast food, cheat. Accidentally forget to scan the diapers. Put in 7 nuggets instead of 6.

17) Engage in art. MAKE art. Music, shitty paint drawings, craft, anything as long as you're being creative. Share it. If you feel like you can't do that, then support artists. Make a point to look up cool illustrations, and new music. Go to the cinema.

If you're an artist currently in an underpaid office job, please, by the love of god, be creative during office hours. You're underpaid, they do not deserve your full time and attention. Take 30 minutes to write that snippet you've been thinking about.

(and actually, if you're underpaid at all: do the minimum required. So that you can't be fired, but that's it. Any more effort is not worth it. Companies will never be thankful for what you do.)

18) Look up books that your state banned, and go read them. You can get them secondhand, or as pdfs online. (if anyone needs ressources, i will glady look for and share them.)

And, actually, read books in general if you can. Yes, fanfics count !

19) Seek education. There's a lot of youtube channels out there talking about educational subjects in a fun way. Some things the rich assholes who run the country specifically don't want you to learn more about are: biology, history and archeology, social and economic sciences. GO LEARN ABOUT THOSE.

The people in power don't want you to be educated. It's why they eviscerated the education system.

20) PIRATE. I cannot stress this enough, anything you can pirate (that isn't from small, indie creators, except if you absolutely can't afford it) do it. Download music illegally, torrent movies and games. If you want access to academical studies and papers, some writers will give them to you for free if you email them about it. There are also ways to go around paywalls.

21) Don't fall for the traps of "progressive brands". Lately, i've seen a lot of praise for Ben and Jerry's for openly supporting lgbtq rights and being globally anti-trump. They are still a brand. Avoid buying from any big names when you can. That being said, if you have to, check beforehand which ones and what their history is. Some are more evil than others.

Additional tip: a lot of brands you see in stores are actually owned by bigger brands. One prime example of this is Nestle, who are fucking evil, but they own a shitload of other big names. Be careful what you buy.

22) I hate to say this, but be prepared to defend yourself. Revolutions are never peaceful. You will get in danger. If you can, get in ok physical shape. If you can't, buy a gun. (Remember Alabama has a 99% acceptation rate, you can get one in 10 minutes.) I hate firearms, but the enemy will have them too. Arm yourself.

If none of those are available options to you, please, make sure you have someone around you that will be able to protect you, or a place where you can be safe. Whether you are disabled, a minor, or anything else. Don't put yourself in more danger than is necessary.

23) Last but not least, be kind. When someone cuts off a woman speaking, interrupt and give her the floor back. Shame those who think it's right to say bigoted shit in public. Listen to those around you. If you can't act, then remember to always have empathy for the homeless, for drug users, for immigrants. Understand they are people just like you. You are not immune to propaganda and prejudice, no matter who you are. Always question yourself and your biases.

(if you've read this far, please repost. We need this to reach as many people as possible)

I want to remind you that you're not alone. I know things seem hopeless, but the simple fact that you're reading this is proof it's not. I don't live in the US, but i'm supporting you as best i can from where i am, and sending you strenght.

If you have any questions, do ask away. I'll end on this image that's very dear to me:

[the-uncanny-dag]

[14dayswithyou]

How cutiesai made 14 Days With You

I've received quite a few requests in the past asking how I made 14DWY, what resources I used, how I organised my lore, etc. — so I figured I'd make one big post and share it with everyone else as well! It features a buuunch of helpful stuff I wish I'd known when I first made 14DWY, so hopefully this will help others too!

⚠ This is all copied & pasted from a Discord post I made back in early 2024! I'll also be adding to it over time, so feel free to check back every so often! ^^

What engine do I use?

14DWY uses the Ren'Py engine!

There are two preinstalled games (called "Tutorial" and "The Question") that give you a basic rundown on how to use the program!!

Zeil Learning's video called "Ren'py Tutorial For Beginners" is also a good place to start for those who have no idea where to begin with Ren'Py!

I also really recommend these Ren'Py resources:

Lemma Soft Forums

Ren'Py Discord server

Ren'Py subreddit

Zeil Learnings, ElaineDoesCoding, Visual Novel Design, and Ess Ren'Py Tutorials on YouTube

Searching through the "Ren'Py" tag on itch.io for community-made assets and resources (make sure to give credit if you use someone's asset(s))!

Feniks and Wattson offer some really helpful stuff!!

Not Ren'Py related, but helpful for creating a VN:

Obsidian and Notion for planning and worldbuilding

Visual Studio Code and Atom (comes preinstalled with Ren'Py iirc?) for scripting/coding

Pixabay and Pexels for royalty-free images and stock photos

DOVA-SYNDROME for music

Clip Studio Paint (paid) and Krita (free) for drawing

Toyhou.se to store your littol guys (If you need an invite code, I have over 300 to give away lmao ^^ Send in an ask to @cutiesigh if you'd like one!)

An itch.io account to upload your game for free and share it with others

General tips to keep in mind:

Make games for fun, not for fame. Too often, I see new developers create VNs with "trending tropes" because they see how successful it is and want the same level of popularity. As harsh as it sounds, this only makes your game feel hollow and superficial, and players will notice.

When using Ren'Py, it's better to have multiple .rpy files rather than putting everything into one large file!! It makes organising and finding things easier, and if something gets corrupted... at least you won't lose everything!

Plan everything beforehand, but give yourself room to expand and implement new ideas.

Start small and slowly expand over time. Don't start off with an overly ambitious project, as it can be disheartening when you put all this effort into something just for it not to gain any traction. Also, be grateful for your earliest supporters, as they're the ones who will lift your project off the ground!!

This is a personal preference, but I recommend starting off with itch.io as your main distribution platform. Most storefronts take a cut from your donations and revenue, and sites like Steam require a $100 fee just to publish your game on their platform. Itch is free, and you can even toggle off revenue sharing in your profile settings! (I like to keep it at 10% though, because I'm grateful for everything the site provides ♡)

If you ever need help with Ren'Py, you're always welcome to join the 14DWY Discord server and ping me in the help channel!

[plaidos]

Based on that post about micro celebrity transfems, just out of curiosity would you consider yourself/strawberry crocodile/molsno/txttletale or similar blogs also micro celebrities?

(Because to me you kind of are but I could also see why not , and also I have to admit while I do get most of my knowledge on transmisogyny from you and co, my girlfriend will always me the person I listen to first, it's just mostly that she doesn't want to talk about the topic so much because it's distressing enough to live through, I'll listen always but yeah idk a lot still comes from you and strawberry-crocodile)

i mean yeah, me, Pepper, Vivi, Healed, etc are definitely people who could be described as “transfeminine microcelebrities” in certain contexts and settings — literally the other day i went to a lesbian bar in Brooklyn and a girl recognised me from tumblr and called me a microcelebrity to my face, it would be pretty brash to separate myself from this lol

but my point before wasn’t that you *shouldnt ever* listen to transfeminine (micro)celebrities’ experiences with transmisogyny or that it’s always bad to learn things from people on social media, like you’re right it is exhausting for cis people to be constantly treating me like a Primary Source rather than a person — the problem is treating these people like the most infallible position possible just because they happen to have large followings. it’s objectifying, and ultimately in my experiences people will treat these cultural figureheads (etc) as almost like fandom characters at best where they can consciously ignore the things these people actually think in order to keep having that parasocial relationship, simultaneous to using these figures to dismiss the trans women in these bad ally’s lives.

as an example of what i’m talking about, i saw a lot of TME people leap to defend Maia Crimew’s essay about anarchist organising from “mean, badfaith criticisms” that in actuality amounted to trans girls from the global south saying “hey Maia i think that what you’re suggesting doesn’t line up with my experiences organising and is kind of bad advice”. i feel like immediately turning on any transfem who disagrees with something Your Favourite Transfem From Social Media said as like, bad faith bullies picking on someone is pretty objectifying to the person in question & dismissive to the community in general. that’s just an example though

if you want my advice you should build your own understanding of transmisogyny from the transfems you know IRL, from transfeminine scholars & their works, etc. rather than from one source. everybody is wrong about something. i have been wrong about transmisogyny plenty of times, it would be a disservice to me to treat my experiences as gospel rather than simply that: experiences.

