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5 Adults-Only Resorts Adding Some Heat To Our Summer Travel Plans

Let's see where the vacation takes us...

Kiarra Sylvester

Jun. 06, 2022 04:14PM EST

There are two constant questions in life: when/where is the next trip and how can our sex lives get even better? And, if you’re not asking these questions, we might have something else to unpack other than vacation clothes. Alas, summer is near and if you haven’t already, the time has come to start planning your holiday. Quickly. If you haven't started yet, here is your sign to do so now! There’s plenty of space and opportunity to heat things up in your sex life. In fact, for those of you who are asking the aforementioned deep, philosophical questions, allow me to make your day by presenting to you travel destinationswith a twist (because, modern times, of course).

Yes, I’m presenting you the opportunity to take a Hannah Montana-type of vacation, as in best of both worlds – not illicit drugs. But, perhaps illicit lovers. For the booked, beautiful, and ‘bout it we’re going to drop the pin on some erotic resorts that you can book your next trip–from nude beaches to swingers parties on-site, you’ll want to check out this list. While you may be wondering who you take to a resort such as this, I can assure you that you can swing this (no pun intended) in any way – baecation, solo dolo trip, or group trip. There’s something super enticing about the idea of taking a group of attractive (whether inside or out–don’t stone me) friends and seeing where a weekend like this leads you. 

But, hey, that’s just me! I’ll leave the rest of the details to you. After all, I'm already providing you with five relaxing adults-only resorts to stay at.

1. Hedonism II (Negril, Jamaica) 

There’s nothing like a vacation to lower inhibitions and try things outside your norm. And this is, by far, one of the more known resorts to date. This resort offers clothing-optional facilities, kinky parties, and lots of room for play, literally! All bets are off at this resort where just about anything goes (with permission, of course), whether you choose to enter their playroom (i.e. the romping shop) or not. After all the term "hedonistic" does mean to explore the pursuit of pleasure or sensual interest.

While this resort does offer a day pass, you are not permitted to go into the roaming room due to liabilities on the day pass so keep that in mind for those who are simply wanting to pass through.

2. Couples Tower Isle Resort (Ocho Rios, Jamaica)

Another Jamaican resort, which tells us all we really need to know about the culture for those of you who have yet to see them in motion when dancehall music drops. Hell, now that I think about it, Stella Got Her Groove Back took place in Jamaica. Hmm. Yeah. Enough said! Moving along, now. While it may not be a free for all like Hedonism II, Couples Tower Isle Resort seems to still know how to have a good time as this all-inclusive resort has plenty of adult-only activities and amenities, one of which is a nightclub. 

3. Desire Pearl Resort (Cancún, Mexico)

Unlike the previous resorts, this resort is exclusive to couples. They do still, however, provide a clothing-optional environment and the space to explore sexually. Desire Pearl boasts that you can have the time of your life, may it be “mild or wild” during your stay with the liberating clothing-optional policies and their mysterious but “spicy” pool parties. Though they don’t advertise it on the website itself, if you wander off onto their social media, you quickly find that they too offer a playroom where you can join, watch, or be looked upon *insert grinning devil emoji*.

Note: If you’re looking to stay in the United States, these next two resorts on our list might be the happy medium for you. 

4. Monterey Stay and Play (Salinas, Cali) 

More than nudity itself, this erotic bed and breakfast speaks more to the overall interest in BDSM. They offer a BDSM room for couples equipped with some kinky gadgets to elevate your sexual experience. These gadgets range from ropes and leather cuffs to chastity devices and my fave, the Violet Wand (for those into erotic electrostimulation). Easy access to a dungeon is a top-tier selling point, but do keep in mind that unlike the others on our list, this is not an all-inclusive vibe. While you will be amongst like-minded people, you shouldn’t assume that this is a space where couples wish to join you – not even loosely. 

5. Caliente Club & Resorts (Land O' Lakes, Florida)

Though the site doesn’t look all that exquisite, they don’t mince any words or videos in regards to getting to the point–upon entering the site you can see that this is going to be an erotic time, if nothing else. Another thing that’s for certain is the endless list of events that the resort offers, which makes it that much easier to meet your match to take things a little further if you and your partner wish to do so. It should be noted that Caliente Club & Resorts gives more of a college spring break vibe (the atmosphere, that is) than luxury, so if luxe is something you’re looking for, do your due diligence.

This is only a short list, as I’m sure there are many more out there. If for some reason these don’t meet your needs, there is something for everybody. When looking, it may behoove you to reach out to a travel agent who can help you quickly narrow down your options.

But for now? Consider this to be your kinky starter pack.

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Featured image by Getty Images

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Ep 201: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich Part 3

“I am prepared to swear on oath or submit myself to any lie detector test to substantiate this, my statement.”

– Don Cox, who observed a triangle-shaped UFO for 45 minutes from his yard in Adelaide, 385 miles northwest of Valentich’s last known location, just 28 minutes after his radio fell silent.

Description:

As we wrap up our coverage of the Frederick Valentich story in Part 3 of our series, we'll continue our conversation with Melbourne resident Chris Tyler about his research into the case and other possibly related UFO incidents around the same time and area. We'll also examine the Australian Department of Transport accident report's remaining findings and discuss its conclusions. As you begin to reach your own conclusions, it's essential to keep several factors in mind which make the usual mundane explanations seem inadequate. The high number of independent sightings of aerial phenomena occurring in proximity to the disappearance suggests Valentich wasn't alone in witnessing it. The distance a Cessna cowling was found from a potential crash site and the lack of definitive markings makes its discovery inconclusive. Even if the cowling did come from Valentich's plane, it still doesn't account for what caused him to ditch, let alone other missing debris and Valentich himself. Perhaps the most surprising revelation comes from the summary of the report itself. Rather than dismissing the possibility of a UFO entanglement, an official government statement lists it as one of four likeliest scenarios. Remember that Valentich himself never suggested he interacted with a UFO in his last transmission, despite being painted as obsessed with them by his skeptics. When these factors and more are taken together, it's no wonder this incident is one of the most baffling and tragic in the phenomenon's history and leaves us all to wonder, what happened to Frederick Valentich and where did he go?

Location:

Moorabbin Airport, where Frederick Valentich took off from on October 21, 1978, headed for King Island across Bass Strait.

Reference Links:

“UFO suspicions still cloud disappearance of Frederick Valentich” from Melbourne’s Herald Sun

The strange noises heard on Valentich’s last transmission, posted on Facebook by A.U.F.O.A. – Australian UFO Action

“How the 40-year-old mystery of a UFO in New Zealand lives on” from news.com.au, about Quentin Fogarty’s UFO experience

The UFO Documents Index on NSA.gov

Cape Otway Lightstation

“What is the Aurora Australis?” on Universe Today

The Green Flash

“The Disappearance of Flight N3808H, Puerto Rico, 1980” blog post by “karl 12” on AboveTopSecret.com

“Disappearance of flight N3808H 28th of June, 1980” with pilot’s radio transmission on YouTube

“UFOs, USOs and the Island of Puerto Rico.” by “karl 12” on AboveTopSecret.com

“Jet Fighters disappear as they approach UFO in Puerto Rico” section of a documentary on YouTube

“Two F-14s kidnapped by UFO near Puerto Rico” forum thread on unexplained-mysteries.com

“The Valentich Disappearance: Another UFO Cold Case Solved” by James McGaha and Joe Nickell on Skeptical Inquirer

“Spooky Space ‘Sounds’” from nasa.gov

“What Is This Flying Object??? Occurred at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - 1/7/2021” on YouTube by Wes Snyder Photography

The “PPRuNe” forum or “Professional Pilots Rumour Network” discussing Valentich's radio transmission

The Melbourne Marvels podcast and their episode on “The Unresolved Disappearance of Frederick Valentich”

“10 Truly Bizarre Incidents From The Bass Strait Triangle” from Listverse

The Unsolved Mysteries Wiki on Fandom.com for the Frederick Valentich episode

“Lost yacht mystery continues 30 years on” from abc.net.au

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on Wikipedia

“Race Tragedy Tale / Oracle CEO tells all to St. Francis Yacht Club” from SFGate.com

“'Holy grail' or epic hoax? Australian Kelly Cahill's UFO abduction story still stirs passions” from ABC South West Victoria news

“Capturing the Light” – The true story of Dorothy Izatt on Amazon Prime

Close Encounters of the Third Kind feature release date information on IMDb

The Frederick Valentich case on the original Unsolved Mysteries, Season 5, Episode 2 on Amazon Prime

“Last Light: the Valentich Mystery” from The History Listen with Kirsti Melville on ABC.net.au

“Disappearance of Frederick Valentich” on Wikipedia

“What Happened to Frederick Valentich? Possibly the scariest UFO case ever” by OzWeatherman on AboveTopSecret.com

“Valentich Case Files Finally Released” by Kandinsky on AboveTopSecret.com

“The Valentich Abduction/Disappearance: 40th Anniversary” by MirageMan on AboveTopSecret.com

“The Abduction of Fred Valentich” from The Unexplained Files on Discovery UK – YouTube clip of Melbourne Flight Advisor Officer Steve Robey describing his radio communication with Valentich

Complete episode on the Valentich disappearance from The Unexplained Files on the Discovery Channel

Cessna 182 “Skylane”

Valentich’s missing aircraft report online, from the National Archives of Australia

Download of Valentich’s missing aircraft report as a PDF

Bass Strait

Moorabbin Airport

“'Truth' was out there after all –An accidental discovery sheds new light on the mysterious disappearance of a pilot in 1978, writes Miles Kemp” from The Advertiser

Australian UFO researcher, Keith Basterfield

Melbourne, Australia

Tasmania

King Island, Tasmania

Visit King Island at kingisland.org.au

“Biography of Bette Nesmith Graham, Inventor of Liquid Paper” on ThoughtCo.com

Bette Nesmith Graham on Wikipedia

Australian crayfish

The TCAS or Traffic collision avoidance system

“What C.S. Lewis and Martin Luther Would Say About Our Coronavirus Panic”

Black Death

Second plague pandemic

“Plague was one of history’s deadliest diseases—then we found a cure” on NationalGeographic.com

Suggested Listening:

Melbourne Marvels podcast – “a podcast about true stories from Melbourne” CLICK HERE to listen to their episode on “The Unresolved Disappearance of Frederick Valentich”

Check out our good friend Gledders’ paranormal podcast, ANOMALY, where he, his co-host Steve Freestone, and Forrest discuss some of the more weird and wild events of 2020 and more in his latest 2-part series. Click here to subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, the website at anomaly.co.uk, or anywhere excellent podcasts are found.

And then after that, check out Gledders’ “80’s Mix Tape” for the best in 1980s music, Saturdays, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the UK, or stream anytime at Huntingdon Community Radio HCR 104 FM!

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Credits:

Episode 201: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich Part 3. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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174. get rich quick porky (1937)

release date: august 28th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: bob clampett

starring: mel blanc (porky), cal howard (gabby), earle hodgins (honest john)

another cartoon that entails a lengthy preface! 

while this is bob clampett’s second piece as a director, it’s the first cartoon where he has full control of the helm. his previous entry, porky’s badtime story, was started by ub iwerks, who as preceded the unit. but, technically, clampett was co-directing with chuck jones.

here’s where the famous Clampett-Jones rivalry settles in. bob clampett and chuck jones did not get along. even friz freleng mentioned that they had been fighting like kids since they WERE kids, which is very true. clampett and jones would have both been 24 at the time of the cartoon’s release, jones turning 25 in september. chuck jones thought that he was co-directing the shorts with clampett, doing character layouts (which WAS a very hefty job and considered a director’s job) while clampett did the writing and timing of the shorts. however, the credits only credit clampett and not jones, so jones assumed that clampett had deliberately gotten rid of jones’ credit (to which clampett didn’t have any control over). jones would therefore hold this grudge against clampett all the way to the grave--they were bitter rivals, and chuck especially was very outspoken about his disdain and contempt towards clampett. it’s unfortunate how such a big misunderstanding can be inflated into such a bitter rivalry, and even more unfortunate to see two great talents go against each other, but that explains that. we’re here to analyze their great cartoons, not gossip about them! (...well, not ALL the time, anyway.)

a second extra little treat is that this cartoon has an animator’s draft, courtesy of devon baxter, so that we can see who animated every single scene! devon also has a breakdown video posted so you can see the credits in conjunction with the assigned animation. thanks a bunch, devon!

gabby goat sings his swan song in this fun, light-hearted clampett entry tentatively titled the oily bird gets porky: porky and gabby are easily swindled by honest john, a snake oil (emphasis on the oil portion!) salesman who scams the boys into thinking they’ve struck it rich digging for oil.

“when my dreamboat comes home” fittingly scores the title card as the cartoon opens. in some clever signage play, the camera trucks back to reveal the title card posted on a sign--the screen fades out, fading back in to reveal a new sign (now scored with the appropriate “with plenty of money and you”) advertising “oh! ~~~ just oodles of oil!”, with the oil typography actually dripping, courtesy of norm mccabe.

john carey provides the animation of the facetiously named honest john, the antagonistic oil huckster of the film. a fun bit of clampett continuity: from 1959-1962, clampett would make a cartoon adaptation of his hit puppet series time for beany. one of the characters, the show’s antagonist, was actually named dishonest john! honest john chuffs on a cigarette (his wealth and snootiness indicated by the cigarette holder he sports) as a truck driver asks where to deposit his “erl”. john, voiced by earle hodgins, redirects the trucker to park around the fence. it is then that john attaches a hose from the oil tank attached to the truck to a sprinkler system, and presto! sweet, bubbling “erl” spouts up from hidden sprinklers within a patch of land. carey’s animation is very smooth and dimensional, a telltale trait of his work.

satisfied, john now opts to search for his next pair of suckers (”ahem. i should say prospects. someone with a little money to invest in...”) lo and behold, his pair of suckers are right across the street, marching up to the bank. 

said suckers, are, of course, porky and gabby, now cast as children. for porky especially, his age was inconsistent in the ‘30′s and early ‘40′s cartoons--sometimes he was a child, sometimes he was an adult. more often than not, he was a young adult, and would obviously remain that way through the vast majority of his filmography, but there are a few exceptions, such as here. after all, he did debut as a school child. bobe cannon animates the closeup of the duo at the bank, porky toting a bag of money. gabby, voiced here by storyman cal howard as opposed to mel blanc, urges porky not to store away his money (”let’s buy us a car, or a yacht, or a trip to europe, or a chocolate soda or somethin’!), but porky refuses. “uh-uh, i’m eh-geh-geh-geh-gonna sock my eh-meh-mo-mo--dough in here and get eh-teh-teh-two percent!” bobe’s animation of porky is easy to spot in the clampett toons, especially around 1938-1939, where he would typically draw porky with buck teeth.

suddenly, honest john swoops in himself to stop the boys from going any further. he introduces himself as john gusher, doing some gushing of his own as he describes how fortune is going to smile down upon them. jerry hathcock’s timing is excellent as he shows the kid his card, zipping it out of his pocket and back in again at the blink of an eye. without giving the boys any time to think for themselves, john pushes the kids to the oil site, ranting and raving about the wondrous business opportunity before them. to demonstrate, john jabs his cane into the soil, where a mini oil gusher spurts up on command--”presto!”

