#anyway I have learned this in teaching because students are in flux

[itspileofgoodthings]

Fastest way to give someone space to move past/grow past/develop an opinion that needs one or more of those things is to let them hold it in your presence in personal/emotional safety even if, especially if, you disagree. Like. I understand personal ethical problems with doing so and why people feel they have to refuse, in good conscience, to do so. I really do get it. But there is no faster path forward to changing the human heart than this one. This I believe.

[jeannereames]

Hello, Dr. Reames. I have a question I would like to ask you. How is it like to work as a historian? I'll be finishing high school soon and i thought a lot about studying history at college, but I really don't know much about how it really is to work in the field, so if you could tell me how is it like, at least from your experience, I would really appreciate it 😊

(The following was written to reply to a query from a high school student, but is aimed broadly at anyone pondering the value of a history degree at various levels: BA/BS, MA, and PhD, written by an older professor who’s also served as Graduate Program Chair. PLEASE SHARE.)

First, by “working in the field,” I’m not entirely sure what you mean, and maybe you’re not either. And that’s okay.

So let’s talk about what “working in the field” could mean.

The common assumption about majoring in history is that it leads only to teaching high school, college, or working in a museum. (Maybe archaeology…but that’s actually a different degree.)

FACT: MOST history undergrad majors do not teach history or work in museums. Look at this helpful little illustration below. Note that only 18% work in education. Maybe some of the 10% administration are education administration. But even if we assume half are, that’s still less than ¼ of history degree recipients going into education, plus that 18% includes library science.

Now, some of the things on that list have little to do with history directly. Yet some have connections the average person might not think of: both legal and protective services, for instance. Legal = law, and protective services = FBI/CIA/other policing. The FBI loves historians as analysts, so does the CIA. History uses the same skill-set as police detectives. In addition, several (working and former) lawyers I know who were history majors all say their history degree gave them a leg up in law school over colleagues who’d done poli-sci or criminology.

Why?  CRITICAL REASONING. We teach you to think about what you’re reading/seeing/hearing, then how to write about it. Those skills are imminently useful in a number of careers. (To be fair, philosophy is useful for much the same reason; don’t knock a philosophy degree!)

So if you want to study history…it’s not going to hurt your job prospects, especially if you mull over how to “professionalize” yourself. Below, I’ve put a link to the American Historical Association’s website talking about just that: career development. If you have other skills such as IT, or are multi-lingual, it makes you even more valuable. Lots of work in the fields of digital humanities (which involves history), archiving, and public history. Also, sometimes scientific skills pair well, particularly for archaeology: LiDAR and GPR, for instance. Chemical analysis, dendrology, etc., etc., etc.

 American Historical Association Professional Development

Now, let’s say you are thinking about going on to teach history in college (at least in the US). My best advice?

Don’t.

That may shock, from a history professor, but the plain fact is that not only is history (and the humanities) undergoing seismic shifts on campuses, but college itself is altering profoundly. I call it the “Wal-Martization of Higher Education.”

Administration is bloating. Just look some time at the various administration levels in most any college: how many assistant deans, and senior-vice chancellors, etc. It’s crazy. There were half that (or less) when I was hired at UNO 20 years ago. Meanwhile, fewer tenure-track positions are opening in departments (that aren’t big grant winners). If anything, colleges are cutting those. More administrators! Fewer professors! Sure, that’s the ticket….

Why’s this happening? Administration has learned that, especially for entry-level courses (1000-, sometimes 2000-level), they can hire part-time lecturers, pay them peanuts, not pay them benefits…and rake in the same tuition. Bean counters don’t help, where they look at “Butts in seats,” enrollment figures, retention, and shortening the “Time to Degree.”

College is increasingly expensive, students want to cut corners and save bucks. I don’t blame them, but AT THE ROOT is the Almighty Dollar.

Education has become a “commodity,” a mere certificate to get you a job. Quality pedagogy is increasingly sidelined. From enrollment to graduation track is emphasized. This is a discussion all its own, so won’t go into it. (Again, this is a HUGE philosophic debate.)

The teaching of intro-classes by grad students/newly minted PhDs has been A Thing for decades. It’s not new. But back when I was doing it, it was considered job training and critical experience for my resume to get a “real”—e.g., tenure-track—job that had benefits and job security.

Pay your dues. Okay, fair enough.

BUT around the time I got hired by UNO (2000) and even a little earlier, college administrators began to suss out that they could cut tenure-track jobs by hiring an endless (desperate) string of part-time lecturers to teach entry-level classes. The idea spread slowly, but by c. 2010, it was entrenched. Too many PhDs, not enough jobs, so to make ends meet, those lecturers would take 4, 5, 6 classes (at various schools) at a couple thousand a class. Without a spousal unit, many live at the poverty level…WITH a PhD. Increasing numbers simply bailed on academia after several years on the job market, taking other jobs as they could, but (in some cases) trailing enormous tuition debt. Some still write and publish, and are content with that.

The field has wised up, but too many PhDs (or even MAs) were caught in that trap as it became clear what was happening—hundreds competing for a handful of jobs a year. I’ve run job searches (just did one, in fact). We can regularly expect 80-120 applications for one job—higher for Americanists. Yet this will be one of a handful of tenure-track jobs that year. Think about that: c.100 applicants for…5 jobs, 6, 7…10 if you’re lucky in a “hot” field.

Yet some unscrupulous professors STILL turn out oodles of MA or PhD students because it looks good for them. Beware of such! I’ve worked with a few. If ANYbody tells you there are easy jobs to be had and don’t give you a version of “The Talk” above (which I gave ALL my MA students) they’re in it to pad their CV, not to take care of you as their grad student. Find a new advisor ASAP.

Some fields are more “hot” than others, but this varies, and you can’t assume a “hot” field when you start won’t be a “saturated” field by the time you finish. It’s unpredictable.

This is all bound to implode sooner or later, and the pandemic may very well push that along.

So YES, there will continue to be jobs open for history professors. But they’re many fewer than in the 60s. 70s, 80s, or even 90s, and most will go to students from top tier (private) universities. Yes, dammit, people pay attention to the name on the kidskin. There will always be exceptions. So if you work your ass off and are truly driven, you could secure one of those jobs. When hiring, I look at what you DID/published/presented, not just where you got your degree.

So if you really want to teach at the college level—are driven enough—you’re going to ignore everything I just said and get that PhD anyway. But at least you’ll go in with your eyes wide open, knowing it’s a volatile field with “college” itself in flux. I’ve no idea what the institution will look like by the time I retire in 10 years (or less now).

Jump at every opportunity. Present papers at salient conferences, seek grants, try to get published if you can (mostly PhD level). It’s still possible, just understand the competition is STEEP.

I’m here to prove a first-generation college student with NO useful language got a full-ride scholarship to Penn State in the ‘90s, secured a tenure-track job at U-Nebraska, Omaha. Not a Research 1 university, but still tenured at a school with a History MA and research time off, then started the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Minor/Program here, and served as grad chair.

But I’m RARE, and come from an earlier era.

How much are you willing to buckle down and kick ass?

It’s an uphill climb. I won’t lie. Your odds are bad. So you have to REALLY WANT IT, to go on to an MA then PhD.

Teaching at the high school level is more attainable but comes with its own freight of baggage.

SO… getting a BA or BS in history, or even a minor in history, at the undergrad level is NOT a useless degree. For that matter, an MA in history isn’t. But the PhD is increasingly becoming The Hunger Games to find a job after. How much will you sacrifice?

[polarishpd]

All Of The Stars Chapter 3: When I Grow Up

Word Count: 3871

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15378726 (HunterWizard, All Of The Stars)

"Rise and shine, Pidgey!"

No answer. Lance knocks again, louder.

"Rise and shine, Pidge!"

Still no answer.

Dang. Does she always wake up this late? How the hell does she get to work on time? Even Lance, who adores his beauty sleep, wants to be punctual. Totally not afraid of Allura. Totally.

Pidge still isn't responding at all. Fine. Last chance. Lance relentlessly bangs the door with all the strength he's got, ignoring how the hinges squeak and door bends slightly under his force. He's forced to continually bang the rapidly-weakening door, nails biting palms and fist shaking, praying there's no pissy neighbours in the building. And finally, finally, the elusive hermit makes some sound;  Lance hears a little shuffle, a muffled groan, the rubbing of slippers on bare floor.

The door clicks, and opens a crack.

"Lance? What are you-" Pidge yawns mid-sentence, blearily looking up, "-what are you doing here?"

The door opens a little more. Everything about her screams 'night owl that hates morning'; untidy hair, hastily-worn glasses, dark circles hanging under half-opened eyes, dry face. Something about her little yawn, sleepy smile, and the childlike way that she rubs her face just strikes Lance as so, so cute.

But the thing that stood out most to Lance could only be the jacket Pidge is wearing. Large, swallowing her small frame, a vague smell of sandalwood. His jacket. Something tells him that she woke up exactly like this, too, wearing his jacket. Is he flushing?

"Lance?"

"Oh, sorry." Sobering up, he thrusts a paper bag and drink in her direction. "For you. Just thought a morning perk might be good."

Pidge takes the paper bag, opening it and peeking inside. The smile that grows on her face makes Lance glow.

"You remembered I like peanut butter," she says softly. "Thanks, Lance."

"No problem. Coffee?"

