#classroom crusaders

[mariacallous]

Most of the time, as the senior rabbi of Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Rabbi Mara Nathan’s focus is on Jewish families. But this week, she’s finding herself thinking about Christian ones, too.

That’s because Texas is poised to adopt a public school curriculum that refers to Jesus as “the Messiah,” asks kindergartners to study the Sermon on the Mount and presents the Crusades in a positive light.

The curriculum, Nathan said, “gives Christian children the sense that their family’s religion is the only true religion, which is not appropriate for public school education, at the very least.”

Nathan is among the many Texans raising concerns about the proposed reading curriculum as it nears final approval. Earlier this week, the Texas State Board of Education narrowly voted to proceed with the curriculum, called Bluebonnet Learning. A final vote is set for Friday.

The critics, who include Jewish parents and organizations as well as interfaith and education advocacy groups, say Bluebonnet — which will be optional but which schools would be paid to adopt — inappropriately centers on Christian theology and ideas. They have been lobbying for revisions since it was first proposed in May, offering detailed feedback.

“The first round of the curriculum that we saw honestly had a lot of offensive content in it, and was proselytizing, and did not represent Jewish people well,” said Lisa Epstein, the director of San Antonio’s Jewish Community Relations Council.

Now those critics say most of their specific suggestions have been accepted but they remain concerned.

“Looking at the revision, we still feel that the curriculum is not balanced and it introduces a lot of Christian concepts at a very young age, like resurrection and the blood of Christ and the Messiah, when kids are just really too young to understand and they don’t really have a grasp yet completely of their own religion,” she added. Epstein, who testified at a hearing on the proposal in Austin on Monday, has a child in high school and two others who graduated from Texas public schools.

The Texas vote comes as advocates of inserting Christianity into public education are ascendant across the country. Political conservatives are in power at the national level and the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority has demonstrated openness to blurring church-state separation.

President-elect Donald Trump has signaled support for numerous initiatives to reintroduce Christian doctrine into public schools, from supporting school prayer to endorsing legislation that would require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. (One such measure in Louisiana was recently blocked by a federal judge.)

In Texas, Bluebonnet’s advocates say the curriculum would elevate students’ learning while also exposing them to essential elements of cultural literacy. They note that the curriculum includes references to a wide range of cultures, including ancient religions, and that the religious references make up only a small fraction of the material.

“They’ll elevate the quality of education being offered to all Texas students by giving them a well-rounded understanding of important texts and their impact on the world,” Megan Benton, a strategic policy associate at Texas Values, which says its mission is “to stand for biblical, Judeo-Christian values,” said during the hearing on Monday, Education Week reported. Texas Values called criticism of the proposed curriculum an “attack on the Bible.”

The Texas Education Authority solicited the proposed curriculum, which would join a menu of approved options, as part of a pandemic-era effort that waived some transparency laws, meaning that its authors are not fully known. But The 74, an education news organization, reported this week that a publishing company co-founded by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee contributed content to the curriculum.

Trump tapped Huckabee, a pastor and evangelical favorite, last week to become his ambassador to Israel.

For some in Texas and beyond, Bluebonnet represents a concrete example of how the national climate could ripple out into local changes.

“A lot of things, we think they’re outside of our community, or outside of our scope, like we hear these things, but are they really going to impact us?” said a Jewish assistant principal in the Richardson Independent School District north of Dallas who asked to remain anonymous. “But I think now that it’s becoming a potential reality, a friend was asking me, would Richardson adopt this? Is this something that is really going to happen in our community?”

While the Supreme Court has ruled that public schools can teach about religion, they cannot prioritize one religion over another in that instruction. So Bluebonnet’s inclusion of Christian and Bible stories in lesson plans drew scrutiny from the start — which grew after the Texas Tribune reported that a panel required to vet all curriculum proposals included Christian proponents of incorporating religion in public education.

In September, The Texas Education Authority’s curriculum review board published hundreds of pages of emails from members of the public along with whether the critiques had resulted in changes. Some did, the board noted, but many others were rejected.

A coalition of Jewish groups submitted 37 requested changes to the initial curriculum proposal. Epstein said the San Antonio JCRC had specifically objected to language in some lessons that evoked “antisemitic tropes” and textual inaccuracies in referencing the story of Queen Esther, as well as offensive references to the Crusades and language that explained the birth of Jesus as the messiah.

One passage had invited students to imagine “if you were a Crusader,” Epstein said, referring to the Christian knights of the Middle Ages who sought to conquer the Holy Land, massacred communities of Jews and are venerated by some on the Christian right.

In the case of the Esther lesson, the original curriculum had recreated an aspect of the Purim story in which Haman drew lots to determine when to kill Jews in the Persian Empire — as a way to teach probability. Nathan called that particular lesson “subversively antisemitic.”

“In ancient Persia [drawing lots] was a way of helping someone make a decision, and the game was called Purim,” the initial text read. “Ask students to choose a number from 1 to 6. Roll a die and ask the students to raise their hand if their number was rolled.”

“This is shocking, offensive and just plain wrong,” Sharyn Vane, a Jewish parent of two Texas public school graduates, said at a September hearing, according to the New York Times. “Do we ask elementary students to pretend to be Hitler?” (Historical simulations have widely been rejected by educators for all grades.)

Both of the lessons were revised after feedback from Jewish groups and others, but Epstein and Nathan said the changes were not adequate. A new prompt asks students to describe “the journey of a Crusader” in the third-person, but it still sanitizes the murder of many Jews and Christians during the Christian quest to conquer Jerusalem, Epstein charged.

And while the Purim lots activity was dropped, Epstein noted that a specific lesson plan about Esther — a beloved figure among evangelical Christians — also includes a reference to God, which the Megillah, the Jewish text telling the Purim story, famously does not do. She said that inaccuracy was not addressed in the revisions.

In a statement, San Antonio’s Jewish federation, under which the JCRC operates, also acknowledged the changes that were made after its feedback but expressed concern over what it called “an almost solely Christian-based” perspective with “inaccuracies” and content that is inappropriate for elementary school students.

“We are not against teaching a broad range of religious beliefs to children in an age-appropriate way that clearly distinguishes between ‘beliefs’ and ‘facts,’ and gives appropriate time and respect to acknowledging many different religions,” the federation said. “Public schools should be places where children of all religious backgrounds feel welcomed and accepted.”

The newer version of the curriculum also did not address the federation’s concerns about language referring to Jesus as “the Messiah,” written with a capital “M,” and references to “the Bible,” rather than “the Christian Bible” specifically, as the federation had urged the curriculum’s creators to adopt.

The Austin branch of the Anti-Defamation League, which was also involved in the efforts, also applauded the revisions that had been made thus far but said it still “reject[s] the current version of the proposed curriculum.”

“We agree that students should learn the historical contributions of various religious traditions, but ADL’s analysis of the originally proposed curriculum found that a narrow view of Christianity was overwhelmingly emphasized, there were few mentions of other faiths and the curriculum baselessly credited Christianity with improved societal morality,” the group said in a statement. “Although improvements have been made, the materials still appear to cross the line into teaching religion instead of teaching about religion.”

Criticism to the curriculum goes far beyond the Jewish community. Texas AFT, the state’s outpost of the American Federation of Teachers, a leading teachers’ union, also opposes the proposal. “Texas AFT believes that not only do these materials violate the separation of church and state and the academic freedom of our classroom, but also the sanctity of the teaching profession,” the union said in a statement.

Some Republicans on the Texas Board of Education expressed reservations about the curriculum’s quality and age-appropriateness, separate from its religious content.

And nonpartisan and interfaith groups like Texas Impact and Texas Freedom Network have also been involved in efforts to oppose the curriculum, as has the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Epstein said a Sikh parent also testified at one of the hearings, asking for her faith’s traditions to be incorporated into lesson plans to provide more religious perspectives.

Nathan said that when she testified against the proposal at a September hearing, her allies were diverse.

“Some of the people who were against it were not Jewish, and just were [against] the way that the curriculum was being put together pedagogically,” she said. “But there were both Jewish and non-Jewish people there, and also some Christian folks who were there who were opposed to such an overtly Christian curriculum.”

Marian Neleson, who has a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son in the Frisco Independent School District, said it has never been easy to be a Jewish family in her area.

“There’s always concerns as a parent when there’s just a handful of other Jewish children in a majority Christian school,” said Neleson, who is active in her local interfaith alliance. “From how the school celebrates, how they do their calendars. Do they remember that there is a Jewish holiday, and then they schedule major school functions on High Holy Days?”

Now, she’s worried that her own district could face pressure to adopt the new curriculum, if it is approved.

“These kind of curriculums are promoting one interpretation, one religion’s view, and I feel like that’s not very respectful of people who come from different backgrounds and different faiths and different religions,” Neleson said. She added, “I do think that the Frisco school district particularly does try to be inclusive and try to recognize the diversity of the community, but I know that there’s always pressure from groups who are trying to promote one agenda in the schools.”

