I was tagged by @fisforfulcrum thanks sweetie đ
Why did you choose your URL?
I was really getting back into my sequels spin and wanted something short and snappy to change to, but I also wanted it to be connected to Poe in some way. Since all the good Poe urls were taken, on a whim I checked to see if zoriis was available. It was, so I changed to it and it...just sort of became my brand? I don't ever wanna change from it I don't think...unless a really good Poe url opens up anyway, which I doubt. And I get a serious seratonin rush whenever anyone refers to me by my url in the tags idk why.
Any side blogs?
I have my x reader fic blog @luminouspoes where I use to reblog all my recs + post my fics before I decided to move all my bullshit here. I'm also co-mod of @thedamereynetwork because I love my babies.
How long have you been on tumblr?
Since 2011/2012. I didn't really get active on here until late 2013, though.
Do you have a queue tag?
the classic and very original "queue". I use to do the snazzy quotes thing but I can never stick to one for very long. I've debated here and there making a new queue tag, maybe with a sw quote, but eh who has the spoons for that.
Why did you start your blog in the first place?
Initially back when, it was meant to help me with my nonfiction writing. Instead, Tumblr ended up being instrumental in me discovering fanfic and honing my fiction writing craft through that. I remade my blog a shit ton of times as a teenager, though, and the thing that kept me coming back was all the pretty content and my friends. Plus, where else am I gonna be this weird on? Twitter? Hell no.
Why did you choose your icon/pfp?
Because I thought the Poe emoji on the Star Wars app was precious. Then, for pride month, I decided to add the aroace flag behind him because well. I'm asexual and dubiously aromantic, and I hc Poe being aspec, so I thought it'd be nice. Did you know his second X-Wing kind of has the same color palette as the aroace flag? It's pretty damn cool still not Black One but cool
Why did you choose your header?
Because @abelmorales and @michaelperry are responsible for me falling head over heels with Michael Perry and I wanted to include (1) soft perfect angel teacher man on my blog somehow fjsjsjskss so soft af flannel clad grading papers Michael it was.
Whatâs your post with the most notes?
This Poe gifset here, which astonishes me given how many braincells I had to rub together to figure out how to phrase the captions (the irony, I know). I guess we have a thing for competency and forearms in this fandom?
How many mutuals do you have?
A few! Dunno how many dunno how one would know that.
How many follows do you have?
Too many, in my opinion??? There's almost 1.2k of you now and I don't know why you're all here but I appreciate it nonetheless.
How many people do you follow?
Little under 200 and most of those are inactive anymore. I'm pretty picky abt what I follow cos of my anxiety and also idk if you've noticed but most of my interests revolve around shit that's been over for several years. And a lot of blogs are really ship-oriented, and I just...don't vibe with shipping communities so I try to stay on the outskirts of all that.
Also I'm pretty guarded about who I follow due to years of casual aphobia being thrown around this site, and now wariness about how blogs act abt neurodivergent folk and characters
...but if anyone knows of any more active Oscar blogs that are nice abt Poe and the sequels or moffat era dw blogs...please let me know fjdksks my dash is always dead
Have you ever made a shitpost?
With my brand of humor I think most of my jokey posts kind of teeters on it. But I don't think I've ever outright done a shitpost.
How often do you use tumblr each day?
*coughs* pretty often. I'm a slow scroller, so it takes me awhile to get through the dashboard to start with and I also like checking the edit tags and then if I go through a blog I can end up going down a rabbit hole of looking through their posts or their tag about a show or movie or character I like and then whoops where has the time gone. But I'm kind of pulling myself away from scrolling so much on Tumblr, if anything so my dashboard is a little more active when I do hop on, and also so I can get some other hobbies in like writing or reading (working through the second to all the boys book rn!)
Did you have a fight with another blog once?
*laughs my ass off* no. I stick to my lane, if someone posts something that I'm uncomfortable with or I disagree with, I just... unfollow? I'm not interested in vague posting people either, I don't see the damn point. This is my little internet cottage and I don't see the point in fighting the village when I can just ignore them and care for fellow wanderers, ya feel?
Though, come to think of it, I have told off a fair few anonymous asks who were trying to bully my friends or mutuals but. I don't know if we can really count that or not.
How do you feel about âyou need to reblog thisâ posts?
[wibbles hand] I think some can veer a little too closely to guilt tripping the readers, but if it's something really important, I understand the urgency.