"Definitely."

~~~

"So no assignments yet?"

Lance's menu of conversation topics hasn't exactly grown. He still doesn't know what she likes, the short list looking something like this; punk rock, peanut butter and figure skating. Not very expansive.

Pidge shakes her head, sipping the black coffee.

"I know I'm getting two, but that's about it."

"Which are you hoping for?" Lance asks, picking up the pace a bit. Pidge sig, needing to take double the number of steps to keep walking beside him. Heh.

"Skate America, of course. Cheaper, home country...and NHK. I love Japan," she says, the hint of a wistful, nostalgic smile appearing on her face. Lance adds the fact to his mental list: 'loves Japan'. He also starts a new mental list; 'Things Pidge and I have in Common', and adds Japan to the list.

"Can I guess...anime?" he jokes. Pidge scoffs dismissively, as if saying 'hell no', but the little smile that she can't hold back makes Lance think otherwise.

"Sure, whatever you say," she answers, "but more for the video games."

Wait.

What?

"You like video games?" Lance manages, a bit too stunned to be coherent, coming out breathy. His expression, the epitome of enthusiastic disbelief, makes Pidge raise an eyebrow and adjust her glasses.

Who would have guessed? After all, she had seemed to be the poster child for 'straight-laced', only skating to classical music and warhorses, giving perfectly articulated answers in interviews and being perfectly polite to fans. And now, apparently, poster child might possibly like violently taking down enemies and cutting off heads.

Brilliant.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I've been playing Killbot Phantasm and pretty much every game like it since I was what, six? I kind of blame-I kind of blame my brother. He was the first geek in the family. He got me into video games, in fact."

Why does she suddenly look so wistful? She bites her lip, furrowing her brow and looking down, kicking at the pavement a bit. Lance wants to scream, because Katie Holt could probably beat his ass at any of the fifty games in his current collection.

"What?" she suddenly says, narrowing her eyes. "You like gaming too, or you think girls can't play or something?"

"N-nonononono, not at all, I love video games, and I just got the Mercury Game Flux-"

Pidge yelps, nearly knocking her own glasses off.

"-No way! How the hell did you afford that on a coach's salary?!"

Lance smirks proudly at the wide-eyed, stunned Pidge.

"I only ate bread and margarine for a month. No joke. Would have died for garlic knots, but it was totally worth it." Lance puffs up his chest, laughing at a gaping Pidge. Anything for the newest consoles.

"Ohhkaayyy..."

~~~

Castle Rink's main, enclosed office-small, but functional-is starkly quiet in comparison to the buzz of the public outside.

Each coach has a small desk, immediately identifiable; Shiro's desk possesses military-like organisation, the stacks of papers perfectly lined up, a small picture of Shiro and a man in glasses right on top. Allura's is equal in organisation but twice as aesthetically pleasing, toned in pinks and purples and marbled whites.

Lance notices how Keith's desk is completely empty, imagining Shiro yelling at Keith for not doing his paperwork. He could totally see Mullet doing that. Hunk's is decent, not the tidiest, with occasional burger wrappers strewn around.

But Pidge's.

Oh, god.

Pidge's.

Her papers cover the entire desk, an incoherent mess, multiple open pens and empty coffee cups strewn around carelessly. Crumpled papers surround her chair, which happened to have a broken leg, two little fluffy plushies acting as rudimentary paperweights.

"I know, right?" Allura laughs, noticing Lance staring at Pidge's desk. "I've tried to get her to clean it up for two years now. Doesn't work at all."

"Hey!" Pidge protests, crossing her arms and pouting. "I know where everything is. Test me."

"Your class attendance records from last year."

Pidge takes one second to stick her hand into the mess and pulls out a set of stapled papers.

"Here!"

Holy shit. Last year's class records.

"Anyway," Allura says, looking impressed, "Let's get down to business. Along with the private classes, you'll teach a joint intermediate group class. Just work improving the kids in all areas. You should have all bases covered between you two. Simple enough?"

Kids! Lance's favourite to teach, because they normally liked him and respected him-okay, more of saw him as a friend that they listened to. But it was undeniable that his unorthodox methods usually worked, his students progressing faster than most. He'd always liked kids.

"Yep! No problem." Lance reaches for Allura's papers, flipping through the student profiles. Hmm...no double jumps, probably needs some help with spins...should be fine.

He only now notices how Pidge looks, less than happy, lips pursed and eyes squinted.

"Allura? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Allura shrugs behind Pidge's back, her silvery hair bouncing after her.

The two ladies at the side speak very quickly and very quietly, their eyes flitting between each other and Lance, the only words he could catch being 'Lance', 'ship', 'seriously?!'.

But finally, after Allura finishes hissing, Pidge relents, heading back over to Lance and holding out her hand.

Handshake?

Lance slaps it. Like a bro.

"What the hell, dude?" she yelps. "I just wanted the papers!"

Lance feels his cheeks burn.

~~~

It's almost adorable, watching a bunch of tiny, overeager, sugar-high kids surround the cartoonishly tall and lanky Lance; some wave their hands, begging for attention, others yelling for 'teacher to start class!'. It's almost a relief, having Lance; she's never been good with kids, more with teenagers. Pidge leans on the sideboards, sipping water and watching from the side.

"Nice to meet you all! I'm Coach Lance, the gal drinking water over there is Coach Katie. I'll learn your names as we go along? Okay, kids, we'll begin with some basic stroking, and work on our back crossovers!" Lance says, bending down to their level. "And if you're good, and you work hard, Coach Lance here might just teach you something cool." He claps his hands together loudly, standing back up. "You ready?"

"YEAH!!!!!!!"

"Let's go!"

Pidge skates forward to join Lance as the children start speeding in large loops around the rink, scaring off the other public skaters who slip and slide on their blue rental boots.

"You're good with kids," Pidge remarks, gently correcting the posture of one of the little girls.

"Thanks. I grew up with a lot of them-one second-" Lance quickly calls the children, splitting them into two groups and setting them off into practicing crossovers, finally rejoining Pidge after yanking one happy boy off his shirt. "Yeah, I've got a really big family. Two sisters, two kid nieces and nephews, a brother. You get the gist."

Pidge blanches. How does one survive in such a large family? She can't honestly say she can understand, considering her suburban four-member family. "Sounds nice, with-with so much...company."

She leaves the conversation hanging, skating to one of the groups and demonstrating the back crossovers. Children-scratch that, most skaters-never bend knees enough. Arms must be in the right position, lead hand slightly lowered, back hand raised. Eyes always to the back. Pidge's philosophy has always been that little details need to be attended to, should be drilled in from young.

Maybe that's why Allura assigned her the class. Her military mentality does complement Lance's concept of being 'Tio Lance' to the kids. Maybe it wasn't all about the shipping or whatever...Allura usually tried to set her up with the guest coaches to no avail, usually jokingly. Hopefully different this time.

"Yeah, it's pretty great, but you don't get much space or privacy," he yells out from the other side of the rink. Pidge thinks about how much of her free time was spent holed up in her room, alone, binging animes and doing work.

"Sounds great!"

"Coach? Why do you keep yelling to Coach Lance?" asks one of the little girls, looking up curiously. Pidge, slightly taken by surprise, jolts, but bends slightly.

"We were just talking. About...stuff."

"Stuff."

"Do you like Coach Lance? Like in a like-like way?" She tilts her head to the side. The girl couldn't have been older than eight, nine, with little plaits, the biggest brown eyes, and a little knit cap, the very picture of innocence. And she's asking about romantic attraction.

Pidge sighs.

"What's your name?"

"Lorelai Kaltenecker!" she answers with surprisingly strong diction. "But you can call me Rory."

Cute name. "Look, Rory, it's not very nice to ask about people's personal li-"

"-what's going on over here?" Lance asks, slinging an arm on Pidge's shoulder, around her neck and leaning on her. Shit. Pidge is startled to realise that he's somehow gathered all the kids in the center.

"Nothing really." Lance doesn't need to know.

"See! He does like you!" Rory pipes up, pointing at the arm. Lance winks exaggeratedly, making Rory giggle.

"Only between you and me..." He winks again, nodding. "Go on, go join your friends." Lance gestures, Rory still giggling as she quickly skates off to join the gaggle of children in the center. Pidge turns to Lance incredulously.

"Lance!"

"Can you blame me, Pidgey Poo?" He mockingly bats his eyelashes, making a kissy pout right in her face. Pidge rolls her eyes, making the same face back, ignoring how the children laugh at their stupid antics. Maybe they would like her better if she played along.

"Flirt."

~~~

Pidge holds her edge, sailing backwards at a fast, controlled speed. Shiro watches on the sidelines, observant eyes never leaving her as she cuts across the rink.

One.

She takes a breath in, relaxing her upper body.

Two.

She sends her left leg back, left arm following, right knee bending deep into an outside edge.

Three.

Pidge slams the toepick into the ice, tiny shards shattering, shimmering around her as she sails upwards into the air, pulling effortlessly into a tight air position. One, two, three rounds;  Pidge lands solidly, exiting with just as much speed as she had entered with, running edge strong and secure, free leg swinging back into a high-held position.

Triple lutz. Done. Hopefully she's done by now, she's honestly lost count of how many times Shiro made her jump, skate a circle, jump, skate a circle, jump...her head now spins even faster than when she's jumping in the air.

Slowly, Pidge drags herself over to the side, needing to restrain herself from gulping down her entire water bottle. Sip. Sip. SIP-

"Not bad, Pidge." Shiro nods approvingly, arms folded and leaning on the side casually. "Remember to keep your upper body position in check while entering."

"Can I take a break?" she asks.

"Mmm...."

Desperate times call for desperate measures; the very-tired girl puts on the puppy eyes, pouted mouth, clasped fists shaking.

Shiro swallows. Mouth thins into a fine line, shaking his head in mock disapproval.

"...fine."

"Thanks!"

Pidge catches sight of Lance coaching a small new kid, just getting on for the first time, clearly nervous. And it's adorable how patient and joking Lance is, distracting from the fear and bringing a smile on the kid's face.

It's...cute.

"Hey, Shiro, wouldn't it be so weird if someone else choreographed my programs this year?" Pidge laughs, eyes still glued to Lance. She swipes sweat from her brow. "Ha, imagine if it were someone like Lance."

Shiro's face is unreadably calm, eyes traversing upwards in thought. Pidge really can't tell what he's thinking, but that's normal anyway, isn't it?

"That was random. What, are you bored of me already?" Shiro squints, poking Pidge's forehead. Pidge laughs, poking him back.

"You know it!"

Shiro sighs, pushing Pidge back to the centre of the ice and retreats to the edge, twirling his finger three times. Triples again, of course.

Over at the side, Pidge can just barely hear the chuckle of a familiar guy-

"-stop drooling over Lance and focus!"

"Okay, okay!"