The Richardson assistant principal said she saw in the financial incentive to adopt the curriculum — districts that do so will get up to $60 per student — an inappropriate assertion of support by the state. Many Texas districts are cash-strapped after legislators declined to substantially increase school funding last year.

“There is such a push in education for high-quality instructional materials,” said the assistant principal, who has three elementary school-aged children. “They’re pushing this so hard, and even potentially putting up funding for it if you adopt it, but it’s not a truly high-quality curriculum.”

In a Facebook post after Tuesday’s preliminary vote, Vane encouraged parents to reach out to members of the state’s education board to urge them to oppose the curriculum. “It’s not over yet,” she wrote.

Nathan said she’s not sure how much opponents of the curriculum can do if it’s approved, but she stressed the importance of local advocacy — especially since the curriculum is not required.

“I think reaching out to your local school board and communicating with local teachers in your community is going to be key,” she said. “If this occurs, what do I need to do in my local school district to make sure that there’s programming that balances the perspective?”

But she signaled that the intensity of the proposed curriculum would undercut any counter-programming by representatives of other faiths.

“It’s not presented as, ‘Here’s what Christians believe,’” Nathan said about Bluebonnet. “It’s presented as, ‘Here is the truth.’ There’s a difference.”

[naughtynanzhu]

"Betsy DeVos joins Trump's call to 'disband' the Department of Education"

"Pentagon stunned after Trump picks Pete Hegseth for defense secretary"

"Matt Gaetz, under House ethics investigation, is Trump's pick for attorney general"

"'How to Change My Vote' Searches Spike in States Won By Donald Trump"

"Trump education secretary hopeful floats national mandate to require Bibles in school classrooms"

"Warren: Trump transition 'already breaking the law'"

"Trump says Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead 'Department of Government Eficiency'"

"Trump would like to bring back mental institutions, but experts are skeptical : Shots - Health News"

"Exclusive: Trump's team drawing up list of Pentagon officers to fire, sources say"

"Trump’s Pick For Defense Sec Spent His College Years Crusading Against ‘Glorification of Diversity’ And ‘The Homosexual Lifestyle’"

idk man I can't fuckin do this

[xenosagaepisodeone]

working through season 2 for the mlp rewatch. it makes sense that Ms. Cheerilee's calling was being a teacher because she could truly not gaf when the cutie mark crusaders are getting bullied. literally goes above and beyond looking the other way and just dematerializes whenever diamond tiara happens to be doing some august underground shit to those ponies. the gabby gums episode is basically lord of the flies happening in her classroom.

[siriuslychessi]

For September's @jilychallenge partner @petalsthefish

Wordless

AO3 | FF

Prompt: A new teacher for DADA assigns partners for the year and you are partnered with your worst nightmare (your crush’s best mate or your crush him/herself)

Magnus Elderberry had been Hogwarts’ 6th DADA Professor in as many years since the class of ‘77 started attending it. It seemed that no matter what the school could not keep a Professor for that class no matter how good they were. They were not sure if it was the lack of payment, or if the rumour that the job was cursed was true. 

The older man was strict but he made sure that along their rigorous syllabus they would also have practical lessons. 

“This first term you will be paired with the same classmate, the distribution will be aleatory as we do not play favourites in this classroom. You will all learn nonverbal spells and since this is a taxing endeavour your partner will become both an ally and a competitor. At the end of term there will be a nonverbal duel tournament, the best partners will gain 100 points to their houses.”

A collecting murmur could be heard through the classroom, there was something terrible about being stuck with someone you despised, but the promise of 100 points for duelling had the class excited. 

The names were taken out from a bowl one by one, and Lily watched every piece of paper with such force she actually thought that she would be able to change the name on the paper if needed. 

Last year she had a fall out with her best mate, Severus Snape, and after that she did not want to be stuck with him as a partner for the next foreseeable future. Yet the name that was paired with hers was not a Slytherin, but a fellow housemate. 

Sirius Black, one of the top students of the class, great marks and James Potter’s best mate approached the place where she was standing and smiled at Lily. “Evans, this is going to be interesting.” he smiled, his hands in his pocket as he waited for her to say something. 

They didn’t use to get along, Sirius and her. Mostly because he loved to mess with Severus, as much as Severus liked to mess with him, and Lily as a good friend always sided with her oldest mate, instead of his housemate. That was until the mudblood incident, and ever since then Lily’s life had seemed to change 180º, her and Severus did not speak anymore, and Sirius…

She was not sure about Sirius.

Today they were practising just simple nonverbal protecting and disarming spells, to start the terms, something to warm them up for the things to come. Apparently in preparation for their NEWTs they would get nonverbal and wandless classes, and this was just a small step in that direction. 

“The motion of your wand needs to be more precise when words are not used, at first they would try to conjure the word in their heads, which was good practice, but in time;” Professor Elderberry said, “it will come as easy as walking, you won’t think about the word, but of the use of the spell. Making your magic work seamlessly with your thoughts.” As he finished the explanation he summoned one book from the other end of the classroom, demonstrating what he meant, and then put them to work. 

The class spread around the classroom to start practising. Lily did not dare to look at Sirius, not because she disliked him, but because she was afraid that he would see something in her that she was not sure was anything. It was probably nothing.

Well it was something if it bothered her so much, but it was probably not anything consequential. Or was it?

She had been so confused since last year that just thinking about sharing the class with Black would end her. She had enough on her plate with the broken relationship with Snape, Petunia’s ever growing disdain and now… well… it did not matter.

Sirius stood in front of Lily, wand in hand and looking at the shorter woman a bit amused. Lily was a brilliant witch and hilarious when she was not in a crusade to try and justify Snape’s decision and actions, but he did not remember the last time they were paired together. He was about to ask how they should go about it when a loud “I won’t spend the rest of the term working with him!” could be heard from where the Professor stood. 

“Mr Snape, as explained, there is no favouritism in this class. Groups are not to be changed for the remaining term. What was not clear.” The Professor said calmly.

Snape looked at the Professor and at James Potter, who stood next to them waiting for the scene to play out. 

“Professor, it was clear, but you can not expect me to work with Potter, that is not possible.” Snape said quieter, just so the professor could hear.

“May I know why you think that?” The Professor asked, once again, calmly. He could be persuaded but it seemed that Severus Snape did not have a proper reason to give.

If it were any other Professor they would know why Snape and Potter could not work together, but the new DADA Professor was just clueless. Explaining how Snape and James did not like each other and kept hexing each other whenever they got the chance would make Snape confess to things he did not want faculty knowing, as he played innocent in those occasions, 

“Are you not up to the challenge?” James’ voice was almost teasing, but he was not dumb enough to get detention. He had no issue working with Snape, he disliked him, but he was not going to cause a scene just because he got to learn how to hext and disarm him without even saying a word. 

James was also clear that even with the small tantrum, Snape was not dim and he would probably also master the spells quick enough for there to be any serious trouble. The main issue was, how long would they last before they would be at each other’s throats? How many points would they get deducted that the 100 points from the assignment would seem like child’s play in comparison? 

Neither of them were sure, but at the moment James seemed to have the proverbial upper hand facing the Professor and Snape was not liking it. 

“Shut up, Potter. Let’s finish this.” Snape reluctantly went to another corner of the classroom for them to do the exercises. 

At the other end of the room Lily Evans was watching them, she had been so focused on not getting Severus that when she got Sirius she forgot that someone would get her former best mate. If she would have had to guess who would be paired with Severus, never in a million years she would have imagined James. Both boys were catalysts for each other’s worst qualities. 

“Worried about your mate, Red?” Sirius said behind her, looking in the same direction where Snape and Potter were standing in front of each other, the tension palpable as a bomb about to explode. 

“I’m sure James will be okay.” Lily said dismissively, because Snape certainly was not her friend anymore. 

A smirk formed on Sirius’ lips, now focusing his attention on Lily rather than his mate and the git. “So, it is James now?” a teasing tone could be heard in Sirius’ voice and Lily had to mentally hit herself. She had been so close to not show any kind of change or favouritism towards James until she managed to find exactly how she felt, but her mouth had to slip at that very moment. 

“Well, I don’t call my mates by their last name, Black.” she replied, trying to be nonchalant, yet a small blush crept to her cheeks betraying her.

Sirius put a hand on his heart, fainting hurt, “You don’t consider us friends, Red, that’s hurtful considering I rather like you.” and he was sincere, Lily could be a lot of things, but she was a nice bird with a decent sense of humour and a nice head above her shoulders. He was annoyed at Prongs’ crush on her, but Sirius could not put that blame onto the redhead. 

“Let’s just try to get through this class and maybe my fondness for you will grow.” she joked, making Sirius chuckle and nodding, letting slide just this once that he saw more than a friendship growing between Lily and James. 

Sirius took out his wand but did not raise it against Lily at first, he seemed a bit bored of the class already and Lily found it nice that they were not just doing lectures but actual practice. Yet, the older Black seemed to be done with the class already and that peeved Lily. “Do I bore you so much already? You haven’t even given me a chance to do anything.”

