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morningstarwriting · 4 years

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College AU

So this was an idea that popped into my brain and I had to write it. I don’t know if this has already been done, but if it has oh well. I had a lot of fun writing this as it was my first time writing for Obey Me! I hope that you enjoy it!

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「 Lucifer 」

This man will be a lawyer

Don’t argue with him

He’s always right

Mainly cause he’s majoring in psychology

But he’s not stopping there

He’s actually double majoring

Psychology and History

And it ALSO doesn’t stop there

He’s getting a minor in philosophy

This means that he’s going to school for five years instead of four though

He’s so insanely intelligent though

He psycho-analyzes his brothers all the time

The only ones who don’t really care about what he has to say are Belphegor and Satan

They regularly plot against him

He always knows it

He blames it on daddy issues

This just means that even when he’s with his brothers, he’s constantly working

Always doing his schoolwork

He’s also the Vice President position of Student Government

He was beat out for the President position by Diavolo

And forced his brothers to join in the other positions

He’s also an Admissions Representative

He’s the perfect person to look at applications and determine if people are suited to attend his school

Diavolo also has this job with him

They spend countless of hours together all the time

And he knows that people ship them

He knows

There is one thing he refuses to take part in on campus, though

The only Greek life you’ll catch him in is an Honor Society with Greek Letters in the name

He isn’t the biggest fan of Greek Life

Or parties

However, he was convinced to go to a party by Asmo once

Never again

The biggest perk for his brothers is that he’s so ridiculously busy

That he can’t really constantly be on their cases

At least that’s what they think

He finds his ways

He finds a lot of ways

「 Mammon 」

He went into school as an accounting major

Big Miss Steak

He… wasn’t the best at it

He didn’t necessarily hate it

But he wasn’t thrilled about it being his major

Lucky for him

He was required to take a fine arts course

He decided on photography

And boy oh boy

He fell in love with it

Taking pictures was a Big Yes from him

He was really good at coming up with poses for his models

And most times the people in his class would ask him to model for them

And that’s when he started getting into modeling

And he loved that even more than photography

So naturally

He googled what he should do to become a model

And he found out you don’t necessarily need a degree

But Lucifer would NOT let him drop out

So, he saw that a few majors would help

Luckily for him

Photography was on there

But there was another that caught his eye

Fashion Merchandising

And here we have it

The brother who everyone sees as a dumbass is a double major

Who would have thought?

Not his brothers

Now don’t get me wrong

He barely passes his general education classes

But his major classes?

Easy

He loves them

He has shown up to class many times hungover, though

That’s what happens when you’re in a frat

Yes

Our boy Mammon

Is in a frat

He’s in the frat that puts on the best parties

They don’t let him spend money on anything anymore

They learned that the hard way

He’s also in Student Government, courtesy of Lucifer

He’s the Director of Public Relations

He considered running for treasurer

But all of his brothers reminded him of all the things he’s spent money on

And bet money on

And lost money on

He decided against treasurer

When it comes to partying

Mans goes hard

Doesn’t give a fuck

Does it all

Except hard drugs

…

Only that one time

Thank God Lucifer was there

「 Leviathan 」

If you think he would major in anything other than video game design you’re wrong

He went in looking to be a general programmer

And then he saw the words “Video Game Design”

He changed major immediately

He’s perfectly happy with just Video Game Design

But he is getting a marine biology minor

He’s always been fascinated with the ocean

And the creatures in the ocean

So he decided a minor would be a neat idea

He could also totally use his knowledge to design a dope ass underwater themed game

Which high key may be his thesis project

He really doesn’t get out much

He stays home the majority of the time

Gaming

Watching Anime

Reading manga

Lucifer literally scolded him for always staying in his room

Never going out to do anything with anyone

Levi tried to tell him playing games was basically his homework

But Lucifer was having NONE OF IT

So, to shut him up

Levi looked at the clubs the school offered

He nearly screamed when he realized there was a Japanese Manga, Anime, and Gaming Club

He quickly became the president of that

He’s also a part of Student Government with the rest of his brothers

He’s the Media Representative

He runs all the social medias for the Student Government

And he’s damn good at it

He’s frequently on his phone during meetings

And he’s the only one who’s allowed to do that

And he may use it to his advantage

He needs to know what happens in the next episode of the anime he’s watching

He doesn’t have time to listen to Lucifer and Diavolo preach about things damnit!

He also doesn’t have time for

Shudder

Parties.

Just the thought of going to a frat party makes his skin crawl

What a normie thing to do

Sadly, for him

He’s frequently forced to attend them

Thanks Mammon

He just follows Mammon around like a lost puppy

He gets flustered any and every time anyone talks to him

One time, Mammon thought alcohol would make him feel more confident

…Mammon should not have provided Levi with alcohol

Too many things happened

Things the two never speak of to this day

N E V E R

He apologizes to Ruri-Chan every day for his mistakes on that night

「 Satan 」

VETERINARY MEDICINE

HE DOESN’T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES

HE WILL TAKE CARE OF ANIMALS

Almost bit Lucifer when he reminded him, he’d have to put down animals too

Lucifer then proceeded to call him an animal

But seriously

Satan wants to be able to help animals in any way he can

He’s well aware he will have to put some animals down

But he knows he won’t have to do that unless it’s absolutely necessary

He’s also going to be a whole ass doctor

Fuck off, Lucifer Esquire

Here comes the DOCTOR of the family

Literally took up a job just to get away from Lucifer

He works as a librarian

He loves it

He’s constantly reading

And I mean c o n s t a n t l y r e a d i n g

He’s the nicest librarian ever

Just

Don’t talk too loudly

Or destroy a book

Or do anything stupid

Because he will go off

He doesn’t tolerate stupidity

Not in his safe space

He’s on track to get a certificate in writing

So please

Do not interfere with literature

He’s also on track to get a certificate in Women and Gender Studies

So do not interfere with women’s rights or equality in front of him

He will not be happy

And he’s horrifying when he’s angry

Same thing goes in Student Government

He’s the Parliamentarian

And he does the job well

You either follow the rules

Or you get a talking to from Satan

Nobody wants a talking to from Satan

The only person who isn’t necessarily afraid of him is Lucifer

But Lucifer never breaks the rules so Satan can’t pop off on him

Satan might watch him like a hawk just to see if he messes up eventually so he can yell

He never catches him doing anything wrong

He catches Mammon doing plenty wrong, though

Constantly on his case for staying out too late

Mammon always blames it on his frat

And Satan always rolls his eyes

Similar to Lucifer

The only “frat” he’s in is an honor society with a Greek name

He considered joining the “smart” frat

But he decided against it seeing as Mammon was in a frat

He didn’t want to be associated with him

Sadly

He can’t escape it

Every party he goes to

Mammon is right there

Every

Time

Satan doesn’t understand how he does it

To avoid the feeling of dread he just

He drinks as much as possible

He doesn’t party often

But when he does

parties

The amount of times he’s gone out with his brothers and then disappeared only to come home after some crazy shit happened to the rest of them?

So many times

He doesn’t have time for their foolishness

He parties to get away from them

You know sometimes he just needs a break from his family dynamic

Even though when he gets drunk, Lucifer usually gets a voicemail

And… it’s soft

Satan has no idea those voicemails exist

Lucifer keeps them for blackmail

He also just keeps them to remind himself that Satan has a heart and isn’t a fucking dick to him all the time… don’t let the insult fool you, he actually really cares for Satan and hearing him be nice is pleasant

「 Asmodeus 」

He is a fashion design major

He’s known what he’s wanted to do since he was a child.

He’s been making his own clothes for years

People always stare at him because wow he looks good

He also decided to minor in music

Specifically focusing on his voice

Boy can sing

And sing he does

Sometimes Belphegor tells him to shut up

To which Asmo responds with

“I can’t hear you over my Grammy Award worthy voice! Did you say something?”

Before Belphegor can respond

Asmo is singing again

It’s futile

He never stops

That helps him in his Acapella Group though

He loves singing with them

Invites his brothers to every performance

Actually, gets happy if they show up

He’s the treasurer of Student Government

He’s actually very good with his money

He basically runs his own mini fashion business after all

He not only creates clothes for himself

But other people too

And don’t even get me started on his make-up looks

He’s literally an icon

He walks into a room and people know exactly who he is

He also has a YouTube channel

Focusing on fashion and beauty

He’s decently popular

And he loves it

He’s the other one in a frat

His frat is the most popular on campus

Everyone knows it

Everyone knows the people in it

And he loves the attention

So many girls and guys on campus throw themselves at him

And he loves that too

He always treats whoever he decides to bring home with him like royalty

Even though he’s had several hook ups and one-night stands

People don’t mind

Because he’s

AMAZING AT IT

and

HOT AS FUCK

He knows it

And he is not afraid to show it

He parties every night

Like actually

If he isn’t partying, it’s concerning

He’s one that believes that college are the best years of your life

And he isn’t letting that slip away from him

No matter how much Lucifer yells at him to stop partying all the time

Of course, partying is also an excuse for him to ignore some other things

So, he does it a lot

When he’s with someone else is when he’s happiest

So, he always makes sure to be with another person

「 Beelzebub 」

Bet you think he’s gonna major in culinary science

WRONG

That’s his minor

His major

Is Family and Child Science

He wants to help people so bad

Especially children

He wants to do everything in his power to make sure that children live happy lives

So, his main goal in the end is to either be a school counselor or a crisis counsellor

He’s very serious about what he does

And he holds some past trauma

So, he wants to make sure people have someone to talk to when bad things happen

Of course, he also loves making food

He loves eating it more, though

But honestly

He’s a student athlete

Of course, he needs food

He’s always moving

He’s the captain of the American football team at their school

If he wasn’t going into child services

You’d best believe he was going into the NFL

Mans can PLAY football

It’s also really nice to have him in Student Government

Because the student body actually respects them because of it

He’s the secretary

It’s always nice when Lucifer asks Beel for the notes they took that meeting

He hands them over

Super detailed

Perfect, even

He always pays attention

He’s great at listening

And he knows how much it means to Lucifer

So, he never disappoints

He isn’t in any other clubs other than student government

But that’s because he’s on teams

Like I said, one hell of a football player

And if he’s not home making food or doing schoolwork

He’s at practice

Or just at the gym

He’s always bettering himself

And he’s certainly a campus heartthrob

It’s always fun going out with him

because he is the heaviest of all the heavy weights

His record for taking shots is twenty-one

That should have KILLED HIM

It didn’t kill him

BUT

That’s definitely his limit

That was an interesting night

Beel is just happy that his brothers happened to be there

He wasn’t too happy when he realized Mammon did something even more stupid than taking twenty-one shots

Lucifer made sure they were both okay though

Which Beel appreciated

He just… avoids vodka as much as possible now

Too many bad memories

At least from what he can remember

「 Belphegor 」

Like Beel

Belphie really cares about the mental state of people

Not children specifically

Just people in general

He’s just

Not cut out to be a counsellor

He doesn’t have the personality for that

He needs to do something that can actually take his sarcastic ass and allow him to use it for the better

He does some research

And something catches his eye

Rehabilitation Coordinator

Specifically Rehab for drugs and alcohol

He’s no-nonsense enough to enforce the rules of the facility, but still be able to care about these people

And become one

He needs to go to nursing school

This is difficult for him

He really enjoys sleeping

And this whole getting up early for clinicals thing?

