#WHY DID MY PROFESSOR DECIDE TO USE THIS ARTICLE

[treasure-goblin]

I'm gonna hurt whoever put this article behind a paywall

[porcupine-girl]

An important message to college students: Why you shouldn't use ChatGPT or other "AI" to write papers.

Here's the thing: Unlike plagiarism, where I can always find the exact source a student used, it's difficult to impossible to prove that a student used ChatGPT to write their paper. Which means I have to grade it as though the student wrote it.

So if your professor can't prove it, why shouldn't you use it?

Well, first off, it doesn't write good papers. Grading them as if the student did write it themself, so far I've given GPT-enhanced papers two Ds and an F.

If you're unlucky enough to get a professor like me, they've designed their assignments to be hard to plagiarize, which means they'll also be hard to get "AI" to write well. To get a good paper out of ChatGPT for my class, you'd have to write a prompt that's so long, with so many specifics, that you might as well just write the paper yourself.

ChatGPT absolutely loves to make broad, vague statements about, for example, what topics a book covers. Sadly for my students, I ask for specific examples from the book, and it's not so good at that. Nor is it good at explaining exactly why that example is connected to a concept from class. To get a good paper out of it, you'd have to have already identified the concepts you want to discuss and the relevant examples, and quite honestly if you can do that it'll be easier to write your own paper than to coax ChatGPT to write a decent paper.

The second reason you shouldn't do it?

IT WILL PUT YOUR PROFESSOR IN A REALLY FUCKING BAD MOOD. WHEN I'M IN A BAD MOOD I AM NOT GOING TO BE GENEROUS WITH MY GRADING.

I can't prove it's written by ChatGPT, but I can tell. It does not write like a college freshman. It writes like a professional copywriter churning out articles for a content farm. And much like a large language model, the more papers written by it I see, the better I get at identifying it, because it turns out there are certain phrases it really, really likes using.

Once I think you're using ChatGPT I will be extremely annoyed while I grade your paper. I will grade it as if you wrote it, but I will not grade it generously. I will not give you the benefit of the doubt if I'm not sure whether you understood a concept or not. I will not squint and try to understand how you thought two things are connected that I do not think are connected.

Moreover, I will continue to not feel generous when calculating your final grade for the class. Usually, if someone has been coming to class regularly all semester, turned things in on time, etc, then I might be willing to give them a tiny bit of help - round a 79.3% up to a B-, say. If you get a 79.3%, you will get your C+ and you'd better be thankful for it, because if you try to complain or claim you weren't using AI, I'll be letting the college's academic disciplinary committee decide what grade you should get.

Eventually my school will probably write actual guidelines for me to follow when I suspect use of AI, but for now, it's the wild west and it is in your best interest to avoid a showdown with me.

[deepcreekvulture]

Spencer Reid's College Timeline

So, I was chilling at my local Library and decided to use my very extensive free time to write out Spencer Reid’s College timeline (or at least how it makes the most sense to me).

There’s probably going to be a lot of inconsistencies and possible contradictions in this, but please give me a little grace. I don’t go to college, and I'm just silly. 

I did try to be as accurate as I could, but there’s only so much I can do with my little brain and 10 mgs of Adderall. 

I also tried to be as realistic as I could, especially with considering how Diana’s condition would affect his education. But, again, it's not going to be perfect. Feel free to share your thoughts.

What we know:

-Spencer Reid graduated from a Las Vegas public high school at the age of 12 (01.18 “Somebody’s Watching”)

-He went to Caltech. I personally like to think that he also went to MIT (Breen Frazier has admitted that Spencer saying he want to MIT in 07.04 “Painless” was a continuity error, but I think it is possible that he went to both, just not at the same time.)

-He has 3 PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering (04.08 “Masterpiece”)

-He had 3 Bachelors degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy  (04.08 “Masterpiece”)

-Joined the BAU around July of 2004 at the age of 22 (05.16 “Mosley Lane”)

Spencer is talking to Sarah Hillridge and mentions that he’s been with the BAU for “5 years, 7 months, and 19 days...” doing the math puts it around July of 2004.

-Spencer was born in October of 1981

There is some confusion about whether his birthday is October 12th or October 28th. I believe that his birthday is October 28th 1981, Emily Prentiss’s birthday is October 12th 1970 (04.14 “Cold Comfort” & her headstone)- and it is very unlikely that the two of them would share a birthday and it not be mentioned. (It also gives some more insight to why Spencer loves Halloween so much- it’s right after his birthday!)

So, assuming he started kindergarten at 5 years old, Spencer was in grade school from around 1986-1994. It is likely that he could have finished grade school faster, but a lot of the time public school systems want to keep students from jumping too many grades in order to not stunt their social development. 

I am taking the liberty of assuming that Spencer received all 3 PhDs before joining the FBI- so from age 12-22 (Over 30 years of schooling for three PhDs in the span of around 10 years, wowza).

Someone as smart as Spencer would’ve definitely gotten a 36 on the ACTs, so prestigious universities would be banging down his door to get their hands on his geniusness. BUT, Spencer loves his mom, and he wouldn’t want to stray too far from her. He also says he was drawn to Caltech because of certain professors in an article written about him.

We know that Spencer went to Caltech and would bike to classes and such. He was most likely able to stay at the dorms for free and given financial support from his scholarships. It is unclear how Spencer could’ve balanced having his mom in Nevada while he was in California, but there are buses and public transit to and from Las Vegas to Pasadena (ranging from 4-7 hours for a one way ride, so 8-14 hours round trip). William Reid, despite leaving Spencer and Diana, most likely maintained providing money to them due to paternal obligation and guilt.

There are, of course, ways for Spencer to care for his mom even all the way in Pasadena: Neighbors could’ve checked on Diana regularly/daily, Spencer could’ve called daily to remind her to take her medicine, etc.

To make Spencer going to both Caltech and MIT make sense, I figure Spencer would get his PhDs in Mathematics and Chemistry from Caltech then after Diana is institutionalized Spencer enrolls in MIT for engineering. 

The University term dates are loosely based on the academic calendar they provide on their websites.

(Rough) Caltech term dates:

Spring term: April to June

Summer term: June to August

Fall term: September to December

Winter term: January to March

(Rough) MIT term dates:

Spring term: February to May

Summer term:June to August

Fall term: September to December

I know that in the U.S. you don’t have to have a Masters degree to get into the PhD program, but Spencer likes to learn and I figured he might want to get the most out of his time in college- or it might be a little contingency from the University so he’s still pacing himself and they can still see his growth and all that good stuff.

NOW ONTO THE TIMELINE.

At Caltech, Spencer would most likely have more freedom to complete his schooling faster and they would’ve worked with him to create a good plan for him to complete things at his own pace while also following whatever school protocols they have. 

Spencer stays in Pasadena from the Fall term (Begins around mid September), through the winter term, and until the end of the Spring term (Ends around end of June), he goes home to Las Vegas during the summer term and winter/spring breaks.

Beginning of Fall 1994- Starts college @ Caltech studying Mathematics– Age: 12 turning 13

End of Spring 1995- Finishes his Bachelors in Mathematics– Age: 13

Summer 1995- Home

Beginning of Fall 1995- Starts Masters in Mathematics– Age: 13 turning 14

End of Spring 1996- Finishes Masters in Mathematics– Age: 14

Summer 1996- Home

Beginning of Fall 1996- Starts PhD in Mathematics & starts Bachelors in Chemistry– Age:14 turning 15

End of Spring 1997- Finishes Bachelors in Chemistry– Age: 15

Summer 1997- Home

Beginning of Fall 1997- Starts Masters in Chemistry– Age: 15 turning 16

End of Spring 1998- Finishes PhD in Mathematics & finishes Masters in Chemistry– Age: 16

Summer 1998- Home, Diana suffers a bout of bad psychosis and Spencer cannot return full time at Caltech during the Fall term. Due to his mother’s condition, Spencer contacts the school board and they work out a plan where Spencer can work on his Chemistry PhD in Las Vegas with the use of public Library computers and occasional trips to the campus for exams if possible. 

Beginning of Fall 1998- Works on his PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 16 turning 17

Spring 1999- Works on his PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 17

End of Summer 1999- Finishes PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 17

Spencer starts making arrangements to move Diana into a facility when he turns 18. He also applies to MIT to start their engineering program, manages to work out a plan to enroll in their Fall term but only move to a dorm at MIT after he gets his mom institutionalized (around October/November 1999)

Beginning of Fall 1999- Enrolls in MIT’s fall term on scholarship, starts Bachelors in Engineering– Age: 18

End of Spring 2000- Finishes Bachelors in Engineering– Age: 18

Beginning of Summer 2000- Starts Masters in Engineering– Age: 18

End of Fall 2000- Finishes Masters in Engineering– Age: 18 turning 19

Beginning of Spring 2001- Starts PhD in Engineering– Age: 19

Summer 2001- Works on PhD in Engineering– Age: 19

Fall 2001- Works on PhD in Engineering– Age: 19 turning 20

Feeling immense guilt for having his mother institutionalized, Spencer splits his attention between his Engineering studies and studying Schizophrenia independently. At the end of the Fall term at MIT, Spencer starts corresponding with a professor at Harvard University and is invited to help with a study on understanding Schizophrenia and the effects of different medications. He takes off both the Spring and Summer terms of 2002 in order to do said study.

Beginning of Spring 2002- Independent study– Age: 20

End of Summer 2002- Independent study– Age: 20

Beginning of Fall 2002- Resumes working on PhD in Engineering– Age: 20 turning 21

End of Spring 2003- Finishes PhD in Engineering– Age: 21

Beginning of Fall 2003- Starts Bachelors in Psychology at MIT– Age: 21 turning 22

Spencer goes to a seminar hosted by the BAU (Most likely with Gideon and Hotch), he’s very engaged and vocal during the seminar and catches Gideon’s attention.

Spring 2004- Spencer starts at the FBI academy– Age: 22

FBI academy is 4 months.

Summer 2004- Spencer joins the BAU after graduating from the academy– Age: 22

After joining the BAU, Spencer transfers his credit hours from MIT to a University in Washington D.C. to continue going to school part time.

End of Fall 2004- Finishes Bachelors in Psychology– Age: 22 turning 23

Most of Spencer’s attention is on his work in the BAU, so he slows way down on getting his degrees, and gets a degree in sociology both because it interests him and also because it’ll help with work.

Beginning of Spring 2005- Starts Bachelors in Sociology– Age: 23

End of Fall 2005- Finishes Bachelors in Sociology– Age: 23 turning 24

Beginning of Spring 2008- Starts Bachelors in Philosophy– Age: 26

End of Fall 2008- FInishes Bachelors in Philosophy– Age: 26 turning 27

Again: Breen Frazier has said that the line in 07.04 “Painless” about Spencer going to MIT was an error. I actually think it might be another way to show Spencer’s guilt over putting his mom in the psychiatric hospital- being so close without visiting might’ve made him feel even worse so he wanted to run away to a school across the country. 

Also I feel like Spencer having all these degrees shows that he didn’t really know what he was supposed to do with his intellect so he was just doing whatever interested him at the time until he met Gideon.

We are shown two articles (that I can remember) about Spencer college time frame:

There's one from 1997/1998, we are shown an article written about Spencer getting a Bachelor's degree, this would make him ~16. I’m not sure if it lists that it’s his first Bachelor’s degree- but I’m going to say that it’s just about the one he got for Chemistry which was his second Bachelors based on my timeline.

I don’t think it makes sense for Spencer to have done ~3/4 years of college before getting his first bachelors and then the other 6 or so years cramming the rest of his schooling? Eh, I don’t like it.

And there’s one in 04.08 “Memoriam” we are shown an article about Spencer receiving his first PhD at the age of 17. In my timeline he finishes his first PhD at the age of 16- which isn’t too far off so I’m choosing to believe that it’s a typo in the article (I know it’s kinda cheating but whatever).  

