#Inclusive services

[voittoinsights]

Growing Tomorrow: The DeHaat Wave and the Future of Rural Prosperity in India !

Table of Contents1. What does DeHaat stand for? 2. Background3. The Ascension of DeHaat4. Integration of Disruptive Technology5. All-Inclusive Services6. A Farmer-Centered Strategy7. The Effect on the Rural Economy8. Criticisms and challenges10. Prospects for the Future10. Parting Thoughts 1. What does DeHaat stand for? a. DeHaat Overview DeHaat is an agritech platform that was launched in…

[beranibear]

Things that make me happy in Melbourne (feat. cow in tree)

[flamingo--ing]

tried to do a church fit check but someone came over but anyway

[loveerran]

Trans Masc Outreach

One of the sisters in Relief Society told a story about a young trans man who didn't feel like he fit in with his local Elders' Quorum (a men's group in the LDS church). The Elders talked about it and decided to do an activity at his house to help this trans guy feel more like he was part of the group.

Apparently, they showed up unannounced/unplanned (welcome to irl gender affirmation? lol) with brownie mixes. Completely unable to put together a recipe, they quadrupled the amount of butter and so on, causing hilarity to ensue.

Turns out our trans man loves to bake and taught them all about it and they ate it up sorry. The activity was a success!

[askagamedev]

Blizzard is perceived as always trying to release Pro-Inclusivity news to deflect from breaking Negative Press about its many lawsuits. It that an accurate perception?

No. It takes months to develop, market, and push content live. Blizzard is constantly releasing news because they run multiple live-service games that each need a steady feed of new announcements to keep the player base interested and engaged. This means that we are, at most, a few weeks away from a new announcement of any kind. The reason there's so much inclusivity content in their announcements is because many of the Blizzard developers themselves actually care a great deal about inclusivity.

The people who are most upset at Blizzard as an institution are not actually the gamers, they're the developers - the people who are participating in those lawsuits you mentioned. The gamers are mostly tangential to all this - they might get some recreational outrage out of it, but I doubt the gamers could name any of the developers or perpetrators of bad conduct in question. The pro-inclusivity content and the sentiment surrounding the lawsuits are for completely different groups of people.

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[bakersgrief]

Nothing more punk than harassing a small business owner am I right guys

[justbeingnamaste]

The complete incompetence of the ladies of the Secret Service are on full display. One of the agents can’t properly holster her sidearm while another fiddles around with her sunglasses trying to look cool for the crowd.

An assassination attempt was made on former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. It happened when Donald Trump was leading a public meeting before the elections. The bullet grazed past the upper part of Trump’s right ear. Recalling this incident, he said that he heard a whizzing sound and shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through his skin. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) announced that Thomas Mattew Crook is the individual identified in the assassination attempt of the former President.

After this, the security formed a human chain around him and exited the area, but the video caught the panicking situation of the women security of Secret Services deployed in the area. One of the security personnel was panicking and failed to put her gun in the holster while Trump was sitting in his car.

“Imagine if the sh**ter hadn’t been this kid but [someone] well-trained? Our enemies are looking at us thinking we can take [him] or anyone out now without a problem.”

[coochiequeens]

Dear English doctors - Biological males can’t get pregnant and there is no such thing as a “girl penis”. Please spend less time on worrying about language that appeases narcissistic men and more time improving care for women and babies.

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has put forward a £100,000 contract to create a “gender-inclusive” maternity care training program based on research guided by a trans-identified male who has claimed that men can give birth and that “pre-operative trans women” have “girl penises.”

On December 16, the NHS quietly released an Invitation to Quote for the “Maternity Gender Inclusion Program,” with a listed closing date for pilot submissions set for January 11th, 2023.

The contracted program is set to be rolled out to midwives in maternity departments across 40 NHS Trusts in England, and would be based on the findings of the Improving Trans Experiences of Maternity Services (ITEMS) research project, which was co-authored by a trans-identified male and is alleged to have “significant” flaws in its methodology.

With Woman, a maternity care advocacy coalition, penned an open letter highlighting the “flawed” research within the ITEMS publications, and has called for a complete pause on the contract offering entirely.

Speaking with Reduxx, a spokeswoman from With Woman raised multiple concerns, especially with the entirety of the program’s focus appearing to be on “inclusive” language and not improvements in medical care for a traditionally complex cohort. 