[endure-ac-survive]

Stop scrolling and read this

If you're an American, especially if you're queer, disabled, a person of colour, or otherwise marginalised, and ESPECIALLY if you live in a red state, you need to take steps to protect yourself. So I'm going to give you a non-exhaustive list of things that I strongly recommend that you do if you have the ability:

Apply for a passport

Apply for a gun (Maybe even join the Socialist Rifle Association for good measure)

Put together a Go Bag (there's a lot of resources online which can tell you what to include but the basics are the obvious things; food, water, passport, cash, etc.)

If you're queer, scrub any mention of that from your public-facing social media

If you have family or a partner in another country, start having a conversation about moving there

Organise with your community and look for mutual aid groups in your county/state

If you're undocumented, make arrangements to move to Canada. I am not kidding.

These things seem drastic, but this situation calls for drastic measures, because this will not be like Trump's first term. Trump now has a compliant supreme court, immunity from prosecution, and a playbook which will allow him to replace workers in federal agencies with political loyalists.

You are staring fascism in the face, and there is a very, very, very real risk that you could die. Please make yourself safe.

[tampon-eater]

Hey YOU!!!! Yes, YOU! Do YOU have a history of posting online about activism but not actually doing any activism? No shame in that (unless you don’t have any intent to change that fact). Do YOU have any intent to change that fact???? You DO?? AWESOME!!!!! Below is a list of things you can do to actually benefit people!!!!

1. Attend protests!!!

Not all of us can organise, obviously, but it’s a lot easier to grab a cardboard sign and attend what someone else has organised. Now, don’t get me wrong, they can be dangerous (especially in the states). Be sure to read up on your rights and how to protect yourself before heading to one. And, for the love of god, don’t record shit.

2. Volunteer!!!!

“But Silas,” you say, “I can’t attend protests!!! [insert valid reason like lack of reliable transport, disapproving parents, etc]!!” Don’t fear, my child. Check out your local soup kitchens, food banks, and charities. Work the till at a charity shop. Dish out a hot meal to people who can’t buy one. The world is your oyster.

3. Care packages!!!

“Silas!!!” You cry. “Didn’t you hear me???? I can’t just turn up to places!” Well then, my pretty, do I have the solution for you. Construct yo’self a care package for people in need. It doesn’t have to be much. Things like socks, toothpaste, pads and a nice note tossed in a ziploc (jkjk please actually construct these with care) is enough. Keep care packages with you in case you find a person in need or give these to your local shelter to give out on your behalf.

4. Donate!!!

Old clothes? Charity shop. Food you won’t eat? Community pantry. Spare change? Gofundme and start clicking. You’d think this would be one of the easiest. You’d be surprised. If you have a favourite charity or a cause your passionate about and a fiver kicking around, go crazy.

5. Torture your government!!!!

Okay. Let’s say you’re broke as fuck with no way to get around. You still have petitions. Actually important ones that go to the government (and not ones that are kinda baseless like “end world hunger” or whatever) can do a lot of good. Call your representatives. Write to your MPs. Harass them until they can’t ignore you. Make a fuss!!!

If there’s like other stuff then idk add it on babygirl don’t be shy!!

[galina]

how do you find a group of people/friends/chosen family you can truly be yourself with? i had that in uni and then covid happened and now we're spread all over the world and never see each other again. i'm at home feeling lonely every day and like a misfit in my own (parents') house.. this is kind of a downer lol sorry about that! i just see you go for dinner at your friends' and you go on holidays together etc, and at 25 that feels like lightyears away, if not out of reach, from me :/

don't be sorry, always happy to be a safe place to vent.

I don't think I have the answer about making friends, I know I'm lucky to live near people I can hang with regularly. one thing I think helps is we all introduce each other to our "other" friends, so you get to know more and more friendly faces in your community. I'm always surprised by how often I run into people I know considering the size of the city.

it's funny you mentioned the holiday as well – there were ten of us, and I only knew one person when I arrived, over a week we all fell in collective love and it was so beautiful. maybe the answer is just being open hearted to the idea that anyone you meet could be someone you'll love?

you mentioned you have friends across the world – do you call regularly? could you organise to all meet up on a holiday or something? or could you make a schedule to visit each person?

I think the main thing I took from your message is you're living with your parents – totally get it, you have your reasons – but maybe the main contributing factor is you don't have independence and freedom to come and go or get out and about? maybe you're living somewhere rural? or maybe you're wfh too? workspaces, classes, activities and clubs are some of the main places you can meet people, maybe you're not getting enough of that where you're at. could you join up to something community focused based on your interests?

sending good thoughts :)

[28whitepeonies]

Reading that made me realize how much my boyfriend ‚hates‘ woman, too. And it makes me sad.

Hi friend

Firstly I’m really sorry that the world we live in has been built the way it has and I’m sorry that it’s causing you hurt. I just want to start by saying that how you feel is very valid. I can’t offer much in the way of your boyfriend but I can offer some thoughts on how I exist in the hopes that might help you.

The thing about the 1D boys or the vast majority of men in general, and this will apply to your boyfriend too, is that misogyny is systemic. It’s built into the structures of everything around us, but like all forms of oppression, it does not have to be. Fighting it is a fight to make a better world and I think the it’s important to remind yourself that you’re not powerless, although as individuals our actions may not have a significant impact, there’s power in a collective.

And if I were to offer a piece of unsolicited advice, it would be that even beyond wanting to change the world, I have also probably found the greatest comfort in other women fighting for the same thing. There are different ways of finding that but I think there are two good places to start, the first is if you’re in a union - that in itself can be a good way to find likeminded people, but most branches will have a women’s rep and in my experience they will be a fountain of knowledge about local organising groups or book groups or radical knitting circles etc. The second requires a bit more time spent looking for yourself for what’s in your area, for instance there’s a little socialist book shop I have been going to for years that runs community events in my city and they do all sorts of stuff, or there are a couple of direct action groups focusing on women’s safety and buffer zones for abortion clinics - going along to meetings is a good way to work out what you want to get involved in and what you don’t.

I don’t have any other wise words to offer but I will share a couple of things that I have found a lot of comfort in and a couple of things that are a constant source of hope, because I think that matters a great deal. I’m going to put them under a cut before this gets too long!

This is a film about Ireland’s 8th Amendment and the fight for reproductive rights. There’s also a podcast called ‘How the yes was won’ if you’re a podcast fan.

