#Educational Establishment

[thecruellestmonth]

We love Bruce's tragic ignorance of Sheila's role in Jason's death.

We love Jason never telling another soul what Sheila did, because he loves her, because he's grateful she showed him compassion as soon as it didn't cost her anything, because nobody needs to know.

We need to go further.

Jason's last act as Robin got an innocent woman killed. His own mother, a doctor who should've lived many more years making the world a better place.

Poor Doctor Haywood might've survived being forced to work for the Joker, but Jason dragged her into a dangerous confrontation instead.

It's obvious what happened: Jason was trying to show off. He wanted to impress his mother by revealing himself as Robin and taking down the Joker. Treating everything like a game, never considering the consequences.

And despite losing everything to his recklessness, Sheila still used her dying breath to praise him. It's a tragedy that such a sweet woman dedicated her life to caring for others, but her own son doomed her with his carelessness.

[ponytailzuko]

being sick in high school is all rainbows and puppies like yippee‼️‼️‼️ being sick in college is 9 nuclear missiles.

[omg-i-think-i-like-you]

Steve woke up to a loud noise from downstairs. He jumped out of bed, his heart pounding in his chest. He grabbed his bat, and slowly and quietly went down the stairs, only in his boxers. As he was approaching the end of the staircase, he heard the loud noise again, this time followed by soft humming. He kept walking towards the source, the kitchen, when the noise startled him again, and he jumped into the kitchen, holding the bat high and ready.

"Jesus Fucking Christ!" Eddie yelled and ducked behind the kitchen island. Steve lowered the bat, and scanned the very messy kitchen. Mixing bowls and pots were all over the place, along with ingredients that Steve couldn't think of what they can make together.

"Eddie? Did you go to war in my kitchen?" He put the bat on the floor and walked around the island, where Eddie was stretching up and standing again.

"Hi Stevie," Eddie avoided the question and kissed Steve quickly on the lips, who smiled against the kiss but kept his arms crossed on his chest.

"You scared me," He said when Eddie broke the kiss, "I thought someone broke in. Are you trying to cook something?"

"Not trying, sweetheart, I am cooking something. Baking, actually." Eddie smiled cheekily and started picking up pots from the floor.

"Then why are all the pots out?" Steve teased and Eddie stood up and released a nervous laugh, "Well, I... I didn't know exactly where you keep things, so I kinda took everything out?" He rubbed his neck and Steve laughed.

"It's okay," He started putting the pots in place, "What are you making?"

Eddie, relieved that Steve isn't mad, started clapping in excitement, "Hamantashen!"

Steve looked at him, confused, "Bless you..?"

"No!" Eddie slapped Steve's shoulder, "It's food. And it's amazing."

"I want to believe it's food," Steve teased and Eddie crossed his arms and looked at Steve seriously.

"I don't make fun of your traditional cultural food, do I?"

Steve froze in place, "No, you don't. I'm sorry. Wanna tell me what haman... what did you say, tashen, is?"

Eddie smiled, "With pleasure!" He then pulled a chair and pushed Steve onto it, who giggled to himself, knowing Eddie is about to make the explanation into a whole performance.

"It all started in the faraway kingdom of Ahasuerus," Eddie opened and his eyes lit up, "The King of The Persian Empire, who ruled from India to Kush. He was a hedonistic king who had parties and feasts almost every day," He checked on Steve, making sure he was following. Steve nodded and Eddie continued.

"One day, King Ahasuerus was having one of his many parties, when his wife, Vashti, refused to join. Ahasuerus, who had a very fragile ego, took it personally and decided to fire her, and banish her. Silly Ahasuerus, realized soon after that he misses her, and decided to look for a new wife. He sent people around the kingdom and put his eyes on Good Girl Esther, a Jewish sweetheart who was raised by her Jewish cousin, Mordechai," He checked on Steve again, who looked a little lost now, "Are you following?"