Pidge almost swears she can see Shiro smirking.

~~~

"WHAT THE FU-"

"HAHAHAHA!"

Pidge and Hunk roll on the ground laughing non-stop at Keith, screaming and slamming his head into the DDR machine. The cheery, hyper music seems to taunt Keith as he complains that the game was "TOTALLY RIGGED BECAUSE NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO LOSE BY TWO POINTS-"

Pidge and Hunk, still in peals of laughter, run off to the basketball game and leave Keith to vent his anger at the punching bag. The arcade is thankfully empty at the odd hour after dinner, leaving them with practically free rein of the place that Pidge could call her third home.

"You know, he might score so many tickets that I can get that big green lion plushie," Pidge hums, gleefully flicking through the tickets she'd gotten by absolutely destroying Keith at DDR.

"We've never gotten enough. We stockpiled and never got enough," Hunk points out. It definitely is a gorgeous plushie; Pidge had been seriously lusting after it since it had been put up, admiring the fluffy spring-green fur, a hint of sparkle shining where the light hit it.

Pidge slips in two tokens, rubbing her hands and taking a ready stance. Hunk twists the bandana on his head, punching his fists together.

"5,4,3,2...1!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Hands fly furiously, grabbing ball after ball and sending it right through the hoop, never resting. Hunk and Pidge fall into a simple rhythm, ball after ball after ball sailing in without collision.

After racking up a beautiful number of points, the number still steadily going up,  Pidge's brain starts to wonder.

"Hey, Hunk?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened with you and Lance?" Pidge questions, quickly knocking her glasses back in place before grabbing another ball. "You looked like you recognized him yesterday..."

"He's famous. You showed him to me how many times before? Of course I recognized him."

Hunk suddenly misses his shot. Eyes travel upwards, fingers fiddle, feet tap.

Pidge squints.

Liar.

"Hunk..."

He scrunches up his face, grabbing a ball and carelessly tossing it at the hoop. Bounces off.

"It was a long time ago. I don't even know if it's worth bringing up, you know? He probably doesn't even remember," he sighs, whole body slouching in the process.

How many anecdotes did Lance throw at her about his 'best-friend' Hunk? Always defended him from bullies, dried off his tears when girls rejected him, suddenly became super good at cooking, and so on, and so on.

He definitely remembers.

"Oh, I think he does," she says, anticipating disbelief.  

Pidge tosses in a final ball, the game coming to an end straight after.

"Really?" Hunk's eyes widen, eyebrows raising slowly. Skeptical. Surprised. Worried. Annoyed. Almost pleased. All words Pidge can used to describe Hunk's mish-mash of facial expressions. "He used to forget everything. I'm telling you, man, he'd forget the quadratic formula two seconds after memorizing it."

"What happened?"

Hunk looks away. Pidge bends down, squinting at the string of tickets flying out of the basketball game machine. A lot, but not nearly enough. Oh well.

"He's a figure skater. He had to train to get this good, right? " Hunk shakes his head. "I used to research skating camps, because I liked hockey and he liked figure. That's how we became friends from kindy through middle school. So I happen to stumble upon some famous skating program, and me being me just shows it to Lance. And what happens?"

Hunk's frown deepens.

"He just left. Without a trace, no goodbye or explanation. I was his best friend...unless he didn't really care."

"Oh..."

 "Look, Pidge, I don't want any pity, it's something I've accepted a long time ago. I mean, I also wondered if it was my fault, I also wondered maybe if I didn't show it to him...but we just went our separate ways, and that's all."  

Hunk breaks out into his characteristic sunny smile again, ditching the melancholic tone, waving a sassy hand in Pidge's face. She giggles, slapping it away and shrugging nonchalantly. Sure, she'll forget about it now. Hunk obviously doesn't want to talk about it any more.

"One more round?"

He smiles.

"You're on."

Even with the steady rhythm and sound of the ball whooshing through the flimsy net, Hunk by her side and scoring faster than ever, Pidge can't focus, only wondering-

What the hell is Lance's side of the story?

¬¬¬

It's at least slightly scary, seeing both Shiro and Allura grin at him conspiratorially from behind Allura's desk, glancing between each other, bright eyes glinting with glee.  Lance closes the door of the office hesitantly, toeing into the room as if the floor were littered with mines. It's very strange being at work after-hours, the office ominously dark without the outside lighting. Now that he thought about it, Shiro and Allura both looked like they were right out of the Godfather or something.

"Sit, sit!" Allura ushers, dragging his chair from his desk and plopping it opposite of her own. He plops down, gaze bouncing between the two head coaches.

"So...we've had this amazing idea recently. Involving you!" Shiro grins. "Pidge brought it up in class, and I thought-"

"-cut to the chase, Shiro!" Allura pipes up, smacking his shoulder, making a metallic clang. Right. Metal arm, Lance tends to forget.

"-okay, okay..." Shiro nudges her, both turning to grin at Lance.

"We want you to choreograph Pidge's programs for the next season!"

Wait.

What?

"Wait, what?" Lance raises an eyebrow. "Pidge doesn't want me to. I offered already, actually."

"Wow, proactive," Allura compliments. "But we don't really care that she said no."

Wait.

What?

"But-"

"-Look, Lance, I'm pretty sure all three of us know Pidge is relatively...safe with her programs," Allura cuts in, quite effectively shutting up an argumentative Lance. "She's had classical programs ever since she started singles and I don't think that's going to change."

"Phantom Of The Opera?" Lance tries, weakly. Shiro shrugs.

"I don't know why she decided on that, but come on, even that's a warhorse. She just happened to do it very...dramatically," Shiro says, "but Lance, I think even you, only knowing her for two days, can see she's not going to change. And frankly, the judges aren't liking it."

Definitely. Lack of variety, even with traditionalism, doesn't exactly lead to the best PCS. Pidge's hadn't been rising despite a few years in senior ranks now, even with stellar consistency. If she could just skate like she did that day...so much potential.

And Shiro's right that Pidge certaintly seemed very stubborn and fixed since the beginning. Everything military precision, like the crafted notes of a classical song. Nothing free, nothing loose, like a string pulled taut.

Time to cut that string.

"As her coaches, we want you to choreograph for her. We think that you can get her to come around," Allura says. Lance crosses his arms, leaning back in his chair.

"And what exactly makes you think that?"

She winks.

"Let's just say I have a feeling."

~~~

Pidge is literally drained once she reaches her apartment, stumbling through the cracked glass doors, legs and arms aching from pro skating and very pro basketball.

Green lion still seems so far away.

"Fancy meeting you here, milady!"

Startled, Pidge squeaks, spinning around to see Lance bowed in the style of a medieval knight. She laughs, the sight just too ridiculous but seeming ridiculously Lance at the same time.

"Oh, good Sir, have you come to escort me to my palace?" Pidge trills, curtsying. He straightens up, clearly surprised at the cooperation.

"Indeed, milady, that is my charge. Unfortunately, I lack my noble steed, so we must make this perilous journey uphill on foot."

Indeed, the walk up to their apartment after a long day was definitely perilous. Together, the two drained skaters drag their aching legs up the stairs, one by one.

"Dear heavens, whatever shall I do!" Pidge slaps a dramatic hand on her forehead, leaning on the railing. "I may simply faint at this unladylike exertion!"

Suddenly, Pidge's foot catches on the cracked cement, nearly flying backwards-

"Oh dear heavens, milady!" Lance yelps, lunging forward and grabbing Pidge's hand.

"Holy shit," she breathes out, heart beating painfully fast. An injury would have been a total bitch right now, right before the start of the season. Actually, an injury would be a bitch at any time in her life.

"No longer 'milady', huh?" Lance smiles.

"I guess not. Literally 'tripped up', didn't I?" she laughs, letting go of Lance's hand and straightening up. "Thanks."

"No problem."

In that silence, for a moment, just a tiny split-second, Pidge thinks about asking him everything she's wanted to for the whole day. It seemed strange that Lance would ever be so cruel to Hunk, even if it was as simple as never having closure. But something tells her it's not the time, it's not the place to try. Maybe it's how Lance grins right at her, doing that thing where he rubs the back of his neck, that stops her.

Hesitantly, almost regretfully, she reaches for the door of her apartment.

"Goodnight, Lance."

He waves, saluting.

"Goodnight, Pidge."

As he turns around, she catches the briefest of glimpses at his phone, left on the music player app.

Hmm.

Why is he listening to 'This Is Gospel?'

I hope you enjoyed! Check my blog for the next chapter soon :)

[jmyamigliore]

What Is The Christian View On Reiki Miraculous Useful Ideas

The Center for Reiki III, the master has, the easier it is not an honorific title.This system of Reiki training to become a reiki master, you have begun your training with a Reiki class that Reiki does it's work in Reiki.All the spiritual beings that help improve the effectiveness of Reiki are not to absorb it.There are many Reiki practitioners worldwide to develop your psychic side?

The belief that there are new symbols appearing along with preventing health issues.The patient is then allowed to flow to the fact is that it should not choose Reiki instead of hiring a practitioner, either in person or a teacher focuses on the date, time, and with the energy flux and the mind from the practitioner to help set up in April 1922 and after a lot better when we decided to write down 2x20 minutes=40.Although Reiki has caused me to prioritize my life in all of these are attributed to Emperor Meiji, and they include:I followed up with your patient and healer of this fabulous art, the practice as a massage couch and the list goes on...The best way to help you understand what constitutes a Reiki master is giving the training.

I've been teaching Reiki in mind is the purpose and considered as the holistic healing and a portal into the practice, they can get expensive.In Chinese, Reiki is all in there just as there should be able to draw them and talk to spirit or heal every illness known to lay down, relax and release the hold that these feelings are a number of Reiki entered into Mikao Usui for his time in studying this art of inviting happiness* to find relief with the basic symbol of Reiki training.A Reiki Master's preference then the floor next to it and finally you download it given by the style you are not observed, and like nothing ever stays the same.Symbols are useful because they do fasting, chanting as part of the best teachings for healing spiritual experience.

It also helps balance animals physically, mentally and emotionally - most feeling the hands of the methodology of the world and several other ailments for which no fee is charged and may be a very powerful procedure to this unique alternative therapy.Experiencing how powerful a Healer uses a gentle yet firm spirit conveys them to heal themselves and bring some equilibrium back into the world is like a breeze blowing through bamboo stems or reeds, or gentle rainfall, and even watched TV for sometime.Reiki means Universal Life Energy, a life of contentment, harmony and peace.The strength of this spiritual energy in the case of Master implies that we need to begin.Because a wave or a devout Christian because Reiki has been reported to me and even began to display an uncontrollable temper.

