#but I did go to elementary in Tennessee

[candy-ac3]

Remembering how I’m 5th grade our history teacher let us do a PowerPoint presentation on literally any historical person (when I say any I mean any) and so I decided to do mine on Mr didn’t get into art school and hated Jews, and younger me explaining how he was an awful person and what his history was like, and when I was done my teacher made a small joke that was like “well they better let you into art school”

Tbh I don’t know what was worst, a 5th grader explaining the guy behind WWII to a bunch of other 5th graders, the fact that the teacher was cool with it, or that the teacher even made a joke

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Shortly after news broke Monday of a fatal shooting at a private Christian Nashville elementary school, police said the suspect was transgender. This detail, according to trans people in the state, has poured fuel on an already combustive environment that has led many of them to fear for their safety.

Police say Audrey Hale, who was killed by responding officers, fatally shot three 9-year-old students and three staffers at The Covenant School. Though police have said there is no known motive for the shooting, some conservatives have blamed the shooting on the suspect’s gender identity.

Within 10 minutes of police saying that the suspect was transgender, the hashtag #TransTerrorism trended on Twitter. Around the same time, Republican lawmakers — including Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — insinuated in social media posts that the shooter’s gender identity played a role in the shooting. And by Tuesday morning, the cover of the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post read: “Transgender killer targets Christian school.”

“We are terrified for the LGBTQ community here,” Kim Spoon, a trans activist based in Knoxville, Tennessee, said. “More blood’s going to be shed, and it’s not going to be shed in a school.”

Denise Sadler, a drag performer who is transgender, said she had already hired four armed guards before Monday’s shooting to secure a drag show she is hosting at a gay bar in Nashville this weekend. Following the anti-trans rhetoric spawned by the shooting, Sadler said she is now planning to hire eight.

“You don’t know if [the shooter’s gender identity] is going to trigger a community of people who already hated us to come and try to shoot us to prove a point,” Sadler said. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of hurt going on, there’s a lot of anger going on, there’s a lot of confusion going on.”

During a press conference Tuesday, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said a motive for the shooting was still unknown. The day prior, however, his response when asked if Hale’s identity was connected to the motive left the door open to speculation.

“There is some theory to that,” Drake said. “We’re investigating all the leads.”

It is also unclear how police knew that the suspect was transgender.

Trans men are assigned female at birth and identify as men, while trans women are assigned male at birth and identify as women. When asked Monday whether Hale was a trans man or trans woman, Drake said “woman,” though Hale’s LinkedIn account and interviews with those who knew Hale indicate otherwise.

Bill Campbell, the headmaster of The Covenant School from 2004 to 2008, said Hale attended the school as a child in 2005 and 2006 and identified as female during that time. As an adult, though, it appears Hale may not have identified as female. Hale’s LinkedIn page, which has since been removed, states that Hale used “he” and “him” pronouns. And a friend of Hale’s, Averianna Patton, who said Hale messaged her shortly before the shooting, said Hale signed the message “Aubrey (Aiden),” using Hale’s given name along with a traditionally male name.

Aislinn Bailey, the acting president of Tri-Cities Transgender, a trans-led support and advocacy group based in Johnson City, Tennessee, said her initial reaction to news that the suspect was transgender was fear.

“I knew that as soon as anyone mentioned that, it was immediately going to become the center focus instead of what should be the focus, and that’s gun violence in this country,” Bailey said.

She condemned the choice by police to release information about the suspect’s gender identity when they did not appear certain about it.

“I think it was unethical and highly suspect that information like that, which they had to have known could cause backlash on the trans community — releasing information like that without it being verified, that’s unconscionable as far as I’m concerned,” Bailey said.

She added, “We were already fearing for our lives. Now, it’s even worse.”

Over the last several years, historic numbers of bills targeting LGBTQ people have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, including in Tennessee’s. This year, state lawmakers filed more than 400 such bills — more than half of them targeting trans people specifically — according to the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate group of researchers who are tracking the flow of legislation.

So far this year, Tennessee lawmakers passed two bills targeting LGBTQ people: A first-of-its-kind law that will criminalize some drag performances takes effect Saturday, and another that will ban gender-affirming care for the state’s minors becomes effective July 1.

Nathan Higdon, the chief financial officer of Knoxville Pride Center, is helping organize protests against the new drag law in Nashville and Knoxville this upcoming weekend. Higdon said that while he and other organizers are “scared shitless” that the conservative backlash over the shooter’s suspected gender identity will prompt violence, they’re going forward with the events as planned.

“The people who hate us are always going to hate us,” Higdon said. “We can’t not do these things. We just can’t not show up.”

Threats and attacks of violence directed at the LGBTQ community have spiked recently, with drag performances becoming a particularly popular target.

Last year, there were at least 140 incidents of protests and threats directed at drag events, which have deep roots in the queer community, according to the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

Just last week, one man was arrested and another was left bloodied as dozens of people protested a Drag Story Hour event in New York City, and on Sunday, an Ohio church alleged on its Instagram account that it had been vandalized with Molotov cocktails after advertising that it would be hosting a Drag Story Hour event in April.

Jace Wilder, the education director for the Tennessee Equality Project, a Nashville-based LGBTQ advocacy group, said the suspect’s gender identity “does not change the horror of what they did no matter their reasoning.”

“It is unfair and inappropriate to ask trans people to speak on this person and the lives they took,” Wilder said in a message to NBC News. “We, just like all other Tennesseans, are mourning. There is no politics I could possibly care about right now when children are dead. End of story. I pray and will stand with the families of all the victims and for peace for our community and I hope we can all show up for them and each other in this time.”

[twothpaste]

Essential world building question; who in your intermission au smokes weed or would try it given the chance (besides Kuma of course)

Aw hell yeah, essential indeed! Answers below the cut:

Kumatora's whole family smokes, often as a communal activity when they get together. She grew up familiar with the stuff, it's no wonder where she gets it. She enjoys a fat doobie or perhaps a pot brownie pretty regularly.

Lucas likes weed. It especially helps ease his anxiety and stress. He will smoke with Kuma, Duster, and/or DCMC on occasion, but prefers baking his own edibles. I think his tolerance is actually kinda low - if he gets too high he Will start getting scared. Thankfully he's quite mindful of his limits.

Claus has tried weed multiple times, desperately hoping to enjoy it with his loved ones & reap some of the benefits his brother talks about, but truth be told? He can hardly stand it! He gets restless and uneasy, it messes with his dissociative symptoms. Being under the influence of any substance makes him feel like he isn't in control, which scares him :( Sometimes he'll try Lucas' edibles if they're dosed real low. Otherwise, he's given up and learned to avoid it.

Duster smokes and eats so much weed. He even dabbles in hemp products galore, for pain and stress management. If Wess had any idea, the old man would be popping blood vessels about it. I think Duster smoked his first blunt at like age 36 with OJ n' the boys, and never looked back.

Hinawa used to smoke mad pot, but stopped when she n' Flint decided to start a family. She got Flint in on it with her for a little bit, when they were just a couple young hooligans gallivanting about in Tennessee. He did enjoy it with her, but not alone or with anyone else - so he hasn't touched the stuff since she passed away. I think his family was a lot more straightedge than hers (wrt weed at least...). Needless to say, Grandpa Alec was and is an absolute pothead.

Jeff has tried weed at least once. Didn't really see the appeal. Straight-faced, unimpressed, "Eh, it's nothing special." If a friend offered it, he probably wouldn't be opposed. But he's not really itching to try it again.

Poo has considered it - might be a pleasant relief from his nonstop responsibilities - but he is genuinely terrified if he tries weed even once he'll become hopelessly hooked on it. He doesn't want to know what he's missing, lest he dampen his life's ambitions and disappoint his family and so on and so forth. (He will probably try it in his 30's or 40's and go "Ah. This rather nice." And it'll be utterly unremarkable.)

Ness and Paula are straight-laced rosy-cheeked good little suburban kids turned upstanding college students, god forbid they ever even dare to look at a marijuana leaf.

Porky boasts that he has done weed (and various other drugs he heard about on podcasts). In reality, he has never touched any illicit substances, and would be scared to do so.