I had his PhD programs take around 2 years to complete because research and dissertations take time, no matter how speedy Spencer is.

If Spencer wanted to make any extra cash on the side, he could help with tutoring, work at the campus library, help coach any collegiate sports teams at the college, etc.

A lot of the things I added in this are just things that I thought of and don’t have any sources from the show (ex: Spencer doing school from home to help his mom, and the independent study thing from Spring 2002 to Summer 2002).

Again: a lot of this may be inaccurate, if there is anything you want to add or correct, feel free to do so. I spent only around 5 or so hours on this, it’s not perfect.

I love Spencer Reid. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 

(if anyone is curious about how I write Spencer, my writing blog is @deepcreekvultures-writing )

[kodokberjamur]

I want to cry because my professor told us to write a maximum of 10 pages for the article, and I have only written up until the research method, and yet, I'm already at page 9. I scrolled up and realized that I yapped too much in the introduction. The introduction does not need to be 4 pages long. So I have to cut like. Half of it. AGH.... No............... </3 WHY DO LIMITS EXIST. WAIT LOL I suddenly remembered that one scene from Mean Girls: the limit does not exist! Man, I wish that also counted for word/page limits.... Aaand now I want to rewatch it. Again. How many times have I rewatched this movie? Everything about it is just so good and it definitely deserves the hype—OKAY THAT WAS MOST DEFINITELY AN UNWANTED TANGENT. I should stop before I suddenly start yapping about Mean Girls. (already did. Kodok you actually just suck.)

Anyway, painful news aside, I decided to go and edit the fic I was working on, and—it's almost ready!!! Thank God for long weekends, am I right? AAAA I MIGHT BE ABLE TO POST IT ON MY BIRTHDAY!! I'M SO EXCITED KSJDKS ALSO I tried playing with the formatting on gdocs a bit, like the italics and stuff, and then copied and pasted everything to AO3... THE FORMATTING STAYED. IT ACTUALLY STAYED. ALL THIS TIME I COULD'VE JUST USED GDOCS INSTEAD OF MANUALLY FORMATTING EVERYTHING SHDKSJFKSJDK. WHAT. THE. FFFFFROG. I could've...... all this time, I could've just.......... why would I..... why would you......... why did I even.......... what why who where when how.

AH YES ALSO THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THAT I WANT TO SHOW YOU GUYS, BUT. Not now. I'm actually feeling really impatient to show you, but... it's going to have to wait </3 let's just say it involves........ something cute. The size of my palm.

Whoops. At this point it feels like I never even took that break. Well, it's not as though that break really did anything... For one, I spent the whole month writing a fic anyway, and it's not like I stopped brainrotting. In fact, it's gotten worse because I just keep missing Tr*yJ*d* more and more everyday. IF ANYTHING, I DESERVE A LONG BREAK FROM UNI. AGH. SCREW UNI. Uni has given me... back pain, eye strain, neck pain... Insanity...... Nightmares...............

Oh also my rice cooker broke... (very relevant and useful piece of information)

Okay sorry for yapping </3

[alonetimelover]

pairing: Harry Styles x physicist!reader

summary: The aftermath of the leak is hard on everybody from dr YN YSN's circle, but especially for her. The gossip, magazines, paparazzi, and haters do not help the case.

warnings: hate speech, swearing

part 1 part 2

masterlist

@celesteblack08

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www.thesun.co.uk/the-higgs-professor-drama

Oxford Is Firing The Famous 'Higgs Professor' and Harry Styles' girlfriend Dr YN YSN

Written by John Addams

The infamous and TikTok sensation dr YN YSN, lecturer at Oxford University, is being fired after intimate photos of her and her boyfriend - Harry Styles, saw the light of the day.

Starting at the beginning, the relationship between two became a fact over a year ago, when dr YSN went viral for her explanation of the Higgs mechanism based on Harry Styles' music. As we got to know from their joined street interview by meetcutesnyc on Instagram, the relationship florished after meeting at their mutual friend's (Christopher Nolan) party. Dr YN YSN was the science consultant for the director's latest movie, Oppenheimer, and Harry started in one of the gratest war films, Dunkirk - making it happen.

Everything was going smoothly till the morning of three days ago. YN's iCloud was hacked, revealing personal and intimate information about not only the owner but her boyfriend as well.

'Dean is furious,' says our source. 'He cannot believe that the best lecturer could be this reckless.' After the posed question on whether the decision of firing could be announced any time soon, they said 'its just the matter of time. But it's going to be sooner rather than later. Oxford is going to lose a fair and talented professor, but it is not its fault. Someone was the author of those, let's say, information that was exposed. And it is going to be the payment for that foolishness.'

When will the statement from Oxford dean's office be released? And what stir will it cause? Be always on time with fresh news with us, The Sun.

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harrysmoustache

liked by hArrysbtch, harryupdates and 23 201 others

harrysmoustache Harry and YN couldn't leave a restaurant safely because a bunch of paps and 'fans' showed up at the location. Not only was it physically dangerous, but the things that were spoken towards (mostly) YN were disgusting. Calling her names and ready to fire her from the job on the stop because of the PRIVATE PHOTOS she took with her boyfriend, who someone then ILLIGALY POSTED ONLINE after HACKING HER iCloud. Did y'all forget about TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS????

view all 5 402 comments

harrysmoustache and don't let me start on that bullshit article that The Sun did... RIDICULOUS

harryupdates After all those years, and all those situation that he went through, I'm still surprised that people can be this cruel to gim and people that he loves

hArrysbtch they hatin' my girl because of being sexy on photos... bastards

hArrysbtch why would they care what she does after Uni hours??? it's none of their business

scienceandharstyles it's heartbreaking to see a person that gives others the world and shares her knowledge and wears her heart on the sleeve being treated like garbage

harrymylove those were no harry fans

stylesbabie monstrosity

user65 why do y'all care for her this much?? jezz...

⤷ hArrysbtch maybe because she's a good human being treated like the worst person alive just because she snatched a few photos of her and her boyfriend

⤷ user65 wouldn't that be the consequences of her own actions?

⤷ hArrysbtch nope. her phone was hacked.how many times are you taking a photo on your phone and think 'what if I'm gonna be hacked and this will be posted?'

⤷ harrysmoustache hArrysbtch ohh, babes! you closed that haters mouth!!!

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drynysn

liked by harrystyles, harryupdates and 738 392 others

drynysn During one of my latest lectures, one of the students asked about accuracy in Sci-Fi films, so I decided to start a little series of: Is this SCIENCE or just FICTION? Firstly, we'd look into the scene from Spider-Man 2 (2004). The scene where Peter Parker (Spider-Man) is stopping the train from its eventual crash. He shot multiple web lines, then they stretched and didn't break. One would say it is not possible. But! From the way the scene is shown to the audience, we are able to estimate how strong the web needed to be. After looking up the train's mass, you can estimate its initial velocity (how far it can go per hour, so km/h) by seeing exactly how long it takes to pass the city blocks. (1)

view all 19 291 comments

drynysn (2) You can look up, measure, the distance over the webbing stretches, and then estimate its diameter. You can also count the number of web lines. NOW, we end up with a tensile (fancy way of saying elastic) strength for the webbing that has to be about 1 000 megapascals (mega meaning milion) which is equivalent to about 102 036 704 kilograms per square metre (which is 145 000 lbs/square inch for you, my American friends on here).

drynysn (3) What is absolutely mind-blowing is the fact that the real spider silk has a tensile strength of 1 200 megapascals. So, if Spider-Man's webbing would be anyway that strong, that scene was very, very realistic. Rating it 9/10. What scene would you like to see next?

scienceandharstyles that is so informative and making this movie even more iconic!!! Did you do all the equations yourself, dr YSN?

⤷ drynysn Yes, I did. Took me some time to analyse the scene but it was worth it!

harryupdates oh, i need to rewatch this movie immediately!!!!

harrysmylife could the next scene be the one from The Avengers where Mjolnir after contacting Cap's shield makes that blue light? is that even possible?

⤷ drynysn that's a great scene!

hArrysbtch i love the little explanations in brackets! i didn't need to look up the tensile thingy!!!

harrysmoustache you're telling me the scene i was 100% sure was fake as my eyelashes is true???

user45 maybe you should try explaining showing of that body of yours

user98 is this the way to make money after being fired?

user197 unemployment doesn't suit you but the consequences of your actions finally caught up with you

user348 i think you should start posting one of those photos the sun included in their article - you'll get more attention

comments to this post have been disabled

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harryupdates

liked by hArrysbtch, harrysmoustache and 54 281 others

harryupdates HARRY and DR YN spotted in a small restaurant in Oxford (I'm disabling the comments cause I don't want to deal with the haters)

view all 98 comments

hArrysbtch MY PARENTS ARE BACK AFTER WEEKS OF DRAUGHT !!!!

hArrysbtch and they look good

harrysmoustache I missed them so much...

stylesbabie yn looks so tired and sad

⤷ hArrysbtch it's just on eohoto of one moment

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harrystyles via close friends IG story

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londonboyharry

liked by harryupdates and 14 201 others

londonboyharry went to Oxford to bump into Harry. it's better! i met Dr yn ysn, drank coffee with her, talked, and laughed my ass off!!! she is the funniest, kindest, and most down to earth person i've ever met. also, after i asked her about all the things that were happening around her, she just said 'what things?' WITH A SMIRK ON HER FACE, SIPPING COFFEE AND BEING UNBOTHERED

view all 3 201 comments

harryupdates im so happy that she gives no damn to those people online

hArrysbtch I LOVE HER

harrysmoustache the moment the legend the IT girl

stylesbabie happy for you!!!

harrysmylife who would want to meet harry when you can meet Dr ysn??

scienceandharstyles best woman alive

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scienceandharstyles

liked by drynysn, harrystyles and 55 301 others

scienceandharstyles WE GRADUATED OXFORD !!! to anybody who said there is no way of incorporating pop culture with a biology degree? eat shit! i wrote the whole masters based on musicians' impact on fans' hormonal production. hehe. ALSO, it would not have been possible without the best teacher, academic inspiration, and person I've ever met - dr YN YSN. thank you!

view all 18 392 comments

drynysn MADELINE, I am so so proud of you. It would not be possible without your persistence and will to find solutions and answers. This is all yours!

harrystyles Congratulations, Madeline! H, xx.

harryupdates congrats maddie!!!!

stylesbabie very very proud

harrysmoustache did you perhaps use Harry as an example in your work?

⤷ scienceandharstyles YES, I did! Only positive affects of his voice, music and visual...

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oxford_uni

liked by harrystyles, harryupdates and 748 392 others

oxford_uni Acknowledging the upheaval around one of our lectures - dr YN YSN, the Chancellor of Oxford Univeristy and the Dean of The Department of Physics decided to release the joined statement:

Refuting the words and statements made by publishers not connected to our University, we would like to inform anybody in concern that one of our gratest lecturers dr YN YSN is not decruited. The matter of private life is not concern of the Univeristy authority, even more when the said privacy was bridged. At this place, we would like to congratulate and wish luck during dr YSN's new path - becoming a professor.

view all 64 392 comments

harrystyles ❤️

harryupdates I KNEW IT

hArrysbtch EAT SHIT THE SUN, EAT SHIT JOHN ADDAMS

harrysmoustache HAHAHHAHAHA I KNEW IT !!!! BABY THERE WAS NO WAY THEY WOULD FIRE HER

stylesbabie thank god! there is still hope for this world

scienceandharstyles Chancellor and Dean with the best decision ever made

harrysmylife now haters what??? ha??

harrysfan87 I believed in you guys I did

londonboyharry becoming a professor???? Good luck yn!!