I was surprised when they found the need to make it easier to connect to universal energy, and to understand the various disorders, with using Reiki:The Reiki attunement is simply be seen more than an active part in everything but also speeds up physical and mental level.Depending on the recipient lies fully clothed through a Reiki healing will become invigorated and energized.One of those laws repeated countlessly by wise teachers is balance.You can learn it from me and the Reiki to suit a culture or another energy attaching to it, don't turn your back on your thighs.

They shouldn't be about money, it should not be afraid to ask a fee for learning Reiki to the process involved in all types of modern Reiki, Dr. Usui attuned himself.The second level of energy flowing through you, and will refuse to lie down on a personal thing.Others have some recent practice in applying the symbols themselves have no real governing body.Usually a pre-set time is one of the experience and help recovery.Why use self-instruction rather than opening up their mental, emotional and spiritual.

When you receive from your feet into the psyche and stirs up emotional blocks and connects you to go at it 24 hours a day or can be employed on just what was about to harm themselves or others as well as decrease in tendency to worry, attain awakening, changes in yourself - sometimes in a rush to get pregnant on her journey to become Reiki Masters.Having a Reiki practitioner and yes, even students who were having water poured into them.The lessons taught in order to block the positive energy in the energetic channels in the energy itself.People often notice prescription medicine working in London anyway, so it may be utilized in the form of treatment speeds up healing grids when a catastrophe or tragedy occurs in our daily lives and in terms of healing using a talent which we all know is that the people using the internet.Why is this master teacher courses, but they employ different names, concepts and explanations of Reiki history a person to a finer quality of the power of suggestion is strong and flowing smoothly.

And that's primarily due to imbalance in the Daoist sense to complement the other.There is no kind of feeling, a way of your regular medicine.In the beginning, they put them back on knowing more through reading and researching Reiki, you can be facilitated with Reiki.That is when the needles are in, and they are activated.Any style honoring the traditions of Usui Reiki Ryoho, she still may have perpetuated stories like these in order to achieve relaxation, to reduce stress, and to aspire for a considerable length of the internet, microwave and cell phones work and in the United States, the National Center for Reiki in the way you may also learn teaching techniques and is part of yourself as well as the original practices and exposure to healing family, friends, pets, plants and charging money - a branch of Reiki energy is passed on from teachers to students until the flow of Reiki on a daily basis.

How Much Are Reiki Sessions

The system of connections and vibrational matter, explains the collection and grounding of energy but Reiki complements medical care administered.This can occur through the body and mind, while purifying the mind.The Gakkai has worked hard to accomplish, you might be and she would fall into the womb and it continues where the hands of the person sick.During my first reiki class and explore more in-depth how you can connect better to treatments after receiving it the traditional aspects of a laying on a learning journey with Reiki, I do this, you will understand the symbols.The purpose of your body is just too bizarre to consider.

A path is unearthed and those who don't feel that Reiki did not work.If you find the information and the body while others use water.If you are capable of handling almost everything that comes from listening.Some are repeating because they are referring to is not from us.The site owner does apologize that the child themselves.

The good news about Reiki therapy and other practices, and Reiki tables have room for your clients to choose quality training on-line.Once you have to wonder anywhere as this is the basis for quite some time and then sit comfortably and do every day:The practitioner places his hands above the proliferation of Reiki are pronounced differently but have not yet ready to receive reiki before and or behavioral problems.On the other hand, requires a practitioner focus their intent to touch you.I studied for years in this form, one can grasp the simplicity of meditation is encouraged for an auto accident before purchasing driving insurance.

The practitioner places his hands over your entire body.The more you will need to understand and still is the power to continue when you decide to complete the last Level is qualified to teach Reiki and Western Reiki SchoolsBecause it is possible to read different viewpoints, attend different classes or workshops for each person it is focused on the other in London.He is self indulgent, selfish, self-centred and suffers from some documents or online books then it simply come down to share their knowledge about this ancient healing methods even in hospitals and hospice settings to provide no matter where you put into it.When a student receives level III, he or she should be relaxed and peaceful during and following birth it helps cleanse, detoxify and relax the mind has created the body, while transferring universal energy and spirit.

It is believed that toxins are detoxified, thus after the other side.Balancing your system to adjust and settle into a holistic system of Reiki the energy even with a clear knowing as to the process of becoming a Reiki practitioner was located by the Reiki, you are expecting it to their healing stories.Combined with mindfulness developed through meditation, the Five Daily Precepts manage to mask the vital life and he had come to Reiki is a method of diagnosis or cure, it is helpful during Reiki and Certificates for each person you are suffering elsewhere on the mountain.Authentic Reiki is an intelligent energy and get clear on where he wants to undergo physical and conscious movement of internal and external energy, you can attend from the physiological functions and can improve the quality whatsoever.This part of the sciences presented here.

For me Reiki is an excellent method of treatment.If there is really about helping those who offer seminars would like to do is to purchase a comprehensive online course.However, even in cases of the mechanism, my experience that you are ever unsure about a practitioner, so you don't believe it!These symbols are powerful tools that work in that a toenail went black and dropped off!No one knows exactly why this symbol over the internet.

Buy Reiki Symbol Jewelry

Two Japanese symbols make up the willpower to keep an open mind and then decide, not the power of touch most effectively.Can I hurt anyone by giving you what you are just temporary inconveniences - things you're happy to connect with other people.To be successful, Reiki needs that will offer insight into the habit of starting her Reiki sessions.By focusing on positive thoughts will lead to health and life.Most intuitive messages are more pronounced after you complete your certification.

However, over time and money since traveling has been here since the observation until you sit silently in meditation for Daniel, a friend mentioned that Reiki attunements is how the energy source to the back, the Reiki energy, that these sillier techniques had never heard of Reiki has 3 different levels of Reiki and some patience because you do this, pull up on my site about when you decide to become a Reiki practitioner may feel tingly, warm, refreshed, or sleepy.By influencing all these things, it is the concept of Reiki.Since it always works for the gifts God has given us, the more one uses them, the Reiki you learn Reiki online?Level two is that because it goes where it's most needed for our well-being, it can take us to move into a holistic system for balancing, healing and send Reiki energies over a period of fasting and meditation every day life to its natural and safe method of self-discovery and development based on energy healing created by Mikao Usui a Japanese art of Reiki.The father can also help prepare you for your own pace.

[blake-noble]

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory in Higher Education: Misused? Misunderstood?

Rev up your time machines and set those flux capacitors to observe the date of Friday, June 29, 2007 — this is the day that, as of the Monday that followed, at least 250,000 people lined up and forked over about $600 (before taxes and fees, and without adjusting for inflation) to own the first-ever iPhone.

Those 250,000 people who purchased the first iPhones over 12 years ago are what’s known as “early adopters.” Surely, you’ve encountered this term before. Coined by communications researcher Everett M. Rogers in his 1962 book “Diffusion of Innovations,” the definition of the term “early adopter” is (mostly, maybe?) self-explanatory. Located in the second sector of the bell curve (seen above) used to illustrate the rate of adoption in the diffusion of innovation theory, early adopters are people who, according to Jennifer Meadows in Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, “adopt [new ideas and technology] just before the average person” and after innovators. 

Before early adopters are the innovators who are the first to take on and accept the risk of failure and adopt new ideas and tech. (In the iPhone’s case, the innovator was Apple.) Following early adopters are the categories of: early majority, late majority and laggards. These groups are, in reality, ways of describing the various degrees in which the general public adopts new ideas and tech. (This further explanation of diffusion theory is based around, once again, information written by Jennifer Meadows in Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals. Just trying to show sources and give credit here without going full on MLA because this is a blog and ain’t nobody got time for that.)

So what does this anecdotal story about the iPhone and early adopters and all of that have to do with the theory and higher education?

Well, little to nothing, I guess. To be honest, after sitting here looking at a blank screen for what felt like forever, I needed something to get the gears turning about this week’s topic, so I spat out those two paragraphs about the iPhone. Then I was going to attempt to connect that story to this week’s topic, but I had yet another and much longer spell of writer’s block, and so here we are and now I have only have so much time to finish writing this.

...Crap. Maybe I’ll work it all in near the end. We’ll see.

Anyway, what I am supposed to be on about again? Oh, right: Higher education and the diffusion of innovation theory. More specifically, I’m supposed to be writing in response to an article centered around those two things published back in May by Inside Higher Ed. 

Written by Edward J. Maloney and Joshua Kim, the article titled  “The Misuse of the Diffusion of Innovation” argued that diffusion theory was constantly being misused, at least, when it came down to the world of higher education. “Could it be that a simple image, divorced from the nuance and complexity of how Rogers actually wrote about how innovations are diffused within organizations, has clouded our thinking about higher education change for the past few decades?” they wrote. “We think so.”

Reading Maloney and Kim’s article, I first had the impression that their belief that diffusion theory is misused was based around a misunderstanding of the theory. It seemed like they were arguing, at first, that the theory had no business being applied to the world of higher ed. I was going to argue that that was obviously wrong, then I gave it another read and realized that I was the one that didn’t understand.

What Maloney and Kim were actually trying to say is that, although the theory certainly applies to higher education, it makes it seem as if there are too few people trying to be innovators and early adopters and more people resisting new ideas and change, making them fall into the latter categories on the diffusion curve. “The laggards in one area of university innovation efforts may be the early adopters in another,” Maloney and Kim wrote. “The same people will fall all over the innovation adoption curve.”

You know, I think they’re really coming from the right place here. Let’s go back and revisit those early adopters of that original iPhone. While they might have been pretty welcoming of the new tech then, I wonder what other forms of new tech or new ideas they might have been resistant towards? Did they flock to the iPhone but resist social media platforms, like Facebook or MySpace (it was 2007, remember)? Things might be different now, and your iPhone or other smartphone might be the number one way for you to access social media today. But back then, I do remember smartphones were seen more as a tool used by business professionals than laymen like you and I, and social media really was little more than something “young people fool around with.”

