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gelu-the-babosa-multiversal · 2 years

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Rescue Bots: Cody Burns-Blue Lantern from planet Earth

OH CRAP! I'm doing it again guys, help me. I thanks @bluekat12345 and a random anonymous guy for reminding me of this idea.

In fearful day, in raging night, With strong hearts full, our souls ignite, When all seems lost in the War of Light, Look to the stars-- For hope burns bright!

Because of the hope he has for becoming a hero just like his father and being able to work on his side one day. A ring from the Blue Lanterns corps of the planet Odym themed Cody worthy of possessing the power of healing hope. As too, for being one of the few town people more capable of connecting with other beings, just like with the Rescue Bots and robotics A.I's

Cody gained the ring after the episode Cody on Patrol, as the entity that controlled the power of hope known as Adara, have been seeing Cody's heroic motivations since episode 1, noticing how brave and dedicated to his work he is, and how it was mentioned before, wanting harmony among all living creatures.

At first, Cody just knew that he was smacked in the face with a ring in his room at night... That hurt a lot. It was just a mare of seconds when the ring started talking and being to explain what it was and why it was there.

Cody Burns from planet earth, you have the ability to instill great hope in others. Welcome, to the Blue Lanter Corps! Who? Me! But I don't have any powers... I am not even a hero, I failed to be one! Nonsense, you have a healing power that comes from hope! As so, we the Blue Lanterns, will grant you the power to heal others. All will be well.

Cody did not understand 20% of what the ring was talking about, but anyway... He did not go out at night to go shoot things and fly in the sky LoL, he remained all night listening to the ring explanations and stories about the Lantern Corps, asking questions about how it works and what he can do. That's how he discovered that one downside of having the ring is that he must feel hope all the time, or else the ring would let him...

He also can not tell anyone, not even his family and the Bots about the ring as is a secret identity thing...

He called the ring instructor Áncora because Cody doesn't want to be alone trying to figure out how to do this new job.

He would learn faster how to use the ring, still, it was difficult to fly without someone catching him if he fell, but Árcona is more than happy to see Cody try his hardest. The easy part was using the ring rays, as Cody has good eyes and shooting skills!

It would be in the episode Four Bots and a Baby, that Cody would use the true power of the ring, the ability to heal and aspired hope in others by giving them more power.

And then, to finally be visited by Saint Walker and Brother Warth, the firsts Blue Lanterns! They then introduce him to the rest of the Blue Lantern Cops!

But because there is no Green Lantern around to help him achieve his full potential, Cody can only use the power to heal others and give them strength when they need it. So no fighting big baddy's and no dangerous rescues, yet.

As in the episode Walk on the Wild Side, a girl using a Green Lantern ring would finally appear to help, she goes by the code name Green Redder!

This is comforting for Cody because it means that he can show his full potential and he could finally help more! But he was proven wrong, as Green Redder could take off the emergencies on her own, only requiring a small burst of energy when she had a difficult task...

He still assists people, he is still there for a reason, and he still has hope! But he can't deny being jealous of his partner's popularity and ability. (but he is now more of an assistant than a companion) ... But the other Blue lanterns are on his side taking him to other planets exploring the flora and fauna of those, and Áncora is with him too!

But things can't stay calm, as in the episodes The Other Doctor and The Reign of Morocco, he would have to face his biggest challenge, a Yellow Lantern, known as Eternity!

What do you guys think? Wanna hear more!

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dianagj-art · 3 years

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MIPHA! MIPHA! MIPHA!

I tried to do more of the screenshot/cinematic kinds look but I gave up and just bullshited the backgrounds bc I didn't wanted to look so plain but I also didn't want to do a background

anyways Mipha is here! it's Mipha time!

(Friendly remainder that what's bellow is just copy paste from my draft and there's probably a lot of typos and gramar mistakes)

More of Yiga Link AU

A group of young Zoras finds Link's body sinking on the river, south of the Minish Woods. They take him out to land and check on him, he is barely alive and they quickly take him all the way to Zora's domain. They send the fastest of them first to inform the princess and she meets them halfway.

Link's wounds are bad, but she still can heal him, they take him to the domain to keep an eye on him, besides he is still uncouncious. They set him up on that little area for other species when they visit, and Mipha had other healers take a proper look at him.

