#high school senior model program

[hatchetfield-yearbook-project]

Hatchetfield High Yearbook Project Signups

Welcome to the signups for the Hatchetfield High Yearbook Project

Rules:

Individual Character artists will pick the name (or only last name) for their character if their character doesn’t have one, and writers will go along with it for their articles/interviews. (unless an actor or the Langs reveal the canon names of a previously unnamed character during the process of this project)

All art and writing must be original, not AI-generated or made by anyone else (commission, picrew, etc.) 

All art and writing must be digital, it just looks more uniform. (If you need help digitalizing a traditional sketch, I can help with that!) 

Each artist will draw the characters in their piece as they normally draw them, I will clarify which characters are which along with crediting each artist in captions below the photo) 

No infighting, be respectful and agree to disagree in the discord server if an argument arises over fandom stuff. It’s not that big of a deal </3 (Note - If enough trouble is caused, you may be removed from the project and your piece may be replaced)

For now, the due date for all art and writing is March 20th. (Note: This is subject to change. If you are unable to submit your piece at the deadline, contact me, or one of the moderators if I am unreachable, as soon as possible)

A little bit about the Project:

It will be free, both to participate in and consume!

We'll have a discord server for project organization, with other general and fandom related channels for fun in the meantime.

When it is finished, I will roll it out as both a flipbook AND a slideshow, as the slide show will be of a higher/clearer quality than the flipbook program I use.

it will be modeled similarly to the Ride the Cyclone yearbook project, but without all the little info per character, as Hatchetfield High is a much bigger school than St. Cassian. There will still, however, be senior quotes!

For signature pages, everyone who participates will sign a transparent image with their name and/or a little quote/doodle, just like you would sign an actual yearbook in high school. Individual character artists will also sign a separate transparent image as their character, unless their character is an alumni, and I will arrange them on their own pages just like the signature pages of the Ride the Cyclone yearbook project linked above.

You may apply to be both an artist and a writer, but please tell me which you would prefer to be in the forms.

If you change your tumblr url while working on this project, please contact me so I can give you proper credit.

Artist Sign-Up Form

Writer Sign-Up Form

If you get in, I will DM you from this account on Saturday, January 6th, before midnight (CST timezone).

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Elizabeth Warren on weaponized budget models

In yesterday’s essay, I broke down the new series from The American Prospect on the hidden ideology and power of budget models, these being complex statistical systems for weighing legislative proposals to determine if they are “economically sound.” The assumptions baked into these models are intensely political, and, like all dirty political actors, the model-makers claim they are “empirical” while their adversaries are “doing politics”:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/03/all-models-are-wrong/#some-are-useful

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/04/cbo-says-no/#wealth-tax

Today edition of the Prospect continues the series with an essay by Elizabeth Warren, describing how her proposal for universal child care was defeated by the incoherent, deeply political assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office’s model, blocking an important and popular policy simply because “computer says no”:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-04-04-policymakers-fight-losing-battle-models/

When the Build Back Better bill was first mooted, it included a promise of universal, federally funded childcare. This was excised from the final language of the bill (renamed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill), because the CBO said it would cost too much: $381.5b over ten years.

This is a completely nonsensical number, and the way that CBO arrived at it is illuminating, throwing the ideology of CBO modeling into stark relief. You see, the price tag for universal childcare did not include the benefits of childcare!

As Warren points out, this is not how investment works. No business leader assesses their capital expenditures without thinking of the dividends from those investments. No firm decides whether to open a new store by estimating the rent and salaries and ignoring the sales it will generate. Any business that operates on that basis would never invest in anything.

Universal childcare produces enormous dividends. Kids who have access to high-quality childcare grow up to do better in school, have less trouble with the law, and earn more as adults. Mothers who can’t afford childcare, meanwhile, absent themselves from the workforce during their prime earning years. Those mothers are less likely to advance professionally, have lower lifetime earnings, and a higher likelihood of retiring without adequate savings.

What’s more, universal childcare is the only way to guarantee a living wage to childcare workers, who are disproportionately likely to rely on public assistance, including SNAP (AKA food stamps) to make ends meet. These stressors affect childcare workers’ job performance, and also generate public expenditures to keep those workers fed and housed.

But the CBO model does not include any of those benefits. As Warren says, in a CBO assessment, giving every kid in America decent early childhood care and every childcare worker a living wage produces the same upside as putting $381.5 in a wheelbarrow and setting it on fire.

This is by design. Congress has decreed that CBO assessments can’t factor in secondary or indirect benefits from public expenditure. This is bonkers. Public investment is all secondary and indirect benefits — from highways to broadband, from parks to training programs, from education to Medicare. Excluding indirect benefits from assessments of public investments is a literal, obvious, unavoidable recipe for ending the most productive and beneficial forms of public spending.

It means that — for example — a CBO score for Meals on Wheels for seniors is not permitted to factor in the Medicare savings from seniors who can age in their homes with dignity, rather than being warehoused at tremendous public expense in nursing homes.

It means that the salaries of additional IRS enforcers can only be counted as an expense — Congress isn’t allowed to budget for the taxes that those enforcers will recover.