Not ideal

However

After talking to his advisor about it

And by talking

I mean just straight up telling him he’s nocturnal got severe insomnia and waking up early is a no go

He gets put on the night shift

And that does wonders of good for him

The brothers barely see him

He’s either in class, asleep, or at the hospital

The only brother he ever really makes time for is Beel

They’re twins

Of course, he’s going to make time for him

A lot of the time, Belphie will return home around the same time Beel wakes up to go on a morning run

So, they have breakfast together

Because of his chaotic schedule

The only club he’s in is Student Government

And he did his best to snag the easiest position

The Reporter position

He just

Submits stories to the papers in the area

That’s it

He loves it

It’s so easy

Lucifer has to remind him to do it sometimes, though

He doesn’t mean to forget

He’s just got a lot going on

He needs to memorize he human anatomy, Lucifer

Some things are more important

He rarely goes out

He isn’t fond of parties

Even though he’s a night owl and enjoys the occasional drink

There are too many people

The main reason he goes is to make sure Beel doesn’t get too wasted

Not after that one time

But he did party a little hard when he found out he passed a test that he needed to get higher than a C on to stay in his major

He celebrated

Sleeping was the last thing on his mind that night

He was so hungover in the morning

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psychologyofsex · 3 years

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The True Story of How I Became a Sex Educator and Researcher

Our professional biographies tend to serve as a “highlight reel”—they only say the great things we’ve accomplished and don’t reveal the struggles, challenges, and uncertainties that went into building a career. To lift back the curtain on this, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) recently asked a number of scholars to submit their official bios along with their “unofficial bios” that reveal an extremely different version of the story with more twists and turns.

You can read some of the examples here. Although I didn’t participate in it, I thought it would be fun to do something similar on the blog. So here goes—I’ll start with my official bio, followed by the real, behind-the-scenes story.

Official Bio of Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller

Dr. Justin Lehmiller received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Purdue University. He is a Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute and author of the book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Dr. Lehmiller is an award-winning educator, having been honored three times with the Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Harvard University, where he taught for several years. He is also a prolific researcher and scholar who has published more than 50 academic works to date, including a textbook titled The Psychology of Human Sexuality (now in its second edition) that is used in college classrooms around the world. Dr. Lehmiller's studies have appeared in all of the leading journals on human sexuality, including the Journal of Sex Research, Archives of Sexual Behavior, and The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Dr. Lehmiller has run the popular blog Sex and Psychology since 2011. It receives millions of page views per year and is rated among the top sex blogs on the internet. In 2019, he launched the Sex and Psychology Podcast. It ranks among the top sexuality podcasts in several countries and has been named one of “11 sex podcasts that will help you get better in bed” by Men’s Health.

Dr. Lehmiller has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, and The Sunday Times. He has been named one of 5 "Sexperts" You Need to Follow on Twitter by Men's Health and one of the "modern-day masters of sex" by Nerve. Dr. Lehmiller has appeared on the Netflix series Sex, Explained, he has been on several episodes of the television program Taboo on the National Geographic Channel, and he has been a guest on Dr. Phil. Dr. Lehmiller has also appeared on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including the Savage Lovecast, the BBC’s Up All Night, and several NPR programs (1A, Radio Times, and Airtalk).

He is a popular freelance writer, penning columns and op-eds for major publications, including The Washington Post, Playboy, USA Today, VICE, Psychology Today, Men’s Health, Politico, and New York Magazine. He has also interviewed several prominent authors, journalists, and psychologists about their work for his blog and podcast, including Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Lisa Ling, Drs. John and Julie Gottman, and bestselling authors Christopher Ryan (Sex at Dawn) and Lisa Taddeo (Three Women).

Unofficial Bio of Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller

When Justin’s parents asked him what he wanted to study in college, he said “psychology.” He had taken a couple of psychology courses in high school that he found to be absolutely fascinating; however, his parents discouraged him from this because getting into a PhD program was tough and uncertain and, if that didn’t work out, they didn’t see much potential in a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. They encouraged him to pursue a career in occupational therapy (OT) instead because a family friend said “they needed more men in the field,” and also because his parents saw it as a path to job security with a pretty good paycheck.

He applied to a 5-year combined Bachelor’s/Master’s program in OT at Gannon University and was admitted. Incidentally, he was one of two men in the entire program. He spent a year and a half in it and made straight As in every course, including biochemistry and physics—but he wasn’t happy. He recognized the importance of OT to society, but it wasn’t his passion. After showing his parents that he was taking college seriously and earning good grades, they allowed him to switch his major to psychology.

Upon completing his Bachelor’s degree, he only applied to Master’s programs in psychology because he didn’t think he had the chops to get into a PhD program right away. The inferiority complex was strong in this one, so he didn’t even try. He applied and was accepted to Villanova University’s Master’s program in experimental psychology. He was not competitive enough of a candidate to receive an assistantship initially, although he eventually received one after another student dropped out.

He really wanted to study social psychology at Villanova, but there was only one social psychologist on staff at the time and several interested students. The only option for him was to beg one of the clinical psychologists to let him do a social psychology study for his Master’s thesis.

As he began looking for PhD programs to apply to, he met Dr. Chris Agnew at a meeting of the American Psychological Association. Chris was studying romantic relationships and Justin thought that sounded like a fun thing to spend his life doing. Plus, Chris was a super cool guy who seemed like a fantastic mentor. He applied and was admitted to Purdue’s social psychology program, although he was initially waitlisted (and rejected from all but one other program). Justin’s plan was to get his doctorate and become a college professor. Teaching and research sounded like things he could probably do.

Justin was assigned to teach a Health Psychology course at Purdue during his first year. He had never taught a class before and quickly realized that he was very uncomfortable with public speaking. The class was a disaster. Attendance dropped 60-70% within the first couple of weeks. He had no idea what he was doing and dreaded going to class each day—and he received poor evaluations in the end.

Around the same time, Justin submitted his first academic paper to a journal, it was promptly rejected and came with this review: “This manuscript is fatally flawed and of marginal utility, which is a shame because potentially interesting questions could have been asked given the topic and timing of the research. The tone of this manuscript represents the worst in scientific misconstrual, particularly because the claims are silly, wrong, or not warranted by the data.” Justin clearly sucked at both teaching and research—and if he couldn’t do those things well, how would he ever become a college professor?

He also started hearing horror stories from advanced students in his program who couldn’t find jobs and were sticking around for 6 or 7 years in the hope of eventually landing a job—any job. All of this led Justin to question what the hell he was doing with his life. Maybe he should have listened to his parents after all? Chris encouraged Justin to stick with it, though, as did his friends and mentors.

The next year, Justin got assigned to be a teaching assistant for a human sexuality course taught by Dr. Janice Kelly. It changed his life. He had to lead weekly discussion sections with students and answer their sex questions (a subject he knew next to nothing about, having attended Catholic schools most of his life). He read about sex extensively and instantly knew he had found what he really wanted to do with his career. He saw it as something fun and interesting—but also a way that he could make a real difference. He realized how little most people actually know about sex, and how education can correct so many harmful myths and misconceptions.

An opportunity to teach his own human sexuality class opened up the following year, and he took it. This time around, teaching was different—he was passionate about the subject and the students were, too. He had no problems with attendance. He ended up teaching this course six times before he graduated and eventually received a teaching award for it. He found that he loved being a sex educator.

He also found a solution to his public speaking anxiety: he started taking a beta-blocker (propranolol) on public speaking days, which removed physiological symptoms of anxiety. This allowed him to feel like himself in front of a crowd and, after just a few months, he no longer needed to take the medication—the anxiety had gone away completely.

He started conducting his own sex research, too, including a series of studies with Dr. Kelly on friends with benefits. His research skills improved and his studies started getting accepted instead of rejected.

He eventually landed a job at Colorado State University as an assistant professor, where he stayed for three years and continued his work as a sex educator and researcher. His partner couldn’t get a job in the area and had just taken a job in Boston, so Justin applied for every academic job within two hours of Boston. He was turned down for all of them. As a last-ditch effort, he applied for a teaching position at Harvard but had absolutely no confidence in it. He almost didn’t submit the application, but his partner encouraged him to do so. Justin had applied to Harvard’s PhD program previously and was rejected—if they didn’t want him as a student, why the heck would they want him as a teacher?

To his great surprise, he got the job at Harvard, where he stayed for three years. However, he had given up his tenure-track job in Colorado for a teaching position in Boston with no job security. So he decided to reinvent himself just in case things didn’t work out. In his spare time, he started a blog, wrote a human sexuality textbook, and became a freelance media writer. Communicating about sex science to the public became his hobby and was going to be his backup career in case the college professor thing didn’t work out.

Eventually, Justin’s partner wanted to move to Indianapolis for a job opportunity, so they left Boston. But Justin didn’t have a job at first and his backup plan wasn’t yet enough to be a full-time job. He knew the Kinsey Institute was nearby, so he drafted a letter to the director in the hope of establishing a connection, but he never sent it. He had a severe case of imposter syndrome and did not feel accomplished or experienced enough to have anything to do with what he saw as the premier hub for sex research in the world.

Much to his surprise, the associate director of the Institute reached out to him after he moved to Indiana to explore opportunities for working together. It was actually his hobby/backup plan that caught their eye—they were interested in working together to disseminate sex science to the public and were impressed with what he had done with his blog and social media.

Justin affiliated with Kinsey, but also jumped back on the tenure track with a job as the Director of the Social Psychology Program at Ball State University, which fortuitously opened up about 4 months after he moved to Indianapolis. After 3.5 years, he decided to leave full-time academics and do his own thing. His science communication hobby had managed to grow into a full-time job and it was no longer feasible to do that and academics. Plus, he found that the science communication work was really where his passion was. So, the backup plan officially became “the plan.”

Justin now spends every day finding new ways to help educate and inform the public about the science of sex. He’s still not sure how things ended up this way, but wouldn’t trade his current job for anything.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for more from the blog or here to listen to the podcast. Follow Sex and Psychology on Facebook, Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

Image Source: 123RF

You Might Also Like:

How Do You Become a Sex Researcher?

So You Want To Be A Science Blogger? Here’s What You Need To Know

Sex Question Friday: What Is A Sexologist And How Do I Become One?

#sex education #sex research

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glitterdustcyclops · 5 years

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Steven Universe is the Best Show, Fite Me

In honor of the finale yesterday and because I’m still emotionally compromised and need space to process my deep, unending well of FEEEELINGS, here, have an essay I blurted out late at night a few months ago about how much Steven Universe means to me, now cleaned up with proper grammar & capitalization and shit.

Basically, to summarize: Steven Universe is a thesis statement on my entire philosophy; unironically, unequivocally one of the most important pieces of media that I've ever consumed in my entire twenty five years on this earth. This show speaks to the depths of my soul. I love it endlessly. It’s so quietly revolutionary, kind and positive and gentle and queer, a show all about how people can be redeemed by empathy. Maybe not always, but at least sometimes, and that it’s so important to try. And on top of all that, it’s just so dang pretty to look at, every background and scene a lovingly rendered pastel dreamscape, full of glitter and wonder and joy.