Do you like tag games?
I do! They're a lot of fun, I just wish I had the spoons more often to do them. I also tend to freak out because I never know who to tag because I'm simultaneously worried I'll be annoying if I do tag someone, and if I forget someone I'll make them feel left out.
Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?
First off, Laura's answer to this question is so damn precious I'm going to cry, love you babes. Second of all, I genuinely think all my mutuals are Tumblr famous. Like in my head I'm just like "that person is so fucking awesome oh my god they're so cool I bet they have so many followers they deserve it all their posts are exquisite". I love my mutuals and there's a good chance (see: yes) that if we're mutuals I consider u my friend in my head I'm just too shy to admit it out loud yet jdjdks
Do you have a crush on a mutual?
I literally get hearts in my eyes everytime I go down my dashboard. I am platonically kissing you all on the cheek and giving you cocoa. I love you.
no pressure tags: @bee-dameron @djarinsbeskar @michaelperry @abelmorales @starryeyedstories @misterrimpossible @exlibrisastra and @princedimitris and anyone else I may be blanking on
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âZEZEâ, The Perfect Trap-Rap Trainwreck. [REVIEW]
2018 has been a pretty odd year for popular music. I mean, itâs been pretty impressive too, tons of records are being broken right now, in fact, the song weâre going to talk about today has broken one of those records (although easily one of the least important ones). Iâll talk more about 2018 as a year overall when I make my best and worst lists (which, no, this song wonât be on either despite who made it), but letâs just focus on this one song, and how perfect it is â despite being freakinâ awful, generic and borderline unlistenable. Let me elaborate.
SONG REVIEW: âZEZEâ â Kodak Black, Travis Scott & Offset â Produced by D.A. Doman
What record did this break, do you ask? Well, with the advent of SoundCloud rap, mumble-rap and emo-rap becoming the new wave, some stranger music has crept onto the charts, whether it be because of its sound or background and/or origin story. Memes have gotten music popular for ages but a 90s Latin reggaeton/house track by the âChacarron Macarronâ guy which translates to âGive me your little thingâ becoming a top 40 hit is relatively unheard of â this is especially weird because the remix with Pitbull was released way after the song blew up and then fizzled out. I know Pitbull was always on his way out and heâs basically now a living meme anyway but itâs still a shock to see stars I knew so well fade away like this â oh, yeah, and how does celebrity status and star-power matter even more than it ever has been and none at all at the same time? Weâre about to get a Mia Khalifa diss track released in February by two teenagers after a fake tweet was posted by some Instagram page on the charts simply because of the power of some girl in cosplay lip-synching to the second (and more meme-able) verse on TikTok.
Hit or miss - I guess they never miss, huh? â Smoke Hijabi, iLOVEFRiDAYâs âMia Khalifa Dissâ
Yet we still canât get rid of that pesky Drake rascal, hell, he nearly hit #1 again, this time entirely uncredited!
I did half a Xan, 13 hours âtil I land / Had me out like a light, ayy, yeah â Drake, Travis Scottâs âSICKO MODEâ
Last year we had the shortest song to reach the top 5 since the early 1960s, with âGucci Gangâ by Lil Pump, peaking at #3 despite a puny runtime of a mere 2 minutes and 4 seconds. Today, weâre talking about a song that peaked just one slot higher, and became the highest-charting song EVER on the Hot 100 that starts with the letter âzâ. Yes, itâs an odd, unimportant and pointless milestone but itâs something nonetheless. Oh, but thatâs far from the most interesting part of this song. Letâs talk about the production first, mostly because any time I can stall before talking about Kodak Black should be savoured greatly. It was produced by D.A. Doman, most known nowadays for that âTasteâ song by Tyga, in fact, Tyga even remixed âZEZEâ because the beats were so similar, and thereâs only one beat Tyga ever does all that well on â and itâs tropical synth-lead trap. The bass on âTasteâ was mixed well, though. I feel like thereâs too little here and it could do with some pumping up, although it does give the steel pans a very airy feel, to be fair, and those little tiny details like that funky synth that just kind of appears briefly as a speck in Kodakâs refrain are just really top-notch, and that catchy and clean vocal sample playing throughout the song pushes this beat into truly great territory. Hell, the beat was so good that it made the song a meme months before its release, where people added a caption to Kodak and Travis dancing very... interestingly to the song. There was also a teaser where it was just 40 seconds of the beat building up with people saying âf**k âem up, Kodakâ in the background, and someone was dancing there too. I donât know, all I know is that this beat is fantastic and... everyoneâs gonna mess this up, arenât they?