Sirius arched his brows in disbelief, “Red, I have nothing but respect for you, but I’m afraid the lesson is not quite as thrilling.” he admitted, making sure that his face showed more than just boredom. He was so used to being around people that knew that Blacks had just the same resting face that he forgot other people might not be. 

Lily looked at her fellow Gryffindor, not sure what to think. Sirius did seem to be making an effort, and she knew that for all his flaws he was rather honest, sometimes brutally honest. “You think the practice lesson is boring? Nonverbal seems like a challenge.”

It was true that for most young wizards nonverbal spells were a challenge, Sirius was not the exception, even with his brilliant mind it took him a while to master them. But he and his friends were trying to become animagi, and that was something that used nonverbal and wandless spells, plus potions and a lot of preparation.

Lily Evans did not know that.

“They are,” he admitted, “but does not mean we all learn it at the same pace.” he admitted as much, as he could not admit trying to become an animagi.

“You already know how to do nonverbal magic?” Lily said impressed, even when she tried to get ahead on her studies to not be the only clueless muggleborn in the school, yet no matter how far she went it seemed that she was always behind.

Sirius just nodded for a reply, he did not want to reveal much, not every pureblood decided to practise ahead, even if you had the advantage of doing magic at home while others might not. He tried changing tactics, because otherwise it sounded like bragging, “Your mate James can also use it.” he teased a bit, hoping they could move forward from the reason why he knew certain things.

“He does?” Lily asked, turning to look in James’ direction. Like an invisible force would not allow her mind to think in anything else other than James for more than 5 minutes. 

At the other end of the class Severus and James were moving, almost mirroring each other. Severus was trying to disarm James, while James defended himself and also tried to disarm Severus. It was like a  mesmerising dance, where you could not help to get invested, as both wizards were skilled and their movements were fluid. You could not catch one spell when the other was already being casted. 

“Seems like Snape also knows a thing or two.” Sirius admitted. In reality Sirius didn’t think Snape was an idiot because of his ability to learn, it was on what he chose to learn and who he associated with, but that didn’t have anything to do with that particular class. 

Watching the two wizards fight made Lily feel something, and not, it was not whatever was feeling for James, but a kind of envy. Severus seemed always so knowledgeable and taught Lily many things, but she also realised that he was hiding much more than his hate for the people of her kind. She felt him patronising her for what felt like the millionth time, and he was not even talking to her!

“Sirius, we can’t let them win.” Lily was determined, he could not let Snape win, nor James, even if he was a bit better than before, his ego was big enough. “I want those 100 for us, not Gryffindor, us.”

Sirius laughed at Lily’s determination, not mockinly but amused that seeing two people duel ignited in her the need to win and be better, that was exactly the Lily he liked to see. “Let’s do this, Red, we’ll wipe the floor with them.” and with that they set up to work. 

Learning how to master the nonverbal spells took longer than she wanted. Sirius was a great partner, he was supportive but he did not take it easy, he was driven and he did not let her slack in any sense, yet he understood that she was starting in a path he already mastered. 

By the end of the class Lily was almost able to wiggle Sirius’ wand without saying the word, but the spell was not as strong as it should be. Sirius could have let her take his wand easier, but that would not do her any good, she needed to actually master the technique. 

“That was progress, Red, I could feel you almost pulling it that last time. Some people could not even get to do it on their first attempt.” Sirius praised her as they gathered their things.

“Not good enough, I want to be able to do it by next class.” Lily had decided that she did not want to feel left behind, that Severus had some sort of advantage over her, she hated to feel like that, she justified it all her life due to him having a witch for a mother, but not anymore. “Do you mind meeting a couple of times before the next class to practise?” she hoped he wouldn't, but she knew that he might not like to do this, after all he was already bored with the lesson.

What didn’t Lily expect was Sirius liking that passion of her, determined to do better and to take no for an answer. Lily was far from dim, Sirius knew as much, but this new facet of her intrigued him as much as he liked it. 

“You’ve got it.” He smiled at her, “We can figure a schedule later, now if you don’t mind I’m famished and supper is calling my name.” he winked at her and left to join his friends. 

Their first Defence had been a Thursday, that meant that their next one would be a Tuesday, they had 4 days to get this sorted and Lily was going to take advantage of it. On Friday Sirius appeared in the empty classroom as promised, they talked for a bit and then started practising. Sirius kept encouraging her but it seemed that no matter what she did not manage to get the spell right. 

They tried again on Saturday, and it was not for Lily’s lack of enthusiasm and hard work, or Sirius’ will to help her and explain. The results were the same, she did not budge Sirius’ wand from his hand, and she was getting frustrated with the whole situation.

“You are thinking too hard about this, tensing up won’t make your wand respond like you wish to.” Sirius had offered as advice before they went their separate ways; she needed to relax but she could not do so, which frustrated her even more.

Lily tried not to think about it, she tried to go about her day as usual, and just focus on the spell once she met Sirius. She arrived at their usual empty classroom and sat on top of the teacher’s desk as she waited for her partner to arrive, and while she did so she thought about the class and how it seemed that she was the only one that could not master the technique. 

Sirius was usually very punctual, but Lily noticed that it was 10 minutes past their meeting hour and she got worried. Did he grow tired of teaching her? Wouldn’t he tell her that they were done and they would not continue the tutoring? She thought Sirius’ would, but they were not exactly closed. 

Lily was about to give up on waiting and just go back to her dorm, maybe ask one of her dorm mates to help, when the door cracked open.

The person at the other side of the door was not Sirius Black, he was almost as tall as Sirius, and had jet black hair, but it looked like swept by the wind. His eyes were not grey, but hazle, and there was a small blush around his cheeks as he entered the room. “Evans?” he called before opening the door completely, his expression apologetic, “I’m so glad you are still here, Sirius told me he promised to help you out, but he also promised Remus.” James excused his friend, “Remus is abysmal at potions and Sirius is the best we’ve got.” he admitted, “Sirius sent me to help you, said you needed help with Defence?”

Sirius was a dead man walking. Lily had decided there and then, because he somehow knew and still sent James Potter to help her, when she was trying to defeat his big head and Severus. No matter how much wandless magic the Black heir knew, Lily would kill him.

“Evans?” James’ voice was soft, hoping that he did not come out as a git, he already had done so in previous years and after talking to his mum he thought he could do better. 

“Uhm, yeah?” she replied, looking at him, not knowing he needed an answer to anything.

“I’ve asked if you don’t mind me helping you instead.” James' eyes seemed almost pleading, she remembered him asking her out, but last time it felt like a dare, this time his plea seemed different.

Lily shook her head and moved down from the desk, “Not at all, but you are teaching me to beat you.” she warned him as she stepped to the place of the classroom without furniture.

“Is that so?” James asked amused, taking his cloak off, preparing himself for a session of spell practice.

“Yes, I’m taking those 100 points.” Lily smiled, daring him to question her drive and her capacity to do so, positioning herself a few feet from him, wand in hand.

James chuckled and shrugged. “I won’t give up that easily.” he replied, not belittling her but actually taking her seriously. She was not sure when was the last time she had a study partner that took her as seriously as Sirius and James had done so. Maybe Mary and Remus, but she usually studied with Severus, trying to spend time outside of the classrooms. “Come on, Evans, show me what you’ve got.” he dared her, and she complied.

Lily had tried with all her might to disarm James, as she had done with Sirius. She was willing the spell out of her, thinking it loud enough, but the wand in James’ hand did not move from there. 

Once more, she moved her wand in a spiral, as the spell required. It was a clear motion, maybe a small one, but you could see her trying to cast that spell with all her might. And once more James’ wand did not move.

James moved from his defence stance to a normal one, and looked at Lily. They had been going at it for a while and there was no progress, which made Lily almost want to cry of frustration, but she couldn’t, not in front of Potter, maybe when she went back to her bed. 

“You are giving up on me, aren’t you?” she said softly, putting her wand away.

“What?! No!” James shook his head and approached her, trying to comfort her in some way, but James Potter was clueless in comforting girls, much less Lily Evans. “I was not, I promise.” he said sincerely hoping she would see that it was true, that his words were not empty. “I was just wondering what is going through your head when you try to do the spell.” James explained looking at her, waiting for an answer.

Lily looked at him, and furrowed her brow trying to think. Her hands moved again, her wand making a smaller spiral motion as she closed her eyes for a second trying to focus on what she usually did when trying to disarm James, and not in his cologne, or how close to her he seemed to be. After a few moments she opened her green eyes and looked at his. “Just the spell, nothing much, I also think of the word, as the Professor explained.”

James nodded understandingly, and moved backwards again. “I think that’s the problem, you are thinking of a word, but not what the spell does. Remember when Flitwick was teaching us the levitating spell?” he asked, excited that he thought he figured out what was wrong with Lily’s technique.

It took the smaller witch a moment to get it but then it hit her, “Imagine where you want the feather to go,” she replied, getting to what James was saying.