With Woman noted that even the Invitation to Quote appears fixed, with the very short contracting and funding window raising suspicion. With Woman indicated their belief that there may be organizations already lined up to take the contract as the time frames are too brief for uninvolved organizations to adequately prepare a pilot.

The ITEMS report, which is being used as a justification for the need for the program, based its findings on the responses of just 121 people. The report determined that “birthing people” were improperly cared for because they were “misgendered,” and made unsubstantiated claims that 30% of “trans parents” secretly gave birth at home with no medical intervention.

The report was co-authored by Dr. Ruth Pearce, a trans-identified male Lecturer in Community Development at Glasgow University.

Pearce played a significant role in the direction of the ITEMS research. Pearce’s work focuses on “trans pregnancy” and “Queer, Trans and Feminist music scenes.” 

In an essay posted on to his website, Pearce asserts that he is more attractive and confident than biological women.

“Quite frankly, I bet a whole load of women would love to be as confident and good looking as I am. I’ve got a pretty face, great hair, fantastic legs, and I’ve recently grown some rather shapely breasts.” He is also known for having once fronted a “queer feminist rage” music group through which he sang a song about his scrotum.

In an August 2022 video titled “Reproductive Justice for Trans People With Ruth Pearce and Francis White,” Pearce explains the focus of his work on ITEMS, policy and language surrounding “trans birth” and the need to highlight transgender people having children to counter the claims that a “trans child” may not reproduce, and to create media that contradicts Abigail Shrier’s claims that child transition can lead to “irreversible damage” of fertility. 

Pearce called attention in particular to a phenomenon known as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, which was coined by Lisa Littman and referenced by Jungian analyst and author Lisa Marchiano in a 2017 academic article titled “Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics.” 

In the article, Marchiano examines the role of social media in the sudden rise in teens claiming a gender identity, stating: “a young person’s coming out as transgender is often preceded by increased social media use and/or having one or more peers also come out as transgender.”

Pearce mocked the concept of children learning of transgender identities on social media, but later contradicted himself by discussing the issue in the presentation segment titled “We Are the Virus: Reproduction via Social Contagion.” 

In the segment, Pearce asserted the need to help transgender-identifying people to not only sexually reproduce, but also to “socially reproduce” by means of altering medical language and policy to introduce the idea of transition to children and adults as a form of “reproductive justice,” thereby creating more transgender people.

In the video, Pearce acknowledged that social contagion is the method by which transgenderism proliferates, stating: “Alexis Davin noted that the very process that Lisa Marchiano and Abigail Shrier described as a social contagion is the means by which trans people engage in a form of social reproduction. We become visible to one another and introduce one another to a language that makes sense of our lives and our needs.”

Later in the seminar he continued, “I’ve been thinking a lot about social contagion because it’s the language of the anti-trans movement. But… the exact thing they’re describing is the exact means by which we reproduce ourselves.”

During the seminar, Pearce described the work he did with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) NHS Trust, arguing for the need for “Gender Inclusive Language” to create “Language as Possibility” and posters that act as apparent recruitment advertising for the political transgender movement. Pearce elaborated by saying, “in Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, that’s a really interesting example of queer spaces of care being created through an institution rather than through more radical networks.”

Pearce’s involvement with the ITEMS research, as well as its use to justify an NHS maternity program, comes less than one year after NHS negligence was found to have been responsible for the needless deaths of over 200 babies and 9 mothers at at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. According to internal investigations, “repeated failures in the quality of care and governance” was to blame for the deaths, which spanned over 2 decades, with an additional 1,486 families and 1,592 incidents being recorded as a result of inadequate maternity care oversight.

Reduxx has previously revealed how errors and confusion arose due to the use of inaccurate medical language which led to midwifery students at Napier University in Edinburgh being taught how to care for males giving birth through penises and prostates. 

According to a course workbook, students were advised: “It is important to note that while most times the birthing person will have female genitalia, you may be caring for a pregnant or birthing person who is transitioning from male to female and may still have external male genitalia.”

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

OMG hahah

[justinspoliticalcorner]

EMMA MAE WEBER, CHARIS HOARD & BUSHRA SULTANA at MMFA:

After former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on Saturday, right-wing media attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s emphasis on hiring more women in the force to suggest that such initiatives “compromised” the caliber of the agency. Conservative media are arguing that “there should not be any women” in the Secret Service, and claiming that “DEI got someone killed.”