If you haven’t seen ‘Made in Dagenham’ then I’d really recommend it. It’s about 187 women who worked for Ford as sewing machinists going on strike in 1968 over sexual discrimination. They predominately made car seat covers, and their strike brought Ford’s production to a halt. They won that fight and it resulted in better conditions for a far larger number of women than those 187 who walked out. The movie focuses a bit too much on pay and not enough on ford’s discriminatory practices in terms of conditions, grading of skilled work etc but it’s still a good place to start.

I’ve read two books recently that I would also recommend, the first is ‘Striking Women: Struggles and Strategies of South Asian Women Workers from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet’ which focuses on the stories of South Asian women organising and striking in Britain in 1976 and 2005.

The second is ‘Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China’ which starts with the stories of five women arrested in China in 2015 for their activism - the first section of the book tells each of their stories.

[bhajanmandali]

Radha Krishna Jhanki Group in Muktsar Punjab.

"Sargam Jagran Party" is the best in Jagran, Chowki, Bhajan & Sai Sandhya, Khatu Shyam Bhajan, Ladies Sangeet & all Devotee type program in Lucknow, UP, India. ☎+91-9919805315. "Sargam Jagran Party" has been conducting Mata ki Chowki, Mata ka Jagran and Bhajan Sandya from last 10 years with lots of memories and with great success.Blessing of God and Goddess is needed to overcome every rough course of life. Everyone should conduct Mata Ki Chowki and Mata Ka Jagran to get blessing and her devine power and all the needs to be fulfilled.

" Sargam Jagran Party" is very much devotional event organiser, as it is done with full devotion and respect towards the God. The work of the "Sargam Jagran Party" has been appreciated and acknowledged in many State Newspaper like: UP, Bihar, Rajsthan and Hariyana etc. At the very first place it was started with the same group but, now it has expand upto 30 plus people. All the facilities are provide which are needed to conduct Mata ki Chowki, Mata ka Jagran and Bhajan sandhya like: Singer's, Instruments, Sound facility, Jhanki etc. We are often called by the people again and again who have used our services.

Poeple mostly like to call us at the time of Weeding, Engagement, Birthdays, Anniversaries or during Ganpati Pooja and Navratri festivals and we promised to serve a memorable Jagran or Chowki. Working for over a decades, we are having the experience to make it more devotional and memorable when we organised it. Our party has experienced chorus group, vocalist, musicians and artists which are required to make it successful. Its main origin is based in Lucknow and we operate almost all the States in India. Pooja Sargam is the Director and also a Lead Singer of the "Sargam Jagran Party" organiser. Starting from the Pooja Aarti to the Bhog or Prasad everything is done by our organie team.

From last 10 years we are providing the best Mata Ki Chowki, Mata Ka Jagran and Bhajan Sandhya also currently dealing in the Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and to the another State's.

So next time whenever you are planing to conduct Mata Ki Chowki, Mata Ka Jagran and Bhajan Sandhya, make sure to contact us and make your spiritual experience more devotional and delightfull.

Mata ka Jagran is a holy programme for all the Hindu community. In this programme all night Kirtan has been sung by the singers and Maa Durga worship has been done.

At Mata ka Jagran firstly we light Akhand jyoti of Mataji. After that Vandana is sung ( devotional song) by the singer or any other devotee who wants to sing. Bhet is offered by the devotee (red color chunni) coconut fruits and shingar matriail along with soe bheta and sweets. Then comes ardass and bhog is distributed to the people who are present there by the devotee. Short break are taken and around half an hour again we start for the further process. Lastly after Aarti and devotional song’s Lonkra and Kanjak Pooja we distribute bhog and Prasad to all and comes to the end of Jagran as an samapti.

With the grace of God and good wishes of devotees, our team of Sargam Jagran Party are growing day by day. Now we can count us as one of the best Spiritual event organiser party in the UP state. Our Balaji Jagran very famous in LKO and Outer Areas. We have done a no of Balaji Jagrans most of the cities in Up and we got very nice compliments too. Balaji Jangran is the story of Ramayan’s Sundarkand where whole story is based on Lord Hanuman and their Lanka Visit. We organises the whole event in such a way that you can feel the event in reality with a lots of emotions. You will find yourself connecting with the God. Our Sargam jagran Team always take care our devotees on every single step of the event and organise the all things in such a way that you will find 100% satisfaction from us within your decided parameter of budget. So Please give one chance when you are making plan of Balaji jagran.

Sai Baba is one of the most famous and kind hearted lord of Hindus and Muslims both. Hindus and Muslims both religion devotees are bending their heads on Sai’s royal court. For such kind hearted Lord, we are doing special bhajan and kirtans or Sai Sandhya. Multiple places in UP we did Sai Sandhya’s. From a long time, we providing Sai Sandhya services to our Sai devotees in Lko and other cities of UP. We know that Sai Kirtan playing a very vital role in our Sai devotee’s life, they have special affection and love towards their Sai Baba on every steps of life. We always being take care of your emotions for Sai BABA. We doing all the the work that is necessary to make your Sai Sandhya evergreen or long term memorable. We have a very simple mission that is make the event very special for our Sai devotees and they can remember us for life time therefore we always sargam Jagran party always gives their 100% in Every spiritual event. We become one of the best Jagran party in the Up. So If you are thinking about Sai Sandhya so please once contact us.

With the grace of God and good wishes of devotees, our team of Sargam Jagran Party are growing day by day. Now we can count us as one of the best Spiritual event organiser party in the UP state. Our Balaji Jagran very famous in LKO and Outer Areas. We have done a no of Balaji Jagrans most of the cities in Up and we got very nice compliments too. Balaji Jangran is the story of Ramayan’s Sundarkand where whole story is based on Lord Hanuman and their Lanka Visit. We organises the whole event in such a way that you can feel the event in reality with a lots of emotions. You will find yourself connecting with the God. Our Sargam jagran Team always take care our devotees on every single step of the event and organise the all things in such a way that you will find 100% satisfaction from us within your decided parameter of budget. So Please give one chance when you are making plan of Balaji jagran.

If there is any most efficient way to please Hanuman Ji, then it is Hanuman Chalisa followed by the Path (recitation) of Sunderkand. Doing these with reverence and devotion pleases Bajrang Bali, and he rectifies all the troubles of his devotees. The Ramayana shows the virtues of Shri Ram and his efforts. The entire life character of Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram is contained in the Ramcharit Manas composed by Goswami Tulsidas. Although reading each of its chapters is virtuous and will take one closer to Lord Shri Ram, Sundarkand has been considered the best. Sunderkand is a part of Shri Ramcharit Manas, composed by Tulsidas Ji. The great works done by Hanuman Ji have been described in Sunderkand. Sunderkand is the chapter in Ramayana, which focuses on the story of the power and triumph of Hanuman Ji.

Maharishi Valmiki wrote the entire Ramayana in the Sanskrit language. After that, Tulsidas Ji wrote Ramayana (Shri Ram Charit Manas) in the Awadhi language. Sunderkand is the fifth chapter (kand) of Shri Ram Charit Manas.