"Yes, it's just... Is all of that important for the food?" He asked carefully.

"Yes." Eddie stated, "moving on. Joining the story now, the infamous Haman. Haman was an official in the king's court, and had an order from Ahasuerus himself, that everyone who saw Haman had to bow down to him. They all did, except-" Eddie stopped to see if Steve completes him, but he only tilted his head at him and stayed silent, "Mordechai, Steve! Mordechai didn't bow down to Haman!"

Steve was invested now, "Oh shit, he probably didn't take that well, did he?"

Eddie smiled in delight, "Oh, absolutely not, Stevie, dear. Haman also had a fragile ego, even more fragile than Ahasuerus. He got so upset, that he decided it's required not to only kill Mordechai, but to execute all the Jews in the Persian Empire!"

"What?? How can he do that??" Steve was on the edge of his seat, "Did Ahasuerus agree? Wait! Isn't he married to Mordechai's cousin??"

Eddie held Steve's face, "He is, Stevie, he is." He did a little twirl and continued his lecture, "Ahasuerus is married to Esther, but he doesn't know she's Jewish. Haman came to Ahasuerus and asked him if he can kill all the Jews, and the stupid king agreed. Haman went on with his plan, and even prepared a special tree for Mordechai's hanging," He paused, enjoying Steve's curious face, and proceeded, "The rumour got spread, Haman was gonna kill all the Jews in the Empire and no one was saying a thing," Steve shook his head, "I know, terrible. Mordechai walked around wearing bags, but it didn't do a thing. That until..." He stopped again, teasing Steve.

"Until what??" Steve burst and Eddie laughed.

"Until Ahasuerus found out Mordechai saved his life. You see, Ahasuerus had these two guards who planned to assassinate him, and Mordechai uncovered their plan and saved the king's life."

"And Mordechai didn't want credit for that? How did Ahasuerus find out?" Steve asked quickly.

"He told Esther to tell Ahasuerus. The guards were executed and Mordechai got promoted, but here things get complicated." He paused again.

"How??" Steve stood up and Eddie pushed him back into his seat, giggling.

"Ahasuerus summoned Haman, and asked him, 'what is to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?'" Eddie finger quoted the sentence, "Haman, who thought Ahasuerus was talking about him, told him to give him a city, dress him in fancy clothes, give him a horse and have him escorted around the capital for everyone to see. Ahasuerus accepted the idea, and told Haman to do all that to Mordechai."

"Yes!" Steve jumped, "Poetic justice!"

Eddie chuckled, "Yes, but Haman was still gonna kill all the Jews. He went around the capital with Mordechai and cursed every step, having his rage and hate fueled more and more."

"So what happened? Didn't Ahasuerus realize Haman wants to kill the person who saved his life?" Steve asked.

"I remind you, Ahasuerus was very dumb," Eddie answered, "He didn't care about Jews or not Jews, and he didn't even know Mordechai and Esther were Jewish themselves. So what happened, is that as the date came close, Esther started to fast -"

"Wait, what date?" Steve cut him mid-sentence.

"Oh, right," Eddie shook his head, "I forgot that part. When Haman decided to kill the Jews, he left it to fate to set the date. He basically rolled dice, and it fell on the thirteenth day of the Hebrew month Adar, so everyone knew when the mass killing was due. We call it Pur."

"That's intense..." Steve almost whispered, "So all the Jews were just waiting for their death?"

"Almost. They all fasted and wore simple clothes and grieved, but Esther, who was the closest to the king, took it a step further. She was having feasts where she wouldn't eat, and Ahasuerus was getting worried. He asked her why she wouldn't eat or drink, and she said an evil man wants to kill her and all her people. Ahasuerus got scared, and asked her who it is, and that he would kill him immediately." Eddie stopped.

"And?? You can't stop here! What happened?! Did all the Jews die??" Steve started pacing around in worry.