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yourinstagram

liked by harrystyles, annetwist and 284 others

yourinstagram There was no better thing that happened to me than meeting you. Your support means the world. I love you forever.

view all 34 comments

harrystyles Loving you is the greatest honour of all time, my heart ❤️

annetwist My favourite girl in the world (that is not my daughter)!

⤷ gemmastyles thank for clarifying, mum

gemmastyles My sister from another mister!!!

yourbestfriend We need to finally meet up!

⤷ yourinstagram Yessss!

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harrystyles

liked by yourinstagram,harryupdates, annetwist and 10 302 302 others

harrystyles You're just finishing one of your latest publications on the way to becoming a professor. I couldn't have been more proud and honoured to accompany you during this time.

view all 98 392 comments

yourinstagram I love you. I love you. I love you.

annetwist Our smart professor. ❤️

harryupdates ohhhhhhh 🫠

hArrysbtch I'll never get over him posting her on here

harrysmoustache we are back to normal, baby!!!!!

scienceandharstyles Professor YN YSN sounds amazing!

harrysmylife BEST. COUPLE. EVER.

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a/n: did you like the way it turned out?

[ks-caster]

I’m Avoiding A Task So Here’s a Commentary On Society and Gender Instead

“What are your pronouns?”

My parents live in a suburb (NOT a “small town,” much as my city friends might quip about it) with a couple of older, classic, mom and pop restaurants. When I visit them it can be difficult to decide on where to go out to eat, as many of the dishes and even common ingredients that I’m used to ordering at home just aren’t available where they live, but instead I find access to some strange menu items.

“A Hot Turkey Sandwich used to be a big thing,” my mother tells me one day as we sit down in a half diner, half bakery. She points it out on the menu, talks about it, surprised to find a place where it’s still served.

“This restaurant must cater to an older clientele, who still expect to be able to order that,” I say, and she agrees. Most places took it off the menu decades ago, because they wouldn’t have made a profit from having it available, but not this place. This place can profit from nostalgia.

Businesses have to change as people’s tastes change, to survive.

“What are your pronouns?”

I read an article a while back on why department stores suck so much more now, from the perspective of someone who had used to work at one “back in the day” and then re-applied for the same job many years later. The premise was that individual workers used to be responsible for individual zones—back room, men’s clothing, kitchenwares, etc., taking ownership of their sections and knowing their products, but that now, every person is responsible for every section as the companies run on skeleton crews, and as a result no one truly knows where everything is. 

Once upon a time, in the micro-society that is retail, each employee served a specific function for the benefit of the whole. Now, a few employees are expected to perform every function simultaneously, creating a dreadful experience for themselves and for shoppers, and pushing more and more commerce online.

“What are your pronouns?”

The last time I worked in retail, I had a coworker, a single mom, who once laughed and said that the reason she couldn’t hold down a relationship was that she was both more of a woman and more of a man than all of the men she tried to date. She could cook a gourmet meal and crawl under a car to fix it. Ultimately, while she enjoyed men’s company, what did she really need to keep one around for? She’d gotten so good at performing both functions that there was no purpose behind having a partner in her life. She was enough on her own.

My parents are older, but my dad is much older—born in 1949, schooled in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When he was in high school, he asked to take home ec as an elective, because he liked food, and he was told, “you are a boy, boys take shop class. Girls take home ec. Your wife will do that for you.” 

He was a bachelor with male roommates until the age of 37. 

My mom was born in 1964, schooled in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, and in school she was discouraged from taking home ec, because “women can have careers now, you don’t want to waste your time learning how to take care of some man, do you?” 

They wouldn’t teach my father how to cook because of his gender, they wouldn’t teach my mother how to cook because of her gender, and the end result was that when my parents got together, my dad had to teach my mom how to fry an egg. 

People change; hunger does not.

“What are your pronouns?”

I took an archaeology class in undergrad, and my professor mentioned she had beef with most forms she had to fill out, because they’d ask her gender, but only offer sexes and not genders as response options. “Sex is biological—if I dig up a skeleton, I can generally determine the sex based on physical characteristics. But gender is cultural, and to determine that, I need to know more about the culture, burial items, circumstances of death. It might be something that only bothers people like me, who study ancient civilizations through their trash, but it does bother me.”

I dutifully took notes. I was, after all, a straight-A student.

Decades ago, when my grandmother was young, defining what made a man a man and what made a woman a woman was much easier—their roles in society were clearly defined, generally based on their biological sex. Men and women performed set tasks in order to keep society functioning. Whether each individual necessarily fit into the roles they were assigned is another matter—if I had taken a job in retail and been assigned the paint and decor section, I’m sure I could technically do it, but given that I am mildly colorblind and have a questionable-at-best sense of aesthetics, I certainly wouldn’t be a good fit.

But as my grandmother grew up, fleeing her home with her family and coming to America to escape a world war that sent American women into the workforce into jobs previously reserved for men, society began to change. While my grandmother was busy learning English and perfecting an accent that would allow her to pass as an American to her school fellows and avoid xenophobia, American women were learning about economic freedom, and perfecting skill sets that would allow them to avoid the helplessness of being the less-respected gender.

“What are your pronouns?”

In the 1940s, “boner” was slang for “big mistake.” There’s a vintage batman page somewhere circulating the internet of Batman gloating to the Joker that because the Joker was too busy trying to get the Batman to make a mistake that the Joker wasn’t paying attention and messed up himself. 

Except, well, you can imagine how it’s worded. 

In 2024 it looks and sounds hilarious. But in 1944 it would have been completely ordinary. Language changes and evolves as people use it. The English my grandmother painstakingly learned in the 1940s is not the same English that we speak today—she keeps a coffee table book of Teen Slang in her living room that’s 15 years out of date.

When I went back to school for my master’s, I had to re-take English I and British Literature as prerequisites, since they didn’t accept CLEP scores. I was fascinated by the experience of reading Chaucer in the original language, and how often I could intuit the meanings without having to look down at the extensive footnotes in my student edition. I wondered at the time how much of it my grandmother might have been able to understand, as she also spoke German. The text would have been incomprehensible to most of my students today; I only understood it because of my background.

“What are your pronouns?”

One thing I found particularly interesting in the Canterbury Tales was the word “hir,” a possessive term that seemed to mean either “his” or “her” interchangeably. Gender-neutrality all the way back in the 14th century? Or perhaps spelling simply wasn’t standardized yet. Language changes and evolves with society, but the idea that we don’t need to be too terribly rigid with pointing at the shape of people’s genitals every time we refer to them in conversation? That’s not new.

After all, pithy internet rhymes have brought up the fact that Shakespeare used the singular “they,” making it older than the singular “you.” (You is plural—read that aloud to yourself, hear how the “you is” sound a little off? It’s “you are”—plural.) It’s only in recent years that using “they” to refer to a person of indeterminate gender has become this big, frightening thing to Conservatives, and it’s not because the word itself is new to them. (And don’t cite their age—this is not a vampire movie, none of them are older than Shakespeare).

The very word “conservative” suggests “reserved,” or “restrained” or “traditional.” The sudden fear of the singular “they” represents a much greater fear: a fear of how the use of multiple pronouns shows that people’s overall roles within society have changed.

In order for a society to function, it has to grow and evolve along with people and their wants and needs and comforts. A restaurant will only profit from selling a Hot Turkey Sandwich in a community with a large older population, and without that population, they must innovate. A store expecting employees to take on multiple roles must find a way to manage those roles effectively so that the work gets done, or that store will fail. The same is true of society as a whole.

People no longer function within the rigid man/woman Western Society dichotomy. There are more available roles within society and people who are comfortable within those roles fill them. To deny this and try to make it about genitals when it never really was is just a fear response of last resort.

For Conservatives to choose to cling to a model that no longer works in the modern era is like a restaurant trying to serve only older traditional dishes when their clientele is rotating through age groups. Sure, people will probably always like some classics like coffee and waffles, lower taxes and cheaper gas. But if the rest of the menu is a refusal to innovate, it’s no one’s fault but their own when they lose business.

So, why not innovate? Why be afraid to add in a bacon and brussel sprout skillet, some avocado toast, have some truffle aioli available on the side? Why, when the other option is to lose profits and eventually go out of business, would Conservatives continue to try and push the Hot Turkey Sandwich on younger generations, when fewer and fewer will be interested in ordering?

“What are your pronouns?”

As more and more Trump voters insist that if he does not win, they���ll leave the country, I’ve been seeing videos pop up on my social media from various other countries, of people explaining how America’s Left-Wing candidates are actually the rest of the world’s idea of Centrist or even Right-Wing Moderate. “Where will you go?” they ask. “You’ll still be in the most right wing country we can think of, other than Russia.”

The dying out of the far right is too slow, considering their views, but it’s happening. Even my uncle—everyone has That One Uncle, don’t we?—who damn near worshiped Donald Trump and was desperate for him to win, is starting to fade out as he learns about planned cuts to veteran benefits. Watching him vomit up the kool-aid isn’t as satisfying as it should be.

“What are your pronouns?”

Why would anyone, anyone, want to take an evolving society and try to shove it back seventy-five to a hundred years? What must it be like inside the mind of someone who would rather watch the majority of people be oppressed than lose one ounce of perceived privilege?

I think I can imagine.

When I was finishing up undergrad, I spent much of Senior Year holed up in the library to avoid my ex and ex-best-friend, who had taken nearly all of my friends in the dual divorce. But I never felt lonely, because no matter where I hid myself, my classmates would find me, talk with me—and ask me to help edit their papers. I was an amazing editor—some people get Math Autism, I got Grammar Autism—and I’m told I was responsible for several “highest grades ever” just by helping people reorganize their ideas and make them readable.

After I graduated, careful to avoid my two exes, angry stares burning into the back of my head even though realistically I was the victim in both cases, I left the campus, moved back with my parents, and began to notice how quickly most of my classmates stopped talking to me or completely deleted me on social media.

They needed me, you see, but they did not want me.

I think that icky, horrible, lonely feeling might be what Conservatives feel as society changes around them. The feeling of knowing you’re not needed anymore, and you were never wanted, so you can be cast aside, even though you did everything right, fulfilled your role perfectly. People like my former coworker don’t need a man—as she said, she’s man enough and woman enough all on her own. So perhaps every man she spends time with feels a little like I felt after college, like even though he’s doing everything right he’ll never be enough.

I can’t fault them for the feelings—feelings are always valid, no matter how fucked up.

But do you know what list of things I didn’t do, after college? If you’ve read this far, you can imagine. 

I didn’t go around complaining and causing trouble because people weren’t interested in ordering a Hot Turkey Sandwich anymore. I innovated, learned how to make some delicious cocktails (literally and figuratively) and made some real friends, who wanted me before they needed me.

“What are your pronouns?”

Plenty of people didn’t exactly fit in with the rigid gender roles of Western Society, just as they don’t now—but methods of self-expression have changed. Society is different, and people have more wiggle room to get comfortable in a role that works for them. That comfort comes at a price of everyone having to fulfill more roles, of course. Division of labor is still healthy (especially in this economy!) and we as a people are still working on what that looks like, outside of the gendered tradition. Modern living still assumes the existence of an unpaid laborer at home, and this leads to a lot of tired, broke people augmenting with paid labor (such as meal kits or other services). We certainly have a long way to go.

But responding to the new bacon brussel sprout skillet being a little undercooked and over-seasoned by suggesting a hot turkey sandwich instead isn’t the Gotcha! that Conservatives wish it was, because what we really need as a societal restaurant is to perfect our roasting technique on things that will actually improve dinner service for everyone, not just remind them of “The Olden Days.”

You want to run America like a business? Then step up, and compete, like a business.

Hi, my pronouns are they/them. I don’t fit into the traditional man or woman categories, and I don’t think it makes any sense for me to try to. I am myself, I am a problem-solver, I am an educator, and I suppose somewhere around here I have a set of genitals and secondary sex characteristics—but unless we get really, really friendly, I hardly see how that last bit needs to be any of your business. 