Picky smoked pot once with some other kids behind the football field at his high school. He coughed a lot, and didn't like it very much. Lardna smelled it on him and yelled at him. His stepdad, Mr. Prettyman, sat down beside him later and lectured him gently on the dangers of drugs, in an "anti-drug campaign for elementary schoolers" kinda way, rather than a sensible adult to a teenager kinda way. Picky decided then and there he'd never do it again. Not worth the hassle. Jeez.

[alarrylarrie]

Hi please can you explain the latest nightmare stuff from the US? I live in France.

Yeah, I definitely can.

However, in order to explain the current political landscape, I have to discuss recent events. So to be safe, I’m going to give a MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING for the following: guns/gun violence, violence against children, school shootings, LGBTQ issues, specifically trans issues, discussion of violence against marginalized communities, antisemitism, environmental issues, and political unrest/ violence, loss of basic human rights.

And just to be extra cautious, I’ll add a cut. Protect your peace, people. Seems like we have so little left.

Okay. So. It’s really hard to know where to start.

Yesterday, we had yet another mass shooting. This one was at a school in Tennessee. An elementary school. Three children died, as did three adults. It’s awful. Additionally, the shooting was committed by a trans person.

I say that only because it’s relevant. Anti-trans rhetoric has been ratcheting up. Anti-every marginalizes group, actually. 385 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in the last year alone. And the red states, (conservative majority led states) emboldened by the extreme and corrupt conservative Supreme Court, are just saying the quiet parts out loud now. Bills that would sentence a woman to death for an abortion? Check. Bills that would punish a woman for taking birth control? Check. Bills that dictate who you can marry? Check. Bills that end free speech on the internet? Check. Bills that say who can play what sports, that end gender affirming care, that take trans kids away from their parents? Check check fucking check. Bills that dictate what curriculum can be taught in schools and end classes like gender studies, LGBTQ history, racial history of America, and Jewish studies? Yep, got those too.

You slap all of that on top of a country broken by corporate greed and end stage capitalism. Add Biden’s green lighting of the Willow Project, which will devastate natural resources and even further expedite climate change. Oh and don’t forget Trump fanning the flames of political violence with his grievance “take back our country” politics, and you have the cesspool that is the current American political landscape. A waking nightmare from which there seems to be no end in sight. And I haven’t even mentioned police brutality, still going strong, or the possible re-emergence of family separation, or the sure fire end to a mailed form of medical abortion, or the Wisconsin supreme court election that holds our “democracy” in its balance, or the supreme court’s rulings on some massive cases, including Moore V. Harper, which threatens the validity of our vote in this country, and so so much more.

TL;DR- we are not okay.

[tb-gerschutz]

Chapter Six

Word Count: 2,963

Trigger Warning(s): possible cursing, graphic depictions of violence (including mentions of weapons), etc.

Summary: Veronica and Whiskey are on the run after a clash at an NFL game...

******

Soon came Sunday, which was pretty much the start of a new week. However, it sure doesn’t feel like a new week. Considering that it’s a mundane routine to stay incognito and keep running from Balor, I’m on the verge of going insane. It’s a good thing that Whiskey keeps me in check, though. If not for him, I would’ve driven myself off a cliff by now. 

But today was the day that Whiskey and I would go to a Titans football game. My first away game in quite a while. I hadn’t been out of state in a long time. Not since I was fairly young, around upper elementary or middle school age. The family went to Miami because my uncle Derrick got us tickets to a Titans game there, and since it was during my Thanksgiving break, my family and I decided to go. 

Since then, we haven’t really been out of the state of Tennessee. 

It wasn’t a terrible drive for Whiskey and I to get to the stadium, and we even got special parking because of our status, not just on a governmental level. We also had a great status because of our relationship with my uncle, who’s one of the top guys behind-the-scenes in the NFL. 

“Remember, sugar. If they ask what government agency we work for, we say—” Whiskey said.

“We can’t disclose that information because it’s a federal offense,” I said. 

Whiskey nodded. “They’ll most likely ask about our status with your uncle, so what do we say if they ask that?”

I sighed. “Derrick Crawford is my uncle, and he’s the athletic director for the Tennessee Titans organization. I can put him on the phone if you want to confirm, but he said that we get all the VIP amenities available.”

“Very good, baby,” he said as we got out of the truck. 

Before we went in, I slipped my Titans jersey—of number twenty-two, Derrick Henry, of course—over top of my long-sleeved black t-shirt before following Whiskey inside the stadium. Even though no backpacks were allowed in the stadium, Whiskey and I got the exception because of our jobs. 

“Badges please,” the person at the gate said. 

Whiskey and I flashed our VIP badges, which meant that I could start my spiel. “Veronica Crawford, government agent. This is my partner right here.”

“And what government agency do you work for?” the person asked. 

I smirked. “We can’t disclose that information. It’s considered a federal offense. However, we did get granted special access to certain amenities because of our relationship with Derrick Crawford, the athletic director of the Titans organization.”

“Mm hmm,” the ticket person said. “And how are you related to him?”

“I’m his niece,” I simply answered. 

The ticket person’s eyes widened. “Your uncle is Derrick?” Afterwards, I nodded to confirm that fact. 

Eventually, Whiskey and I were allowed to pass, so that we could go onto the field for pregame access. With all these amenities that Whiskey and I got, it made me realize that at this point, we were being treated differently than the others. Like we were being privileged just because we work for the government. 

Once we got onto the field, Whiskey and I watched as the players warmed up for their imminent game. It was definitely an experience that felt so surreal to me, like I died and went to heaven, almost. It was especially surreal when I caught a glance of Derrick Henry warming up.

I was completely mesmerized, mainly because I’d never seen such a sight before. I’ve never seen NFL players—let alone one of my favorite ones of all time—warm up on the field in real time. I’d only seen them through a television screen. So seeing Derrick Henry warm up in real time was just simply amazing to me. 

“It’s so amazing,” I breathlessly said.

“Well, yeah, sugar. I’m lookin’ right at you,” he said. 

I shot a quick glance over to him, trying so hard not to blush. “Not me, silly. I’m talking about this on-field experience. It’s—it’s amazing! Have you ever been this close to the field?”

He shook his head back and forth. “Mm mmm. Not this close, sugar.”

“Well, it’s a new experience for both of us,” I said. 

After a while, Whiskey and I headed up to our suite so we could get a great view of the game below. Once I opened the door, I was immediately in awe with what I saw. It was so huge and fancy, unlike any rooms I was used to. It was giving me “Metropolitan” vibes—fancy, expensive, something the rich people would relax in on a regular basis. 

“Damn!” I exclaimed. “You were able to afford all this?”

Whiskey shrugged. “Remember, sugar. I pulled a couple strings with your uncle. He helped me snag all the amenities we get today.”

“It helps to know people, doesn’t it?” I shrugged. 

“It sure does,” he responded. 

And Whiskey and I continued on, cheering on the Tennessee Titans like obnoxious die-hard fans. Of course, I was a die-hard fan. Whiskey was not. He was just happy to see me so happy. As long as I was happy, he was happy. 

But my joyful, giddy mood soon turned into a sour one.

Whilst Whiskey and I were continuing to cheer on the Titans, I noticed an oddly eerie sight. An eerie sight that sent chills down my spine. In the section below the suite Whiskey and I were in, a man had stood up and was slowly climbing the stairs. But he stopped after only a few steps and just stared at Whiskey and I’s suite. It was like he was immediately frozen right there. I was very creeped out by his presence there. 

“Whiskey, Whiskey!” I said, tapping his shoulder incessantly. 

He glanced over. “What, sugar?”

I pointed to the strange man down below. The man who now looked oddly familiar. He looked like the same man who chased Whiskey and I out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And Whiskey must’ve agreed with me too. 

“He looks familiar,” he said. “Too familiar.”

“I know, right? It’s so familiar that it’s creepy,” I answered back. 

Once this strange man was reaching into his back pocket, I knew that he was pulling out his phone. It would be an extremely dumb move to pull out a gun in the middle of a stadium, with the added chance that you’d be on live television. This guy, however…I could tell he wasn’t stupid enough to do that. 