The princess buys him clothes from a merchant since his are barely existent with so many cuts. The zora recognize those cuts, they know the boy was on a Yiga attack and unfortunately, they find his tattoo behind his neck.

They are not idiots and they fear the boy might be a spy and all was just a set up, the princess still wants to talk to him. Mipha was no fool and she wasn't as naive as most people outside the Domain may think, but she was curious, and there was a feeling in her chest that told her there was more to know about this boy.

Link wakes up in unknown clothes, he has no idea of where he is but soon finds out as he started to look around. He remembers what happened and a hand grips his chest. He knows he shouldn't be alive.

"That was terrible wound you had there," The voice startled him and he instantly stood up to go into combat mode. "Don't stand, you are not fully healed yet." he really didn't have another option, there wasn't a part of his body that did't hurt and the pain brough him down to the bed again.

He looked up to see 3 zoras, two tall ones dressed in armor flanquing a smaller one in shinny red scales and dressed in zora jewerly. The princess.

"Don't be sacred" she said and gestured to her guards to stay put as she walked to him, "I just came to look on your wounds"

Link frowned at that, the princess? Coming here to check on a stanger's wounds? Yeah sure. Link remembers his tattoo and quickly hides it with a simple illution spell that wouldn't take that much of his stenght.

"Dont you have healers for that?" he asked coldly.

The princess laughed lightly "Yes," she admitted and stood by his bed, her amrs behind her body, holding her spear "and they know more about hylian anathomy than I do, but they can't do what i can. Your wounds were bad enough to require my assistance."

Link frowned again, "what does that mean?"

Mipha smiled and gestured at the bed, "Can I?" Link recoiled his legs, leting her space to sit down, the princess did, leaving her spead resting on the bed besides her, she extended her hand to him, "give me your arm" she said softly.

Link hessitaded but he rested his arm on her hand. She carefully took off his bandages and let exposed a deep cut on his forearm, the boy winced at the sight.

The princess then put her other hand above the wound and closed her eyes. Her palm started to glow and link gasped loudly. His arm started to feel cold and a bit numb, but the pain was gone, and soon the same sensation washed over his body. It was nice.

Mipha was focused on the wound but she looked up for a moment to catch his expresion, she smiled lightly and looked down again.

The light coming from her palm dimmed until it was gone and his exposed wound wasn't there anymore. Slowly, the pain came back to the rest of his body. Mipha let go off his hand and he lifted his arm to his eye level, twisting it one way and another, trying to see the trick but no, the wound was really gone.

"You... You really have healing powers..." he had herd the rumors but no yiga had actually seen it, just heard things from other people.

Mipha hummed a laugh, catching link's atention, "Outsiders are always so surprissed to see it" she stood up, taking the spear again, "I have other things to attend, but i'll come back to heal the rest of your wounds latter."

She leaves with her guards, a few minutes latter another group of zoras show up. Two of them check on his wounds and tell him to rest while the other two just guarded the entrance. He had a bad feeling, whenever he peeked an eye to the other room he saw a guard. He didn't know if that was normal or if it was because of him.

He rests, too tired to try and transport, and fully knowing that in this state he wouldn't be able to fight. He starts trying to form a plan to get out of there. Taking a swim was not an option, anywhere near water he would be an at disadvantage. He had to make it to the montains that sorrounded Zora's Domain, he could take a run for it once he were back to his feet, he had no idea if zoras were fast runners but they had short legs, he was sure he could outrun them. Once close to the montains he could teletrasnport himself to a higher place and away from them.

Tho he didn't know where to go from there. It's not like he could go back to the Hideout.

Mipha comes back that evening and heals two more of his wounds before leaving. Link is starting to think that maybe her healing magic tires him as much as illutions and trasportation tires him. It takes a few days for him to be fully healed, all the time he is forced to stay on the rooms to "rest"

All the time he feels uncomfortable, he feels watched. It gets worse when he is fully healed and the princess wants to give him a little tour around the domain, everyone always stares at him, or maybe they are looking at their princess and he was just being paranoid.

He had never been to Zora's domain, to be honest, he hadn't seen that much of Hyrule, and he was intrigued to see and learn more.