...

Did I open my laptop to work on Red Queen? Yes. Did I do that? No.

[ihateapbiology]

reader & julien being college rivals to friends to lovers? 🥰🥰

sorry for getting to this legit like 4 months later but gonna start writing again.

THIS IS THE FIRST PART OF WHAT I HOPE TO BE LIKE 3 or 4

Rivals

98

“Yes let’s see her beat this”  you smirk to yourself looking at the essay your professor just passed back to you. You had poured your soul into this essay, reading any article you could find on  the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Hurston. And of course the “her” was Julien Baker, your academic rival who you e known for years since yes you went to the same high school. When it was college decision time you had applied to Vanderbilt, your dream school, being overjoyed when you got in. Then the next day at school when you saw Julien who was your rival even then wearing a Vanderbilt sweatshirt too you almost exploded. You bent forward and tapped her shoulder, when she turned around you flashed the 98 in your face. 

She smirked “oh a 98 cute” she picked up her paper and flashed a 99.

You glare at her and mumble something about the professor having a bias towards her.

She smirks “face it I’m just better.”

You respond “if that was true why did I get a 100 last test and you got a 90.”

Her face falls and her frown quickly replaced with a glare “I had an off day.”

You shrug “sh I’m trying to listen to the lecture.”

She starts “you started talking fi- whatever”

You stare at the back of her head, you can just see a little ink of her back and half of the tattoo on her neck. If it was anyone else…it’d be hot. But it’s not anyone else. It’s Julien. The girl who’s been a bitch to you for years, the girl who once purposeful “dropped” beer on you at a party. Yeah. You may like reading enemies to lovers not acting it out.

Once the lecture is done you stand up, you were pretty hungry since the class ran from 10:30-1, right through lunch. You went over your schedule in your mind, you had wanted to go out with your friends today but had made yourself sweat you only would if you had no homework or anything else. At the dining hall you go to open your computer…except there is no computer in your bag. “Fuck” you mumble to yourself “are you kidding me just what i need.” You deduce you must’ve left it in the lecture hall, which seemed off to you since you hadn’t forgotten anything else and you NEVER forgot your computer. You jogged back to the lecture hall, and it was no where to be found. As you decided to get some food into you and then home that some Good Samaritan would have posted somewhere they found a computer or turned it in to student services. As you took your seat in the dining hall once more you saw the person you least wanted to see right now walking towards you, Julien. 

Wait what’s that in her tote bag? 

You could see inside the bag, the black case of your computer. Wow this is low even for her. You spring up.

“You took my fucking COMPUTER?” you snap grabbing it from her bag.

She startles “what no I-“

You continue “what is wrong with you like I know you hate me and what not but I thought we had a baseline of respect for eachother, this is a new low even for you.”

Her eyebrows furrow “no you left it in the lecture hall and I wanted to return it to you but geez thanks for telling me what you really think about me. Thanks for jumping to conclusions maybe if you made less assumptions you’d get higher points on your essay.”

You glare “yeah sure. I never forget my computer anywhere unlike you some of us had to work for anything we have and don’t come from perfect suburbia.”

Her eyebrows raise “really you… work… that is not what I pegged you as… and pardon you my parents and I all work check to check.”

“Well maybe if you took time to know me.”

She laughs “yeah same to you.”

You’re less on the defensive now and take a deep breath, still not convinced but less mad.

She sees this and says “I have my own computer, I’m not dumb and I’m not cruel. Do you know how bad it would be if I got caught stealing a computer.”

You nod “ok maybe you’re right. So.. thank you and sorry.”

She nods “all will be forgiven if you helped me with this assignment.”

You smile “sit sit, and wow you’re asking me for help this hasn’t happened since sophomore year English.”

She grins “shhh we don’t talk about that.”

You guys eat and talk for a while and turns out she’s not as insufferable as you thought. Turns out she loves music. Turns out her tattoos have meaning. Turns out you could actually be friends.

[tamales78]

Series: Teacher!Slenderman X OC!Reader

Chapter 2

Warning: Teacher X Student relationship, College Teacher &Student, Mention & use of drugs, smut 18+, reader is 21, alcohol use

Summary: Amelia is used to being a straight-A student since middle school. Her English teacher Professor Slender grades her an F after finding out she used AI. How will she be able to keep her good grades? And have the English teacher do her favors?

"YOU DIDN'T!" Jane gasped as Amelia nodded sipping her latte as they sat at the cafe table.

"I damn sure did!"

Jane began laughing making her nearly choke on her blueberry muffin.

"So, you going to Jeff's party?" Nina asks Amelia.

"Maybe. To be honest, I don't know. I don't really want to go, Nina."

"Please!"

"Why do you want to go other than to hook up with a guy who has clearly shown you no interest?" Jane asked Nina.

"Yeah, Nina. Last time, E.J. told me that he was planning on asking a girl out at this so-called party."

"It might be me! Is it?! Is it?! TELL ME!" Nina grabbed Amelia shaking her back and forth.

"I-I don't know!"

"TELL ME!"

-----------------------------

Amelia trembled at just the sight of her English teacher's door. After yesterday's outburst, she was sure he definitely would make her fail. So with a big gulp, she grew confident and walked in.

The few students that came also gulped and their eyes widened at seeing her. They all watched at her fearing for her.

When Slender walked in with the suitcase in hand they all expected him to call her out, however, they were surprised when he simply began passing out papers after the bell rang.

After he handed a kid a packet, five students walked in calmly with no bother in the world. They were dead. Slender hated-no he despised students who came in. Especially, if it showed that they had no care in the world.

"Why are you five late?" He angrily asked them.

"We were talking to some friends, jeez." One of them rolled their eyes as they walked to their desks.

"Talking? You came in late to my class 'cause you were talking?"

"Uhh, are you deaf?"

Slender chuckled walking to the kids desking and standing in front of him. He slams the packet on his desk jumping the kid.

"You and your four friends are to complete this assessment on paper by tomorrow." He informs the kid before passing his friends with the same packet.

"Oh, and since you decided to be a smart mouth also make sure to write another essay talking about why it's important to respect your peers. This goes to you four as well." Slender glares at them before going to Amelia and handing her a packet.

She expected Slender to ask her to do the same thing but she was astounded when he simply handed her the paper and passed it to the rest of the class.

"The rest of you, you're to simply write me what's in the packet. Based on the notes you guys did yesterday." Slender eyes Amelia making her look down in embarrassment.

"Your prompt is on the document. Articles are already provided for you, however, you're free to use other articles. Start working on your essay, meanwhile, I'll be talking to someone outside. Amelia come with me." Slender announces before heading out with a paper in hand.

Amelia gulps and gets up as she feels everyone's eyes on her. When she exits the class, Slender closes the door behind her and turns back to her.

"You do remember why you're here, right?"

Amelia nods looking down at her teacher in shame. Slender chuckles catching her off-guard and slightly scaring her.

"It humors me how a girl like you who was top of her class seems to be so..."

"So?"

"So, confusing." He chuckles looking down at her.

"My brothers and all your other teachers adore you, yet I somehow can't see it."

"Maybe, 'cause they value my work?"

Slender leans closer handing Amelia the paper. She expected it to be a detention slip, however, she held her breath when she saw the evidence of her grade check.

Her notes from yesterday now had an "A" instead of a "C". Along with the same essay she was doing while talking shit about the man in front of her.

"Maybe, you were right." He chuckled as Amelia looked up at him.

She nearly teared up and Slender could sense it.

"S-Sorry." She sniffed wiping her teary eyes.

"No, i should apologize."

Amelia nodded looking up at him and her teary eyes nearly brought him to his knees. With his hand he wipes the tear away, catching both of them off-guard.

-----------------------------

"Hey, Nina I won't be able to go." Amelia tells her friend as she walked to the library to start on the essay Slender left her.

"WHAT?! PLEASE! Jane won't go! She says she's busy doing something for her art class with Liu!"

"She so has a crush on him." Amelia teases stopping by her schools coffee stand to get a ice latte.

"Right! I even think they're already hooking up!"

"Why do you think that?"

"So, the other day she told me she was gonna go to yours, however, after you told me how you were studying for Splendor's class, that's when L.J told me he saw her exit Liu's room!"

"$4.99." The barista tells Amelia.

She nods listening to the rest of the gossip, however, before she can hand him the money a familiar hand gives the barista a 20-dollar bill.

"Make sure to get me the same thing but warm, I'll pay for hers," Slender tells the barista as he turns to Amelia who accidentally focuses on him instead of Nina.

"T-Thank you, profe-"

"Just call me Slender." He smiles at Amelia as the barista hands him his change.

"So, where are you heading if you don't mind telling me?"

"Oh, um to the library." She tells Slender.

"One Ice and a hot latte." The barista tells them.

Slender takes both of them and hands Amelia her iced latte.

"So, what do you think about the prompt?"

"Umm, well I do think it's pretty simple." She tells him as they walk side by side.

Slender nods taking a sip of his coffee and looks down as he walks by her side. He doesn't know why but all of a sudden his sight began drifting from her soft plumpy lips to down the valley of her breast, her curves, and down her ass.

Amelia pretended to not notice, and if she was honest she would freak out. However, she didn't care. It was weird. If he were another guy she would be running away from him, or even making the shit out of him. Both verbally and physically!

"So, how long have you been teaching?"

"Well, I have five years here." He nodded looking away and only looking at her lips as she smiled up at him.

"Where are you heading, if you also don't mind me asking?" They both laugh and continue walking.

"Back home to grade some papers." He nods as they come to a halt.

"Good luck, Amelia." He nods taking a detour.

"S-Slender!"

Slender turns back to Amelia and his eyes immediately meet her blue ones.

"I'm sorry for my behavior yesterday... and for talking smack about you."

Slender chuckles nodding and smiling at his student.

"Let's leave it in the past, Amelia." He smiles walking away from Amelia, leaving her a blushing and slightly panting mess.

"Oh my gosh!" Nina yelled from the other line, as Amelia bit her lip.

"I'm so fucked."

-----------------------------

As she sat during class, for once she was distracted. And not at the assignment.

Amelia bit her pen as she watched the way Slender's grey dress shirt hugged his muscles. She had to hold back from breaking the pen as she began looking at the way his pants slightly hugged his waist and his ass.

She had to cross her legs just to feel some sort of friction as her panties grew wetter.

"Who here has already started the essay?" Slender asked, and a few along with Amelia raised their hands.

"If you wish for any help tell me." He nods eyeing Amelia who eyed him back and kept on biting her pen.

Slender began walking around and began walking indirectly towards Amelia.

"Need help?" He whispers leaning into her ear.

"Yeah," She lies.

Slender knew she didn't need help. He knew this assessment was a piece of candy for Amelia.

"Do you want the evidence to be in MLA format?" She asks him as all Slender pays attention to the cleavage of her breasts.

"As long as you make the point clear, Amelia." He growled out her name bringing a shiver up her spine and down her dripping core.

"Mhm," She nods as she continues to type into her laptop.

His hands caressed hers as he began walking to help another student. Throughout the whole class, they eyed one another and Amelia forgot about the essay in front of her.

When the bell rang, Amelia was the last to leave and as she walked out she spared Slender one last glance while he put some papers into his briefcase. Slender looked back at her and smiled softly when she giggled and walked out.

-----------------------------

"I only need to finish three paragraphs, Nina. So, I'll only be there for you for a little while. Okay?"

Nina nodded squealing as Amelia added lipgloss to complete her look. As they got off their Uber they were pulled into a hug by E.J. who dragged them inside the house.

"Is Jane with you?!" E.J. yelled over the loud music.

"She's doing a work with Liu!" Amelia winks turning to Nina only to find her gone and probably looking for Jeff.

"WHAT?!"

"Jane-"

"So she's not here?!"