“What are you doing?” Whiskey asked, as I fondled my phone. 

“Figuring out what the hell this guy’s saying to God knows who,” I answered, finally managing to ping his cell phone and hack into it. I had to figure out what this guy was talking about.

“What’s he saying?” Whiskey questioned eagerly. 

I made Whiskey go quiet, as I carefully listened in on what this guy was saying. He was speaking in a very thick Polish accent, so it was very hard to try and pick up on his words. I only mildly understood what he was saying just by his facial expressions and his bodily gestures. 

And I could tell that it was not looking good for me and Whiskey. 

“Whiskey, we gotta get the hell out of here!” I said sternly. 

“Why’s that?” he asked. 

I glanced over at him with stern yet mildly concerned eyes. “Because I think the same guy who ran us out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is onto us again!”

Whiskey looked through a pair of binoculars I had, and he too was just as shocked and concerned as I was. “Yeah, sugar. I think you’re right.”

Still talking on the phone, the man pointed directly up toward the direction of our suite. And I could tell that what he said on the phone wasn’t particularly nice. 

“We gotta go!” I said, quickly starting to gather up all of my things in a hurry. 

Whiskey—thank God—followed in what I was doing. “Yeah. We gotta get the hell outta here before he pumps us full of bullets.”

We were especially careful when he and I exited the suite and ventured out because we didn’t know where this man was. Nor did we know if he was alone or not. Whiskey and I had to be extra careful because our lives depended on it. 

We managed to enter a nearby stairwell that wasn’t too far from where Whiskey and I were. We had only gotten down one or two flights of stairs when I heard heavy, rapid footsteps following us. Once Whiskey and I looked up to see who it was, it was the same man, but he had a couple of comrades to help him with the chase. 

“There they are!” the leading man said, pointing down to Whiskey and I. 

That’s when we began to bolt down the stairs while those men chased us. I struggled with descending the stairs at a quick rate, mainly because of a previous injury I experienced from two years ago. I recall that two years ago, I broke my ankle during a standoff somewhere in Russia. Despite it being two years later and the break fully healing, I still walk with a slight limp. 

Luckily, throughout all this, Whiskey made sure that I was ahead of him and made sure that I was safe. 

After dashing for what seemed like forever, Whiskey and I had finally made it to the truck, with the men closely behind us. Finding that chasing us did no good, these men decided to pull out their guns and start firing. They weren’t the greatest of aims because all the bullets kept missing us. Whiskey was the one driving, and I was the one who was in the bed of the truck providing some counterfire. 

It was hard to land some good shots, considering Whiskey was driving so wildly that I was almost tossed from the vehicle numerous times. But despite his radical-ass driving, I managed to land a couple shots on some of the other men, shooting them in their shoulders, arms or legs. They were all in cars, so I considered this feat quite impressive. 

As the chase went on, I managed to get a lovely idea that I thought would surely make these men think twice about chasing us again. 

“Whiskey! Whiskey, I got an idea!” I exclaimed, continuing to provide cover fire. 

“It better be a good one, sugar,” he said, “because they’re so close to getting us.”

I clicked my tongue for a bit as I fired off a couple more shots to keep the men off our backs for the time being. “You know Cleveland pretty well, don’t you?”

“I’d say so,” Whiskey replied. “Why do you ask?”

I nodded in acceptance. “Find the closest alleyway, pull into it so that the bed of the truck is facing the road, and keep quiet. I was gonna pull a sneak attack on these guys.”

His eyes widened, but he luckily kept his focus on the road. “You’re crazy, Rocky, but I trust you. Aren’t ya gonna run out of bullets here real soon?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” I said with a wide, evil grin. “I got just the perfect backup plan.”

Eventually, Whiskey found the perfect alleyway and pulled into it, parking the truck as soon as he was in far enough. He got out and came alongside the bed—which I was still crouched in—to see if he could be of any help.

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked.

I shook my head back and forth. “Just get your gun ready just in case I get overrun. I have an ingenious plan.”

“Do enlighten me,” he said. 

A mischievous grin spread across my face. “These guys are gonna think we’re hiding out at the bar that’s right next to here. So they’re gonna park their car a little bit further away with the idea that they’re gonna surprise us once they enter. They won’t know that we’re hiding out in this alley, which means we’ll get the jump on them and most likely buy ourselves time to get out.”

“Yeah. We gotta buy ourselves time so we can properly make our exit tomorrow,” Whiskey said. “Where we’re going after this, I don’t know. I guess it’s wherever the roads lead us.”

Once we heard a couple car doors slam shut, we both knew that it was time. Time to jump into action. “It’s time, Whiskey,” I whispered, grabbing one of my glocks. “Stay as quiet as you can possibly be.”

“You’re using one of your glocks for close-up combat?” Whiskey asked.

I nodded. “Duh! When I’m beating their skulls to a pulp, I can use the butt of this glock to make them more likely to get knocked out or at the very least…have a nasty concussion.”

He smiled as he crouched down in the shadows to avoid being seen. I, however, stood against the cold brick wall so I could be in the right position to attack. And even though it only took a couple minutes, it felt like an eternity waiting for these guys. As soon as they walked past, I hopped into action by climbing onto the lead man’s back, choking him from behind. 

The other men tried their best to hit me and get me off him, but it didn’t work. Whiskey was already knocking out one guy before handling the rest of them. I had just successfully made the lead man catch his breath on his knees before going after the others, but my mood quickly changed when one of them slapped me across the face. 

Although Whiskey was debating on whether or not to kill him right then and there for hitting his girl, I had a better plan. I beat this man to a pulp, even going as far as kicking him in the groin. Luckily, that made him and the others—including the lead man—accept their temporary defeat and flee from us. Whiskey and I were left catching our breaths after they were gone.

“Are you okay, sugar?” he asked me. 

I nodded. “Mm hmm. I think so.”

Then, I felt something drip from my nose and onto the ground. Upon closer examination, I found out that my nose was now a bloody mess. “Oh no. My nose!”

Whiskey noticed it right away. “Oh my, Rocky. I got some stuff for that in the truck.”

“You keep stuff in there just in case there’s a bloody nose?” I asked.

He nodded. “Well, yeah. After all those times when you’d get bopped in the nose, I took it upon myself to stock up on plenty of nosebleed kits for you. Just in case it happens again.”

“Really? You didn’t have to,” I commented.

“Of course I had to,” he replied. “You’re my partner, but most importantly—you’re my girlfriend. I have to take care of you in any way I can.”

He led me back to the truck, being cautious of my bloody nose. “Now, come on. Let’s get you all cleaned up.”

In a flash, Whiskey had managed to successfully stop my bloody nose in only a couple minutes, managing to stop me from losing too much blood. That’s one thing I love about Whiskey, among many other good qualities. He’s caring, more caring than anyone in this world. He would drop everything and anything to make sure that I was okay. That’s the kind of man he is…and I’m glad to have such a man in my life. I don’t know what I’d do without him. 

* * * * * *

Whiskey and I jumped straight into action the next morning. No matter what, our first priority was to get the hell out of Cleveland, so that Balor’s men won’t be up our asses. If we got moving now without anyone knowing, then we could get to a city decently far away without Balor or his men noticing that we’re gone. 

I prayed to God that we got to a city far away from Cleveland. 

Once Whiskey and I got checked out, we made our way back to the parking garage where the truck was parked. We had to park it far away in one of the most obscure spots because of that chase yesterday. We had to keep the truck out of sight, just in case Balor’s men are still hunting us, which seems very likely. 

“Where are we going, Whiskey?” I asked. 

He shrugged and started up the truck. “I don’t know, sugar. I guess we’ll see where the roads take us.”

“Let’s hope it’s somewhere far away from here,” I commented. 

“For sure,” he said back. “We need to get the hell outta here for our own safety. If we don’t, then we’re fucked and dead.”

I nodded, being satisfied with Whiskey’s answer. To be honest, I didn’t care where we went. I just wanted to get out of Cleveland so that Balor’s men aren’t on our asses like they were. We had to get out for our own safety. Whiskey was sure right about that. 