As they start to walk around the Domain a little red-scaled Zora runs to her and hugs her leg "Sidon!"

"I'm sorry princess," another Zora runs to her, "he's been running away the whole day, he doesn't wan't to do the jump"

"If you don't jump how am I going to teach you to climb waterfalls?" Mipha asked him and he just hugged her tighter, hiding behind her from his instructor.

Link quickly put two and two together and figures out he must be the young Zora Prince, but he was most concerned with the idea forming on his mind. Would they follow him if he jumped? He eyed an opening on the level they were on, and without really thinking about the heigh he kneeled down

"If I jump would you jump?" he asked Siron, "I can't swim as well as a zora would, so if i can make that jump I guess a zora prince would have no trouble doing it, right?"

Siron thinks for a moment then nods. Link walks to the edge and looks down to the long drop. "Having second thoughts?" Sidon's instructor asked him. Link just frowns at him, and takes a few steps back, he took off his shirt and dropped it before sprinting and jumping.

He hits the water gracefully and as he sinks he prapares to transport, but sees a lot of Zoras around him. He sees that at the bottom of the lake there's a whole underwater town that probably outstretched fartest of what he could see. He goes out to the surface and finds it quite hard to not let the current take him away, even when he was under their castle as there were underwater walls shielding him from the strong current of the main water fall of the domain. A few zora heads pop out, looking at him curious. Some heads look younger, maybe teens? And look at him impressed and exited

"SIDON!" Link lifts his gaze and sees someone had jump and the tiny zora splashed in the water. He looks around but the zora prince doesnt come out.

"OW!" something bites his toes and a tiny shark head pops out, sidon smiles with sharp teeth and giggles until the current starts to drag him out. Link lets him, surely other people would help their prince. But they dont they just look, and as much as the tiny zora tried the current kept draging him.

Link reaches out a hand and takes him, wraping his scaly hands around his neck as he swims to the base of the castle structure. He leaves sidon on the rock and climbs up too.

Mipha's head pops out behind him, "you swim quite well for a hylian" Link jumps in surprise, when had she jump? he didnt even see or hear her splash, "You are bleeding," she said and he lifted his feet off the water to see quite a deep bite. "SIDON!" mipha screams distressed, "how many times do i have to tell you it's impropper to bite others!" she lifted herself to the place they were sitting and patted the space between link and her, he puts there his feet and she healed him. As always he stared at her hand facinated.

"I have to thank you, for not letting the curent carry Sidon" she said, "you shouldn't have to, he is 23, he should be strong enough to be able to withstand it." link looks at sidon as he jumps into the water again swiming closer to the rocks. 23? "but I would have done the same" "and thank you for jumping, her instructor had been trying to make him jump all week"

Link looks at his foot and thinks of all the other wounds he had, all the wounds the yiga had made. "I should thank you," he said, "I should be dead. You saved me."

"those wounds were no accident, were they?" she asked, "the yiga were sent to kill you" Link nods, "but why?" he sruggs.

"I have to leave," he said softly, "but i'll hate to leave without paying back what you have done for me,"

Mipha smiles, "I'm sure we'll think of somehting," she stands up, "I know a place you can stay meanwhile. Sidon! Lets go!" he swims to them, his little back fin braking the surface, he jumps towards Link, mouth open. Link backs up but Mipha catches him on the air and hums a laugh. "I'll meet you at the top," she said to link and pointed over his shoulder "you can use the leadder to climb up."

Mipha swims up the waterfall they just jumped from with sidon on her back. They meet at the top and Mipha leaves sidon with his instructor. He runs to link when he shows up and tries to bite his leg, "My prince, dont do that!" the instructor pulls him away before he can do damage and sidon smiles with his spiky teeth.

"I have to apologyze for his behavior," Mipha said tho she is trying not to laugh, "His new teeth just came out and he has a need to bite eveything."

They walk to a village at the top of the mountain overseeing zora's Domain. Mipha pays him a night to stay and tells him good bye. Link is bafled that she has so much trust in him, he plans on just leaving, but he has a chance. He now knew and gained the trust of two zora royals. He knew they were the only heirs of the zora domain and since the king didn't had a mate... He could make a move. And maybe, he could be allowed back with his people.