Well, Travis doesnât, really, heâs just odd. After like 5 seconds of the beat without any percussion or bass, just the steel pans and basically no build-up excluding Domanâs producer tag, the catchy âD.A got that dope!â phrase, it goes straight into the beat, bass and all, as well as Travisâ vocals which have like twenty layers each of some gross autotune and reverb effects. Seriously, itâs slathered to hell and back with vocal manipulation and itâs really unpleasant, especially when itâs drowned in all these ad-libs. Letâs focus on the lyrics of Travisâ hook, though, because theyâre really cute. It plays out as, to say it bluntly, âBabyâs First Rap Chorusâ. All the clichĂ©s are there, but in their purest form.
Ice water, turned Atlantic (freeze!) / Nightcrawlinâ in the Phantom (skrrt, skrrt) / Told them hoes that donât you panic
His wrist is froze because of his diamonds. He has a black luxury car, heâs lazily referencing his other, much better songs, and he has to add in those essential âskrrt, skrrtâ ad-libs. Oh, well, at least there are attempts at being unique here, with the last line, especially since we can assume theyâre in water here, so Travis desperately reassures the countless amount of women he is having sex with, âDonât worry, itâs a Phantom! Weâre not going to drown to our deaths!â And then he goes, âscrew itâ, and starts actually adjusting the Phantom so they have more space, thus his âhoesâ do not die, depriving him of pleasure and satisfaction.
Dropped the roof, more expansion / Drive a coupe you can stand in (ITâS LIT!)
You know what, thatâs a good idea, but, yeah, Iâm kidding, itâs not that deep â itâs just that heâs driving fast. Of course it isnât anything all too conceptual.
Took an island (yeah), flood the mansion (big water!)
Sorry, what was that last part?
(Big water!)
Big water? I mean, I know the line is about how he took a lot of producers and rappers to his ASTROWORLD sessions on a Hawaiian island or something, but is âbig waterâ seriously something people say? It just seems so dumb and kind of childish. In fact, while weâre on the subject...
B****es undercover (in the sheets!) / Iâm an a** and tiddy lover (big a**) / Guess we all made for each other
Rappers never really brag about taking time to appreciate the womanâs body whilst âin the sheetsâ but you know what, sure, Iâll take that, but the second line just potentially demonstrates the naivety of this chorus, like, itâs just pure rap clichĂ© but in such a way that makes it seem like Travis is a robot that has been analysing rap lyrics and programming a very blunt and obvious bar that exemplifies that. Oh, and the last part is just a dumb filler rhyme, although itâs kind of funny to think about how it must be up to destiny that Travisâ girl has a big butt and he likes big butts.
Now that all the dawgs free (yeah, yeah) / And we out in these streets (alright) / Can you do it, can you pop it for me?
The robot theory is developed even further when we notice these two statements are entirely unrelated. My friends are free from prison, but weâre still in the streets, therefore, pop that kitty for me, girl. This is how the chorus ends too, itâs so anti-climactic, although I do want to point out that Offset more than makes up for Travisâ strange twisting of lyrical clichĂ©, as his verse is pretty fantastic. The flow is great throughout, with some nice switches that keep the surprisingly long verse still feeling fresh and short by the end.
She an addict (addict)
Please donât rhyme it withâ
Addict for the lifestyle and the Patek (Patek), big daddy
Son of aâ
Anyways, there are plenty of relatively memorable lines here that end up being pretty quotable, such as... UK football references?
In the middle of the field like David Beckham (field, bow-bow!!)
Oh, and they kind of explain what âZEZEâ means â it means âzombieâ, a slang term for, of course, lean... because itâs 2018.
Pop pills, do what you feel, Iâm on that zombie (hey, hoo!) / Iâm more like Gaddafi, Iâm not no Gandhi (Gaddafi, hey)
Oh, um, some of these lines come off as kind of rapey though, which is not the greatest tone to go for when you have a song with Kodak Black, to say the least.
I go in her mouth, she canât tell me nothinâ (ugh, ugh, ugh)
Oh, and I guess itâs finally time to talk about the alleged rapist elephant in the room.