As soon as Whiskey got onto a big highway, I knew that we were temporarily free. Free from being in danger. But despite this feeling of freedom, we both knew one fact—that we were still being hunted. Hunted down viciously by Balor, whose anger fuels his path of destruction. At least Whiskey and I are safe and alive. Alive enough to live another day. Alive enough to continue this wild-ass game of cat-and-mouse. No matter how long it takes, I will play this drawn-out game. But I’ll only play it if Balor gets what he deserves…

…A death by a thousand torturous ways…

…And a guaranteed one-way ticket to the deepest, darkest hell known to man. 

[ge-anne]

30 Years…

I accepted my first teaching job over the phone at a state park in Sparta, Tennessee. Our church was on a family picnic and there was a pay phone in the pavilion. It rang, and I was called to the phone where my mother informed me that I needed to return a phone call to the principal of Morrison Elementary School in my hometown of McMinnville.

I did return that call and I reported to work the following week…an 8th grade homeroom teacher without a classroom, without student desks, and without a clue.

The next 30 years have been such a ride! After teaching middle school in a K-8 rural school, I moved to an elementary position, where I would teach grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 over the next couple of decades. In 2003, I moved down to Georgia where they respected, trained, and paid teachers more and I fell in love with my profession. Who knew that professional learning and graduate school could light a learner’s heart and make that person an evangelist for learning?

In 2008, I earned my educational specialist degree in Technology in Education, my second instructional technology graduate degree and hoped to find a job in instructional technology. I loved my assignment as a computer lab teacher, but I wanted to show other teachers how to help students learn to use all these digital tools and platforms to show what they knew and to synthesize their research, thoughts, and artifacts of learning.

Instead, the USA hit a recession and I would end up back in the classroom for a couple of years. 

Somewhere in the years around 2010 or so I found something called “Twitter” and learned how to use that platform to learn from other teachers. 

In 2012, my assistant principal bopped over to my room and excitedly told me of this vision she had of me working in the school library. I barely listened to her go on about how the library practice was being reformed and changed into a place of leadership, learning, discovery, and support for ALL learners and for teachers. She said that as she listened, she kept seeing my face.

Unimpressed, I noted the conversation, but thought that she had some bad coffee or something. 

But, that conversation had planted a seed.

In 2014, I earned my certificate to practice as a school library media specialist. More importantly, I learned that I was no longer just a teacher; rather, I was now a servant leader. 

Leadership had never appealed to me. I don’t like having to correct people. I wear my emotions on my face and I take everything to heart. 

Servant leadership, however, had a great appeal to me. There was just one problem. 

I didn’t know how to serve.

Growing up in a dysfunctional family that resulted in my being neglected for much of the time, I had learned that I could change by mimicking the behavior of others. This I did with regard to servant leadership.

In 2014, I had the immense privilege of working for a great friend who was the principal of a small K-5 school. I would only work for him for one year, but I studied his ways and saw how he truly served his staff and how he used his gift of empathy to better serve his students and their families.

Moving on to the high school level and to my first official “instructional tech” gig, I was warmly greeted by both an administrator team and a mentor media specialist who took the time and effort to truly mentor me. That time helped me learn how to develop into a better educator through deep reflection.

For several years…from about 2012 until 2017, if I recall correctly, there was ONE district that I really wanted to work in. I followed their social media. I met their instructional tech team. I attended and participated in their EdCamp. This is where I REALLY wanted to work.

In May 2017, I got that golden opportunity.

For the last seven years, I have had the enormous privilege of serving this team, this community and these educators in the field of instructional technology and in the area of leading the amazing media specialists in the district.

I finally came home.

The last seven years have been the best years of my teaching career. They have also been some of the most challenging years for me personally. It was while working for this district that I received the diagnosis of my daughter’s Autism Spectrum Disorder. It was here that we (somehow) dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual learning. It was in my tenure here that I went through a devastating divorce. 

But…

It was also here that I gained an office big brother, mentor parents, amazing friends, a spiritual little brother and best friend, and…last year…quite unexpectedly…a husband who loves and adores both me and my daughter.

“#OneWhitfield forever” is the message our Superintendent wrote in his retirement card message to me.

Indeed.

So, today I leave behind three decades of work and passion and turn my face toward the path that God has chosen for me next.

Godspeed and may His face shine upon those of you still in the trenches!

[mightyflamethrower]

Portraits in Public Education: Ezra Fry and David Acevedo

Public schools offer job security, undemanding work, plenty of time off, and generous benefits. For degenerates, they now offer even more: a climate conducive to their lifestyle, into which the liberal establishment encourages them to induct children. That’s why so many public school teachers get arrested for sex crimes. It’s why guys who should not be allowed within 10 yards of a child are put in charge of classrooms — like Ezra Fry and David Acevedo.

From Daily Mail:

A trans and queer activist couple who are substitute teachers for a Tennessee school district were recently busted for prostitution in Tennessee after an undercover sting by police. Ezra Fry, 22, and David Acevedo, 25, were cited in late August when Chattanooga Police Narcotics and detectives went undercover in a prostitution sting. … ‘I don’t care, everyone has seen my [privates],’ Fry allegedly said to an officer.

Let’s hope that doesn’t include kids at school. Teachers unions have blocked cameras in the classroom, so who knows?

Officers also found ‘a large amount of drug paraphernalia’ inside the home…

Drugs go with the lifestyle.

The couple both worked as special education teachers in the Hamilton school district.

Kids with special needs are in special hands.

The Tennessee Conservative reported last April on Fry showing up for work dressed as a woman with bright pink hair and making kids call him “Mrs.”

Fumes Hamilton County resident Mark Caldwell,

“[P]arents of these first graders had no advance knowledge about this ‘teacher,’ and did not consent to their children being exposed to this gender-dysphoric indoctrination. For the record, I believe how an adult wants to “identify” is their personal business, but it becomes all of our business when they take that identity public in order to groom young children with their identity disorder.”

Tennessee Conservative notes that math proficiency at East Ridge Elementary School is 22%. But no doubt the kids are plenty proficient in LGBT ideology.

Regarding the pair’s qualifications to teach:

Fry’s Instagram bio lists [him] as “Rabid Queer, Gender Anarchist, College Dropout,” while Acevedo’s account, which is private, lists him as a “Trans, Disabled, Queer, Puerto Rican, ExEd Teacher.”

If their teaching careers in Tennessee don’t pan out, they ought to apply for top positions in Biden’s Department of Education.

[ponds-of-ink]

Bell-Bottomed Bella Written “Opener”

Weird time to be uploading this on my end, but I can’t sleep. At least it’s the perfect time to show off something I’ve written as a “rough pilot opener” to the series.

Don’t worry if none of this makes a lick of sense. I’ll explain the new characters and stuff later.

-

It was a nice Autumn day in Wersterfield, Tenny-see. Rock Candy Lake glistened in the pale sunlight, the tourists’ cameras flashed at the Legendary Statues, and the older townsfolk laughed about the inside joke of calling their home state of Tennessee “Tenny-see” just to mess with people. …The author of this book included.

Apart from the author (who is still currently seething at old pronunciation habits), everyone went about their normal routines without a care in the world. Why, even Bell-Bottomed Bella had a peppier skip that morning! That little gloomy pretender!

In fact, Bella’s walk was so upbeat that a fellow schoolmate had to comment on it. “Something the matter, Bell?” an older girl asked as she joined her friend’s side. “You’re not doing your moody little stomp today.”

“Nope!” Bella smiled cheerfully. “I’m just so excited for Reading Time! Ol’ Jeb’s gonna be telling the Pretty Polly story!”

“Pretty Polly, huh?” Bella’s friend asked with a frown. “That can be one of two different stories to me. Is it the parrot of Goldbeard or the Pretty Girl of the Harlans?”

“The Harlans,” Bella quickly answered, thrill rumbling through her voice. “And you know what that means, Rem.”

“I have a guess,” Rem corrected casually. “Is it something to do with Rites of Passage?”

Bella only replied with a determined giggle.

Rem blinked slowly. “Look,” she purred lazily. “I’m glad you finally get your Rite of Passage to this whole treasure trove of local folklore, but I honestly would’ve gone for the parrot.“

“Because of the pretty feathers he might give out afterwards?” Bella asked with a wink.