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uwmadarchives · 3 years

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T.J. Braxton and “A Closer Look at UW-Madison’s Campus-Wide Diversity Initiatives”

On Monday, April 19th, please join the UW Archives Student Historians as they reflect on their research projects this year: "Black Artists at the UW-Madison" & “A Closer Look at UW-Madison’s Campus-Wide Diversity Initiatives.” Visit go.wisc.edu/archives for more info. Before the event, our social media assistant, Adrian, caught up with the historians to see how their research is going. Interviews were edited for clarity.

T.J. Braxton

My topic focuses on the three, broadest and most extensive diversity programs at the University of Wisconsin Madison, starting with the first one, which happened in 1988 and was called the Madison Plan. Then, Plan 2008 was started in 1999 and finally, starting in 2015, the university implemented the REEL Change Model.

When I first started doing this project, I wanted to study the African American Studies Department, but I found out pretty quickly that it has been researched to death and I wanted to contribute something new. When I was looking in these old boxes, I kept seeing something about Plan 2008. I didn't know what that was, but from what I could tell it was causing a lot of problems within the African American Studies Department and the other ethnic studies programs. So then I started looking into it and found out what it was and I thought, oh, that could be something interesting to think about. I wanted to compare these diversity initiatives to see how far we've really come and to see whether or not the university is changing its tactics or looking at diversity in a different light as time goes on.

At the beginning of my project, I expected that the university would have tried to paint itself in the most positive way possible. I was surprised by how much they're holding themselves accountable, and how they are willing to publish their shortcomings regarding diversity. But it also surprised me how much they're repeating the same language and tactics but expecting different outcomes. I think they need to be more creative with how they approach the subject of diversity. I also think they need to be a little bit more equitable with who they're targeting because they're always talking about different targeted groups, but it usually only comes down to African Americans, American Indians, and Chicano students. I wish they would look beyond race and talk about sexual orientation and things like that because I feel like we need to be as representative of the world as possible before trying to realize this Wisconsin Idea.

The Madison Plan came out amid a bunch of racist incidents at fraternities. A few months before it came out, there was a big blackface scandal. And then a year after it came out, there was another similar thing where a fraternity had a slave auction or something like that. There was an editorial written by a UW professor that said we cannot punish these students because we cannot violate their right to free speech under the First Amendment. It's interesting for me to see this and think if a professor could come out and say that, how does that make students of color feel? Does it make them feel like they're welcome on this campus and that they're valued?

I think the most interesting things I've looked at are newspaper articles from the Daily Cardinal and the Badger Herald from around the times when each plan was released and when students were collaborating with the administration on how these plans will be implemented. Some of the most interesting newspaper articles I found were editorials from students about how they felt the diversity initiatives were going. Honestly, it was very surprising, when the Madison Plan was coming to an end and when Plan 2008 began, how many students thought that there was reverse racism going on. Some students felt that ethnic studies classes were teaching them that America was anti-white and that if we created these spaces and resources for students of color (like the Multicultural Student Center) then white students were in turn being treated unfairly. I think it was just really interesting to see how many students actually thought that and to see the remnants of that today.

To learn more, I reached out to two people, one of who was a chairperson of the steering committee that published Plan 2008. She's a retired professor. I also reached out to the former Chief Diversity Officer of UW who was in charge when the REEL Model was created. I asked if they would be able to talk to me formally or informally and didn’t get a response. Both of them could be too busy or maybe they don't want to talk about it. But it's interesting that I have gotten no response whatsoever.

I think one of the problems with these initiatives is they're all very vague and massive and you don't really know what exactly they're trying to get at or how they envision diversity. Through my project, I'm looking at things that show that diversity goes deeper than numbers and things that can be seen and counted. It's more about creating an environment where students feel they're welcomed and that they can express their culture and themselves. But the university tends to neglect the campus climate side of diversity in these plans compared to tangible things like the number of instructors, students, or administrators of color on campus.

Campus climate is a much more complex idea and it's a lot harder to measure. We have campus climate surveys and diversity forums, but how much of that is for show and how much is actually being done to change things? Ever since the civil rights movement, a lot of prominent higher education institutions have tried to make it seem like racial justice, diversity, and inclusion are top priorities, when in reality that's just not the case. That's the reason why you see lots of faces of color on admission and recruitment catalogs and things like that, just because they want to make it seem like it's so diverse. It's almost like a superficial goal, rather than a profound one.