more succinct comedic timing as john, finally winding down his spiel, concludes “i won’t take any more of your valuable time. a little parting word, let me say...” after a pause, he jumps right back in with a breathless delivery of “this land is so saturated with oil that you can literally wring it out with your fingers!” he does, of course, just that, much to the delight of the kids. 

john carey takes over and does a rather impressive little scene of porky and gabby contemplating signing the deed. gabby urges porky on, telling him that they won’t get another chance like this (prompting a rather humorous delivery of “uh... ‘til death do us part” from earle hodgins as john.) carey’s animation is extremely smooth, brimming with subtle character action. porky and gabby’s differences shine, but also unite: gabby is much more outspoken about his eagerness to sign the deed, nudging porky and literally pushing him to sign the deed. porky, on the other hand, is more cautious and timid, having to mull it over by thinking and tapping his chin with the pen. but, of course, porky shares gabby’s excitement--it doesn’t take much for him to change his mind. he signs the deed, gabby excitedly looming over his shoulder. even the animation of john tapping and signaling towards the deed is well crafted. john carey’s animation is very appealing--once chuck jones would leave the clampett unit, carey would take over as his layout man, all the way until 1941 when he moved to norm mccabe’s unit. 

the boys are now excused, free to dig for oil. the shift from minor to major key in the underscore of “with plenty of money and you” reflects their excitement as they rush to get the equipment. bobe cannon animates gabby drilling into the soil--he strikes something, and sure enough, he hauls up an entire canister of oil. he’s delighted, rather than outraged or confused at being scammed, gleefully remarking “porky, look! oil!”

thus sparks the B plot of the cartoon. this isn’t as segmented as other clampett cartoons with A and B plots as, say, porky’s party, but it’s a start--clampett would sort of introduce the concept of having A and B plots in his cartoons, which wasn’t quite something that existed before in pre-existing warner bros. cartoons (off the top of my head, anyway.) a stray dog stumbles upon the oil site, curiously approaching the dirt pile left by porky as he digs for sweet, sweet “erl”. much to the dog’s delight, porky digs up a bone, which the dog takes away and buries for himself. the scene (animated by bill hammer) definitely takes inspiration after the rising popularity in pluto cartoons over at disney, demonstrating that WB wasn’t entirely free from the disney stranglehold just yet.

 as the dog digs, the bone is suddenly propelled into the air by a mini-gusher. dog carefully covers the gusher by lowering the bone down, but gets smacked in the face in the process as the gusher propels upwards once more. bill hammer was an animator over at the iwerks unit, and a bit of that iwerks flavor is still present in the dizzy lines hammer animates after the dog gets struck in the head with the bone. resigned, the pooch covers the hole back up, only to get squirted in the eye by another gusher. and, to top it all off, we have more Naughty Clampett Humor as the gusher from before brushes against the dog’s nether regions, prompting him to giggle delightedly. this isn’t the first nor last gag of its kind in a warner bros cartoon--especially a clampett cartoon! frantically, the dog attempts to plug up all of the rapidly appearing gushers beneath him, a double-exposure technique used to convey the urgency of his plight. gushers prevail as the pup is launched into the air, propelled by a stream of oil beneath each paw. in all, the scene drags along and definitely plays into that “curious puppy” humor filled with polite chuckles, but some of hammer’s poses and facial expressions make for a treat.

back to the boys in the next sequence, handled by bobe cannon. gabby, perched on a jackhammer, asks porky how to operate it, but he immediately begins drilling uncontrollably before he can finish his sentence. cal howard’s vocals as gabby are amusing, especially his ad-libbed cries for help--his gabby is less scratchy and high pitched than mel’s gabby, and instead deeper voiced and more goat-like in inflection, sounding like he’s bleating at certain points. porky rushes to speak into the hole that gabby dug himself into, anxiously asking “uh-guh-eh-guh-eh-gabby! uh-weh-eh-where are ya?” gabby answers his query by digging out of an adjacent hole, breaking cartoon physics by drilling and floating upside down in the air. he manages to land safely, the drill stopping just enough for him to chew porky out for not helping him. and, of course, the drill starts up again, sending gabby within the earth’s soil once more. porky asks if he’s alright, prompting a bleat-y “what do you think!?” from an offscreen gabby. it should be noted that the underscore here is, of course, “the merry go round broke down”, a rather fitting and amusing choice. interestingly enough, clampett’s next entry, roval’s rival, would be the first cartoon to debut that song as the looney tunes theme song, which would be used all the way up until the last short in 1969.

chuck jones hones in on one of his three specialties: dogs (the others being drunks and close-ups--sometimes all three at once!) he animates the malcontent pooch fiddling with his bone. a bump in the ground, and a gopher pops up, doing a little twirl in the process, bugs bunny style, like a magic trick. clampett always fostered a love of magic tricks, and this fascination pokes through in this scene. the gopher signals for the dog’s attention before ducking inside the hole, much to the dog’s delight--a hole to bury his bone into! as he tosses the bone inside, he’s treated with a rude awakening as the bone is hurled right back up out of the hole. jones’ timing varies wonderfully--the dog is slow to put his bone back in the hole, but once he does he jumps to cover it up quickly, resulting in some intriguing psuedo-smears. after all, it would be his own cartoon, the dover boys at pimento university, that really brought the magic of smears to life. the animation of the dog twitching his eye on one’s is another great touch.

the gopher returns to bonk the dog on the head with the bone, which segues into a series of magic tricks (scored fittingly with “she was an acrobat’s daughter”.) the gopher shrinks the bone into his hand, reducing it to nothingness, much to the befuddlement of the pooch. tried and true, the gopher brings the bone out from behind the dog’s ear, pointing at it excitedly as the pup can only stare in bewilderment. gopher buries the bone, signaling for the dog to dig it back up. delighted, fido digs for his beloved bone, and is greeted with a spurt of oil right in the face. to top it off, the gopher brings the bone out from the recesses of the dog’s mouth, ending the show by retreating back in his hole. heartbroken, the pup begins to cry mournfully, pounding his fists against the ground and kicking his legs. in all, the scene is a very nice one. not very snappy, but chuck’s timing is full of momentum and personality, and his drawings are very appearing. there are some angles of the dog’s head that just SCREAM chuck jones--they look like something straight out of one of his cartoons. some aspects of these magic tricks, such as the gopher shrinking the bone to nothingness, would be used in chuck’s own cartoon, prest-o change-o, a mere two years later in 1939. the gopher itself IS very bugs bunny-esque in execution.

transition back to our piggy protagonist, hacking away at the ground with a pick-axe. he hits a sweet spot, excitedly reaching for his bucket as oil spurts out of the ground. just as he’s able to collect a few drops, we cut to our favorite huckster john, who snickers as he turns the hose valve off, thus eliminating the geyser. porky digs again, this time striking one of the sprinkler systems connected to the hose. we get a closeup, where porky is squirted straight in the eye by the hose.

honest john himself opts to scope things out. “what’s the matter, sonny boy? you aren’t discouraged, are you?” porky displays his childlike innocence (a property that would carry on to his adult years as well, but is especially strong here since he is a kid in this picture) as he wipes away his tears. “you’re je-je-je-just a crook, and i want my muh-me-muh-me-muh-me-money back!” john, ever the haggler, proposes that porky return the deed in return for a $1 bill. 

norm mccabe takes over from john hathcock, whose animation is muddied by noticeably poor inking. pan to the ground, where we see a black slick hiding under the soil, the words “OIL!” bubbling up to make its appearance obvious, with gabby drilling dangerously close to it. pan back up to more norm mccabe animation, a switch--clampett LOVED to switch his animators around. so much so that identifying his later cartoons can be infuriatingly difficult because he would switch his animators in the middle of a scene out of seemingly nowhere. he wasn’t the only director to do this, but he certainly did it often. nevertheless, we pan back to porky and john. porky trepidatiously prepares to hand john the deed, who greets it with outstretched hands. just as gloves prepare to make contact with paper, gabby strikes the “SAME OIL!”, the typography playfully melting into a true oil geyser as goat, weasel, and pig are all catapulted into the air by a real, genuine gusher, scored by (what else?) “we’re in the money”. the layout of the oil geyser raining down upon the camera is at a nice up-angle, very tashlin-esque and intricate, if only for a second or two.

gabby still drills aimlessly around on the geyser as porky, holding onto the deed with john, remarks “a guh-gusher! i’m r-ri--i’m w-we-weal--i’m a buh-be-buh-be-buh-billionaire!” suddenly, porky realizes he’s still holding onto the deed with john, and thus sparking a tug of war between the two as he stutters threats (”i’ll tell my be-be-big brother on you!”) to the huckster. 

thankfully, gabby, who has been drilling aimlessly for the past few minutes, saves the day by accidentally drilling into the back of john’s pants. earle hodgins’ screams are hilarious (and sound almost genuine), as is bill hammer’s animation of the weasel being held hostage by the drill running around in the back of his pants. the deed is now in porky’s clutches, who grabs gabby and pulls the both of them to the ground. hammer’s drawings of porky especially in this last shot of them preparing to fall down are very, VERY appealing and cute.

both kids on the ground, porky holds up the white, elongated object in his hand, gleefully declaring he got the deed... or so he thinks. jerry hathcock does porky’s closeup as he realizes the precious deed he holds in his hand is, in fact, a bone.

dejected, the kids are left to mope, until a little bump in the ground comes to solve all of their problems. chuck jones animates the final scene of the Magic Gopher coming in to save the day: porky hands him the bone, and, much to his head-shaking surprise, is met with the deed right in the gopher’s hands after just a flick of the wrists. porky reaches out for the deed, prompting the gopher to shake his finger--always a catch. 

“partners? 50-50, even steven?” porky nods. with the deal made, the gopher helpfully rips the deed in half, giving porky the bottom half. iris out on the gopher winking, holding up the top half of the deed (emblazoned as such) in victory.

while this isn’t the most rousing clampett entry of them all, it’s certainly one that i revisit quite often and am rather fond of. it has plenty of fun and intriguing animation--john carey’s scene of the boys signing the deed is just fantastic. his animation is very grounded and smooth. while the psuedo-pluto scenes aren’t the most exciting pieces of work around, the chuck jones sequence with the gopher and dog are especially impressive, highlighting just how strong jones’ draftmanship was. clampett’s cartoons became much more wild and loose after jones left the unit (just look at porky in wackyland), and chuck certainly seemed to ground clampett, but at the same time, the lack of jones’ draftsmanship was rather apparent upon his exit. he’s a very strong force, and that sequence with the dog is no exception. earle hodgins does a great job as honest john, as well as voicing salesmen in general--he was also the salesman in tex avery’s porky the rainmaker a year earlier. i love mel blanc to death and have nothing but praises to shower him in, but it is always fun to have other people like earle hodgins to come up and voice characters alongside him. cal howard does a fine job as gabby, too.

speaking of gabby, as i mentioned earlier, this is his final cartoon. i have this odd fascination with gabby. these clampett cartoons i’m going to be reviewing are some of the first LT cartoons i watched as an adult, and therefore have a fonder place in my heart than others. so, watching the iwerks cartoons that clampett was heavily involved in, gabby was introduced to me VERY early on and i’ve been fascinated with him since. out of his three entries, he became more and more watered down: his fury and anger is practically nonexistent here in comparison to how bitter he was in porky and gabby. while i find him interesting, i don’t shed too many tears over his absence--daffy will always be porky’s best sidekick, and i’m not saying that because i’m biased! nevertheless, gabby is an interesting enigma, serving as WB’s failed attempt at a donald duck for porky’s mickey (who is much richer in personality than mickey himself, as we’ll explore, much to my unbridled excitement!) gabby WAS slated to return in porky’s party, alongside petunia, but was instead scrapped for a penguin character instead. thus, gabby would take a near 80 year absence, being revived in 2018 in wabbit/new looney tunes, voiced by bob bergen. 

so, overall, i recommend this cartoon! i view it more fondly than it probably needs to be viewed, but it’s a fun, early entry that makes for a good, leisurely watch. 

link!

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5 Adults-Only Resorts Adding Some Heat To Our Summer Travel Plans

Let's see where the vacation takes us...

Kiarra Sylvester

Jun. 06, 2022 04:14PM EST

There are two constant questions in life: when/where is the next trip and how can our sex lives get even better? And, if you’re not asking these questions, we might have something else to unpack other than vacation clothes. Alas, summer is near and if you haven’t already, the time has come to start planning your holiday. Quickly. If you haven't started yet, here is your sign to do so now! There’s plenty of space and opportunity to heat things up in your sex life. In fact, for those of you who are asking the aforementioned deep, philosophical questions, allow me to make your day by presenting to you travel destinationswith a twist (because, modern times, of course).

Yes, I’m presenting you the opportunity to take a Hannah Montana-type of vacation, as in best of both worlds – not illicit drugs. But, perhaps illicit lovers. For the booked, beautiful, and ‘bout it we’re going to drop the pin on some erotic resorts that you can book your next trip–from nude beaches to swingers parties on-site, you’ll want to check out this list. While you may be wondering who you take to a resort such as this, I can assure you that you can swing this (no pun intended) in any way – baecation, solo dolo trip, or group trip. There’s something super enticing about the idea of taking a group of attractive (whether inside or out–don’t stone me) friends and seeing where a weekend like this leads you. 

But, hey, that’s just me! I’ll leave the rest of the details to you. After all, I'm already providing you with five relaxing adults-only resorts to stay at.

1. Hedonism II (Negril, Jamaica) 

There’s nothing like a vacation to lower inhibitions and try things outside your norm. And this is, by far, one of the more known resorts to date. This resort offers clothing-optional facilities, kinky parties, and lots of room for play, literally! All bets are off at this resort where just about anything goes (with permission, of course), whether you choose to enter their playroom (i.e. the romping shop) or not. After all the term "hedonistic" does mean to explore the pursuit of pleasure or sensual interest.

While this resort does offer a day pass, you are not permitted to go into the roaming room due to liabilities on the day pass so keep that in mind for those who are simply wanting to pass through.

2. Couples Tower Isle Resort (Ocho Rios, Jamaica)

Another Jamaican resort, which tells us all we really need to know about the culture for those of you who have yet to see them in motion when dancehall music drops. Hell, now that I think about it, Stella Got Her Groove Back took place in Jamaica. Hmm. Yeah. Enough said! Moving along, now. While it may not be a free for all like Hedonism II, Couples Tower Isle Resort seems to still know how to have a good time as this all-inclusive resort has plenty of adult-only activities and amenities, one of which is a nightclub. 

3. Desire Pearl Resort (Cancún, Mexico)

Unlike the previous resorts, this resort is exclusive to couples. They do still, however, provide a clothing-optional environment and the space to explore sexually. Desire Pearl boasts that you can have the time of your life, may it be “mild or wild” during your stay with the liberating clothing-optional policies and their mysterious but “spicy” pool parties. Though they don’t advertise it on the website itself, if you wander off onto their social media, you quickly find that they too offer a playroom where you can join, watch, or be looked upon *insert grinning devil emoji*.