On my Kodak, woo, Black, ooh, know that â Childish Gambino, âThis is Americaâ
Iâm not going to bring up his allegations anymore because frankly theyâre completely irrelevant to his performance here, and all he actually adds to this review is proof for my conclusion: this song has so much good qualities, but they paint them in the grossest green colour possible. Each one of these guys just ruin the gifts theyâre provided with. In fact, the beat changes for Kodak so he doesnât sound as offbeat as usual, and, of course, it doesnât work at all, he still sounds pretty terrible as always, but still, D.A. Doman switches up the beat slightly (which was near perfect as it was) to accommodate for the talentless and directionless ramblings of Mr. Kodak Black.
Pull up in a Demon, on God (on God) / Looking like I still do fraud (fraud) / Flyinâ private jet with the rod (rod) / This that Z-s**t, this that Z-s**t (this that Z-s**t)
Kodak is so unlikeable here. He sounds like he was on a news interview, with a noticeable Southern drawl, that went viral enough in 2011 to get an autotuned Songify This remix. Honestly, it sounds that painful of a vocal, and without the Gregory Brothersâ pretty great production and knack for melody, this is just a strain on both Kodakâs voice and my ear-drums.
I got the fire on me in BET Awards
Iâm less surprised that you have a gun rather just that youâre allowed in the BET Awards.
In a Hellcat cos Iâm a hell-raiser
Man, this song is robotically programmed, I swear! Thereâs no attempt at portraying any unique lyrical characteristics, personality or even a single attempt at interesting wordplay, rather we get a catchier version of Kodakâs typical topics, just in an even more boring flow this time, and delivered like heâs on pain medication... which is probably what theyâre going for here. What a waste of a fantastic, beautifully-produced instrumental, one of the most diverse and unique trap-rappers out there in the form of Travis Scott, who is relegated to his awfully-written hook duty, and what a waste of that amazing Offset verse. Seriously, Offset, kick Kodak off, switch him for another awful human being, Tyga, and save this song (including Travisâ admittedly fun, albeit silly, hook) for your upcoming solo album. I canât let Kodak Black own this song, itâs too good for him in concept. What a perfect trainwreck. Everything is given to them completely prepared and in good condition, and then they just trash it. This song is when you get something valuable or useful for a damn good price and your dog eats it within five minutes of you opening it.
Hit that Z-walk, Dickies with my Reeboks
Oh, come on, Kodak, I know I donât like your song but you didnât have to give me Vietnam flashbacks of Lil Dicky. Thatâs just not cool. See ya on Thursday, everyone. Peace.
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This is my 90th blog post and like most journalists, I identify mistakes all over and somehow â often through publicity â try to get them fixed. But not on this milestone. Thereâs too much good to write about.
I also want to point out the page CohenConnect Headlines Sitemap has a list of all the blog posts Iâve written and published over the past 3+ years, in chronological order. Nobody â early readers nor myself â can remember everything Iâve done and there hadnât been a place to look. The right side of what youâre reading (or bottom on mobile) just show the past 10 and the most popular. A regular âsitemapâ of category words is well below, on the bottom of the right side (or the bottom on mobile). But the âsearchâ box also works very well, contains both categories and tags, and maybe more.
So staying positive, letâs honor some heroes with this post. These days, there are too few and far between. I remember years ago, while working at WCAU in Philadelphia, Larry Mendte saying on the air with such certainty, âHeroes never admit they are,â or something to that effect.
Iâll start by setting something straight. Two survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida posed for a picture with the caption Prom 2018, but they wonât be going together.
https://twitter.com/cameron_kasky/status/988454056615202817
Thatâs despite what Pink News in the UK reported Tuesday, to the disappointment of Cameron Kasky and David Hoggâs many fans.
The publication describes Kasky âlovingly hugging Hogg, who contrasts Kaskyâs sloppy smile with a stair which pierces your soul.â
Monday, Kasky posted the picture on Twitter. Click here for that original article, which may not be true, but contained a lot of positive reaction from hopeful supporters.
Yesterday, the Miami Herald wrote,
âRebecca Boldrick, Hoggâs mother, told TMZ.com that Hogg has another date for the prom.