And, of course, it’s why we can’t have Medicare For All. Private health insurers treat care as an expense, with no upside. Denying you care and making you sicker isn’t a bug as far as the health insurance industry is concerned — it’s a feature. You bear the expense of the sickness, after all, and they realize the savings from denying you care.

But public health programs can factor in those health benefits and weigh them against health costs — in theory, at least. However, if the budgeting process refuses to factor in “indirect” benefits — like the fact that treating your chronic illness lets you continue to take care of your kids and frees your spouse from having to quit their job to look after you — then public health care costings become indistinguishable from the private sector’s for-profit death panels.

Child care is an absolute bargain. The US ranks 33d out of 37 rich countries in terms of public child care spending, and in so doing, it kneecaps innumerable mothers’ economic prospects. The upside of providing care is enormous, far outweighing the costs — so the CBO just doesn’t weigh them.

Warren is clear that there’s no way to make public child care compatible with CBO scoring. Even when she whittled away at her bill, excluding millions of families who would have benefited from the program, the CBO still flunked it.

The current budget-scoring system was designed for people who want to “shrink government until it fits in a bathtub, and then drown it.” It is designed so that we can’t have nice things. It is designed so that the computer always says no.

Warren calls for revisions to the CBO model, to factor in those indirect benefits that are central to public spending. She also calls for greater diversity in CBO oversight, currently managed by a board of 20 economists and only two non-economists — and the majority of the economists got their PhDs from the same program and all hew to the same orthodoxy.

For all its pretense of objectivity, modeling is a subjective, interpretive discipline. If all your modelers are steeped in a single school, they will incinerate the uncertainty and caveats that should be integrated into every modeler’s conclusions, the humility that comes from working with irreducible uncertainty.

Finally, Warren reminds us that there are values that are worthy of consideration, beyond a dollars-and-cents assessment. Even though programs like child care pay for themselves, that’s not the only reason to favor them — to demand them. Child care creates “an America in which everyone has opportunities — and ‘everyone’ includes mamas.” Child care is “an investment in care workers, treating them with respect for the hard work they do.”

The CBO’s assassination of universal child care is exceptional only because it was a public knifing. As David Dayen and Rakeen Mabud wrote in their piece yesterday, nearly all of the CBO’s dirty work is done in the dark, before a policy is floated to the public:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-04-03-hidden-in-plain-sight/

The entire constellation of political possibility has been blotted out by the CBO, so that when we gaze up at the sky, we can only see a few sickly stars — weak economic nudges like pricing pollution, and not the glittering possibilities of banning it. We see the faint hope of “bending the cost-curve” on health care, and not the fierce light of simply providing care.

We can do politics. We have done it before. Every park and every highway, our libraries and our schools, our ports and our public universities — these were created by people no smarter than us. They didn’t rely on a lost art to do their work. We know how they did it. We know what’s stopping us from doing it again. And we know what to do about it.

Have you ever wanted to say thank you for these posts? Here’s how you can: I’m kickstarting the audiobook for my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon’s Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they’re DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.

[Image ID: A disembodied hand, floating in space. It holds a Univac mainframe computer. The computer is shooting some kind of glowing red rays that are zapping three US Capitol Buildings, suspended on hovering platforms. In the background, the word NO is emblazoned in a retrocomputing magnetic ink font, limned in red.]

[berniesrevolution]

IN THESE TIMES

DES MOINES, Iowa — Wearing bright yellow Crocs, carrying a backpack and holding a clipboard stacked with papers, Ahmed Musa listens intently to a student. You would be forgiven for thinking Mr. Musa was a student himself; it is ​“staff dress like a student” day during spirit week at Theodore Roosevelt High School, and Mr. Musa looks the part.

Then again, Mr. Musa, 24, was a Roosevelt student not too long ago. He graduated in 2017.

He is talking with senior Jackie in a second floor hallway. She is animated, her purple and white braids falling across her baby blue N95 mask as she explains a problem. She is the president of the K-Club and there was an incident among members. The K-Club, she says, is about all things K-pop, from Korean music to food to movies to fashion. Mr. Musa laughs — he thought it was the ​“Kulture Club.”

Jackie goes on to give a broad overview of the situation: Racist and homophobic memes were posted in the group’s online chat of several dozen members. Tempers flared and arguments spilled over from social media into the classroom. Then a shouting match erupted during a club meeting. Fortunately, it didn’t come to blows. Members contacted the club’s teacher-advisor who contacted the school’s ​“restorative practices” team.

As a restoration facilitator, Mr. Musa’s job is to listen to problems and help students find solutions. Talking with Jackie that morning was the first step (a ​“prerestorative conference”) toward a formal ​“restorative circle.” Restorative circles are a group activity meant to help repair harm and restore relationships.

Jackie was one of several students I spoke with during two week-long visits to Roosevelt this year — once in the spring and once in the fall — to witness the school’s implementation of its new restorative practices program. Vanessa, a freshman struggling with the transition from remote learning during Covid, and Yonathan, a sophomore caught with drugs and weapons at school, were also among them. (Students involved in the RP program are referred to by first name to protect their privacy.)