Note: If you’re looking to stay in the United States, these next two resorts on our list might be the happy medium for you. 

4. Monterey Stay and Play (Salinas, Cali) 

More than nudity itself, this erotic bed and breakfast speaks more to the overall interest in BDSM. They offer a BDSM room for couples equipped with some kinky gadgets to elevate your sexual experience. These gadgets range from ropes and leather cuffs to chastity devices and my fave, the Violet Wand (for those into erotic electrostimulation). Easy access to a dungeon is a top-tier selling point, but do keep in mind that unlike the others on our list, this is not an all-inclusive vibe. While you will be amongst like-minded people, you shouldn’t assume that this is a space where couples wish to join you – not even loosely. 

5. Caliente Club & Resorts (Land O' Lakes, Florida)

Though the site doesn’t look all that exquisite, they don’t mince any words or videos in regards to getting to the point–upon entering the site you can see that this is going to be an erotic time, if nothing else. Another thing that’s for certain is the endless list of events that the resort offers, which makes it that much easier to meet your match to take things a little further if you and your partner wish to do so. It should be noted that Caliente Club & Resorts gives more of a college spring break vibe (the atmosphere, that is) than luxury, so if luxe is something you’re looking for, do your due diligence.

This is only a short list, as I’m sure there are many more out there. If for some reason these don’t meet your needs, there is something for everybody. When looking, it may behoove you to reach out to a travel agent who can help you quickly narrow down your options.

But for now? Consider this to be your kinky starter pack.

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Kiarra Sylvester

Motor City native, Atlanta living. Sagittarius. Writer. Sexpert. Into all things magical, mystical, and unknown. I'll try anything at least once but you knew that the moment I revealed that I was a Sag.

FROM THE WEB

FAQ

What is the purpose of Fanexus?

Fanexus was originally conceived as a way to make it easier to organize fandom content. The founders are fans who have followed fandom activity as it has migrated across many different social media platforms, and found that none of them quite suited their needs. After spending years thinking about how each of these platforms could be altered to better support fandom activity, we eventually realized that we’d amassed the money, skills and connections to make a platform ourselves.  

Fanexus is also open to use by original creators; original works are where fandom begins, after all. Enthusiasts of non-media fandoms, such as people who are passionate about interests as broad as cooking, crafting, interior decorating, brewing, extreme sports, rock collecting, history, model-building, archaeology, philosophy, etc, are also all welcome to use Fanexus as a place to post about and discuss their interests and ideas. Fanexus can be used for any type of interest so long as it doesn’t violate our rules regarding legality, harassment and hate speech.

While we originally wanted to create Fanexus as a means to better organize our content, as we’ve watched toxicity in fandom grow to increasingly alarming levels in the last few years, we’ve decided that making Fanexus a space that actively opposes this toxicity is a goal of equal importance to us. We want Fanexus to be a place where people can explore weird, complex and dark things in art and fiction without being accused of endorsing those things, and can have nuanced discussions and debates without things immediately devolving into insults and dogpiling.  

You can read more about the philosophy driving Fanexus here.

Why an integrated wiki?

We would like to go over some of the issues we’ve faced as fans that inspired the inclusion of the wiki:

There are a lot of fandoms that have very complex fanon worldbuilding/terminology/characterisations/etc, and this can be very confusing for a new fan. The way we have the wiki set up means that users will be able to go straight from a post that mentions those concepts to the wiki page for those concepts (we’ll elaborate on how this works in a later post dedicated to this feature), instead of having to search through other parts of the internet for an up-to-date fanon wiki for this fandom. We feel like people will be more likely to keep these wiki pages updated than they would if it were an external wiki, because once they have accounts on Fanexus, it will be very easy to quickly go and update a wiki page on the site, rather than going and creating a new account for a separate wiki.

In a similar vein, fandoms can produce very interesting AUs that many different fans contribute to. We’ve had the experience of coming across a piece of artwork or fiction based on one of these AUs and wanting to know more, but then finding it very difficult to track down information that explains what the AU is about, and people’s various different takes on it. We thought that by providing a wiki feature, people could create pages for each of these AUs and then update them as they develop. The AU itself may not be complex enough to justify the creation of an entire wiki for it, but having a page or two dedicated to it could certainly be helpful. The same logic applies to things such as OCs.  

People develop their own personal headcanons which can be very complex, and it can be tiresome to have to explain them over and over. So if users can create wiki pages for each of their headcanons (or AUs, OCs, etc) and link them whenever they’re necessary to understand the context of say, a fic they wrote or a piece of art they made, it could save them a lot of bother. Personal wiki pages won’t be available on launch, but we’re endeavouring to add them as soon as we can.

Can you tell us more about your other features?

Details of the features we’ve announced so far can be found here. 

We intend to add new features to Fanexus to improve our users’ experiences for as long as we have the funding to do so. We endeavour to add features that are highly demanded by our userbase, so long as the features in question are within our legal and technical capabilities to implement, and align with the philosophy of Fanexus.

How is this being funded? Will it be free to use?

Right now the beta is being paid for by the founders. Once the beta is online and in use, we plan to have a Kickstarter to fund the development of additional features we couldn’t afford to include in the beta. Fanexus will be freemium, which means it will be free to use, with premium features such as added customisation, that will be used for the ongoing funding of the site.  

Will there be a mobile app?

Currently we have a responsive web app, but a mobile app is one of the first things we intend to develop should we get the required funding via the Kickstarter. 

What kind of customisation options will Fanexus have?

In the long term, we hope to introduce in-depth customisation options to Fanexus, some of which will be premium options. We will take feedback from our userbase to decide what customisation features we will prioritise implementing first.

Are all ships welcome on Fanexus?

Yes. We understand that the reasons someone may enjoy a ship can be very complex, unexpected and/or personal, and have nothing to do with a belief that the ship is healthy or a desirable relationship to have in reality. So long as a person understands the separation between fiction and reality, and knows what a healthy real life relationship is like, we maintain that they should be able to ship what they like. We just ask that they tag their content for people who wish to avoid it. This extends to the shipping of real life people, with the provision that if Fanexus gets a direct request from any of these real people asking to have shipping content of them removed, we will remove content containing them specifically, out of courtesy.

Is NSFW content allowed on Fanexus?

Fanexus welcomes NSFW content, simply requiring that it be tagged with an adult content warning so that it is hidden from underage users.

Our servers are currently hosted in Denmark, so content posted on Fanexus must abide by Danish law. 

Further details of what sort of content is and isn’t permitted on Fanexus will be outlined in our TOS, which will be shared prior to launch.

How old do you have to be to use Fanexus?

Fanexus will be 13+, with adults-only spaces. On sign up, users will be asked if they are over 18, and anyone who indicates that they are a minor will be required to enter their DOB. Posts and blogs that are marked as Adults Only will then be hidden from minor users until they turn 18. Minors found to be lying about their age to interact with adult content will be banned. We looked into ways we could have people prove their age on sign up, but we couldn’t find any practical, reliable method. People were uncomfortable with providing personal information, and given that many adults don’t have credit cards, while many minors borrow their guardians’ credit cards, having people make a credit card deposit to prove their age wasn’t a viable solution.

Will Fanexus be doing anything to protect minors?

We believe that the best form of protection against online dangers is education, and so we’re in the process of compiling educational resources to be made available on the site so that people are aware of what sort of red flags to look out for when it comes to a variety of online threats. We also want to provide information about the separation between fiction and reality, so that minors (or anybody impressionable) won’t misunderstand or be manipulated with fiction into thinking that unhealthy behaviors and attitudes presented in dark/complicated/self-indulgent fiction and art are acceptable in reality.

We currently have the following ideas for distributing this information:

We’ll have a staff blog that provides site updates, and also periodically posts articles containing this information.

We’ll keep a compilation of this information available on a page on the site, which will be easily accessible via the navigation bar.

Eventually we want to introduce a feature where if a user searches for particular keywords, a banner appears above the search results, linking to helpful/education information relevant to the keywords. The banner will be able to be hid so it doesn’t show up again in subsequent searches.

We will of course also have a mod team watching out for any reports of suspect behaviour that may be endangering minors (or any of our users), who will take action to neutralise these threats. Another feature we are planning to develop to help our mods protect minors is a keyword detector for comments and DMs. This will scan the comments and DMs of minor users for any keywords that suggest they may be being targeted, and send a warning to our mods to check up on them. 

What is your affiliation with the Prostasia Foundation?

The Prostasia Foundation is a child protection organization that adopts an evidence-based approach to child sexual abuse prevention, that respects human rights and is sex-positive. Being evidence-based means that their positions are based on scientific research. Fanexus reached out to Prostasia because we agree with these tenets, and wanted to find ways to create a safe space that doesn’t resort to censorship. Prostasia proved to be extremely helpful in this respect, offering us information on legality, the impact fiction actually has on reality, and effective methods to protect minors, all based on research. They have also offered to help us develop our keyword detector feature.

Prostasia has an Advisory Council made of voluntary, unpaid experts from relevant fields. These advisory members do not carry any vote or authority on deciding Prostasia policy, and the views that they express on social media or elsewhere are not necessarily representative of the views of the Prostasia Foundation. Fanexus’s point of contact with Prostasia has been with the Foundation’s Executive Director, and we have no affiliation with the members of their Advisory Council.  

Similarly, Fanexus has no vote or authority in deciding Prostasia policy, nor do we sign off on anything they publish, unless it directly references us. The reverse is also true, while Prostasia provides us with advice, they don’t sign off on all the decisions or statements made by Fanexus.

Are you trying to replace Archive of Our Own?

No. We love Archive of Our Own and we have tremendous respect for the Organisation for Transformative Works, but we can’t affiliate with them due to the rules that govern not-for-profit organisations. You will definitely be able to host fanfiction and original fiction on Fanexus, but we’re currently more focused on covering the areas that Archive of Our Own doesn’t already have great features for, such as providing a space where people can host art, have discussions, role play, and document information about their headcanons, worldbuilding, original characters, etc.

Will Fanexus be open to all or invite-only?

We want Fanexus to be open to all eventually, but we also anticipate that the sort of people who promote and thrive on fandom’s toxicity will sign-up with the express purpose of breaking the rules we put in place to protect people from them. To avoid that happening en masse on launch, Fanexus will initially be invite-only. Once we have an established community of fans who can report trolls and other troublemakers, we will open Fanexus up.

In order to get an invite to Fanexus, you will need to apply via this form. If you are accepted, you will be emailed an invite (please check your junk mail) to our  Forum and Discord. Users of the Forum and Discord will be given priority invites to the site.

When’s the release?

As of the 29th of August, most of our initial features are finished, and are in the process of being bug-tested. We plan to start allowing users of our Forum/Discord on the site within the next month. Fanexus will open up to the public after the Forum/Discord users have thoroughly tested the capabilities of the site, and we’ve implemented any further features required to cover weaknesses they’ve found.

Are there other places I can follow Fanexus news?

We share updates on the following accounts:

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Twitter 

Facebook

Mastodon

Survey #327

starting to run outta steam... haha.