One thing I’ve found hopeful in my research is that the student body at Wisconsin has become a lot more progressive at least with the diversity initiatives. In Plan 2008, the students were very much involved in trying to push the UW Faculty Senate to focus more on intangible things and to get more money for the Multicultural Student Center, and add another ethnic studies requirement. So it may have helped make the plan more expansive and actually cater to students of color. It made me happy to see that at least. ASM (the Associated Students of Madison) was involved in that too. ASM was very much pushing for a Plan 2008 that was even more progressive than the one that was published sadly.

What I would hope people would gain from my project is a broader understanding of what it's like to be a person of color on campus from an administrative standpoint. Like, how is the administration trying to deal with me and how do they conceptualize my importance on campus? I also hope that they realized that the students and faculty of color are really the central actors in all of this.

At the end of my project, I am planning on thinking about what my suggestions are for addressing diversity on campus from the perspective of a student of color at a predominantly white University. This is my senior year, so I've been here for a while and I’ll just give my suggestions. I'm very proud to be a student here at UW and in no way is my research trying to disparage the experience I had at UW or to say that it wasn't an inclusive enough environment for me as a Black man because it very much was. I'm just saying there's work to be done. There're ways to make it better for everyone because there are people who don't have good experiences. So let's fix those problems.

#student historian #uw-madison #diversity #archives

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chronicallypainful · 7 years

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What's your story? Sorry if this is too intrusive I saw you say something about curling into a ball and crying about how you have no future and then getting better?? And I'm in the same position right now so I guess I'm looking for hope

My story. I'm not sure my life (or human lives in general) fits into a neat story structure. The story of how I got the diagnosis is long and complicated, with plenty of dead ends along the way. The story of how I learned to cope is even longer. But let me try to give a summary.

I first had persistent pain as a junior in high school. I was attending a boarding school, which emphasized an academically rigorous curriculum. It was a supportive environment, where I felt strong ties to both my peers and my instructors, but the pain was still terrifying.

It started in my wrists, and I firmly believe that I had and overuse injury, probably carpal tunnel or similar. I read everything I could about those sorts of injuries, while also applying my perfectionism to ergonomics.

As the pain didn't go away and started to migrate into my elbows, I found myself in a place of conflict. On one hand, everything I was reading about overuse injuries told me to stop. Stop typing. Stop using the computer. Don't aggravate the condition. On the other hand, I was a student, and a perfectionistic one at that. I felt that I had to use the computer. I had school work to do.

In this time period, I did start investigating assistive technologies. I started using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for as much computer work as I could. (Dragon NaturallySpeaking is software that allows me to talk to my computer to write text and, to a limited degree, navigate the user interface.) However, the software did not work for mathematics and computer science. In those subjects, I was stuck with a keyboard.

I also investigated mouse alternatives and ergonomic keyboards. I tried several, including trackballs, large touchpads, and split keyboards. Some of them resulted in a slight reduction in pain, but they all still hurt.

I was willing to cause myself pain and, I thought, possibly physical harm in the name of academic work, but I could not justify that risk when it came to my hobbies. I completely stopped playing to musical instruments, playing video games, doing hobbyist computer programming, and knitting.

While all of this is going on, I am doing my best to consult medical professionals. The nurse practitioner who was my primary care physician at the time dismissed my concerns, saying I had tendinitis and telling me to take ibuprofen and ice the area daily. A few months later, I saw an orthopedist who, after ruling out any structural problems, sent me to physical therapy. In physical therapy, I did build strength, but it did not reduce my pain.

This general pattern continued for at least two years. I struggled through school, always managing to excel academically, but also always fearing that I was hurting myself with my computer use. I continued to use speech to text software to write papers where I could, but that software continued to be useless in mathematics and computer science. The pain continued to spread, affecting more and more of my body over time. I saw several more doctors, who continued to be useless.

When I went to college, I majored in mathematics. I thought about computer science, but my inability to type made that an unattainable goal. Nonetheless, I do love mathematics, and I do not regret that choice.