On July 13, former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania during his speech at a campaign rally. One rally attendee was killed and two others injured. The 20-year-old suspected shooter was a registered Republican, and he reportedly donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a liberal voter turnout group, in 2021. The FBI is still investigating the shooter's motive. [The Associated Press, 7/15/24; The New York Times, 7/14/24; NBC, 7/15/24]

The Secret Service and local law enforcement have come under fire for their security preparations for the rally. Some have questioned whether the size of the security perimeter was too small and if the sweep of the facility was thorough enough. There is also a video circulating of civilians spotting the gunman before the shooting took place. [CNN, 7/15/24; NBC, 7/15/24]

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told CBS News in 2023 that her goal was to have 30% female recruits in the agency by 2030. “I'm very conscious as I sit in this chair now, of making sure that we need to attract diverse candidates and ensure that we are developing and giving opportunities to everybody in our workforce, and particularly women,” Cheatle said. [CBS News, 5/18/23]

Right-wing media have a history of using  diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to attack their targets, claiming that they “didn’t earn it.” In March, for example, right-wing media targeted Black individuals in high-level positions such as Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. In January, right-wing media blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion for multiple failures in Boeing planes. Around the same time, several conservative personalities celebrated the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay, who was the university’s first Black president, as a victory over “DEI ideology” and “the DEI cancer.” [Media Matters, 4/5/24, 1/25/24, 1/5/24, 1/12/24]

Right-wing media pundits are baselessly blaming “DEI” and Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle (due to her support for hiring more women to work for the agency) for the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Stochastic terrorist Chaya Raichik blames women for Trump assassination attempt, other right-wing media personalities chime in

[talisidekick]

Transphobe: "You're a man."

Me: "LMAO! Looking like *this*? You need your eyes checked."

Queer Transphobe: "You're a man."

Me, on my knees like I just had my heart ripped out of my chest: "Et tu, Brutus?"

[now-winter-comes-slowly]

Christmas, sacred or secular, is for everybody who wants to be part of it. This should be an obvious statement, but too often it isn't. Not everyone gets to go home for Christmas, to be seen and valued as themself there, or have their partner welcomed there. In Northern Ireland, our local churches are often engines of hatred and exclusion.

So it really touched me to learn that, in this most homophobic and transphobic part of the UK, All Souls Church in Belfast has for many years held an annual LGBTQIA Carol Service. They shared 2023's, like all their services, on YouTube. So here it is, for whoever needs that welcome.

Many people I love have been harmed by the more regressive elements of local Christianity, and as a disabled person, I count myself on that list. My relationship with my childhood faith is best described as "complicated."

But I've spoken to enough queer, trans, and disabled friends with connections to the place to believe that All Souls really does mean the "all" part. And for a church here to take such a warm, celebratory approach to queer and trans people, and embrace other faiths to boot, is worth celebrating and sharing.

And if that doesn't convince you: at one point a dog visits the pulpit. I repeat, a dog. It's that kind of place: enjoy.

[yellowocaballero]

I think Go Straight at the Cul-de-Sac was my actual real first yellowocaballero fic so I'm pretty interested in Untitled Document number scarvio dlc! Got any tidbits?

Yes! It's actually a fic I've tried several times to write lol. There's a very scrappy ScarVio fic with my ScarVio protaganist, and honestly the pla fic sequel became a vehicle to depict the scarvio protaganist.

But, come on. Adaman's descendent showing up in the ScarVio DLC? How could I NOT?

I don't know if this'll ever fully get written, or written as it is now, so most of what I have under the cut.

Perrin was waiting for me at the airport, fiddling anxiously with a camera and scanning the crowd for somebody else. The airport itself was nostalgic. All rural Sinnoh airports boasted two landing strips, a polite and peeling building, and a tattered stack of brochures welcoming you to our humble abode. Kitakimi was legally a Johto territory, liberated from Sinnoh in some war fifty years ago, but I didn’t have the impression anybody here remembered being a territory of anybody. That was rural life: your problems were your own. And your neighbor’s, if they were interesting enough.

There were only twenty other passengers on the plane, so I shouldn’t have been hard to find. We were unceremoniously shuttled straight from the plane to the ground, showcasing the great efficacy of rural life. Perrin was sitting on the hood of her rinky little car, scanning the disembarking group for somebody who probably looked very old and important. Maybe she walked with a withered cane and carried an air of great gravitas. I was at the advantage, knowing perfectly well what she looked like - her grandmother had assailed me with roughly two dozen family photographs - and I began walking towards her immediately. 