What design is on your shower curtain? It doesn't have one. Did you get in trouble for cussing on accident when you were a kid? Ha ha yeah, for yelling "HOLY SHIT!" once, lmao. Ever made a snow angel? Yeah. Do you laugh at racial jokes? Absolutley not. What’s the highest you can count in a different language? 999, in German. How’s your flirting skills? I wouldn't know, ask those I've flirted with. Have you ever cried over a breakup? For a whole year and then some. I still have episodes. What does your dream life look like? Living isolated in the woods by a river and waterfall with a fantastic spouse, me being a very successful photographer and at least somewhat above *just* financially "stable," maybe having at least one poem published, lots of pets (mostly snakes), plenty of travel opportunities (mostly for photography), being free of my social anxiety and actually being reasonably confident, back in great physical shape... I'm really daydreaming now. What’s something you wish would happen, but know won’t? bleh Where did you meet your current or last significant other? YouTube, back when it was a much more social platform. Do you enjoy wine? No, it's way too bitter. What did you last ask your parents permission for? I asked Mom if I could snack on some chocolate chips she was saving for fudge (since Christmastime...). She was fine with it. Periods are fun. Do you get annoyed when you hear babies crying? I shouldn't, but I do. Me and babies just don't mix. Why were you in a waiting room the last time? I was at a doctor's appointment. What’s your lawyer’s name? I don’t have one. Do you own a lot of scarves? I don't think I own any... Would you ever get a face tattoo? I doubt it, but maybe something very small and subtle. Are your expecting anything in the mail? No. What would you like to see out of your window everyday instead of what you see now? Nature. The woods. Would you rather have a house exterior made from wood, brick, or stucco? Aesthetically, wood, but I don't support the continuation of wood housing in a society where we have many other options that don't harm the environment as much. So, realistically, brick. What is your favorite breakfast? Cinnamon rolls. Do you own a diamond ring? No. Have you ever stripped? No. Do you remember the last movie you saw while on a date? IT with Girt. Whose house did you last sleep over at? Sara's. Yes or no: foreplay? Lmao who the fuck does it w/o foreplay first. Would you ever record you having sex? No fucking way. Something nobody’d ever guess about you? I used to be in great shape. Would you like to be a journalist? I actually wouldn't mind it. It was almost my minor the last time I was in college, actually, but the required courses were a no-no for me. Last year for school, we had an assignment where we had to choose a popular song to write a story based on. What song would you’ve picked? I don't know popular songs, so I'm picking any song. Off the top of my head, given my love for dark and morbid shit, maybe "Voyeur" by Otep. That song is messed up as fuck. No, it's actually not about sex, 'cuz I ain't interested in writing about that. Did the vacuum scare you as a child? I don't think it did. Do you have a long driveway? No, it's actually very short. Have you ever begged someone to stay with you? Oh yes. Are you friends with anyone missing one of their five senses? Not to my knowledge. Are you good at Pac Man? I'm no better than anyone else. Do you have an embarrassing period story? If so, what is it? No. Have you ever gotten high off a prescription medication? No. Do you prefer tampons or pads? Tampons. Pads are mega uncomf. How old were you when your parents talked to you about puberty? I don't know, actually. What stereotype do you fit the most? Geek, maybe? Emo? Idk. If you’re a worshipper, how do you worship? I don't worship anything. What’s your favorite pain reliever? Advil. Do you have a lot of people blocked on Facebook? Not a lot, no. Does your father have facial hair? Yes. Have you ever had a hamster? Yeah, we went through a few. All of 'em were evil. Grape or strawberry jelly? Absolutely grape. What language would you most like to know fluently? German. Do you remember the last song you slow danced to? "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. Do you plan on having alcohol at your wedding? I don't know. Do you have an idea of who you might kiss next? I know who I WANT to kiss next, but that doesn't mean it'll happen. I hate psychic questions. Who’s the most controlling person you know? She's not in my life anymore. Do you own a microphone? No. Do you enjoy trailers at the cinema? I do. Name a pet you definitely wouldn’t want. A centipede, to name one. I've gotten more into the idea of owning invertebrates, and centipedes are in that hobby, but they creep me the fuck out. They're cool to watch, but I don't want one in my house. Do you have a picture of you throwing up the peace sign? Yeah, it's actually one of my favorite pictures of me without makeup. Has a very "me" vibe. Do you enjoy romantic movies, even when they’re cliche? Ha, yeah. Can you tell the difference between a Scottish and an Irish accent? Nope. Can you read music? Probably not anymore. Ever sang someone to sleep? No. What is the movie that you have waited the longest for/which film do you remember anticipating the most/are still anticipating? Finding Dory takes the cake. What is something that an interested guy/girl could comment about you, that would make you instantly open to them (e.g., “That book you’re reading is from my favorite author”)? If you compliment my Markiplier tattoo because you get it, we are immediately family. Out of all your usernames for websites, which one is your favorite? Do you use it for more than one site? Ozzkat. I use it essentially everywhere. Have you ever spent the whole day (or multiple days) just looking up one thing on the internet (e.g., videos of your favorite band, how-to videos, quizzes, etc.)? HA, way more than once. Hyperfixation is a friend of mine. Bow ties on guys, dorky or adorable? C U T E ! ! ! What are your thoughts on mini-skirts or mini-dresses? ALSO C U T E ! ! ! Have you ever died in one of your dreams? Yes. What appliance in your kitchen do you use the most often? The microwave. Do you use Skype to talk to your friends? Sara, yes. And Sam once in a blue moon if we're playing WoW together. Are you allergic to any animals? No. Have you ever had to go to the police department? No. Have you ever been called bipolar? Well yes, because I am. Have you ever made fun of a handicapped person? Hell no, and fuck you if you ever have. If a necklace/ring gives you green marks, do you still wear it? No. Have you ever had food poisoning? I don't think so, no. Favorite emoticon? Probably c: Do any emoticons annoy you? No, but an excessive amount of them I find disruptive to whatever I'm reading. Do you think there will be a WWIII? Yup, someday. Has anyone ever asked you if you were emo? Yeah, back in high school. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened to you at a grocery store? I dunno. Probably running into someone unexpected. Do you have any good book ideas? Having written RP since I was 10 years old... I could by now write a dozen dictionary-sized novels encompassing what I think are the greatest storylines. I genuinely do believe there's some fantastic stuff we've got, but there's just too many horribly dark and twisted parts in the evil mobs that I am not comfortable publishing. Are you gonna see Cars 2? Well, this is old. I never even saw the first one. In all honesty, can a person be too nice? Yep. *points at Weed from GDW* Have you ever posted a video onto YouTube? Yeah, mostly "meerkat music videos," I guess you could say. Some tributes to certain MM characters, others just music with meerkat clips. How often do you compliment other people? I try to any time I have a sincere one. I am very much for complimenting people openly and often. The Legend of Zelda series: Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time? I'm not a fan of the franchise, honestly. Never got the hype. Do you even game at all? Most certainly, but not nearly as much as I used to... You can only replay old games but so many times before you just can't anymore. And the "newest" console I have is the original Wii, so... I definitely don't have the modern equipment. Would you give Zumba dance lessons a try if presented the opportunity? Probably not. Definitely not while my legs are in such bad shape; the dancing is pretty intense and would seriously hurt. I could easily imagine myself fainting. Do you own a rosary? No, but I did in my Catholic-raised childhood. Do you like Adult Swim? No. Sorry excuses for humor everywhere. What’s the first thing you do when you get on the computer? Do a quick check on KM just to ensure everything's in order. What’s one thing that you just wish you could do all of your life? Not have to pay bills, haha. If someone asks for your honest opinion, do you give it? Yes, if they emphasize they really want honesty. When was the last time you felt uninformed or out of the loop? Apparently some politician (I think) died recently and people practically rejoiced on Facebook. I knew zip about him. When in a car, where do you like to sit? Passenger seat/shotgun. Have you ever fought with a good friend over something completely stupid? Oh, absolutely. There have been plenty of RP-related arguments with multiple people... In the big picture, it's laughable to fight over a game, but when you're so invested in your own creations, in the moment, it can seem like a big issue. Those drama days are long behind me now. Would you ever visit a third-world country? I don't think so, no. It would shatter my heart, especially seeing children in poverty. Are you the type that’s too ashamed to ask for or use directions? No. You overhear two people gossiping about you; what do you do? Probably call over something like, "I'm not deaf, you know." I highly doubt I'd sit there with my mouth shut. Have you ever felt manipulated? Yes. If you were homeless, how would you cope? If I was truly, entirely homeless, quite honestly, I'm almost positive I'd kill myself. Have you ever done something just to fit in? Yeah. When was the last time you tried to impress someone, for whatever reason? I'm not sure, but I've certainly done it at one point or another. Do you think that the world could function in a state of anarchy? Definitely not. How well do you know your U.S. [or your country’s] history? I mean, I know the bare bones of it, but I'm far from well-versed in history. It was one of my weak subjects in school. Would you ever wish to move to another country? I'm not kidding when I say if it weren't for family, I would probably move to Canada. What is something that you do that others might consider “nerdy”? The way I write, particularly for academic purposes. I'm very descriptive and have an exceptionally large vocabulary. Have you ever had anything expensive stolen from you? Not from me specifically, but our basketball hoop was stolen from my childhood home. I doubt it was very cheap. Do you understand/notice when someone’s using sarcasm? Usually, anyway. When was the last time you were fooled? HAHA there was this drama video suggested to me on YouTube that involved Mark in the title, and I was mega confused and inevitably clicked. Now it's basically a YouTube meme just how "perfect" Mark is, so there was no real drama; apparently some newer fans are just upset at him for playing the sequel to HuniePop, a very sexual puzzle/dating game that's honestly entertaining and can be really funny. Like... he's played the original and despite the discomfort of some scenes (which are censored, mind you), he still had fun, and it was a big hit on his channel. So him playing the sequel isn't surprising, but apparently some people got shit to say. What first Impression do you hope you make with other people? Something along the lines of "wow, she's very nice." Have you ever thought about how you make other people feel/think? Well of course. I think everyone should take time to consider this. What is your stance on getting revenge? A petty waste of time. Any wise/truthful/witty quotes that you live by? Ha, another Mark answer. He once gave the casual innuendo of, "Life's hard; shouldn't you be, too?" (this might have actually been in a HuniePop video!), but when you take the... uh... sexual theme out of it, it's a good way to look at life???? Have tough skin, unmoving willpower, y'know, that stuff. Who was the last person you sat beside at a restaurant? My sister Ashley. Spongebob or Patrick? Patrick is a whole-ass mood. Would you rather watch little kid’s cartoons, older kid’s cartoons, or adult cartoons? Hm. Probably little kid's, given my love for Pokemon. How about watching regular cartoons or anime? Anime. Who is the last person you spent money on? Myself. Do you own a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon? No; I had SeaWold Tycoon instead. I loved that game. Do you have any birth marks in embarrassing places? No. Have you used Limewire before? Of course. Free music for the low price of a catastrophic virus. :^) When was the last time you required a band-aid? I think when I cut one of my toenails way too short. Are you afraid of snakes? Oh no! I adore them so, so very much. Not saying I'm gonna go scoop up the first copperhead I find herping or something, but I love and respect them so very much. They are such fascinating animals. If you believe in reincarnation, what animal would you want to become? I don't think I believe in reincarnation, but hypothetically, maybe a lioness. Who do you tell everything to? Pretty much whoever reads these surveys, haha. Did you have candles on your birthday cake? Not my most recent one. Exactly, how old are you? I just turned 25 years and one month old. Have you ever been bitten by anything? Besides bugs, I don't think so. I've had cats and dogs playfight with me, but none have ever seriously bitten me with actual effort. Do you wear hats? No. What was the last song you sang along to? "Lunchbox" by Marilyn Manson. Do you think you’ll be married in 5 years time? I'd like to be, but idk if it's realistic.

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5 Adults-Only Resorts Adding Some Heat To Our Summer Travel Plans

Let's see where the vacation takes us...

Kiarra Sylvester

Jun. 06, 2022 04:14PM EST

There are two constant questions in life: when/where is the next trip and how can our sex lives get even better? And, if you’re not asking these questions, we might have something else to unpack other than vacation clothes. Alas, summer is near and if you haven’t already, the time has come to start planning your holiday. Quickly. If you haven't started yet, here is your sign to do so now! There’s plenty of space and opportunity to heat things up in your sex life. In fact, for those of you who are asking the aforementioned deep, philosophical questions, allow me to make your day by presenting to you travel destinationswith a twist (because, modern times, of course).

Yes, I’m presenting you the opportunity to take a Hannah Montana-type of vacation, as in best of both worlds – not illicit drugs. But, perhaps illicit lovers. For the booked, beautiful, and ‘bout it we’re going to drop the pin on some erotic resorts that you can book your next trip–from nude beaches to swingers parties on-site, you’ll want to check out this list. While you may be wondering who you take to a resort such as this, I can assure you that you can swing this (no pun intended) in any way – baecation, solo dolo trip, or group trip. There’s something super enticing about the idea of taking a group of attractive (whether inside or out–don’t stone me) friends and seeing where a weekend like this leads you. 

But, hey, that’s just me! I’ll leave the rest of the details to you. After all, I'm already providing you with five relaxing adults-only resorts to stay at.

1. Hedonism II (Negril, Jamaica) 

There’s nothing like a vacation to lower inhibitions and try things outside your norm. And this is, by far, one of the more known resorts to date. This resort offers clothing-optional facilities, kinky parties, and lots of room for play, literally! All bets are off at this resort where just about anything goes (with permission, of course), whether you choose to enter their playroom (i.e. the romping shop) or not. After all the term "hedonistic" does mean to explore the pursuit of pleasure or sensual interest.

While this resort does offer a day pass, you are not permitted to go into the roaming room due to liabilities on the day pass so keep that in mind for those who are simply wanting to pass through.

2. Couples Tower Isle Resort (Ocho Rios, Jamaica)

Another Jamaican resort, which tells us all we really need to know about the culture for those of you who have yet to see them in motion when dancehall music drops. Hell, now that I think about it, Stella Got Her Groove Back took place in Jamaica. Hmm. Yeah. Enough said! Moving along, now. While it may not be a free for all like Hedonism II, Couples Tower Isle Resort seems to still know how to have a good time as this all-inclusive resort has plenty of adult-only activities and amenities, one of which is a nightclub. 

3. Desire Pearl Resort (Cancún, Mexico)

Unlike the previous resorts, this resort is exclusive to couples. They do still, however, provide a clothing-optional environment and the space to explore sexually. Desire Pearl boasts that you can have the time of your life, may it be “mild or wild” during your stay with the liberating clothing-optional policies and their mysterious but “spicy” pool parties. Though they don’t advertise it on the website itself, if you wander off onto their social media, you quickly find that they too offer a playroom where you can join, watch, or be looked upon *insert grinning devil emoji*.

Note: If you’re looking to stay in the United States, these next two resorts on our list might be the happy medium for you. 

4. Monterey Stay and Play (Salinas, Cali) 

More than nudity itself, this erotic bed and breakfast speaks more to the overall interest in BDSM. They offer a BDSM room for couples equipped with some kinky gadgets to elevate your sexual experience. These gadgets range from ropes and leather cuffs to chastity devices and my fave, the Violet Wand (for those into erotic electrostimulation). Easy access to a dungeon is a top-tier selling point, but do keep in mind that unlike the others on our list, this is not an all-inclusive vibe. While you will be amongst like-minded people, you shouldn’t assume that this is a space where couples wish to join you – not even loosely. 

5. Caliente Club & Resorts (Land O' Lakes, Florida)

Though the site doesn’t look all that exquisite, they don’t mince any words or videos in regards to getting to the point–upon entering the site you can see that this is going to be an erotic time, if nothing else. Another thing that’s for certain is the endless list of events that the resort offers, which makes it that much easier to meet your match to take things a little further if you and your partner wish to do so. It should be noted that Caliente Club & Resorts gives more of a college spring break vibe (the atmosphere, that is) than luxury, so if luxe is something you’re looking for, do your due diligence.

This is only a short list, as I’m sure there are many more out there. If for some reason these don’t meet your needs, there is something for everybody. When looking, it may behoove you to reach out to a travel agent who can help you quickly narrow down your options.

But for now? Consider this to be your kinky starter pack.

Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.