Rem blushed underneath her black scarf. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Some parrot feathers would be nice for my collection..”

But before Rem and Bella could talk about more birds, they had arrived at Westerfield One-to-Twelve. Bella did a little bow and said “Goodbye until recess, my black cat rival!”, Rem simply waved, then both went to their respective parts of the schoolhouse. All pretty standard fare for the local Gothic Girlie and her quiet ‘style rival’.

Unfortunately, the classes in One-to-Twelve are less Westerfield standard and more… well.. actuallystandard. The English Teacher is not some Shakespearen-enthralled poet. The Mathematics Teacher only gets upset if one of the “slower” students is not accommodated properly. Even the Science Teacher only has incidents involving dissecting the methods of projection slides rather than frogs. So, in the interest of fairness on them (and on you), I won’t go into further detail about typical class shenanigans.

But Reading Time at the library? That is where things get interesting. There had been this cycle of storytellers hand-picked by both the school and the general public. The Westerfield Storytellers was the group’s name, and telling stories was quite literally a game to them. It became a competition to see who would tell the best stories, and their judges would almost always be the schoolkids. Jebidiah Buford—or, as most call him “Old Jeb”—was the popular choice this time of year. Something about the combination of his carefree attitude, his lumberjack-type appearance; and his weathered, rumbling drawl made him perfect for the spookier stories.

And, as the kids gathered around for the story of Pretty Polly, the sentiment still buzzed throughout the room. “He’ll scare my socks off with this one!” boasted a pretty tough-looking preteen. “I just know it.”

“Oh yeah? I think he’ll make it less scary for me,” piped up an elementary kid holding her teddy bear. “He always makes them less scary.”

“You think he’ll go into detail about what Billy Stakes did to Polly?” asked another kid still wearing a lab coat from Science class. “I can’t tell if she got the stitches before or after he k—“

“Hey, don’t spoil it!” barked a tall girl next to the over-observer. “Most of us don’t even know who ‘Billie Stokes’ is yet!”

In the midst of all this chatter and speculation, Bella kept quiet. She sat crisscrossed in the front row. Watching the closed door at the back of the “stage”. Waiting. Doing her best to remain stoic and unbothered as always.

Which, by the way, is really hard to do when something as monumental as this is about to happen. A new era was about to emerge like a baby raven from its egg. And, boy, was she ready to see that baby raven.

[90363462]

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Niecy Nash Speaks Out amid Nashville Shooting 30 Years After Brother's Death at School: 'We're Losing Our Way'

March 27, 2023 8:31 PM PST

Niecy Nash is crying out for change following another school shooting.

via People:

More than 30 years after her brother Michael Ensley died at 17 in a school shooting, the Golden Globe nominee, 53, sent her prayers to the families of those killed in Monday’s shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which killed three children and three adults.

“In 1993, my only brother was killed on his high school campus because somebody brought a gun to school,” she said through tears in a TikTok video. “It’s 2023, and there [are] babies who will never make it home to see their parents.

“And those parents will forever be in a space where they’re like, ‘What was the last thing I said? What was the last lunch I made? What was their last thought [or] experience? Did they call out for me?'” added Nash.

She pleaded for Americans to show more concern for children’s safety than current hot-button topics like Tennessee’s recent legislation restricting drag shows and critical race theory.

“These are the wrong things. It’s the wrong thing, and it is indeed the wrong time. We are losing our way,” Nash continued. “Some political groups are so focused on the wrong thing that our children are dying. And there ain’t no coming back from that… Not even a little bit.”

Nash concluded, “I am so sorry. And my prayers go out to those families, ’cause it’s a pain that I don’t wish on nobody. School is the one place where children should be safe. Now, they’ll be safe getting on an airplane. But school? That’s another thing. And it shouldn’t be.”

After Nash’s brother was shot to death at Reseda High School in Reseda, Calif. on Feb. 22, 1993, their mother Margaret Ensley founded Mothers Against Violence in Schools (MAVIS), of which Nash is a spokesperson.

Monday’s shooting at the private elementary school in Nashville resulted in the deaths of students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9, as well as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. The shooter has been identified as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old who once attended the school.

We’re hurting with you, Niecy. This senseless violence must stop.

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[karahalloway]

20 Questions

Thanks so much for the tag @bebepac! I love stuff like this!  🤩

Nickname: Kati (Kara is a pen name). Alternatively, I go by ‘Bunny’ (husband) and ‘Mommy’ (my son).

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius and proud! 😊

Height: 170cm, which is approx. 5′ 6′’ (I used to be 168cm but I ended up grown 2cm while I was pregnant... weird, huh)

Last Movie I saw: Erm... I think it was Snatch. We definitely watched Snatch last weekend, but I can’t remember if we’ve watched another movie since then... Unless it’s to do with my fics, my memory is terrible... 😅

Last thing I Googled: Italian swearwords (you will understand when I post Chapter 2 of Sleepless in New York!)

Favourite Musician: Eugh... I have no idea! What music I listen to depends on what mood I’m in. But at the moment it’s a bit of a four-way tie between Luke Bryan, Jeremy Renner and Ed Sheeran (previously it was Chris Stapleton and Mikolas Josef).

Song Stuck in my head: Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran (my new favourite song!) Did I mention I like Ed Sheeran at the moment...? 😅

Other Blogs: https://yycwalkies.wordpress.com/ Haven’t updated it since I started writing fanfic though...

Blogs Following: Mostly TRR writers, but some art, photography and movies/TV shows as well

Sleep Patterns: A lot 😆 I love sleep! I got to bed between 9:30pm and 10:00pm usually as I need to be up by 7:00am to take my son to pre-school and I need at least 9 hours of sleep a night to be functional the next day.

Lucky Numbers: 2, 7, 14, 72

What am I wearing: Cosy sweatpants, t-shirt and an oversized cardigan (it’s winter where I am - as in cold + snow). When I’m at home, I wear ‘home’ clothes.

What would I do if capitalism didn’t exist: Guess it kind of depends on what we’d have instead... Would it be communism (in which case I’d probably be writing for some kind of underground anti-establishment publication), or something more idealistic like a hippie commune (in which case I’d be reconnecting with nature and doing a lot of yoga)

Dream Trip: Oh, my God... so many! I want to go see the Pyramids, Machu Pichu, the Great Wall of China, Japan, New Zealand, Yellowstone, go on safari in Kenya, cruise around the Med, Istanbul, Ireland, Scotland, Montana, Texas, explore all of Canada... The list goes on!

Favourite Food: Again... This is a hard question. Depends on what mood I’m in. But I will very rarely turn down Asian-fusion, sushi, Indian, burgers, Italian- or New York-style pizza (I like the thin crust). And cake. I love cake! 🍰

Instruments I play: None at the moment... I used to play the piano in elementary school and flute in middle school, but I’ve totally forgotten these skills now!

Languages I speak: English, Hungarian and some French. I used to be able to speak Danish (spent a year abroad there and took a month-long Danish language course). I can also read and get the gist of Spanish based on French. Just don’t ask me to say anything!

Favourite Songs: Oh, so many! Some of them include: 

Ed Sheeran - Shivers, Bad Habits, Stop the Rain, Sing, Shape of You, Galway Girl

Luke Bryan - Move, My Kind of Night, Driving This Thing, Knockin’ Boots, Country Girl (Shake It For Me)

Jeremy Renner - Nomad, Just My Type, She’s a Fire, Main Attraction

Chris Stapleton - Parachute, Tennessee Whiskey

Bryan Adams - Open Road, Run to You, The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You

Mikolas Jozef - Lie to Me, Colorado, Me Gusta

Other - Good Times Roll (Jimmie Allen & Brad Plaisley), Old Town Road (Lil Nas X & Bill Ray Cyrus), Honky Tonk On (Hayden Haddock), All Eyes on Us (Jon Langston), Must Be the Whiskey (Cody Jinks), High Horse (Nelly, Breland & Blanco Brown), Throw it Back (Breland & Keith Urban), Hard to Leave (Riley Green), Lit in the Sticks (Ryan Langdon), Chasing After You (Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris), She Drives Me Crazy (Brad Kissel), Take My Breath (The Weeknd)

Random facts about me: I’ve lived in 7 countries so far; when I was young (like a toddler) I was ambidextrous and really good a drawing (according to my mom, at any rate!); I’ve been writing since high school; I’ve loved reading since elementary school; I’m a total introvert and need to spend some alone time each day, or I get massively grouchy; we have two doggos and a catto; I love horse riding and hiking; I love chocolate!