âJeff Kasky, Cameronâs dad, told TMZ, âCameron and David love each other very much, as do the 20 or so other kids that are part of their group, but not in a romantic type of way.ââ
Then, Cameronâs mother, who has been a friend for about 40 years, posted a picture of the two of them titled âMy dateâ Tuesday night. Iâm not naming her because she has not put her name out in the public.
You watched Kasky dress down Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a CNN town hall for refusing to refuse contributions from the National Rifle Association. In fact, what it took for Cameron to try to get a simple âyesâ or ânoâ answer to his question from a sitting U.S. senator and former presidential candidate from his own state was amazing!
Fellow survivor Hogg also became a gun control advocate and activist against gun violence, but he has been more controversial. New to Florida â his family moved from L.A. at the start of high school â he chose to attend Stoneman Douglas because of its TV production classes.
Hogg may be most famous for what The Washington Post called his âdust-up with Fox News host Laura Ingraham,â who used this tweet to âmake fun of the teenâs public lament about being rejected by colleges to which he had applied.â
https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/979021639458459648
(It really wonât matter because he plans to take next year off after high school to campaign in the midterm elections.)
The next day, Ingraham apologized to Hogg but not anybody else sheâd put down over the years, including LeBron James, and by then it was too late.
https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/979404377730486272
https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/979404540754657280
So, knowing how TV and news are businesses that revolve around money (Where have you heard that multiple times before?), he urged his 700,000+ Twitter followers to boycott Ingrahamâs advertisers.
https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/979168957180579840
The Washington Post noted, Hogg called the apology an insincere âeffort just to save your advertisers.â
Then, âIn a matter of days, Ingraham lost more than a dozen advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, NestlĂ©, Hulu, Jenny Craig, Ruby Tuesday and Miracle-Ear.â
https://twitter.com/LibertyMutual/status/979811276003205121
That weekend, Hogg told CNN,
âItâs disturbing to know that somebody can bully so many people and just get away with it, especially to the level that she did. ⊠No matter who somebody is, no matter how big or powerful they may seem, a bully is a bully, and itâs important that you stand up to them.â
He even went as far as to compare the tweet and Ingrahamâs criticism of him, saying they âwere in line with bullying statements she had made about others: a conflict with gays while she was at Dartmouth in 1984 and, recently, responding to LeBron Jamesâs political statements by saying that the NBA star should âshut up and dribble.ââ
âIâm glad to see corporate America standing with me and the other students of Parkland and everybody else. Because when we work together, we can accomplish anything.â
Then Ingraham took a week off. Fox claimed the vacation had been planned.
Hogg, now 18, has already made political change.
When Leslie Gibson, who was running unopposed for the Maine House of Representatives, described fellow Parkland student Emma GonzĂĄlez as a âskinhead lesbian,â Hogg called for somebody to challenge the Republican. He got not one but two other candidates, and Gibson dropped out of the race in response to public reaction critical of his comments.
Today, a little more controversy. The conservative network The Blaze is reporting,
âThe Zionist Organization of America is calling on Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg to change the name of his forthcoming book, as it believes that the title shows âshocking insensitivity to Holocaust survivors.â
âRandom House publishers announced Thursday that David and his sister Lauren had penned a deal with the publishing house to release a book, #NEVERAGAIN: A New Generation Draws the Line, June 5.â
Lauren is a freshman survivor.
https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/986682645814956032
According to The Blaze, Random House said it plans to make a donation to Everytown for Gun Safety.
The Blaze also reports the book is being described as
âa statement of generational purpose, and a moving portrait of the birth of a new movement.â
âIn times of struggle and tragedy, we can come together in love and compassion for each other,â David told Entertainment Weekly. âWe can see each other not as political symbols, but as human beings. And then, of course, there will be times when we simply must fight for what is right.â
Sister Lauren added, âItâs amazing to see that so much love can come from so much loss. But from our loss, our generation will create positive change.â
But Iâve had an issue with using the phrase ânever againâ since it has always referred to one event: the murders of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Nazisâ organized extermination campaign during World War II. Personally, I think the book title should be changed, and donât think the phrase should be used in any other matter, but donât doubt Hoggâs sincerity about the gun issue.
The ZOA said in part,
âBy co-opting âNever Againâ title for his book opposing guns, David Hogg trivializes the holocaustâ and the Hoggsâ book title âoffends Holocaust survivors, Jews, and all human rights-loving people.â
Those are sections the Glenn Beck-founded network chose to highlight, due to its own agenda.