Featured image by Getty Images

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seven months

hey taylor! this is a little story of my journey since the last time that i let you in to my inner world... its been seven months...(feels like 20 lifetimes of growth) and two months since I moved to California and one week since I left my grandest, most divine partner in L.A to continue my journey of self discovery, self awareness, self love, and self soverignty... and i wanted to mention something important to you -- a sign, an invisable string if you will. since i was a kid, your music always followed me and described my life experiences. as i began a deep journey of self understanding, i went away from the reality that i knew (much alike your time to yourself, away from the media) last oct/november. and i let myself fall deeply, and madly in love. you know the love i'm talking about. the red love. the deeply open and vulnerable heart love, despite all past burns to the heart. the one you write poetry and songs about. i know you feel deeply self worth inside. i know that you relyed on guys to help fill that void. same as me. same as so many beautiful woman out there. giving our hearts away.. loving so damn red. but loving so: fearlessly. bravely. courageously. vulnerably. openly. you can't regret a thing, can you? and the months piled up. nine months december 27 he came to Christmass dinner ten months january 27 this is... love eleven months febuary 27 this is home 1 year march 27 this is the 1 three days after, my life came crashing down. i wake up to coughing. masks. fear. my house turned into a graveyard a grounds of fear, pain, suffering sickness. not me. her. my dads partner. someone who i thought, in my own ego, i despised. in that moment, i knew i loved. two hours. it was less than two hours that i packed two suitcases, and a heavy backpack full of everything that mattered to me. i had practised this before. countless nights isoltated in my room, pretending to pack to run away. really considering running away. but never running. it was a blur. i don't remember much. a message to stay, but the knowingness that it was my time to leave. one last goodbye. no hug. a promise. with my father. knowing he would get sick. knowing that my father, my Rock, my stable Father could very evidently get sick and die. was this a goodbye forever? i didn't know but i left. i had to leave. by some greater plan from God, or whoever is orchestrating this magical universe, my partner moved to my city by chance through the winter and I went to him. i moved in; my heart afraid of moving in with somebody that i love because love had only ever hurt me. i moved in with my partner and allowed my dad the space to go through his own conscious awakening. thirteen months WILL HE DIE? i prayed everyday. i surrendered. i released the outcome. i surrendered to my partner and the relationship and accepted a deeper love than i have ever experienced during this time. i started my business. really, started my business. i started it in december but I didn't really know if I would ever get to see my dad again. through the fall and winter he provided for me whilst i recovered from being sick [reoccuring during fall/winter, peak in sept. same thing i felt during my journey in 2018]. how will i live as an adult on my own? provide for myself? what if he dies? i make my first 2k month. i surrender to love. i meet nature. fourteen months i called him for the first time. my dad. it was so painful to hear him speak. he was still sick. i began to slowly give grounded, healing advice. affirmations. colors. introduced the law of attraction. helping him know that his physical body was sick because his mind was sick of negativity. i move into my first apartment with my partner. its beautiful. he pays the rent. i get the entire room, he takes the living room. i was provided for. i continued my business. i held strong visions of travelling with my partner before the lease was up in august. it was my lifelong dream. i prayed for my dad and his partner. sitting in nights of fear and pain. letting go. trusting. rebuilding. health. NATURE. LOVE. date nights. park visits. lake visits. fifteen i saw my dad and his partner! in person! june 6, the first time since march 30. i went with my partner. i was nervous. i also get to see my cat ~~ who has always had siezures, that got even worse when they were sick... who i also had to let go of, not knowing if would survive.. but did! i gave him healing crystals. healing tips. love. hope. he opened. my dad whos heart was closed cracked open. i had never seen this mans heart open since i was a little child before my mom broke his heart. he left his job, you know. when i was a kid i was neglected for that job. one that i had to go to school too many times when i didn't feel because of. one that kept him gone late nights once a week. one that drained him. but the job that supported me physically and financially through my entire life. the job that helped give me a good life ~ his time and energy he gave into this job to provide for his daughter. he realized what it was doing to him. he realized, taylor. he realized. he got a new job. two hours away, a small county on the lake. a chance to start over. leave the karmic city he lived in. he also began to feel his emotions from what happened with the trauma of my mother. this was a miracle. a miracle. a miracle. and so, he would move away... starting his new job during the sixteenth month of this journey, july 13 i know at this point i will be travelling soon and leaving anyways, but could not leave my dad... and so the universe had him leave to set me free. i spent the rest of the month knowing he would move away, and likely i would too. but where? i saw him many times. gave him reiki too. we all went to the cottage together, him, his partner, me, and mine. summer solstice. peace. love. sixteen months i released all of my limitations. i chose love, abundance, freedom, health, bliss. i released my dad, my cat, my childhood home... [never grow up describes this situation]... a 21st birthday, really, a goodbye to my family... i booked a plane ticket. a month and a week to California. knowing, that it would be longer than that one month and a week. myself and my partner. one carry on and personal item. my self soverignty. my dreams. my abundance [first five figure month!!!] i left taylor. i left behind the city i always lived in to follow my dreams and passion. i'm living in my dream location. mountains. forests. lakes. a sacred site in Nor Cal. a childhood dream, if you will. a new life begins the night before i leave i see that you had an album out. folklore. i didn't know, because i had been going through so much stuff within my life that anything that happened online was not present in my life. i listened to caridgan for a few seconds. didn't feel right. i let you go...[knowing, like always, your music will come to me at the exact right time] i got on the plane. three layovers. an overnight train. i begin my new life on the mountain. begin again. seventeen months i am not the same. i have grown. i have healed. my time in the mountain has been the most groundbreaking, expansive, philisophical, healing time of my entire life. feeling like one month was twenty lifetimes of healing and growth. healing all of my childhood wounds, fears, pains. being of service in my business, providing healing for over 55 people. but... it was here where it started to break apart. that one last thing. i let go of the home. the cat. the family. the stuff. there was 1 more thing to let go of... eighteen months kyle, was his name you know. and of course, when we are hurt we go into the victim mindset right away. it is instinct. predetor and prey. it is conditioned into us. this time, after completing a cycle of 3 relationships of emotional manipulation, disrespect, not being loved the way i loved... i took full ownership for it. for manipulating MYSELF. for disrespecting MYSELF. for not loving MYSELF the way I love another. thats when the relationship healing and karma happens. when you take complete ownership for your own mistreatment knowing that this person was simply a mirror of the own hate, anger, and fear you have about yourself. it happened on september 2nd, under the full moon. it started, anyways. i was called to l.a out of Nor Cal. With him. and we Went. This is where the fun part starts, the intention behind this entire story but we're only getting to it right now because of course, I am a writer. The main message has to be supported by a story, right? on september 6th, we had a midnight train. i wanted to listen to music to help me release leaving the city i was living in in Nor Cal, cuz I had grown fairly attached to it. cardigan came into my life. [which i realize as i am writing this and listening to it, the version i have always listened to is the cabin one,... which I am just seeing you realeased on my birthday!!!! july 30th. how interesting] it fell into place this night. and i was meant to hear it now; your music has always been like a spirit guide to me. always a message when i need it. we had a midnight train. my partner got a nosebleed on the way...[stepping on the last train, marked me like a blood stain...] i knew in my heart we would be breaking up... the day before the flight to l.a, the day before the fires, i knew we would be breaking up in l.a. the night that invisable strings was introduced into my life, via my dear soul friend Emma. i knew that this song spoke of my memories and experiences with l.a. l.a was always a place for me to find self empowerment, bravery, and self worth. being the place that i endured my first break up in, l.a taught me self love. i knew that an invisable string was bringing me back to l.a, and really... back to [myself]. despite knowing what was to happen, i held myself through the flight to l.a. it's not like we officially broke up that day, but i knew going on this flight that since i was facing my biggest fears in real life that i would be about to experience my fear of being alone. i flew the day that san fransisco was orange. tiny little 13 row plane. deep fear of planes. in a moment of deep intuition and love, i opened my heart to hold space for the people on the plane that were also terrified of the fires and landing somewhere that was orange. holding people, holding space, through what could be seen on an Earthly scale as a trauma. moving past my own fears and negative thoughts and holding the emotions of love and safety. it was a big moment for me. i listened to invisable strings dyuring the plane ride. and two days later was when my fire happened. september 11 is when we officially broke up.. when i chose to stand up for myself, for my own love + respect, when i knew that i had to leave a toxic and co-dependent relationship... you know, i thought a tsunami was going to happen that day or something and i was going to die. i literally thought this was what was going to happen; but the death that happened was not physical, but the death of a relationship. we were in l.a until the 18th, in the same apartment, trying our best to go through our breakup while living with eachother. still getting groceries together [chasing shadows in the grocery line]... i could barely function. i know you know what co-dependent relationships can get like. beginning to function on your own without the love from them is hell. [cue. this is me trying] having a hard time adjusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! letting go of this love. knowing i need to leave. we were in l.a until the 18th, in the same apartment, trying our best to go through our breakup while living with eachother. still getting groceries together [chasing shadows in the grocery line]... the ocean took me down; pulled my knee out. the day after telling my partner i need to do everything on my own and we be completely separate whilst living in this apartment together for at least a week. knowing we likely would stay till oct.my bodies way of still needing to rely on him. coping mechinisms. breakdowns. [pouring my heart out to a stranger, but i didn't pour the whiskey...] (This lyric. After my first relationship, I turned to alcohol. I got very dependent on this, and this runs in my family. It took me until a significant event at a party in 2017 for me to stop, i know you know what i mean. So it was a big deal for me, despite all temptations, to not turn to alcohol). i knew i had to leave l.a our host was offering us to stay until oct 1. i was 100% sure i was, despite living in the apartment with kyle, through breakup [not your typical i hate u breakup tho, one of deep love and mutual, conscious respect and love for eachother] going to stay. esp with how my body was, and my knee. and... if i went back home to Nor Cal, I knew i'd be going alone. And I knew my partner couldn't financially sustain himself at the time to stay anywhere other than back home. I knew he would have to quarentine for 14 days. I knew that by making this decision I would be completely cut off from him. i went to cancel our flight back to Nor Cal. 34 hours before. i was going to stay and stay in a place with a man who didn't have enough self love and worth yet to be able to love me properly. and then it happened. continue to financially support him. continue to love him uncontiionally. and then... sept 16 11:30pm the last excuse. the last invalidation. the last disrespect. the last act of hatred. the last act of emotional manipulation. the last time the gas light would ever turn on. i do not cancel my flight. i walked away. i chose myself. i messaged everybody that i knew to ask for help and support. i knew that this would be the hardest thing I ever had to do. i had to walk away from whom i know on a soul level to be my husband. i know. i know. i know. i know when we have both healed we will come back together in harmonious union; our relationship was all about growing. but it was time to grow apart, in order to grow back together with a stable individual foundation. the last day was magic. it was a new moon. santa monica beach. sunset. shopping. swimming. we allowed ourself to have a night of love. we knew that this was at the basis of our connection; true, undying, eternal, uncondtional love. we will always love each other in a deeper way than can be described in words. no painting, song, piece of poetry could describe this love. and it was painful. painful to love so deeply and openly and vulnerabily, knowing that come 6am I would be headed to the airport It was the most open and vulnerable I have ever been. Allowing myself to openly love so deeply despite knowing what was to come in just some short hours. I really poured my heart out. I opened up. I was vulnerable. I was my true self. And it was one of the best nights of my life, September 17th in Santa Monica, under the New Moon. we stayed up together all night holding each other. sharing a few last kisses. talking about our favourite memories each month of our relationship [i know they said the end was near...] we didn't sleep all night. the alarm went off, 4:50am. time to go. i packed everything the night before. i tied up my lose ends. we held eachother deeply. the final alarm went off, 5:10am. the pink sunrise in the uber on the way to the airport. the way that he didn't cancel his flight to go through security with me. not getting a coffee to spend every last second with him. and we sat in the airport and cried our hearts out. holding each other. crying. in front of anyone who cared to see. knowing one hour before boarding i had to take myself to the bathroom so that i could cry and prepare myself to fly [note: hopefully the airport worker knew we were gunna be okay] 7:48am, i knew the alarm was going to go off in two minutes. i take my power back and stand up, turning the alarm off. i said i have to go now or I will not get on the flight. i tell him he needs to walk away first. i can't do it. no. i'll feel abandoned. i have to be the one. i hugged him. one time. i said goodbye. i wished him well. i told him i love him. i put my backpack on. i get my stuff together. one last hug... one last kiss... and i pulled away. i walked away from the man that i know one day will be my husband and the father to my children to follow my own path of self discovery and worth and love. of healing. walking up to the airline worker, telling her my partner would not be coming on the flight with me. "okay, Miss, i will remove him from your party and from the flight," i held myself together. i did. the best i could. good thing i didn't sleep because that kept me at least less emotional and breaking down than i thought i would be. "now boarding flight xxxx to Sacramento, boarding rows 10-13..." i got myself on the plane. i couldn't believe i was doing this. how am i doing this? i knew when i sat in my seat and the plan began to prepare for departure, that i was completing a cycle of three. a cycle of relationship karma that began with my first, where we broke up on my birthday, 2016 in l.a... completing a cycle where i base my worth on another person, depend on another person, allow myself to get walked over... it was done. i asked that when i took off into the sky from the plane, the perfect line of the perfect song was playing... when i first had my breakup in l.a 2016, i was at a play to support my friend and actress. in this play, she sang a song called brave. this song, and message, got me through my first breakup. she was my rock and i swear the reason i made it through the night of that. l.a 2018, she wrote brave for a tattoo for me. we stopped talking for a while; i learned to be brave for myself. l.a 2020, the moment the plane takes off of the ground... [wool to BRAVE the seasons...] the moment you sang brave; the plane took off. a rush of feeling so proud for myself. knowing i chose me. knowing i chose a journey of self love. knowing i chose a journey of self worth. knowing i chose a journey of self empowerment. i sit here in my soul sister's apartment whilst she is cross-country, writing this. one week after i got back to Nor Cal. One week since my entire life shifted. And I am in the journey. The journey to self love, confidence, worth, empowerment, etc is not just a destination. There is a journey behind it all. It happens to contain a lot of crying. A lot of feeling. Some music. Friends. Good food. A warm coffee from the local coffee shop. Candles. Insence. Journal(S). Rest. Yoga. Meditation. Qigong. Reiki. Fuzzy socks. Oversized fluffy sweaters. Soft blankets. Stuffed animals. Books. Singing bowls. Love. And so, this is where I am. September 25th, seven months later. Wow. Writing this journey out and putting it on paper really makes me feel some things. It makes me feel fucking empowered. It makes me feel strong. It makes me feel brave. It makes me feel fearless. It makes me feel vulnerable. It makes me feel authentic. And with all authenticity, I had to be authentic with myself when I began to write this. Your music has been that constant. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Everything has always left my life but your music has always stayed. Your music has always found me in the right time in the right place. It has always supported me. You have always supported me. I was thinking back today, in a state of elevated joy allowing myself to feel happy that I got the opportunity to meet you through my life journey so far. And that... us meeting had to mean something. There is an invisable string there. There has to be a reason that during all of this your music was there for me. There has to be a reason it came to me in the time that it did. There is a reason for everything. So I write this, with a prayer that you will see this, but a surrender to the knowingness that what is meant to happen is going to happen. Also, a surrender to if anybody actually reads this! This is who I am, raw, vulnerable, authentic. I will always speak my truth, share my journey, and love Taylor Swift. Don't we all? Taylor, if you are reading this... from my soul to yours; thank you. thank you. thank you. seriously, for what you give up to be able to spread these messages via your music in such a global way. i completely see and understand what you have given up to do this. i love you. i love you. i love you. thank you for seeing me. thank you for hearing me. thank you for acknowledging me. thank you for validating me. thank you for loving me. see you next update, your friend Sarah.

Ten✧Shi makes their debut!

Everybody meet my idol oc group! I’m so excited to finally start making content for them, and I hope people like them! Under the read more are profiles and introductions to the group and members! Art by me!

Feel free to use the inbox to ask them questions! Give them a warm welcome!

Group Intro:

Hello everyone! We are Ten✧Shi! We are a group of four high school teachers in Japan and an idol group! This is our first group interview so please enjoy!

We chose the name Ten✧Shi because there are four (四/shi) of us and our kind students said we were like angels (天使/tenshi) of the idol world! The four pointed star in our name represents each of us coming together to be brighter, but it also represents a compass and our hopes of guiding people to their shiniest future!

For our debut we’ve gone with a more mature concept, taking the theme of angels and putting a modern spin on it!

We were previously school idols, formerly two duos known as ‘Savvy x Spiffy’ (featuring Natsuki and Ryu) and ‘FINEST♡’ (featuring Yui and Haru). Our school idol careers mainly consisted of a local rivalry, but a friendly one. Now we realise that our duo concepts were too different to compare fairly, which is why our competition ended in a stalemate during our third year. However we want to thank our fans, friends and family for supporting us back then.

Ten years on from our last performances we’re back as a quartet! We hope to inspire people around the world with our live shows, with our new concepts and songs. As adults in our late 20’s we want to show the world what we’ve learned since then and just how powerful we are!

We want to thank our students for pushing us to form a group like this, and due to their amazing support we couldn’t have entered the upcoming amateur adult idol tournament, designed for people like us!