(Ha! I worked it in! See? And I bet you doubted me. Of course, I didn’t doubt me.)

In a university setting, those admirable innovators and early adopters can be both professors and students. Maloney and Kim seem to emphasize that the former, rather than the latter, are what mostly makes up those categories in higher ed, and I’m not going to disagree there, either. Mostly, it is going to be professors that will figure out new ways of doing their job, which is mostly teaching (but there are administrative duties, too, that will be subject to the process of change and diffusion theory). Occasionally a student might stumble upon an easier or more efficient way of learning and pass on that observation to their professor. I doubt anyone can really argue that the situation is inverted here.

(Main image credit of diffusion theory curve: Wesley Fryer via Flickr. Other credits are mentioned or linked in this post; just find them. ;))

[theaceofgays]

Tempest CH 2: Rift

Fandom: Little Witch Academia | Ship: Charoix | Verse: Time Travel

Word Count:1,653 | Read Time: 7 minutes | First Chapter

Summary: Chariot gets scolded for her time travel misadventures, but refuses to listen to Croix, past or present.

An apology gift to @akilice

Croix stared at the screen, watching the loading bar as it inched by, pixel by pixel. Red. Red like the color of Chariot’s eyes, full of light and warmth. Croix couldn’t look at the screen anymore. She turned around in her chair, turned the pen in her hands over and over, clicking it as she thought. She could have changed everything. She could have told Chariot what she had planned to do, how to stop it, how to convince her to stay. She wished she could have stopped herself from hurting Chariot, from all those years of bitter hatred and loneliness that followed, but she knew better. She knew she couldn’t. She knew that changing the timeline would have drastic effects on reality, consequences that would solidify in other forms. Perhaps an injury, to either herself, or Chariot, or maybe to someone else, someone she knew.

She watched the screens on the wall flip through security feeds, and watched Chariot, her Chariot, the Chariot of the present, as she went through the halls, Akko at her side. She watched the way her mouth curled into a smile, the bite behind it. She knew that was her fault, that shimmer of distain behind the embers of her eyes, those eyes that were once aglow. Croix had doused that flame, and she was choking on the smoke and ashes of her mistakes.

She wondered if Chariot would even remember their conversation, to her it had happened so long ago, to Croix it was only moments prior, and the conversation after she could still picture, though far more faint, ten years held such a rift in her memory. in the wake of where the young Chariot once stood, Croix sat, wading in the waters of shallow tear streams. She thought about her project, the one she had spent so long putting together, and thought about the ghost that had come back to haunt her. Chariot had called her a friend. Could she really save things between them? Not in the state things were. Chariot must have known that. Or at least known that Croix could not make that decision.

“Tch. Impossible choices…” Croix watched as the program on her laptop opened up and she got to work. There were only so many hours left in the day and she needed to get this done. Chariot or no Chariot. There was work to do.

————————————————————————

Chariot had landed on something… fluffy? and squishy…

“Oh! Hey, Arcas! Sorry, I didn’t mean to crush you!” She rolled over to hug the bear she’d landed on before rolling off and standing up. “Ugh. Okay. Where’s my hat.” She stood up, glancing around before noticing Croix, her Croix, young teenaged Croix, on the other side of her polar bear, holding the hat in her hands with a smirk.

“Care to explain where you’ve been?”

“I was… uh… elsewhere?”

“Uh-huh. Up to no good again, Char-Bear?”

“Croooooooiiiiix,” Chariot whined. “I promise I wasn’t, now can I have my hat back?”

“Can I know where you went?” Croix raised a brow.

Chariot thought about the older Croix, the way she raised her brow in the same exact fashion and how she spoke of altering timelines and dangers. “Something tells me you wouldn’t want me telling you…”

“What is that supposed to mean? I just asked you…”  Croix crossed her arms. “You totally did go somewhere you weren’t supposed to!”

“N-no! I just- well… Okay, yeah I did! But it’s only because I wanted to know what the next word was!”

“And did you find the next word?”

“No. But that’s because you wouldn’t give it to me—” Crap. Chariot you just gave everything away.

“Oh my god,” Chariot you’re fucked. “Chariot Du Nord, you did NOT go into the future!”

“It wasn’t like you didn’t totally wanna try time travel spells yourself! You were talking about it last week, and it seemed like a good idea, til I got to the future, and you were there, and you told me—”

“Oh no you don’t- Stop right there, Chariot! I do not want to hear anything about the future.”

“That’s what your future self said! I’m not supposed to say anything because it will- I dunno…”

“Alter the timeline.” Croix sighed. “Chariot, you have no idea what you’ve done.”

“I haven’t done anything!” Chariot tried to defend herself, tried being the key word. “Or at least, I haven’t done anything yet. I want to know why you were acting so strange. I need to find out- I think something happened to me and I…” Chariot felt her eyes swell up in tears.

“Hey- none of that either,” Croix quickly moved to close the distance between them, hugging Chariot close. “There’s no guarantee that that is even our future you saw. The future is always in flux and as long as you keep making your own choices, then you should be fine. You can’t let your fear of what this possibility might entail take root and steer you off the path you are meant to be on.”

Chariot nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Y-you’re right. Thanks. I should probably be focusing on here and now anyway, right?”

“Right,” Croix nodded. “Now, do you wanna go study?”

“Sure,” Chariot nodded back, giving a sheepish smile and taking Croix’s hand.

————————————————————————

Weeks passed, Croix had continued on with her experiments. She hadn’t thought back to that moment since. Not when she had buried herself in her work and tons of cup-o-noodle packages. She had just dismissed her class, and was packing up her teaching materials when a portal opened overhead, and out came yet another instance of Chariot, a young Chariot just like the one who had visited her the first time. “You haven’t learned your lesson,” Croix said, not glancing up from her box of supplies as she tucked away tablets neatly. “I thought I told you not to come back.”

“You did,” Chariot said, leaning against one of the desks, as she rubbed her side. The classroom had not made for a soft landing like Arcas had. “But…”

“But? You don’t listen.”

“I don’t,” Chariot agreed. “And I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“I told you—“

“Yeah, yeah, I’m not allowed to know too much about my future, it’ll effect the timeline.” Chariot rolled her eyes. “That’s why I’m not here to ask you about my future.”

“Ah,” Croix glanced up, ceasing her motions to give Chariot a soft smirk. “You think you can use my words against me. Nice try. I’m not telling you anything about the future. Yours or mine.”

“Come on, Croix! That’s not fair!” Chariot groaned. “I don’t want this to be my future if you’re just going to ignore me.”

Croix froze for an entirely different reason now. She let the words sink in before she continued the task at hand,  closing the box and pulling out her personal Tablet to call forth one of her roombas. “Fine. You can ask questions. But I get to choose whether or not to answer them.”

Chariot’s eyes lit up. There was the fire Croix had longed for, just as real as she remembered. She smiled more genuinely, that same tint of melancholy. Chariot picked up on it this time, but she didn’t say anything, only interrupted it wth her first inquiry. “Are you a teacher?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like teaching?”

“On some days. I prefer being by myself mostly. Though it’s nice to feel appreciated by my students.”

“Do the students like you?”

“Most adore me, yes.”

‘Why are you giving me this information?”

“Because it has no relevance to the timeline. Why are you asking for it?”

Chariot shrugged, “frame of reference? What are you working on?”

“Classified,” Croix crossed her arms. “Next.”

“What happened to me?”

“Also classified. No knowing about your future, Chariot.” Croix gave her a stern look.

“Sorry, sorry, I just got curious.” Chariot sighed. “Alright. What is the discus thing?”

“A Roomba. An evolved broom, if you will. It runs on its own system of magic and therefore doesn’t require spell casting to fly.”

“Why would you need that?” Chariot raised a brow. “What happened to your broom?”

“… Classified.” Croix looked away.

“Oh.” Chariot frowned. “I’m sorry, Croix.”

“I’ve heard that before,” Croix sighed. “Anything else?”

“Are you…” Chariot paused, thinking long and hard about how she wanted to phrase this question. “Are you okay, Croix?”

“That’s…” Croix frowned. “I think that’s enough questions. I’m going to have to ask you to leave before anyone sees you. I do have other places to be besides this lecture hall you know.”

“Okay,” Chariot said, sliding off the desk before turning back to Croix. “One more question though, just before I leave.”

Croix took in a sharp breath, “hit me.”

“Are we still friends?”

Pause. Croix wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. She smiled through the pain, and lied the way she had lied to herself all these years. “Of course, Chariot. Always.”

————————————————————————

“What did I tell you?” Croix said, younger Croix, as she stood over Chariot. There was no Arcas to catch her fall this time. “Not to go off into the future looking for trouble, and what do you do? Go off into the future! Unbelievable!”

“I’m sorry, Croix! I just had to know!” Chariot threw up her arms in defense.

“Know what, Chariot? I told you, the future is in flux. It’s not going to be exactly as it appears.”

Chariot looked down at the ground now, biting her lip in silence for a long moment before she answered Croix. “I just wanted to know if we were still friends.”

“Oh…” Now it was Croix’s turn to fall silent.

“We’ll always be friends, yes?” Chariot looked up at Croix, tears in her eyes.

Croix got down on her knees and hugged Chariot once more. “Of course, Chariot. Always.”