“Exactly!” he beamed at her, “So we need you to remember how the spell feels. I want you to try to disarm me, like normal, forget about this being nonverbal, do it a few times, until the word loses meaning, but pay attention to everything else. How does the spell feel, how your wand pulls, how the magic flows.” he explained, going back to his defensive position, waiting for her to take the lead. 

Lily nodded at his instructions, they seemed mad, but at this point she was willing to try anything as long as she was able to learn this. 

“Expelliarmus!”

Her body moved as usual, she remembered how she used to feel the wand pull, because the word helped her to make it come to her. But when they took the word away all she could think was of the aid of said word and not what it was supposed to do. She repeated the spell a few more times, sweat going down her forehead as the wand in James’ hand moved but it was not enough to move it, but the smile on James’ face grew with each attempt, Lily might have not made it yet, but she was getting close with each cast.

Eventually James’ wand flew from his hand, and a victorious Lily smiled at him. It felt like a simple spell but it had taken so much effort she was not sure what had changed. 

“Now give it back, and remember that feeling.” James instructed and she followed his instructions, as it seemed it was doing something more than whatever her and Sirius were doing previously. 

They were back at their places, Lily preparing to attack, James preparing to defend. And Lily moved her wand again, this time not repeating the spell in her head, but pushing towards what she wanted, James’ wand, which was moving more than the previous attempts. 

It took him a couple more times, Lily was beginning to lose faith once more, but then, when she least expected it, James’ wand was flying towards her, and all she could do was catch it and laugh.

“Yes! I did it!” she celebrated, moving closer to James, giving him his wand, “Thank you!” she said excitedly and bounced in her place before turning and giving James a hug. Getting the spell had felt so amazing, like a barrier had been lifted and now she could do more than she ever imagined, but it took her mind a bit to catch up on what her body was doing. 

She was hugging James Potter. 

James, who had been a git up until now, who was always bragging on how amazing he was and it was to be a Gryffindor, who had also helped Mary when Mulciber had attacked her. Who stopped hexing younger students for the fun of it, and started fighting the injustices he saw. And who made her feel confused, exasperated and elated, all at the same time.

She could feel James’ arms around her, and asked herself when they had become so toned, because he was a lanky 14 year old boy not so long ago. She wondered when he had gotten so tall, and when did his jaw became so pronounced that she could see him clench it a bit before speaking? 

He was trying to be so careful of not breaking whatever was happening that it took Lily a second to understand that he was speaking again. “I knew you could do it, Evans.” he smiled at her once more, and she unwrapped her arms from his neck, feeling awkward to have hugged him so suddenly. 

“Thank you, you were the one that broke the code.” she admitted, smiling back at him, trying not to blush.

“You did all the work, it took you less time than me to get it working.” he conceded, “So technically, you’ve won.” He was joking, she knew that much, but he was not mocking her and her effort, just her competitive vein, a tad bit. 

“I have.” she replied proudly, but not because of managing a spell (even when it felt amazing) but she had finally understood what she was feeling for James Potter, and that was a win on its own.

[batpham-discord-highlights]

2024 April fools and Anniversary Event Prompt List part 3

See what the event was and it's rule here!

Hero! Prompts:

Hero Kiss King of Gunned Bugs

Damian glared at the front of the classroom, specifically at the teacher in front of the whiteboard. Mr. Nightingale. "Call me Dan, for Ancient's sake," he had told them early in the year, was a curious man. He was one of Gotham Academy's more.... unorthodox teachers, less formal as well. He was a science teacher, and despite the urgings of Admin, he never coached for any of the sports GA offered. He was half certain Nightingale was a villain in his career's infancy. All Damian had to do was stop him.

Hero Owen

"Dick!” Tim shouted out his older brother, cringing at his voice. Well, actually it was Dick’s voice, but his brother decided to be an idiot so it’s going to be his voice for now. “You said to grab it!” Dick shouted back, from his spot inside Jason’s body. “WHY ON EARTH WOULD I SAY TO TOUCH THE GREEN GLOWING OBJECT?!” “I DON’T KNOW!” “GUYS!” Jason screamed. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is! The fucking problem is that now I’m in Steph’s fucking body and she’s a foot shorter than me!”

Tim Drake is a descendant of an ancient hero known only in modern day as Phantom. What happens when this hero comes back from the dead, possessing is next of kin?

Hero One Spooky Boy

Danny seriously hates the Justice League. He tried calling for help in Amity once, and they completely dismissed it as a prank and didn't even attempt to check it out. Something about knowing how ghosts worked and they didn't work like this. Anyways, the Justice League turned up in Amity Park to investigate the GIW and Danny is not having it.

When Danny dies for the first time, he sees something. A masked city with a caped crusader of the night, and a man with a grotesque grin and green hair holding a crowbar over his head. He doesn't find out until years later that his ghost half is the ghost of Jason Todd, keeping him alive.

Villains! Prompts:

Villain BreKitten

Look. Danny didn't mean to fall through the floor and into the cave underneath Wayne Manor. It just happened! But, well. It wouldn't hurt to take a peek, right? Right. Just a little look around the frankly ginormous cave wouldn't have any consequences at all.

A magic user manages to get down to the Batcave. Luckily, no one is hurt, but a stray spell hits the dinosaur, making it come to life.

Villain Non-Malicious Animalization

Something's out in the Kansas woods. Something dripping green, something defensive.

Gotham rogues quickly learned the rules of aposematism. This has resulted in some parents taking the risk of dressing their kids like Robin. This makes most low-level thugs avoid them, but can be a risk when it comes to the bigger rogues and the batclan itself. (Please feel free to make this an inhuman batfamily AU. Preferably not vampires or something. I like it when vigilantes are their own species. They're territorial.)

Villain Ky

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jazz is the one who’s put all the actual realms biology stuff together, not danny. So when it comes down to defeating misinformation, Jazz and Phantom team up to give the…. world’s most awkward schoolwide presentation?

If anyone wants to use and post with these prompts the Ao3 collection link is here, or post with #April Fools event 2024

[jjbabies]

How are the Stardust Crusaders doing? What are their favourite toys?

Our little band of merry babies are doing excellent! They’re all healthy, and we couldn’t be happier to see how far they’ve developed.

-Jotaro’s favorite toy is a stuffed pufferfish!

-Kakyoin’s is the wooden train. He loves dragging it around the classroom and playing conductor.

-Polnareff can’t resist the cat piano. He loves hearing the tiny meows!

-For Joseph, he always tries to be the first kid to get the building blocks and make a city. He’s the cutest little mayor in the world!

-Avdol loves the safari bag. He pretends to go on a hunt for wild animals with Polnareff and Joseph.

[annoyingenthusiastperfection]

Summary : headcanon version¡ Miles (42! & 1610!) Hobie brown , Pavtir Prabhakar , and gwen stacy. Finding out your Mlp collection.

Miles Morales

●It all started with u beeing good at drawing horses. Miles was impressed and asked how you draw so good.

"LIKE HOW??? ARE YOU SO GOOD AT DRAWING HORSES???

"Its cause I drew them alot"

●Miles was amazed on how knowledgeable about real facts on horses and the mythologyical one too. Unicorns? Alicorns? Pegasus? Please you can draw them blinded.

●But no matter what your explanation may be Miles just has a little suspicion that its not just cause your born to draw horses. He caught u doodling a purple oddly familiar alicorn.

"Hey what's that?" Miles pointed at your doodles as you closed your sketch book in emberassment. "nothing!"

●It was a normal day you and Miles on your dorm room studying suddenly beeing called by your roomates outside for some help. Miles was left in your dorm he was kicking his foot til he hit a box to hard making it fall down to reveal....

Ponies???

●You walked in to your dorm Miles brushing celestia's hair. You froze. Your soul leaving your body. Miles turned to you in a innocent smile.

"So you like my little pony? I still remember you drawing the purple one! What's her name? Sprakle Sprinkle?"

"IT'S TWILIGHT SPARKLE"

●It was funny when Miles deliberately or unintentionally mistakes the ponies name and you always corrected him. He once called chrysalis the alien pony. He called Cozy glow a crazy bitch when you forced him to watch all 9 seasons of the show including movies and mlpstopmotion videos.

●Loves the apple family and pinkie pie.

"I cant believe you watched this as a kid. I can understand how your so good at drawing horses now"

Gwen Stacy

●Gwen and you werent too close in the beginning .It was just you two were seatmates so she notice on your "subtle" referance to the show. Be it the elements of harmony colored gems sticker on your notebook. Your twilight sparkle cutiemark earings. Or just you doodling the treehouse of harmony.

"I like your earings"

"T-thank you"

●It was kind of normal of your friends picking or joking on your mlp obsession. It sometimes makes you left out since you couldnt for the life of God relate to alot of they're series of the month. It was hard for you to not cringe at Live action. You were used to animation. The live action just felt stiff compared to animation. Gwen never understood your friends she thought it was cool how you memorize ponies name cutie marks even backround ones.

●It was lunch time and Gwen went to her classroom early and theyre she saw you watching the wedding of shinning armor and cadence. Face full of food as you watch intently.