"Esther told Ahasuerus it's Haman who wants to kill all the Jews." Eddie said seriously and Steve started jumping in excitement, and Eddie smiled, "Ahasuerus, who finally found some brains, ordered to kill Haman, who was hanged on the same tree he prepared for Mordechai."

Steve clapped and hugged Eddie, "Yes! Amazing!"

Eddie laughed, "It really was. All the Jews were celebrating for days afterwards, partying and drinking, and everything was good." He hugged Steve back.

"This is such a cool story," Steve said with dreamy eyes, "But what does it have to do with the hamantashen? Wait, it has Haman's name in it??"

"Yes, but it's not like that," Eddie assured, "There are a few interpretations of the meaning of the hamantashen. Some say it symbolises his ears, some say it's his hat or his pockets, but the idea behind it is to celebrate his defeat." Eddie smiled in victory, and Steve smiled back.

"As we should!" He laughed, "But what are hamantashen anyway?"

"Oh, they're cookies. Triangular cookies with filling, traditionally it's poppyseed filling, but poppyseed is disgusting, so I'm putting chocolate." Eddie said and Steve chuckled.

"Of course you are. Can I... help you make them?"

Eddie nodded enthusiastically and the boys got to work. They kneaded the dough in turns, and put it to rest in the fridge for a few minutes. They cleaned up the counter and Steve started washing some dishes, and then closed the tap.

"What holiday is this? Like this story, and the cookies, what are we celebrating?"

Eddie beamed, "It's called Purim, from Pur, fate. We celebrate the defeat of Haman, and how we were saved by the Pur, instead of killed."

"It must be a very happy holiday then," Steve smiled, "Are there more traditions, other than eating Haman's ears?"

Eddie laughed, "Of course there are. First of all, we wear costumes. Purim is the holiday of changed fate, so like Haman was killed instead of the Jews, we symbolise that by being someone else for a few days. We also have a big feast and read the Megillah, the story I just told you," He smiled, "We also make gift baskets for each other, and donate food and money for those who need them. Another thing we do, and you're gonna like that, is to get so drunk, that we can't tell between Evil Haman and Good Mordechai," he giggled, "I know I like this one."

"Do you... Wanna do that?" Steve asked shyly and Eddie started laughing.

"I think you know the answer to that." He winked.

They took the dough out of the fridge, rolled it and cut circles into it with a glass. They then put chocolate in the middle of some, after Steve convinced Eddie to make some with strawberry jam too. They folded them into triangles and put them in the oven, and then Steve poured them newly opened wine.

"Happy Purim, Eddie," Steve clinked their glasses together.

"Happy Purim indeed, Stevie, L'Chaim," He clinked back and took a long sip.

"You made that sound again," Steve said, "Like in tuches."

Eddie started laughing so hard, he had to put his glass down, "Steve, god. Yes, it's the same sound," He kissed him wetly on the cheek, "but it's a very different word. L'Chaim means cheers in Hebrew. It translates to 'to life'. We celebrate life." He smiled, a warm feeling set in his chest. "We celebrate life." He said again, quietly, and Steve smiled at him in understanding.

"We celebrate life." Steve repeated and kissed Eddie slowly and deeply.

The oven rang a few minutes later. Eddie pulled the tray out and a warm, sweet smell filled the kitchen. He put the hamantashen on a plate and took it to the living room, and Steve followed with the already half-empty bottle of wine, and another one he found in the fridge.

Steve and Eddie spent the rest of the day feeding each other hamantashen, getting drunk out of their minds and kissing like it was their first time, again and again and again.

They both passed out on the couch, laying on top of each other, full of wine and hamantashen and love.

Celebrating Life.