Before the pandemic, armed officers known as ​“school resource officers,” or SROs, from the Des Moines Police Department would patrol the school hallways. But during the summer of racial justice marches and protests after the police murder of George Floyd, students, parents and community members spoke out against SROs at Des Moines School Board meetings. In the end, the police contract with the schools was terminated. After scrambling to make remote schooling work during the long, mournful slog of the pandemic, Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) were left to find a way to reimagine school safety — and fast.

The district moved quickly to implement restorative practices, an increasingly popular educational model for school safety, violence prevention and mediation.

The 2021 – 2022 school year was a huge opportunity with the highest of stakes: DMPS could become one of the only districts in the nation to succeed in concurrently removing SROs and implementing restorative practices, or the district and its students could be thrown into crisis.

Restorative practices (RP) derive from ​“restorative justice,” which is used to bring together, in mutual agreement for mediation, the victim and the perpetrator of an offense. The goal is typically restitution for harm caused while helping the perpetrator restore community ties.

In education, ​“practices” is often swapped in for ​“justice” because it involves children who aren’t in criminal proceedings. Formal conflict resolution, after a dispute or rule-breaking, does play a role, but RP is also proactive, explains Anne Gregory, a Rutgers professor and one of the nation’s leading RP experts.

One core proactive practice is ​“check and connect.” This might be as simple as having teachers and staff say hi to each student as they enter the school, or asking a student between classes how their day is going. When there’s an issue, students can then sit down with a trusted adult to build ​“their own insight into themselves and what’s driving their behavior,” Gregory says.

Gregory emphasizes that relationship building is a two-way street. These micro-interactions of ​“check and connect” also change how teachers see students. They undermine ​“overgeneralization [and] negative stereotyping” and create space for understanding, Gregory says. When a student has ​“attendance problems,” for example, the right mindset involves ​“thinking about and understanding what’s going on for the family of that student that morning in getting out the door” — which is a ​“very different approach,” Gregory adds, from ​“sending a police officer to your house the fourth time you’re truant.”

(Continue Reading)

[clairebonnet]

POKEMON GRANADA AU ARVEN INFO DUMP‼️

Arven was behind to say the least. Despite being the son of the two greatest minds in the world—and only 22–, he was thought of and treated like a complete dud. Really, Arven was very smart, he was just never taught how to properly read or write, or do math. Her brain was never nurtured in a loving environment. He had no support in his early schooling, but still tried desperately to catch up. He spend long nights with Maschiff, trying to catch up with the class, but always falling short. Other kids thought he was weird, and he was often the subject of tormenting. Arvens clothes were all old and dirty, he was always sick, as he never knew how to properly feed himself, and he always got into trouble for falling asleep in class. Arven was a complete punching bag, and would often cry when others picked on him. Really, he just wanted the acceptance of his peers, but he always seemed to draw the short straws in life.

High school changed a lot of things for Arven. For one, he grew- like, a LOT. He stood at just about six and a half feet, and towered over the people who used to call him cruel things. Arven was much too gentle for his own good, and still tried his best to connect with peers. School didn’t get any better, Arven was held back his freshman, and senior year. Maschiff evolved, but was no longer all Arven had in the world. His Home EC teacher, Mister Sugaro became Arvens role model. Sugaro took Arven under his wing, seeing his potential, and taught Arven how to cook properly, take care of himself, and would even help as much as he could with reading, writing, and math. Professor Sugaro eventually transferred to teach in the culinary program of Granada Academy. He offered Arven a spot in enrollment with reduced tuition (He was paying for it).

By some miracle, and intervention from a divine force (Sugaro), he was accepted into Granada Academy. Arven, for the first time in his life, excelled at culinary arts. He’s the best in his class… but just that one. He still struggles heavily with all the extra courses he takes. Arven had friends for the first time in his life, everyone seemed fascinated by him due to his parents. Arven spent much of that first year figuring himself out. He turned out to be quite smooth with girls—and guys, before he realized he was only an ally—. However, many of his friendships fell to the wayside after he realized that people only wanted to be around him just because they thought he was a big deal. Pretty soon, most people got bored of him, and moved on, leaving Arven all alone again.

Arven is now enrolled in Granada University! He still totally sucks at school, but was initially very popular with students! Arven found himself surrounded a majority of the time. He even played up the fact that he’s the son of the professors to get in good with groups. He even turned out to be quite the laddies man—and what the heck? It’s college, he’s exploring—guys man, before discovering the same gender wasn’t something he was interested in. (Straight ally) Arven finally found his footing, but almost IMMEDIATELY got dumped by those said groups. It turned out people who wanted to know him because of his family’s supposedly wealthy status are not the sort you want to hang around. They kicked him to the curb after they found out he was blowing hot air, and Arven was yet again all alone.

During the summer of his first year, Arven went out looking for his mother, determined to find her and… well, he wasn’t exactly sure. Yell at her?? Cry and hug her?? To see why she had abandoned him for most of his life? But all he knew is that he nodded to see her. He traveled to Area zero, encountering a terrifying Pokémon that was unlike anything he had ever seen, his partner Mabosstiff pushed him aside, and charged the creature, sending himself and it deep into area zero. Arven stayed for weeks, waiting for his first and only friend. Finally, Mabosstiff returned to him… in a state. Dark black crystals jut out from under mabosstiffs skin, which caused his trouble walking, and mobility. Slowly, over the course of the next year, mabosstiffs condition would worsen. Mabosstiff must’ve been subjected to terastilization, but his desire to return to Arven allowed him to overcome it— not without damage. Now Mabosstiff stays in his pokeball, unless it’s time to eat, or try a new treatment. Arven is desperate, and is willing to try anything… he HAS tried everything… until he finds a scarlet book while searching through the lighthouse. Things look grim.