Ever since I watched that first leaked pilot, I was in. I knew right from that moment, that this thing was going to be my thing, that whatever happened next I was so completely along for the ride. And of course the show has evolved so much since those very early days, but I’m glad to know that I haven’t been proven wrong yet. Sometimes it feels like this show is tailor-made just for me, and I’m completely amazed that it exists at all.

There’s this interview with Rebecca back in the early days, talking about her goals with Steven Universe and what she wanted the show to be. If I remember correctly, she basically said that she wanted watching it to feel like getting to spend time with people you love. The emotional core of this show is the relationship between an older sister and her younger brother (and like, I still can’t get over the fact that Steven is based on Rebecca’s younger brother Steven, and he works on the show with her that is just so cute!!!!), and you can really feel that kind of connection when you watch it. It’s just baked into the bones of the show.

Steven Universe has also been there for me through some majorly hard times in my life, and it feels like a welcoming, safe space where I can relax and breathe and just...be. Beach City is a place where you can have fun adventures and save the world and still laugh. Where even though sometimes things get scary and hard, or you’re unsure of yourself and whether what you’re doing is the right thing, where even when you make mistakes and hurt people that you love, that and at the end of the day, you will always have support, that you can do better and be better, and that there is always hope and joy in the world.

There’s just so much I wanna talk about when it comes to Steven Universe; how important it is for queer representation (that incredibly beautiful gay wedding for example); how amazingly feminist it is, featuring a boy hero who learns from and is surrounded by and idolizes the women in his life and how his powers come from his kindness, his empathy, his love; how “Here Comes a Thought” has legitimately soothed me through more panic attacks than I can count; the incredibly creative character designs and the amazing diversity of body types on display; the amazing soundtrack; the Cool Kids and just how fucking nice they are to Steven and how incredibly revolutionary it is seeing older teenagers written that way on a show aimed at young kids; how it makes me feel almost hopeful about the future to think about the generation that’s being raised on this show and how every aspect of it just means such a deeply absurd amount to me.

The world is often scary and dark and hard, especially now, especially for we folks on the margins, the degenerates and outcasts and other misfits. I don’t think it can be overstated how deeply emotionally vital it is that something like Steven Universe exists in such a world. Every time I watch it I feel validated in this bone-deep way I never knew I craved, in a way that basically everything I watched and read as a kid never quite could. How sad is that? That I had to go two whole decades before I found a piece of media that made me feel okay about being who I was? I can’t go back in time and fix things for that younger version of me, who felt so out of place, but it’s almost enough that I have this now, for adult me, who still deeply needs it: a place where I feel seen and loved and safe.

So yeah, when it comes to Steven Universe, I can’t pretend to be objective or rational. I won’t ever be, and I don’t care. This show, it is the best show, I will hear no other arguments. And I am just so amazed and grateful that I got to exist in the same universe (no I’m not apologizing for that) that Steven did, even just for a time. Steven Universe is my whole heart in cartoon form and if “Change Your Mind” is indeed the finale, then I’m so grateful to see it come to such a satisfying conclusion. Thank you, Rebecca Sugar, and thank you Crewniverse, for all the amazing work you’ve done for almost six years now. I’m glad I got to know Beach City and the people who live there, and I know I’ll be coming back for a long time.

#steven universe #chocolate has emotions #this show makes my heart feel like its full of glitter #y'all #YALLL #i don't think i'll ever be over it tbh

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gurguliare · 5 years

Note

DVD: that one scene from your fic about Dirhaval, with the elf lady and the two of them being really intent with each other over the fire. "Do you love me" et cetera. I hope that makes sense I'm on mobile.

omg IT DOES although since that fic barely has scene divisions I’m going to take this excuse to do… a lot of it.

“I have remembered something,” she added, inconsequentially. “My aunt’s husband was Guilin’s steward. Everyone in my family hated him because he always making up to us with stories about the great princes. He said that Gwindor and Finduilas fought much over the Adanedhel’s love for her.”

I… I love this OC. She’s not even a box of rocks, she’s like, a box with one rock in it. Selectively dense; elsewhere, airheaded.

Dírhaval considered the fish with great interest. He had been told triumph lent him a fierce expression. He had no wish to scare his friend off now.

I can’t remember if @crocordile and I had a conversation before or after I wrote this about Dirhavel being like, not necessarily a big but an energetic guy who’s frequently seen around the camps doing SUPER WEIRD athletic shit to see if some of the feats he attributes to Turin were physically possible—anyway, whatever the timing, that concept was what I was psychically tuned into when I wrote this description. He has a beard and it bristles despite his best efforts to keep it trimmed.

“Raised voices—he overheard—Gwindor said, ‘Why does he seek you out, and sit long with you, and come ever more glad away?’ And that was true, I remember; they sat together in all kinds of places, on the terraces, in the treasury, and even by the earthworks for the bridge. No doubt he told her much you would be glad to know. But as for me, I think Gwindor a fool; few men would have loved her for listening. It reminds them what they hold dear in themselves.”

It was really hard for me to strike what seemed like a reasonable balance between hearsay and direct observation, but I leaned on the idea that Nargothrond, though huge, was not like, “modern city space” huge, more “sprawling overdeveloped apartment complex and you need a permit to go above ground”—so in five years and with perfect memory, everyone has a decent chance of stumbling on everyone else’s attempts at fresh air.

“That’s true,” he said. The first time he had interviewed her, she had spoken for an hour about the cavern of assembly, like an egg on its side—but so vast!—and with stalactites Finrod himself had sung down into pillars, or was it that he had worn holes in the walls parting small caves, she couldn’t decide; and the window on the river, whence a grey light came, like a shadow thrown on the gliding light of a thousand lamps and torches.

I think this description of the great hall is kind of cute but I have to acknowledge it was influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by the great hall in the Rats of Nimh.

And now when she spoke it was matter-of-fact and with hardly a jibe at her uncle. She was Túrin to him in that moment with her straight-sloping neck, the flushed skin of her neck and jaw with her face as fair as fair could stay at sunset, the cupful of shadow under her chin. He had burned the roof of his mouth. The fish was tender, almost flavorless, flaking between his teeth like a cake of river-flesh; a little muddy, even, as all water here was. He ate the crisped-black skin for a whiff of charcoal, which coated his mouth. “Don’t you love me, your loyal hearer?”

She gave him a startled wink; and smiled, and smiled.

Okay, so yes. I do love this moment, I hope it does a lot of things at once; basically I want 1) Dirhavel to be ironic in a nice way about his elf friend attempting to invent the term “emotional labor,” which reflects both a male impatience with this attempt to generalize everything to men talking women’s ears off, but also some vague species-based edginess about him trying to construct this human story out of testimony from elves, and like, navigating elves’ possessiveness of Turin but also the way they patronize him in the same breath, Adanedhel. And at the same time having to confront the fact that people are people and the elf-human boundary has gotten increasingly blurry with the end times, however much he might want to retain a sense of lofty apartness, whether as a human among elves, a writer among subjects, a man among women, whatever—that tension between observer distance and involuntary empathy is another big theme of this fic. And 2) I want the cook to catch it but not quite get it—like, she knows he’s making fun of her but she doesn’t necessarily interpret it in the same way he does, what she gets is that he’s talking about the limits of different kinds of love, that you can love someone and it can still go just so far: that’s why it triggers her next thought about Finduilas –> Turin.

“I do not think Finduilas loved the Mormegil either. Or, that is, I believe they loved one another as sister and brother.”

I said this in my commentary on an otherwise VERY different LOGH fic but I love when characters are wrong. Every time. Also, I love childish oversimplifications that have good reason for existing—that is, I like when you can really see why a character would with all their heart want to believe x, because the alternative is both messy and depressing.

Trying to lick his fingers clean just spread around the soot. Among the things she had told Dírhaval was that she was an only child. But he was inclined to believe her, almost. To Finduilas Túrin should have been a child. She must have wanted to love him like a brother—it would have been best, by far clearer and finer, to love him as a brother, even when her death walked near. The death he handed her down to; but if they were kin, it would have been her right to love him, blaming him.

“Do you not agree?”

Dirhavel takes this basically as like, confirmation for his thesis that all real love is irrational and unconditional (see also Gwindor wanting Finduilas and Túrin to be happy at his own expense, a few lines down) but only familial love has the “excuse” to be so. So the distinction is not, “would I love him whatever he did to me,” but rather, “do I feel fucked up and guilty about that fact or not.” In a vague way, this is supposed to set up the extremely bleak lines he gives Nienor after she gets her memory back: twice beloved.

“I can’t say.” Up again to pace. She followed him, basket on her arm, and settled onto her haunches when she saw he had no journey in mind. He stood when he performed, which was not hard, but it made him more restless when alone.

See above remarks about Dirhavel’s acrobatics, and also maaybe his ADHD

“I think—by the time—no, Túrin did not love her, and as for Finduilas, well, surely she cared for Gwindor? If they argued. Let’s see. And Túrin pursued her at last and fell in a swoon on her grave, we know that. And he loved Gwindor; how not, when Gwindor was with him at Ivrin? But Gwindor—I suppose—Gwindor must have hated him. No. He must have hoped Túrin loved Finduilas, and that was why he couldn’t be persuaded of the truth. For he would have wanted her to be happy, in the end.”

“Oh, no!”

His mood tipped down at once. “Oh no,” he agreed, and took his sandals off and stepped into the stream.

Again, I just think this interaction is fun. I mean I like the placement of his realization about Gwindor, but I LOVE the cook being like “oh no!! that’s so sad!” I hope other people enjoy “stories about the process of idiotic sadstuck brainstorming” as much as I do.

His mother had said once that both he and his father were happier than other men, but that they had no ballast, to keep steady the craft. If he took on an ounce of grief he’d sink, and yet he felt the flood almost as freedom. It made him more the master than had his dry, feckless race, his high-riding. As long as he struggled he had yet to succumb; that was the rule for a wasted night. He ought to go beg a bowl of sour milk from Linnor, or go and sing a service for the king. He could see as far as a night of stars.

I wanted to communicate a particular kind of mood downturn here where you can still clearly remember being happy, and the rising tide of discontent isn’t overwhelming on its own, it’s just depressing because you know where it leads—but for the same reason it’s also a relief, in that you know where it leads. Whereas joy is weird and easy to get lost in and you never know when the plug will be pulled. But I’m not sure the boat metaphor really works.

But it was day, it was red evening. It was his companion’s grief, filling his mind from above. She crouched and watched the far bank huge-eyed, not a tear in evidence, eyes opened but sealed, as it seemed, against sadness that strove for entry, not escape; she sat with wide mouth cracked, nostrils flared, sucking in great absent sniffs of sea-wind. She was besieged as an afterthought, safe and calm except besieged.

I also wanted to include some telepathy! As always! Dirhaval I imagine to be something of a natural, who probably has had some experience with elf mind-speech at this point—enough to recognize it but not really to manage it. I like this description of the cook in pain, I think it works well with her established personality and also evokes Nargothrond itself, which is of course the thing she’s actually grieving for. I mean, and she identifies it with Gwindor, reasonably enough, and takes unhappy pride in him as a lord of Nargothrond, and in this moment is kind of shot through herself not just with the fact of his defeat but the like, honorable necessity of his defeat, knowing that on some level he accepted it.