[inkz123]

Man finishing school term and wanna rest, draw and work on comms more, but then like 2ish weeks later, boom, gotta fix stuff to start the new school term again

Mannn i just wanna do nothing but draw blorbos and backed up ideas and all the sketch wips i havent even finished ; ;

Idk school for me just throws off the vibes fr fr

[junipershouse]

loppits who live onboard the same ship rrikrik works on

their names and jobs are are (top to botton, left to right) sister swii-qui and sister uuuii, students on a work experience apprenticeship position, little yui, a mechanic specializing in "biobotics" - machinery using biological function as opposed to electricity to run, big yui, the main doctor and biological scientist onboard, and finally gwii, an electronic coder.

i also drew big yui's entire body, because i was trying to think how the large loppits would move and interact with the world around them.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

in tonight's endeavor to be distracted from Everything, i have painstakingly jotted down the base, beginning ideas for a modern human au. it includes a gap-year group road trip in Wally's RV, Home

[saintsenara]

Hello! Your thoughtful, funny approach to the unhinged ships has legitimately been a bright spot for me during a difficult few weeks. So thank you! Here are a few more if you feel so inclined:

Hooch/McGonagall

Andromeda/Bill

Justin/Dudley

ahh, anon, thank you so much for this lovely message! i hope things are looking up now, and i wish you strength and honour to keep chugging along if they're not. i will always be delighted to receive these asks, and i hope they keep entertaining you.

rolanda hooch/minerva mcgonagall

zoe wanamaker went so fucking hard when she decided to play hooch as the cuntiest dyke in the castle, and so i will always be committed to imagining hooch in exactly that vein - strutting around with her leather quidditch gloves, her masculine tailoring, and what is clearly an impeccable strap game.

and mcgonagall has stern-older-lesbian-with-a-secret-wild-side vibes as well - she's a little bit of a renegade, she doesn't suffer fools gladly, and she's a great fan of quidditch.

i think we can all picture the romantic midnight swoopings they're going on. and also the massive fights they're having when hooch awards slytherin penalties against gryffindor.

and arguing is foreplay...

andromeda tonks/bill weasley

i have decided, after careful deliberation, to back this.

something i really like thinking about when it comes to andromeda's post-war journey is how her grief over her daughter's death would be tinged by the fact that - as he tells us in deathly hallows - she didn't approve of her relationship with lupin.

i don't think this is entirely to do with his lycanthropy [i think, for example, that ted and andromeda were left alone during the first war as long as they kept their heads down, and that tonks joining the order - which andromeda can choose to blame lupin's influence for - forfeits this], but i think it's also fair to interpret lupin's statement that ted and andromeda are "disgusted" by their marriage as true, rather than an exaggeration formed of his own self-loathing. the casual prejudice against werewolves even by "good" characters is a really striking part of the series - and andromeda sharing it is something i find really interesting to explore when thinking about her relationship with tonks.

[as is the fact that she can't see the irony that this is exactly how bellatrix and narcissa think about ted.]

i think you can do something really interesting in the immediate post-battle haze with andromeda trying to come to terms with the fact that she never fully patched things up with tonks before she died, that she didn't have a chance to get past her prejudices and get to know lupin, and that she's only come to appreciate how brave her son-in-law was when he too was dead.

it's clear that lupin provides bill with some level of support in the immediate aftermath of his run-in with fenrir greyback, and that bill would both remember him fondly and be determined to defend him and werewolves generally from the treatment they would undoubtedly get from the state in the months after the war ends [after all, we are told that the vast, vast majority of werewolves support voldemort - they are bound to be first in line for the public's vengeance, and are an easy scapegoat for the government].

two people trying to uncover truths and falling in love while doing it is my poison, and i would love a fic in which andromeda initially seeks out bill in an effort to understand the things which have died with tonks and lupin which then turns into something more...

dudley dursley/justin finch-fletchley

one of the exceptionally minor mysteries of the series is just how posh a school smeltings is supposed to be. the dursleys are a satire of all that is thoroughly, averagely middle class in the uk, and yet smeltings - with its weird traditions, its odd uniform, and the fact that it's an all-boys full-boarding school - is a pastiche of the most elite public schools [which, in the uk, means fee-paying - what is meant by "public school" in the united states is a "state school" here].

above all, the smeltings uniform bears a very strong resemblance to that worn by boys at harrow... which is the great rival to eton.

just picture it. justin is forced to go watch his younger brother boxing for eton in a match against smeltings. he's bored out of his mind... until an enormous blonde heavyweight who's taken out the entirety of the team from charterhouse catches his eye...