Amelia shakes her head turning to Hoodie as he snorts some white powder which Amelia is familiar with. Toby sat drinking a beer, meanwhile, Masky took a blunt from some random girl as she gave him a lap dance.

"Have you guys seen, Jeff?" Amelia asked them as she sat by Toby's side.

"Waiting for Jane." A drunk Toby tells Amelia.

"Why? She's not here."

"WHAT?!" All three guys yell out.

"She's working on an assignment!"

"Weren't you working on Slender's essay?" Hoodie asked her.

"I'm almost done! I'm just here for a little for Nina."

"Wait, where is she?"

"Looking for Jeff," Amelia tells them before taking a shot, and getting up to look for her friend.

"Anne!" Amelia yelled to her nursing friend who turned to her.

"I thought you med-students were not into parties!" Amelia jokes as Anne hugs her.

"I needed a break!" She laughs handing Amelia another shot.

"CHEERS TO FUCKING STRESS!" Amelia yelled out loud enough for her friends to hear.

Anne laughs and with Amelia takes a shot.

"Have you seen Nina?"

"She went upstairs! Jeff's upstairs!" She tells her before going back to talk to her friends.

Amelia walked upstairs and stumbled through the hall, as the alcohol took over her system. She laughed and stumbled open a door finding Nina crying and Jeff across from her.

"N-Nina, look I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong signs, but I was planning on asking Jane." Amelia hears Jeff confess to the girl who was obsessed with him.

"Fuck you and Jane!" She screamed out to Jeff before turning to Amelia.

"Did you know? Of course, you did!"

"What? Nina, no-"

"You did! You said E.J. told you!"

"Wait he told you?!" Jeff gasps afraid Jane knows, however, as if on cue E.J. comes rushing upstairs.

"RETREAT! RETREAT SHE'S NOT HERE! THE PLAN NEEDS TO RETREAT!" He runs in yelling.

"DUDE YOU TOLD HER?!" Jeff pointed at Amelia.

"No!" E.J. yelled turning to Amelia.

"Nina, E.J. only told me Jeff was planning on asking a girl! He didn't tell me who! Plus, I told you!"

"OH SO NOW IT'S MY FAULT HE BROKE MY HEART?!"

"N-No, t-that's not what I mean."

Nina walks out pushing the tipsy Amelia out of her way.

-----------------------------

"Thanks, E.J." Amelia sniffed as he led her to her dorm.

"Anytime." He nods opening her door for her.

"Hey, remember your essay for Slender."

"Fuck, I forgot." She groans throwing her heels to the floor, and E.J. chuckles.

"Dude, just use ChatGpt. I bet he won't notice."

[raptorsaurusmelain]

Let me show you... Youtube - chapter 8

Omg finally something amusing in this fic... I hope the end of this chapter will please you !

Again I created the tag "#twst lmsyy " to gather all the stuff that goes with the fic. Do not hesitate to use it !

Warning : no proof reading and english is not my first language.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Victoria thought hard all afternoon of her plan of action to be there for the Child. It was at this age that we needed love and support the most. Victoria would be… A mom. The question was : which professor would accept the role of the dad ? It was important that Yuu had both parental figure to have a healthy environment to grow up.

She just hoped it would not be Vargas. He should be the himbo uncle.

Victoria went back home a little bit late, with a gray waistcoat for Yuu in her hand. She had a rough time deciding on which one would be better paired with the uniform. When she entered the dorm, Yuu and Grim were waiting for her in the main hall.

Victoria was blessed by the vision of her little babies already changed and doing their homework on the coffee table.

Victoria sang “Hello my babies, I am hoooome ! I have a gift for both of you !”

Yu and Grim looked at each other because of the nicknames. It was unexpected.

Grim spoke first, excited “A gift ?? Where’s mine ?”

Victoria hummed and grabbed Grim’s gift first. “It is a premium tuna can !”

Grim gasped. “Best gift EVER !”

[Well, at least he is simple minded..]

Victoria added while grabbing the article of clothing“And for Yuu… I bought you a waistcoat !”

Yuu’s eyes lighten up. “Really really ? For me ?”

Victoria had a little laugh “Of course ! Try it on, it should be a little too big for you so you can keep it longer, after puberty.”

A teenager needed room to grow in their everyday clothes, after all.

Yuu tried the piece of clothing, delighted. “Do I look good ?”

Victoria clapped a little bit “The cutest on Earth ! Tomorrow I will take a photo of you in complete uniform, you will look handsome !”

Yuu looked themself in the big broken mirror next to the cheminee, giggling. “Thank you Victoria ! I love it.”

The woman smiled. “Perfect. How about we eat some rice salad with tuna in it ?”

After the meal, Victoria verified if the children did their homework (at least she checked there was some writing on the paper) before separating their way.

Once in her bed, Victoria racked her brain, searching for a plausible excuse to ask for a library card. She was a grown up, maybe he would say that she can buy her own books… If she wanted to help Yuu and Grim in their homework, she needed to cram all the information she could into her big brain.

She sighed. Being able to read shouldn’t be this difficult. She could still ‘borrow’ them ? It wouldn’t be the first time she did that…

She facepalmed. [Damn from the look of it I am an intello thug.]

The morning after was quite normal. They ate, Victoria took a photo of a proud Yuu with their complete uniform, they went to school, Victoria went to the headmaster office to threaten, erm speak with, Crowley.

Victoria began by a simple. “Hello, how are you ? Can I have a library card ?”

Crowley blinked. “Hello, I am fine and you ? And… Why ?”

Victoria had an innocent expression on her face. “To… Borrow books ? Else They will mysteriously disappear for a few days before reappearing ?”

Crowley blinked again. “Well… I don’t want to chase those mysteriously disappeared books…” He wrote a note “Give this to the secretary, he will make you one.”

Victoria had a huge grin. “Thank you Sir ! What’s my work for the day ?”

With her note, the victorious woman went to the administration.

After a short persuasion, the secretary made her a library card with in the ‘class’ section there were written ‘janitor’. They liked to remind her that she was at the bottom of the educational ladder. Jokes on them : she was at the top of it. She was proud of her achievement and if she had the chance, she would carefully slide it in a conversation so she could maybe become a teacher assistant of some sort ? Yeah good idea.

She went with her day and at noon, she found Lucius in front of her door. [Is this a message from heaven that I am becoming a crazy cat lady ? Mmmh… I mean, I talk to a cat everyday after all.]

She crouched. “Hello fur baby, how are you ?”

Lucius deadpan answered her a happy meow and began to explain the situation -at least she thought so since it was a very long monologue of meow-.

Victoria nodded and then delicately grabbed Lucius. “Yes yes, my Lord. Let’s go find professor Trein.”

She went on her way, with the black cat purring under the scratches. “You’re a good boyyy, Imma right Lucius ?”

“Meow” Was the only answer from the liquified cat.

They arrived in front of the teacher’s lounge. She knocked like she could, without letting the cat go away.

The door opened and Crewel appeared “Yes ? Oh ! Finally his majesty Lucius is back.”

Victoria laughed. “Yeah, I found him in front of my desk… Can you help me get him to professor Trein ?”

Crewel nodded, sighing at the memory of the ruckus Trein made because Lucius disappeared. “Yeah I will call him… You can sit over there.” He said, pointing to a chair near his desk.

Victoria and her furry luggage sat quietly, while Crewel was calling Trein.

While waiting for Trein to arrive, they had a staring contest. 

Victoria broke the silence. “Do you have any good books on alchemy to recommend to me ?”

The man was surprised. “You want to study alchemy ?”

Victoria shrugged like she could. “I am truly curious about it. I studied physics initially. Moreover, everything related to science is interesting. It seems fun.”

Crewel smiled. “If you like science, you will definitely love alchemy. It is very complex but the result is worth the effort.”

The woman nodded and asked wholeheartedly. “How does it feel to play God ?”

Crewel spat out the coffee he was drinking. “*koff* wh-what ? *kof*”

She tilted her head innocently “Well… Alchemy is kinda like playing God, no ? You transform matters and stuff like that ?”

Crewel blinked and said in a desperate voice “You truly need some reading…”

Trein arrived a few minutes after Crewel finished his long list of books for Victoria to read. The cat jumped from her arms to snuggle against his master.

Trein grabbed the runaway cat. “Thank you Mrs Devi, I owe you for finding this little rascal.”

The said rascal complained. He wasn’t a rascal, he was a Cupid. -His word, truly.-

Trein and Crewel choked. Thanks to the Great Seven Victoria didn’t know animal language.

The question was : a Cupid for who ?

Tag : @boba-tea-fish

[androgynousblackbox]

The Horror of Our Love. 5 [Radioapple, Appleradio]

A town

"We reached Hogsmeade in the morning and stayed at a little hostal. I talked a little with the owner about the current situation with Hogwarts. Since the closing and clean up, the castle has been empty for the most part as a historical point of contention. The locals think that is haunted by ghosts that refuse to leave the place, both because they have seen a few ghost floating around the grounds, and also because nobody manages to stay there after the sun is down without being affected somehow. Nosebleeds, headaches, ringing ears that feel like screeching and some people even threw up.

They say it's a curse left behind by the tragedy of what happened. I heard of cases like that. Sometimes you have a place where too much bad stuff has happened and it just gets tainted by it. It seeps into the walls. Sometimes even muggles can feel it. I mean, it could be, but I am not putting my money there for now.

In the tabern next to where we stay at there is a little homage to the people who died that night. The article of what happened frammed and hanging from the wall, the wall drawn over by the message left behind by the people of the town that knew any of them. There is even a message for professor Magne. He tutorred the daughter of someone in here and they always appreciated that. He wasn't a bad teacher, I guess. A hardass for sure. He could be a real dick if he wanted to. But it could have been worse.

Officially speaking, the school has been effectively abandoned. All the portraits have been donated to other places so they don't rot alone. All the plants and creatures that needed actual care have been relocated so they wouldn't die. Its kept standing and cleaned up merely for its historical importance. An old relic of a time where magic schools were not really a thing and all wizards and witches had to learn to control their magic on their own, if they didn't had the privilege to count with a coven already. Hogwarts was the first of its class and that counts for something.

Not entirely officially, there is a tour guide that operates during three days of the week to show people the biggest scenes. The place where students slept, the big library, the potions classroom, the headmaster's office and, of course, each of the places in which they discovered a different body part of the school staff. That wasn't a specific perk that was announced, but every person that went into that castle knew very well why it wasn't in use now. I wouldn't be surprised at all to know that was a big reson why people kept coming to town. Morbid curiosity can be very profitable. My entire line of work has confirmed that for me thousands of times. I can't say that isn't a factor too into why I accepted this case in the first place.

The money from these tours supposedly goes directly into keeping up the castle and all of it's protections in place so muggles still can't find it. I hope it does something because it wasn't cheap, that is for sure. The group that we were going out with had a bunch of old people that maybe actually cared about the history and so much more young people, freshly out of their own schools, laughing and talking way too loud for my taste.

We talked with a few of them. They seemed good kids, just annoying. To be fair I thought the same about my own classmates when I was their same age, so what do I know. They told us about the curse in place and how they were planning to totally sneak out to some place where the guide wouldn't look, to see what happens after hours. They never did that in the end. We did.

Anthony had prepared us already with a bunch of anti-curse amulets, most of them made by his grandma, plus some potions and a few spells that were popular in Italy. He also had enchanted salt in case some kind of evil spirit decided to attach itself to us. It may seem a little too much, but when it came to these kind of things I would trust Anthony with my eyes closed. I had better grades in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was always pretty obvious to me that he was the actual better student because he cared about that. Not that our professor cared about that if he couldn't see it on a examen or a paper.

If it wasn't for me and our agency, I have no issue believing that he would have made it his business to protect others whatever way he could. He is just awesome like that.