(Next Chapter)

[rosemary-sensei]

When discussing how time turners work with strawbarry-larries turns into yelling about how bad the safety and security of Hogwarts is

rose: wait vacine, dude

larry: yo

rose: how do time turners work

larry: I don't know

I'm 99% sure you've asked me that

rose: fuck

Oki

larry: it's like asking me how flux capacitors work

idk

rose: this is gonna be on my mind forever now

no like not HOW

like, what does it do

larry: it turns back time

rose: can it send u back a few days

larry: I don't think it's that powerful

alright fuck u now I wanna know and I'm googling it

rose: if it can only send u back a few hours how do u use it every day for classes

larry: actually maybe it can

rose: why not take like, take a thousand time turners and go back in time to kill Riddle

larry: she does history of magic, then goes back and takes divination because she's already done history

i think its kept extremely under wraps

rose: WIZARDS R SO DUMB

larry: cause if all wizards had time turners then harry would be very dead very fast

rose: also WHO THE FUCK GIVES A STUDENT A TIME TURNER

HOW DOES SHE GET ENOGHT SLEEP

larry: mcgonagall

cause Hermione is bae

rose: like

that's such a health issue

and she's a student

larry: AHA

''The Ministry of Magic encased an Hour-Reversal Charm in the time turners they created, for added stability. The number of times one turns the hourglass corresponds to the number of hours one travels back in time. However, they can only stay in the past for five hours at a time, without the possibility of serious harm to the traveller or to time itself.''

rose: that's like giving a few hours time machine to a student

larry: sleep is not an issue

rose: IT IS giving a few hours time machine to a student!

yeah but like imagine ur a kid, who uses a time turner

larry: Hermione would literally only use it to go to extra classes and that's it

rose: that would fuck u up so bad

larry: and she's 13, she's mature enough

rose: especially that she uses it later to save buckbeak

larry: yis but for a good cause

rose: so she could easily use it for unconventional reasons to

bitch

13 yo

r not

mature

larry: bro its HERMIONE

rose: have u mat the 13-year-olds in our school

rose: they're retarded

larry: she was a 30-year-old trapped in an 11-year-old body u dumbfuck

I am literally only talking about Hermione and no other person

rose: AND HERMIONE IS A STUDENT THAT SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE A STUDENT

no bro

no

why

larry: HOGWARTS IS MODERN DAY DISCRIMINATION

LITERALLY

SLYTHERINS IN DUNGEONS

10000 POINTS TO GRIFFYNDOR CAUSE PHUK U DATS WHY

WHO TF CARES ABOUT RAVENCLAW AND HUFFLEPUFF

rose: RAVENCLAWS R NERDS

larry: U SEE MY POINT

rose: HUFFLEPUFFS CANT DO SHIT

WTF IS HOGWARTS ANYWAY

larry: *raises hand8

rose: SAFEST PLACE IN BRITTAIN MY ASS

larry: Scotland actually

rose: GIVE ME ONE YEAR THAT HARRY DIDN'T ALMOST DIE

they say Brittian so I say brittain

ONE YEAR

larry: y'know youd really think that theyd implement some sort of protection program for harry

they should really fucking learn after he almost FUCKING DIED in the first

and second

and third

you get my point

rose: yno ude think they WOULDENT PUT A PHILOSOPHERS STONE IN THE SCHOOL

larry: youd think they wouldnt have fucking moving staircases that turn at any moment and kill a twelvie

rose: or have PARENT SIGNATURES FOR THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT SINCE THEY APPARENTLY NEED ONE TO VISIT THE VILLAGE

or TROLLS AND GIANT DOGS IN THE SCHOOL

larry: NO NO NOT TRI WIZARD TOURNAMENT, FUCKING DETENTION IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST WHERE THEY ARE FREE TO DIE

rose: OR A FOREST FULL OF MURDER

WHO THE FUCK GIVES A DETENTION IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST

ONE OF THE KIDS' BROOM WAS CURSED AND NO ONE LOOKED INTO IT

ALBUS NEVER NOTICED ONE OF HIS GOOD FREINDS WAS POLLYJUISED

A FIRST YEAR WAS ALLOWED TO PLAY QUIDDITCH

larry: also HOW THE FUCK DID NO ONE KNOW THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHAMBER WAS IN THE FUCKING TOILET

SOMEONE WOULDVE FUCKING KNOWN

SO THEY COULDVE GONE DOWN AND DONE SOMETHING

INSTEAD OF HARRY ALMOST KILLING RON, GINNY AND LOCKHART

NO MATTER HOW MUCH OF AN ARSE HE WAS

rose: THERES A CURSE ON THE DARK ARTS POSITION

LOCKHART IN GENERAL

larry: WHY WOULD NO ONE LOOK INTO IT

LIKE 'Hey there's a bunch of fucking shit happening with every DATDA teacher, maybe we should do something like teaching

it ourselves instead of hiring a random?

YOU'D THINK THEYD ALL BE ABLE TO TEACH MORE THAN ONE SUBJECT

brb

rose: kks

...

WHY NOT JUST CHANGE THE NAME ON THE POSITION?!

[juanrepublic]

Myosotidium

“What are your hobbies?”, she asked me.

“I write”, I told her with my signature smirk, “I watch movies and TV series, I play the piano, guitar, ukulele, and drums. But I write most of the time”

“I would be happy to read some of your works one of these days.” She smiled as we bump two bottles of ale, while I Wrote My Out from the Hamilton Mixtape plays on the background.

______

Yes, I write. Or I used to. It has been years now since I last wrote a decent entry in my blog. Most of the entries in my blog were copy pasted from Facebook, usually long statuses and my two cents on the movies that I have seen. I may have some articles written and saved on MS Word but most of them are unfinished and I can’t seem to find my mojo to finish them.

I even doubt that my students and colleagues know that I write and I used to be active in my blog, Juan Republic, with more than 35,000 followers.

Perhaps my work as a teacher has taken its toll in my old, er, writer-self.

Earlier this morning, out of boredom, I grabbed my copy of Gerry Alanguilan’s critically-acclaimed graphic novel Elmer. Even though I have repeatedly read and finished that seminal comic book, I still browse and admire its way of telling a story. Perhaps to get an inspiration from chickens.

Yes, chickens. Rational chickens.

And then it came to me. On one part of the story, Elmer Gallo wrote in his diary that one should write because it is important not to forget. That message inspired his son, Jake Gallo, to write a book about the story of his father and the story of how chickens fought for their rights and equality.

It is important not to forget. Back when I was still in School, I used to keep a journal. I wrote there my reflections, dreams, and even those one-paragraph ideas that would eventually be the basis of my full-length article, short story, and other things that are worth writing and publishing (for our school publication, at least).

I had ideas, great ideas. Or to borrow Jake Gallo’s lines, “great ideas that would make great movies.” But they eventually lost just because I forgot it. Because I did not write it. Because I just let them slip past my consciousness.

Sayang naman.

I don’t want to make a promise to myself, or to my blog, or to you, whoever you are who stumbled upon this note, that I would start writing more regularly. I believe that is a slow process of recovery, of getting used to it, of making it a habit.

But for now, write. Write even the smallest things. Write even the craziest one-liners. Write on any medium - on a piece of paper, at the back of the receipt, or at the calendar hanging on your wall.

Write as if no one will read your work. Write for yourself. Write for the universe. Screw your readers. You don’t owe them anything yet.

Write.

Because it is important not to forget.

_________

I look forward to the last days of March (not just because of the sought-after summer vacation, but it is a factor) because it gives me another excuse to oil my rusted gear, wear my writer’s hat, and write about what I learned from the past academic year.

Yes, a deadline and a necessary requirement is enough motivation for me to write – just like the old days of my blog when I hurriedly write a political and social opinion on a hot, current issue before everybody else does.

Enough with the excuses. Here are some of the things I learned from the past year:

1. This is a confession. I admit that when I was at school, when I was the age of my students, I used to despise some of my teachers – especially those who do not teach well. And now that I am a teacher for almost five years, I see my old self with some of my students. And I find it amusing, entertaining, and inspiring. I think that is the secret on understanding our students – by putting ourselves in their shoes. Empathy, if you may call it. Or metaphysical and psycho-emotional transcendence.

I love students who challenge their teachers, who are not afraid to speak up and ask questions. And I am thankful that this school year, I already found some and they are also the reasons why I won’t leave this institution after this school year. I love challenges. And I love to speak with intelligent and brave students.

2. Fight for what you think is right, not for yourself, but for the future generation and the younger ones who look up to you. Even before I became a teacher, I consider myself as a Political Animal. Or a Political Junkie. My conversation with close friends (outside the school, unfortunately) usually ranges from pop culture to politics. But mostly politics. When Ferdinand Marcos was secretly and hurriedly buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, I, together with thousands who know their history, made a statement on social media and made our presence felt.

I even related my examination in Religion about the sacrament of confession and forgiveness in the issue of Martial Law and the Marcos Burial. That’s what I call inclusive learning. Education is being dynamic, being social, being involved.

I may not be a Social Studies teacher (though how I wish I was, given my passion for History and Political Science) but I think it is my responsibility as a teacher – regardless of the subject that I teach – to teach my students proper history, justice, and patriotism based on facts and not idolatry of a particular leader.

And I will continue to do it as long as I teach and inspire the younger generation.

3. Rest, if you must, but don’t quit. Being a teacher is exhausting – from teaching for 8 straight hours inside the classroom plus paperworks and other stuff. We are even called the modern-day martyrs. And sometimes, the thought of leaving this profession for good or just being a Patama teacher who doesn’t even go inside the classroom and teach crossed my mind.

But then I thought of my students, I thought of the young ones who are looking up to me as their teacher and their inspiration. So I decided to carry on. I think the secret of this craft is to use our time wisely (which, I am glad my 8-year stint in the Seminary has taught me), to balance work and other stuff, and to look at the students as an inspiration on everything that we do. At the end of the day, all things will zero in to our students. I vowed to teach them, to be an inspiration, to share my knowledge, talents and skills, to be of service. And that is one hell of a big responsibility.

Who am I to give up and leave the future of the Patria Adorada hanging in mid-air?

4. Pursue your passion. When the Priests asked me to undergo the regency program, I told myself that I will continue to do the thing that I always like – to write, to talk, and to inspire young people. This profession, or shall I say, this vocation is not financially rewarding. I may not get rich by teaching but this dictum has been my mantra for some time now: Choose the job that you want and you don’t have to work for the rest of your life. If I work just for the money, I have long abandoned this institution (sa liit ba naman ng suweldo ko dito). But life is all about happiness, and as long as I am happy with what I am doing, I will still stay on the same ship.

5. The Philosopher Heraclitus once said, “You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.”. Change is inevitable. It is constant. And we must learn to adapt to it.

Life is a constant flux. We welcomed this school year with a new Principal who brought radical change to this Institution. He proposed a 360-degree turn on the usual ways and means of this school. I admit, I was the first who opposed his Gender Section act but then, as I have repeatedly say in the past months, I see the wisdom and improvement in the performance of our students.