[imflyingfish]

Me watching the industrial and commercial demand go up while there is low residential demand knowing that this will cause a labour shortage.

[arolesbianism]

Sits in shambles I didn't read maybe Jorge's id correctly in the mysterious hermit logs the first god knows how many times I read them and only just now realized that it's the same id as the scientist that speaks in the agricultural notes log why must I be so bad at reading

[dudeinthestacks]

a doctorate feels so final...but a third masters degree?

[sotc]

On the last post I remember thinking about a few ocs for a modern au. Ethanael would be a professor, Tomaj would be a farmer turned small-town mayor and samir would be like a firefighter or construction worker.

[callixton]

i think maybe i am just not doing a very good job of assistant directing. in my defense she has not been giving me many clear opportunities

[transsexualhamlet]

last day of high school forever 😌

[hjemne]

The French are so funny because instead of having art as a general category meaning a creation with beauty, they listened to Hegel about there only being 6 distinct categories of art, but then as the world develops people kept on going 'well THIS is artistic, but it's distinct from those other kinds of creative categories' and then adding new categories. Like, my guys, there is beauty to be found in all of mankind's creations. Give up on the number system. If you can get your head around the holy trinity being one god in three forms, you can also get your head around there just being ART despite its many forms. But they won't change because their govt and society are conservative and white supremacist and adding increasingly bizarre numbers of art forms to a Eurocentric and classical model is preferable to any form of fluidity and change in the culture

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The Supreme Court said Monday that a Washington state school district violated the First Amendment rights of a high school football coach when he lost his job after praying at the 50-yard line after games.

The opinion was 6-3 along conservative-liberal ideological lines.

"The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

The Court said coach Joe Kennedy's prayers amounted to private speech, protected by the First Amendment, and could not be restricted by the school district.

The decision lowers the bar between church and state in an opinion that will allow more religious expression in public spaces. The court clarified that a government entity does not necessarily violate the Establishment Clause by permitting religious expression in public.

"We are aware of no historically sound understanding of the Establishment Clause that begins to '(make) it necessary for government to be hostile to religion' in this way," Gorsuch wrote.

The Establishment Clause of the Constitution says Congress can "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Kennedy praised the Court's ruling in a statement on Monday, saying, "All I've ever wanted was to be back on the field with my guys."

"I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle," he said.

The decision continues a trend of a right-leaning court that has sided repeatedly in recent years with religious conservatives. Last week, the Court said that Maine could not exclude religious schools from tuition assistance programs in a 6-3 decision divided along ideological lines.

"Today's ruling is the court's second major expansion of constitutional protections for religion in six days," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

"Last week, the court made it harder for states to decline to fund religious education. Today, the court is making it harder for secular schools to keep religion out of extracurricular activities, like high school football. In the name of defending religious exercise, the court's conservative majority has neutered the First Amendment's other reference to religion -- its prohibition of state sanctioning of it."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the three liberal dissenters, said the court "weakens" the Establishment Clause's "backstop" protecting religious freedom.

"It elevates one individual's interest in personal religious exercise, in the exact time and place of that individual's choosing, over society's interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all," Sotomayor wrote.

'AUDIBLE PRAYERS' ON THE FIELD

Kennedy began his prayer ritual soon after he was hired in 2008, but the school district grew concerned when Kennedy's short, quiet prayers grew in 2015 as players began joining him on the field all while the crowd was still in the stands.