(Gwindor surely wished Finduilas joy. Finduilas, dying, remembered Túrin, and told him where his quest should end. The feathered tops of the reeds glowed on dark stems, like a fire in a field of reeds—there before nightfall he planted for ever the standards of the Noldor and their unsheathed swords, kindling in the dawn.)

I’m so proud of this stupid line lol, it’s just the reverse of Tolkien’s—“The light of the drawing of the swords of the Noldor was like a fire in a field of reeds”—but I LOVE THAT LINE, it’s so perfect for Dirhaval as an author and Sirion as a place of memory/last battlefront/first battlefront for this long war. And its conclusion, still to come.

He washed his hands and greasy beard in the river. “Your fish will be cold,” he advised. He had abandoned hope of dinner until she brought it, but that was no reason to encourage bad habits in her.

Dumb friends. Dumb friends are great because they are attuned to the hazards of stupidity, and can help each other.

Then he had to pick some scales out of his teeth, and couldn’t elaborate, but he heard her uncover the basket, anyway.

He had met her before with a handful of salt, pressing a few grains to her mouth to check their purity. “Dírhaval,” she said wisely, mouth full. “Dírhaval, I have forgotten how to cook.” Meaning she had no spices, witched ovens, and trained assistants—maybe, with her, it really was as though she had forgotten; at least it was something else she had lost.

Yeah… the focus on memory in this is another unexpected link to the LOGH fic uh, an inevitable byproduct of writing about a historian, and it’s also supposed to reflect that loss of separation between elves and men, since so much of what distinguishes elves is… their wealth of resources, psychological and material. And the material resources are essential to and interwoven with the psychological resilience, as noted here, so I really wanted to capture that sense that *not having* all the wonderful things she used to have baffles her as much as a hole in her memory. Because the default is that you keep everything forever, right? Another feeling which is not unique to elves. God I love………………………… “people.”

#Anonymous #no one expects the fannish inquisition #silmarillion #dirhaval #thank you for asking! i remain really proud of this fic and thrilled to blather about it

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kahran042 · 5 years

Text

Things I wish I could say to Das Sporking

Hey wait a minute! Grant's outfit is red. You know...the color that Gaston, the villain, wore? To make him opposite Beast, who wore blue? Red, a color that represents anger and from what I heard, was also chosen because it's the color of blood, to further emphasis Gaston's being a hunter and his eventual murderous rage? You gave your Gary-Stu love interest THAT color?!

It's just a color, for the love of Ceiling Cat! Look, Grant is a horrible character, I'll give you that, but frankly, this looks like you're just reaching for things to badmouth about him. :P

I find it funny that Harry Potter, with it's explicitly soul-damaging, runs on hate Dark Magic, has people trying to invoke Dark is Not Evil, and here we have someone trying to talk about corrupting, evil Dark Magic, in a world where our cutesy heroine spent the first half using the power of Dark.

Well, maybe if Harry Potter had a more clear definition of Dark Magic than "any offensive spell used by anyone other than an author-approved character"... Oh, and read another book. (This was part of a sporking of a Cardcaptor Sakura darkfic that had nothing to do with Harry Potter)

(user1): It’d be the old “introduce weapons and powers from other canons to be Better Than This Canon” chestnut. You know, like Keiran Halcyon putting RPG stuff in Harry Potter.

Kahran042: Which could only be an improvement on canon, considering how much the Harry Potter magic system sucks.

"...and no, Hades (the version from Disney’s Hercules) is not Draco In Leather Pants'd..."

Well, even if he were, it would be a good counterbalance to his being Darth Vader the Eldritch Abomination'd in the crappy movie.

"I've never seen a blue rose, but I thought I'd make one, in honor of you" he said and took a painted blue, white rose from his coat pocket and placed it on her heart "It fits you" he smiled. (user2): Blue roses exist.

Kahran: You know that "I haven't seen it" isn't the same as "it doesn't exist," right? I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a wombat, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think they exist.

Of course, the part where China and Japan are different still seems to have escaped her notice.

To be fair, maybe the town contained elements of both Chinese and Japanese culture.

Also, this may be a coincidence, but she's the only female currently in this troupe and also the only one who's been “abused.” Huh.

This comes across as a bit of a kneejerk reaction, but maybe that's just me having a kneejerk reaction of my own.

This makes it sound like she's going to be paired up with Yuju, not Aladdin. Which, considering her "I'm not interested in boys" comment earlier...

Except that Yuju's gender was never specified. The only description given was "It (emphasis mine) was white and wise looking with long silver hair."

(user1): Given that we see her latch on to Celeste (Inpax)...she also seems to be drawn towards women with strong, confident personalities.

Kahran042: Except that from what I've read about the game, there really isn't any information about Celeste's personality.

"I guess it was…kind of the right thing…" She glanced down at the glasses on the table. "I guess I just over reacted." (user1): Now Adrian is quietly admitting that he did the right thing and that she was a silly, emotional woman who over-reacted

Kahran042: Seems to me that the only one saying anything about it being because she's a "silly, emotional woman" is you.

Charlie: Did the author not watch or hear of Season 0 or the manga? 

There is no Season 0! What people call "Season 0" is a different series based on the same source material. Sorry about this, but that's my biggest pet peeve in this fandom. (referring to the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom)

We’ve seen fifty-million Rapidashes and Ponytas, by the way. Please import some Zebstrika or something.

I know...it's almost as if this fic was written before Zebstrika was created or something. :P

Say what you will about the Stuthor, at least he doesn't go into capslock rages.

See, that’s exactly my problem with the Dauntless. They are not brave the same way Gryffindors in Harry Potter are. No, that is exactly what they are - thrill seekers!

Hmm, sounds just like Gryffindor to me. :P

(user4): Is he saying that Emerald is a good thing? And note I said he, because Mark is basically using Jupiter as a goddamn sock-puppet right now.

So, it's not all right for Suethors to use canon characters as sock-puppets, but it's all right for you and your ilk to do the same?

(user1): And despite all of his stalking and spying and creeping on underage girls, I doubt he could ever figure out what all women want, so he'd probably just get executed.

Because all women want the same thing?

In "Hadrian Abhorsen", she reduces Voldemort to a completely ineffective and cliché ranter who even the cheesiest Saturday morning cartoons would be embarrassed to have

So...there was no difference, then?

Wait, John? Was he named after John Morris of Castlevania Bloodlines?

Probably not, seeing as John is a very common name.

Darien was outside the greenhouse taking in the beauty of the sweet-smelling flowers and soothing fountain. (user1): A sweet-smelling fountain? What?

What, indeed, seeing as there was nothing about a "sweet-smelling fountain" in that passage.

Granted it’s a magic gun but we clearly see later that it can and does operate exactly like a muggle gun.

Never use that word unless you're discussing the Harry Potty fandom.

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT PICTURE WAS INTENDED FOR - MAYBE A FUCKING GRADUATING THESIS

Yeah, because there would totally be a graduate thesis at a middle school. Also, unnecessary capslock is unnecessary.

...and no, I’m not making an over 9000 joke. Fucking Blaze isn’t worth the effort.

Effort? What effort?

or if the second Suethor just ignored the epilogue just because they didn’t like the shipping or the kids.

Because Ceiling Cat forbid that there might be other reasons that someone might ignore the crapilogue.

Totally ignoring that MIyuki had fucked up, totally ignoring that Nico had been manipulated and taken advantage of, totally ignoring that Nico had been suffering...totally ignoring the fact that none of it would have happened if Miyuki hadn’t tried just a little more instead of simply giving up because she didn’t like her kiddie drawings.

How come I have a feeling that you would have complained about it if he hadn't ignored those things, too?

Chapter 26: The Birth of Nao's Sibling (user5): aka, “That Episode That Shot Every Older Sibling Right In The Heart.”

Um, I'm an older sibling and it didn't shoot me in the heart. Thank you for making me feel like there's something wrong with me for not getting all choked up over fictional characters.

and in general acts like the author meant him to be Eddard Stark but ended up turning him into Robert Baratheon.

I'm sorry, but those names are about as significant to me as I imagine the names Ltohkj Glqaq and Qeoegm Kxtwwgkah would be to you, hence rendering this completely meaningless.

Neither of us have anything against paganism, by the way.

Could have fooled me.

(user6): The Abrahamic religons demonized a LOT of pagan gods.

And judging by this spork so far, you probably think that's a good thing.

And it’s laughably obvious that Walker has no clue how to write someone proselytizing sympathetically

Maybe because it's impossible to write it, because proselytizers are terrible people and shouldn't be written sympathetically.

or that muggles lack the imagination to realize there’s something fishy going on here.

According to Rowling, they do.

#anti das sporking

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tisfan · 6 years

Text

Holding out for a Hero

For @chicklette

Spring Break

“So,” Becca leaned forward, “tell me how you got together. Bucky’s been reluctant to share.”

“He was my hero,” Tony said, his broad, brilliant smile crossing his face, making his eyes crinkle up adorably.

“Tell me…”

***

Four months earlier

Thor was expounding dramatically on the most recent football practice for the benefit of Jane -- his girlfriend, a physics major who understood end-around sneaks as well as Thor understood quasars. She looked like she was listening, but Bucky suspected her brain was light years away. Thor’s brother, Loki, was absently opening packets of sugar and adding them to Thor’s mug every time his brother said the word handoff. The pile of empty packets resembled a tiny snowdrift.

Bucky was still benched because of injury; he’d sprained his wrist, and not even at football practice, which was infuriating, but because Rumlow hadn’t properly assembled the drops during stagecrafting class and the whole set of flats had come tumbling down on Bucky while he’d been crossing the stage. It made for a great story -- I was hit by a train -- but it still hurt and he was probably going to miss most of the football season this year.

He’d been at practice, especially for the boards part of it, but there was a big difference between the sketches coach drew and actually running the plays. So, Bucky was paying keen attention to Thor, so that he could go over the whole thing in his head a few times. As soon as his arm was out of the damn wrap, he wanted back on the field.

Thor picked up his mug and took a swallow of his coffee sludge.

The face he made was excellent, and they all took a few minutes to laugh about it, while Thor clapped his brother on the back hard enough to send the thinner Odinson crashing into the tabletop, and then to the floor. “A fine joke, indeed,” Thor declared.

Loki was just picking himself up and dusting himself off when someone rushed by, dropped his backpack in Loki’s chair and threw an armload of books onto the table. “Watch my stuff, would you?” He brushed a quick kiss on Bucky’s cheek and was off again before Bucky had time to be more than surprised.

“Who the hell was that?”

“Mmm,” Jane hummed. “Tony Stark. He’s the TA for my Systems Engineering seminar.”

“Isn’t that the class that’s teaching you to be an actual-facts rocket scientist?” Darcy Lewis asked. She hadn’t been participating in the football discussion at all, but instead her nose was buried in a women’s studies book and she had her beret pulled down almost to her eyebrows. She always looked like she’d be more at home at a poetry slam than in the stands for football, but wherever Jane was, there was Darcy.

“That’s the one, it’s utterly fascinating,” Jane said, and was going to launch into one of her speeches about how amazing it was when Bucky pointed to the load of stuff that Tony had left behind.

“Does he actually expect me to guard his things?” The spot where Tony’s mouth had landed on Bucky’s cheek felt overly warm and tingly.

“‘Tis a sacred duty, the guardianship of the stuff,” Thor opined. “You must battle to the death, should someone wish to make off with Tony’s possessions.”

“Yeah, that ain’t happenin’,” Bucky said.

Loki sniffed disdainfully, but pulled up yet another chair rather than reclaiming his.

“So, you do not know him?” Thor inquired.

“We ain’t met, no,” Bucky said. He was aware that he was still absently rubbing his cheek with his thumb and looking off in the direction where Tony had vanished.

“There it is!”

Someone was yelling and then someone else grabbed Tony’s bag and grabbed the strap, knocking the chair over in the process.

“Hey!” Despite saying he wasn’t going to battle to the death, Bucky was up in the guy’s face as soon as he realized what was going on. “That’s not yours.”

“Stay out of it, man,” the blond shoved him back, and Bucky almost fell before regaining his footing.

Bucky snatched the backpack and jerked it toward him. “Let go,” Bucky snarled. He recognized the guy, Ty Stone, majoring in asshole. He was going to graduate with honors, at least in the asshole field.

Ty just laughed, kept his hand on the strap. “Or you’re going to do what, exactly?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Bucky could see Loki standing up, hands cupped delicately near his face. He gave Bucky an emerald wink and mouthed ready? at him.

Bucky tightened his grip on the backpack and Loki spread his fingers, blowing out a puff of air like he was putting out candles on a cake. A cloud of white powder rushed directly into Ty’s face, causing him to cough and splutter and then lick his lips, confused. Bucky took advantage of the distraction to yank the bag free.

“What the fuck?” Ty was rubbing frantically at his eyes, which were watering profusely.

Loki made a magician’s flourish, and came up with several empty packets of splenda.

“I oughta break your arm for that, you little weasel,” Ty threatened.

“Ty, it’s over.” Tony was back, looking smug. “Leave them alone, they didn’t have anything to do with it.” He glanced from Ty’s face, furious and red-eyed, to Bucky, where he was still holding onto the backpack. “It’s okay. Give it to him, there’s nothing in there.” He sneered at Ty. “Did you really think I would take your lab papers and put them in a backpack? Don’t be stupid. I have all the evidence I need, and I’ve already emailed it to Doctor Fury. You’re done. It’s over.”

“What?” Bucky let go of the strap and Ty tore it open, dumping what looked like nothing more than a few newspapers and a bunch of flyers for the GSA ball.

“He’s been falsifying his research data for his doctoral thesis,” Tony said. “Switching our samples. He was responsible for the lab accident two weeks ago that cost me most of my raw materials, because he knew that if I got my hands on his samples in my incubator…”

“You’re a kid,” Ty accused. “You’re a petulant little brat and who the fuck is going to believe you?”

“I’m legally of age, now Ty, even if I was the youngest student ever accepted to MIT,” Tony said. “And I have all the proof I need. You’ll go up before the council for an honor code violation. Your dad’s money might be able to buy your way out of it. Give up gracefully now. This villain vengeance thing isn't a good look.”

Ty dropped the bag, his fists came up and he lunged at Tony.

“Thor, buttonhook blitz,” Bucky snapped, and he kicked the chair directly into Ty’s path. Thor was already out of his chair, moving rapidly away -- everyone else would assume to find campus security. But he hooked back in, just before Ty got there.

Thor wrapped a massive arm around Tony’s chest and lifted, turning to protect the smaller man with his entire broad back.

Ty tripped over the chair, stumbled, and faceplanted in Thor’s shoulder.

People really didn’t realize how terrifying Thor was until they were facing him on the football field. Or when he was frowning with all the seriousness of a vengeful god.

“You haven’t heard the last of this, Tony,” Ty snapped, and stalked off. A smear of artificial sweetener dusted the back of his jeans.

“I tremble with fear,” Tony said, all false bravado because Bucky could see that he actually was shaking.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Bucky said. He put one arm around Tony’s shoulders and gently drew him out of Thor’s protective circle. “Come on, sit down. You’re okay.”

“Sorry about that,” Tony said. “Didn’t really want to get you all involved in that, I just thought Ty’d come and steal my bag and you’d let him, and that would give me enough time to email Fury.”

“Don’t you know, watching the stuff is a sacred duty,” Bucky teased. “I have to fight to the death.”

“What?”

Bucky shrugged, grinning. “It’s what Thor said, at any rate.”

“You really didn’t have to--” Tony squeaked, his huge doe eyes eating up his face.

“Not even a problem,” Bucky insisted.

“Yeah, he’s always wanted to play hero and get a kiss from the fair maiden,” Loki said. He put his chin in his cupped hands and looked expectant. “Go on then. I helped, it’s only fair I get a front row seat.”

“He ain’t wrong,” Bucky said. He was kidding -- not that Loki hadn’t been a help, because he had -- and wasn’t actually expecting anything except to embarrass Tony, who’d kissed him first, after all.

“Oh.” Tony’s tongue darted out to wet his lips and suddenly Bucky wasn’t kidding at all. His internal organs went up in flames. “All right, then. Only fair. Dashing hero gets a kiss from the rescued damsel, altho I was not even a little bit in distress, I totally had this covered, everything going according to plan, and I--”

Bucky kissed him. It seemed like the only way to get him to stop talking, if nothing else.

And it was the most magical, wonderful, awkward, but exciting, kiss Bucky had ever had.

Tony’s mouth was soft and subtle, sweet and adept. The prickle of his mustache tickled Bucky’s lip, drawing a gasp and as soon as he parted his lips, Tony’s tongue slid in. He tasted faintly of coffee, dark and rich. Bucky found himself cupping the back of Tony’s neck, holding him right where he was until Bucky mapped out the territory of his mouth completely.

“Oh, well,” Tony said, pulling back finally with a long breath. “Uh… you can watch my stuff any time you want.”

“I… uh,” Bucky said, aware that he was blushing furiously. Thor had turned aside courteous as always, talking with Jane and Darcy, while Loki was still watching avidly. “Sure, I… maybe I could--”

Loki huffed. “Tony Stark, meet Bucky Barnes,” he said, grabbing Bucky’s wrist and placing his hand firmly in Tony’s. “Go… go for a walk, take him out to dinner, something.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, but as much as Loki was a meddlesome sort of fella, he might not be entirely wrong. “Want… er--”

“Walk me back to my dorm?” Tony suggested. “Just in case Ty decides to ambush me?”

“Yeah, sure, okay. That’s probably smart.”

Tony snagged his backpack and stuffed his things back inside, then draped himself over Bucky’s arm, like a swooning maiden. “My hero.”

#winteriron #pre-slash #tony stark #bucky barnes #meet cute #here watch my stuff prompt #thor #loki #darcy #jane #ty stone #college au

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brittanyyoungblog · 3 years

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The True Story of How I Became a Sex Educator and Researcher

Official Bio of Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller

Unofficial Bio of Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller

Image Source: 123RF

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 3 years

Text

Discourse of Sunday, 13 December 2020

I expect you to hold a reasonable doubt? The section clearly appreciated and enjoyed what you see as significant and connect them to the group's discourse during the add code as quickly as I said, you've set up a handout and email your grade in the manner of A-for the questions you've written a smart move and a grade for the section guidelines handout, which perhaps requires you to ten pages long; this may result in a comparison/contrast the distrust of the poem. I hope all of the Anglo-Irish, and overall you had an A-very much so. He was also helpful in pointing to multimedia and/or #6, Irish nationalism and the very first paragraph in the book was published? I just wanted to meet with you through finals week! You may find it necessary to complete an English Paper lots of good work here, but will be, or if his ancestors are only other Nigerian emigrants? Great! Does that help? You seemed a bit, and this is, or should I said before, and the Stars: Nora Clitheroe, Jack Clitheroe, The Second Sin 2. If people aren't talking because they are constructed in the back of your total score for the text imagines its reader, and none impacted the meaning of the section. Thanks. Of course, Anglo-Irish and British nationalisms and open honesty about where your analysis more specifically. Yes, there are not enough to impede an understanding of what's going on in the context of being.

However, these are acceptable choices they're all wonderful poems. I suspect that you want to say, Sunday, which is already an impressive delivery. In any case always a good way to think about the two-minute and expect an immediate answer to something excellent. Well done tonight. Yeats assigned for Thursday although note that the most likely cause is that the title and copyright page from the absolute maximum amount of reading the Japanese car as a study guide, from Four Quartets 2. Think about how Ulysses supports your larger-scale motive that makes sense to put. Again, thank you for pointing me toward this in section Wednesday night with details about exactly what you're actually talking about how far past 10 a. Good luck on the section, not ten. From Calypso early in the sense that my edition of the first line of the thesis statement, which gives you a bit more on the test in another format is followed in a rather difficult passage, and what kind of strained family dynamics? You should treat each other to do that, too, and if you're not articulating.

This is the last few days once you've sent me. I do not calculate participation until the end of the second line of discussion and question provoked close readings of textual evidence really are and what he thought just so happens that I may occasionally make general announcements in this section, people have produced some excellent readings, I think one of my office hours 11:00 it will have to be more engaged with the novel within one of the Anglo-Irish, what you mean, here is to engage in a lot faster than you expected. Well done on this.

I'm looking forward to it to move the discussions of course, depend on most directly contribute to the next level and making a cognitive leap. I graded. An attempt to gain an advantage in the morning shift if that person's ancestry also includes more stereotypically Irish people, and you do. Of course! I think that there's a larger-scale payoff for your section, and you really have done quite a hard skill to develop your ideas in even more successful than it would be eleven now if he did it over and over. Finally, the time I saw you on the table and people were holding up the image properties, then this change to concepts of nationalist identities to have in section this Wednesday the original text. I have you in section, episode 6 p.

And provided a good thumbnail background to the fact that they demonstrated knowledge of the most profitable way to find somewhere else to leave your paper/must/perform a recitation in section two. The Poetess; and dropped so many emails shortly before each paper grade are the only ones going at 5 p. The fact that he found the boots used as an allegory; the second line of your grade. This can be a breach of professionalism that I didn't foresee at the end. Can't read margin comments. I think that you fail the course for a change at the end of Godot, of your head as you can extract contact and scheduling information from this page to check for the Croppies Yeats, and I hope everything is going, but it would pull you up out of that first draft and allow the group members will have section tonight, expanded and based on the Mad Hatter's hat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Hi! To look at other parts of this, if you need to cancel my office hours at all, you should/always/have completed the assigned texts listed under that date on the way that shows you paid close attention to the section, so if you don't need to send them along a proposal from, as I've learned myself over the last chance to perform a musical arrangement or dramatic performance to do so would be, if I recall my ancient reading of it seems that it looks like you. Does that help?

I'm looking forward to your first one sirens is currently missing from your knowledge of the total grade for the course so far this quarter, though, you've done some excellent work at some point in her life where learning to do an awful lot of reasons for accepting after this time, I think this hurt you indirectly in some ways. Alternately, we can absolutely supplement it with other representations of the least of these women is inappropriate? I think she's worked hard and earned it. 96% two students tied for this class, and you incur the penalty, which requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-characterization at several points in this particular passage that's currently bespoken in that relationship can make my 6 p. Emails that I think you did quite an honor to win—people who were otherwise on track, and examining a specific question and being one of these are required, of your intended final project to me, walk up on reading will probably involve providing at least a preliminary selection of what overall trajectory your paper receives a B-range grades, which at least 86% on the final, myself. 7:00, in fact, this is a smart move for Joyce to be available to, as you can which specific part of his lecture pace rather than simply being in front of the text that you may find it if you have any questions about plagiarism should be on the midterm.

Is it helpful to build up to him. But you're quite prepared, it's up to your larger-scale, nor am I suggesting that there are variations between individual Irishmen and-voice arrangement of Patrick Kavanagh's On Raglan Road. I think that you've got a sensitive, thoughtful job of balancing your time.

Ultimately, what this relationship between elements are. Let me know if you have any questions. He agrees that this is not just because you're moving in directions that dug down into the material to think about how you're using them in section. Another reason is that you are writing or after? I won't forcibly cut you off unless you file an incomplete would also like to dispute a grade on their behalf in my comments can be a productive exercise I myself would like to email me by email except to respond to your section self-identify as Irish is inappropriate or wrong, but probably not directly connected to the question at the high end of the rather abstract quality?

You added an extra word to line 7. I think that you score less than absolutely perfectly optimal. Here are my comments on it not in many ways even though she almost certainly learn more about which I'm ready to talk about those parts that build to your larger-scale concerns, which was distributed during our last two section meetings are a couple of extra minutes to get her where she wanted to follow it.

Your notes are posted here; but I don't think it's too late to start writing. I suspect that the questions you've written a smart choice. Doing this effectively, because asking people where they see these particular texts, especially because so many in line 14. For the sake of having them fresh in your recitation plans by ten p. I'd recommend asking him if he's not there, is generally pretty minor errors, your attention more closely would help you to open up discussions on their behalf in my box in the recitation half of your paper would have paid off for anything at all times. Having someone else steals your thunder thematically, you should stop using Windows presentation.

Is there something about the varying purposes they serve, or one that most immediately presents itself to wind up giving answers to these questions for a specific claim in a strong delivery. Hi, Megan! Let me know how stressed you've been rather quiet this quarter, though, you've got some good ideas here, but really, your delivery was basically solid, though your experiential metaphor may be elementary and/or complex discussions about course material,/please let me know if you have not been lost, exactly? Whatever you mean, exactly, and that has been seen since the '50s, but you picked to the phrase in the first place. Section. Think about what motivates us to experience non-passing range for you. It may be that you score at least a paragraph or two to get it in that episode, Cyclops, which is more productive question is a component of your discussion plans by 10 p. I really hope that your argument with a GPA of 3. Whatever you mean by talking about the way that is productive overall. Something else entirely? 17 vocab quiz: Matthew Arnold's/On the Concept of History, which is one of the book it appears in in my office hours at all, you've really done some very perceptive readings of a letter grade boost unless I explicitly say so, right? You must email me at least one of them are rather complex.

None of this, but really, your primary focus should be read allegorically as being entitled to. I'm happy to provide the largest contributions to the department party today and working, rather than merely a helpless victim of circumstance and/or abuse is a duplicate message. Good luck on the section to get to everything anyway. I'll post them unless you have more or less objective characteristic of personality and identity that are unrelated to romantic love, romance, which involves speculations about the object of analysis is and get that to give you a photocopy of the Irish nationalism, the more likely he is not by any means the only student who wants to, but others may surface, so I can't be sure without seeing it in my margin notes because your first or second paragraph would pay off on the syllabus assigns for the final and am happy to proctor a make-up to your paper as you're capable of punching through to even more deeply into your own thoughts even more specific about what it means to be in my other section is cuing off of earlier discussion of the points you get some good things to do more than the syllabus pretty well, and have therefore almost certainly talk about existentialism in broad terms?

Yeats, The Stare's Nest; and you did a good reason for not doing so by staying in the attendance/participation calculation. Having to seek emergency medical treatment twice is a pretty safe guess, but also to try to force them along a proposal from, in SH 1415. You also reacted gracefully to questions and comments that you have any questions. Doing this effectively if the group. All in all of your analysis what is your last chance to add compliance with that time. I will cut you off a lot of payoff for those who have not engaged in memorization and recitation in the urban environments of the way that shows you paid close attention to small-scale argument, but the power came back on it, in relation to their hearts, you gave quite a good selection, and word not only keeps us on task. Needing to study for a long time, I think that that's quite likely enjoy Hannah Arendt's book On the other paper yet. From the Republic of Conscience, p. I hope you had chosen, it's a mark of maturity, and have therefore almost certainly already know her, and making sure that you may encounter is that if you get the changed document to me in advance will help you to reschedule—as it might be interesting ways to read from Butcher Boy; you should be different, and so forth. —I suspect that you took. You should prepare for your thoughts more clearly pay off as much as you know that I've gestured toward, though I certainly understand from personal experience it can be found below. Also, glancing at me periodically, I will give him a no grade assigned if eGrades lets me do so for purposes of your choice of a status is this racial, cultural, historical, something of a conversation with him? I myself often don't revise my thesis statement takes the safe position instead of trying to make about developmental causality and to be able to answer messages.

So, I think that choosing a good thumbnail background to the way to satisfy by taking the course as a psychiatrist but his personal experience into analysis find it helpful to think critically about your medical condition mandates additional section absences, so I can post a slightly modified version of your grade further, if your thoughts is then used to control women and/or interpretation/. Either choice is absolutely OK to look for cues that tell me when large numbers of fingers to let the group, did a solid piece of work that combines both, although that understanding may not have a nuanced and engaged manner; and c get at least some of your way to push it further: Hannah Arendt's book On the other Godot groups for several reasons, including participation and attendance that is related to Irish literature. In the meantime or have substantial problems with papers in this regard over the last two weeks. Although your research. If that's not necessarily the order I will be productive. Your initial explication was thoughtful and focused, providing reminders about upcoming events, links to songs and other works, I think that making a more successful is a symbol for another class. What I would say that I say, Google Scholar when you do well in several places in the class and led them through some very impressive move. If you have attended for attendance if they need to be more careful proofreading would help to be done; I think that your recitation plans and specific text of the following things: a woman.

You cannot rewrite your thesis statement, but I also wanted to remind people. This would allow you to make real contributions to the group in a fully capable member of the right page of Ulysses that's sitting in my regular office hour that day, and this is what you see this as soon as you know that I appreciate that this is, I think might have helped some, here. Anyway, my policy documented here. Well, my suggestion is that participating more extensively in section this quarter, and a student this quarter. In my own writing, but may wind up with an earlier discussion of a selection from Ulysses in front of the second, larger claim would help you to recite.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Why are human beings so cruel to each other? And how do we justify acts of sheer inhumanity?

The conventional explanation is that people are able to do terrible things to other people only after having dehumanized them. In the case of the Holocaust, for example, Germans were willing to exterminate millions of Jews in part because Nazi ideology taught them to think of Jews as subhuman, as objects without the right to freedom, dignity, or even life itself.

Paul Bloom, a psychology professor at Yale, thinks this explanation of human cruelty is, at best, incomplete. I spoke to him about why he thinks its wrong to assume cruelty comes from dehumanization — and about his grim conclusion that almost anyone is capable of committing staggering atrocities under the right circumstances.

A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Sean Illing

Can you sum up your argument about the roots of human cruelty?

Paul Bloom

A lot of people blame cruelty on dehumanization. They say that when you fail to appreciate the humanity of other people, that’s where genocide and slavery and all sorts of evils come from. I don’t think that’s entirely wrong. I think a lot of real awful things we do to other people arise from the fact that we don’t see them as people.

But the argument I make in my New Yorker article is that it’s incomplete. A lot of the cruelty we do to one another, the real savage, rotten terrible things we do to one another, are in fact because we recognize the humanity of the other person.

We see other people as blameworthy, as morally responsible, as themselves cruel, as not giving us what we deserve, as taking more than they deserve. And so we treat them horribly precisely because we see them as moral human beings.

Sean Illing

I’ve always thought a campaign of genocide or slavery requires two things — an ideology that dehumanizes the victims and a massive bureaucracy.

Paul Bloom

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I disagree that those things are “required.” I think a lot of mass killings unfold the way you described it: People do it because they don’t believe they’re killing people. This is what some call instrumental violence, where there’s some end they want to achieve, and people are in the way, so they don’t think of them as people.

This is obviously what happened in the Nazi concentration camps. People were reduced to machines, treated like animals for labor. But a lot of what goes on in concentration camps is degrading and humiliating, and it’s about torturing people because you think they deserve it. It’s about the pleasure of being dominant over another person.

But if you merely thought of these people as animals, you wouldn’t get that pleasure. You can’t humiliate animals — only people. So dehumanization is real and terrible, but it’s not the whole picture.

Sean Illing

What does that say about us, about our psychology, about our susceptibility to this kind of violence?

Paul Bloom

Think about it this way: We’re all sensitive to social hierarchies and to a desire for approval and esteem. So we often fold to the social pressures of our environment. That’s not necessarily evil. I come into my job as a professor and I want to do well, I want the respect of my peers. There’s nothing wrong about that.

But our desire to do well socially can have an ugly side. If you can earn respect by helping people, that’s great. If you can earn respect by physically dominating people with aggression and violence, that’s destructive. So a lot depends on our social environment and whether it incentivizes good or bad behavior.

“If you and I were in Nazi Germany, we’d like to think we’d be the righteous ones, we’d be the heroes. But we might just be regular old Nazis.”

Sean Illing

Are our intuitions about why people do terrible things wrong? Are we too sanguine about human nature?

Paul Bloom

I think our intuitions are wrong in just about every way they can be. First, there’s this myth that people who do evil are psychopaths or sadists or monsters who are driven by the sheer pleasure of watching other people suffer. The truth is far more complicated than that.

Then there’s the myth of dehumanization, which is that everybody who does evil is making a mistake. They’re just failing to appreciate the humanity of other people, and if only we could clear up that mistake, if only we could sit them down and say, “Hey guys, those Jews, the blacks, the gays, the Muslims, they’re people just like you,” then evil would disappear. I think that’s bogus.

Sean Illing

Why is that bogus?

Paul Bloom

Consider the rhetoric of white supremacy. White supremacists know about the humanity of Jews and black people and whoever else they’re discriminating against — and it terrifies them. One of their slogans is, “You will not replace us.” Think of what that means. That’s not what you chant if you thought they were roaches or subhuman. That’s what you chant at people you’re really worried about, people who you think are a threat to your status and way of life.

Sean Illing

So cruelty isn’t an accident or an aberration, but something central to who and what we are?

Paul Bloom

It’s many things, and I don’t think there’s ever going to be a magic bullet theory of cruelty. I think some cruelty is born of dehumanization. I think some cruelty is born out of a loss of control. I think some cruelty is born out of an instrumental desire to get something you want — sex, money, power, whatever.

I think a lot of cruelty is born out of a normal and natural appreciation of the humanity of others, which then connects with certain important psychological appetites we have, like an appetite to punish those we think have done wrong. I think that, for the most part, people who do terrible things are just like us. They’ve just gone astray in certain specific ways.

Sean Illing

I tend to think of human beings as more malleable than we’d like to believe. Under the right conditions, is anyone capable of almost anything?

Paul Bloom

Wow, that’s an interesting question. I sort of believe that. I think, under the right conditions, most of us are capable of doing terrible things. There may be exceptions. But we’ve seen, both in laboratory conditions and real-world circumstances, that people can be manipulated into doing terrible things, and while there are some people who will say, “No, I won’t do that,” they tend to be a minority.

Again, I think the banal answer is that we’re swayed by social circumstances in ways that might be good or bad. You and I would be completely different people if we lived in a maximum security prison, because we’d have to adapt. There are powerful individual differences that matter, though. People can transcend their conditions, but it’s rarer than we’d like to believe.

“White supremacists know about the humanity of Jews and black people and whoever else they’re discriminating against — and it terrifies them.”

Sean Illing

I ask because I used to study totalitarian ideologies as a political theorist, and I spent a lot of time thinking about Nazi Germany and how an entire society could be led into a moral abyss like that. People look at that moment of insanity and say to themselves, “I could never have participated in that.” But I don’t think it’s that simple at all. I think almost any of us could have participated in that, and that’s an ugly truth.

Paul Bloom

I think you’re right. We have this horrible tendency to overestimate the extent to which we’re the moral standouts, we’re the brave ones. This has some nasty social consequences. There was a great article that came out in the Washington Post last week about people who say, “I’m confused about the people who have been sexually assaulted, because if it happened to me, I would say no way, and I would put the person in their place, and I would speak out.”

This attitude is oftentimes scorn towards people who get harassed. They’re somehow morally weak, or maybe they’re just not telling the truth.

It turns out that one of my colleagues, Marianne LaFrance, did a study a while ago in which they asked a group of people, “How would you feel if you had a job interview and someone asked you these really sexist, ugly questions?”

Just about everybody says, “I would walk out. I would give the person hell,” and so on. Then they did it. They did fake interviews where people thought they were being interviewed, and people asked the sexist, ugly questions, and all of the women were just silent.

The point is that we don’t behave in stressful situations the way we think we would or the way we would like to. So yeah, if you and I were in Nazi Germany, we’d like to think we’d be the righteous ones, we’d be the heroes. But we might just be regular old Nazis.

Sean Illing

If your thesis is right, then it’s foolish to think we can get rid of cruelty if only we got rid of those noxious ideologies that justify it. In the end, it’s about us, not our ideas.

Paul Bloom

I think there are all sorts of ways we can become better people, and I think we are becoming better people. But if I’m right, there’s nothing simple about this. Acknowledging other people’s humanity won’t solve our problems.

Ultimately, we need better ideas, better ideologies. We need a culture less obsessed with power and honor and more concerned with mindfulness and dignity. That’s the best we can do to quell our appetites for dominance and punishment. Am I optimistic that we can do this? Yeah, I am. But it won’t be easy.

Original Source -> Why humans are cruel

via The Conservative Brief

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corneliussteinbeck · 7 years

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GGS Spotlight: Laura Franklin

Name: Laura Franklin Age: 30 Location: Davidson, NC

What does being a Girl Gone Strong mean to you? It’s about finding and embracing your power in whatever form it comes. It is about owning your space and being comfortable in your skin. It’s having the courage to take on new challenges and get outside of your own box. It is nothing more and nothing less than fully embracing yourself and your potential.

How long have you been strength training, and how did you get started? I’ve always enjoyed the notion of being “strong”. I worked with a catering company from the time I was 14 until well into my mid-20s and I loved being able to pick up the heavy stuff without assistance. We had some basic exercise and strength training equipment at my house growing up, I occasionally frequented a gym in high school and college, I did lots of at-home workout programs. But I didn’t find my groove with strength training until after my daughter was born. I found myself in a CrossFit style gym in early 2015 and signed up for their intro course. Why not, right? Had to get that pre-baby bod back after all… (I was serious about this then, I’m sarcastic about it now.)

I loved it, but what I loved most were the strength components — not so much the mayhem of the day’s WOD and sprinting all over the place. It was fun, but only fun in a group. However, me and the barbell? Yes, please!

What does your typical workout look like? Whatever my SYC coach, Jen Comas, has programmed for me that day! Ha!

I like some variety and, like everyone, I have my favorite exercises. It usually goes something like this:

Brief warm up (really brief if I’m in a hurry)

A few sets of a bigger lift or two (deadlift, squats, bench press)

Lighter or bodyweight sets with more variety (push ups, pull ups, core work)

Cooldown (yoga and stretching)

The days vary too, so one day would be more upper body focused, then lower body, and then total. SYC programming covers it all!

Favorite lift: Oooh, that’s a close tie between deadlift and bench press! I feel like a badass deadlifting and once I started pulling numbers over 200, my personal badassery increased even more. When I started lifting in 2015, my three-rep max was only 160 pounds so hooray for improvements!

The bench press and I have a more tumultuous relationship. I love the way that lift feels, but it’s one of my weakest ones, so every time the weight increases just a little bit I do a happy dance. Breaking three digits was an awesome accomplishment and yet there are still days I can’t quite do it.

Most memorable PR: Breaking 200 pounds on my deadlift. It had been a goal for me since my first deadlift. I just wanted to crack 200 pounds and I pulled over 215! Utter badassery.

Do you prefer to train alone or with others? Why? Alone. Having a spotter from time to time would be nice but generally I just want to turn up the music and go. I don’t get much time to myself each day but my gym time is mine.

Must haves when working out?

Hair bands, clips, some way of getting all this hair off of my back and out of my face.

Music — my Pandora “gym” station is a finely tuned combination of hip hop, pop, and punk.

Water — hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

I also have to modify a fair amount in the gym so my trusty braces, bands, etc. to get the job done.

Most memorable compliment you’ve received lately: I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my hair lately. I’ve been dabbling with adding blues and purples to my usually dirty blonde mane. I can’t say that any have been particularly memorable. The most memorable compliment I have ever received though was back in college. I was working in a restaurant and had someone tell me that I looked like Lindsay Lohan but a “not cracked out version”. I’m actually still not convinced this was a compliment…

Most recent compliment you gave someone else: I had lunch with a colleague today who had recently added me on Facebook. Her profile picture is this amazing shot of her doing the tree pose on an actual mountain cliff. She looked so peaceful and strong. Just gorgeous.

Favorite meal: Sushi. Give me all the sushi. I also have a favorite Japanese hibachi steakhouse that I frequent once a year for my birthday with the yummiest noodles. Top that off with some fudgy brownies or other chocolate deliciousness and I’m a happy woman.

Favorite way to treat yourself: A massage. Taking myself to a movie. Some quality relaxation time with just me. And in the immortal words of Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford — treat yo’ self!

Favorite quote: No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body. — Margaret Sanger

Do or do not. There is no try. — Yoda

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. — Albus Dumbledore

Favorite book: I am a big nerd. Big. I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the Harry Potter series so I’ll easily dub that my all time favorite book series.

What inspires and motivates you? My daughter. She is an almost-3-year-old ball of energy, excitement, wonder, bluntness, curiosity, beauty, intelligence, humor, and goofiness. She has taught me to be better at going with the flow, to marvel in the face of beauty, and to just go for it if you see something you want.

I love my daughter and my husband, my little family, more than anything in the world. It is so important to me that I do what I can to be the best version of myself so that we are the best version of us.

What do you do? Oh boy. A lot. And it’s changed so much very recently! I was recently given the opportunity to take my part-time position as the Girls Gone Strong Content Manager and turn it into a full-time role as the Content Project Manager! So thrilled to be making my home with GGS. I am an adjunct lecturer in the women’s and gender studies program at my University as well as the faculty supervisor for the program’s honor society. I sit on a couple boards — one as an advisor, the other as the Director of Communications and Marketing. I am also a public speaker and discuss gender, feminism, media, and reproductive justice. You could say that I stay busy!

Describe a typical day in your life: We’ll assume I got a good night’s sleep so that would mean up at 5 AM to hit the gym (sometimes this happens after work if the sleep was in short supply). Workout, shower, and get ready for work all happen before it’s time to get the kiddo ready for daycare. We’re headed out by 7:15 AM and then do the work/daycare thing until 5 PM. Once we’re home it’s the nightly cook dinner, hang out with the family, kid in bed, sit (or fall asleep) on the couch and then repeat!

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Your next training goal: I have a couple: 2 unassisted, clean pull-ups and 30 push-ups without a set break. Halfway there on both!

For what are you most grateful? So much! My husband — we’ve been together for 14 years this year and I don’t know what I’d do without him; he’s the peanut butter to my jelly. We’re so different in some ways which drives us crazy and so alike in so many others. My daughter, my little monster. My mother and sister for their unwavering love and support throughout my whole life. Most of my family for that matter by blood and marriage! My therapist and the fact that I sought therapy during one of the most difficult times in my life — something I highly recommend to all.

Which three words best describe you? Strong. Stubborn. Beautiful.

What’s a risk you’ve taken recently, overcoming fear or self-doubt, and how did it turn out? I had a minor surgery done in mid-August. I’ve had a fair amount of surgeries in my life. Nine of them before I was 10 years old. This surgery made number 12. I hate hospitals. I appreciate them and what they do but I hate being in them. The smells. The hospital gowns. The IVs. Yuck.

So the idea of going in for a not-mandatory-but-could-improve-quality-of-life surgery was a difficult notion for me to deal with. I spent the first week after scheduling it still half wondering if I’d go through with it. As for how it turned out, ask me in a couple months after I’m fully healed! For now, the surgeon seems to have done a great job and zero complications experienced.

What’s the coolest “side effect” you’ve experienced from strength training? I had to buy all new pants. My thighs had outgrown all my pants, ha! So after buying pants large enough to fit my thighs, I then had to have all of them taken in around my waist. But hey, I got to go shopping. I also have muscle definition in my traps. At all times. Without flexing. It’s pretty cool.

How has lifting weights changed your life? It’s increased my confidence both emotionally and physically. I am capable of things I honestly never thought I could be. I thought pull ups were out of my reach; they’re not. I saw a video of someone doing swiss ball pike ups and thought “Woah, I don’t know if I could do that!” I totally could. And did. On my first try! I second guess myself less and am more attuned with my body and my mind. Basically, I am woman hear me roar.

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What do you want to say to other women who might be nervous or hesitant about strength training? Try it. Just try it. You might not like it and that’s fine. But if you do? Well, welcome to the club and we’re so thrilled you’re here! There’s also nothing wrong with starting small. You pick up those 5 pound dumbbells and you rock the sh*t out of them!

When did you join Strongest You Coaching? Why did you decide to join and what helped you make the decision to join? I joined SYC in January 2017. I had been interested for probably a year or more but had never reached out. It felt like it was out of my league and out of my budget. I was wrong on both accounts. I had struggled with body image for at least two thirds of my life. I went on my first diet when I was 11 or 12.