Click here for the complete press release issued yesterday, which also said,
âThis statement should not be construed as in any way lessening our shock, outrage and pain regarding the Parkland school shooting. ZOA completely sympathizes with the loving, bereft families and all the infinitely precious victims of the Parkland shooting, all other school shootings, and all other shootings. All affected by these tragedies are in our hearts and prayers. âŠ
âIt is an expression that should never be politicized or co-opted by anyone, regardless of political affiliation. âŠ
âThe Holocaust was unique and unprecedented, in that: it involved a âfinal solutionâ designed to murder every single Jewish man, woman and child; Jews were the only people killed for the âcrimeâ of existing; the murder of Jews was an âend in itselfâ rather than a means to some other goal; and the people who carried out the âFinal Solutionâ were primarily average citizens âjust doing a job.â None of the other terrible slaughters and genocides this world has witnessed share all these characteristics.â
Weâll see what happens.
A third of the 20 founding members of the group Never Again MSD is activist Emma Gonzålez, who has also had to deal with criticism of her bisexual orientation, hairstyle and more, including this.
The Washington Post reported,
âA doctored animation of GonzĂĄlez tearing the U.S. Constitution in half circulated on social media during the rally, after it was lifted from a Teen Vogue story about teenage activists. In the real image, GonzĂĄlez is ripping apart a gun-range target.â
I guess you could say desperate liars were targeting her because they had nothing better.
The group was promoting the March 24 âMarch for Our Livesâ rallies in which even the presidentâs daughter, Tiffany Trump, supported. I traced how this posting came to be.
https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/977696844187885569
 Kasky, Hogg and GonzĂĄlez â along with fellow students Jacqueline Cohen and Alex Wind â even made Time magazineâs list of the 100 most influential people in the world for becoming prominent activists, organizing protests, and speaking out publicly to demand stricter laws on gun control.
Time wrote in an article, How we chose the 2018 TIME 100 list of the worldâs most influential people: âBarack Obama, who has said that his greatest frustration as President was the failure of commonsense gun-safety laws, draws inspiration from the Parkland, Fla., teenagers who organized the March for Our Lives: âThey have the power ⊠to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom.ââ Click here for the Time article about the Parkland 5.
Mashable went back further, writing the former presidentâŠ
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/966704319658647553
and first ladyâŠ
https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/status/966483852834287621
âboth tweeted support for the Parkland teens following the deadly shooting, and wrote them a handwritten letter in praise of their âresilience, resolve and solidarity.ââ
Notice the dates on everything. The attack took place on Feb. 14.
Mashable included a typed version of the letter, for those of you having trouble with Mr. Obamaâs handwriting, and also a look at celebrities joining in at the March for Our Lives.
https://twitter.com/mic/status/976502415376703488
Even former NFL placekicker Jay Feely needs a lesson on seriousness, after The Sporting News showed a tweet he posted. It showed a âphoto of him holding a gun while standing between his daughter and her prom dateâ that was intended to be a joke.
https://twitter.com/jayfeely/status/987853794221350912
Feely should know better. Heâs from Florida, grew up there and spent a year with the Miami Dolphins. The next day, he clarified what had happened.
https://twitter.com/jayfeely/status/988067986115149824
On a more positive note, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the prom will be an âover-the-topâ party with a touching tribute, and students promising the best prom ever, after 17 people were shot to death at their school on Valentineâs Day. Four seniors were killed. So were seven freshman (that will be some prom in three years), plus three other students and two adults.
Eventually, the prom committee wanted to recognize the tragedy thatâll mark their high school memories. There will be a memorial near the entrance to the ballroom. Itâll also include two members of their class who died in 2016 of cystic fibrosis and suicide. The memorial will be surrounded by couches and designated as a quiet place to sit and think.
Inside, the prom will be stopped by 17 seconds of silence.
It also wonât be expensive. The cost: Just $30 per ticket, and $50 for non-seniors. The hotel, DJ, florist, decorator, and other vendors are donating their services for free or at cost, and the hotel is giving families of the senior victims a free weekend of their choice.
Good for all of them!
Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivors, along with high school students from around the country, were not even born 19 years ago during the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo.
(I remember it like yesterday. I had returned from vacation, was working at WCAU, and our news anchor Renee Chenault happened to be from Littleton. She ended up going there to report from her hometown, but being local news, did not get the publicity of Katie Couric for touching the hand of a victimâs father on the Today show.)