One other thing changed when I went to college; I registered with disability services. Overall, that office was not particularly helpful to me. But, I did now have documentation that I could take to my professors and explain that I could not write or type (much). Unlike in high school, I took the approach that I wasn't going to cause myself unnecessary pain by doing significant fine motor activities. The math department worked with me very well, and I took many oral exams and even submitted a fair bit of oral homework while an undergraduate student.

However, by my sophomore year, it was becoming clear just how much this condition was a disability when it came to my imagined future in mathematics. I could not write down my own mathematical ideas. I couldn't work out a critical computation on a chalkboard, and I also couldn't write a mathematics paper. It felt to me like all of my mathematical ideas were necessarily filtered through someone else. And that felt very confining. The best analogy I can give is that of a painter forced to "paint" only by telling an assistant what to do. She is never allowed to touch the paintbrush herself; only to give descriptions to the assistant.

There were a number of reasons why I now see that my thinking at that time was wrong, but, at that time, I felt hopeless. I have a very clear memory of myself sitting/lying on the rug in my dorm room and crying. I was in constant physical pain. I couldn't see how I had a future in mathematics, but I also couldn't see any other future for myself. I felt worthless, hopeless, and extremely angry. I rolled around on that rug, sobbing uncontrollably while also fighting the urge to punch things, to break things.

That was the point where I realized I needed help. Once I had calmed down from my hour or so of crying, the depth of my anger was a wake-up call for me. I called the counseling center at my college and set up an appointment.

And, slowly, pieces started to fall into place. I participated in group therapy, focused on cognitive behavioral therapy skill building. I learned to separate out thoughts, emotions, and actions. I learned to identify some of the thought patterns that had previously trapped me. I listened to my peers talk about their challenges, and I shared my own. I gave voice to my fears, and I no longer felt like I was facing the world alone. In short, I learned to cope.

About a year later, I finally got a diagnosis. (I'm omitting the long string of doctors and other medical professionals that led to that diagnosis. There is a list in one of my recent posts.) Central sensitization syndrome. Very similar to fibromyalgia or chronic myofascial pain syndrome. There is no cure, and there are very few effective treatments. But it did establish, once and for all, that this disease is not my fault. I didn't do this to myself by abusing my body at the keyboard; this disease is neurochemical.

About a year after my diagnosis, I found the tumblr spoonie community and started writing about my experiences. This community has meant a lot to me. It has helped me learn how to communicate, and reminded me that I'm not alone in this often confusing experience.

Over the next couple of years, I had a few more small victories. I found a good physical therapist, who I worked with for a little over a year, and we did manage to improve my pain somewhat. I finally made some progress on assistive technology for writing mathematics, and, for the first time in years, I was able to write part of my own paper. I graduated, with honors, from my college with a bachelors of science degree in mathematics. I was accepted into a well-respected graduate program, and I was granted financial support to study there.

My first semester graduate school tossed me some extra challenges in the form of extreme fatigue and sleepiness. I was falling asleep in lecture after lecture during my first semester. In February, I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and began treatment with CPAP. Over the past approximately one year, I have worked with my sleep doctor to control the residual sleepiness that remained even with CPAP. It's not perfect, but I am doing much better.

More recently, I passed a major set of exams for my graduate program, and I'm starting to identify potential research topics/advisors as I move forward in my program.

It's late, and I need to go to bed. I hope what I've written is at least semi-coherent. In addition to being tired, I wrote it with speech to text software, and I haven't proofread thoroughly.

I hope this is helpful. As I reflect on my experiences, what I see is the story of how I learned to live with illness and disability, how I adapted, and how I grew. It's not easy, and it took years. And I still have to work at some of it today. I still have to remind myself that it's okay to be disabled, to reassure myself that it's okay to ask for help, and to drag my brain out of catastrophizeing thought spirals. I still have bad days, both mentally and physically, and there are still days when I want nothing more than to take a deep breath and scream at the top of my lungs. But I am grateful. I am grateful for this life. I am grateful for this opportunity to live, to experience so many wonderful things, and to hopefully have a net positive impact on the lives of the people around me. And I'm hopeful about the future. Not so much about the idea that I might one day be cured (though that would be great!), but about all of the awesome things that I am going to do as a disabled person. I'm excited for the art I will make, the math I will do, the assistive technology that I will invent, the lives I will touch with kindness and compassion. I live with constant physical pain, but I have made it to a place where I am still so amazingly grateful to be alive.