Sundarkand describes the departure of Hanuman Ji to Lanka, meeting Vibhishan, meeting Sita and giving her the ring of Shri Ram, the killing of Akshay Kumar, Lanka Dahan, and his return from Lanka. In Sunderkand, Hanuman Ji reaches to the rescue of Mata Sita and provides her with hope of Shri Rama’s long-awaited arrival. The Sunderkand has a special significance for the devotees of Hanuman Ji. By reciting Sunderkand, one gets freedom from fear, strengthening his/her confidence. Those who recite the Sunderkand, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays, get rid from all the diseases, plagues, troubles, and misfortunes and good news starts knocking on the door for them.

[sanctamariafaridabad]

How to Choose the Right International School for Your Child?

Parents should know that determining what kind of an education their children should get is a very important choice. This sudden boom of international schools in India has provided parents with so many options, and it is important that you select a school that meets your child’s needs, values and goals. In this article, we are going to walk you through on how to choose the right international school for your child; discussing the advantage of international school and factors to consider when choosing the school itself.

Why Choose an International School? International schools offer something different from conventional education. They equip students with international perspectives needed in today’s globalised world. The biggest advantage of international school lies in the fact that they instil cultural diversity, create academic excellence and foster wider understanding of the world. Consider Your Child's Needs:

You must first evaluate your child by asking yourself some questions before commencing searching for him or her: 

What are your child’s objectives and dreams academically? 

Does he/she have any particular necessities or conditions? 

What things does your son love doing in his free time? -Does she participate in enough afterschool activities? How do they learn best?

 “What other things should I be aware of about my child’s learning requirements except his/her preferences?” 

 If you can answer all these concerns satisfactorily, then you can easily find what fits well into your kid’s educational requirements.

Research and Shortlist

Once you have understood what exactly it is that your child needs, start researching about international schools within your area. Identify Schools That: 

Follow syllabus which complements what your child wants (e.g IB, IGCSEs or Cambridge). 

Have good image as well as receive recognition from established bodies 

Are cosmopolitan and suffer no forms discrimination or any other. 

Offer a wide array of sports and extracurricular activities.

Have qualified instructors who are well experienced. Now you can shortlist schools that meet your criteria and go deeper into each one’s unique features and offerings.

Evaluate the School's Curriculum and Teaching Methods

Your child’s learning experience is greatly influenced by the curriculum as well as teaching methods used by the school.

Consider schools that:

Offer an all-inclusive course to prepare students for college.

Put emphasis on critical reasoning, innovative thinking, creativity, problem-solving techniques.

Provide opportunities for students to explore their interests and passions in depth

Utilise different types of engaging technologies relevant to multiple knowledge acquisition styles.

Assess the School's Facilities and Resources

The school’s facilities together with resources are crucial in determining how much your child learns within that environment. 

Think about: 

-The conditions of infrastructure within school such as issue of classrooms, libraries, gymnasiums etc.

-Availability of information technology including digital devices like computers

-How committed is the institution towards environmental conservation? This should also look at whether there are psychological support services offered at this level.

Meet with the School's Administrators and Teachers

Organise meetings between administrators or staff once you have narrowed down your list. These meetings will help you: 

• Get more information concerning curriculum programs, methods or facilities used at schools 

• Obtain some idea about what life in that school is like in terms of culture and values

• Determine if they really care for learners’ wellbeing or not

• Find out what type of community exists around this place as per its suitability

The Right Choice Academy Selecting the most appropriate international school for your son or daughter is a major decision that calls for careful thought and research. This will enable you to make a reasoned choice in respect of your child’s schooling that will affect his/her remaining education years. Understand the needs of your child, research on shortlisted schools, assess curriculum and teaching approaches, evaluate facilities and resources provided by the school as well as meet with administrators and teachers are some of the things that you need to do before making an informed choice. At Sancta Maria International School in Faridabad, we know how important it is to deliver a world-class education that equips students for success. Our institution combines academic excellence, cultural diversity and extracurricular opportunities which helps children love learning while being globally aware. In our efforts to build supportive communities across diverse cultures, we aim at developing confident, caring critical thinkers who will help bring about positive changes within society upon exiting our institution. For parents looking for a truly international school experience, come see what Sancta Maria has on offer.

[bhajanmandalilucknow]

Jagran Group in Wazirganj Gonda

"Sargam Jagran Party" is the best in Jagran, Chowki, Bhajan & Sai Sandhya, Khatu Shyam Bhajan, Ladies Sangeet & all Devotee type program in Lucknow, UP, India. ☎+91-9919805315. "Sargam Jagran Party" has been conducting Mata ki Chowki, Mata ka Jagran and Bhajan Sandya from last 10 years with lots of memories and with great success.Blessing of God and Goddess is needed to overcome every rough course of life. Everyone should conduct Mata Ki Chowki and Mata Ka Jagran to get blessing and her devine power and all the needs to be fulfilled.

" Sargam Jagran Party" is very much devotional event organiser, as it is done with full devotion and respect towards the God. The work of the "Sargam Jagran Party" has been appreciated and acknowledged in many State Newspaper like: UP, Bihar, Rajsthan and Hariyana etc. At the very first place it was started with the same group but, now it has expand upto 30 plus people. All the facilities are provide which are needed to conduct Mata ki Chowki, Mata ka Jagran and Bhajan sandhya like: Singer's, Instruments, Sound facility, Jhanki etc. We are often called by the people again and again who have used our services.

Mata ka Jagran is a holy programme for all the Hindu community. In this programme all night Kirtan has been sung by the singers and Maa Durga worship has been done.

At Mata ka Jagran firstly we light Akhand jyoti of Mataji. After that Vandana is sung ( devotional song) by the singer or any other devotee who wants to sing. Bhet is offered by the devotee (red color chunni) coconut fruits and shingar matriail along with soe bheta and sweets. Then comes ardass and bhog is distributed to the people who are present there by the devotee. Short break are taken and around half an hour again we start for the further process. Lastly after Aarti and devotional song’s Lonkra and Kanjak Pooja we distribute bhog and Prasad to all and comes to the end of Jagran as an samapti.

Mata ki chowki represent the ancient culture of Hinduism society. Mata ki chowki means praising the stories of Gods life time experiences in the form of singing. It is generally sung in Sanskrit and Hindi. It is a devotional programme conducted specially for occasions like Weeding, Engagement, Birthdays, Anniversaries or during Ganpati Pooja and Navratri festivals. In Mata ki Chowki Short time kirtan is conducted in Mata Ki Chowki and it is mostly for 4 to 5 hours. Prayee devote their respect through their prayers in the form of singing. Garlands and Matajis bhet (red color chunni) coconut and shingar with bheta. After that Aarti is done by the devotee who has kept Mata Ki Chowki. Bhog Prasad to Mataji of Kher has been offered followed by Amrit Varsha and Phoolon Ki Varsha of flowers and petals. At last prasand is shared to all people who have been there as the samapti of Mata Ki CHowki.

With the grace of God and good wishes of devotees, our team of Sargam Jagran Party are growing day by day. Now we can count us as one of the best Spiritual event organiser party in the UP state. Our Balaji Jagran very famous in LKO and Outer Areas. We have done a no of Balaji Jagrans most of the cities in Up and we got very nice compliments too. Balaji Jangran is the story of Ramayan’s Sundarkand where whole story is based on Lord Hanuman and their Lanka Visit. We organises the whole event in such a way that you can feel the event in reality with a lots of emotions. You will find yourself connecting with the God. Our Sargam jagran Team always take care our devotees on every single step of the event and organise the all things in such a way that you will find 100% satisfaction from us within your decided parameter of budget. So Please give one chance when you are making plan of Balaji jagran.