There were an estimated 150,000 students protesting on Fridayâs anniversary at more than 2,700 walkouts, according to organizers.
The Chicago Tribune, in an Associated Press article published Friday afternoon, said,
âIn a new wave of school walkouts, they raised their voices against gun violence. But this time, they were looking to turn outrage into action.â
The students, âturned their attention to upcoming elections as they pressed for tougher gun laws and politicians who will enact them. Scores of rallies turned into voter registration drives. Students took the stage to issue an ultimatum to their lawmakers.â
Activists behind a March 14 protest, a month after Stoneman Douglas, estimated it drew nearly 1 million students.
(I find it interesting The Chicago Tribune used an Associated Press article, while I learned Chicagoâs Fox TV station asked the other Fox stations for a story they could post on their website, because they were apparently unable to write one of their own. Were there no rallies anywhere near Chicago? Probably plenty, considering the numbers above! At minimum, I wouldâve shown the big one around town and then another in a zip code they wanted to target for ratings. Even chopper video wouldâve done the job except for hearing the students tell their reasons for walking out, firsthand. But we know how Fox stations operate with sharing web articles. It seems at this point, theyâve become dependent on their sister-stations rather than even try to do the work. I love how so many of todayâs young people are the opposite of this kind of corporate laziness!)
The Washington Post noted, âCritics have questioned whether ⊠the high school students demanding that the nationâs gun laws be strengthened are mature enough to understand the complex policy positions they have staked out.â
Isnât this exactly what we want from our young people? To think, investigate and reconsider if necessary? And donât these particular students who experienced what they did have unique insight on the issue? Yet some people feel the need to criticize them. Maybe itâs because they need to be heard. Maybe because these grown-ups really have not grown up and are jealous. Or maybe because âthe kids are alrightâ and and it simply bothers them because they have issues of their own.
How much are they bothered?
Click here for âTed Nugent says Parkland students âhave no soul,â calls them âmushy-brained childrenââ (The Washington Post, March 31, 2018).
Nugent, perhaps the NRAâs most outspoken board member, told a San Antonio radio station, âThese poor children, Iâm afraid to say, but the evidence is irrefutable. They have no soul,â after discussing with the host their belief the teenagers have been manipulated by left-wing ideologues.
âThe lies from these poor, mushy-brained children who have been fed lies and parrot lies,â Nugent said. âI really feel sorry for them. Itâs not only ignorant, dangerous and stupid â itâs soulless. To attack the good, law-abiding families of America when well-known, predictable murderers commit these horrors is deep in the category of soulless.â
Click here for âHow the Parkland teens became villains on the right-wing Internetâ (The Washington Post, March 26, 2018).
If ardent NRA supporters donât lose now, or in this yearâs midterms, or even the 2020 presidential election, they should absolutely know the demographics of this country are changing. Eventually, they will lose to people who have felt real pain and others of that generation. Itâs going to happen, whether theyâll consider themselves martyrs, or if theyâre even alive to feel any suffering from their defeat.
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Also a hero: Last week, the pilot of Southwest Airlines flight 1380, Captain Tammie Jo Shults, landed her plane calmly and successfully, on just one engine, here in Philadelphia. She saved 148 lives.
The trouble on the flight from New York to Dallas started when one of its engines appeared to explode in midair. The only person killed was passenger Jennifer Riordan who was partially sucked out of a broken window. That was extraordinary despite the tragedy.
https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/986788359350751232
 https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/987487170947637248
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According to The Guardian, âThose present recalled that after the plane had landed, Shults walked through the aisle to talk to them, to see how they were doing.â
 Talk about responsibility AND customer service!
Turns out, The Guardian continued,
âShults was one of the first female fighter pilots in the US Navy and was elite enough to fly an F/A-18 Hornet. She flew training missions as an âenemy pilotâ during Operation Desert Storm, as women were then still excluded from combat missions.â
Also not to be forgotten is the heroism of Waffle House diner James Shaw Jr. Early Sunday morning, outside Nashville, he was sitting with a friend at the restaurant counter when police said a gunman wearing nothing but a green jacket opened fire outside.
As CNN reported, âGlass shattered, dust swirled and Shaw said he saw a man lying on the ground.â
Four people were killed.