She noticed me, and I saw her mental journey clearly. Was she walking towards me? Am I meeting a secret second person, who I hadn’t known about? Was this the person I was meeting? Granny didn’t say anything about - wait, no, shit, she totally did.

I waved. Perrin probably thought she did a great job hiding her shock. She really didn’t.

“Elder - uh, Warden!” Perrin quickly hopped off the car as I approached, holding out her hand for a handshake. I stared at the hand for an embarrassing few confused seconds before I remembered the concept of handshakes. Perrin interpreted the silence as a shameful faux-pas and quickly bowed at the waist instead. “Thank you for coming!”

“I’m not a Warden.” I bowed back at a shallow angle. Perrin visually wondered if she was supposed to call a woman probably six or seven years her junior ‘Elder’. It was maybe the most accurate term but we would simultaneously die of embarrassment if she did. Unfortunately, her grandmother would hit her on the head with a stick if she used my name. “But you can call me that. Thank you for hosting me.”

“Thank Kitakami,” Perrin said wryly. “They’re the ones providing our rooms. Here, let me take your bag. I hope you aren’t already motion sick from the plane - these roads are pretty bumpy.”

Nothing was as bad as carts. Seriously, nothing. “How long’s the ride?”

“Only thirty minutes, so buckle in.” Perrin accepted my bag and opened the sedan door. She whistled, waving the bag around and ushering an expectant and eagerly barking Pokemon further into the car. “C’mon, bud, leave space for our guest. And no chewing! Do not bring eternal shame unto my family!”

I poked my head around Perrin’s shoulder and saw a fluffy Sinnoh Forme Growlithe wagging his tail so hard his entire body was swaying. He barked again, shuffling backwards as Perrin wedged my bag underneath the seat, and promptly began sniffing the bag for drugs and/or Growlithe treats. 

I couldn’t help but smile. I moved forward and crouched in front of the Growlithe, holding out my hand and letting him sniff my wrist. He barely needed the introduction - he immediately began barking even louder in exorbitant delight, facing down the prospect of a new friend. 

“The shade of his ruff is light,” I remarked. Lighter than I was accustomed to, anyway. It took ages to even grow accustomed to the sight of these things in cars. And, you know, not trying to maul me. “He’s bred well. Did the breeder select for the light ruff?”

“Ah, yeah! His breeder’s an old friend of the family. Apparently they’ve been specialized purebred Sinnoh Growlithe breeders for, like, a hundred years. They said that lighter fur helps prevent them from overheating in hotter climates. I spend most of my time in hotter climates than Sinnoh, so I asked for that trait specifically.” Conscientious and thoughtful. Somebody who looked after her Pokemon well. “Sinnoh Forme Growlithes are supposed to be lucky. Is that true?”

I scratched the Growlithe’s ruff, and his tail beat heavy thumps against the scratched seat. “Their luck’s changed for the better.”

“That’s…pretty cryptic.” Perrin just sounded impressed. “Grandma was on the money about you.”

I looked back and squinted at Perrin. “What else did she say about me?”

“Wow, look at the time, let’s get going!”

Fair. I wouldn’t really want to meet me either. 

*

Believe it or not, Perrin had actually asked for help. 

I know. Hold the shock. I gave Kai heart attacks every time I walked into the room for four straight months, and I still made her nervous. A Slakoth could give Kai a heart attack and I liked to think we were friends these days, but I knew that I was socially your great-great-great grandmother at best and the fastidious clan kids were perpetually on their best behavior around me. I was used to people being afraid of me for my impressive ability to use their bones as toothpicks for my Garchomp, but a young person’s fear of disappointing their family was arguably more powerful. When you had family like Kai and Perrin had family, the fear was absolutely crippling. 

Personally, I lived in a state of constant embarrassment. A few months ago I tried to blow out a flashlight. Seriously. 