●Gwen smiled sitting next to you. "Mind if I sit next to you?" You jolted and fell of your chair luckily Gwen caught you. Eversince that day you watched mlp episodes with Gwen everylunch.

●She loved doing theories. Like why theyre never been a baby alicorn born till flurry heart. The connections of equestria magic and the human worls. Loves the idea of Discord beeing the last draconequus and finding solice in invading worlds to feel not alone.

●Loves the seaponies.

"God I love applejack love her honestyand loyalty to her family! And the cutie mark crusaders are adorable! Sweetie Pie is the cutest!"

Hobie Brown

●He didnt meet you as Hobie brown but as spider-punk. It was an accident when beating up some corrupt cops near by he saw you full pinkie pie cosplay. You wearing a pink wig with a blue , pink , and yellow cupcake dress. It caught him off guard of your ballon accecories. He got kicked in the face becuase he was distracted watching you.

●Eversince he saw you he tried seeing you again but god hates him. He couldnt find for the life of himself. He tried going to cons wandering around finding any familar cosplay. He called it a night at 3rd day going till.

"I am sorry-"

●It was you with the same pink wig , ballon clips , pink , blue and yellow cupcake dress.

"You look dench in that."

"Thank you! I worked really hard on the dress"

●Eversince that day Hobie offered to ask you about the cosplay finding out your suppose to cosplay pinkie pie from mlp. He was a little confuse at first but after watching 4 seasons he gets it. It took him a while to catch up but he thinks the show is enjoyable at the least.

●You convinced him to cosplay twilight as you cosplayed spike. Imagine him with purple glitter extensions , a pony ears and horn with wings. It was funny but he didnt mind. He was Qreally into you wearing loads of spikes on your outfit since you were cosplaying a dragon.

●When he showed up like that on a meeting with Miguel he didnt give a single crap only reapeting.

"I look awesome and you aint doing nothing about it"

●He loves discord and pinkie pie but has a soft spot for thorax.

"The changelings look cool before and after. You can't CHANGE my mind"

Pavtir Prabhakar

●200% already knew about the show. Was actually obsessed as a kid but nobody like to talk about it with him well except for you.

●You two rant about the better element and pony almost every week.

"RAINBOW DASH ISNT A SELF CENTERED FASHINISTA!"

"How dare you ..."

"I am sorry-"

"You say that to Rarity" *caressing Rarity plushie backpack*

●He honestly jsut took potery just to make mlp statues why? To flex on you thats why.

●Will and have bought every single main six plushies but you have the cards of the mainsix and princesses. Even his favourite. Big Mac. This man has begged and pleqded for that card but he held it ONCE.

●How can you hate him so much? It was all for the tease and who got the best merch.

●Loves loves spike and starlight.

"C'mon trade with meeeeee"

Miles G.

●You hid your mlp intrest from him to the point he never even visited your apartment. Not once.

"Hey can we hang out your place?"

"Sorry I have a rat infestation"

●He didnt push it any further and so everytime he asked theyre was a new excuse. The bathroom sink broke. My AC isnt working well. The place is a Mess. A fire recently happend. I almost got robbed so its unsafe. Excuses and Excuses.

●But this time you can't escape. It was you having you having a fever so he had to go your apartment. Nothing out of the ordinary it wasn't to big or to small but when he entered your room.

●Your bed was surrounded with mlp plushies from the main six , to the princesses , to the ponies of pony vill and more. Rapped in a twilight cutie mark pattern blabket sick out of your mind you stood up looking at Miles in you fluttershy pajamas.

"So this is why you dont want me to come here?"

"Ughhhh ... Shut up your lucky I am sick"

●Since you getting sick it became a habit of Miles just watching an Mlp episode or two to cool off. One time Uncle Aaron walked pass him watching the mlp movie and he was flabergasted to the brim.

"The hell are you watching?"

"Something good got a problem?"

●He likes to see your collection of mlp castles his favorite the crysatl empire the little flurry heart jusg warms his heart.

●He loves fluttershy but relates to applejack about family and uses Raindbow dashed motto.

"I GIVE AM 120% AWESOME STFU"

[wrenwriteswhatever]

The AU that lives in my head rent free:

Hazbin Hotel College AU

Set in modern times where Angel Dust goes to college in a different state rather than joining the family business and Charlie and Vaggie are his guidance counselors, desperately trying to set him on the right path. Charlie becomes increasingly more exasperated every passing day.

Husk is the hot teacher that is always showing up to class hungover and isn't at all interested in his advances. They may or may not form a relationship outside of the classroom later on.

Alastor teaches an anthropology class about cannibalism throughout human history and/or witchcraft and always has the radio in his classroom set to an old timey station. Everyone is convinced that he is actually a cannibal.

Pen is Angel's roommate in the campus dorms. His major is something like Chemical or Mechanical Engineering. They butt heads a lot at first, but then slowly grow to be best buds.

Niffty and Cherri are also students, living in the girl's dorms and Niffty has a job on campus as a custodian (fancy word for janitor).

Emily, Adam, and Lute are a part of the fucking Campus Crusade and they have so much fucking beef that it's damn near an Arby's.™️ (Except Emily, she's an actual angel who wouldn't fight anyone and we love her for it.) Sera is the teacher in charge of the club.

Vox teaches a media studies class of some kind.

Angel of course ends up working at a strip club part time (owned by Valentino) to pay his way through college and he brags about being a stripper all the time, lol.

[thestuckylibrary]

"Oklahoma’s newly launched “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism,” to be housed under the state’s Department of Education, is the latest attack on secular education in the state’s classrooms. As part of the rollout, school superintendent Ryan Walters instructed school districts to play a promotional video of himself announcing the launch, and praying for President-elect Donald Trump. The edict sparked almost immediate pushback, with at least seven school districts refusing to comply. Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general called the mandate “unenforceable.”

"Walters’ crusade to infuse Christian nationalism into public schools is part of a broader, coordinated campaign by Christian activists to dismantle the separation of church and state in America’s schools."

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Tom Golden

Published: May 16, 2025

Modern feminist thought has deeply influenced how society perceives and responds to gender-based stereotypes. Feminists have rigorously documented how stereotype threat impacts women and girls—how being reminded of negative gender-based assumptions can lower their performance, limit their confidence, and reduce their opportunities. As a result, enormous institutional energy has been devoted to minimizing stereotype threat for females across education, employment, and media.

Yet in a jarring contradiction, the same feminist voices that crusade against the stereotyping of girls often perpetuate, ignore, or excuse deeply harmful stereotypes about boys and men. From classrooms to courtrooms, from media headlines to college campuses, males are frequently cast in the most unflattering terms imaginable: violent, toxic, emotionally stunted, hypersexual, power-hungry. This glaring double standard is rarely acknowledged—and when it is, it's often waved away as justified.

The result is a cultural imbalance where girls are protected from stereotypes, while boys are buried under them. Let’s examine how this disparity is constructed, maintained, and what it costs all of us.

Stereotype Threat and the Feminist Crusade to Protect Girls

Feminists have long argued—and rightly so—that stereotypes about girls can shape outcomes. One of the most cited examples comes from the realm of STEM education. Studies have shown that girls perform worse on math tests when reminded of the stereotype that "girls aren’t good at math." This phenomenon, known as stereotype threat, was popularized by social psychologists Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson. Feminists embraced the concept and used it to campaign for reforms in teaching, testing, curriculum design, and media messaging.

Other domains soon followed. Feminists argued that girls were reluctant to lead because of the “bossy” label, or that societal beauty standards hurt girls’ self-esteem and academic performance. They noted that girls were silenced by fear of being called “sluts,” or that women in professional settings were discredited as “too emotional.” Each of these concerns was framed not just as an individual struggle, but as a systemic injustice—something society must urgently address.

And society listened. School systems restructured grading rubrics. Teachers were retrained. Billions were poured into programs to boost girls' confidence in science, leadership, and athletics. The public and private sectors launched endless initiatives to remove barriers caused by female stereotype threat.

In short, feminist activism produced a world where girls’ psychological safety was treated as sacred.

The Stereotyping of Boys: An Avalanche of Contempt

While girls were being lifted out of the trap of stereotype threat, boys were being pushed further in.

Instead of confronting negative assumptions about boys and men, feminist rhetoric often amplifies them. From slogans like “toxic masculinity” to academic theories of male privilege and patriarchy, boys and men are persistently painted with a broad and damning brush.

Here are just a few of the common stereotypes promoted or tolerated in feminist narratives:

“Toxic masculinity” — Suggests that traditional male traits like stoicism, competitiveness, or strength are inherently dangerous or pathological.

“All men are rapists” — A paraphrase of radical feminist assertions such as those made by Andrea Dworkin and echoed in various feminist circles, promoting the idea that male sexuality is fundamentally predatory.

“Men are pigs” — A socially tolerated insult that would be unthinkable if genders were reversed.

“The future is female” — A slogan implying men are obsolete or that society would be better off without them.

“Teach boys not to rape” — A blanket accusation that implies boys are budding criminals in need of reprogramming.