Natsuki:

Profile

Height: 6’2 / 187cm

Birthday: July 19th

Star Sign: Cancer

Pronouns: He/him or They/Them

Image Colour: Mint Green

Self-Introduction

“Hi everybody! I’m Natsuki, the leader of Ten✧Shi! I didn’t think I could be a leader, but the other three were so insistent, I couldn’t resist their cute little faces! They said I’m the glue that keeps us together, but I don’t think I put special effort in, I just want to see everyone be the best they can be, Y’know? I just wanna take you all in and squeeze you tight! If I had all the time in the world I’d talk to each fan because you’re all so valuable to us!

I only became a trainee teacher in the past few years, but I’m sooo happy to see my old pals again! I love exploring lyrics in music, I am a Literature teacher after all!! I hope the songs I write in the future will inspire all of you to do your best! There’s so many different types of idol music, but I do love electro swing the most. It’s just the kind of music you can put on and dance around with! I’m so excited to dance with my friends again!

My charm point? Hmm… I don’t really think about that too much, but I’d say it’s that I’m willing to drop everything if my friends need me! I guess I also get compliments on my voice a lot. Of course I train hard as an idol, but I’ve been singing since I was tiny! Maybe that’s why I can’t sing so loudly… Oh you meant something physical? Ahaha… well, it’s a little embarrassing, but I overheard Ryu say I have “like, super toned abs. It’s so unfair.” Does that count? What?! No!! I’m wearing my work clothes I can’t just take it off!! I can’t let the students see me like this!!!”

Journalist’s Note: Due to popular demand, an exclusive shirtless photoshoot was taken shortly after the interview. Please view our Instagram page for a sneak preview.

Ryu:

Profile

Height: 5’11 / 180cm

Birthday: March 5th

Star Sign: Pisces

Pronouns: He/Him

Image Colour: Light Blue

Self-Introduction

“Make this quick, I don’t want to lose track of time and be late for- Oh you’re recording already? Fine. I’m Ryu. And I want to start this by making something clear. I’m not the same teenage boy I was last time I was on camera. The whole playboy persona isn’t gonna fly as an adult. I have a reputation to uphold. I’m a senior staff member of the school now, I can’t be seen dancing in shirts that are barely buttoned up anymore. And I’m especially not calling any of my fans ‘my kittens’. That shit’s embarrassing. Wait, I mean that it’s unacceptable. Can you edit that?

As I said, I’m high up in the school now, so I have a lot more to worry about than back then. And that also includes being part of a bigger group. Yeah, I love those guys, but you can’t deny they’re a handful. It’s kinda weird. In the old days I’d be the one running off and getting us into trouble, but now I’m… uhh… am I stuck-up to you? I really don’t wanna seem that way to students. Why are you laughing? Oi, what’s that face for?

Huh? Charm point? Who cares about that? Oh yeah, I’m the visual center. Okay, whatever. As an idol I like to focus on my body as a whole, but if I had to highlight an area I’d choose my legs. I’m not super tall, but my legs are kinda long, and sometimes Natsuki would latch onto them so they can’t be unattractive. The guy’s got some strange taste but I guess I trust his judgement. He is our leader, after all. Hm? When does he do that? I mean just like if we’re chillin before we go to bed. Yeah? Yeah, we live together. Wait!! Don’t cut the camera let me explain!”

Journalist’s Note: We didn’t cut the camera.

Yui:

Profile

Height: 5’8 / 172cm

Birthday: August 30th

Star Sign: Virgo

Pronouns: She/Her

Image Colour: Light Pink

Self-Introduction

“Hi hi! I’m Yui! I’m a PE teacher and the choreographer of the group! I love love love to dance, even without thinking about it! Dancing is such an amazing way to express yourself. If you’re alone and you need to get some energy out just move your body to the rhythm of your heart! Dancing as a group is so amazing too! Watching our lives shows back and seeing everyone do the moves I made is such an indescribable feeling!

I never thought I’d be a teacher, but I really love it! There’s a lot of hard work involved, but it’s all totally worth it. I know PE can put a lot of stress on students, so I don’t force anyone to do anything, and I try to make everything super fun and accessible! All of my students are so lovely, people really don’t get that kids are humans too, with such rich lives and stories to tell. Honestly I’d rather help out kids that need guidance than spend time with some of the grouches that teach here. EW!

My charm point…. Is my eyes! Connecting to our audience is so important, and I always focus on making the right expression, it’s just another way I can get across my feelings! People say my eyes are always full of life! I also love love love seeing students get inspired by my dances. When their eyes light up it’s like a whole new path has opened up in the world! I hope everyone supports us and we can all make new paths together! Love you!!!”

Journalist’s Note: Yui’s interview is an hour longer than the others. For the uncut version, please visit our site.

Haru:

Profile

Height: 5’5 / 165cm

Birthday: July 29th

Star Sign: Leo

Pronouns: He/Him

Image Colour: Yellow

Self-Introduction

“This is Haru. If I sound moody during this interview, blame the others for waking me up this early. This is earlier than I get up for work. But this isn’t about work so I shouldn’t complain. Hm? Yeah, I’m a maths teacher. I know it’s like the least interesting subject for most people. And I feel the same way. But when I was a kid all of my teachers were hell-bent on teaching their way or no way, so I chose to use my good grades to get a job here, and understand how these kids work as individuals so I can teach them in a way that they understand.

I’m the composer for the group. After high school I was in a rock band for a while. The split wasn’t in vain so it’s all good. And they’re fans of my idol stuff. Being able to write music helps out now, but I’ve still got a lot to learn! Music’s so great, it can lift your spirits or bring you down, which isn’t always for the best, but that really shows how powerful it is! Getting up on stage and feeling the adrenaline shoot through you is addicting and I feel so alive when everyone’s into the rhythm and you feel like the night could last forever... Looking back on some of our recorded performances, I notice how intense I get on stage. It’s a little weird to see myself so… energetic. Is it weird? No? Wait, people like it? You’re just saying that because I’m here. Hey, don’t show me comments on our debut MV, that’s unnecessary.

Charm point… The dark circles under my eyes don’t count even thought people point them out a lot, so I’d say my fang. I have a canine tooth that sticks out a bit, see? The others think it’s cute, but there’s nothing cute about me. What? My fans would say- No I don’t need to hear any of it. There’s no such thing as a charisma centre! I’m not cute and my face isn’t red!”

Journalist’s Note: As a school idol Haru won #1 ‘Cutest New Idol’ as voted by the public. As of the date of the interview, he holds the highest all-time number of votes in a single poll.

Hay fever, also termed as allergic rhinitis, causes cold-like evidence

Hay fever Evaluate Hay fever, known as allergic rhinitis, opens-up cold-maximize your signals to the point where unwanted side effects, benefit from usually a good runny nostril, itchy eyes, traffic jam, sneezing or sinus pressure. When you look at it unlike a brilliant right then, hay fever this consists of opened the doors for with the help of a brilliant virus. Hay fever get opened the doors for with the assistance of a well established allergic allergy in order to outdoors and domestic use allergens, maximize your pollen, and healthier mites, or short period of time flecks along the lines of skin or saliva help eliminate with oversight by the cat, dogs, and exposed to sunlight game used in conjunction with fur and feathers (pet dander). In conclusion creating both children and adults interfering with, hay fever have an opportunity to have an effect on all your action all through attain and institution and fairly often interfere with for your entire life. 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Hay fever have an opportunity to intrude along with all of your home entertainment needs of more features and are in charge of both adults and children in order to ensure glow in the dark productive. For many people around the world households, hay fever negative side effects make the effort to be able to absences thanks to succeed to the point where school. • Irritating sleep. Hay fever unwanted negative effects get to connection both adults and children wide awake or take care of the type easier said than done to be able to hotel asleep, which be able to take the initiative to have the ability to fatigue eventually often a good endurance and strength being able including obtaining unwell (malaise). • Getting worse asthma. Hay fever get to worsen signs eventually unwanted side effects of bronchial asthma, maximize your coughing or wheezing. • Sinusitis. More time sinus traffic jam due in order to hay fever will likely attention deficit hyperactivity disorder all your susceptibility to be able to sinusitis - an established an infection or irritation for instance the top membrane considering the fact that traces the highest sinuses. • Ear infection. When you are wondering about infants, hay fever in this part of the world get a brilliant action when you are wondering about place of employment ear an infection (otitis networking). Safety and health There isn't any convenience store to have the ability to to prevent getting hay fever. Despite whether both adults and children succeed hay fever, the best thing to do is to impair your entire publicity to have the ability to the most successful allergens now that take care of all of your symptoms. Can be completed in allergy medicines for acne originally the entire family're discovered making it possible to allergens, when directed with oversight by your entire doctor. 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Survey #303

“if i can’t be loved, then i’ll be hated”