[azeez-unv]

Teacher's role in Child Protection

What can teachers do?

Children can be subjected to neglect, abuse, violence and exploitation anywhere. There is some abuse that may happen inside the school premises, while a lot of it is what children suffer at home and in non-school environments. A child in your class may be a victim of violence/abuse/exploitation that happens outside the school. You cannot ignore it. Rather you must help the child. This too is possible only if you are able to identify that there is a problem and you spend time to understand it and explore possible solutions.

Always remember that your duty to protect children does not come to an end once you are out of the school premises. The life of a child who is out of the school system can be changed with your positive intervention. You just have to prepare yourself for it and know more about their problems as well as what you can do to help.

Once you are mentally prepared and equipped to tackle the problem you will be able to do many things you have never dreamt you are capable of doing.

Are you a child-friendly teacher?

Understand children’s rights as human rights and create such awareness in the community as well.

Make children feel it is worthwhile attending your class.

Be open to learning.

Be a Friend, Philosopher and Guide to the child.

Make the classes interesting and informative. Avoid one-way communication and give opportunities to children to come up with their doubts and queries.

Learn to recognise and identify abuse, neglect, learning disorders and other not so visible disabilities.

Create a relationship where children can express their views, concerns, anguish, fear etc. Try to engage with children in informal discussions.

Be a good listener. Share and discuss various issues and problems which children are facing either in school or at home.

Encourage children’s participation in matters that affect their lives.

Build children’s capacities to participate effectively.

Organise meetings of children with school authorities.

Discuss child rights issues with the parents in the PTA meetings.

Say NO to corporal punishment. Use positive reinforcement techniques like dialogue and counselling to discipline children.

Say NO to discrimination. Take active steps to reach out to children from minority and other discriminated groups.

Stop negative stereotyping and discrimination against working children, street children, child victims of sexual abuse, trafficking, domestic violence or drug abuse and children in conflict with law, to name a few categories of those who need protection.

Stop use of child labour in your home and workplace.

Be democratic but not unstructured.

Ensure children are protected within the school as well as in the community, even if it requires calling the police and taking/facilitating legal action.

Encourage them to put forward their views before the adults and the community.

Involve children in organising events. Give them responsibilities and at the same time give them the required guidance.

Take children to nearby places for picnics and pleasure trips.

Engage children in discussions/debates/quiz and other recreational activities.

Encourage education and participation of girls through creative measures within the classroom.

Follow-up on girls who drop out or attend irregularly to ensure it does not continue.

All teachers can help in creating and strengthening a protective environment around children.

Your observations are important, as they alone will help you to assess the growth and progress of a child in your class. If you see a problem, your next step should be to explore what could be the possible reason.

Next question to yourself should be whether the child is under any pressures from family, relatives or friends.

Spend some time with the child privately, without being imposing, humiliating and creating an embarrassing situation for the child.

Help the child express her/his problem either through drawing and painting or by writing a story or simply talking to you or the school counsellor/social worker or to a friend in the class.

Preserving the rights of an HIV infected child

Impart sex education to children based on their age and level of maturity.

Inform the children about HIV/AIDS. How it spreads and affects an individual, and how can we prevent it from spreading further?

Create and enabling environment in the class-room to ensure that infected and affected kids are not stigmatised. Creating and strengthening a protective environment for children requires many levels of engagement, which in turn demand dialogue, partnerships, and coordination based on a shared analysis. Many of its components correspond to traditional development activities and approaches, such as improving basic services, monitoring results, and recognising individuals as actors in their own development.

Teachers must be aware of the government’s schemes for children and what they have to offer. Identify children and families that require assistance and could be helped through any of the existing Government schemes. A list of such children and families can be handed over to your Block / Taluka / Mandal Panchayat Member or BDPO directly. People you must liaise with if you want to protect children include:

• The Police.

• Your Panchayat/Municipal Corporation Head/Member.

• Anganwadi Workers.

• ANMs.

• Block/Taluka/Mandal and Zila Panchayat Members.

• Block Development Officer (BDO) or Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO).

• Community Development Officer (CDO) or Community Development and Panchayat Officer.

• District Magistrate/ District Collector.

• Nearest Child Welfare Committee.• Child Line Organisations in your area.

Identifying Child Sexual Abuse

Identifying Child Sexual Abuse

Signs of sexual abuse in children and adolescents

6-11 Years

12-17 Years

GIRLS

Engages in explicit sexual behaviours with other children.

Sexually exploitative interactions with younger children

Verbally describes experiences of sexual abuse.

Sexually promiscuous behaviour or total avoidance of sexual involvement

Excessive concern or preoccupation with private parts.

Eating disturbances

Sexually relating to adults.

Efforts to distance from feelings of guilt, shame and humiliation

Sudden fear or mistrust of males, females or specific places.

Running away from home

Age inappropriate knowledge of adult sexual behaviour.

Sleep disturbances: Nightmares and night terrors

BOYS

Engages in explicit sexual behaviours with other children

Sexually exploitative or aggressive interactions with younger children

Sudden fear or mistrust of males, females or specific places

Regressive behaviour

Sleep disturbances: Night mares and night terrors

Acting out and risk taking behaviour

Sudden aggressive behaviour or acting out

Efforts to distance from feelings of guilt, shame and humiliation

Loss of interest in previous interests

Regressive behaviour

Precautions: The above mentioned signs or symptoms are to be considered only as rough guidelines to indicate that a child is in trouble and that the cause may be sexual abuse. It is very important, however, not to jump on any individual symptom or behaviour and conclude that abuse has taken place. Rather you must look for groups of symptoms and use your intuition.

Children are often taught to obey adults. In the process they forget to say “no” to the adults, even if they do not like the behaviour or attitude of the adults.

Teach children to say “no” in such situations.

Ten messages about children with disabilities

Prevent negative stereotypical attitudes about children with disabilities by avoiding negative words, such as “disabled,” “crippled,” “handicapped,” instead of “a child with a physical or movement disability”; “wheelchair bound” for “a child who uses wheelchair”, “deaf and dumb” instead of “a child with hearing and speech disability”, or “retarded” for “a child with mental disability.”

Depict children with disabilities with equal status as those without disabilities. For example, a student with a disability can tutor a younger child without a disability. Children with disabilities should interact with non-disabled children in as many ways as possible.

Allow children with disabilities to speak for themselves and express their thoughts and feelings. Involve children with and without disabilities in the same projects and encourage their mutual participation.

Observe children and identify disabilities. Early detection of disabilities has become part of early-childhood education. The earlier a disability is detected in a child, the more effective the intervention and the less severe the disability.

Refer the child whose disability is identified, for developmental screening and early intervention.

Adapt the lessons, learning materials and classroom to the needs of children with disabilities. Use means such as large print, seating the child in the front of the class, and making the classroom accessible for the child with a movement disability. Integrate positive ideas about disabilities into classwork, children’s play and other activities.

Sensitise parents, families, and caregivers about the special needs of children with disabilities. Speak to parents in meetings as well as on a one-to-one basis.

Teach frustrated parents simple ways to deal with and manage their child’s needs and help them to have patience to prevent abuse of the disabled child.

Guide siblings and other family members in lessening the pain and frustration of parents of children with disabilities, by being helpful.