Suddenly, going into his second year of college, Arven isn’t concerned with friends or grades—all he wants to do his help his buddy. Claire Bonent, his new roommate, initially buts heads with Arven, their strong personalities bashing against each other. He finds out that she has Koridon, the strange creature that took his mom away, and he heard her talking with the professor about it. It deepens his distain for her— for hanging a relationship with her that he had longed for. Eventually, growing desperate enough, he begs her for her help searching for the mystical herba mystical hidden all over Paldea, bugging her until she begrudgingly agreed. He still hasn’t told her why he was so desperate.. but he promised it would help Koridon.

[johnnyxedge]

Drum Corps is not for everyone, but should it be?

I've said this for years, and I have meant and agreed with the idea that drum corps is not for everyone. While the activity in it's current form is celebrated for its precision, complexity, difficulty, and overall power and emotion of it's performances, it hides a lot of the less attractive sides of the season from it's fans and prospective members. Current members/alumni/staff of corps are quick to extol the virtues of competing for a summer in a DCI tour (and DCA to a lesser degree for other reasons), but slow to tell of the harder parts of a tour away from home. I understand that as a defense mechanism, we focus more on good memories and recollections rather than the bad ones, and even the bad ones are retold in a more humorous and softer manner.

On the whole, drum corps as it is now is not for everyone. I would even go so far as to say it is not for most people. Most people with physical and developmental disabilities/differences cannot partake in a season. People that cannot afford to pay the tuition, either through their own income or money generated from gifts, philanthropy or scholarships cannot partake in a season. People that are unable to handle the rigors of life on the road for several weeks cannot participate. People that have food allergies or overly specific diets may not be able to participate. Even people that are physically capable may be excluded if they cannot meet physical requirements set by the staff.

Hearing people talk about the differences from the 60s and 70s to today's current corps, one of the biggest changes is the consensus is that there is no place for the average youth in a drum corps today. They say the days are gone when a person can walk into a rehearsal, be handed a horn or a drum or a flag, and be taught how to use it. While I know some corps will teach people, especially in the brass realm, and also take preference to people that were unsuccessful in their primary audition, these corps are the exception and not the norm.

The point of this line of thinking aloud is to ask these questions: Should drum corps return to it's roots of being an activity for everyone?

I don't think there is a wrong answer on this, but I do have some opinions. I think regardless, the current model of the activity is untenable and eventually will crumble. Hopefully DCI sees this and helps to make positive changes that will benefit all corps. Things like a regional tour over national tours, with a final trip to Indianapolis for Finals could massively help reduce a corps' budget for travel. Because of this, the corps could lower their tuition a lot, and allowing more people to be able to afford it.

However, I do prefer that drum corps stays on it's current path of being an activity that focuses on excellence and performance for the audience while pushing physical and creative bounds. The drum corps I marched in may not have had the most talent, money or the best design, but we did have the drive to squeeze every last bit out of a show to make it as good as it can be. I also liked how everyone was there for that mostly singular reason. One of my biggest frustrations when I did high school band was that some people like myself enjoyed band for what it was, and others were there for social reasons and didn't have the same level of care as I and some others did.

So what about the people that could benefit from being in an activity like drum corps, but have no experience? Depending on their geographic location, I think the SoundSport and All Age(DCA/Senior corps/whatever you want to call them) groups can definitely fill that role if they want to, and many do already. But for others, I think things like a recreational band or sports league or arts program or anything of the like would be just as good for people. Drum corps in and of itself is not the important part of being a positive thing in people's lives, it's the act of being active, doing something you enjoy that brings people together. If you can create a community for people from a league that plays baseball, or a local band that plays in parades or gives concerts at a local social place like a park or ampitheater, than that is just as valuable to the individual and community as the corps were back in the 60s and 70s.

[looosey]

Tech and the City

Long time no write. To get you onboarded: this summer, I've been code-monkeying as a software engineer intern at the AI music startup I wrote about earlier in my posts. This past month has looked pretty routine: show up before 10 and leave after 5, code-code-code. But on Thursday and Friday, I pushed the backend and frontend of my feature into the product for the first time!! My hands were cold, and I sat right next to the senior engineer, reading my Github "Files Changed" tab over and over again, nervous as heck about my manual merge, and I clicked Merge... Screams of joy in my head!!

I realized recently, I want a return offer to this job, because... I enjoy it.

For the first time in my life, I've enjoyed my job itself. I like the focus it requires, the challenge to engineer and design and clean and improve, the mentorship I get from brilliant engineers around me. The pace of it, as a startup. The tight-knit, rapidly growing team. So I'm greedy to be a part of it for a bit longer.

This got me thinking though, about what it takes to be at the caliber of coding that would guarantee me any position I wanted. It was as if I was back at college applications, wondering if I should become a spikier applicant and put in hours and hours into programming, to become an undeniable pick. Spikiness... an athlete's dedication to her sport... an artist's whole investment into their craft... is brilliance and I deeply admire it in other people and find it a pleasure to be surrounded by people who dedicate their lives to one thing.