As far as I can tell, that’s reason to hope. I wish you the best.

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nofomoartworld · 7 years

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I'm a Teacher in Mike Pence's Broken School System. Here's How We Can Fix It | #50StatesofArt

As part of 50 States of Art, The Creators Project is inviting artists to contribute first-person accounts of what it is like to live and create in their communities. Ms. P is a 3rd grade teacher at a Title I school in Indianapolis, Indiana. Creators became aware of her work through Shining Rainbows Supplies, an independent crowdfunding effort to purchase basic school supplies for her students.

I am regretting having no make-up on, as I park and use the rearview mirror once more before seeing 13 year-old Sal and his momma who is named Sal, too. I hope she likes me. How will it go? After all, I am the teacher who put my hand on her son, pushing him back in his seat measuredly so he would lift his head and look at me. "You bitch," he declared loudly after that, in front of all my third graders. "My momma gonna take you down." He pulled his cell phone out of a frayed nylon bag serving as his backpack and called her.

It went all white-washed inside of me as I shakily walked to the room phone and requested immediate assistance. After a while, a Behavior Coach showed up to escort Sal out of my room. This burly sixth grader and two more like him were in my classroom—a room full of eight year olds—because once again, no substitute would stay in theirs to cover their teacher's sick leave. I am an elementary school teacher in Mike Pence's state in an inner-city school that shall go nameless to protect the innocent. I teach all subjects, except art, music, and P.E. Something like this happens daily in my school.

The problem with big kids like Sal being herded into younger children's rooms, especially in Title I schools like mine, is that learning virtually comes to a halt, and teachers and children are still pressured to perform highly on standardized tests. Because we can't make the scores that the test-producing companies, and their high-paying client, our State, say we should, penalties are slapped on our schools that keep us overwhelmed and add to our chaos. There are three things America needs in order to return to the forefront of education. We need to accept. We need to love. We need to forgive ourselves.

Let me share a bit more, then I will finish Sal's story.

Basic Supplies

My friend, RM, is the extraordinary art teacher at our school. Going to art class at our school is a necessity; it helps our wounded elementary school population process the tumult in which they live so they can integrate within. In the words of my A+ student we'll call Jill, "working with the clay helps me get all my anger out." When I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up, she said, "a clay sculptor." Her mom is an ex-con, her Dad is a lifer. Jill is one of my best and brightest, scoring A's in every subject, as well as self-starting in our Gifted and Talented learning project about life on Mars. The United States needs more kids like her. She is an artist, but also a mathematician and scientist. In third grade we've still got a chance to help her create a positive future. Yet, my colleague, and thousands like him, receive no supplies from the school or the school district. He pays for everything himself or posts requests to websites such as DonorsChoose.org where generous people give, so students can have meaningful learning experiences. How long should an angelic teacher like this be forced to provide his own supplies for 300 students?

On-site Subs Make It Easier for Traumatized Kids

Change is rough on children who have seen an overdose or spent a year in foster care. Studies have shown that the on-site substitute model is a good way to go because students know and trust that person already. At schools characterized by a traumatized student population, this should be status quo. Because they come to us already hurt and angry, our young ones are quick to escalate every challenging situation into violence. From a paragraph that is difficult to read, to a stranger declaring they are their teacher for that day, our students lack coping skills and have no patience. As a result of continually attending to this reality of good-hearted children who have been dealt a tough hand, much of the school staff suffers from a clinical condition known as Secondary Traumatic Stress Syndrome. For example, as I write this, I am still dealing with lovely phlegm, coughing, and laryngitis that started three weeks ago. I hesitate to take a day off because of the havoc the change will cause. Having an on-site substitute would allow me to take better care of my health.