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/988000352741003264
CNN continued, Shaw
âbolted from his seat and slid along the ground to the restroom, he said. But he kept an eye and an ear out for the gunman. And the moment the shooter paused, Shaw decided to ambush him ⊠before more lives were lost.â
He charged at the man with the rifle. They fought. Finally, Shaw said he managed to wrestle the barrel of the rifle from the gunman, tossed it behind the counter and the shooter escaped.
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/988055742363193344
âThe gun was hot and he was naked but none of that mattered,â Shaw said, with a burn on his hand a wound on his elbow where a bullet grazed it.
He told reporters,
âI figured if I was going to die, he was going to have to work for it. âŠÂ I was just trying to live.â
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/988476776316841984
Travis Jeffrey Reinking, 29, was arrested Monday, after a 34-hour manhunt.
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/988916197411508224
NBC News pointed out he went from wearing only a green jacket to a green âsuicide smock â a padded gown made from heavy-duty polyester that is held together with Velcro strips.â
If you are of a certain age, you remember Schoolhouse Rock! from ABC on Saturday mornings. The jazz musician who was instrumental in that cartoon series died Monday in Mount Bethel, Pa., 92 miles and an hour-and-a-half drive from Philadelphia.
Bob Dorough was 94.
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Simple Wikipedia
Schoolhouse Rock! ran from 1973 to 1985. The cartoons, including âMy Hero, Zeroâ and âThree is a Magic Number,â (the first in the series) were written and performed by Dorough.
His biography says he âentertained and instructed unsuspecting children.â
Schoolhouse Rock! came back for another five years in the 1990s and its 40th anniversary was marked with a DVD edition of the entire five subject series.
Has a Schoolhouse Rock! tune ever helped you on a test? Do you have a favorite? I especially liked how a bill became a law (âIâm Just a Billâ) and âConjunction Junction.â
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Finally, thereâs the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, site of last nightâs Sixers playoff game where they eliminated the Miami Heat. Actually, the topic is replacement names, and Wells Fargo is not a very good corporate citizen.
I have always been against companies buying names for stadiums and liked it when NBC Sports, before losing the NFL in 1998, made it a point of not referring to the names of stadiums but just the city, unless there was confusion between different stadiums.
 Philly.com says its readers suggest either Wilt Chamberlain, Sam Hinkie or Ed Snider.
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The stadium, where the Flyers played hockey until their season ended earlier this week, is named for Wells Fargo which is a big bank in Philadelphia and many other cities. Before that, it was named Wachovia. Before that, First Union. FU Center had something special to it. And before that, CoreStates. Just shows you how banks take each other over and waste money having to change the names on every branch and piece of real estate, including the ones they sponsor or use to advertise.
Speaking of money, Wells Fargo was in trouble yet again for what the website called âscams that targeted its own customers,â specifically its mortgage and auto insurance practices. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made the accusations and ordered the bank to make restitution, plus pay the regulators $1 billion in fines. Wells Fargo did not admit or deny any allegations.
Just two years ago, Wells Fargoâs employees recused of secretly opening more than 2 million deposit and credit card accounts to meet their sales targets and receive bonuses. The bank had to pay $185 million to settle those allegations. It also fired about 5,300 employees for doing what may have been their jobs. In that case as well, Wells Fargo did not admit or deny allegations.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has been the nationâs third largest bank by assets.
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FYI, the late Wilt Chamberlain played for the San Francisco/Philadelphia Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers, and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history. He still holds the single-game scoring record, having scored 100 in one game. It happened March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa. against the New York Knicks. The Philadelphia Warriers moved west to San Francisco after that season.
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 Sam Hinkie was General Manager and President of Basketball Operations of the Philadelphia 76ers. He graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and led the Sixers to some lousy seasons, but the team rebounded from what he left behind. In 2015, ESPN named Hinkieâs Sixers as the major professional sports franchise that had most embraced analytics.
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 And the late Ed Snider helped build the Spectrum and owned the Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center and a lot more. Wikipedia noted, âIn a 1999 Philadelphia Daily News poll, Snider was selected as the cityâs greatest sports mover and shaker, beating out legends such as Connie Mack, Sonny Hill, Bert Bell, and Roger Penske.â
Click here for several other readersâ thoughts on new names, some more serious than others!
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Who says everything I write is negative, but correct? This is my 90th blog post and like most journalists, I identify mistakes all over and somehow -- often through publicity -- try to get them fixed.
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