According to the world’s most trusted source, Perrin was the pride of the new generation of their family. They had a strong artistic tradition, and Perrin’s photography had won national awards and hefty grants since she was a child. Her favorite subjects had always been her culture and traditions, and her work had been frequently praised for its spiritual gravity and respect for ancient tradition. As an adult she had shifted to nature photography. Then the conversation diverged to bragging about Perrin’s cousins (veterinarian, miko, miko, successful traditional painter, Can You Believe He Moved To Hoenn!, miko-who-just-had-a-baby, Potter Who Married A Woman Good For Her!, trainer-with-five-badges-and-counting) before eventually circling back around to Perrin’s greatest flaws as a human being. Namely, that she never came home and had missed New Year’s two years in a row. And She Never Called Either!

Perrin had called the clan (For The First Time In Months Can You Believe It!) two weeks ago excitedly spilling an entire tale of a cursed Ursaluna roaming the thick forests of a small island that hadn’t belonged to Sinnoh for years. It wasn’t idle gossip: Ursalunas were sacred Pokemon, and a cursed Ursaluna was dangerously bad luck. Cursed sacred Pokemon could wither nature, starve local Pokemon, bring monsoons and thunderstorms, and shame the clans for neglecting their duties as caretakers. I wasn’t so sure about all of that, but I knew from long experience that a cursed sacred Pokemon basically amounted to a very powerful rabid Pokemon that endangered everything and everyone around it. These days there were probably people other than me who could put that Pokemon down, but - well, traditions were meaningful. 

A certain somebody was ludicrously famous for her talents in subduing cursed Pokemon. They had given me a lot of medicinal bags, which had somehow become traditional. I hadn’t known how to break it to them that I was just going to beat the curse out of the Pokemon. Always worked. 

Apparently all of Perrin’s cousins called her and harassed her about bringing cryptid stories to Grandmother and sending the clan into a tizzy. Her miko cousins threatened to strangle her if she had dragged the Hero of Hisui out to the middle of nowhere to vanquish a hoax. Perrin obviously hadn’t expected her clan to send the Hero of Hisui out into the middle of nowhere to vanquish what may-or-may-not be a hoax. She probably hadn’t intended to turn a little problem into an entire religious and legendary production, but that was the way rocks slid. 

“I hadn’t expected them to send you, obviously.” Perrin hadn’t been exaggerating about the bumpy road. My necklace thumped against my sternum as I fought the urge to grip the sides of the seats. Perrin was happily chatting away with one hand on the wheel, which didn’t ease my anxiety. “I honestly just thought Grandma was going to mail me some medicine and tell me to purify it myself. Like, I had full miko training before I was twelve, I could have done it just fine. But now you’re here, and - well, it could be an opportunity! I mean, it’s obviously an honor. It’s an honor first. I’m very honored.”

The Growlithe barked agreement regarding the importance of my august spiritual presence. “I’ll tell your grandmother you said that first.”

“Thank you so much. I was just wondering if I could interview you, or something like that? Maybe we can pray together. Religion used to be such a source of inspiration for me, and I’ve been thinking about going back to those basics. Start from the ground up. And if you can’t connect me with my heritage - like, who could?”

Artists. Changed a lot and yet never changed. “Returning home to Celestic City sounds like the first step.”

“Home’s not the right vibe,” Perrin said. And she said I was cryptic. “I need something new. But old. I need the right vibe. Maybe this will - like, realign my energies.”

Was I purifying a cursed sacred Pokemon or was I playing sidekick to a photographer’s artistic journey? I felt as if I should say something disapproving about how this was serious business. If the Bloodmoon Beast was actually real, then the entire forest could be cursed. It could have been cursed by a legendary Pokemon - and I had just finished kicking Darkrai out of Hearthome City yet again. This wasn’t a field trip.

Adaman would be laughing his ass off. He had always wanted to fight the man and ignore work. Probably would have, if he wasn’t ‘the man’ and work hadn’t involved protecting his people from extinction. He would have approved of this - all of it.

“Hope I can help,” I said diplomatically. “Is that a bus stop?”

“The bus smells terrible, be glad I saved you from it.” Perrin gestured grandly at the rising swell of homes and packed dirt streets rising before us. Growlithe poked his head out of the window, panting excitedly. “Welcome to Kitakami! Home of a lot of past and not a lot of present.”

“I’m pretty used to that.”

Maybe this trip would be nostalgic after all - no, that was certain. The only thing up for debate was whether it would be my nostalgia, Perrin’s, or Sinnoh’s itself.

I closed my eyes and grasped the Pokeball swinging from my necklace. May this journey end in only the typical amount of disaster. 