For example, there are my friends who dedicate their college lives to becoming better freestyle or choreography dancers. There is my professor who dedicates his entire day to perfecting the craft of rap. There is my co-intern who spent 8 hours a day after school coding his own personal projects all throughout high school.

And then there is me, who cannot make a decision between her interests in engineering, dance, music, and content. For this summer, I have adopted the mindset of not forcing any of my "hobbies:" to do something only as much as I enjoy it. Is it possible for this to still be a satisfying life?

After Friday 10 a.m. standup (i.e. tech companies typically have these short, regularly-scheduled meetings, where team will update each other on what they're working on), I was waffling around the corporate watering hole (i.e. the coffee machine) when another coworker stopped by and helped me use the terrifyingly complex Xbloom. After a bit of talking about our favorite roast, I found out she was extremely interested in coffee, so much so that she was writing a book! This girl can code, play piano, make coffee, design/draw, and write?? And with the drive needed to write her own book?

This interaction reminded me of my Software Design professor, who told me to go write a book: it's very fun and surprisingly easy to self-publish. He was very good at programming. And also teaching and also photography..

Which makes me think there is another model of brilliance that is not as obvious. A world where it's possible to achieve satisfying qualities in different areas of interest. Fueled by the belief that as long as you are true to yourself: because you as a body of cells and celestial dust exists, a narrative of your interests too can be summarized.

I think, I'm going to schedule Thursdays of every week to think about this a little more.

Anyways it's 1:30 a.m. and I need to be at work at 9 tomorrow. Good night!!

[nighthunter241]

Introduction to "He is mine"

I don’t own any names used in this story and the idea is based on a Yandere concepts

All characters are 18 or older

18+ DNI if you are lower the age of 18

MR (M/N): Male reader or Male name

Henry and M/N have been friends since Freshman year of high school, you come to terms with your feelings with him but Henry manages to catch the eye of a number of people. During a 10 week period during Senior year M/N is getting rid of his rivals in hopes of finally being able to confess to Henry about his true feelings.

Characters

Alba Baptista: MR, Sebastian and Anthony's adopted mother, seems very calm and wants to prepare her children for anything in the world. Heart over the moon with their father. Leaves the United States for personal reasons leaving her children home alone for 10 weeks.

Chris Evans: Adopted Father of MR, Sebastian and Anthony, seems to always give his children what they want and cares for their well being, heart over the moon with their mother. Leaves the United States for personal reasons leaving his children home alone for 10 weeks.

Anthony Mackie: Your adopted brother who cares for your happiness and excellent with computers and programs

Sebastian Stan: Your other adopted brother.

Pedro Pascal: Classmate/Friend

Robert Downey Jr: Son of the leading cooperation “Downey Enterprise”, seems to want to be preparing more on taking over the company than studying. He is MR source of information/items/and schemes

Guidance Counselor Angela Bassett: runs it with a firm hand but is willing to give some wiggle room for the right thing

Principle Samuel L Jackson: A very nervous man, seems to be afraid/cautious of MR and his siblings

Student Council Members: All for some reason been told to keep on eye on MR and his siblings

Rivals

Amy Adams: Henry’s childhood best friend, who clearly has feelings for him

Gal Gadot: Henry’s partner in a school project, and she is falling for him.

Ben Affleck: Jock, a part of the football team, the typical Jock in the closet

Tom Hardy: Part of the photography club, seems to have a gentle nature

Brie Larson: The example of an excellent student, straight A’s and perfect attendance and high academic integrity, it would be sad if all of that came crashing down.

Scarlett Johansson: Member of the gardening club, very intense person and isn’t afraid to speak her mind

Simu Liu: Wants to become a model when he grows up, has the looks and personality and Henry has caught his eye, it would be shameful if someone would ruin his dream.

Chris Hemsworth: Not in any clubs, but is the most popular guy at school with a high reputation.

Ryan Gosling: The boy next door, with his looks any woman or man would want him, sadly even Henry.

Zoe Saldana: The daughter of a notorious detective from the 80s-90s who is currently out of town for “business”, seems suspicious of MR and always has her guard up. Leader of the Journalism club

[hatchetfield-yearbook-project]

hello! Welcome to the official tumblr page for the Hatchetfield High Yearbook Project!

I intend to roll out sign up forms during the first week of January, but in the meantime I'm going to roll out polls and posts to see what the starkid fandom would want from the project.

my poll tag is #yearbook polls!

posts about the project are tagged #hatchetfield yearbook project!

ask tag is #mailbox! don't be afraid to send over questions or suggestions!

a little bit about the project:

it will not be a zine, it will be free, both to participate in and consume, and I intend for it to be a collaboration between artists and writers!