What color are your glasses, if applicable? Black. Candy corn or conversation hearts? They're both gross, don't make me pick between garbage. Do you own a lot of earrings? Not really after I weeded them out before moving. What did your backpack in high school look like? I dare say I had the dopest backpack of them all. It looked like a massive Ouija board, and the zipper was the planchet (sp?). Have you ever been to a rave? Nah. What is your favorite art medium? I have a particular fondness of oil paintings. They tend to look so smooth, and you can achieve incredible realism with them. How far away is the nearest hospital from you? Not even five minutes, I think. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? My mom. What is your favorite car color? Pink, duh. How did you learn to type? We actually had a class specifically for typing in middle school. What style of wedding dress do you want? I don't have that set in stone yet, but I really do love ballgown dresses with long trains as well as a-lines with a moderate train. I love a lot, except really for mermaid dresses. Do you fit into any stereotype, or are you non-stereotypical? I don't know if I fit perfectly into any and really don't care. Would you want your first child to have your hair color? ???? I don't care about their hair lol?????? It would depend on the hypothetical father, in which case I'd probably find it cute, but this is so, so unimportant. Do you enjoy writing in cursive? Yeah, it just feels good and flowy to me. What is your favorite hair color? Natural? Probably blonde with natural darker undertones throughout. I like blonde hair because it's far easier to dye, haha. Now, if we're including DYED hair, rose gold or pastel pink is *chefs kiss* What is your favorite eye color? Sapphire blue, probz. Would you put your birthday on a different day if you could? Nah, it's fine where it is. What holiday is your birthday closest to? Valentine's. Do you vent on social media a lot? NOOOOOOOO. I barely post ANYTHING about myself on social media because I feel like I'm being annoying, self-absorbed, find anything I do actually interesting, or don't want people to think I'm a whiner. All I ever really do on social media is share or reblog funny shit, things I love, stuff I find relatable or inspirational, educational, important for whatever reason, etc... Do you have abusive parents? I am very thankful to say no. Is your house haunted? Doesn't seem like it. What's your favorite thing to watch on YouTube? I'm in a real WoW-related phase lately... Watching my favorite streamers, gold farming guides, and other various aspects of the game. What are five health problems that you have? I talk about the mental issues enough, so I guess I'll talk about physical stuff here. Uhhh I have very low blood pressure (it's a med side effect), I have extremely weak legs following muscle atrophy, I have bad tremors, especially in my hands (amplified by medication once again), maybe TMI but we're adults here and it's a legit issue that I have chronic and severe conspitation, aaaand then of course I have hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) to a fucking outrageous and also humiliating degree. Ooooonce again as a prescription side effect. This answer made meds sound kinda bad, I know, but really, I'd rather have the will to live and just have to deal with these than want to die everyday and not. Do you have surgery coming up? No, let's keep it that way until I lose enough weight and when I am 110% getting loose skin removal. Which family member(s) do you look the most like? My sisters, ig. People say my mom also, but I honestly don't see it. Have you ever cried while watching a YouTube video? Yeah, usually just in let's plays, but it's happened for other reasons. Are you missing a website that just shut down? Nah, none that I know of. NO. FUCKING WAIT. So, when my laptop was fixed, a LOT of shit was wiped from it, and that included all of my goddamn Lightroom editing presets. The site they were from no longer exists, so I had to use a different, pretty sub-par one to install at least a few because it helps me get a start on editing the photograph and leaning towards the "vibe" I want before spending like 15+ minutes tuning it myself. Would you be a barefoot bride? No. Which would you rather name your daughter: Eliana, Echo, Emerald, or Ellery? Ohhh, I like these. I think I prefer "Eliana," but "Echo" is a close second. "Ellery" is nice, but it sounds too much like "celery" to name my kid that lmao. Which would you rather name your son: Maverick, Matthew, or Moses? Ugh, none, honestly. But "Matthew" wins. When was the last time you gave a speech? Like a *legit" speech? Probably not since uhhh... I guess when I argued my disability case at court? Does that even count? Have you ever been in a stampede? Well, never seen this'n in a survey before, so good job, lol. No. If you were a fairy, what color would you like your wings to be? It would depend on what I wore, really. And my hair. But probably light pink. Would you rather name your son Storm, Skylar, Sorin, or Solomon? "Sorin." "Skylar" is SO Southern, and "Solomon" sounds like the creepy kid all his classmates avoid and I ain't putting my kid through that. Did you read a devotional this morning? Not my jam. Would you rather be named Arizona, Alaska, Cali, or Georgia? Hm... "Alaska" is actually kinda cool???? And I'm white as fuck so lol????? I wouldn't mind to nickname of "Ally," anyway. Are you repulsed by ugly reptiles? lololol bro get out Did all your friends know about your first crush or was it a secret? I was definitely secretive and shy about it when I first started getting crushes. Do you ever feel insecure about going out without makeup? I feel insecure either way, so... How many different natural hair colors are there in your immediate family? So, this is a hard question to answer. My mom was born with brown hair, but it darkened to almost black; only her daughter Katie inherited that. By some genetic magic, Dad had blond hair as a kid, but it also turned black. Like... how?????? I was born with dirty blonde hair like him, and mine turned an average brown with age. My immediate sisters have always had brown hair. What is your favorite online game? World of Warcraft is ballin'. Would you ever want to be famous and sign autographs? Ha, the idea of signing autographs is awful... I can't physically write very long without my carpal tunnel flaring up. Do you like your shirt to be loose or tight? LOOSE. Especially as a bigger person, tight shirts are just really uncomfortable. What is your favorite Spanish name? I don't know nearly enough to answer this. Would you rather visit Asia or Europe? I think Asia is, in general, more interesting and prettier as a whole, but I guess I'm drawn to European culture being more like my own and there are specific locations I'm interested in, like Germany or Scotland. So to answer the question, I guess Europe wins. Are there any Asians in your family? I don't believe so. Have you ever had colored braces? Haha yeah, I did that when I had them. Do you take birth control pills? Yes, just for period cramps. Without them, they can be immobilizing for me. If you live in the USA: do you feel free and safe? Ha, no. Well, not *entirely*. Have you ever been sick on your birthday? I was recovering from the stomach virus, if that counts. As in I still got sick the day before and felt iffy on my actual bday. 17th, I think? Is talking about your past painful for you? Yes. Are you a member of any support groups online? I'm a member of The Mighty site, if that counts. When I'm feeling very, very sound of mind and helpful without all the negativity being a detriment to myself, I do like going on there and trying to help or comfort people. Have you ever called a suicide hotline? Yes, and the line was busy, and that's when I decided I was a goner. Do you ever fantasize about revenge? I uhhhhh... sometimes. What's a movie you would recommend to someone who never watches movies? Ohhh, that's hard. I don't really watch movies either, and I'm trying to think of one that essentially anyone would like, so hm. Oh, Coco is absolutely a possibility. That movie touched me so, so deeply and is high on my favorites list. It's impossible to not feel the emotions. Do you want to have grandkids? Hell, I don't want kids. Do you want to be an aunt or uncle? I already am one, and I love being an aunt. Who was your favorite Spice Girl? I don't remember their names or characters in general. Did you make a lot of home videos growing up? I mean *I* didn't, but Mom filmed quite a few. Do you enjoy babysitting? NO. What's an unpopular opinion that you have? Avoiding some political ones, uhhhh. OH. HERE'S ONE. THE SCENE AESTHETIC IS FUCKING CUTE AND NOT CRINGEY AND YOU CAN FIGHT ME ABOUT IT. Are you attracted to the opposite gender, same gender, or both? Both are A+. Was your first crush on someone of the same gender or opposite? Opposite. As a kid, I didn't even fathom the concept that women could date women. What is something you'll never eat again? Why? Brussel sprouts. Fucking disgusting. What is currently happening that is scaring you? Besides the very obvious answer of "Covid," I worry about my mom a lot. She's so weakened after all the chemo and meds and can do literally less than I can without heavily breathing and sweating. I just worry a lot that cancer will return sooner than we hope; I don't want it to EVER come back, but doctors say it is very, very likely at one point or another because she was so very close to Stage 4. What would be your personal hell? Being completely and entirely isolated forever while somewhere hot and humid, lol. And play one of my trigger songs on repeat eternally. What made the "weird kid" at your school weird? There was this poor guy named Alfred that was VERY clearly depressed out of his mind, and I heard him speak maybe once through all of high school, and the entire class couldn't believe it. He always sat way in the back and never smiled. I wonder how he is nowadays. What is a word you personally find offensive? "Retarded" personally offends me the most when misused and spoken as an insult. What instantly puts you to sleep? Now that is HARD to do; I have a ridiculously hard time going to sleep. The easiest way though would probably be me being drained from an emotional breakdown. That is so exhausting that I'm capable of crashing pretty fast and hard. What song is in a language you don't speak, but you love it anyway? I adore Rammstein, so there's plenty. I'll probably say "Donaukinder" is their best. What is something you would like to do if you weren’t judged for doing it? I keep that I RP a complete secret in my "real" life for this reason unless it's like, pried out of me. What's a movie you think everyone should watch? Why that one? Johnny Got His Gun. See how goddamn disgusting war is. What was the most unexpected good thing that's ever happened to you? Ha, realizing I was bisexual after once being homophobic. What is the funniest fact you know? Oh man, I know a lot of random trivia shit, really, so it's hard to say. Maybe that quokkas throw their offspring at predators to distract and escape from them... As awful as that is, c'mon, you gotta admit it's funny and shocking with just how adorable they are. What was your 'mic drop' moment? Oh, I don't know. Possibly when I publicly came out as bi on Facebook and made it abundantly clear that I gave no shits about some homophobic friends and family & I was beyond willing to let anyone's ass go over it. What's the kindest way a stranger has treated you? I remember as a kid at McDonald's, the woman in front of our car paid for our food; apparently seeing a mom, dad, and three kids in a van was enough that she wanted to just be kind and give us a smile. We have no idea who she was, never saw her face or anything, she was just a sweet woman. What is the biggest design flaw of your body? Okay, I'm going to let go of all hatred for my body weight-wise and just think of this as from a strictly natural design perspective, in which case I'd say my toes are too small. What age are you afraid of turning and why? 30, because I'm terrified of getting there and seeing I've possibly gone nowhere. What is the strangest thing you have ever felt? I'm keeping this question in just because I think there could be some interesting answers for others, but I'm witholding my answer because nobody wants or needs to know lmao. What makes someone immediately unlikable? Acting better than others and belittling. Who's a villain you sympathize with and why? D A R K I P L I E R because of his origins and overall purpose and just simply existing. What is something you regret to NOT have done? I have this oddly weird regret of not going like, all-all the way with He Who Shall Not Be Named????? Idk why though????? Considering I loved him way too much and I was a reckless and impulsive person who probably at some point would have wound up accidentally pregs????? What a fuckin trip that woulda been. What movie changed your life for the better? None have really "changed my life." What book you think should be directed as a film? Oh, idk. Most I can think of have been. Of all the decades you've lived in, which one have you liked best? The 2000s, probably. A carefree kid. How are you doing today? I'm exhausted. While out with Mom and my sisters yesterday, we got behind a van whose driver was obviously drunk or high off his goddamn ass, and he was swerving EVERYWHERE, nearly shoving so many cars off the road. Mom called 911 to get in contact with highway patrol to report his dumb fucking ass in. I was having an absolute panic attack and cried quietly like the entire 45 or so minute drive home. I was just so, so upset because this is why I don't fucking drive, and I felt like I'd made my sister (who was driving) mad because she had to firmly tell me I had to calm down (I was hyperventilating and talking to myself to try to calm down) if she was going to focus and keep us safe. She later ensured me she wasn't mad, but I still wasn't the same the entire rest of the day. Anyway, I slept hard last night but had two nightmares, so I'm still really tired today. I'm trying to keep myself really distracted. What's something your relatives don't know about you? A whole lot really, considering beyond my very immediate family, I see almost nobody because they live many states away. What's something your parents did, which you have sworn never to do? Mom would spank us or slap an arm pretty hard if my sisters or I misbehaved or "disrespected" her by "talking back." I'm not having kids, but I would never, ever, ever, put my hands on them in any way that isn't loving. You do not teach children via inflicting fear. I also have this probably overly strong aversion to beer because that's what Dad always drank as an alcoholic. I'll probably never try it, not that I really want to because it smells awful. What's the most annoying thing your pet does? I feel like "annoying" is the wrong word for this, but Roman (my cat) can be incredibly demanding of attention and to lie on me when I'm on the laptop in bed, and sometimes I just want space and be able to clearly see the screen, haha. He will legit meow like a baby and gently swat my arm sometimes if I try to keep him back. Heeee usually gets his way. As for Venus (snek), she does nothing "annoying" either, but rather a bit concerning to a snake mom: she is usually very slow to find and strike her food. I feed her frozen/thawed mice, and she will first slither around her entire cage, tongue flicking and clearly looking for her food, even though I always place it atop the same spot on her hide, and she can have her head RIGHT beside it and still do nothing. She ultimately generally eats (as a ball python though, she's a picky eater and will occasionally reject a meal), but I of course wonder why she's odd about dinnertime... As a champagne, she does have the notorious "spider gene" in her, which can cause neurological issues, but idk if something like this could be related.

Food Insecurity-We may not live by bread alone, but neither do we live without it.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough to those who have little.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

It has been my good fortune to have been able to support myself (barely at times) doing the work that I love, being a naturopathic doctor, for most of my adult life. I remember a sign in my tax preparers office that read: “The joys of owning your own business, not unlike the joys of natural childbirth, have been greatly exaggerated.” Or something like that. There are certainly those in my profession that have been financially successful along with the intrinsic rewards of helping people, but I was not one of them.

And then I got cancer. And not dying became my full-time job. On the side I also worked as a home health aide and I made little money but also had little in the way of responsibility. I also relied on programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps to survive.

I am doing well now. I have relocated from Alaska (my home of 30 years) to Washington state where I grew up, so that I could be closer to family. I was fortunate in that I had family to take me in while I figured out my next moves. Some are not so lucky.

I started volunteering at the Sky Valley Food Bank in my new community as a way to build my social network. I was blessed with the instant camaraderie of many fellow and sister volunteers, and paid staff, who were joined in a single purpose: support the mission of eliminating hunger. Every week we provided food for an average of 261 families, enough for 10 meals per person. This amounts to more than 75,000 pounds of food distributed every month—almost one million pounds per year.

And Then Came COVID-19

According to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), some 13.7 million households (10.5% of all households), experienced food insecurity at some point in 2019. That is 35 million Americans who were either unable to acquire enough food to meet their needs, or uncertain of where their next meal might come from.

In one study that came out in June 2020, researchers asked: “In the last seven days, which of these statements best describes the food eaten in your household?”

 Enough of the food we wanted to eat

 Enough, but not always the kind of food we wanted to eat

 Sometimes not enough to eat

 Often not enough to eat.

According to these researchers, since 2019, food insecurity has doubled overall and tripled in households with children.*

The Ripple Effects of Hunger

Not having access to healthy food has ripple effects of chronic ill health, disability, stress, and worsening poverty. These problems did not start with COVID-19, but the pandemic has made even more glaring the differences in the quality of life between “those who have much [and] those who have little.” This kind of safety net, that supplies sustenance to those in need, makes good economic sense. Adults who have a disability, in particular a disability and are not in the workforce, also experience more than twice the rate of food insecurity as adults who do not have a disability.

At our local food bank, we were unable to have our customers shop in-doors like we had in the past safely. We were shut down but found a way to deliver boxes of food to the porches of 125 families in the area. We also drastically cut down on the number of volunteers that could be in our warehouse per day which translates to fewer people doing more physically demanding work. The good news is that people from the community, from gardeners, to private businesses, to social service organizations, and individuals found ways to help Sky Valley Food Bank carry out the mission.**

School Closures and Vulnerable Students

With schools being shut down, students were no longer able to receive meals at their schools at a reduced price or free as they had in the past. This was not just a local problem, across the country nutrition directors reported that they were serving fewer meals than when school was in session. Last spring, the School Nutrition Association surveyed 2000 districts that reported 80% were serving fewer meals. Of those, the majority said the number of meals had dropped by 50% or more.

Most areas relied on the food pick up model that they usually did in the summer months where families could drop by their local school each day, often between 11-1, and pick up a bag lunch and maybe breakfast. But as parents started returning to work, the pickup model did not always work if parents were not always able to take children to the drop off site at the right time.

In Fulton County Georgia and Tucson Arizona, nutrition programs started packing food including frozen hamburgers and pizza, enough for a week’s worth of meals, and sending them out on school buses to be distributed at bus stops where the lowest income families typically resided.***

Food Deserts

In the best of times getting adequate nutrition is especially challenging for people who live in a “food desert.” The definition of a food desert can change depending on where you live. In urban areas, you need to live more than a mile away from a grocery store. For rural areas, you live more then 10 miles away. According to Feeding America, rural areas make up 63% of counties in the US and 87% of counties with high rates of food insecurity. In 2015, 19 million people lived in a food desert and 2.1 million households both lived in a food desert and lacked access to a vehicle according to the USDA.

The Shifting Model of Getting Food to the Food Insecure

In the summertime at Sky Valley Food Bank, we were able to greet our long-time customers, and many new ones, that were able to shop in our outdoor market. I loved being able to chat with our customers and find out how they were getting along. From my own experience, I can say that accepting help for something as necessary as feeding myself was a blow to my ego. Thank goodness I got over that. Being able to help my fellow and sister humans, regardless of why they were our customers is something I treasure.

Like many school districts around the country, our schools were not able to open in September. We partnered with our public schools to set up food pantries in five of our schools. We also had the return of rainy weather and the outdoor market was not an option. We began having a drive through service where our staff would build boxes of food for distribution in people’s cars. We were now serving 325 families and had special “Holiday” boxes in November and December, along with the usual boxes of meat, dairy, dry goods, canned goods, grains, produce, and food for their four-legged household members. Getting two boxes is better than one box, especially during the holidays.

In December we also had a toy drive that garnered an incredible assortment of toys from community members. It is remarkable how much our community does to provide for people having a tough time—food, toys, money—all gratefully accepted. The parents were able to pick out toys for their kids. 

We are looking forward to having our customers back in our service area to carefully select the foods they want for themselves and their loved ones. We are looking forward to giving them the kind of respectful service we always have and continue to provide. COVID or no COVID.

LONE WOLF

I am a lone wolf.

I have lost my pack.

My sire was the first to go. The alfa.

His job to protect the pack, especially from each other, fell to no one.

I grew up with the bitch who was two years my elder.

Always the more adventurous one. She was gone

Before her pups were fully grown.

And they are lost to me.

 The she-wolf who bore me tried desperately to keep the pack together.

“Come home. Why don’t you move back home?”

She grew old, frail, a little crazy

A kind of crazy that was always there but kept in check by the alpha.

 The older bitch is gone too.

When did the word bitch become derogatory?

I reclaim that title. It suits me.

It suits those of us who live in a world where self sufficiency is prized above all

And sentimentality is a luxury.

 Another sire gone. Was it really eight years ago?

He left to be with Jesus.

I think he’s food for flora and fauna.

Who’s to say?

 My brother looks up from the hard work of dying

All traces of silliness and the infectious laughter that is his calling card are gone

And the world is just a bit more lonely.

 The rest of the pack is dispersed.

Do they prowl in search of the familiar?

Of course they do. (howl)

*IPR.northwester.edu/documents/reports/ipr-rapid-research-reports-pulse-hh-data-10-june-2020.pdf

**Helpful Hint: when  thinking of donating food to the food bank, treat the task of going through your pantry the same way you go through your closet—three piles; keep, donate, throw away. You don’t donate clothes that are ripped or stained. You throw them away. The food bank volunteers spend a lot of time sorting through donations. We cannot serve food that is spoiled or way, way, way past the pull date, or that has been opened. Thanks.

***NPR.org/2020/09/08/908442609/children-are-going-hungry-why-schools-are-struggling-to-feed-students

Vanessa Morgan, CisFemale, she/her) ⌇ have you seen Remi Bellamy around icaria? they are the 24 year old child of Nyx. they remind me of perfectly broken in ballet shoes, a ribbon weaved through a intricate braid, coffee shops on rainy days, and late night walks in a giant sweater. ( Lex / 29 / EST / she/her )

Embrace the darkness, it leads you to light. 

Full Name: Remi Rose Bellamy

Age: Twenty-Four

Birthday: July 12

Hometown: Detroit, MI

Occupation: High School Dance Teacher

Parents: Birth Father: Jacob Bellamy. Foster Mother: Adrianne and Diego Maldonado 

Godly Ability - Remi has the power of dark fire attacks. She can release/use dark fire of various shapes and intensities to attack at will. 

Growing up on the streets of Detroit, Michigan wasn’t exactly easy street for Remi Bellamy, but she either had to adapt or die. That sounds dramatic, but honestly, she wasn’t even remotely joking. When she was a baby, her lack of comprehension shielded her from things for a little while. She didn’t know that he father selling small dime bags out of their apartment wasn’t normal, or that her not always having a proper dinner wasn’t alright. All she knew was that it was home, and her mentality stayed that way until she was about seven. 