Maybe I’d even get lucky this time.

*

 Mossui Town. Population: small. Inn: none, but we have a community center with rooms! Store: one, but it sells handmade wool socks! Mood: very honored to meet you! 

“I am truly sorry for the humble welcome.” The Town Head Mr. Kobayashi was very distraught by this. If he had given me a non-humble welcome I would have shot myself. “Every hand is on deck preparing for the festival. You should have seen my face when the Diamond Clan Head called me herself about your arrival - I must have looked like the ogre itself! And about the Bloodmoon Beast, too! I thought that was merely a child’s rumor.” Obviously realizing how that sounded, he quickly added, “We are honored to host you, of course. Your arrival during our very own festival week - it must be the hand of our ancestors. Why, my own clan had close ties to the Pearl clan for hundreds of years.”

I could tell. Mr. Kobayashi had already given us a quick tour of the village, which had taken a pleasant fifteen minutes. The only building constructed in the last thirty years was the community center, and it was Mr. Kobayashi’s current pride and joy. The village had obviously been built by Johto immigrants to Sinnoh - the unique cultural blend was distinctive. Probably why Johto and Sinnoh had been in a lukewarm tug-of-war over it for a few decades. 

Perrin and I glanced at each other. She grimaced in a slight apology. I twitched an eyebrow. This meant nothing to her. 

I had to do this way too often. “Don’t worry about it.” I gave Mr. Kobayashi my best polite smile. I had been reliably told that it was utterly inscrutable, but that was their problem. “We’ll be unobtrusive. You…seem to have enough on your plate.”

A child ran past us, pursued by a waddling Sentret, screaming. We watched him pass. Another child and a Ninetails pursued the Sentret, also screaming.

“We’re quite busy, yes.”

Perrin leaned towards me, stage whispering. “There’s a school trip.”

That explained the surprising quantity of children. Normally places like this had ten kids max. I had counted at least fifteen already, and most of which were wearing some dorky uniform. The school uniform kids seemed distinctly overwhelmed.

Mr. Kobayashi smiled, about as authentically as a Mr. Mime. “It’s our honor to teach a new generation of…very foreign children about our sacred traditions.”

“Paladeans are weird and rude,” Perrin whispered, even louder.

Mr. Kobayashi’s eye twitched. “Boisterous.”

“One of them doesn’t blink.”

“Please let one of us know if our children bother you,” Mr. Kobayashi said. “It’s quite unacceptable behavior to interrupt you in your important work. When - if a child does so, please send them towards me or their teacher Ms. Briar.”

“I think they’re funny,” Perrin confided in me. “They all have lisps. Apparently they’re walking into the houses with their shoes on. Baby criminals.”

“In my day we executed rude children,” I agreed.

Nobody who knew me as a child was around to contradict me. Such freedom.

Mr. Kobayashi muttered something that may have been ‘if only’. Perrin snickered.

Westerners. Fantastic.

I deposited my suitcase and bag in the obviously hastily cleaned and emptied room on the top floor of the community center. I could already hear the sound of children laughing and running through the halls. Perrin was staying to my right, but the rest of the visiting schoolchildren must be living on the other side and across the hall. I had to sympathize with Mr. Kobayashi - nobody wanted to expose my august personage to children left unsupervised on a field trip in a foreign country they’re probably already interpreting as their playground. Judging from the sight of a Pokemon battle in the courtyard already visible from my window, they were from a training academy too. Training academy kids these days were the worst. My students had been so much politer. Granted, teaching back then had involved a lot more whacking with sticks then teaching these days. And training under me had been a bit of a ‘best of the best’, ‘send our top child from our small clan to do us proud’ type of thing. 

The community center had a small cafeteria, and Perrin and I descended upon the food like ravenous Luxrays. I only had to remind myself every five minutes to use table manners. This was a fantastic improvement from last year, where I had to remind myself every five seconds. Diamond and Pearl ate with their hands or straight from the bowl. The Jubilife crew hadn’t, but I had relatively few memories of ever sharing a meal with my friends in Jubilife.

After an embarrassingly short period of time I stood up and pushed my chair in, taking my tray. “I need to go exercise my Pokemon and survey the area. Let’s meet up again this evening during the festival. Are any of the Pokemon species on this island endangered?”

Perrin stared at me, mouth full of fruit salad. “I’m pretty sure not. Why?”

“Just double checking.”

Two hours of being escorted around a new area was two hours more than I was used to. I was itching to explore this place myself. I was definitely a hypocrite - I was here for a holy mission, but most of my mind was on having fun too. Maybe that was just human nature. We always found a way to have fun no matter the difficulties. Anything that mitigated the damage.

There was civilization to explore, but that always came last. I bought a map from The Shop and consulted the nice lady on the most isolated part of the island, which was apparently a thicket of woods that was too dangerous for most people to enter. I headed straight there, obviously. 

When I entered the wild area I withdrew the first Pokeball on my belt and tossed it onto the ground. The ball flared white and a bolt of light struck the ground, coalescing into an adorable and petite Leafeon. She immediately sat down and meowed politely at me.

“Just exploring today,” I told her. She rose immediately, bright green tail waving excitedly. “Which makes this a good opportunity to work on your form. Remember: the Leaf Blade should dazzle.”

Leafeon meowed in a specific timbre that I knew she had picked up from everybody else. It was an extremely distinctive ‘yes, sir!’ sound. The new learned it from the old. A Pokemon composed of sentient rocks could make that sound. 

The first thing I noticed about the island was the impeccable biodiversity. The conservation laws passed two hundred years ago and strengthened fifty years later must have been well-enforced and respected. I had been wondering how an Ursaluna had ended up here, of all places, but the answer was quickly obvious: the island had Pokemon far, far outside of the Sinnoh ‘dex. Even the Johto ‘dex. It had Pokemon from everywhere. It was absolutely fascinating. 

They were also ridiculously strong. I had to pull Leafeon back and substitute in Rampardos or Milotic several times. Staraptor escaped its ball and tried to chase down likely looking prey about three different times, again, and the entire trip ground to a halt when I found a waterfall and began practicing light refraction with Milotic. We had gotten second place in our last contest, which was frankly embarrassing. We had to step up our game. 

I did contests now. It was a long story. Byron asked me if this meant I would be more ladylike now and I almost bit his head off. 

With power came precision, and I trained my contest Pokemon in battling for strength and show. This was an unexpectedly great training ground. This team had recently reached the level where most wild Pokemon didn’t pose a big challenge. Leafeon was already sweating up a storm, leaf flexing in the humid forest air.

The strength of these Pokemon meant that this was probably the kind of town where people didn’t venture far into nature too often. I noticed two Ace Rangers immediately, which tracked - the province government usually stationed a few eight-badge trainers in high-danger areas like these as protection for the populace. In towns like this the people and Pokemon had learned to co-exist a long time ago, and they rarely bothered each other, but there was always some idiot kid or tourist that triggered a fatal stampede. Or a Bloodmoon Beast. 

Around inhabited areas, Pokemon tended to attack Pokemon of a similar level. A kid running around Hearthome City with a level five could reliably find other pests and bugs to battle. I was willing to bet that the local kids ran around and battled around the center of the island. At the top of that mountain and the depths of these woods, however - anything went.

I had expected to be completely alone. I definitely wasn’t expecting any of the schoolkids to wander out here. But when I finally reached the mouth of the forest, bypassing five different warning signs without a glance, I saw a small group of kids already clustered at the end of the path. They were fervently arguing about something. Alright, time to walk away and hop a fence. 

“ - go with you!”

“Why are you stalking us? We aren’t even doing anything! Go home and help Gramps chop wood or something.”

“But I’m supposed to be the one showing her around!”

“Yeah, and you did! Great job!” The older girl’s tone was incredibly sarcastic. She had to be the younger boy’s older sister. Only a sister cut to the bone like that. “Now we’re going to have fun bonding time for two beautiful and powerful women in these dangerous woods. You can have fun kiddo bonding time tomorrow. Okay? Now shoo, we’re busy.”

As I approached, I got a better look at the kids. One of them was an older teenage girl - who, actually, was probably only a few years younger than me. In Hisui she’d probably be married by now. In Hisui her auntie would tell her that her sharp tongue and unkind face would mean she would never marry. The recipient of her sharp tongue and unkind face was a mousy boy hunched over in a defensive slouch, who was probably fourteen or fifteen. Standing with them was a pale girl with white hair, who watched the proceedings stoically. She was small and thin, and was probably fourteen at best. A Gardevoir hovered behind her, eyes flashing softly in the dim lighting. Leafeon, trotting at my feet, meowed curiously. 

The two siblings jumped, whirling around to see me standing on the path in front of them. The pale girl saw them move and turned to face me too. The siblings scowled, but the pale girl just looked at the Gardevoir. The Gardevoir hummed, and the girl nodded back.

“More outsiders?” the sister cried, enraged. “Who are you supposed to be?”

“Another visitor?” the boy said, flinching back in pure shock. “What’s with all of the visitors lately…?”

The pale girl squinted at Leafeon. Leafeon tilted her head. The pale girl tilted her head back.

“Yeah, we normally get, like, one a year.” the girl folded her arms, previously high levels of aggression jumped towards unprecedented heights. “Now we got a billion! This dumb school trip! Some crazy important million year old Warden from Sinnoh curing our bad juju! Gramps said he’ll chop our heads off if we’re rude to him? And now you!”

This really wasn’t any of my business, but the well-being of village children was everybody’s business. There was nothing kids loved more than pulling off dangerous stunts and almost getting gored on a Rhyhorn horn ten times in a row, and near-death experiences were important for childhood development, but surviving was important for childhood development too. I wasn’t about to escort them anywhere, but I should at least baby gate this thing.

“That forest is supposed to be pretty dangerous.” I nodded at the high fence and the three different ‘abandon all hope etc’ signs plastered around it. The girl stared at the Gardevoir, whose horns glowed lightly. “Are your Pokemon capable of defending you?”

That incensed the girl. She practically growled, stamping her foot. “Who the hell are you to tell me where to go on my own island? Of course my Pokemon are strong enough! Are you my mom?”

The boy hunched his shoulders, staring miserably at his sister. “Mom did tell us never to go in there…”

“Yeah, Kieran, when we were babies. We’re plenty strong enough now.”

“I dunno, Carmine…”

I looked at the pale girl. Her belt was half Ultra balls. She might be fine. But the two siblings had only Poke balls on their belt, and I wasn’t so sure. 

Ugh. Time to do the responsible adult thing. I reached around my belt, unhooking a miniature Apricorn ball from the back and expanding it. Hisuian balls were fragile, and I had recaptured everybody in the ‘modern’ Apricorn balls before leaving. They were still antiques, but they held up well enough. “For safety reasons, I’ll have to ask that one of you battle me before going inside.”

“What are you, a cop!” Carmine grabbed a Pokeball off her belt, expanding it immediately. “You’re so on, you wanna-be adult!”

Kieren blanched. “You left your main team back at the Academy, Carmine!”

“Yeah, and I don’t need my award winning team to fight this narc.” Carmine halted for the first time, glancing to her right and looking at the pale girl. “Unless you wanna go for it, I guess.”

The pale girl blinked at her.

“Oh, right.” Carmine cleared her throat, turning to face her completely. Then she spoke way, way too loudly, almost yelling. I instinctively flinched and scanned the area for lurking predator pokemon. “Do you want to fight this lady?”

The pale girl’s eyes narrowed, and she finally spoke. Her accent was strange, her mouth forming the sounds clunkily, but she did have a bizarre lisp. Despite her jinbei, she must be one of the exchange students. “I told you not to shout.”

“Ah, sorry.” Carmine briefly looked a little embarrassed. “You - uh, picked up on all of that?” Gardevoir hummed, horns glowing. “Right! Thanks, Gardevoir! Anyway, do you want to fight her? I want to fight her, so don’t say yes.”

The pale girl turned her head towards me, and for the first time I saw a large white hearing aid on one ear. That explained a bit. She narrowed her eyes and stared at me. I allowed myself to be stared at. She checked out my Pokeballs - all Pokeballs, since my team now was raised from scratch. She glanced at the polite Leafeon. Then she turned back to Carmine, visibly dismissing me. 

“She doesn’t look strong, so I don’t want to bother. Go ahead.”

[ipbbanking]

In a world full of diversity, our strength lies in embracing every unique thought, value, race, and personality. Discrimination has no place in customer service. Let’s pledge to treat every customer with the respect and excellence they deserve, regardless of their background.

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[artificial-condition]

Oh my god I’ve been so wrapped up in looking at the small subtle ableism that is present in our world that I forgot that violent, loud, and boldly cruel ableism exists

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Fund the Affordable Connectivity Program NOW!

130 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service. If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service. The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.” The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

▶ Created on April 11 by Jess Craven

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