Truly unfortunate that it all went to waste. There was nothing at all when the sun went down and I mean nothing literally. They were using illusions spells to make it seems like the school was still in use. There were curtains, chairs, mattress on the bed, even fires on the chimneys. The moment the tour was over all of that dissapear and the whole castle was just rocks on top of rocks, no sign of life besides us anywhere. It was cold as shit despite the entire day just being okay.

We explored in our own, just to be sure. Nothing on his office. Nothing in the library. Nothing in the place where he supposedly never slept in anyway. It was a nice try.

After that came the interesting part. We went to the girl's bathroom in the second floor. There was nothing there. All the mirror have been taken out, but the snake themed metal engravings were still there. We pull out the radio from the infinite bag of Anthony and hold it in front.

The radio asked us where we were. I told it that we were just moving it to a more secure place, one where we would be sure nothing would happen to it until professor Magne came pick it up. Anthony then asked him if he still remembered the first time that he found Luci. Going up to that bathroom when he knew no one was watching and try to open the passage, even knowing that it could all be a bust.

The station changed on the spot. Light steps, like that of a child, over rock could be heard. Back then the drenage was always making some kind of noise. Far away in the distance, through the windows and the hallways, the voices of students could be heard. Everything as it was when there was life here. The first words that younger memory said were in a different tongue, dragging out the s sound like an actual snake. This was the first time we actually got to hear it like anyone else would have if they had been there, rather than the filtered memory of professor Magne.

The passage opened up for us. Despite all the years without use, our obstacle moved easily out of the way. Without anyone using the bathroom, there was no water to splash our feet with, not like the kid version playing in the radio was. Up ahead there this big circular door with snakes interwined. I was carrying the radio, so I had to throw a look for Anthony to prepare himself in case we needed to. If there was a trap, a curse, or worse, the man itself there with his monster boyfriend, Anthony was going to be my first line of protection until I could throw the radio away. If I was lucky I could break it on the face of that asshole.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. When we went inside it was different than what was described to us. All the statues of the past motherfuckers that kept enslaving Lucifer for generation were gone. Can't say I don't get that one. But now there was a huge chimney on the side of a wall that I have to imagine made it more liveable. It was big enough to fit a full man, but when I went to inspect it the bones that haven't fully burned were either too long or too short to be of any human.

I told Anthony to keep his guard up as he went to behind the bigggest statue, the only one that remained, where the nest had to be in. Torches lighted up to our presence as soon we started descending the stairs, all across the place. Or more correctly, when I came down with the radio after Anthony. Whatever magic remained in the place had recognized a part of professor Magne.

It was just as big as it had to be in order to contain Lucifer, but there was more than that there. Toys, wooden toys, plushies. A box of used crayons. Blankets that looked newer than everything else there, pillows with cute shapes that were still soft to the touch. On the same corner where there was someone had hanged a sheet with sparkles all over that shinned against the lights. Right under there I caught glimpse of a storybook for children, one that had a cartoony snake on the cover happily carrying an apple to a tree, where the paw of a cat was waiting. The hungry smart cat was the title.

When I touched, I knew it was another of them. Call it intuition or whatever, but a big amount of magic was printed all over the thing. I put it on our bag, just for now, and kept searching. The place was surprisingly clean despite being clearly abandoned too. I was ready to see at least something rotting and half eaten by rats, but I have to give it to the man: he knew how to keep the lair of a man eating snake clean. Not really a good thing you want to put on a resume.

When it was clear we had nothing else to see, we came back to the door and kept going forward. There was an extension there that took us through a tunnel of dirt. The shortening spell still worked there. It didn't took us more than 15 minutes to reach a wooden entrance. I kept the radio in front of just in case the security system was still in place. If for some reason I got stuck there, Anthony had the task of pulling me out somehow. Lucky for us, those precautions were not necessary.

On the other side there was a normal hallway. On the wall there were empty spaces where pictures were before. I came to know face to face the infamous duck statue next to the stairs and Anthony said that professor Magne could eat a bag of dicks for eating it. I was inclined to agree. At least looked ridiculous enough to give the place some personality besides the antlers mounted on the wall. Besides those few details, everything else had been emptied, but here is the catch: it wasn't dusty enough. Not like things were in most of the rooms at the castle that nobody had even thought of touching. I would say… maybe two years worth of dust, more or less. The sheets and curtains were not nearly as old as the ones on the nest at the castle. There was even still a bottle of wine in the fridge.

They had either stayed here on that period of time or were living here the entire time after killing all the staff. It could have been either way with that guy. Just a spell or potion to hide his own face and he could do whatever he wanted here, an invisible dead man that nobody would care about. I need to see later in the death toll around this area or if people were dissapearing before. Someone had to die to make that book.

There were three bedroom in total, two upstairs and one downstairs. The last one was a repurposed office with no real bed, but there was a lot of blankets and pillows concentrated in the middle. The floor was a enlarged mattress that still squeaked under pressure. The wardroves were empty, except for a few socks at the back of the drawers.

Upstairs was the guest bedroom. Nothing different about it. A bed, a desk, wardrove, a bathroom. Nothing left behind there. But the third room was something else. I never knew a single place could be so damn pink. The bedframe was a cute unicorn, decorations of cute animals filled the walls, the white desk had crayons and markers now dry up. Some toys were still on the floor or in the bed.

I have two theories about what the hell this is about. One of them is just kidnapping, plain and simple. Some kid that bastard left without parents end up here and probably was still with them. Maybe to train them into continueing his legacy or something. Another one is… well, still fucked up. That naga that he made me babysit more than one time and he kept in a fucking cage during class. If she was actually smart enough to be treated like a kid with her own room, then that guy still kidnapped the offpring of some poor naga parents and made everyone believe she was just another animal to keep around.

After we cleaned up the whole place, no traces of another of those items anywhere, only then I sat down at the table with the little book. When I first opened it up, the pages were white, but soon they started to fill out with words and what looked to be kid's drawings as illustratons. It quickly became obvious that the words contained there had nothing to do with whatever was originally on that book. No hungry cat anywhere, smart or otherwise. However, there was a snake. There is always a snake somewhere now."

"Once upon a time, there was a kind wizard. He was the youngest of seven brothers in a renowed magical family, whose lineage went many years back. All of them were destined to greatness, or so they were told, but the kind wizard had other ideas in mind.

Close to their village there was another bigger one, full of muggles. They hunted, they catched fish and had crops from where to eat. But sometimes they got sick, hurt or struggle to gather enough food for everyone. The kind wizard would help them out whenever he could. If there was a bad crop, he would give them new life. If they only had one beast to feed three families, he multiplied them. If there wasn't enough clothing or a house got too cold, he would help them through the winter.

At first, it was entirely in secret. The muggles knew that their luck had turned around, but didn't know there was someone behind it. But the more time the kind wizard spend with them, it was a secret that everyone just knew about. They started coming up to him with requests. Cure my coughing son, save my dying cow, help us find our dog. The kind wizard could not always do everything, he was just one man after all, but there was still a lot that he could do.

He developed a close relationship with them, becoming a friend, a confident. They called him a miracle worker despite numerous protest from the kind wizard. Among their people, the kind wizard fell in love with a woman and both of them couldn't wait to form their own family.

Unofortunately, that is not what happened. The more people came in from other towns, the more distrust it started to grow around the kind wizard. They didn't understand the idea of magic, so they feared it and started fearing the wizard as well. Suddenly all his good deeds were seen as suspicious. People remoured that any of their disgraces were actually caused by him, just so he could come in and pretend to be a hero.

It didn't took them long to come to the conclusion that if the kind wizard had the power to heal, then he also had the power to hurt. They were not going to stay arms crossed while that risk existed.

One silent night, some muggles followed the kind wizard back to the village where his brothers and their families lived. They saw their magic wands, them flying in the sky with brooms, cauldorns preparing potions and did not understand it, so they deem it evil. The fact that there were kid wizards living among them did not stop them. They are tainted already, they said. There is no salvation for them.

The fires consumed everything.

The wizards luckily could defend themselves, some even managing to enchant the muggles so they would forget all about their village, but the damage was already done. They couldn't stay in the same place any longer. The kind wizard tried to get back to his wife, to their future unborn child waiting for him, but his family had other plans for him.

The secret had been find out. As long it wasn't anything serious, his father was willing to let him have fun with the muggles on his free time. But now his actions had consequences for everyone else and they couldn't let that slide. His father had a terrible idea.

He trapped his son, the kind wizard, in a bizarre form and lock him up on a castle where once his ancestors founded a school for wizard. There he would be punished to serve and obey the children of all his brothers for as long he was alive. The kind wizard was beyond heartbroken. His only comfort was to think that his wife and their child could be safe away from all of that, not knowing in what he had been turned into.

During many years, he spend his time alone and restricted to that prison with no hope of ever changing it. The future generations that came to his door only wanted very specific things from him and none of them included friendship. He had resigned to this lonely fate when one day, surprisingly, one of his descendants came to find him and this was certainly a weird wizard.

Weird in how he was the youngest of all others before him. Weird in how he never was scared of the form the kind wizard had been cursed with. Weird in how he had no plan, no order, nothing to demand from the beast in front of him that a little bit of company and a chat.

At first, the kind wizard didn't know what to think. For as weird as this new kid was, surely he would get bored and leave him there? Surely, one day he would stop coming in. How much interesting can an imprisioned cursed wizard can be?

And yet, the weird wizard kept coming in. He brought books and games and gossip to talk about. For the first time in a long time, someone was laughing on his old cold prison and the sound was beautiful, hopeful. The more the weird wizard kept growing, the cursed beast could not do more than to wait for him and wish to hear his voice again. Despite his best efforts to deny it, he still had the heart of a kind man.

Eventually, they fell in love. The weird wizard promised that one day he would be the one to break the curse and show him everything the world had to offer, everything that he could only know about by hearing others talk about it. All pretty words that the cursed one wanted to believe in, but didn't know if he could. It had been many years since he had been turned into a slithering form, condemned to communicate only in a tongue that few wizards of the world could understand. It was hard to believe that any of that could truly change.

The weird wizard had no such doubts. To him, his love was beautiful and majestic, a marvel worthy of admiration. He couldn't care less about what the rest of society could want out of them. This was their happiness and that was all that mattered.

Their marriage was a secret private ceremony with only the best friend of the weird wizard present as a witness. They exchanged rings that promised never to take off to symbolize their union, that couldn't be recognized in the ouside world. The weird wizard prepared a home where they could live together, without worrying about intruders.

For a good few years, this was enough, but there was a persistent thought in the mind of the weird wizard. Since he was weird, the idea kept growing and growing until it wouldn't leave him alone. There was something that felt missing from this little happy life they both had managed to build together. Something that the kind beast had already lost and something that the weird wizard barely knew at all. A sense of family that would be completed with a child, their own child.

They couldn't just make a baby in a cauldron. They couldn't just order one to come in the mail. They both wanted it to be created by both of them. The weird wizard explorar all venues possible, until finally, finally, he found a solution.

The spell originally had been created to allow a vampire woman to have the babies of her human husband. An old family secret that had been passed down until it reached one of the friends of the weird wizard and into his ears. There were still obstacles to surpass. The spell had to be modified to adapt to their own circumstances. They were both very much alive, neither a vampire, but the weird wizard was persistent and knew that he could do it.

If most people got to have children with the ones they loved, then by all means he should be able too. After a lot of trial and error, experiment after experiment, the weird wizard started noticing some changes on himself.

His previously brown hands were turning into solid black as coal. His eyes that were once round were becoming slit and red just like his love. His appetite was becoming more inclined to certain kind of food that ever was before. A simple spell to hide those feature would be put in place and up to the next try. Just in case, the weird wizard carried gloves and obscured glasses with him.

There were many failures along the way. Some more painful than others. Some seemed to be a success until they weren't. Those were the worst. But despite everything, they kept trying. Giving up at that point just wasn't an option at all. One way or another, now they wanted this baby more than anything else in the world.