Tagging @aussiegurl1234 @angelasscribbles @nestledonthaveone @petiteboheme @walkerdrakewalker @kingliam2019 @lovingchoices14 @peonierose​ and anyone else who wants to share some info about themselves!

[diana-prince-s]

we're back to the make believe games: we're all going on a camping trip, how much (or little) are you looking forward to it? where would we go if it was up to you? are there marshmallows involved or do you have a different favorite camp friendly treat? where can you usually be found when camping? doing what?

I always wanted to go camping! Ive only ever been bougie camping at my country club where they served us a buffet breakfast at dawn. I think I would really be looking forward to it, except for the bugs and the lack of cleanliness. Would we be glamping? because I would be down for that.

I think we'd go somewhere in the Northeast US, kinda where I'm from or where I've traveled. Tennessee has good nature stuff, so does West Virginia. I'm from Pennsylvania and there's always a particular feeling to PA wildlife that makes me feel at home, so maybe we'd go there. Lakes seem fun but also gross.

I don't like chocolate so s'mores without chocolate sound fine. and I guess we would be eating hotdogs or burgers that we've grilled over the fire

I'd like to climb trees and write. When I was in elementary school they always took the fifth-graders to this camp and we stayed in cabins and did outdoors stuff and they gave us like two or so hours each day to find a spot to ourselves and make it our own and then write in a journal -- and as a kid who spent every day for six years playing outside building forts, and who also loved writing, I ate that shit up. Maybe I'd do the same thing on this camping trip. Definitely we'd be building a fort and reliving my childhood pretending that I could live on the land

[your-very-rude-neighborhood-ace]

If yall want to know what living in modernized Texas is; (tw guns, bugs, and murder)

Hometown very normal except the fact that we have a cattle drive through the streets every year. And there are like skyscrapers near the place where we drive the cattle so I don't know anymore.

No one has a horse. We can smell rain though.

Gays don't exist (Lol I am the gay one)

You have to say the Texas pledge in elementary school every single day, and for some reason we had patriotic Wednesdays where the announcements would play a patriotic song over the loudspeakers.

saying howdy at a McDonald's drive through for no reason

Mosquitoes and cicadas. 1 bites 1 screems

This might not be for everybody in Texas, I have a vivid memory of our very Southern PE coach playing southern songs. So kids playing tag as song says "All My Exes Live in Texas so I hang my head in Tennessee" or "I Could Have Been a Cowboy running around the ranch" is seared into my mind ( he also yelled at us about our running times and we were in like fourth grade when he said they were sh*t, so he had issues)

I did not know gay people existed until 5th grade. It didn't ever show up in Texas.

There are 5 gays at my middle school and its huge

Our school had a theme song, and it was to tune of Deep in the Heart of Texas. it was a bop tho

No one likes Tr^mp

All the schools are so freaking competitive

We straight up have coyotes that nobody talks about. Like my dad saw one less than 4 feet away from him, and like nobody ever acknowledge that we have them.

Snake warning signs

Summer is spent at the community pool unless you want to burn up

Nobody has guns, except for that one really rich white family with this girl in my class that I hate. Honestly she is just like white tomboy meets Class Clown which equals assh•le. Yeah we have a poster white family that funds the school they suck.

Yall'd've probably have this but OLD CREEPY WHITE GYM TEACHER

Our ex mayor straight up m♤rdered her child and then k!lled herself, and my town has it covered so well its honestly creepy

9000000 churches most abandoned (if you want a story about 1 just tell me, I'll anon it)

We have a huge Forest oh, and a river that goes through it. There's some Loki creepy things about that but it's mostly fine, other than the fact that there deadly snakes in there. We still have a walking path throught it. A deadly snake did bite my dog on said path.

I could go on forever about the lo key cursed parts of my town, but yeah Texas isn't that bad.

i’d like to know the small town texas secrets👀

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: What Happened to Mr. Forster?

Author: Gary W. Bargar.

Publication Date: 1981.

Genre: Historical YA.

Premise: It's 1958 in Kansas City, and eleven-year-old Billie Lou Lamb wants his last year of elementary school to be different. He's going to go by the less babyish name Louis, learn how to play softball, and convince his classmates that he's not a crybaby. It's an uphill battle, but Mr. Forster, the kind and enthusiastic new teacher, helps things along by teaching him some softball basics and encouraging his writing talent. Then rumors start circulating about Mr. Forster, who has never been married and lives with another man. Also, he has the same last name as a famously gay author. You figure it out.

Thoughts: Time isn't always kind to pioneering works. Groundbreaking representation can seem timid, clumsy, or even offensive decades later, and once-fresh (or, at least, relatively fresh) stories come across as unspeakably stale. When I first picked up this book, apparently the first children's novel to depict a working gay teacher, I didn't have high expectations. The plot synopsis I'd found online made it seem a lot like the 2011 movie That's What I Am, a well-intentioned but silly depiction of bullying and homophobic gossip in mid-century America, and a little like every Dead Poets Society ripoff. It also sounded as though the treatment of Mr. Forster's sexual orientation would be perfunctory and last-minute, with most of the story dedicated to small-scale classroom drama.

I wasn't entirely wrong on either count; however, I wasn't right in any way that mattered. The story wasn't that original even in 1981--at the very least, it's working off the blueprint of Paula Danziger's The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (1974)--and most of the book revolves around Louis dealing with ordinary elementary school problems. However, Bargar excels at depicting that grade-school drama. He understands the two important things that all the best children's authors know: that minor humiliation is a crushing tragedy when you're eleven, and that all kids are strange as hell. (Veronica, the class "mean girl," is also a delightful shit-stirring weirdo who interrupts Sunday School to discuss evolution.) The classroom drama is also skillfully interwoven with what happens to Mr. Forster. Louis doesn't catch on until almost the end of the story, but Mr. Forster's caginess about his home life and the parents' raised eyebrows at his unmarried state are present from the beginning. It's also Mr. Forster's attempts to curb bullying that motivate a couple of the mothers (ironically, the mother of the class victim and the mother of the chief bully) to dig up dirt on him.

What really makes this book work, though, is that it's pretty clear that Louis is gay, although he doesn't know it yet. I don't say this because he's creative and sensitive (there are plenty of heterosexual Wells for Boys customers in this world), or because he doesn't have crushes on girls (he's eleven, so that could mean nothing or anything). I say this for three other reasons:

There's always a sense that Louis is evaluating Mr. Forster as a potential future self: what kind of man he is, what he chooses to do, what kind of life he leads. It's very "Ring of Keys."

Louis's aunt and guardian, a woman who is constantly torn between convention and kindness, goes from "of course Mr. Forster had to leave, homosexuality is an abomination, it says so in the Bible" to "Mr. Forster is a nice man, I think God will forgive him" real quick. She loves her nephew, and even if she doesn't know, I think she knows.

Louis has a rich fantasy life involving his collection of china animals, including a unicorn, that gets broken at a crucial moment. That's way too Tennessee Williams to be a mistake.

It's definitely a better story if you think Louis is gay, at any rate. I found it extremely moving.

Hot Goodreads Take: No Goodreads reviews, but I did find out that Gary W. Bargar died of complications from AIDS sometime in the late 1980s to early 1990s. I always wondered why he only wrote two books, and I am very sad to find out that was the reason.

[emerald-studies]

The powerful  John Lewis

Early Life

John Robert Lewis was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. Lewis had a happy childhood — though he needed to work hard to assist his sharecropper parents — but he chafed against the unfairness of segregation. He was particularly disappointed when the Supreme Court ruling in 1954's Brown v. The Board of Education didn't affect his school life. However, hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons and news of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott inspired Lewis to act for the changes he wanted to see.