When it is finished, I will roll it out as both a flipbook AND a slideshow, as the slide show will be of a higher/clearer quality than the flipbook program I use.

it will be modeled similarly to the Ride the Cyclone yearbook project, but without all the little info per character, as Hatchetfield High is a much bigger school than St. Cassian. (there will, however, be little club/sports/dance "interviews" on club/sports/dances pages (which is where the writers come in), and senior quotes for the seniors)

[mariacallous]

When Bill Lee donned a cheerleader uniform, fake pearls and a wig as part of high school senior year antics, he probably didn’t think the goofy costume would come back to bite him. But, more than 40 years later, the now governor of Tennessee is at the forefront of efforts to ban the innocent costumes he and his friends once wore, waging a battle that strikes at the heart of our first amendment freedoms.

Since the beginning of this year, at least 32 bills have been filed in Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia targeting drag performances, with more on the way.

Tennessee was the first to pass its bill into law last week, barring “adult cabaret performances” on public property or in places where they might be within view of children. The bill bans, among other things, “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers”. Violators may face misdemeanor or even felony charges.

In Texas, at least four different bills would put venues that host drag performances in the same category as adult movie theaters and strip clubs.

Driving support for these bills is discomfort and distaste for expression that defies conventional gender norms. The growth of library Drag Queen Story Hours – programs that feature drag performers as a way to provide “unabashedly queer role models” for kids – have led some to question whether young children should be exposed to those who defy traditional gender patterns.

Participation in Drag Queen Story Hours is voluntary – libraries decide whether to program these events and families choose whether to attend them – but some critics seem to regard their very existence as deviant or dangerous. This reaction is part of a wider backlash against the increased visibility of transgender and non-binary identities. States and communities have banned books featuring transgender characters and prohibited teaching about transgender identities in school.

Though the history and cultural role of drag goes well beyond current tensions over transgender issues, this form of performance and display has now come into the crosshairs. Drag performances have been targeted with violence and are now the subject of state laws to limit or even outlaw them.

Anti-drag legislation varies from state to state, but tends to share some common provisions. Most bills define a drag performer as someone performing while using dress, makeup and mannerisms associated with a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth. A number of bills include lip-syncing within their definitions and many specify that the person must be performing for an audience.

Some bills would designate any establishment that hosts drag performances as an “adult” or sexually oriented business, often making it illegal for such businesses to be located within a certain distance of schools or residential areas.

While the details of the legislation may change from state to state, most of these bills represent a broad and dangerous chilling of Americans’ right to free speech. The US supreme court has repeatedly found that clothing choices are a constitutionally protected form of expression under the first amendment.

The Tennessee law’s reference to “prurience” – defined as something intended to arouse sexual interest – should limit the sweep of the law so it doesn’t affect things like children’s story hours. But, inevitably, concerns over the intent and enforcement of the law will cast a chill over shows, jokes or comedy bits that might be anywhere close to the line. That chilling is intentional: by targeting drag performances, lawmakers intend to intimidate transgender and non-binary performers and shows into hiding.

The breadth of the bills is staggering, and many would risk chilling expression that goes well beyond the drafters’ purported goals of protecting children or limiting displays that may border on the obscene.

Productions of Shakespeare plays like As You Like It or Twelfth Night – both of which feature cross-dressing characters – could run afoul of some of these bills, as might a singer performing the musical version of Mrs Doubtfire. Sandy Duncan’s performance as Peter Pan would be banned under several of these bills. Movies like White Christmas, Tootsie, Some Like It Hot, Bridge on the River Kwai and South Pacific – all of which feature comic performances by men wearing women’s clothes – could be off-limits for screenings in schools or libraries.

Even Governor Bill Lee’s decades-old dress-up could lead to serious legal repercussions under the law he just signed, if it were to be interpreted and enforced broadly. If students wore similar costumes today on the grounds of a public high school, and then went on to make a sexual joke in front of a small group, their behavior might be criminalized.

The legislation has even broader impacts for transgender people. Under some draft laws a string quartet with a transgender violinist might not be able to perform chamber music. A trans chef talking about their new cookbook could be restricted to venues designated as “adult businesses”.

It’s perfectly fair for parents to want to decide how and when their young children engage with questions of gender identity. But the drive to protect children from witnessing people whose dress defies traditional gender binaries must not become the basis for draconian restrictions impinging upon the free expression rights of children and adults alike.

Whether it’s youthful pranks, beloved plays, historical costumes or adult performances, the ability to dress up and play characters unlike yourself is core to artistic expression. In the name of curbing drag, legislatures across the country are dragging down first amendment freedoms for all.

[ddkdus]

“Road of the Ace: A literary Journalism of Lee Heeseung”

-Ayeon Jeong

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I watched a K-pop survival show called “I-Land,” which altered my life. Specifically, "I-Land" is a survival show that eliminates trainees who aren’t able to make it into the top seven, chosen by professional music producers of BELIFT Lab or global citizens through a voting app. It was a collaboration between the Hybe label, the entertainment company behind BTS and TXT, and TVN, a Korean broadcast system. Lee Heeseung was one of the candidates, a twenty-two-year-old Korean man born on October 15, 2001. Now. He is a member of the famous K-pop boy band “Enhypen.”

Lee Heeseung was an ordinary Korean junior high school student preparing to attend senior high. However, since his father knew he had an ambition to become a singer, he urged him to apply to an art school for senior high. He listened to him and went to the school for his entrance exam and audition. That is when he got scouted by various entertainment companies. Among all, he chose BigHit as it was the company that desired to contract with him as soon as possible.