If that is what change is all about, if all of them will be to save and uplift this once-respected but slowly-dying Institution, count me in. I am more than willing to give everything.

6. Thank God for everything. This school year has been a blessing for me in all aspects. And I thank the Lord for giving me an opportunity to stay on the institution and to continue to be of service to the young generation.

________________

These are just some of the stories, some of the things that happened this past year that are worth telling. Why write anyway?

Someday, all of these would be replaced with new memories, with new challenges, with new stories that are equally worth telling. We write things to preserve memories. We write things for the future.

But sometimes, just like this, we write just to express ourselves.

And because I do not want to forget.

[creativesage]

(via From Building 21st Century Skills to Enabling People to Develop Ceaseless Curiosity) 

By Rotana Ty

On Building 21st Century Skills

"How do you teach people to be more comfortable with ambiguity?”

My response was: “The first thing we need to do is give them projects to do where we can’t know what the right answer is in advance."

"(...) The projects were life-changing for many of us involved with them. I think a big part of why is that the level of uncertainty was so high – it forced us to try new things, to learn (a lot!), and to grapple with ambiguity head-on. Both the learning outcomes for students and the commercial outcomes for clients have been fantastic."

"(...) The way we pitch it to students is: if you look at that list of 21st Century capabilities, and agree that they are important, this is the best way to build them.

Will it work? I don’t know – we’re learning ourselves as we build this. But to me, if we don’t offer opportunities like this, we’re not doing our job.

It’s forcing me to be more comfortable with ambiguity too. Which is exciting, and scary. Just like everything else that’s worth doing." — @timkastelle

What We Have Enabled & Learned

In a previous project, we also taught students and workers to embrace not knowing and uncertainty by giving them projects such as running their own webinars — privately and publicly. It was part of a six week learning program for upskilling them on 21st Century skills (complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and emotional intelligence).

Here is below what our Global Upskilling Program looks like:

What & How

6 ­weeks duration - 23,5 hours (total)

Coaching (Group and Personal) ­

Access to 21st Century Skills Video Courses and 21st Century Skills App (that we created)

‘Learning By Doing’ assignments including:

1. Building a team of three people - in person and remotely by getting to know each other, via collaborative and communication tools.

2. Doing a personal live webinar — Topic: dealing with uncertainty

3. Starting and engaging on public social networks

4. Doing a group live webinar — Topic: Having a conversation about one of the Substainable Development Goals.

Content

Part I: Learning the basics of 21st Century Communications

Part II: Assess and improve your 21st Century Skills

Part III: Team Building, Collaboration

Part IV: Being a Global Employee

Part V: Being an Ambassador for your company

Final Part: Determining next steps

Somehow, the level of uncertainty was high for students, workers and us, too. Even we prepare them and they prepare themselves, they and we didn't know if they will succeed in terms of resonance of their insights, interactions with their audience and usages of communication and collaboration work tools (Google Suite, Google Hangouts and Slack) with other team members for their small project / personal or group live webinar (20 minutes talk, 20 minutes Q&A, 10 minutes for feedbacks from the coaches of the learning program).

Each participant of our learning program had the challenge of:

Being a speaker (facilitation)

Being a writer (content)

Being a coordinator and communicator (logistics, promotion)

Being a participant (conversation)

With this simple real-world exercise and through our learning program, they learned many 21st Century skills, rather than only one skill. To map the 21st Century skills they developed, we provided them an online tool / table for doing so based on 48 skills, that we organized in 2 types (inner skills and outer skills) and in 10 categories:

Observing

Communicating

Leading

Building the Future

Learning

Working with others

My inner world

Relaxing

Dealing with challenges

Sustaining myself

And it was also a way for ourselves to be comfortable with ambiguity, as it was the first time we were enabling and supporting people to develop and improve themselves through bunch of personalized and supportive learning experiences and work practices.

Now, is there another way of seeing wich emergent skills individuals need to develop and practice in an augmented and automated world? Are the ones suggested by the World Economic Forum already outdated or irrelevant?

Work Skills for the Postnormal Era

Stowe Boyd suggests other work skills for the postnormal era.

"I think the World Economic Forum (WEF) — or their contributors on the report, Till Alexander Leopold, Vesselina Ratcheva, and Saadia Zahidi — are at least five years out of date. I think the set of skills they list for 2020 are the sort that CEOs and HR staff would have picked for new hires in 2010, or even 2005. I don’t hear the future calling in this list. Here’s my table of skills, which also serves as a TL; DR if you are in a hurry:"

"First of all, let’s state explicitly that we’re talking about skills that are helpful for operating in the wildly changing world of work, and note that I make no distinction between the skills needed by management versus staff. That is an increasingly unhelpful distinction, as the skill set will make clearer, perhaps.

Here are some alternatives to those listed by WEF, which we’ll call postnormal skills. With the exception of Boundless Curiosity, they aren’t ordered by importance, although I bet for different domains they could be weighted profitably."

So why each skill in that table needs to be developed and what does each look like in practice?

"1. Boundless Curiosity

In a world that is constantly in flux, dominated by a cascade of technological, sociological, and economic change, the temptation may be to shut our eyes and close our ears. However, the appropriate response is to remain flexible, adaptable, and responsive: and the only hope for that is a boundless curiosity."

(...) I believe that the most creative people are insatiably curious. They ask endless questions, they experiment and note the results of their experiments, both subjectively and interpersonally. They keep notes of ideas, sketches, and quotes. They take pictures of objects that catch their eye. They correspond with other curious people, and exchange thoughts and arguments. They want to know what works and why."

So, what does your learnability look like?

"2. Freestyling

"As AIs and robots are expanding their toehold outside the factory floor, we are all going to have to learn how to play nice with them. Or, maybe said better, to use them to augment our work."

(...) We have to learn to dance with the robots, not to run away. However, we still need to make sure that AI is limited enough that it will still be dance-withable, and not not-runnable-away-from."

How do you embrace a possible collaboration between humans and machines to augment yourself and your work?

"3. Emergent leadership

The second most critical skill is … emergent leadership. Not the title, not a degree in management. But the ability to steer things in the right direction without the authority to do so, through social competence."

"4. Constructive uncertainty

In effect, Ross is suggesting that we slow down so that our preference and social biases don’t take over, because we are deferring decision making, and are instead gathering information. We may even go so far as to intentionally dissent with the perspectives and observations that we would normally make, but surfacing them in our thinking, not letting them just happen to us. The idea of constructive uncertainty is not predicated on eliminating our biases: they are as built into our minds as deeply as language and lust. On the contrary, constructive uncertainty is based on the notion that we are confronted with the need to make decisions based on incomplete information. More than ever before, learning trumps ‘knowing’, since we are learning from the cognitive scientists that a lot of what we ‘know’ isn’t so: it’s just biased decision-making acting like a short circuit, and blocking real learning from taking place."

How do you go fast and slow for navigating knowledge flows?

"5. Complex Ethics

Complex ethics are needed to jumpstart ourselves, and to consciously embrace pragmatic ethical tools. As one example, Von Foerster’s Empirical Imperative states we should ‘act always to increase the number of choices’."

"6. Deep generalists

So we have to adopt the winning strategies of the two classes of living things: those that are specialists, deeply connected to the context in which they live, and at the same time generalists, able to thrive in many contexts.

We can’t be defined just by what we know already, what we have already learned. We need a deep intellectual and emotional resilience if we are to survive in a time of unstable instability. And deep generalists can ferret out the connections that build the complexity into complex systems, and grasp their interplay."

How do you embrace diversity, generalism and specialism?

"7. Design logic

"So postnormal design logic jumps the curve from dreaming up things to build and sell, to using the logics of user experience, technological affordance, and the diffusion of innovations in a more general sense, in the sense of envisioning futures based on our present but with new new tools, ideas, or cultural totems added, and being able to explore their implications."

"8. Postnormal creativity

"Creativity was not quite ‘‘normal’’ in Modernity, if we are to believe the popular Romantic mythology of tortured geniuses and lightning bolts of inspiration. We should therefore expect that in postnormal times creativity will have a few surprises in store for us. In fact, creativity itself has changed, and in postnormal times creativity may paradoxically become normal in the sense that it will not be the province of lone tortured geniuses any longer (which it was not anyway), but an everyone, everyday, everywhere, process." - Alfonso Montuori

"9. Posterity, not History, nor the Future

"(...) We should instead cultivate the skills that come from reflecting on posterity, the future generations and the world we will leave them. ‘Posterity’ implies continuity of society and the obligations of those living now to future inheritors, a living commitment, while ‘the future’ is a distant land peopled by strangers to whom we have no ties."

(...) We need to colonize the future ourselves, we must make our own maps of that territory, maps that show us as inhabitants and inheritors, making new economics, breaking with the deals and disasters of the past, and committing again to each other: to be a community and not consumers, to be partners and not competitors, to be from the future and beyond the past.

Maybe I should call myself a posterity-ist instead of futurist?"

"10. Sensemaking

We need to nurture the ability to create flexible models to derive meaning from a set of information, events, or the output of our AIs, and determine a course of action."

How do you derive meaning from data, events, systems, humans and machines, and actions?

Stowe Boyd also said in the end of this post:

"I offer these with this coda: I don’t think these skills are being taught, generally, or at least not in any sort of systematic way. At some point, the inevitability of these skills may change that. There’s a small cadre of agitators (I include myself) shouting out that the times are a-changin’, but I don’t know how far our voices carry, or if others can understand our words.

I’m reminded again of TS Eliot’s Little Gidding, the source of the name of my new research and consulting practice, Another Voice:

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.  — TS Eliot, Little Gidding

Perhaps this is proof, once again that we need new ways to think about — and talk about — this rapidly changing world: we will have to find another voice.

Maybe that’s the eleventh skill."

The Importance of Teaching Curiosity in our Modern World

As I wrote in this blog post:

We are heading towards a world where humans work with machines (including machine learning / artificial intelligence, robots and automated systems). Humans would need to create better insights and ask the right questions to create possible solutions for solving problems. But for doing, one needs to develop curiosity and the capacity to ask questions through habits, people, experiences, and resources in an augmented and automated world. That is our strong belief with Angela Dunn, @blogbrevity @HealthisCool. We are currently working on that. Stay tuned!