Civil Rights Struggle

In 1957, Lewis left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He was arrested during these demonstrations, which upset his mother, but Lewis was committed to the Civil Rights Movement and went on to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961.

Freedom Riders challenged the segregated facilities they encountered at interstate bus terminals in the South, which had been deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. It was dangerous work that resulted in arrests and beatings for many involved, including Lewis.

In 1963, Lewis became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. That same year, as one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, he helped plan the March on Washington. Lewis—the youngest speaker at the event—had to alter his speech in order to please other organizers, but still delivered a powerful oration that declared, "We all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about."

After the March on Washington, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act became law. However, this did not make it easier for African Americans to vote in the South. To bring attention to this struggle, Lewis and Hosea Williams led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers were attacked by state troopers. Lewis was severely beaten once more, this time suffering a fractured skull.

The violent attacks were recorded and disseminated throughout the country, and the images proved too powerful to ignore. "Bloody Sunday," as the day was labeled, sped up the passage of 1965's Voting Rights Act.

U.S. Congressman

Lewis left the SNCC in 1966. Though devastated by the assassinations of King and Robert Kennedy in 1968, Lewis continued his work to enfranchise minorities. In 1970, he became director of the Voter Education Project. During his tenure, the VEP helped to register millions of minority voters.

Lewis ran for office himself in 1981, winning a seat on the Atlanta City Council. In 1986, he was elected to the House of Representatives. Today, representing Georgia's 5th District, he is one of the most respected members of Congress. Since entering office, he has called for healthcare reform, measures to fight poverty and improvements in education. Most importantly, he oversaw multiple renewals of the Voting Rights Act. When the Supreme Court struck down part of the law in 2013's Shelby County v. Holder, Lewis decried the decision as a "dagger into the heart" of voting rights.

In the wake of the mass shooting that took place on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, Lewis led a sit-in comprised of approximately 40 House Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 22nd in an attempt to bring attention and force Congress to address gun violence by taking definitive legislative action. “We have been too quiet for too long,” Lewis said. “There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.”

The protest came just days after several measures including a bill regarding background checks and adding restrictions on the purchase of guns by people on the federal no-fly list, failed in the Senate. Senator Chris Murphy applauded the protest. Murphy had previously led a filibuster in the Senate which led to the subsequent vote.

Clashing With Donald Trump

Lewis also spoke out against the presidency of Donald Trump, who was elected on November 8, 2016. In an interview with Chuck Todd for NBC News’ Meet the Press, which aired on January 15, 2017, Lewis said he didn’t believe Trump was a “legitimate president” because of Russian interference in the election. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said in the interview. He also said he would not attend Trump’s inauguration.

Trump responded on Twitter, criticizing Lewis’ work as a congressman and tweeting that Lewis was “All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!” The president-elect's attack on Lewis came just days before the Martin Luther King holiday, and prompted vocal support of the civil rights icon across social media. Several Democratic lawmakers also joined in support of Lewis, and boycotted Trump’s inauguration.

Trump continued his war of words, tweeting: “John Lewis said about my inauguration, ‘It will be the first one that I've missed.’ WRONG (or lie)! He boycotted Bush 43 also because he...thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush's swearing-in....he doesn't believe Bush is the true elected president. Sound familiar!”

A spokeswoman for Lewis confirmed that he had missed the inauguration of George W. Bush: "His absence at that time was also a form of dissent. He did not believe the outcome of that election, including the controversies around the results in Florida and the unprecedented intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair and open democratic process.”

Cancer Diagnosis

In December 2019, Lewis announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Although he was "clear-eyed about the prognosis," Lewis said he felt encouraged that medical advancements had made this type of cancer treatable in many cases, adding that he intended to return to work as soon as possible.

Legacy

Though the Supreme Court's decision about the Voting Rights Act was a blow to Lewis, he has been encouraged by the progress that has occurred in his lifetime. After Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Lewis stated that "When we were organizing voter-registration drives, going on the Freedom Rides, sitting in, coming here to Washington for the first time, getting arrested, going to jail, being beaten, I never thought—I never dreamed—of the possibility that an African American would one day be elected president of the United States."

In addition to continuing his work in Congress, Lewis has reached out to a younger generation by helping to create a series of graphic novels about his work in the Civil Rights Movement. In 2016, he won the National Book Award for the third installment in the series March: Book Three, which marks the first time a graphic novel has received the honor.

He accepted the award with co-writer Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell and spoke of its significance in an emotional acceptance speech. “Some of you know I grew up in rural Alabama, very poor, very few books in our home,” Lewis said. “I remember in 1956, when I was 16 years old, going to the public library to get library cards, and we were told the library was for whites only and not for coloreds. And to come here and receive this honor, it’s too much.”

He also spoke about the importance of books in his life. “I had a wonderful teacher in elementary school who told me: ‘Read, my child, read’, and I tried to read everything," he said. "I love books.”

The civil rights icon has also been honored with numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NAACP's Spingarn Medal and the sole John F. Kennedy "Profile in Courage Award" for Lifetime Achievement.” (source)

Glad he’s still around!

[browncesario]

Pls continue to geek out to me btw I love it. I hope you have had a good week! Is the stay at home order too horrible? I think we might have that here as well. So this might be a big question but PLEASE let me know in as much detail as you can, why do you like the Jonas Brothers. Feel free to do a timeline of events with them in your life with inciting incidents. I want to know it all. Also, I think this is probably right but you’re a Joe fan most, correct?

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 me to you rn and always the stay at home order isn’t bad yet! but i’m agoraphobic so i don’t go out much anyway lmao. and yes!! i am a joe stan and ok FUCK i’m putting the jonas brothers question under the cut because i literally do not know where i end and the jonas brothers begin they’re such an integral part of who i am in every way so here we go

so like. i’m gonna try and condense this because there’s a lot of sad angsty stuff in the story but the cliffnotes version is i was like. a really lonely kid. i had a literally unbelievable shitty time in elementary school, and in the last few years i got really really into not only horses, but just the barn i rode at in general. it’s important to note here that when you’re an athlete like that, you are spending every moment with these people in this environment. which is fine. the problem was that barn was uhhhh incredibly toxic and highkey abusive. 

summer 2008 was the transition period between when i became an actual person. that summer literally everyone in the barn was going to a big horse show in tennessee and i wasn’t (which sounds a lot less dramatic than it actually was considering the stuff that surrounded it) and i was left with two weeks on my own to sit in my room and try and distract myself. 

you can see where this is going.  their music like. got it. sure it was generic enough that it could, but they helped me process the things i was going through and the pain i was in by putting words to it. i’d lay on my back with my feet on my bedroom wall and listen to jonas brothers (2007) on repeat and think about how they did leave without a single word, not even sorry. i did want to know if they’d care when i’m gone and i’d really had enough. 

i don’t think i really understood that it was going to go from “summer hyperfixation to cope” to “life long love that can make me feel safe and secure in even the worst times,” but it probably has something to do with the fact that i started at a new school a week after a little bit longer came out. that school became the first safe place i’d experienced with teachers who got me and an actual friend group who loved me and cared about me, so somehow in my brain i’ve gotten the wires crossed between “jonas brothers, the camp rock cinematic universe, and the year 2009″ and “beacon of safety, support, and escapism.” i am so goddamn loud about the things i like. can you imagine me at twelve. sure i’ve calmed down in adulthood the jonas brothers are a personality trait of mine in a real tangible way. 

i'm trying to frame the way i loved and engaged with the brothers circa 2008-2010 in an accurate yet concise way so here it is. i spent all my time on youtube because that’s where their base was for the most part. i was a jemi stan and a joe stan and fic writer and i was still in that goddamn barn. i loved the things i did openly and unashamedly and it was a nice time. like i was miserable but it was a nice time.

the brothers went on an unofficial hiatus after the camp rock 2 tour, and it was like. fine. i was 14 at the time and i had other interests (house md hello i love you kiss kiss) and i was pretty fucking mad at joe over the way he’d treated demi that year and proceeded to unstan him for the next two years. (i still to this day have not bought fastlife.) 