Her father, Jacob Bellamy wasn’t a bad man. He was just a scorned one. Remi’s mother wasn’t a topic that was ever discussed inside of the home. When the little girl had asked about her once when she was little, all she’d gotten in response was that her mother was dead, and that was the end of it. Grief took her over momentarily for the woman she didn’t even know, but her focus shifted to trying to help her dad. The news explained her father’s circumstances and situation a little better to the girl. Perhaps losing her mom was why her dad’s life spiraled so much. She’d heard her grandad and grandma talk about how much potential he had, and how it was all wasted when that woman left him. She thought the words left him were a little harsh since surely her mom didn’t choose to die, but it made more sense. 

As years passed, it was more and more clear that Remi had to help fend for herself. Her dad lost himself as he started sampling more and more of his product rather than selling it, and she was hungry. So, by age thirteen Remi was out there working the streets. It wasn’t hard to find other kids like her who had no guidance or direction, and all of them were led by Jarvis. Jarvis was an adult who counted on using the misguided youth of the hood to do his dirty work for him. Whenever he needed to make a drop, pick up some stolen parts, or make some sales, he used his kids. He kept them hooked by giving them just enough money to keep them happy and getting them hooked on the merchandise themselves. It was full proof. His “kids” as he liked to call them kept coming back for another hit of coke, and he’d proudly say that he was the only one who ever looked out for them. 

Jacob Bellamy didn’t care about the calls from schools wondering about his kid’s absences or behavior as long as his daughter kept bringing him cocaine and cash, he thought that she was doing alright. Child services never had a reason to be called because to the naked eye Remi was well cared for. She always had the most trendy, even if inappropriate, clothing at school, was always clean, and had no signs of any abuse. While they didn’t agree with her father’s parenting at all, that was nothing but a personal opinion. 

While it wasn’t necessarily something to be proud of, Remi was rather talented at surviving on the streets. Her bubbly personality and smile could get her nearly anything which came quite in handy when she needed to con someone. There were risks, but the girl was never stupid. A knife and taser were on her at all times. While Jarvis had offered her a small gun on more than one occasion, that was a length she wasn’t ready to go to yet. In her mind that made her cross the line from small time thug, to actual gang banger, and that seemed more permanent. 

One night though, she wished she’d taken him up on it when she found herself on the bad end of a deal. Her partner was late meeting her at a drop site, and three thugs tried to jump her for her merchandise. Knowing that Jarvis would murder her if she let them get away with over five grand of cocaine, Remi panicked. Next thing she knew, a ring of black flames was surrounding herself and the other guys. They were looking at her with fearful faces and asking what she was playing at, but unconsciously all the girl did was make the circle get smaller and smaller until they finally dropped the bag. Remi didn’t know how she controlled the circle of black and was honestly more than a little freaked out, but she was thankful for whatever it was. Although, she knew better than to bring it up to anyone. Last thing she wanted was to end up in a straight jacket. 

It wasn’t until Remi was fifteen that her life got completely turned upside down. One day she was on her usual street corner making out with her boyfriend after successful deal, and the next a woman was yanking her by the arm. At first, everyone around her went on high alert which didn’t seem to phase the stranger in the least bit. Remi immediately thought the woman was obviously crazy or had a death wish, but Remi began leaning towards the former when she heard the woman claim to be her mother. Naturally, Remi’s first reaction was to laugh in the stranger’s face. “My mother’s stone cold in the ground, honey. You must have the wrong one,” she replied as she made a shoo motion with her hand to try and get the woman moving along. Still, the woman asked for Remi to hear her case, and afterwards, she could leave if she so wished. Deciding she had nothing to lose if she listened to the tales of a lunatic, she assured her crew that she’d be fine and would catch them later. 

Nothing, of course, could have prepared her for the tale spewed to her by Nyx. It was literally insane, and it wasn’t until the Goddess displayed some of her powers in the dark alley that Remi believed her. Slowly, the connection to what had happened in the alley all those years ago made sense, but instead of relief filling her veins, she instead felt anger. Hearing that she had siblings and a place to go didn’t sound like a salvation to her. Instead, it felt like a slap to the face. Remi was so happy that she finally remembered about her daughter enough once her sons were settled. On top of that, leaving her father wasn’t an option. Even though he wasn’t much, he was still her dad. 

Remi’s situation changed drastically within days of that conversation though. One night she’d come home late after hitting up a club and found her father dead on the living room floor beside their coffee table with lines of coke set up. Everything from there was a blur. The last thing she remembered was taking a hit herself before calling the authorities. Somehow, her mother knew to show up, and right then painted out how little options her daughter truly had. She could either be put in the system and potentially end up in a situation she hated, or go with Nyx and be put with family. Remi nearly countered that she could also go with Jarvis, but she knew that wouldn’t be the safest either. The man was starting to point out how much of a woman she looked like and becoming to handsy for her liking. Out of desperation more than anything, Remi agreed. 

The next months were hell. The Bennett’s were a nice family that graciously helped her, but going through withdrawals was awful. Her siblings checked in on her as she puked her brains out, went through cold sweats, and was in terrible pain, but her mind couldn’t really recognize the warmth of it all. All she could think about was how she’d give her right arm for another taste of coke. 

Eventually she got placed with her own family not far from the Bennett’s residence, but she was able to come into her own while also getting to know her siblings. It took her some time, but as months passed she couldn’t help but feel thankful to her mother. After seeing her father die from the same addiction she’d possessed, she knew that it was only a matter of time until she fell to the same fate. Remi still thought it was almost a little too late, but she figured it was better than the Goddess never showing up at all. Her foster family were Nyx worshippers as well, so they encouraged her to work on her own abilities with her brothers, so she could master them along with self defense. Outside of that though, they wanted her to be able to finally have a normal childhood, so they encouraged her to pursue a passion in dance. Even though her previous knowledge had only been whatever she’d picked up from the clubs she used to frequently visit, her body had a natural skill. Between everything, she quickly found herself too busy to even focus on old habits that would get her in trouble. 

Even though she knew of Icaria, the dancer decided to head to North Carolina to pursue a degree in dance at Duke University. While her family was worried about her being so far away, she assured her brothers that they could harass her whenever they wanted. Her college years were some of the best years of her life. She’d experienced love, heartbreak, friendships, and a free spirited life style that could only really happen in college. She’d decided to major in dance and minor in education, and after taking three years to teach dance at a high school back in New York, the woman was ready to make the move to Icaria. 

Dance like no one is watching.

Remi is free spirited, kind, but mysterious. After getting her heart broken by a woman she thought was her best friend, she doesn’t like dating people she puts in the “friend zone.” She thinks it’s twice as painful to lose the lover and friendship. 

Part of her mystery is her never speaking about her past in Detroit. No one outside of her family is aware of her darker past, and she likes to keep it that way. Keeping conversations on the lighter, brighter sides of things is her forte.

When she’s not dancing, Remi can often be found watching anime, reading a book, or exploring food. She is a self proclaimed foodie and absolutely loves discovering new favorite spots with people. 

Family is incredibly important to Remi. While her father was a deadbeat she didn’t even bother wasting thoughts on, she did care greatly for her foster ma’s family. The woman had worked hard to give Remi absolutely everything, and while Adrianne asked for nothing in return, the woman was determined to always care for her. 

Remi is the dance at theater teacher at Icaria High School.

CHARACTER BASICS

FACECLAIM: Vanessa Morgan

NAME: Remi Rose Bellamy

AGE:  24

BIRTHDAY: July 12, 1996

OCCUPATION: Dance & Theater Teacher HS

HOMETOWN: Detroit, MI

PETS: N/A

POWERS

Remi has the power of dark fire attacks. She can release/use dark fire of various shapes and intensities to attack at will.

BIOGRAPHY

Growing up on the streets of Detroit, Michigan wasn’t exactly easy street for Remi Bellamy, but she either had to adapt or die. That sounds dramatic, but honestly, she wasn’t even remotely joking. When she was a baby, her lack of comprehension shielded her from things for a little while. She didn’t know that he father selling small dime bags out of their apartment wasn’t normal, or that her not always having a proper dinner wasn’t alright. All she knew was that it was home, and her mentality stayed that way until she was about seven.

Her father, Jacob Bellamy wasn’t a bad man. He was just a scorned one. Remi’s mother wasn’t a topic that was ever discussed inside of the home. When the little girl had asked about her once when she was little, all she’d gotten in response was that her mother was dead, and that was the end of it. Grief took her over momentarily for the woman she didn’t even know, but her focus shifted to trying to help her dad. The news explained her father’s circumstances and situation a little better to the girl. Perhaps losing her mom was why her dad’s life spiraled so much. She’d heard her grandad and grandma talk about how much potential he had, and how it was all wasted when that woman left him. She thought the words left him were a little harsh since surely her mom didn’t choose to die, but it made more sense.

As years passed, it was more and more clear that Remi had to help fend for herself. Her dad lost himself as he started sampling more and more of his product rather than selling it, and she was hungry. So, by age thirteen Remi was out there working the streets. It wasn’t hard to find other kids like her who had no guidance or direction, and all of them were led by Jarvis. Jarvis was an adult who counted on using the misguided youth of the hood to do his dirty work for him. Whenever he needed to make a drop, pick up some stolen parts, or make some sales, he used his kids. He kept them hooked by giving them just enough money to keep them happy and getting them hooked on the merchandise themselves. It was full proof. His “kids” as he liked to call them kept coming back for another hit of coke, and he’d proudly say that he was the only one who ever looked out for them.

Jacob Bellamy didn’t care about the calls from schools wondering about his kid’s absences or behavior as long as his daughter kept bringing him cocaine and cash, he thought that she was doing alright. Child services never had a reason to be called because to the naked eye Remi was well cared for. She always had the most trendy, even if inappropriate, clothing at school, was always clean, and had no signs of any abuse. While they didn’t agree with her father’s parenting at all, that was nothing but a personal opinion.

While it wasn’t necessarily something to be proud of, Remi was rather talented at surviving on the streets. Her bubbly personality and smile could get her nearly anything which came quite in handy when she needed to con someone. There were risks, but the girl was never stupid. A knife and taser were on her at all times. While Jarvis had offered her a small gun on more than one occasion, that was a length she wasn’t ready to go to yet. In her mind that made her cross the line from small time thug, to actual gang banger, and that seemed more permanent.

One night though, she wished she’d taken him up on it when she found herself on the bad end of a deal. Her partner was late meeting her at a drop site, and three thugs tried to jump her for her merchandise. Knowing that Jarvis would murder her if she let them get away with over five grand of cocaine, Remi panicked. Next thing she knew, a ring of black flames was surrounding herself and the other guys. They were looking at her with fearful faces and asking what she was playing at, but unconsciously all the girl did was make the circle get smaller and smaller until they finally dropped the bag. Remi didn’t know how she controlled the circle of black and was honestly more than a little freaked out, but she was thankful for whatever it was. Although, she knew better than to bring it up to anyone. Last thing she wanted was to end up in a straight jacket.

It wasn’t until Remi was fifteen that her life got completely turned upside down. One day she was on her usual street corner making out with her boyfriend after successful deal, and the next a woman was yanking her by the arm. At first, everyone around her went on high alert which didn’t seem to phase the stranger in the least bit. Remi immediately thought the woman was obviously crazy or had a death wish, but Remi began leaning towards the former when she heard the woman claim to be her mother. Naturally, Remi’s first reaction was to laugh in the stranger’s face. “My mother’s stone cold in the ground, honey. You must have the wrong one,” she replied as she made a shoo motion with her hand to try and get the woman moving along. Still, the woman asked for Remi to hear her case, and afterwards, she could leave if she so wished. Deciding she had nothing to lose if she listened to the tales of a lunatic, she assured her crew that she’d be fine and would catch them later.

Nothing, of course, could have prepared her for the tale spewed to her by Nyx. It was literally insane, and it wasn’t until the Goddess displayed some of her powers in the dark alley that Remi believed her. Slowly, the connection to what had happened in the alley all those years ago made sense, but instead of relief filling her veins, she instead felt anger. Hearing that she had siblings and a place to go didn’t sound like a salvation to her. Instead, it felt like a slap to the face. Remi was so happy that she finally remembered about her daughter enough once her sons were settled. On top of that, leaving her father wasn’t an option. Even though he wasn’t much, he was still her dad.

Remi’s situation changed drastically within days of that conversation though. One night she’d come home late after hitting up a club and found her father dead on the living room floor beside their coffee table with lines of coke set up. Everything from there was a blur. The last thing she remembered was taking a hit herself before calling the authorities. Somehow, her mother knew to show up, and right then painted out how little options her daughter truly had. She could either be put in the system and potentially end up in a situation she hated, or go with Nyx and be put with family. Remi nearly countered that she could also go with Jarvis, but she knew that wouldn’t be the safest either. The man was starting to point out how much of a woman she looked like and becoming to handsy for her liking. Out of desperation more than anything, Remi agreed.

The next months were hell. The Bennett’s were a nice family that graciously helped her, but going through withdrawals was awful. Her siblings checked in on her as she puked her brains out, went through cold sweats, and was in terrible pain, but her mind couldn’t really recognize the warmth of it all. All she could think about was how she’d give her right arm for another taste of coke.

Eventually she got placed with her own family not far from the Bennett’s residence, but she was able to come into her own while also getting to know her siblings. It took her some time, but as months passed she couldn’t help but feel thankful to her mother. After seeing her father die from the same addiction she’d possessed, she knew that it was only a matter of time until she fell to the same fate. Remi still thought it was almost a little too late, but she figured it was better than the Goddess never showing up at all. Her foster family were Nyx worshippers as well, so they encouraged her to work on her own abilities with her brothers, so she could master them along with self defense. Outside of that though, they wanted her to be able to finally have a normal childhood, so they encouraged her to pursue a passion in dance. Even though her previous knowledge had only been whatever she’d picked up from the clubs she used to frequently visit, her body had a natural skill. Between everything, she quickly found herself too busy to even focus on old habits that would get her in trouble.

Even though she knew of Icaria, the dancer decided to head to North Carolina to pursue a degree in dance at Duke University. While her family was worried about her being so far away, she assured her brothers that they could harass her whenever they wanted. Her college years were some of the best years of her life. She’d experienced love, heartbreak, friendships, and a free spirited life style that could only really happen in college. She’d decided to major in dance and minor in education, and after taking three years to teach dance at a high school back in New York, the woman was ready to make the move to Icaria.

Remi is free spirited, kind, but mysterious. After getting her heart broken by a woman she thought was her best friend, she doesn’t like dating people she puts in the “friend zone.” She thinks it’s twice as painful to lose the lover and friendship. Part of her mystery is her never speaking about her past in Detroit. No one outside of her family is aware of her darker past, and she likes to keep it that way. Keeping conversations on the lighter, brighter sides of things is her forte. When she’s not dancing, Remi can often be found watching anime, reading a book, or exploring food. She is a self proclaimed foodie and absolutely loves discovering new favorite spots with people. Family is incredibly important to Remi. While her father was a deadbeat she didn’t even bother wasting thoughts on, she did care greatly for her foster ma’s family. The woman had worked hard to give Remi absolutely everything, and while Adrianne asked for nothing in return, the woman was determined to always care for her. Remi is the dance at theater teacher at Icaria High School.

LEX | SHE/HER | 30 | LEX