Actively involve parents of young children with disabilities as full team members in planning school and after school activities.

Source: UNICEF, Teacher’s Talking about Learning (http://www.unicef.org/teachers)

Constructive Disciplinary Practices

Respect the child’s dignity.

Develop pro-social behavior, self-discipline, and character.

Maximise the child’s active participation.

Respect the child’s developmental needs and quality of life.

Respect the child’s motivational characteristics and life views.

Assure fairness and transformative justice.

Promote solidarity.

Source: Eliminating Corporal Punishment: The Way Forward to Constructive Child Discipline - A UNESCO Publication.

Changing the school environment - biggest challenge

Is your school child-friendly? This is how it can be one:

‘Spare the rod and save childhood’ should be the slogan and message for children, their parents and community at large.

A school must have a trained counsellor to help children showing signs of psychological and emotional problems and to provide necessary counseling to both the children and their parents/guardians.

A school must have a social worker to generate positive peer response, family response and community response.

Regular and periodic PTAs should become an essential feature. PTAs should provide a platform for dialogue between teachers and parents on the child’s overall development and not just progress in class.

Training and sensitization activities with teachers on child rights must become a regular feature just as teachers are sent for academic trainings by various schools on a regular basis.

Fora for children’s participation in matters affecting them inside the school should be created.

Sex Education should be made an essential component of life skill education imparted in schools.

Basic facilities like toilets and drinking water for children must be made available within the school premises. Toilets for boys and girls should be separate.

For schools that function from a tent or a small room, adequate breaks for toilet and drinking water must form a routine.

Disabled-friendly infrastructure and teaching-learning materials reflect on a school’s sensitivity towards the disabled children. Ensure that you have it all or at least what your resources can best permit. Local resources can be mobilized to fulfill this need.

There should be no vendors in and around the school premises.

Schools that strictly discourage employment of children for domestic work by its teachers actually establish a best practice to be followed by all in the community.

Evolving peer groups to check drug abuse or any other form of abuse taking place within the school premise is a good practice that schools must adopt.

Guidelines are set up and followed for disciplinary enquiries and action against teachers or other school karamcharis reportedly involved in child sexual abuse within the school premises or outside.

Guidelines, rules and norms are laid out to deal with discrimination on grounds of gender, disability, caste, religion or HIV/AIDS reported within the school premises.

Schools should set up a child protection monitoring unit or cell involving children, their parents, and panchayats / municipal councils. The role of this unit could be to maintain records of children needing care and protection and to report cases of child abuse to the police or other concerned authorities.

Theme based recreational activities to involve children

Discussions/debates/quiz

Story telling

Painting, local art (specific to the region)

Skits/plays/theatre arts

Pottery and other crafts

Puppet making

Face painting

Origami

Photography

Picnic and Excursions

Sports (indoor and outdoor)

Exhibition



[deepeshchandran09]

What is not taught in College/Universities? (MBA)

An old adage ‘Experience is your best teacher

Learning experiences outside the classroom are forms of experiential learning which works on simple realistic principles. 

These practical experiences, which are learnt outside the classroom, are active processes wherein an individual encounters real picture and face factual issues, construct novel hypotheses and learn to interact with others to make sense of the world around them. 

When we do this, we encounter the world as a whole and are forced to engage multiple modalities, no matter which pair of disciplinary “lenses” we intended to wear.

Corporate work-culture is one of such world which is not taught in Universities and is absolutely different. 

What is corporate work-culture?

Corporate culture is the collection of values, ethic, beliefs and attitudes that characterize an organization. It includes the organization’s physical environment, HR management practices and staff work habits which reflects on elements like process, hierarchy, collaboration and community involvement.

Many of us are full of dreams when we step out of the four walls of the classroom and take up our first job in a corporate. Even though it’s great to finally start earning and ‘be on your own’; corporate life is nothing like we imagine it to be.

It takes time to comprehend and digest why people function so differently in the corporate world. 

You are generally left to figure everything out on your own, the tough way.

 Let us understand some challenges faced and their solutions through storytelling sessions

 1.Problems

You will be blamed for something that’s not your fault. Blame factor.

Solutions

How can you avoid? Don’t get bogged down. Try to document (on email) everything you do. If you are in the wrong, simply apologise and rectify the situation.

 

2.Problems

Other colleagues surpass you in your job, even if you don’t feel like they deserve it.

Solutions

How can you land yourself that promotion? Attend staff meetings and contribute to the subject at the table, increase copious and comprehensive awareness of the tasks done by you be passionate about what you do

  

3.Problems

You spend too much valuable working time sending emails 

Solutions

How can you organise yourself? Work out a system that will optimise the time that you have, install a bulk email program to your computer and then send to everyone with one swift click. Keep your desk and workspace organised at all times so that you’re not fumbling around trying to find things.

 

4.Problems

You will always be made to feel like the company doesn’t need you, Your bosses will make you feel like you’re replaceable.

Solutions

The solution? Perform and show that you’re worthy of the position you have, and that you are perfectly capable of doing it too, by following timelines. Be proactive and ask for extra responsibilities to be indispensable; but as per your capacity and by not getting overloaded This may even land you a promotion!

 

e.g.: Your dedication, hard work, ethics etc. will be rewarded when you ensure that you maintain visibility. The person who “works” long hours, talks without having anything to say has less chances to project his performance; whereas a person who can project his task in an elaborative way, has higher chances of being promoted.

‘One has to always sit next to the smartest guy.’

Humans have a tendency to observe others and subconsciously start behaving like them. To get positively influenced and have an impact for a better ‘You’ it is indeed necessary to be around or with the smartest person. By observing the way he reacts to various situations in a bold and confident way, the way he speaks on calls, answers his emails and even his body language can bring about the necessary changes which you may be lacking and can develop. 

 

 Best policy to follow in corporate work-culture:

 

Plus: Develop yourself by following the mentor who is your role model.

Equal: who can challenge you and bring out your potential.

Minus: Away from peers and people who obstruct you from solidifying your learning.

E.g.: MBA student -Sukhmini was recruited through campus recruitment in one of the reputed corporate company. She observed that corporate culture was absolutely different than her theories taught in the classroom. Initially she was taken aback with the corporate culture; gradually got moulded in the culture through corporate training sessions with storytelling. 

It’s just that, not all office environments are like this, but in the corporate offices it’s likely that you will face at least one of these problems at some point in your working years. Unfortunately, the solution is to either mould yourself and move forward in your job, or look for something new. Don’t let the corporate world ruin who you are. Play the game to win it!

[theworldgrad]

Describe an Ambition that You Haven’t Achieved: IELTS Cue Card

IELTS cue cards, also called speaking topic cards, are used in the speaking section of the IELTS exam. A common cue card asks you to describe an unaccomplished ambition.

IELTS Speaking Test Format

The IELTS speaking test evaluates your English communication skills through three parts:

Introduction and interview-style questions about yourself, family, work/study, hobbies, etc.

IELTS cue card topics: You receive a specific cue card, one minute to prepare, and then speak on the topic for up to two minutes.

Follow-up questions related to the cue card topic, allowing for in-depth discussion.

IELTS Cue Cards

An IELTS cue card presents a prompt or question on a specific topic, testing your skills in organising and expressing coherent thoughts. It evaluates your ability to use a diverse vocabulary, grammatical structures, and fluency in presenting your ideas.