Until one day, one of the eggs from the cursed wizard started growing inside the weird wizard, just as they were hoping for. They waited, week after week, to see if this egg wasn't going to survive like all others and they would have to change the spell again. Meanwhile, the belly of the weird wizard kept growing. The day that their baby gave her first kick it was like they could finally breath again. None of their previous attempt had reached to that stage.

The cursed wizard couldn't be a more happy father. He dotted on the weird wizard as much as he was able to, providing with everything necessary to keep the baby growing, while the weird wizard was so imensively proud he couldn't contain himself. Many children come to this world by mistake, without their parents intending to, but not this one. Theirs was a true labor of love, a testament of their perseverance. Not to mention, proof that if he wanted to, the weird wizard could do what nobody else could before. Having his own baby gave him hope that someday he was going to be able to break the curse and take his love away. Those were joyious days, the ones of waiting.

Whatever form she took, whatever features she gained from any of her parents, they were both going to give this child all the love this world had to offer, because she was now their entire world. For as long any of them lived, she was going to be protected from anything or anyone that could hurt her. That was their promise to her. One they were going to keep no matter what.

When she was born, it was the happiest day of their life. The weird wizard hold her on his arms for the first time said and said what he had wanted for so long:

Welcome home, Charlie."

[Note from Husk: On the last page, with the same letters used for the rest of the story, the book asked: Did you enjoyed the story? With a yes and a no waiting to be marked.

I took one of the crayons I found upstairs to mark on the yes. The book went back and forth itself, creating new pages with new phrases to speak to use. All the illustrations that were there before were gone now.]

"It has been a while since you wrote, little one."

[Note from Husk: I considered just playing along for this book to keep thinking we were who it thought, this "little one". But if at any point it realized we lied, it was going to close itself off and tell us nothing. I figured that telling the truth was our best option. Using the crayon, I wrote my own name. For a few seconds the book did nothing, but then moved to a new page.

Writing with crayon sucks. Later we managed to test it out and yes, this thing won't respond anything at all unless we use the crayon. Any mark we make will just dissapear.]

"You have the same name as one of my students."

"I was one of your students. Grown up now."

"Why do you have this book? It was supposed to be for someone else."

"We are trying to know where they are. Professor Magne asked us to keep getting all his horrorcruxes together until we can find him or he find us."

"Do you know about Luci?"

"Yes, you told us."

"Us who?"

"Me and Anthony. He was also an student. We just want to know where you are now."

"Am I not in Hogwarts currently? Or Hogsmeade?"

"No. You dissapeared after we graduated."

[Note from Husk: The book took a full minute to show me anything new.]

"The curse must have been broken. Did you ever saw Luci outside of the school or the town? How about Charlie? Where is she?"

"No, I didn't. We don't know who is Charlie."

"You have met her before. She liked you. You showed her magic tricks with cards."

"The naga that you had during class."

"Not a naga. Just happened to come out looking like one. She was safer as a magical creature I had the permission to handle than as my child."

"Safe from what?"

"Everyone who wouldn't understand, either her or Luci. Nobody questioned a permit. Everyone questions other people's children. Where they came from, where is the father, what do they eat. I couldn't risk my family facing that scrutiny."

[Note from Anthony: At this point I wrote with another crayon.]

"Anthony here. Could you show us more about Charlie and the story in the book?"

[Note from Anthony: I thought he was going to show us more of those cute illustrations that he had before. Somehow it didn't ocurred to me that the book would literally suck us inside. My bad.]

[longwindedbore]

Q: how can you tell when Trump is lying?

A: his lips are moving.

Donald Trump is LYING when he said he was ‘denied’ a Jury trial.

See the above article. But also…

=======Commentary======

FOR THE OFFICIAL RECORD of the Trial, the Judge noted on Monday, Oct. 02, 2023 that neither the Plaintiff (the State) nor the Defendant (DJT) requested a Jury Trial.

The only way that any attorney could ‘forget’ to ask for a jury trial in a civil case is if they had some kind of head trauma that created amnesia.

Even then…

There are a plethora of pre-trial hearings for motions as well as to work out the details of the trial. The question of jury trial would have come up.

Also, the Defense received a filing from the the State indicating that the State was waiving Trial by Jury (see below)that serves to remind them.

In the non-TV world of the Civil legal process attorneys for both sides in a case this large will be concerned with presenting too much evidence. They’ll have to work together to stipulate that both sides agree to some/a lot of material facts.

This occurred in several of the Civil cases I was involved in. As well as a much simpler criminal case where I served on a jury.

Of course the Defense Strategy sessions with the Client would have included discussing with their client (DJT) the New York State option of whether some issues could be decided by the Bench while others by Jury. (See below)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Expert Witness~~~~~~~~~~~

Self-proclaimed Law Professor Donald Trump may only be IGNORANT after 3,500 lawsuits when he denigrated the Judge on on Monday because the Judge - per Donald - said that the testimony of Expert Witnesses wasn’t presenting Evidence.

Well, golly, as an Expert Witness who was disposed 25 times in cases and testified in open court - yes, I never presented Evidence. Nor did any of the several hundred Experts I worked with or against in cases who were deposed and testified in Court.

The legal purposes of an Expert Witnesses is a bit more complicated. You can do your own research.

Or you can just watch “My Cousin Vinnie” (1992) which is used in Law Schools since it is an accurate depiction of qualifying, challenging qualifications and extracting testimony from an Expert. As well as an Oscar winning comedic performance by Marisa Tormei as the Expert.

~~~~~~~~~~~So, Why No Jury~~~~~~~~~~~~

SPECULATION: One reason the Defense may have decided on a Bench Trial is that in Civil Cases the Plaintiff (the State) has the RIGHT to call the Defendants (DJT, the sons, the indicted employees) to Testify under Oath on the Witness stand.

DJT would have to Testify and answer all questions not overruled.

Potentially confessng in Open Court to fraud this opening him to possible criminal prosecution. In multiple states and even overseas.

Or he would invoke his 5th Amendment rights through most of the questioning. Likely lose his temper at some point. This would certainly prejudice a Jury against him.

A Judge is more likely to coldly weigh the evidence presented.

I can’t imagine any attorney thought they could ever win this case. The strategy has to have been that if it went to court the Defense would work toward the least onerous outcome.

~~~~~~~New York’s Filing re Jurt Trial~~~~~~~~

This is a copy of the State’s filing. At some point we’ll see a similar one filed by DJT’s attorneys

These type of pre-trial decisions play out in accordance with a timeline set between the Court and the two Sides early in the process.

[margridarnauds]

Sleepover ask time! I give you permission to rant about shit on main

That's an ungodly amount of power to give me, let's go.

This is going to be unpopular with some people, and I totally get why, but...every once in a while on this site, there's a lot of furor raised over "You CAN'T call the Aeneid/The Divine Comedy/Arthuriana fanfic, you don't UNDERSTAND, they're MEDITATIONS on fate/divine will/mortality, they're DEEP." Many outraged posts made, blood spilled, lives lost on Tumblr as the most unlikeable people that you know on both sides write bad faith thinkpieces that wildly miss the point. And...I get it. I do. I emphasize that I get it. These texts are, overwhelmingly, being manufactured in a time before copyright protections, as we know them, existed. (Though Cervantes, in the 17th century, provided an early example of an author...very firmly asserting his own exclusive ownership of the characters.) These works, rather than being fanfiction in and of themselves, are part of a cultural tradition of transformative borrowing and exchange that fanfiction is ALSO a part of.

...but that being said. Lads. Lighten up.

People who actually work with stuff day in, day out don't care as much as randos on Tumblr, or self proclaimed English Majors™ who couldn't hack grad school and have decided that, in retribution, they're going to subject us to complaining about YA, fanfic, pick your poison here (mandatory "Education =/= intelligence or critical thinking skills, especially given the RIDICULOUS cost of a degree in the States, but if you're going to promote yourself as an English Major™, and play into that hierarchical system, I reserve the right to call you on it and pull rank.) I've sat at tables filled with medievalists who will gleefully call Arthuriana fanfic (we also had a lovely discussion on MPreg, Omegaverse, and protecting curious senior scholars from the former two when they go on their regular sojourns across the internet.) I've read articles from respected medievalists that will adopt a transformative approach towards reading texts, arguing that they are, essentially, fanfiction. (Matthieu Boyd's paper on Mesca Ulaid, for the interested.) I've talked to tenured Ivy League professors who will compare respected medieval literary traditions to fanfic. (Three, actually.) As a soon to be published Arthurian scholar myself, *I* don't care, and I'd like to think that, at this point, I've earned my laurels enough to have an opinion.

Like, I just think we have to consider what our goal is here -- is it to educate people on the way that pre-modern literary cultures worked, or is it to make ourselves feel superior? Is it because we want to clarify that our own situation re: copyright is the exception rather than the norm historically, or is it because we feel somehow threatened by the comparison between something that we hold to be significant to something that we hold insignificant, especially since the latter is something that is something that can be written by anyone as opposed to a specific literary elite that overwhelmingly consisted of men? When we're here, in our capacity as ambassadors for our fields, are we doing more harm than good by trying to puff ourselves up? Are we actually ENCOURAGING people to engage with this stuff, or are we making them think that we're all Like That?

When I was younger, 17-18, I was terrified of interacting with people who did this sort of thing specifically because there was one person on here, back in the day, who was SUCH a prickly asshole that I was scared. And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have entered grad school for this, I never would've gotten my MA, I wouldn't have gotten into my PhD program. God knows how many other people might have had similar experiences. That matters more to me than whether Arthuriana technically counts as fic.

...also this is the funny meme website. The reason why a lot of people aren't giving the most nuanced takes on medieval literary networks is specifically because, besides being laypeople...this is the funny meme website. None of us are making any of this into a conference paper, it isn't going on our CVs, so I'm not going to focus on getting all the nuances down right because. This is the funny meme website. I go here. To make funny memes. And to escape my program. And if you have enough time and energy to get angry, wonderful, fight the good fight, but, ala the Cervantes example above, you might find yourself tilting at windmills that you've mainly created.

[m-questionnaire]

From Not a Future Missus: Champion of the Ages. (I still prefer my April Fool’s masterpiece.)

     “This is stupid,” Ella said. Her arms were crossed as she glared daggers at her textbook. It was opened to a page listing common occurrences during puberty. Eyes landed on the word at the bottom of the list, printed in large, bold letters: URGES (see pg. 40). 

     Beside Ella, Potter grunted in displeasure; they shared Ella’s textbook for the lesson. It was a shame that she had to trade partners with an occupant of the nearest table, which happened to be Potter and Weasley’s. She didn’t understand why Professor McGonagall decided it would be a good idea to build teamwork, especially since the assignment involved learning more about the pubescent body. Reading embarrassing passages together? The world must be so against the class!

     “Why do we need a different partner for this?” Ella whispered harshly. She flipped to page forty, which went into further detail about certain aspects of the teenage body that she didn’t want to know. “The teachers are conspiring against us for their amusement. I’ll bet Professor McGonagall gossips about our embarrassment to the rest of the staff after the end of every lesson.”

     Potter rolled his eyes. “And?”

      “And?” Ella frowned. She glanced between Potter and the textbook. “It’s humiliating for us. I, for one, don’t need any more of that this early on.”

     “I, for one,” Potter drawled in a mockery of Ella’s voice, “wouldn’t mind that. That deal with the ferret was fully deserved. You attacked me!”

     “Because you insulted my mother,” Ella hissed. “However you and Weasley interpreted my words, I never intended to slight his parents!”

     “Sure you didn’t,” Potter said sarcastically. “Don’t the Malfoys and Weasleys have some feud going on? And with how you’ve been treating us for the past three years, I’m perfectly within rights to assume the worst.”