Since then, he began his journey of becoming a K-pop idol. After three years of training, he got an opportunity to debut through the audition/survival program I-Land. In the first episode, he mentioned that he trained alongside the present TXT members, which made the viewers interested in him. The other candidates defined him as the ace among the trainees and even put him as a role model, which raised expectations among the viewers. Moreover, he became famous for his deer-like eyes, powerful dance gestures, sweet voice, leadership, and proficiency he showed during the missions. Heeseung was able to obtain many votes from the public, acquire the first choice from the producer, and secure the fifth-place position at the end. Being at the show was not painless, but he always did his best.

Right after he officially became part of the debut team Enhypen, he experienced new wrangles. He had his own songs to practice, artist manner lessons, foreign language lessons, and most importantly, his own fans he must amuse. Unexpectedly, he is the eldest member of the group. Though he was suggested to become the team leader, he denied it, as he thought becoming the leader and eldest at the same time meant more responsibility, and said he would do his job as the eldest member.

November 30, 2020, when he debuted, his life was more than he expected. He had a hard time preparing for his debut, but the love he received from his fans made it worth it. He may not interact with his fans that much, but his love for the Engenes is vivid. Enhypen then received a lot of titles like “The 4th Gen Hot Icon” and “K-pop’s present and future.” Additionally, they received awards from big awards shows like the Rookie award from MAMA and AAA awards and the main prize from the Seoul Music Awards.

In conclusion, Lee Heeseung's journey from an ordinary student to a member of the successful K-pop group Enhypen showcases his determination, talent, and humility. Despite facing challenges along the way, such as the rigorous training process and the pressures of the debut, he has remained grounded and grateful for the support of his fans and family. His contributions to Enhypen's success have earned him recognition he would never forget. Now, he is maintaining his journal with a few new aspects in life like producing a music.

[magicshopaholic]

A Guide to the OCs of the Idolverse (with faceclaims)

This guide to the OCs consists of my personal faceclaims for them. These are not accurate, in that no living person on Earth (that I know of) can replicate the exact images of them I have in mind, but these ladies are pretty close. You can also refer to this post for a more detailed description of their appearance.

If you have different images of them in mind and don't want to ruin those, you can check out the guide without faceclaims. Feel free to picture them as you like - and I'd love to hear your versions as well :)

(I'm also shit at graphic design of any kind so please excuse the super amateur-ish edits; they were just fun to do)

Kaya Madaan is South Asian-American and grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut with her parents. An only child, she lost her father in a car accident when she was in high school and her mother has since never remarried. During her senior year at NYU, a few months before graduation, she was assaulted on campus, an experience she doesn’t talk about but has shaped many future decisions in her life. After completing her masters in London, she moved to Amsterdam to do her Ph.D. during which time she met Namjoon in Seoul while visiting her Korean aunt (her father’s adopted sister) and her family.

She lives by herself in a studio apartment, content with her independence and solitude. Her close friends largely include select people from college and university, and later Taehyung’s on/off girlfriend, Dilara, as well. She tends to be a bit of a workaholic and in the process becomes a bit scatterbrained and ends up being absent-minded about other things. Being the one of the youngest doctoral students in her program, she’s very conscious of coming across as mature and capable. She takes a lot of pride in her intelligence and is not shy about disagreeing with opinions.

(Naomi Scott as Kaya)

Nari grew up in Anyang, Gyeonggi province, as an only child. Sometime in early middle school, she and Seokjin met in the same class and formed a life-long friendship. Her dream as a child was to always become a doctor, though her focus on surgery developed years later when she dated a classmate whose older sister was studying to be a surgeon. She currently works in Seoul as a surgical resident and lives alone in an apartment a block away from the hospital.

While Nari is secure in her skills and her career path, she finds it difficult to devote an equal amount of time to her personal life which sometimes leads to insecurities, especially when she sees her old classmates and other people her age move on with their lives. She also tends to forget to take care of herself when she’s caught up in the chaos of her job, leading to missed meals and an occasionally unhealthy diet of food and alcohol.

(Im Jinah as Nari)

An only child of a business tycoon father and an ex-model mother, Miso grew up in the Gangnam district of Seoul, in the Cheongdam-dong neighbourhood alongside equally wealthy and affluent peers. Her family keeps appearances and status above all else and as a result, Miso attended school with children of her parents’ colleagues and neighbours, most of whom grew up to be heirs and heiresses to businesses and fortunes.

Miso left Seoul for university in Australia, where she spent four years getting her degree in business management and two additional years working various jobs, including bartending and music managing a pub, before she was forced to return to Seoul. She current works as an assistant music producer at Big Hit, where she keeps her parentage and connections quiet.

Miso does not enjoy or show interest in going down the same road as her peers, much to her parents’ disappointment. She makes an effort to distance herself from them as well as her parents’ unhappy marriage, and has since high school earned the reputation of being “unfriendly”, which has continued into adulthood as well.

(Park Sodam as Miso)

Chaeyoung grew up alongside her older brother, Chanyeol, in Gwangju. She lost her mother at a very young age; three years later, her father married Soyeon, whose attempts at building a relationship have been resisted by Chaeyoung. As a result, she spent a lot of her time growing up with her friends and classmates, including her brother and his best friend, Hoseok. While Chaeyoung and Chanyeol were always close as children, they naturally grew apart as they became older.