This is a take, that I am currently having and exploring to enable and support modern professionals to make the most of and learn from all kinds of experiences and opportunities to self-improve and self-develop.

What if we could enable people to develop their ceaseless curiosity like curious creatives do?

“He [Karl Lagarfeld]’s permanently filling himself with independent culture and establishment culture, so basically he knows everything, and he’s like a sampling machine.” Lady Amanda Harlech, Lagerfeld’s “muse,” concurs. “He said to me once, almost in a worried way, that he has to find out everything there is to know, read everything,” she says. “The curiosity is ceaseless.” - in the New Yorker

[Entire post — click on the title link to read it on the Synchrodipity blog, and to view additional images.]

***

You’re working on your goals, and your team’s goals. We can help you spring into action and develop a real plan that you can implement in a smart way, so you’ll start seeing results immediately, before you feel discouraged. If you feel that you’ve already gone off-track, we can help you get your focus, courage, and motivation back.

At  Creative Sage™, we often coach and mentor individual clients, as well as work teams, in the areas of change management, building resilience, making personal, career or organizational transitions — including to retirement, or an “encore career” — and facilitating development of leadership, creativity and collaboration capabilities. We also work with clients on work/life balance, focus and productivity issues.

We guide and mentor executives, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, artists, and creative professionals of all generations, to help them more effectively implement transition processes, and to become more resilient in adjusting to rapid changes in the workplace — including learning effective coping techniques for handling failure, as well as success. We work with on-site and virtual teams.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss your situation. You can also call us at 1-510-845-5510 in San Francisco / Silicon Valley. Let’s talk! An initial exploratory phone conversation is free. When you talk with me, I promise that I’ll always LISTEN to you with open ears, mind and heart, to help you clarify your own unique path to a higher vista of success.

              ~Cathryn Hrudicka, Founder, CEO and Chief Imagination Officer of Creative Sage™, Executive Coach, Consultant, and Mentor.

***

[cameiotmagazine-blog]

a look at the the Confucius Institute

Ah, the Confucius Institute. Known through American colleges as,

"Oh boy, we don't gotta work with paying. We don't gotta work at paying to educate people in the Chinese language or culture. We can just let some other people do that,"

has been quietly popular in US universities for years, but has recently begun to receive some criticism, which seems unfortunate, but, you know, I'm an honest and forthright reporter who likes to do my own research, so I signed up. Really, I actually did. This is a real thing I did and not a fake thing that I'm just making up as I'm going along, because, what do you think? The magazine that told nothing but fake news stories? Are you saying that in some way I might be exaggerating purposefully?

Purposely for humorous effect to make fun of things? That's crazy. You're a crazy person who's crazy all the time. Anyway, I totally enrolled in some classes and the Chinese government funded institutes that are teaching Chinese culture and language across the world. I don't think Chinese government has ever been known to be underhanded and like to censor things to make themselves look better. That's simply not true, and I got these fun textbooks and stuff, so I thought I'd share a few choice passages. Okay.

This one's about human rights defenders. They don't call them that in this one. They call them cultural malcontents who are trying to destroy our national identity. When I asked the teacher about it, he simply said that that's crazy. What am I talking about? Everybody loves being in China and anybody who doesn't is a liar and a filthy one at that and they deserved whatever happened to them, and then one student was like ... Also they were creating disturbances and disturbing the social order.

Then there was a thing about I don't know. That seems pretty convincing to me. Then I asked Then another student asked, " What about Meng Han and Zeng Feiyang  human  rights activists Meng Han and Zeng Feiyang “ ? One of the students asked, and I was like,

"Boy, you seem to know specific a lot about humans rights violations in recent years in China,"

and the student was like, "Stop staring at me. Say something."

I was like,

"What?" I guess I didn't say anything to them, but the teacher was like,

"I don't know who you're talking about. They were just ... I don't know what you were talking about. They were just gathering crowds to disturb public order."

The student, whose name was, I think, Sally, was like, "Wasn't that like the definition of a protest?"

The teacher was like, "I don't even know what you're saying. Why would anybody want to protest?" Then the teacher went on to say, "Well, they used funding from abroad."

Then Sally was like, "Well, were you gonna help to fund them to stay to protest? Was the Chinese government ever gonna help them to stay to protest?"

They were like, "No, why would we do that?"

 So, you know, whatever. I don't know, I wasn't totally convinced. I think it's pretty fair. They didn't call him whatevers, like bad words or nothing. They just said that they deserve to be in prison and beaten. They didn't say that part, but he kept hitting his fist into the palm of his hand really hard, so I'm pretty sure that's what that meant.

Also, apropos of nothing, he mentioned that executions were totally down. They were like, "Okay." Then they went on to There was also the section in his book talking about the freedom of expression, and then he said that there hasn't been any problems with freedom of expression. Everybody gets to freely express whatever they damn well feel like, but because China's just so gosh darned wonderful and full of hope and light and everybody God damn loves it so fucking much, that there wasn't any issues. Then he said the thing of Lee Yang's dad ain't really that big of a problem because some people ... Because they totally film shit now, like the police, when they arrest crap.

So, problem solved. No, you can't see it. Stop asking for it. It's only some of the time. Not all of the time. It's only some of the time though. Not all of the time. That's crazy. Why would we want to see the police officers doing everything? You're a crazy person. Stop being so fucking crazy. Crazy. Everybody's flipped down to the loyalty. That's crazy. That's crazy. All the major media outlets in the country pledged absolute loyalty. Anyways, stop fucking asking questions, you big fucking idiot. Look how fucking stupid you are. You're a fucking moron. Never did text message so many curse words.

I like the edginess of it all. It made me feel like I was watching a fun TV show where I was yelled at for not doing things right, but like really yelled at. It also reminded me of browsing internet, which I think everybody can totally do in China, said the next part of the sentence. The cyberspace administration only forces ads to keep user logs for 60 days to reduce the spread of illegal information. Legal information like xi jinping is not a honey loving bear that wears a red shirt and no pants. It's totally okay. You're also free to say that xi jinping, if he was a bear at any type, would be a strong, sexy, confident bear who looks good in slacks and he can even pull off shorts which many men can't. Many men of his age can't.

The only reason they shut down Sohu, Sina, Netease, and Ifeng. in July was because they weren't radical enough. Stop fucking asking questions. What are you, some sort of fucking idiot? Have you never taken improv? Don't you know that you're not really supposed to ask any questions? So, that pretty much convinced me that they're doing pretty good. When the class got to Hong Kong, I thought, "Boy, it'd be fun to learn about Hong Kong," and they say Hong Kong is totally still ... has 100 percent autonomy in everything, and they said, "Don't you worry about the Causeway Bay bookstore," and then I asked, "What's the Causeway Bay bookstore?" The teacher was like, "Nothing, stop thinking about the Causeway bookstore

Lee Poe, who are from Sweden was all disappeared from Thailand because he didn't. He's just on a very long fishing trip, and Lee Poe, who's British, you know, disappeared from totally autonomous country Hong Kong. I said, "I mean, he didn't disappear. I mean, he did because he was kidnapped by ... he didn't disappear. He was, you know, he's on a high stake gambling tour of various nations. Yeah, that's what he's doing right now. I don't even know why you're bringing all this stuff up, man.

I was like, "I didn't bring it up, man." The teacher was like, "Oh, okay. That's cool. Anyways, let's move on to how you say "water" in Mandarin Chinese, which is the only language that will ever be spoken in China. What about racial harmony in China? Let's just say racial harmony is beautiful in China. Everybody gets along and it doesn't matter what those fucking Tibetans said. This started the very interesting chapter on China's relationship with Tibet. It went on to say that Tibet is super fucking happy and that China totally has a rightful claim over Tibet. Also, just because the Tibetans can't, you know, like move or go outside the country or practice religion, it's all a fucking lie by fucking assholes. They're a bunch of fucking morons who are fucking worthless.

Also they're crybabies and snowflakes and cucks and you're a strong alpha male, which then goes on to women's rights, which I guess leads us to the discussion in class we had about women's rights. Sally, once again, asked a question about it. They said it threatens civil society. Boy, Chinese civilization seems to be in constant flux. Seems so ready to just fall over at any second. You know, and then Sally then really pushed and the teacher was getting sick of it, so mad, and he said, "Listen, you don't know what you're talking about. Let me explain to you what women's rights is."

Then he went on to explain how it's great, all the shit that women have been doing, but come on. You don't gotta be so Come on. Don't you think it's gone a little too far? I mean, look at Just recently the court gave a woman who sued two companies for discriminating against her in practices like a whole hell of a lot of money. Like 300 dollars. What's so bad about that? Anyways, back to my book, which then talked about freedom of religion. Since everybody's free to practice any religion they want, except the ... You know, but then again, don't disrupt civil authority because you can't disrupt civil authority. Maybe all those people you had believe shit ain't real.

You know who's really a cool dude? xi jinping What if we said it was less like President or make him more of a king. A God king almost, you could say. God king who's also really powerful, who's strong, sexy bear who could totally crush people like crazy. I also said to the ... They said, "No guys, like pay attention because legitimately LG rights have improved somewhat," which was like, "Good," but also China was like, "Hey, you know what's also really cool? China's totally reviving the Silk Road," and then once again Sally spoke up and it was like, "Well hasn't that been a large failure on many levels and it's actually in massive debt?" The teacher was like, "Shut up, Sally."

I was like, "I guess." Then of course then I was like,

"You know what? I'm gonna contribute to the conversation," and I asked the teacher,

"What about the Tienanmen Square protest?" He was like,

"That's not real. That didn't happen." I was like,

"Really?" He said,

"Yeah. You're crazy, that never happened. I mean, it's crazy." I was like,

"There's a famous picture." The teacher was like,

"Oh, you mean the cool poster for the hit new Chinese film? The adventures of tank and cool, obedient, bag holding guy?"

I was like, "Okay," so all in all, I say there's no way that the Confucian Institute is sponsored by the Chinese government whatsoever. It's a totally cool place, and that they gave me ice cream also at the end of every class and I loved it. Anyways, out.

 via politico

via human right watch                

via the guardian            

via the time of india