The sheer scale of anti-male generalizations today is staggering. Feminists have created entire frameworks—like the Duluth Model of domestic violence—that treat men as default aggressors and women as default victims. In higher education, young men are often presumed guilty under “believe all women” policies that strip them of due process. In mainstream media, the “bumbling dad,” the “man-child,” or the “creepy predator” are staple characters.

Meanwhile, no serious feminist movement campaigns to shield boys from these psychological burdens. There is no widespread effort to protect boys from stereotype threat. No national initiatives to challenge the myth that “boys don’t cry” or that “boys are naturally violent.” Instead, when boys struggle or fail, they’re often told to check their privilege or try harder not to be a threat.

A Culture That Justifies Male Stereotyping

One of the most troubling aspects of this double standard is the moral justification feminists use for maintaining it. The typical logic goes something like this:

Men have power.

Therefore, they can’t be victims.

Therefore, criticizing or generalizing about them is not harmful.

In fact, it’s necessary for justice.

This thinking allows feminists to cast boys and men in extremely negative terms while insisting that no real harm is done. But this argument collapses under scrutiny.

First, boys are not “the patriarchy.” They’re children. They don’t hold systemic power. Yet from an early age, they are fed messages—through media, school, and sometimes family—that their natural traits are problematic. If stereotype threat is damaging to girls, how much more damaging is it to tell boys they are inherently dangerous?

Second, even adult men are not immune to the effects of persistent shaming and stereotyping. Research on stereotype threat applies to any group facing negative assumptions. If women avoid STEM because they feel they don’t belong, what happens to boys who are told they’re emotionally broken, likely to abuse, or irrelevant?

The feminist model claims to fight for equality. But equality means fighting harmful stereotypes wherever they exist—not just when they affect women.

The Human Cost of Ignoring Stereotype Threat in Boys

Boys today are falling behind in almost every major metric. They lag in literacy, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment. They are more likely to be suspended, medicated, or diagnosed with behavioral problems. They are less likely to be encouraged to express vulnerability, receive mental health care, or have their pain taken seriously.

Feminist rhetoric plays a significant role in this decline. By flooding the culture with negative images of maleness, it reinforces the very stereotype threat that it claims to abhor—only this time, it targets boys.

Consider a boy growing up in today’s world. He hears that his male role models are “toxic.” He learns that his normal competitive urges are suspect. He sees men in the media portrayed as fools, predators, or bullies. He enters a classroom where empathy is reserved for girls and suspicion is reserved for boys. If he acts out, he’s a threat. If he withdraws, he’s invisible. Either way, he’s lost.

What message does this send to boys? What expectations do we set? What futures do we foreclose?

The cost isn’t just male suffering—it’s societal dysfunction. When half the population is taught to distrust itself, we all lose. Relationships become harder. Families fracture. Collaboration becomes suspicion. We create not equality but enmity.

Toward True Equality: Challenging All Stereotypes

If we are serious about ending stereotype threat, we must abandon the feminist double standard that protects girls while demonizing boys. Equality demands consistency.

We must challenge the notion that “masculinity” is toxic. We must stop normalizing phrases like “men are trash” or “all men are predators.” We must stop teaching boys that their natural impulses are shameful. And we must recognize that stereotype threat applies just as much—if not more—to boys who grow up under a cultural cloud of suspicion and contempt.

Imagine if we treated boys with the same empathy and concern we extend to girls. Imagine if we taught them that their emotions matter, that their strengths are assets, and that their masculinity is something to be honored, not erased.

True progress will not come from selectively dismantling stereotypes. It will come from rejecting all dehumanizing generalizations—whether they target girls or boys, women or men.

Only then will we live in a culture that affirms the dignity and potential of every human being.

==

Remarkably, there are people who consider this kind of ethical consistency and equality to be not just unacceptable, but outright nefarious.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Kids Are Headed Back to School. Are They Breathing Clean Air? - Published Sept 3, 2024

Across the U.S., kids are headed back to their classrooms—just as COVID nears a fresh, late-summer peak. Somehow, four years into a viral pandemic that everyone now knows spreads through the air, most schools have done little to nothing to make sure their students will breathe safely.

We—and especially our children—should be able to walk into a store or a gym or a school and assume the air is clean to breathe. Like water from the faucet, regulations should ensure our air is safe. “Air is tricky. You can choose to not partake of the water or the snacks on the table, but you can’t just abstain from breathing,” notes Gigi Gronvall, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an author of a 2021 report on the benefits of improving ventilation in schools.

The COVID-causing virus SARS-CoV-2 is far from the only airborne risk in schools. There are also other respiratory viruses, smoke from wildfires, mold spores, off-gassing from plastics and other compounds, air pollution from traffic and industry, and allergens that worsen asthma and add to sick days. Yet federal air standards are stuck in the 1970s, when they were mostly aimed at protecting people from secondhand tobacco smoke, says Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Fully updated standards for buildings are years or even decades away.

It’s hard to assess just what schools have or haven’t done to improve indoor air quality. No one—not one federal agency—collects nationwide air quality data on individual schools. Schools could use federal money to update air filtration and ventilation during the height of the pandemic. But a 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of school districts found that only half had taken simple steps such as opening windows or doors or using fans, and even fewer had upgraded ventilation systems.

The benefits go beyond protecting children and adults alike from airborne disease spread. “Better ventilation is linked with better test scores and grades [and] better workplace performance,” Allen said at a July meeting about air quality held by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a U.S. think tank.

“We have made incredible gains related to food safety, sanitation and water quality. Where is air quality in this?” he asked. “We have ignored it.” The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration quickly warn people about listeria in sliced meat or lead in cinnamon, but no one’s checking the air in public buildings for disease-causing germs.

It’s not even hard to make sure indoor air is clean. Even in the 1800s, by having open doors and windows, tuberculosis sanatoriums prevented the spread of disease by air. The CDC has extensive guidelines on what’s known as air exchange, but ultimately, it’s a matter of moving contaminated air out and fresh air in.

If it’s too hot, cold, polluted or humid outside, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems can clean up the air perfectly well when they are installed properly and used consistently. Their benefits far outweigh their costs.

“There never has been a building that we could not turn into a healthy building with just a little bit of attention,” said Allen, one of the country’s top crusaders for cleaner air, at the biodefense meeting.

Pandemic fatigue, of course, explains much of the apathy around making air-quality improvements. Public officials, from principals to local legislators right up to the top of the federal government, see that hospitals are no longer overflowing with COVID cases and that the nightly news no longer provides daily death counts. Most parents no longer clamor for assurances that their kids are safe from SARS-CoV-2.

Despite regular, ongoing spikes in COVID, most people have dropped precautions such as masks, even in hospitals.

“People are like, ‘There’s not a whole lot you can do about it,’ and that is why, societally, we need to do something about it,” Gronvall says. “We did this for water once upon a time, and we can do it for air.”

Even the experts have mostly let down their guard.

It wasn’t until halfway through the daylong, in-person-only biodefense conference on air quality that someone even thought to ask if the air in the room was safe to breathe. “Are air monitors effective?” asked former U.S. representative Fred Upton, a Republican and a commissioner at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, at the July meeting. “Does anyone here have one?” added Upton, who had represented Michigan’s sixth district until 2023.

“Are you sure you want to know?” someone in the audience asked, prompting laughter. Rick Rasansky, CEO of XCMR Biodefense Solutions, did have a carbon dioxide monitor, a device that gives a very rough estimate of the amount of fresh air exchange in a room. He read out a “pretty good” measurement.

That was a lucky thing because the 100 or so people attending the meeting had been seated shoulder to shoulder for several hours at that point. Not one was wearing a mask.

It will take federal legislation and sustained attention to make a difference.

The Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University have developed a Model Clean Indoor Air Act, which state legislatures throughout the country could use in writing new indoor air laws. In Congress, Representatives Paul Tonko of New York State and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania have introduced a bipartisan bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to list indoor air contaminants and develop guidelines (albeit voluntary ones).

The new federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) found a great acronym in its Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health (BREATHE) program, which will develop and roll out cool new air-cleaning technologies.

But fancy tech isn’t enough on its own, and some schools may have wasted money on glittery toys instead of real fixes. Ceiling-installed ultraviolet lights won’t kill germs if the air isn’t blown upward to get cleaned in the first place. And gadgetry won’t create the demand and enthusiasm needed for cleaner indoor air. Politicians won’t win elections by campaigning on clean indoor air. But once they have been elected, federal, state and local officials owe it to kids, their parents and their neighbors to fight this most invisible of all hazards.

“We need to make it easier for people to see what they can’t see—to see what they’re breathing,” Gronvall says.

Unpaywalled link: archive.is/20240904045601/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kids-are-headed-back-to-school-are-they-breathing-clean-air/#selection-499.0-617.111

[karatekels]

Valek TIG. Reader is Jack’s daughter (18+). The church put the cross at a church at a catholic boarding school for slayer’s children in training to be future slayers, trying to keep everything that needed guarding together. But in reality Valek is able to get the cross and a definite reason to keep Jack engaged in the fight. What would be better than turning Jack’s only family against him. Enemies to lovers.