The school district said it never restricted him from offering silent, private prayers, and offered him an alternate place to pray off the football field after games. Kennedy refused the accommodations and was ultimately placed on paid administrative leave and suspended from the program. After the season, he was given a poor performance evaluation.

He did not seek a new contract, but instead filed suit, arguing that the school district had violated his rights under the First Amendment. Kennedy lost his case at the district court level and before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that his prayer amounted to governmental speech that is not protected by the First Amendment.

Before oral arguments in April, Kennedy told CNN in an interview that "every American should be able to have faith in public and not to be worried about being fired over it." Kennedy, who is Christian, said his prayers were meant to fulfill a covenant he had made to praise God after every game, "win or lose."

Lawyers for the school district had argued to the court that Kennedy's prayer practice was not private or personal prayer, but rather a ritual undertaken in full view of students that the school district was justified in restricting.

"No one doubts that public school employees can have quiet prayers by themselves at work even if students can see," Richard B. Katskee, a lawyer for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told the Justices.

But, Katskee said, that is not what Kennedy had engaged in. Instead, Katskee argued, Kennedy "insisted on audible prayers at the 50-yard line with students ... (and) announced in the press that those prayers are how he helps these kids be better people."

Katskee argued that even if the Court viewed Kennedy's speech as private, the school district had adequate justification to restrict it because officials are permitted to "prevent disruption of and maintain control over school events." Katskee gave the example that a Satanist group had come forward to demand the same access to the football field.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard W. Garnett, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Kennedy, said on Monday that the high court's ruling will "provide much needed clarity and consistency" to an area of the law that has been "notoriously confused and inconsistent."

"The Establishment Clause is concerned with the entanglement of governmental and religious authority," he said, adding: "It does not require the censorship of private religious expression."

JUSTICES DIFFER ON WHETHER PLAYERS WERE COERCED

In his majority opinion, Gorsuch differentiated the case from past cases, pushing back on the notion that the opinion would lead to more school prayer.

He said the prayers at issue "were not publicly broadcast or recited to a captive audience. Students were not required or expected to participate."

Gorsuch added that students "were not required or expected to participate," rejecting concerns of some of the parents that students could feel "coerced."

And he limited the discussion to three prayers instead of a broader pattern of the coach's conduct.

"Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic -- whether those expressions take place in a sanctuary or on a field, and whether they manifest through the spoken word or a bowed head," Gorsuch wrote.

Sotomayor's dissent, which included photographs of the prayers in question, suggested that she thought the majority was not describing accurately the factual circumstances of the case.

"As the majority tells it, Kennedy, a coach for the District's football program, 'lost his job' for '(praying) quietly while his students were otherwise occupied,'" she wrote. "The record before us, however, tells a different story."

Her dissent also pointedly noted that the school district tried to accommodate the coach by offering him a place to pray, off the field. "Again, the District emphasized that it was happy to accommodate Kennedy's desire to pray on the job in a way that did not interfere with his duties or risk perceptions of endorsement," she said.

She said that it was "unprecedented" for the court to hold that Kennedy's conduct, "taken as a whole, did not raise cognizable" concerns of coercion.

Sotomayor stressed that students could have felt coerced to join in the prayer and pointed to the fact that the court in the past has "recognized that students face immense social pressure."

She said that they look up to their teachers and coaches as role models and "seek their approval" and that players might try to gain a coach's approval to secure a stronger letter of recommendation for college recruiting or more playing time on the field. "The record before the Court bears this out," she wrote.

Already, such concerns have been raised by the National Education Association, the nation's leading labor union for teachers, which said on Monday that the majority opinion would open the door to coercive prayer in schools.

"The Constitution should protect public school students from being coerced into religious activity," NEA president Becky Pringle said in a statement. "The court's decision here does the opposite: it ignores the real-life pressure and coercion that students will feel when school officials stage public religious observances in class or at school events."