in april 2012 there was a very serious blow up at my barn directed at me and it’s literally traumatizing thing i’ve ever experienced. in october 2012 the jonas brothers kicked off their first comeback. 

i will say, the november show at the pantages it took me about half an hour to be wrapped around joe’s finger again. but this is not my fault as they hadn’t toured in two years. but it was incredible. sure, it didn’t have the flair of the disney days but the music was all there. some of their best and most underrated work came out of that era. (s/o to the pushing me away acoustic version specifically.) 

anyway. i spent that year rebuilding stuff re the barn and it uhhhhh did not go well.

a brief history of the things i did in august 2013:

i left the barn

i sold my childhood mare who meant the world to me

my best friend who i was super co-dependant on left for college in new york

i moved to a new barn looking for a fresh start

i started at a new school in the same vein

i went to the last jonas brothers tour date before the band would call it quits in october 2013

i sort of love the symmetry there.

truthfully, while i was sad the band had broken up, i wasn’t totally devastated. i knew when i was like 30. they’d run out of money and do a reunion tour and anyway i had more pressing things to worry about and by the end of that fall semester things had started to pick up and i was really excited about Real Life TM. come college things with the band settled down and dnce formed my freshman year and started touring and that was great! their standing room only show in philly in 2015 is one of my favorite concert experiences ever. 

there’s a lot there, but truthfully i haven’t unpacked my twenties yet so i will simply say i did go back to that barn in 2015 because the horse i bought in that looking for redemption arc died very suddenly and tragically. i left again in 2018 which was a horrible horrible year for me, but i did go back to writing camp rock fic and i do think i left that barn for good this this time. anyway. three months after i left the brothers announced their return. 

so. what do i like about the band specifically? 

with the brothers i think the music is often the thing people talk about last, which is kinda fuckin dumb! this band was made up of literal children who wrote, played, and often produced nearly every single track. that’s not normal and it’s not acknowledged and when people think about the jonas brothers i hope that they think of them as artists, because that’s what they are. 

like literally nick wrote sos in ten minutes when he was thirteen years old. it’s one of the most iconic radio hits of 2007. his credits on lvatt are basically longer than this essay.

i don’t even like calling them a boyband for this reason. there’s nothing wrong with boybands i myself am a one direction stan but like lets not pretend that there’s any similarities between something formed organically out of a love of music that ended up becoming corporate, and something that was formed with the intention of that.

really the brothers went through hell climbing up that ladder, it’s super fucked up when you think about it and that’s even before you get to the disney era. 

they’re fun! they’re funny! less so now that they’re rich and old and a little drunk on fame (i’m looking at you nicholas) but they pioneered youtube and social media branding and i think thats SO interesting. 

i have a lot less respect for the brothers now that i’m older mostly bc they’re sell outs and conservatives (not you joe i love you god’s chosen middle child,) but like. i am fiercely protective of them regardless. i can’t even blame them for being like this. imagine growing up evangelical stage children and getting your entire life sold to the walt disney corporation. wouldn’t that fuck you up too. this counts as a thing i like about them because i love psychoanalyzing them. it’s one of my favorite hobbies.

like seriously. the two months before the brothers came back i spent just picking through ancient obscure interviews and livejournal fics really drinking in things i missed, and it was fucking wild.

also back to the music. to be clear it is absolutely my favorite thing about this band past the personal associations. i’m listening to when you look me in the eyes right now, which is one of my less-loved tracks, and i’m still getting incredibly emotional just pausing and listening to the harmonies and the soft drum kit. 

the brothers write this music that just has. this hopeful sort of honesty. it’s innocent but it’s not naive, it’s caring but it’s not saccharine, they have a concrete sound.  everyone who knows me knows this band matters to me. the brothers say that people like them because they’re the soundtrack of their lives. i know they think it’s a nostalgia thing, songs that came on at ninth grade dances and sleepover movies, but that’s not it. they’re the soundtrack of my life, absolutely. but it’s much more than that. they’re this one constant that’s held through my entire life. they’re the hand for me to hold.

[retrogamingyiz]

You’re illiterate, Harry!

Its finally almost Fall! The summer this year in Tennessee was harsh, but soon the leaves will be changing and the seasonal decor that I adore so much will be in full force. There are quite a few things that immediately put me in the fall/Halloween mood like Medievil for PS1, Nightmare on Elm St., Hocus Pocus (The DOS game not the movie), and of course: Harry Potter novels, I’m sorry but as much as I love Alan Rickman as Snape. The movies are complete garbage to me. Which is kind of funny, because Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie from 2001 was my very first taste of the cult phenomenal series that has absolutely has delighted people of various ages since the late 90s. I had heard there were books, my behavior mod teacher had offered to read Sorcerer’s Stone to me due to the fact that well...in third grade I couldn’t read, at all! I have mentioned some of my rough childhood before in my recent posts on this still very new blog, but maybe I should elaborate on what caused this lack of literacy at nine years of age. So, my mom was kind of a free spirit and my dad didn’t know how to dad (he too was also kind of for a lack of a nicer word, very very dumb to boot.) The thing is, before I had started school my mom had lost both of her parents and it had left her emotionally broken and distraught to the point she had begun to, what I would learn years later: Abusing her xanax, something she would do for years and years. Only letting up enough to become aware of herself and us when I had become thirteen years old. Thankfully, with her passing in 2019 I did not experience the same reaction to her death as she had her parents. As I learned what happened all those years ago, I would come to completely disagree with how she handled her grief, which was at a detriment to me and my brother. However, I completely understood. I digress on this situation though. So in 2001, because of the situation at home. I couldn’t read, this was a really rough con for me because it affected me in many ways. I couldn’t get very far in video games that had clues for gameplay that you had to read, I couldn’t follow written directions because, you guessed it: I couldn’t read them. It was a very difficult time for me. Enter my elementary school Behavioral Mod teacher, Mrs. Lisa. This was one of several women who filled in as ‘mom’ in my life, several of them being teachers and two of those teacher’s names being some variation of Lisa/Lesa! Anyways, in third grade Mrs. Lisa went to work getting me to read. She would pull me up to the side of her desk and teach me bit by bit. I will be honest with you that thats pretty much all that I remember, the most vivid memory I have is what it led to. On a Wednesday in October of 2002, which was library day and the day I was recommended by Mrs. Lisa to check out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The adventure of a lifetime is what ensued for me. As I went through the book, I found myself being drawn more and more into the lore, the world, the characters, the adventure of a lifetime. In our special ed classroom there was a padded room in the very back next to the lockers. Usually it was utilized when one of the rougher kids was having a melt down or hissy fit. Me on the other hand? Once I finished my work, I would voluntarily request to use the room as a sort of reading nook because it was quiet and honestly quite comfortable. Eventually, I would move on to middle school and would say farewell to Mrs. Lisa and was introduced to Mr. Moffet who was to me at the time: A dickhead. It took me sometime to realize I didn’t like change and was rebelling due to puberty, which affected how I felt about Mr. Moffet who I would realize years later was a kind, patient man and I wish I could apologize now for how I treated him back then. Going back to Harry Potter, I actually attended middle school the year Half Blood Prince was released and I managed to strike up a deal with the librarian that if I reread all the Harry Potter books before Halfblood came out, I could check out the single copy they had preordered first and I would get an awesome order of the phoenix leather book mark. The catch? I only had a month to read 5 books, with the last two big T H I C C. Yet, I pulled through, got the awesome book mark and was the first to check out Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince. Which apparently, I had pissed off an honor student who was given the same goal. Nice. Fall would always be special to me, because of Harry Potter. Because of the neighborhood I grew up in that was more like a congregation of family than just neighbors, because of Mrs. Lisa and those years at Westhills Elementary, because all those dear precious moments that I will always wish to relive, but that can only be granted in my dreams and every now and then my wish is granted. Fall and Halloween will always be special to me because of this long gone days, when a little boy who couldn’t read was given something that would stick with him for years to come. I would come back into contact with Mrs. Lisa years later on Facebook and I told her something that I feel the need to say again. Thank you Mrs. Lisa, I know it was just your job but what you taught me meant the world to that little illiterate boy. Thank you... This is Yisreald, signing off.