Cue cards in the IELTS exam encompass various topics, including descriptions of people, places, events, objects, and discussions on problems, opinions, or current issues. These topics relate to everyday life and general knowledge, emphasising the significance of having a strong grasp on different subjects and effectively expressing your thoughts.

To excel in the IELTS speaking test, it is advantageous to practise responding to cue card topics, enhance your speaking abilities, and become acquainted with the test format and requirements. This preparation will boost your confidence and enhance your performance on the actual exam.

How to Answer ‘Describe an Ambition that You Haven’t Achieved’ – IELTS Cue Card

In the IELTS speaking test, the cue card topic "Describe an ambition that you haven't achieved" prompts students to contemplate their goals and communicate their ideas proficiently. In this blog, we provide guidance on how to approach and write about this commonly assigned cue card topic, enabling you to make a lasting impression on the examiners and showcase your abilities.

1. Choose an Ambition:

To describe an ambition, choose one that personally resonates with you. It can be a long-held dream, career aspiration, or personal goal. Explore ambitions in academics, career success, art, social impact, or personal growth. Select an ambition that genuinely inspires you, so you can speak passionately about it.

Your passion while speaking is noticed by the examiner, so it's crucial to select an ambition that truly resonates with you.

2. Structure your Response:

To craft a compelling response, organise your thoughts in a coherent structure. Despite the time pressure of one minute, staying calm will help you structure your ideas effectively. Follow this outline:

a. Introduction: Give a brief overview of your ambition and explain its significance to you.

b. Explanation: Elaborate on the reasons driving your ambition, its potential impact, and the challenges encountered during its pursuit.

c. Reflect on Unfulfillment: Discuss the reasons behind not achieving your ambition, being honest and introspective about personal limitations, external circumstances, or unforeseen obstacles.

d. Lessons and Growth: Emphasise the valuable lessons learned during your journey and how they have contributed to your personal and professional development.

e. Future Plans: Discuss your action plans for realising your ambition in the future, showcasing traits such as resilience, determination, and adaptability.

3. Language and Vocabulary:

To enrich your response, use diverse vocabulary and grammatical structures. Employ descriptive language to convey emotions, aspirations, and challenges. Demonstrate your linguistic skills by incorporating idiomatic expressions, suitable verb tenses, and connectors to ensure a seamless flow of ideas.

4. Maintain a Balanced Tone:

When discussing an unfulfilled ambition, balance optimism and realism. Be honest about your disappointment while expressing determination to overcome setbacks and achieve your goals. Maintaining a positive and forward-looking attitude showcases resilience and perseverance.

5. Practice and Feedback:

Writing alone is insufficient for excelling in the speaking section. Practice delivering your response aloud to enhance fluency and coherence. Seek feedback from teachers, peers, or language partners to improve ideas, pronunciation, and overall delivery. Focus on body language, intonation, and eye contact to deliver a captivating presentation.

Conclusion

Describing an unaccomplished ambition allows you to showcase introspection, goal-setting, and future planning skills. Choose a resonant ambition, structure your response, and use rich vocabulary to present a compelling narrative highlighting personal growth and resilience.

Embrace this cue card topic as a chance for self-reflection and improvement, propelling you closer to achieving your ambitions within and beyond the IELTS exam.

Remember, studying abroad encompasses personal growth, not just academic accomplishments. Articulating your ambitions and aspirations is a crucial skill that will benefit you in future endeavours. Best of luck!

[oceanicmarxist]

i forgot the guy's name when i wrote that

the point of newspapers and magazines is to produce propaganda to disseminate communist politics, plenty of people still read them, the main issue with communist newspapers is most of them aren't worth the paper and ink to even print them.

"directly democratic structures of mutual aid" like what?

my main problem with anarchists is their critique of marxism basically boils down to buzzwords, anarchists tend to use more jargon than the most aggressive and sterile stalinist/maoist. usually it's just different jargon to mean the same thing ("directly democratic communes" or something instead of "workers councils", etc).

the workers movement was defeated in the 1980s (its defeat was hammered in by the coming of neoliberalism) and so there is no mass workers movement from which to anchor our politics, or from which we can develop "directly democratic structures of mutual aid" that are anything more than leftwing charity projects (such as food not bombs).

yes, there must be a 'existent alternative to state and capitalist organisations'. marxists advocate for 'dual power' in the sense that the workers must establish their own alternate political power through establishing workers councils, street committees etc. you can hand out free food and call yourself a mutual aid collective all you want but without the foundation of coherent, concise politics and clear aims with a functional organisation of capacity, it's just going to stay buzzwords. this is ultimately why the working class needs a party as its political instrument.

One thing I've realised I've not seen enough of in the wake of the massive weekly Palestine solidarity protests across the UK is warnings to younger and newer folk attending a protest maybe for the first time not just about security culture but about the fucking SWP. If you've never heard of them (I envy you) they're the Socialist Worker Party and they'll likely be found selling newspapers or handing out branded placards. Apart from being generally parasitic to movements and extremely hierarchical, the SWP have a history of rape apology and cover ups that isn't hard to find out about online. So once again, protect yourself and others, here's a link with pretty much all the information you need about them.

[sw1mmingfoolz]

A SLIGHTLY DISJOINTED LIST OF WRITING TIPS

hey peeps 😌 a whole zero people asked or showed interest and true to my style I'm posting anyway lmao :) this is a collection of writing tips I remind myself of all the time! some are from online (mostly reddit), some are from writing workshops and classes i've taken, some are just commonly traded around by famous writers and some come from my own experience! i've been writing for 15 years, since i was a literal child, and i think it's safe to say i've learned a lot since i wrote 15 pages of what i was absolutely sure would be my debut novel "The Ratticator" when i was, like, 6. so i think ik what i'm talking about 😎 without further ado, here is the list!! it isn't very organised, for which i do apologize :')

If you have writer’s block, change your document font to Comic Sans. No idea why this works, but it’s a known tip and it really does!

DO NOT edit as you go. If you just can’t seem to stop yourself, set your document to Wingdings. This is especially helpful in your first draft. I personally call my first draft document WORST VERSION JUST PURE GARBAGE or some variation to take the pressure off.

Treat all writing as practice. It’s better to write pages and pages of pure garbage than to be too paralysed by fear of failure and not write at all as a result. At least with garbage you can edit it, see what issues you have with your writing, etc.

If you struggle with editing, try writing everything longhand on paper or printing out a particularly hard chapter (double spaced so you can annotate it) and rewrite it. Also, run your work through text-to-speech to catch typos or little errors you might otherwise overlook!

Google “filter words and how to avoid them”, especially if you write in first person. Focus on showing and not telling, and be wary of using too many adverbs (I’m so guilty of this) and verbs after dialogue. Also avoid epithets! By all means necessary! For example; “the short haired man”, “the brunette”, “the [job title]”. These are common in fanfiction but do not sound good or flow well. They’re often used by novice writers. (I’m guilty of this too! Again, these kinds of things take practice).

If you’re struggling to plot, it can help to write “draft zero”, in which you write out chapters in the least words possible without needing it to sound good. This can give you a skeleton to fill out. You also don’t have to write chronologically; write the fun scenes first or whatever scenes you already have in your head out and build around those!

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it doesn’t flow well, it doesn’t read well either.