Chaeyoung currently works at a publishing house as a junior researcher, a job she Ioves. She’s outgoing and charming and enjoys meeting new clients and talent, even if she sometimes feels inadequate and anxious about her performance. Due to her young age and surrounded by so many people older than her, she can tend to be a bit impressionable and prone to be taken advantage of. She lives with a senior from college, Sungmi, who has a questionable social circle but later becomes friends with Sooah, whom she meets at yoga class and looks up to as an independent, single working woman in Seoul.

(Danielle Marsh as Chaeyoung)

Sooah grew up in Busan and later moved to Seoul, the only child of two doctors. She realised as a teenager that her parents' marriage was an unhappy one and sometime during her early teens, discovered that both were having quiet affairs with other people. As a means of escaping her home, she threw herself into extra-curricular activities and her friends circle, choosing to be around people as much as she could. Captain of the girls' volleyball team, Sooah was a popular girl in high school, had a large group of friends and a string of short flings that extended into college and her adult life, the only exception to this being Park Jimin. She currently lives in Seoul and works at an event management firm.

Sooah is confident and outgoing and still maintains an eventful social life, staying in touch with friends from school and college that are now acquaintances. She still harbours insecurities, however, aware of her lack of deep friendships and the reputation she had when it came to dating. She eventually forges a friendship with Chaeyoung, who she secretly admires for being far more put together in her early twenties than she herself ever was.

(Nam Jihyun as Sooah)

Dilara was born in her mother's native country and spent her first few years there before leaving for the UK, due to the stigma she and her mother faced for being and having a child out of wedlock respectively. Her mother met Rudy Komyshan in London when Dilara was in her early teens, and Dilara officially took his surname when she turned fifteen. At a young age, she discovered a love for both dance and racing but eventually chose the latter as her career path. Being in a heavily male-dominated environment, Dilara at times had to prove her worth by going over and above what was expected of her and seeming outwardly tougher to blend in with her peers.

She is the first female F1 driver in the history of the sport and is currently signed with Red Bull, alongside Dutch prodigy Max Verstappen. She sometimes faces unwarranted sexism from journalists and fans of the sport that she is learning to deal with, and copes with the help and support of her friends Lexie (also her trainer), Chris and Fred. Having travelled the world and working closely with people of various nationalities, she has a deep appreciation and interest in different cultures. Dilara is competitive by nature and a bit of a perfectionist, staying for hours on the simulator to perfect every move. She's also a bit of a gym rat, finding it therapeutic to work out alone or with a friend.

(Ananya Panday as Dilara)

Lia grew up in Incheon with her parents and a younger brother. When she was in high school, her parents went through a peaceful and amicable divorce. They were open about the process with their children and didn't hide anything from them, something Lia is forever grateful to them for and since holds communication in the highest regard. Lia was a studious teenager, involved in extra-curriculars and student council activities, as well as a part of the girls' basketball team. She did not give much thought to dating in high school, despite catching the attention of many fellow students. She attended college in Seoul and started working there after graduation, sharing an apartment with her long-time best friend, Dal.

Despite the demands of a corporate career, including the workload and the politics, Lia enjoys her job and is a fast learner. She is able to stay very focused and, like Kaya, doesn't realise her tendency to become a workaholic. She does struggle with stress, especially with the fast-paced environment she works in. This sometimes extends to her personal life as well, despite her efforts to become more laidback.

(Han Sohee as Lia)

~

[perfectlyyoungtimetravel]

Tech and innovation Tuesdays

Today I drew Mamie Phipps Clark. She was born on 18th October in 1917. In Hot Springs,Arkansas. She attended very racially segregated schools including a Catholic elementary school, Mamie described her elementary school and secondary school as deficient in substantive areas. Her extended family shaped her career satisfaction later in life. She graduated from Langston High school even though it was rare for a black student to do so, she received 2 offers and scholarships from black prestigious universities like Fisk university and Howard University, she enrolled in Howard University in 1934. And unfortunately Great Depression hit, her dad did send her money so she wouldn't struggle, she majored in math and minored in physics. At Howard she met her future husband Kenneth Clark who was a master's degree student in psychology and he urged her to pursue psychology because it would allow her to explore her interest in working with children (ever since she was kid she had interest in working with children) and they eloped during her senior year in 1937. And in 1938. She graduated magna cum laude (meaning with great honor) from Howard University and she immediately enrolled in Howard University's psychology graduate program. For her Master's thesis, she studied when black children became aware of themselves as having their distinct "self" and when they became aware of belonging to a particular racial group. She defined race consciousness as the perception of self belonging to a specific group, which is differentiated from othe groups by physical characteristics. Her conclusion about African American children became the foundation and the guiding premise for the famous doll studies to which her husband and she would be very well known for. Imagine this: African American children sit down and they have two dolls in front of them on the table, one doll was white and the other was black. And the questions were this:

'Which doll is white?'

'Which doll is black?'

'Which doll is ugly?'

'Which doll is pretty?'

'Which doll is bad?'

'Which doll is good?'

'Why is that doll ugly?'

'Why is that doll bad?'

And finally 'