#anti-bullying school programs

[k12academics]

Comic Ventriloquist Joe Gandelman uses a BIG cast of characters in a show with lots of interaction, laughs and content. Schools can choose from existing message themes or ask Joe to customize it with a school's theme at no extra expense. The show is highly interactive. Among the characters kids (and staff) love the most are a baby elephant who squirts water into the front rows (a big squirt gun...this is tied into an anti-drug, anti smoking, anti bullying theme), a small blue dragon who has (fake) smoke come out of his nose, a student (or staffer) putting on a funny looking ventriloquism mask which turns the person into a human dummy (Joe does the voices). At the end of each show he does a quick segment on ventriloquism, showing student how a puppet works, giving them a few secrets and getting one or more students up to try out a dummy.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

The poem that birthed Pity as "Hate wrapped in the flayed skin of Mercy"

War of Words

It’s a tragic story that we love to tell: How children, in their native cruelty, Wield words like pitchforks, broken glass, and stones, How playgrounds turn to battlegrounds And some Will never make it out of there alive.

We only have ourselves to blame, of course. As adults, it’s our job to keep control, And never let the violence break through. We try again, and trade those misused terms For words made safe for younger minds to hold. We pad them thick with extra syllables, And add a bright veneer of innocence, Like: ‛special’, ‛touched’, and ‛just a little slow’. We sit the young ones down at Circle Time, Between the alphabet and morning snack. With voices sweet as medicine, we try To introduce them to a brand new friend, Whose name is ‛pity’, then we humbly ask This friend to drive the hatred from our schools.

I am the Angel Pity. Please let me be your guide. And let’s pretend I am not Hate, Just wearing Mercy’s hide. I’ll teach you how to have restraint, And not use all your powers, How not to squash the lowly worms That crawl among the flowers. They cannot help it, being worms. And though they are disgusting, We all must treat them gently, dears, And keep them sweet and trusting. For if they roared, as lions do, The world would fall apart. And so I ask you to restrain The hatred in your heart.

But children, in their play, are Unrestrained. We hear the new-coined phrases That we’d so carefully taught Enunciated, emphasized, and clear.

But somehow, now, they Have a cutting edge, Like pitchforks, broken glass, and stones. The playground armistice never lasts. Whatever happened to childhood innocence? Have these kids no pity?

We might as well be Sisyphus, Rolling that rock uphill, Or try to reverse the pull of gravity. They’re only kids – It’s just the way they are; We’ll coin new phrases, though, and try again. As adults, it’s our job to keep control.

Except you can’t deny that it’s absurd To be so damned PC about some words.

From The Monsters' Rhapsody: Disability, Culture, & Identity by Ann Magill (me)

[salmasnook]

Nurturing Healthy Minds: Identifying and Addressing Toxic School Environments

Schools are meant to be safe spaces for learning, growth, and social development. However, it is essential to acknowledge that, just like any other social setting, a school environment can sometimes become toxic. Toxicity in schools can negatively impact students’ mental health, self-esteem, and overall well-being. In this blog post, we will explore the signs of a toxic school environment and…

[velvetine-moth]

Persona 3 Arcana Swap AU

Junpei - The Fool: After the death of his mother a decade ago, then the death of his abusive father in recent years, Junpei moves to Iwaitodai to attend Gekoukan for reasons he can't exactly describe. Unbeknownst to him, he has brain damage that's spreading and slowly killing him.

Chidori - The Lovers: Goth girl who everyone somehow finds likable despite her not entertaining them, so she's popular - She's part of the art club and the axe-throwing club. She's the first one to welcome Junpei to the dorm- Her and Junpei don't necessarily get along, (she won't admit she likes him, he's openly in love with her) but they work well together.

Yukari - Magician: Softball team star and a general "sporty girl"- She's wildly jealous of how popular Chidori is and how no one takes her seriously. She can be a little mean and hotheaded, or trying too hard to be likable by others. She tends to go down to the station and to the movies when she gets frustrated, and sees a mysterious, sharply dressed woman there.

Takaya - Hierophant: A chronically ill man who used to be part of the original SEES team- He disappeared and stopped going to school, only to be seen rarely at the alleys. Jin constantly keeps trying to bring him back. No one knows why he left in the first place, except for Jin- who won't say anything. ** Jin and Takaya were both part of an experimental drug testing that failed, and caused Takaya's persona to come out and attack a stranger after a trip to tartarus one night, killing them. Takaya gets suppressants from a strange group of friends who he seems to know from something greater than all of them.

Jin - Emperor: One of the top students in school- Takaya's childhood best friend, the two grew up together. Jin won't explain where or how, though. Jin's a part of the computer club and is taking college courses already. Could have been student council president, but he's a little too hotheaded and protective of his friend to listen to teacher properly, but his good grades give him the leeway to do things like skip class every so often or walk out when he gets too frustrated.

Ryoji - Priestess: An upbeat boy who was bullied by the student body and locked in Tartarus for multiple days, and after being saved became the navigator for the SEES team. He's awkward, and doesn't usually understand boundaries. Kenji, one of the boys who locked him in the school, became his friend after the two made up. The two became extremely close after the fact.

Aigis - Emperess: The student council president who is focused on being the top student and getting good grades and getting into a good college. Her people skills are the bare minimum, and she is often blunt and focused on schoolwork more than relationships- But she's still courteous. Her parents used to own several scientific organizations, but after they both died, these places have long since been abandoned- She still has access to them, but they are unkempt.

Fuuka - Aeon: An anti-shadow weapon that was discovered on a trip to an abandoned beach- She's shy and uses her knowledge and scanning to check on Junpei and the SEES team constantly- Without understanding it might not be the most appropriate. She means well, but is often nervous- The programmers tried to make her seem human, and instead made her anxious. Her overly caring nature leads her to often intrude or barge in on Junpei and the other SEES team members.

Minato - Death: A mysterious boy who appeared at school in the middle of the year- He's quiet, self-contained, and rarely speaks. However, he keeps staying close to Junpei and befriending him fairly quickly despite their relatively opposite natures. No one's sure of who he is, or where he came from- But there's a strange aura about him.

Senior Trio - Strega: All were part of an experiment as kids to "fix them"- In reality, they were all orphans, except for Mitsuru- Her dad, unknowing of what the trial actually was, put her into the program. In reality they were artificially given personas, and with that, were unable to use them.

Shinjiro was the eldest- and protected the others. His Persona also attached the smoothest at the time, and that gave him extra attention from the doctors- and a complex. He began to lead the other subjects- and save them, since he was so good with his persona.

Akihiko had the roughest time with his persona attaching, so much so that he tried to end himself from the pain of constantly being shocked by his own persona. Shinjiro saved him from his own persona, and from himself- Causing Akihiko to devote himself to protecting Shinjiro from any other subjects who got angry and tried to lash out, or from any doctors who tried to come at him. Even after they were the only three surviving, Akihiko still protects him and keeps him close, being utterly devoted- After every win, turning back to make sure Shinjiro is watching.

Mitsuru acts as their navigator, usually dressed sharply as a business woman- She's often out walking about at the station and watching other businesses run- She's known for carrying a small notebook and writing notes about everyone she sees in odd, scrawly handwriting that's difficult to read and disjointed. She is cold, calculating, and often will only talk to people as if they're potential business partners- And it's how the team gets a lot of their information and networks.

Initially inspired by the p4 arcana swap by @/anzukko_art on twitter and instagram!! and this tumblr post for Takaya and Shinjiro!! God I rioted when I saw this art it's SO GOOD. ( hi — shinjiro and takaya swap! Inspired by... (tumblr.com) )

[misseviehyde]

AUNTIE-PATRIACHY

Josh hated what was happening to him. The conditons of the Anti-Patriachy Act meant that like him, every eighteen year old boy in the country was currently mandated by law to swap bodies with a woman for at least four hours a day, but in his case - things were not going well.

Boys would usually be assigned someone in their family - but not a direct relation if possible. After six weeks of the program they would have a good understanding of living as a woman and be less likely to display patriachial or misogynistic behaviour. As everyone swapped at different times - their female relative would also get an opportunity to interact with their friends and call out unacceptable behaviour.

For Josh though - this meant becoming his evil Aunt Aletta. She wasn't like the women his friends were swapping with. Aletta was fake and plastic. Giant slutty titties hung from her chest, her pumped up lips were always coated in shiny lip gloss and her tight shaven pussy was always wet for big cock.

She was an evil, slutty, bimbo bitch who only cared about her own selfish pleasures. Her body was pampered and corrupted into a pleasure dolls. She lived in a vast mansion with an ultra-feminine life-style served by a cuck husband and an army of lovers.

Despite her addictive evil lifestyle, she actually loved swapping bodies with Josh. He was young, handsome and strong and to his horror, she spent her time as him seducing his female classmates and fucking them.

"Stop being such a pussy Josh," she grinned as they began another swapping session. "I never agreed with this dumb act in the first place - but now they're making us swap I'm enjoying it. You and I can have a lot of fun as each other. Most men your age are pathetic weaklings thanks to this bullshit. The girls your age are desperate for a good fucking and your body makes their pussies wet."

"Auntie - you can't say that kind of thing," gasped Josh adjusting his big tits uncomfortably in Aletta's too small clothing. "You're making my friends act worse and encouraging my female friends to be spoiled slutty bitches. You gotta stop."

Aletta laughed. "Corrupting your friends to go against the act is fun. I love showing girls the pleasure of using men to get what they want and turning your friends into hot bullying studs. By the time we finish this program, they'll be mean alpha bullies and you'll have no choice but to act like them or be ostracised. Now I'm going over to the head cheerleaders house to fuck her brains out and convince Ashley she should show more cleavage and use it to manipulate boys."

Josh knew he was supposed to report his Aunt for this kind of behaviour - but how could he? He didn't want to get them both into trouble.

It was also kind of... hot.

In the times he returned to his body he now found the other boys were all following his lead and the girls at school all wanted him. He was a stud now and his big dick felt good as he stroked it and imagined it inside all the hottest sluts at school who his Aunt was corrupting to be like her.

One day - Ashley even gave him a blowjob at school and as he fucked her face and pumped cum down her eager throat he had felt a surge of power and dominance that had really turned him on.

The bodyswapping wasn't meant to make you MORE patriachial and evil - but Aletta's interference was doing just that.

Meanwhile Josh wondered whether he could do the opposite to his aunt and make her act nicer when he had control of her life.

Her plastic big titted body DID feel fucking good. He began to look forward to getting inside. His friends were jealous of his big slutty tits and rich lifestyle.

Donald - Aletta's husband was a weak pathetic cuck. On his Aunt's advice he had Donald eat his pussy out and soon Josh came to enjoy the subservient losers eagerness to please his Mistress.

Far from make Aletta nicer - Josh began to enjoy the evil power being his Aunt gave him. As he played with his big fake tits and pumped a dildo in and out of his tight gripping cunt - Josh began to fall in love with being an evil slut.

He began to dress in his Aunt's nastiest outfits and embraced her ultra-feminine life. Dressing in tight latex catsuits and boots whilst having long slutty acyrillic nails felt so right. Nail bars, cocktails with the girls and sex games became the norm. He was a rich bitch and he loved it.

Soon Josh had begun to suck cock just as good as Ashley at school and before long he became accustomed to having two cocks at once. The bigger the better and it just made the pleasure more intense if Donald had to watch.

"Yesssss I'm such a fucking bitch," grunted Josh as he was fucked and had his hair pulled by his lover as Donald watched miserably in the corner. "Mmmmh I want MORE!"

His giant tits swung up and down as he was pounded doggy-style and Josh loved how they felt as he took dick like a champ. Swapping with his aunt was the BEST.

At his Aunt's suggestion - Josh began to fuck his friends from school - helping Aletta with her corruption goals. As he moaned and grunted in pleasure as two of his friends spit roasted his horny body and slapped his big ass, she would jerk off in the corner.

"See Nephew, doesn't it feel good to be fucking evil and powerful? Pleasure and sex are all that matters. I love seeing you become a whore just like me."

Day by day Josh's morals and priorities shifted. He was soon just as evil and corrupt as his Aunt. Whether he was fucking the increasingly slutty girls from school or taking multiple cocks from his bullying friends - he was in Heaven.

Finally the program was complete. After six weeks of swapping Josh was now a swaggering, cocky bully who loved to fuck spoiled bratty Alpha bitches and help them cheat on their pussy boyfriends. His time as his Aunt had taught him SO much.

"Thanks Auntie," he grinned. "I'm gonna miss those big tits and the feel of three men inside me, but having that slut Ashley or her friend Chloe's tight pussy on the end of my cock will make up for it."

"You're welcome Nephew," purred Aletta happy to be back in her body. "You're lucky you swapped with a real woman. I'm so glad I was able to make you into a real man."

Aletta's personal anti-patriachy program was complete and a total success... Josh was a bully now and she had only learned to be even more evil...

[stupidsketchpad]

Scott: So, Bertha, do you have a crush on anyone?

Bertha: The only crush I have is this crushing anxiety.

---

Joey: You're smiling. What happened?

Cleo: What? Can't I smile just because I feel like it?

Eloise: Pris tripped and fell down the stairs today.

---

Lauren: Thanks for pulling the fire alarm, you saved me from giving an oral report about The Scarlet Web.

Joey: You were too lazy to read the book?!

Lauren: I was too lazy to watch the movie.

---

Cleo: So we're gonna read what we wrote down so we can tell everyone in the class something about ourselves.

Lauren: Okay, my name is Lauren but you can refer to me as Lord Farquad.

Cleo: Okay that's not happening- how about you!

Shelby: I'm Shelby and I like the movie White Chicks!

Cleo: ...Okay... whatever, I respect that.

Joey: My name is Joey and I hate this place, it actually sucks here...

Cleo: Okay... and you...

Eloise: *nervous* Uhhh my name is Eloise and my favorite color is... math.

---

Joey: I’m the smartest, wisest person in this group.

Lauren: Really? Then why is your hand stuck in a vending machine?

Joey: I paid for my Mars Bar, I’m getting my Mars Bar.

---

Pris: You're ignoring all your problems.

Cleo: I know.

Pris: You also know it's an unhealthy coping mechanism?

Cleo: I'm ignoring that fact as well.

Pris:

---

Pris, to Cleo: If you can ever manage to get over yourself, I would highly recommend being me.

---

Cleo: How was your day, Joey?

Joey: Yeah, fine, it's anti-bullying week at school.

Cleo: Oh? And what does that mean?

Joey: It means I can't bully anyone for a whole week.

---

Pris, trying to impress Shelby: I re-initialized the entire command structure, retaining all programmed abilities but deleting the supplementary preference architecture.

Cupquake: They turned it off and back on again.

---

Cupquake: Cool, any other secrets?

Joey: I still sleep with the blanket I had as a baby.

Cupquake: Awww-

Joey, stern: I use it as a gag when taking people’s pets hostage.

Cupquake:

Cupquake: There’s no punch line ‘cause it’s not a joke isn’t it?

---

Cleo: I refuse to apologize for being weird or off-putting. That’s actually your problem. I’m having a fantastic time!

---

Shelby: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Joey and Eloise's convo?

Bertha: Me. I'm in the laundry basket.

Lauren: I'm in the washing machine.

Pris: I'm in the closet.

Bertha: We accept you Pris.

Pris: No I'm literally in the closet.

Bertha: Love is love.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Alec Schemmel

Last fall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth tapped a group of Jewish faculty members to advise the school on a new initiative meant to combat campus anti-Semitism. The participants were "hopeful," they said in an email to fellow MIT staff, that the move would help them "more effectively influence the decision making to reduce the tensions on campus."

Shortly thereafter, in January, an announcement from MIT chancellor Melissa Nobles dashed those hopes.

The school's "Standing Together Against Hate" (STAH) initiative, Nobles said, would include four panels: one on anti-Semitism, one on "campus freedom of expression," one on Islamophobia, and one on "anti-Palestinian racism." Omitted from the speaker series was any talk on racism or hatred targeting Israelis and Zionists.

MIT's hand-picked speakers also prompted concern. Islamophobia panelist Dalia Mogahed in the wake of Oct. 7 endorsed Hamas terrorism as an act of lawful "resistance" and suggested that Israelis are "savages" who "kill babies" and "bomb hospitals." Free speech panelist Erwin Chemerinsky, meanwhile, serves as the dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, which was sued in November over "unchecked" campus anti-Semitism.

For the Jewish faculty members, Nobles's announcement came as a surprise—not because MIT declined to take their advice on panel topics and speakers, but because the school failed to seek out their advice altogether. The members responded by disbanding their advisory group.

"As our group was originally conceived in the framework of STAH, we want to emphasize that we had no input to the published program and/or reviewed it before its announcement," the advisory group members said in their February email. "As a result, we recently informed President Kornbluth that we would disband the advisory group."

Kornbluth has since vowed to reassess MIT's policies on "harassment, bullying, intimidation and discrimination." She also launched the "Standing Together Against Hate" initiative in November, which MIT leaders said would help "bring our community together" by addressing anti-Semitism and other "tension between some groups and individuals."

Instead, the initiative created tension between Kornbluth and Jewish faculty members, calling into question the embattled president's pledge to combat anti-Semitism. For the MIT Israel Alliance, a campus group formed in the wake of Oct. 7 to protect Jewish students, Kornbluth's freezing out of the advisory committee marks a "missed opportunity … to tackle the very real and disturbing heightened antisemitism on campus."

[eightyonekilograms]

The therapy seemed to make the kids worse. Immediately after the intervention, the therapy group had worse relationships with their parents and increases in depression and anxiety. They were also less emotionally regulated and had less awareness of their emotions, and they reported a lower quality of life, compared with the control group. [...] D.A.R.E., which from the ’90s to early 2000s taught legions of elementary-school students 10 different street names for heroin, similarly had little to show for its efforts. (The curriculum has since been revamped.) The self-esteem-boosting craze of the ’80s also didn’t amount to much—and later research questioned whether having high self-esteem is even beneficial. Anti-bullying programs for high schoolers seem to increase bullying.

It might be Bad, but the James C. Scott-pilled part of my brain is very tickled that behavioral and mental health interventions for teenagers seem to have a solid track record of total failure.

(the usual disclaimer about "this is psych research; adjust confidence in reproducibility of results way, way down", although since the article and all the links are about negative results that don't overcome the null hypothesis, that isn't as true as it normally would be)

[thebestpartofwakingup]

Clone high season 2 episode concepts that would've actually been fun/cool

Abe tries to get into "real magic" to impress Joan by hanging out with Aleister Crowley and Arthur Conan Doyle. Jokes about people being too into Harry Potter being lame, jokes about paranormal teen shows a la Sabrina, etc.

Ronald Reagan and Nixon gets JFK into presidential themed crypto

Mean Girls episode parody about the Salem Witch trials or Bloody Queen Mary. They write themselves.

Episode where the main cast keep finding dead bodies, basically tripping over them, parody of teen murder mysteries, twist ending that the bodies are all failed/early clones (like the clone equivalent of a stillbirth. there was no murder)

Yellow Jackets Parody episode. the bus is out of gas or something and they're stuck in a large parking lot but act like they're in the woods.

Traveling championship episode. Debate team has to compete against high school where all the students are robots programmed to behave like the greatest scientists/leaders of all time

Trans episode parody. Abe realizes he isn't aligned with the modern republican party anymore and is therefore a Democrat, treated as a self-aware bad analogy maybe to the point of other characters finding it tasteless/annoying/Abe looking for attention

Cyberbullying episode parody, bonus points if it's gossip girl

Secret cousin/twin parody episode --- obvious starting point would be like. Anastasia because of how many people famously claimed to be her.

Supernatural teen romance parody episode. Abe tries to become a vampire with like Edgar Allen Poe or someone to impress Joan.

"Save the community center" episode --- This could be a great Harriet focused episode about like a bake sale or something to fund the arts but everyone is over exaggerating the stakes and the drama of being/not being a good baker. "My grandmother used to bake these cookies for me.....until she DIED" "My mother baked these cookies for me everyday I was in the hospital after falling out of that helicopter and they gave me the strength to survive" "I can't bake....my mom was always too busy with her business to teach me....." etc.

Big Mouth/Sex Ed parody episode. I think it would be really funny if THIS had been their technology episode, like getting a computer virus is treated like getting a STD and the cast talk about browsing the internet like it's casual sex, etc.

parody of those tasteless episodes about how like bullying leads to school shootings. Have like Abe or Joan or someone try to reach out to Napoleon or someone because they eat alone at lunch and because they think it's silly and mean everyone is afraid of them but then they are just like a violent maniac already. the solution is to get rid of him.

this might sound dumb but remember that one episode of jimmy neutron where jimmy was banned from the science fair for being too smart and killing the morale of any other student interested in participating? What if Clone High did that but as like a parody of anti-trans sports legislation. All the cloned scientists are banned from the science fair because it's an unfair advantage. All the Politian clones are banned from debate club, etc.

Social media/parasocial relationships parody episode where like JFK and Abe become obsessed with one another's online accounts not knowing it's them, despite Joan repeatedly telling them this, it becomes completely unhealthy but then whenever they do hang out together face-to-face they hate it and decide the parasocial relationship was better actually.

PRANK YOUTUBE/TIKTOK PARODY EPISODE ABOUT DB COOPER AND HOUDINI COME ON COME ON COME ON THIS ONE IS SO FUCKING OBVIOUS

[gnomeniche]

it’s dhmis week day 4 which means i get to talk about dhmis s1e4 friendship and how interesting it is

so a lot of people’s analytical opinion about friendship has been “it’s funny but i don’t know if it really has that much to dig into, lore-wise or thematically”. i disagree. if you will indulge me, i will present the reasons that i find this episode persistently interesting in an easily digestible numbered list.

warren’s incompetence reveals more blatantly that the world’s reality can be and is manipulated by the teachers. we had hints of this before, but the shifts in reality were well-hidden with elements like the jobs song, which established a “teleporting” stylization to drop them into the factory, or the trip to the family house being built into the episode’s storyline. you could plausibly argue that maybe their world is just like this and nobody’s actually manipulating anything. however, warren dispenses with any kind of subtlety and straight-up pauses the show. because he’s bad at what he does! this is the episode that comes immediately before the two final episodes, which make the manipulation of the world explicit, so you could take this as setup for the idea’s full reveal.

the question of what the other two actually said to yellow guy: did they insult him? the bleeping happens immediately before warren starts his spiel. since the episode is riffing on the after-school bullying special, that is the kind of moment that would be built into a storyline as a segue for that kind of moral, and the recurring element of traditional kids’ show storylines with nice, pat morals being forced on the characters leads toward the bleeping possibly being a mislead. combined with the blatant world manipulation i discussed, the bleeping could have been added by warren to imply something harsher than they actually said. even the lead-in of “it’s not your fault. you’re just a—“ could plausibly set up a non-insulting phrase; part of the humor of the sudden bleep is derived from the expectation that it would be some kind of reassurance. still, they COULD have genuinely insulted him, but they just as possibly could have not. this ambiguity is compounded by…

the way the “being a good friend” message slips away to reveal a message of “insecurities can ruin your relationships” and how neither of them seems fully accurate: what is even up with the message? it starts with warren’s poorly delivered anti-bullying program, but it slowly transforms into being about how insecurities can get the better of you. warren styles himself as a teacher, but at some point, he becomes an embodiment of and metaphor for insecurity. with this in mind, if warren’s influence caused the bleeping, it becomes even more plausible that the other two did not necessarily insult yellow guy. was his impression that they insulted him really just a “worm in his brain,” an insecurity that he thinks his friends hate him manifested literally in the episode plot? HOWEVER. IT IS STILL MORE COMPLICATED, EVIDENCED BY…

the fact that his friends ACTUALLY do not respect him: there is repeated evidence in the rest of the show that his friends DON’T see him as an equal! i do believe that they genuinely do not hate him, but they certainly do not always treat him well either. red guy and duck don’t always respect each other, but both of them seem to see yellow guy as being on a slightly lower level than the two of them, and they treat him accordingly. he may have had a worm in his brain, but in the plot of the episode, they were the ones who encouraged warren to get into his brain, and they had to fix their fuckup. they may or may not have insulted him in the bleeped instance, but either way, they do not think about the behavior that could have led him to believe they would. the ending message of “your friends love you; don’t let your insecurities get the better of you” is then misleading; they are making it all about his insecurities and not about their behavior. sure, they love him. sure, insecurities can ruin your relationships. but neither of those facts negates that even when both are true, there can still be genuine problems within a friendship that need resolving. and boy do these guys have friendship problems.

the ending fight: peak television. funniest moment in the show. but also it adds to the weird ambiguity of it all. what DOES friendship even mean here? in a world like this, where nothing is ever really true and the enforced narrative is you and not you at the same time? can you ever really understand each other? or maybe it just means that sometimes you do need to call your friend on being a dick for no reason instead of trying to be the bigger person. and sometimes that means hitting him with a glass bottle and a katana and a gatling gun and also a chainsaw. who even knows

anyway that’s all the reasons i find dhmis s1e4 friendship interesting. and also it’s just really funny? the jokes do not stop coming and there’s a bunch of really subtle tiny gags that are just delightful. dhmis is always making you feel several levels of weird complicated emotions at once and this episode really does that to me. all of the lessons it gives have Something within them or in the surrounding context that complicates them or throws them into question. friendship is not the most emotionally devastating episode by a LONG shot (the one-two punch of transport and electricity kills me instantly every time i rewatch), but it is the one with the most weird shit that i keep trying to puzzle out.

[tetsunabouquet]

KNB Headcanon: Mental Health

A/N: We know about Akashi's weirdly written split personality already and whilst I'm not the person who's fond of diagnosing characters there are a few I definitely want to talk about.

-Aomine Daiki: Many have stated they think this man is depressed already, and I do agree with the general consensus. The consistent habits of sleeping on the rooftop, the way how even his friendship with Momoi became more strained, makes it clear he's mentally in a dark place and pretty exhausted with his own talent.

-Speaking of the To-Oh team, Sakurai. I already mentioned in my headcanon about Hyuga, that I feel like Sakurai's apologetic nature shouldn't have been treated like a joke or something to mock as I think he hides some deeper issues. His low self-esteem and self-blaming nature filled with loathing for himself makes me think he's either been bullied since childhood or he has an abusive relative. Children who grow up in an highly critical/verbally abusive households typically develop patterns like apologizing for every god damn thing as their parents will treat their child as an emotional punching bag and they are held responsible for things outside of their control all the time. I swear, To-Oh is the most emotionally broken team after Teiko Middle School.

-Mitobe. His refusal to talk whilst he has the ability does make my own autism radar tingle. I've never met a person outside of the autistic community who hates being verbal. I do think he has some high functioning autistic qualities, but his great emotional support system of his family and friends definitely seemed to have provided him with some preventive treatment to the point he just can flow along in his social life. I also think he's somewhat parentified with the care he provides for his younger siblings.

-Speaking of his friend group, Koganei. The way he lacked focus on how to spend his energy prior to Seirin and how he's stated to hate sitting still just gives me the vibes that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but he's one of the lucky ones that has been outgrowing his ADHD. Which is why he might be able to read Mitobe so well. There are plenty of people who have ADHD and autism and if Koganei did attended some ADHD program as a child he might have made some childhood friends on the spectrum. Perhaps that might be how they became friends considering they go way back.

-This ADHD conversation obviously brings me to the one and only Kotaro Hayama. This boy is like the posterchild of ADHD and he's definitely one of those people who isn't outgrowing their ADHD diagnosis. This boy lives his life energetically and unapologetically, and he will be that way as an adult too.

-Kiyoshi: See my tragic teddybear headcanon. This boy is parentified too because of how much care he gives back to his grandparents. Kiyoshi isn't the one taken care of in his household, it's a give and take with how old they are.

Honorable mention:

-It's difficult to place Murasakibara. I've seen some people make autism claims, but Murasakibara shows plenty of behavior that's very much anti-autistic in a sense? Like his tsundere-like nature doesn't really fits with being honest to a fault like most autistic people are, etc. However, I do feel like he shows some signs of being emotionally stunted and to be at the level of a small child. What kind of mental health issue might be paired with it and if he'll outgrow most of his childlike mindset, are things I am not sure on.

[k12academics]

We utilize professional role-model athletes to entertain and inspire youth in schools and venues nationwide. Our mission is to spread an inspiring and motivational life-changing message to "Live your Dreams" and provide the exact formula (5 Secrets to Success) kids can take with them, memorize and utilize to create their own future success stories.

[101ocs]

The Vega Case 🦢

TW: Mentions of suicide, drug overdose, self-harm, harassment/bullying, and transphobia under the cut. Please proceed at your own risk.

Kamila Vega, Sam’s mother, is a sickly woman with many health conditions that are difficult to treat. Adam Vega, Sam’s father, is a prominent psychologist who finds himself working overseas to assist patients in critical mental conditions, bringing in money for his wife’s medical expenses. While both parents love and dote on Sam, they’re completely unaware of the abuse he faced that led him into the crimes he commits to this day.

Sam’s unstable behavior became a prominent issue in middle school (11-14) when he began exploring his sexual orientation and gender identity. This was also around the time his obsessive compulsions began toward a girl named Annie, who danced on his ballet team and befriended him. The other members of the group would consistently bully Sam over his stutter, gender dysphoria, and sexuality, which led to his severe depression and suicidal ideation. He resorted to self-harm at the age of twelve and has continued ever since.

Sam tried to commit suicide when he was thirteen after various videos and photos of him changing were leaked to the school by his ballet team. He overdosed on his mother’s acetaminophen by taking two times the prescribed dosage and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. He barely survived and was bedridden for several weeks.

Woodlyn’s Middle School department tried their best to cover up the incident and launched an anti-bullying program across their schools, hoping to please the students who were outraged by such cruel behavior from their peers. Despite this, there were no repercussions for the ballet team whatsoever.

After Sam returned to school (15-16), he was instantly recognized and befriended by the school’s most popular kid, Thomas. And although that prevented much of the bullying in school (considering Thomas and his friends would defend Sam), the harassment got even worse at the hands of his ballet team. All the girls, including Annie, were jealous of Sam’s relationship with Thomas and therefore caused them to lash out even harder than the last time.

They invited Sam over to a sleepover to “make things up to him” and “apologize.” In reality, they had conceived a plan to pressure him into suicide. After getting him drunk, they recorded themselves tormenting him in various ways and posted it all over social media. The following week when Sam went to school, he was berated by all his peers for the videos that were posted online. Not only did this include depictions of Sam’s nude body and drunk state of mind, but it also included his journal entries about the crush he had on Annie.

During lunch, Thomas decided to call out every last member of the ballet team for antagonizing Sam again. He embarrassed them by spreading their sex tapes around and each of their gynecologist’s examination notes. As if that wasn’t enough, Thomas also had their college scholarships taken away and permanently added cyberbullying onto their records to ensure they never got any place of employment. Seeing as their social lives were completely destroyed, three of the girls committed “suicide” less than a month later and the other three left the state entirely.

*

Their junior year of high school, Sam and Thomas started dating. It lasted a solid year before Thomas blew it mostly by cheating and somewhat becoming too involved with the criminal organization his father ran. Despite their falling out, Sam still works under his wing sometimes. Unlike the others, Sam makes his crimes look as if they were suicides, leaving no trace of any sort of foul play.

[cynnaminstyx]

Angry Gay Grandpa and the systemic suppresion of anti-trans & anti-lgbtq coverage.

tl;dr: just skip to the second-to-last paragraph if you don't want to know the details.

So, this is the only serious post I'm probably ever going to make, but I've decided to actually make my and other voices heard. I am a 16, soon to be 17 year old youth who is going to talk to my GP about Gender-affirming care and potential HRT. I, along with many of my friends, have been victims of anti-lgbtq harrassment and bigotry. Safe to say, I believe I can speak on this issue In Lancaster, PA, 5 trans and NB youths have taken their lives in the past 18-24 months (facts on this are limited given how little info is out there). The current state senator, Ryan Aument, is one of many conservative representatives who are pushing anti-lgbtq and anti-trans rhetoric and restrictive bills. On April 29th, In protest to the blatant disregard of the mental health crisis facing lgbtq youth, James Lantz, or "Angry Gay Grandpa", went to the Pennsilvania Statehouse to protest this by gluing himself to a railing. After 15 minutes he was unglued by a "capitol nurse" (I assume just the medical staff on site). He then proceded to loudly confront Senator Aument, allegedly tossing fliers out and wearing a shirt for "WHY DID 5 DIE.com". I cannot find this site, but he was wearing the shirt.

(Sources: https://epgn.com/2024/07/02/trans-youth-ally-james-m-lantz-faces-prison-after-gluing-himself-to-capitol-railing/ - https://pghlesbian.medium.com/asking-why-four-young-trans-people-have-died-by-suicide-in-lancaster-pa-pittsburgh-lesbian-db0daa169a38)

The arrest of James Lantz

After this, he was faced with 1 felony count of Criminal Mischief for "27,000$ in property damage", and 2 misdemeanor charges of institutional vandilsim and obstructing a government function. As far as I am aware a trial has yet to occur as he is still uploading to his youtube.

As of today, James Lantz has launched a program called Not Losing You, a "national PSA/commercial supporting trans and LGBTQ youth targeting battleground states in a vital election season". While he has tried to promote this on youtube, but was rejected because of "Shocking Content". Youtube defines shocking content as content with

profane or violent language

discriminatory terms or imagery

Gruesome or Graphic imagery

Gratuitous bodily fluids or waste

Promotions that are likely to shock or scare/promotions that are capitalizing on sensitive events

Scenes containing violent or graphic imagery

shots of violence or gore as a focal point

"other factors" (Source: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6362085?hl=en#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20examples%20of,Gruesome%20imagery)

The shocking content in question? a 27 second piece of the video adressing the quadrupled rate of anti-trans bullying occuring in schools across america. This is an excellent example of corperate censorship, as he stated in his most recent video.

So, what do we do about this? To many I am a number or statistic. To some I am a friend, a stranger, or a lover. But we, as in everyone who sees this, can be part of something bigger than ourselves. If you see this, take time out of your day to listen to Angry Gay Grandpa and others who are speaking out against the systemic hatred in parts of society and the government. If you're feeling brave, go out and make some noise. Peaceful protests, letters to your local lawmakers, essay-lenght awareness pieces like this. Every little contribution, every voice in the chorus of the world, every person who has the gaul to speak out against this makes a difference. https://www.youtube.com/@AngryGayGrandpa

notlosingyou.com

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Roland Fryer

Published: May 9, 2024

The anti-Israel protests on college campuses present a puzzle for observers of academic norms and mores. Today, even relatively minor linguistic infractions, like the failure to use someone’s preferred pronouns, are categorized as abuse at many elite institutions, some of which even define potentially offensive speech as “violence.” One need not even speak to run afoul of campus speech codes; I recently participated in a training in which we were warned of the consequences of remaining silent if we heard someone “misgender” someone else.

Definitions of “harmful” speech have become so capacious that one assumes they include antisemitism. In some cases, they surely do: A university wouldn’t take a hands-off approach to a student or faculty member who expressed prejudice against Jews in the manner of Archie Bunker or the Charlottesville marchers. Yet that’s what many of them have done when faced with protesters’ speech that is offensive to Jews, even when it crosses the line into threats, intimidation and harassment.

At a December congressional hearing, the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT struggled to answer when Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the schools’ “code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and harassment.” Two of the presidents lost their jobs, but the central question remains unresolved: How could it be that the university is zealous about policing pronouns but blasé about the advocacy of hateful violence?

For someone who prides himself on adherence to fact, reason and rationality, trying to follow the logic of university decision-making over the past five years has been a mind-bending experience. But universities are also political entities, where competing interests vie for influence over the function and purpose of the institution. In the case of the protests, two competing interests have made themselves heard most loudly: students and faculty who are hostile to Israel and alumni donors who see the protests as antisemitic. Caught between them are administrators, who must figure out how to balance these interests without entirely losing the faith of either group.

This dynamic can be explained by economic theory. In the early 1970s, economist Michael Spence introduced the concept of signaling, which has since become one of the foundations of information economics and earned Mr. Spence the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. This seminal concept helps explain how individuals and organizations communicate their attributes or intentions in situations of information asymmetry.

The best-known application is the job market. Employers and potential employees face a situation in which applicants have more information about their productivity than the employer, since the employer can’t directly observe those qualities before hiring. To overcome this asymmetry, job seekers engage in signaling—taking actions that can credibly convey information about their abilities. Such signals include everything from educational credentials to the way the applicant dresses for an interview.

When I encountered Mr. Spence’s model in graduate school, I was mesmerized. My doctoral dissertation extended his work to understand underinvestment in education in some black communities. The basic economics also seem applicable to what’s going on now on college campuses.

The key idea is that the protests present university administrations with a two-audience signaling quandary: Behaviors that appease students may anger alumni, and vice versa. Like a job applicant’s potential productivity, university administrators’ political preferences are hidden from students and alumni, but they may signal them in various ways. They may choose a liberal commencement speaker rather than a conservative one, they may create programs that emphasize “inclusiveness,” and so on. Students and alumni observe these strategic disclosures of preference, and each group decides whether to accept the decision or agitate against it.

University administrators whose preferences align most closely with their alumni will ignore the students and simply do what they think is best, as the University of Florida’s president did when he banned encampments and declared that the school is “not a daycare.” Those whose views align with the protesting students will do the opposite.

But most top administrators don’t have such strong preferences. They will engage in a high-wire act of trying to appease both students and alumni. If students decide “safety first” is the most important initiative on campus, administrators—even if they disagree—will adopt stances consistent with that and hope the alumni don’t revolt too much. If a few months later students set up encampments and chant anti-Israel slogans, then administrators will also adopt stances consistent with that and, again, hope the alumni don’t complain too much.

The congressional hearings revealed that this signaling strategy was at work. The three presidents would risk alienating students if they disavowed anti-Israel slogans and alumni if they endorsed them. So they offered lawyered-up equivocations that signaled confusion and weakness.

Economic theory can explain why the situation on so many campuses has spiraled out of control and why no interested party—neither students nor donors nor seemingly anybody else—has anything good to say about how administrators are handling the protests. But economics can’t address the more essential issue at play, which is moral. Elite universities decided years ago that they would adopt a basic principle: Any speech act that attacks, questions or even declines to affirm the self-understood identity of another constitutes harm worthy of punishment.

I may not like that principle, but it’s now a fait accompli. And if you’re going to punish one person who violates it, you have to punish everyone who violates it. To permit attacks on one identity group while prohibiting attacks on others is worse than hypocrisy—it is profoundly immoral. If administrators had the courage of their stated convictions, if they had principles rather than merely gestures meant to signal their status as good liberals, the most egregious antisemitism on campus would have been stopped before it could snowball.

Mr. Fryer is a professor of economics at Harvard, a founder of Equal Opportunity Ventures and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

[188533241]

New College of Florida was a safe haven for me as a transgender student. I spent 19 years growing up in the conservative Midwest, constantly being reminded of how my differences made me less than others. My high school teachers would start class discussions about the legitimacy of transgender lives and bodies, almost always met by the students around me with disrespect for queer people. My doctor had come to my doorstep, my own home, telling me that I was wrong and sinful for trying to seek out gender-affirming care through him, which would be the catalyst for my suicide attempt at 16 years old. In the year of my high school German teacher's retirement, he targeted my trans peers by giving them letters explaining why they were Godless for their decision to transition, with each letter including candy and a DVD about religion. I knew two trans kids in school who would end up killing themselves from bullying. Throughout all of these injustices I've experienced, no one has faced repercussions.

When I finally graduated high school, I was excited about the possibility of leaving the state for somewhere more accepting. I found a sense of actual community at New College of Florida, where I was looked at and treated as an equal despite my gender identity. New College is known for its openly queer and outspoken student body, and after years of having no friends, New College is the place where I finally developed a friend group that I felt understood me.

Just as soon as I had found some semblance of community, it was ripped from me. Towards the tail end of my first year, the governor of Florida had begun to specifically target New College in hopes of changing the culture of the student body, both scared of Florida's honors college being associated with leftist ideas and wanting a college takeover as a chip to gamble in the upcoming presidential election. Ron Desantis has passed multiple anti-LGBTQ laws in Florida, has banned gender studies and critical race theory, and has openly made it clear that we -- queer students -- are no longer welcome on campus. From tossing dozens of books out of our campus library to painting over student-made murals, Desantis' team as our new administration is actively trying to push out queer students from New College.

New College offered both queer and non-queer students an alternative and accepting education that is hard to find anywhere else. Even with offers being made to help New College students such as the Hampshire tuition match program, many students can not afford to leave Florida, especially without the amazing scholarships, financial aid, and other general opportunities that New College has provided its students in the past. These types of anti-LGBTQ laws aren't just happening in Florida. Without active resistance to conservative education reform, there will be fewer and fewer spaces for transgender students to feel welcome and safe.

If you are interested in learning more about the disadvantages affecting transgender students pursuing education, please visit #TransgenderFirst.

If you're interested in learning more about New College and how you can help, visit Save New College.