I'm SO excited to finally get to this one! I hope that it's worth the wait - I'm anticipating it to be 4 chapters in total, and this is definitely going to be the shortest one.

TW: Indoctrination by the Catholic Church, implied death, blood (very minor... for now)

---

Heirloom - Chapter 1

---

Deep in the centre of Tuscany sits the medieval town of Monteriggioni, perched on a hill and surrounded by high stone walls. A centuries-old fortress, it has long been a place of protection for its allies, and can become fully self-sufficient during times of trouble.

It has been operating as a self-sufficient town for decades now, its gardens plentiful.

While official records claim a population of ten thousand, the number of people living in this little city fluctuates like the ebb and flow of a powerful tide.

The comings and goings of its occupants are a well-kept secret, known only to those who are allowed access to the city in the first place.

Within the walls of Monteriggioni, the next generations of Slayers receive their training.

To the public, this education is given a generic name of importance, one that oozes prestige but does not invite questions: The International School of Siena.

To anyone that looked over the curtain wall of the battlements, they would observe a quiet town with more than its fair share of churches, a large fortress at its centre. In practice, each church was a classroom, the fortress a dormitory to thousands of children and young adults, all slayers-in-training.

Some were orphans taken under the protection of the Catholic Church, others were the children of slayers, descendants of the Crusaders.

All were soldiers. Or at least, they would be before they were allowed beyond the city’s walls.

Those responsible for the Scholars of Monteriggioni (as they were known) held various roles: providers, priests, parents. But above all, they were protectors and educators.

And when you had completed your scholarship and were done being protected and educated by the Elders, you waited.

You, Y/N Crow, have been waiting for years.

You aren’t exactly thrilled about it.

You had spent the first thirteen years of your life raised by a single mother that had done everything possible to keep you from the dark world your father operated within. You hadn’t even met the man until a few months after the fire that had destroyed your life and taken your mother from you.

The Catholic Church had claimed you as a ward with the written permission of your biological father immediately upon your mother’s death, a strange and unwelcome presence as you had not been raised with any sort of faith in your life. Having nothing left in America, you had been relocated to the tiny town of Monteriggioni and introduced to the terrifying reality of vampires that walked among us in the night.

You hadn’t believed the stories until you were forced to witness the execution of a goon with your own eyes, the memory of their screech and charred body burned into your mind forever afterward. You had spent the next ten years being moulded into a warrior, a weapon wielded by the Church to exterminate the unholy scourge of the earth that was the growing vampire population.

And you’ve spent more than two years now waiting to be recruited so you could leave this place.

How was it that you, daughter of the infamous Jack Crow, Master Vampire Hunter, hadn’t been added to a team yet? And even if the nepotism hadn’t helped you, you had excelled in your training. So what could possibly be the reason you were still stuck in Monteriggioni?

You suspect that your so-called father has something to do with it.

You really hate the man.

Where did he get off, taking you from your home and everything you’d known and forcing you to follow in his footsteps and then not even letting you out into the world to prove yourself? The best years of your life, the time when you were supposed to find yourself, had been unceremoniously taken from you, and for what?

With nothing better to do, you had taken to exploring the catacombs beneath the city as of late, trying to map out the complex system of tunnels you had grown up on top of. You would hardly say that you were even an amateur cartographer at this point, but your ever-expanding maps made sense to you, at least.

Your focus over the last few months has been the western quadrant of the tunnels. Your exploration of the other areas have all yielded at least one secret passageway or hidden room, but you haven’t found any in this section yet.

These dark, underground halls had long stopped being scary to you, but today something feels different, like there is a chill in the air. While it had been early evening when you’d descended into the tunnels, night was likely only falling now, and you knew it took a few hours after sundown for the night’s chill to seep this far into the ground. You’d been dealing with an inexplicable draft as well, which shouldn’t have been possible underground, but there it was, playing with the flame of your torch again and threatening to extinguish it.

Ordinarily, you could fiddle with the fuel and the airway to create a smaller, more stable flame – with all of your training, you really only required the tiniest fraction of light to see in the dark – but the symbols marking secret entrances were small, and you needed as much light as you could get if you didn’t want to risk missing them entirely.

You were right to do so, coming across two small symbols shortly after reigniting the torch for the fourth time today: one in the shape of a crescent moon, the other an empty cup. You had seen the latter symbol before, here in the catacombs; it indicated the need for a blood sacrifice for the passageway to open. The moon, however, you had only seen in ancient texts, usually used to symbolize change or transformation due to the multiple phases of the lunar cycle. It probably had something to do with what was housed inside, which meant that it wasn’t one of the disused passageways that led out of the city.

Eagerly, the curiosity burning within you, you set your torch on a nearby sconce before unsheathing your dagger, slicing your thumb with the ease of long practice and pressing it against the symbol of the cup. When you remove your thumb from the wall, the symbol looks like a goblet of wine, and a deep rumbling can be heard before the wall slides open a crack.

Bracing yourself against the opposing wall, you press on the newly revealed door with your leg, pushing it open, the sound of stone on stone grating but not unpleasant. Stepping inside the room with your torch in hand once more, your breath is taken away by what’s inside.

Up on the old stone altar, dozens of candles guiding your gaze upwards like the bannisters of a divine staircase, is a large black crucifix, adorned with gold and rubies. A real, sacred relic, right before your very eyes, glittering magnificently in the torchlight…

Relics like these were rumoured to have been stashed all over the city over the centuries. You’d come across some of the altars where they had been kept during your explorations, but they had always been empty, the precious artifacts moved somewhere else or destroyed.

Did anyone even know that this was here? Should you know that this was here? What were you supposed to do know that you had come across it? You weren’t exactly supposed to be poking around down here; you hope you don’t get in trouble.

“Crow…” an unfamiliar voice, husky yet soft, purrs from behind you. You turn guiltily, hoping that a priest or cardinal isn’t about to condemn you for being down here.

But no one is there, waiting to pass judgement on you.

Something about that whisper of your name has your hair standing on end, and you suddenly feel quite claustrophobic in this stone room beneath the city. Time to get out of here.

Taking one last look at the cross, you take your torch in hand and return it to the sconce in the main hallway, moving to reseal the altar room. Your eyes skim past the symbols that marked this place, before doing a double take.

The cup is no longer red with your blood; instead, a dark stain fills the chalice, the way rock did when it got wet. A shudder runs through you, and you think that the spike in adrenaline will at least make it a bit easier for you to push the think wall of stone back into place.

“What is your name, child?” a new voice, this one equally as unfamiliar as the first, asks from the shadows. You shriek, diving for the torch and brandishing it against the darkness, looking for the speaker.

“Where are you?” you demand, fighting to keep your voice from wavering. “Show yourself!”

“Your name…” the voice demands again, high and clear like the ringing of a tuning fork.

“Y/N!” you cry out, wanting the voice to stop more than anything. “Y/N Crow.”

“Did I not tell you, Cassandra?” comes the deeper voice, clearly a male. “Her blood does tempt me so, just the same as her father’s. The blood of a Crusader…” the voice hisses, and you come to a horrifying realization.

Your blood sacrifice hadn’t been absorbed by the stone.

It had been licked clean.

Vampires were underneath Monteriggioni.

Sure enough, two figures slowly emerge from the shadows, staying just on the edge of where the light of the torch fades. From what you can see, both are dressed head to toe in black, only their faces and hands visible, bare and ghostly white. The female is short, shorter than you, with long auburn hair that falls in waves like spilt blood, while the male towers over you even from this distance, his hair dark and brushing his shoulders.

You don’t reply, you can’t reply. You can’t even breathe.

You just turn and run.

You think you hear the faint whispers of a conversation between them, but it’s hard to be certain as your heart pounding in your ears drowns out every sound but the thudding of your feet on stone.

You desperately try to picture your map in your head, but this was the area of the catacombs that you were least familiar with. Left… you need to go left.

There’s a whoosh of air, and your torch flickers again, nearly going out, and then the female vampire stands in front of you with a gentle smile.

Oh. They had been the source of the breeze down here.

Placidly, you wonder how long they had been down here for, how long they had been following you for.

You don’t give it too much thought; you’ll be dead in a moment anyway. You’re glad that the dormitories didn’t have any entrances to the catacombs; that would give everyone else a chance, at least.

“Come with me,” Cassandra’s piercing voice demands, extending a clawed hand towards you.

You take an immediate step back; it’s more of a reflex than anything. She gives you an encouraging smile that doesn’t meet her wide, pale eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you, little one,” she insists, despite being several inches shorter than you are. “Now come with me,” she purrs, tilting her head to the side. Her eyes seem to glow, and you find yourself moving towards her, feeling like you were floating. She was mesmerizing you.

Knowing that her powers of hypnosis are at work does nothing to break you from their spell, and as you find yourself walking into her open arms, Cassandra laughs delightedly, wrapping you in a cruel imitation of a hug.