     Ella’s cheeks heated in her frustration. She looked down, finding her fists clenched on her lap. “Alright, but leave my mother out of this. Insult me back, I—I don’t care, but don’t bring her into whatever conflicts we have.”

     “And you leave the Weasleys out of it,” Potter said softly. From Ella’s peripheral vision, however, she could tell his expression was tense. “And don’t think I forgot what you said about my parents that train ride on our first year. You’re not as innocent as you like to think.”

     Ella looked at Potter, confused. She didn’t remember much during that encounter besides the fact that she was chosen over Weasley.

     “Even if I did,” she said, “I still meant no harm with that Ministry article; I know I tend to sound more biting, but I’ve been doing it for years. I’m just saying, they tend to overlook Arthur Weasley or anyone with a lower position. Or Rita Skeeter does. But . . . objectively speaking, they looked happy. I know the Weasleys are poor—yes, I’ll say it—and their house looks in need of major fixing, but they looked . . .”

      Warm. Like a very caring couple, and it was no wonder Potter attached himself so easily to them. But Ella refused to voice that. That would make her appear soft. 

     “Looked what?” Potter’s bespectacled eyes were on Ella’s. She wanted to look away, but she didn’t. Potter lacked the incomprehensible sorrow she once saw, replaced with honest curiosity (if a bit tinged with suspicion), and it sparked an odd interest in her. 

     Ella licked her lips. “Looked . . .”

     “Mr. Potter, Miss Malfoy,” Professor McGonagall interrupted quietly. Ella’s mouth snapped shut, and she found Professor McGonagall standing in front of them with a disapproving look. “This is no time for miscellaneous discussions. I am certain you remember the assignment that comes after?”

[alixgates03]

Phonics and How English Works

October 23, 2023

Introduction (Mesmer, 2019)

In order to make use of phonics, children first need to have a deep and clear understanding of how the system of writing works. There are two foundational concepts that children must understand before they can begin to grasp letter-sound relationships: the alphabet and the concept of words in print & writing letters (Mesmer, 2019, p. XV).

I have learned this in the field as my teacher does Fundations with our 2nd grade class, but it was cool reading that the modalities that Fundations utilizes for teaching phonics are proven to be useful ways to get children engaged during phonics lessons: writing on mini white boards, magnetic letters, scissors & paper for cutting out sounds, etc.

Chapter 1 (Mesmer, 2019)

The idea of teaching phonics seems complicated, but every sound and letter has a rule and the rules are learned, writing is a very easy task for students to accomplish, but it just takes time to get to that point.

I took phonetics this summer as a pre-requisite speech and language pathology course through Mass General Health Institute, so most of the information in this chapter was not new to me. One thing I found interesting is the link between phonetics and phonics. While I read this chapter I found myself learning a lot more of the rules of why letters are where they are in words when we spell them out, which is phonics. On the other hand, while I learned all about blends, r-controlled vowels, consonant clusters, and diphthongs this summer, my instruction was more focused on HOW we make each sound with our tongue and oral cavity, the sounds that each one makes and on learning the IPA phoneme symbol for each one, and being able to transcribe English words into phonemes based on my knowledge of which vowels are used in stressed syllables or unstressed syllables, etc. Due to this knowledge, I feel like it will definitely be hard to grasp the idea of teaching phonics while I am doing field experience because I think about all of those concepts in a different way than how they are being taught in phonics instruction in the classroom.

Reflection:

For this readerly exploration I decided to learn something about the author of Letter Lessons and First Words and note how what I learned impacts my motivation for reading. The author of the book is Heidi Anna Mesmer, she is a tenured head professor of literacy at Virginia Tech and has studied beginning reading materials, text difficulty, and struggling readers since 1999. In addition to this book, she has written 3 other books and 4 journal articles on early reading. I was able to find her LinkedIn fairly easily after searching her name, and found out she has been working at Virginia tech as a professor in the literacy department for 21 years; 16 years as an assistant professor and 5 years so far as the head professor. This is the first time that I can recall researching the writer of a book or article I am reading before reading it, and I’m so glad I did! Had I not researched her I would not have felt inclined to read her book, but now knowing her level of expertise I am excited to read all of the  knowledge she has to share with elementary school teachers in regard to phonics and early reading. 

Multimedia:

I included a photo of her and all of her publications!

[andrewmfriday]

My Autodidactic University

Let’s not talk about how long ago I graduated from university. The world is a different place. I studied journalism and then went to art school. I’m embarrassed to say it took me longer than it should to realize this: graduating from high school or college is just the beginning.

School’s purpose is to teach us how to teach ourselves — or it should be. It’s not about memorizing useless facts. It should be a training center for learning how to think for ourselves. Why? Because knowledge changes. Science changes. Religion changes. History changes.

As a graphic designer, I learned how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and the whole Adobe gang decades ago, but those software have changed over time. And I had to keep learning how to use them.

The same can be said for any subject.

My real education goes far beyond classrooms and tests — it’s a lifelong pursuit. With the vast resources available online today, anyone can continue to expand their knowledge on any subject, at any time.

I have had a few long satisfying careers over my life. I’m in that point in my life where I love to learn for the sake of learning. No interest in a degree. No certifications. Just learning. And, wow, I can do that so easily with the digital advantages we have today.

So, I decided, just for fun to become autodidactic. In my spare time, I wanted to brush up on certain subjects and discover new areas of knowledge. And I didn’t want to go take courses at a local college. And I didn’t want to take online courses. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those. I decided to just create my own curriculum and study casually as I lived my life.

Here are the steps I took:

Pick a Subject and Create a Syllabus with AI.

I decided to study art history. Or rather, brush up on it. A few years ago, I took a wonderful video course from my city’s library website, but I wanted to revisit the subject. Art history also offers itself as an easy example for this article.

After asking ChatGPT to create a syllabus for a 14-week course (or how ever many weeks you want) on art history, I was on my way. In seconds, it created an outline for me to follow to learn art history. It reminded me handouts I would have gotten many years ago on the first day of class.

All I did was plug in the following instructions: “syllabus for introduction to art history course.” I did this for several subject I am curious about like communication theory and American literature, but I decided to go forward with art history for now.

Study ahead for each week’s subject.

This can be done in several ways. I Googled the information which happened to be early Christian art — yes, there is the art for ancient civilizations, but I felt that is too broad of a subject and deserved its own course. So, I started with Christian artwork and got the basics with a simple online search.

For each bullet point under early Christian art — things like large-scale mosaics, iconographic portraits, and architectural structures — I sought out websites with specific details and examples, and I added these to my personal notes.

Because I was studying art history, I also included graphics of paintings, sculptures and architecture from each art period. Whatever subject you pick will determine the nature of the information and graphics you collect.

Note: the autodidactic can go at his or her own pace. I usually studied one or two topics a week, depending upon how busy I was. I may study both the Dada art period and the Cubism art period in one week. Or I would skip a week in my course.

Watch YouTube videos for each subject.

After studying ahead, I would search YouTube on the specific topic of the week. It’s like having a professor give you lectures on the subject which was true for many videos. I’d create a playlist for that topic — in this case, an art history playlist — and dump everything into it. I would usually pick at least two short videos for that week’s “lecture.” I did this to get a variety of viewpoints on the same subject. I also pick videos that are no longer than twenty minutes. I can get the gist in a short amount of time. This week, I added two videos on the New Objectivity art period to my Art History playlist.

Create flashcards for each week.

This is the part where I study my notes from the videos and websites from which I’ve mined them. Traditional 3x5 cards work, but I use digital flashcards. Flashcardmachine.com is great. I ask questions based on my notes and just copy and paste the answers on the back of the digital cards. Very quick and easy.

In this first round of creating flashcards, I don’t study them too closely. My goal is to get an overall idea of the topic. While I may know what post-impressionism art is, I don’t worry too much about studying as hard as I would if I were in an actual class. Paying tuition. Taking tests. No, this is for fun, and I can come back later and review.

Go into the field.

Hands-on learning is the most effective. Videos, flashcards and taking notes are great, but they’re just laying the foundation. If possible — if the topic you study allows for it — find a way to ‘go into the field.”

Tullio Crali, Flight at Sunset, 1930, oil on canvas. This is an example of a Futurism painting at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo by the author.

You may want to find experts in the field you study. Find teachers, businesspeople, and other autodidactics to talk with. Go visit places — like I did the art museum — to see examples in real life. Use your ingenuity to get hands-on experience.

Test yourself on your knowledge

So, I mentioned the flashcards. Once I’m done with the course I created, I’ll use them to review my knowledge of art history. I could also generate an exam on ChatGPT, but I’m not sure. I love taking tests, but I’m going to make this part optional. Since I’m doing this for the love of learning, I will test myself only if I feel like it. I’ll probably revisit certain lessons over time and add new videos to my playlist or re-read my notes. I’m going to go at my own pace. Because I can.

“I wish I had this technology when I was in university.” I know I sound like an old man when I say that — which I am to some people — but it’s true. If I could have looked ahead to see how information would be available at one’s fingertips, I would have called it science fiction. Now, it’s science fact. And it makes learning for the sake of learning so much easier.

Gosh, I wish I had a computer and the internet when I was in college. I would have killed it.

My Linktree

[evelynndecipio-blog]

Decipio,

Sorry, gotta make this one quick. Dea's harping at my ass to get packed and ready to get shipped off to the summer camp.

Maria Dee said very little to me, just mentioned the strange figure and then she just sort of... scuttled off, I guess. Why do all the younger kids scuttle? Are they afraid of us? Weird. But anyways, I didn't get a chance to talk to her before we left school but I can try and find her at the summer camp. Although, I don't know if she's going. But I guess we'll see. I can also ask around and see who else saw that figure at summer camp or even when we get back to school.

The stuff with Ilvermorny was just rumors. Gossip. They came for that ball, right? (I actually didn't go, Pendrast was gonna serve my head on a platter to my mother if I didn't finish that essay) I heard some crazy stuff happened, but since someone said that a unicorn pranced in and started disco dancing, I don't think much of it is true. Besides, I frankly don't remember most of it... you should ask someone who went. But yeah, the guy's kind of creepy. Like a... a pervert. He just gives me really bad vibes.

Cecily didn't tell me when she saw the dolls actually... I should ask her during the summer camp, if I can find her. The nerd decided she was going to tent with her Quidditch teammates, believe it or not. Crazy! She spent down spending time with me to spend time with her team? So weird. We should interview her, together. You have way better questions than me when I interview people. I'd definitely say ask Cecily Quinn when we get back to school in the fall. And maybe Dralt, too. He always looks like he knows something you don't, but I think that's only when he's wearing his glasses. Do glasses give people special powers?

I think I like Hogwarts because of the people. The atmosphere. It's dangerous, sure, but lots of things are dangerous. The tube's pretty dangerous, but my mom and I still take it a lot when we have to get someplace in London. Planes are pretty dangerous too. I think... this sounds kind of bad, but I think I just ignore everything. At least, I did. Things would happen, and I would just shrug it off. Because in the human world, there are bad humans who do bad things to each other and its pretty dangerous. And then you mix us with magic, which also means bad magic, and creatures or vampires or giants. You get the good and the bad of everything and sometimes that bad starts to pile up and look like it outweighs the good. You know? And it's hard to stay positive. It really is. But... I have my friends. I have the things I love to do, and I have people that are like family to me at this school.

I also had another note... a question. You're so good at asking questions and stuff... you know that idea Alexx had? About... Hogwarts After Hours? You should ask her to be in charge of it. Or maybe to just write articles for it. I think it would be really beneficial you know? We could never publish it in the Headliner because the professors might make us take it out of sikulashun circulation because its like propeganda or whatever. But Hogwarts After Hours, and anonymously...? I don't know, I think there's potential. Just saying.

If you send an owl before summer camp ends, just uh... send it to the Quidditch stadium then, I guess. But my address is at the bottom if it's after.

XO's Ami

(( In a different hand: ))

June 30, 2020