Learning How to Fish

From being able to manage money to managing themselves better, students need life skills classes a minimum of twice a week. This needs to be an important part of the curriculum. One of my mantras is 'the buck stops here.' Towards that end, my students earn blue dollars. For acts of kindness, for completing homework, for answering questions correctly, and for simply participating respectfully in class discussions they get paid. On Fridays they use their earned income to purchase school supplies such as scissors, glue, pencils, erasers, and crayons, which most of their parents don't give them, which, by the way, have been donated or purchased by me. Once they have bought these, they get to purchase other things like an art project to do, or time sitting in the Throne Chair. Students internalize a reality that with determination, they can provide for themselves. It does no good to blame their parents. I need to teach my children self-respect and self-responsibility. They see that they can succeed.

Health and Wellbeing at School

Teachers suffering from STSS (secondary traumatic stress syndrome) or just plain burnt-out, and students, especially those who have to overcome unimaginable odds just to get to school each day, need a chance to see that life is beautiful. Schools need funds to be able to hire an on-site, credentialed wellness instructor as well as maintain an on-site wellness room for yoga and meditation. Skills for self-mastery must be an integral part of the state-mandated curriculum. From learning how to deescalate violence to learning that they can make and spend earned income successfully, students need to learn how to take care of themselves. That is the foundation upon which the cycle of poverty to prison will be broken. The teachers and staff who are serving these students need access not only to health care that provides medicine, but to deep wellness practices that they can integrate into their daily lifestyles. Joining a yoga studio is expensive and most of us simply don't have the extra cash.

How to Spend Money That Used to Be Spent on Testing

Being held accountable to achieve certain benchmarks is healthy and motivational. However, we must accept that just like the death penalty has not reduced the rate of homicide in this country, so too rampant standardized testing has not increased long term student success. In the past two weeks, I was required to give six standardized tests to my students. Why so many? Our district sent us two sets of tests to give without even knowing where third grade was in the curriculum. The curriculum is the homogenous guide that teachers have to follow. Teach metaphors this week, hyperbole next week, et cetera. When the district folks realized their mistakes, they sent us even more tests to administer, wasting what could have been valuable experiential learning time. I told my students to simply write on theirs "we haven't been taught this yet," and we handed them in just like that.

The motherlode of money being spent to keep this wildfire of institutionalized tests burning needs to be repurposed beginning in 2017-2018 school year. We need to redirect a large chunk of that money to give teachers the access to plenty of basic teaching supplies, schools need on-site substitute teachers that students know and trust, and everyone young and old gets all-school access to self-supportive wellness practices on site.

Sal

I smooth on a little rose-tinted lip-gloss, for make-up that will have to do, and text "here" to my friend GH. In a minute he pulls up behind me and parks. Besides being a Super Bowl winning running-back coach, he reads to my students, and today he is awarding Sal and his mother a pair of tickets to the end of the season Colts game. When he returned to school after his suspension, Sal apologized to me during a Restorative Conversation. He began stopping by my classroom to help out and to do yoga with us. When GH came to read for my class, he met Sal and told him that if he stayed out of trouble and brought his grades up, he would give him two tickets to the final game. Today is the last Saturday of winter break, and Sal kept up his end of his bargain with GH and me.

That is why we are pulling up to where they live, which is a little unorthodox. They come out of a side door of a run-down house that has "no trespassing" stapled by the front door. She is so young, she could be his sister, I think to myself. We take turns shaking hands and hugging. It's a beautiful, wonderful morning for all of us. GH hands Sal an envelope with the tickets and reminds him of the value of hard work. "Yes, sir," the boy nods. We are smiling and happy as I snap a bunch of photos, sensing that this is a special moment in a time.

Turns out, Momma Sal is a cleaner in the stadium; that is the first time that she, together with her award-winning son, will participate in an event as a fan. He tells me later that he got new clothes and his cool, new haircut for the event.

The Three Things

In conclusion, there are three things we need to do. 1.) Accept the reality that we need to heal a broken school system that places test scores before fundamental social wellness; 2.) activate higher-purpose values like love to truly render support for traumatized students and devoted teachers; and 3.) forgive ourselves for not knowing better than to over-emphasize quantitative results (standardized testing) over mastery of basic life skills. This is the way to move American education forward because now we do know better.

You can donate to Ms. P's Shining Rainbows Supplies fund here.

All year, we're highlighting 50 States of Art projects around the United States. This month, we're covering Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Hawai'i. To learn more, click here.

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