“Now… sleep.”

Weightless, your world fades to black.

---

Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Epilogue

One of the things that disappoints me the most about John Carpenter's Vampires is that there are quite a few cool ideas and concepts that are just... not built on at all, in favour of more screentime for Katrina's abuse or James Woods's unpleasant quips. I really want to build up this world, and that starts with giving at least SOME of the other Master/Mistress vampires a name, starting with Cassandra!

[meret118]

The system red states are constructing works by empowering extreme ideologues and partisans to impose their will on their communities, whatever level of popular support they happen to enjoy. Dissenters get the right to set public health and educational policy, overriding the judgment of elected school boards and expert regulators. Anti-abortion vigilantes and anti-LGBTQ+ extremists are empowered to surveil their neighbors and rewarded for bringing legal proceedings against them. Lax open-carry laws, immunity from criminal prosecution, promises of kid-glove treatment from police and prosecutors, and pardons when “leftist” prosecutors try to crack down on right-wing thuggery signal to militias and other reactionary radicals that they can engage in political violence with near impunity.

Examples abound. This year, Indiana’s Republican attorney general, Todd Rokita, launched a website with the Orwellian name “Eyes on Education.” The website invites informants to report on teachers who share “objectionable curricula, policies, or programs”; it also posts personally identifying information that can easily be used to dox or harass educators. Among the “objectionable” materials reported through the site is an email from a superintendent who vowed to “address societal injustice in our classrooms” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. After Florida enacted its Safety in Private Spaces Act, banning transgender people from using state-owned bathrooms that match their gender identity, transgender and cisgender residents alike have reported being assaulted by bystanders claiming that they “don’t belong” in public restrooms. Localordinances designed by Jonathan Mitchell, the lawyer behind Texas’ anti-abortion bounty-hunter scheme, use vigilantes to target individuals who cross state lines to secure abortions. Georgia is implementing changes to its electoral rules that practically invite hardcore partisans to disrupt the certification of election results, a strategy with origins in the 2000 presidential election that MAGA leaders returned to in 2020 and 2022.

. . .

one of the most widely reported proposals in Project 2025 is its threatened “campaign to enforce the criminal prohibitions” of the Comstock Act “against providers and distributors of abortion pills.” That law, enacted in 1873 amid a sexual-purity crusade, purports to make it illegal to mail any “article or thing … intended for producing abortion.” For decades, federal agencies under both Republican and Democratic administrations interpreted the Comstock Act narrowly, to apply only when the person mailing an article or thing intended that it be used unlawfully. Reversing this long-standing position would trigger not only a wave of federal criminal prosecutions, as speakers at the Democratic National Convention stressed. It would also kick off a surge of vigilante lawsuits under local laws that authorize ordinary citizens to enforce federal abortion restrictions.

More at the link.

[ladyofthebluelight]

Hey guys, unfortunately there will be no new chapter of the fanfic this week but I decided to instead share an updated version of Taeko’s profile and personal info:

Name: Taeko Kamado.

Alias/Nicknames:

Petit Papillon (by Polnareff).

The empath (by Enyaba).

Sunshine (by Hol Horse).

Stand: Queen Titania.

Stand card: Queen of wands.

Age: 17.

Gender: Female.

Year of Birth: 1971.

Place of Birth: Japan.

Occupation: High school student.

Voice actor(sub): Chiwa Saito (Yona from Akatsuki no Yona).

Voice actor(dub): Erika Harlacher (Elizabeth Liones from Nanatsu no Taizai).

Quirks: She is terrible at lying or hiding secrets, her eye twitching is a dead giveaway when she is doing so.

Hair color: Black to red.

Eye color: Dark red.

Skin tone: Tanned.

Scars: She has a small scar on her left upper arm from the first time she tried to use a real katana and accidentally cut herself.

Height: 165 cm (5'5").

Weight: 60 kg.

Favorite color: Blue.

Likes:

Bonding with other people.

Making her loved ones happier.

Spending time with Titania or the other crusaders.

Learning more about her grandfather’s journey.

Dislikes:

Her confusing nightmare.

Seeing innocent lives being taken.

Witnessing any form of unjustified violence.

Feeling powerless.

Strengths:

Inherited fighting instincts.

Hard skull.

Speed and reflexes above the ordinary.

Enhanced sense of smell.

Swordswoman in training (can use both water and flower breathing techniques).

Weaknesses:

Incomplete control of total breathing technique.

Prone to manipulation.

Deep self doubt.

Sensory overload.

Family:

Kiyoto Kamado (Father).

Eiko Kamado (Mother).

Tanjiro Kamado(Paternal grandfather).

Kanao Kamado(Paternal grandmother).

????(Maternal grandfather).

????(Maternal grandmother).

Pets: Chachamaru... kind of.

Role model: Her grandfather (Tanjiro Kamado).

Fears:

Not living up to her family’s legacy.

Losing another loved one.

Goals:

Dominating the total breathing technique.

Form meaningful bonds with other people.

Learning Sun breathing.

Finding out why DIO is after her.

Saving Holly(Seiko) Kujo’s life.

Love interest: ???? (I am still considering it, but she will probably have one).

Allies:

Yushiro “Yamamoto”.

Chachamaru.

Jotaro Kujo.

Joseph Joestar.

Jean Pierre Polnareff.

Kakyoin Noriaki.

Muhammad Avdol.

Enemies:

DIO.

DIO’s henchman.

Bio: Taeko is the only granddaughter of Tanjiro Kamado, being born fifty two years after the final battle and the disbandment of the demon slayer corp. Taeko, during her first nine years of life, spent a lot of time with her grandfather, hearing stories of his youth. Which led her to developing a deep admiration of both her grandfather and the demon slayers. Not too long after his death, her father found out her imaginary friend wasn't actually an imaginary friend. He called for a family acquaintance, Yushiro, to help but the demon didn't know what a stand was so he wasn't able to offer more than speculation. After that, Yushiro became a part of her day to day life being present in key events like when she found out Titania had a katana and joined the kendo club. She also asked for stories of her grandfather and his friends from him, deepening her knowledge on the events of demon slayer. One year prior to the events of Stardust crusaders, she lost her father to the same illness that killed Tanjuro Kamado, resulting in her and her mother moving to another house and her exchanging schools. She ended up in the same classroom as Jotaro Kujo, not realizing how her meeting with the delinquent would change her life.

[khazadspoon]

I adore Indiana Jones, particularly The Last Crusade, and rewatching it is always a delight.

And I just noticed in the first classroom scene Indy says “archaeology is the search for fact, not truth.” As well as “there are no maps leading to buried treasure and x never marks the spot”

only to have those things happen

[fjalarspark]

It certainly is surprising to see Azelle here.

Arvis had oft wondered where he had gone off to, thought about it with regret as he wondered about his fate. Now, though, with the way he stands in the doorway to his classroom one might think he had found a lost item of his.

What is a little brother, if not a thing he owns?

He clears his throat and looks at Azelle, his gaze unwavering. There is much to be said, things that Arvis should speak on; worry, anger, pity, and irritation clot in his throat and make it hard to express himself.

"You're here. And you did not think it important to greet me?"

🔥⊰⊰⊰ ―― Slender fingers capture around the expanse of his volume's spine, and in shuffling it and a myriad of parchments with fretful haste into the satchel at his hip ( he really hadn't the strength to hoist them into one that would weigh against this back, not every day -- not this often. And especially if he wished to make quick work of his retreat from studious halls that never ceased to reek of flame and cinder. )

Hurried bootfalls begin their retreat -- a tactician's last and ultimate card, yet it always seemed to play its hand as his first card: primary, never quite far from the mind, the first thought and never an afterthought. He never allowed it to endure for so long that it should be a hopeless afterthought, retreating.

But bootfalls don't carry him far; they seal against cobbled flooring and root themselves like mighty oaks ( but he feels everything short of mighty and nothing as unwavering as an age-old oak in that moment -- when slivers of garnet meet those of ruby, and cinder and ash and smoke seem to tickle against his flesh and curl into his nostrils. )

Cinder and ash and smoke and rage and fury and these things hot and fiery burgeon within, and his heart is thumping against his sternum louder than he'd like, but there isn't time -- respite or peace -- in which to dwell. So he lets his heart thump -- drum, drum: like the marching sounds that had greeted them that Crusaders-forsaken day at the capital. Maybe it'll pierce his heart with enough flame and fury he'll choke out his spiteful words and char the wicked man in the doorway as the man had done against him.

But words don't soon leave him, and slender fingers retreat to the spine of his tome, now holstered within the leather of his satchel -- a comforting notion, but one no less consoling. Tyrant Velthomer wasn't past scorching estates if it should mean his blackened ambitions were achieved -- his wanted deaths inflicted against those no longer desirable. ( And Azelle thinks, in part, that the wrathful ambition had always been there -- concealed behind a masquerade: something terrible. )

"Move," He declares suddenly, though a tremor glides against his voice and crumbles the surety of it. "Move, Arvis. I'm leaving, and .. . . you're in my way."