Similarly, come back to a chapter / work after a minimum of a day has passed. Looking at it with fresh eyes after a break away can help immensely with weeding out awkward parts, errors or parts you’d like to change.

“Said” is not a bad word; don’t go to insane lengths to avoid it!

Not every piece of dialogue needs a tag; trying to add one to everything without having dialogue by itself makes writing clunky.

For both dialogue and inner monologue, have your characters miss the mark just slightly on what they're trying to say. In reality none of us express ourselves perfectly off the cuff, and you can even communicate a lot about a person through what they omit or avert or misread. (from u/frozenfountain on Reddit)

Usually when people talk, they’re not just talking. What facial expressions are they making? What are they doing with their bodies? Are they just ‘saying’ something or are they stuttering, shouting, or whispering (don’t go overboard with this kinda description, though). You also don’t always have to specify who is speaking; you can establish the people initially and, especially if they speak in distinct ways, it should be clear. Also, learn correct grammar for dialogue. A new speaker should be on a new line.

Vary sentence structure. This is probably the main cause of people feeling that their writing feels "off." A lot of people try to solve repetitive sentence structure with epithets or with unnecessary synonyms, but it only masks the problem, it doesn't solve it.

For example:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said Abigail.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," said Bob.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," said Abigail.

It's boring, right? How NOT to improve it:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said the blue-eyed woman.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," pondered the older man.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," surmised the greenette.

Instead maybe something like:

Bob looked around at the confused faces in the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," said Abigail, fidgeting with her necklace. "Jill just stormed out of here."

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning."

Abigail shrugged. "I think the stress is finally getting to her."

The other problem I see: unless you understand what third person omniscient is and are using it intentionally, it's probably best to pick just one point of view per scene and stick to it. (u/DemyxDancer on Reddit)

Don’t focus on stuff your character wouldn’t just to fill a word count.

Try not to use the same word twice in a paragraph unless they’re connecting words or names/pronouns. At the same time, try not to overuse the thesaurus and use a million synonyms for something - find different ways to describe things. 

Write as though there is no formatting available to you. Adding bold or caps or images or footnotes is cool, but the story should be understood exactly the same without them. This is also an accessibility consideration, since screen readers will miss this extra context if it’s purely visible.

Localised spell check! I use British spell check on Google Docs because I am British but sometimes accidentally use the American versions of words. This can also be immensely helpful if you’re writing dialects / a different form of English than what you’re used to. 

Let go of perfectionism before it kills writing for you. Coraline took Neil Gaiman over a decade to write. Ursula K Le Guin banged out three Earthsea books in 4 years before taking a 12 year break between the third and fourth books in which she took a big interest in feminism and entirely changed the way she wrote female characters. Nothing is going to be perfect initially, and expecting it to be so dooms you before you can start.

Paragraphs!! Punctuation!! So many times I have clicked on a promising looking fanfiction but backed out because I couldn’t read it properly - commas, semicolons and hyphens (and em dashes!) are your friends :)

If possible, shut out everything else during a designated time period and just write. I know this isn’t possible for everyone but should you be able to set a window and have a schedule you’ll find writer’s block to hit you less!

Starting with a lot of exposition can be boring. Short, snappy first lines and/or coming right into the action at the beginning can help hook the reader better. Or alternatively, have a prologue if there’s important exposition that needs to be established at the start!

Writing is inherently hard, even for well established writers. Accepting that will help you more than you’d expect.

Read as much as you write, if not more! Reading makes writing a lot easier. A lot of writing is being inspired by other writers. NOT copying, or plagiarising, but drawing inspiration from them. For example (as we spoke about a couple of days ago), my lovely mutual Livvie @greenlivvie has a colder, more direct and more formal writing style as a lot of what she reads is nonfiction, whereas I read so many gooey romance webtoons and poetry anthologies that my style is extremely warm, probably too descriptive, and rather poetic.

Find the joy in writing! I know engagement is extremely important, especially in fanfiction, but if it’s your only drive you’re destined to burn out. You should write first and foremost for the love of writing. That’s not to say you shouldn’t want engagement, however, and that readers should not give it (PLEASE readers, learn that likes on Tumblr are absolutely useless compared to on other platforms and start reblogging, tagging, and commenting! Here are some relaged posts with creators expressing their frustrations (x) (x) (x) so you can understand WHY it matters so much to us. On AO3, comments mean the world!)

Bad writers tend to think they are amazing and infallible, while good writers tend to think they are terrible. It’s about not letting that self doubt stop you from creating entirely! Also, if possible, find someone to beta your work and give their concrit, especially if you find yourself hating your work but not knowing why.

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day. It helps.” - John Steinbeck

Write through the eyes of the character, not the lens of a camera (for third person).

“No matter how worried you are about that chapter, no matter how badly you think you botched something, do not tell your readers this, and if you can't help it, put your notes/concerns at the end of the chapter. If you tell a reader at the beginning of a chapter "this chapter is not my best", they will read it in a different light than if you had said nothing at all. If you're looking for feedback on the chapter, put your notes at the end. Let the reader read the chapter "fresh". They'll form their own thoughts and opinions, and then only after that, they'll read your comments/concerns/questions and are more likely to respond to them candidly, rather than having the chapter flavoured by worry or doubt. Your work is good, don't tell people otherwise.” (from u/Panoramic_Vacuum on Reddit)

Don't write your scenes/chapters differently than you originally wanted just for the sake of ''censorship'' to be able to maybe target a larger/different audience! Always write stuff exactly the way you always imagine(d), no matter how dark, bloody, sexual, whatever it might be. A story that is deliberately ''pruned'' will never have the same significance an ''uncensored'' one has. And for characters, always remember the one tenet:

''It doesn't matter how small or unimportant a character might seem at first, they always should be interesting and compelling in their own right, not just be means for the purpose of another character.'' (from u/JokeyZockey on Reddit)

Always remember the five senses as you write

Note down ideas or lines you think of when you think of them. You will probably forget them otherwise. I am totally not talking from experience 😭

In writing fanfiction, you’re writing for free! No apologising for slow updates, no apologising for hiatuses, again Coraline took OVER A DECADE to be finished and published yet you feel bad for not pumping out work every day? Readers do not get to be entitled, they are consuming free content from you and that in itself is a privilege. Readers, please be mindful that we are regular ass people with school and work and other commitments, and also be mindful that if you do not interact with our work that’s only going to serve to motivate us even LESS.

Reward yourself! Wrote a chapter, or hit a word count goal, or finished a plot? Watch a film you like, or buy your favourite snack, or have a long ass bath with a bunch of shit from Lush that makes your house smell like a perfume shop for years afterwards. Rewarding ourselves pleases our primal little monkey brains and makes it a lot easier to get past writer’s block, knowing there’s something in it for us at the end. 

AND FINALLY! Ignore everyone as much as you want to. You should be writing for fun, for yourself - hell if you wanna ignore these points that’s entirely your prerogative. People will tell you not to write certain tropes, or leave unnecessary criticism, or be demanding when they could totally just go write the fics themselves if they care that much. Write because you like to, and you will find your audience :)

i hope you could find even one tip in this list helpful! reblogging with your own tips is encouraged actually :) much love to my fellow writers, it's thankless sometimes and difficult basically all of the time but it's fun and i meet absolutely lovely people on here doing so 💞