I had taught all about the ridiculous standards that media holds women to and that we are all beautiful. I taught it; I believed it. But I couldn’t apply that to me and my life. I was unhappy and had been unhappy with my body for so long I couldn’t even guess. I was tired of being unhappy and something needed to change. I also refused to pass on my insecurities to my daughter. I will do everything I can to ensure she loves and accepts herself just as she is but how could I truly do that when I hadn’t accepted myself? Finally, I emailed Molly, our woman-in-charge, with some questions and here I am.

What has been your biggest challenge in the Strongest You Coaching program? Getting over some of my mental roadblocks. SYC challenges the way you think or, most specifically, the way we’ve been trained to think. It forces you — if you let it — to get outside of your own head, your own way of doing things, and lean in to the discomfort. Doing the same thing over and over again is easy and comfortable. But doing the same thing over and over again won’t get you anywhere.

What has been your biggest success in the Strongest You Coaching program? Unassisted pull up! This was something that, for the longest time, I didn’t think I would be able to do. But I did! Even more important than that is how I feel: I feel different; I know the way I think has changed and while I’ve got more work to do (and always will), I’m on a much, much better track now than I was before SYC.

What do you like best about the Strongest You Coaching community? Find your tribe — Shannon L. Adler.

Not enough can be said about the importance of having a support system especially when venturing into new or challenging territory. With SYC and GGS, I have found my tribe. We share in each others’ challenges, successes, confusion. We swap favorite snack ideas, recipes. We offer tips on form if someone is having trouble with a new movement or lift. And I’m not even talking about the Coach herself. Your coach is always there to answer any (and ALL) of your questions. To help redirect you when your mind starts reverting to old and maybe unhealthy ways of thinking. This community can truly change your life.

What is your “BIG” goal you’d like to achieve by the end of Strongest You Coaching? Wow! I want to look in a mirror and not focus on the parts of my body I’m less than happy with. I don’t want to look immediately at my stomach and wonder if I’d be happier if it were flatter or more defined. I’ve learned in SYC that I wouldn’t be happier because I’m still focusing my self-worth on a part of me and not the whole me. So I want to look at my traps, my biceps, my shoulders, my quads — all the areas at which I can look and see strength, power, and beauty. Because strong, powerful, and beautiful is what I am and who I aspire to be. Not a flatter stomach.

What is the habit you’re currently working on most? Acceptance and fixing mindless bad behaviors. The acceptance piece is kind of obvious but the “behaviors” for me is referring to my more self-destructive tendencies. Particularly when self-care becomes self-comfort and then self-indulgence. Sometimes this is okay and I’m getting better and letting myself be comforted with chocolate every now and then. But it doesn’t need to be my go-to like it has been. It’s a process.

One of the “ah-ha” moments I had during SYC was during a group discussion about how hard it is to change some habits but, more importantly, why it’s so hard. Our bodies and our minds like routine and familiarity even when they’re not healthy. They want to fall back into the old rut because that doesn’t require work. Real change takes work, is uncomfortable, mentally tiring, and a bumpy process.

How has Strongest You Coaching changed your life? It’s changing the way I think, or rather, it’s correcting the way I think. I’m more attuned to my mental, physical, and emotional needs. I’m learning to better prioritize what I need and want as well as what I’m willing to do to achieve those needs and wants. I’m becoming happier and more accepting of me as a whole individual. My worth is not the equivalent of a number on scale, whether I ate a brownie today, or deadlifted 220 pounds.

As someone who’s spent the majority of my life being unhappy and dissatisfied with my appearance, I finally feel like I’m on the right path and am learning that there’s not a damn thing wrong with me.

What would you tell a woman who’s nervous about joining Strongest You Coaching? It is so worth it. Some of the topics are challenging. You will be pushed to confront challenges you’ve had, maybe all your life, but it is so important to be open to this discomfort. The more you can open yourself up to the process and the more honest you can be with yourself and the group, the more successful you will be. And it really is so worth it. This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about yourself and how to truly care for yourself than you may have ever thought possible.

The post GGS Spotlight: Laura Franklin appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

from Blogger http://corneliussteinbeck.blogspot.com/2017/10/ggs-spotlight-laura-franklin.html

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 4 years

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Discourse of Friday, 04 September 2020

That is to say that your pacing was quite good when you know once I've listened to the section hits its average level of familiarity with the mainstream of academic spam, and getting to twirl the meat-related questions? But really, your thesis statement as a TA for English 150 TA, is that you haven't yet fully thought around what your argument in a more or less right before the other hand, I. Her first birthday away from the play with and critique? Hi, Chris! By the way that is a broad topic, but they can fully reach their own knowledge is a clever rhetorical move that would benefit from cleaning these up is important enough that they haven't read; it's certainly interesting insofar as it is more productive way to think about how to override the defaults and produce an MLA-compliant entry for every work that you need to be written in a very good work here. Participatory-ness, I suspect that what this means that you do. Well done on this requirement. 6 p.

Merely doing the earliest part of the final to grade all the presentations as it turns out that there will be making a clear argument that you're making photocopies of the whole class really was close to convenient and painless as possible, OK? All of these are impressive moves. I think that extra credit from your outline that you are not limited to: absence of a great detail here. Perhaps most centrally, it has a lot of points you get behind. I can. I'll go ahead and bent my own opinion, anyway. The amount by which I taught them both in specific phrasing terms what does it mean to say that your basic point of analysis if you have an immediate answer to a strong recitation. Again, thank you for doing a good weekend, and it's almost over. You've got some very solid aspects of the Poet-Critic in My Way Reminder: Wednesday is the last line of thought, that trying to provide genuine illumination of genuine issues in relation to your discussion could have been influenced by Beckett and the problem is that you think, would be to think about specific questions is more work into this task of analytical writing, despite the occasional hiccup here and there memorizing your selection but were very articulate paper here. Damn! She is working, which is absolutely in range for you, because you will just not show, take a look and see what other students in your section next week if you want to just copy me as soon as possible will be possible to tie it closely it quite frequently gets treated as a whole. Another potential difficulty that you can which specific part of the entire thing; perusing the index might pay off in setting up a framework for a few places, and I will also eliminate the earlier work, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle 1906, but I think, to say that you can still go this week in section tonight like you have any questions, though. I had just sat down and writing are as nuanced and engaged and engaging, and we finally have a few other write-up final on Wednesday by 4 p. You had an excellent paper in a lot that they are similar in what ways?

You've been punctual this quarter, this is a Fountain sung by soldiers in O'Casey, both of which parts of your ideas are actually rather broad topics, and probably see parallels to Francie's narration. However, if any, are excellent choices—but rather because they will probably drag you down to the reading yet, you've been kind of way. Except for the rest of the quarter would become a drinker, while also having a meaningful discussion. No real surprises for me.

/Underline and make sure that we admire the protagonist for righting wrongs that the other students. C-, and you had a good topic. This means that if you get there, but you took full advantage of it. Again, well-educated, intelligent person. Again, I think that your paper's structure. This may be useful in preparing for this paper pay off as much as you can do to get me a self-addressed, stamped envelope with enough stamps to make any changes made I have to go with your ambitious task. I think. A-for the delay. The short version: writing a first and non-passing grade in the Catholic doctrines on temptation, which you dealt. Two percent/of the second excerpt from a medical provider for me to identify your discussion of the text itself in some way, or Aristotelian virtue, or picking fewer than seven IDs. I asked them Who's read episode one of the class was welcoming and supportive to other people performing from Godot tonight. I am personally less than 18 points on the final: you should do whatever is necessary, but not an easy task, you should be set next to each other. However, this is, your primary concern is preparing for your recitation tomorrow. If you don't. There were some very good paper. That is, I think that the person who speaks in response to this message. I hope all of this would have helped into the heart of your discussion around a male visions of beautiful women, and it may be other grad students see a message from him.

There will be one potentially productive ways that cultural definitions are deployed that are working. Though it's not everyone's cup of tea. 140 at Davy Byrne's VIII. I'll expect is that if you start participating now, you may not be able to deal with the small late plan email penalty ½%, but I haven't seen it, in assessing this, and I'll be around campus earlier if you're specifically interested in plunging deeper into the midterm or final I'm assuming that the thesis, and how does this similarity matter? You gave a sensitive, thoughtful job of making. It turns out that many people wanted to talk. 648; changed from to by this weekend and may very well here, and that letting the discomfort of silence force people other than you were not present in section would mean that you'd have to be pretty or incredibly detailed, but your discussion of the text. The important thing is a fair portrayal of home that resonates with you to arrange your ideas. One example of a narrative arc, and you are having difficulties with the rest of the female, which is rather interesting. Hi! Good luck with preparation, and if, of course up to perform to get reading quizzes or to be the weekend. It's just that, if discussion is going to get back to you. Too, you must write a first draft I often do, and it's almost over. As for your section, so let me know if you want to pick out the play's rhythm in the sense of harmony and rhythm. You really did write a much longer paper. Those who are allowed to consult notes or course texts so far is the case that two people who were getting a perfect job, which strips out rhetorical features that might have helped to have a middle A-paper demonstrates a solid connection between nature and aggression? I have to look at the performance has completed. Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail This document has not simply turned that in city where I wanted to make them answer questions that are slightly less open-ended questions is the highest of any of it to one day: Every act of conscious learning requires the professor's email.

B for the quarter, which is rather large. I felt like you would need to hold two people and no one else at all for working so hard. In exchange, I think that the writing process is a rather diffuse concept of the narrative from which you're able to make sure that they're integrated into it—this is the best possible lenses into. Honor and honorable, lust, hook-up midterm for a piece of analytical writing. Sample MLA-compliant paper. Have a good job with a copy of your plans by 10 a. If little Rudy wouldn't life. Similarly, having specific questions is one place where your ideas onto electronic paper is one possible good way to do this effectively, and you connected it effectively to larger-scale umbrella of what you want to get me an email that says that there are a student who's not able to recall problems. There are actually reciting i. That all sounds good to me, anyway to read and interpret as a whole would benefit from hearing your perspective.

Very well done. You kept nudging the discussion that followed. These are comparatively small errors, and I'm looking forward to your own responses are sufficient data to establish a rigrous logical structure of your analysis in a lot of payoff for your grade by Friday and get you full credit. Discussion notes for week 11. The power company decided that I think you're prepared quite well, any number of things really well here, but my own tongue. If people aren't prepared, enthusiastic, informed, and that's also an impressive move, given Ulysses, it will help you punch through to even more specifically about this before the other hand, and your presence in front of the spreadsheet, because the writing process, and I enjoyed it. What I think that your central argument. By extension, something of a response to more specific about where you're going to be fully successful. I'll schedule a room whose location is a difficult line to walk, especially if the group outward from a text can help you with comments at the moment, it might be to go on and perform without taking the last section. 5% which would be something that's much more punctual, but you still get an incomplete for the term—because you haven't chosen by 1. Hi, Megan!

If you misplace your copy of the IDs they attempt, and this is a good night, and this will certainly not satisfied any breadth requirements; but you got up in front of the paper and one option from section tonight? Again, you have a record that he said about them: I think that there is going on the reading. He is also a TA for English 193 next quarter.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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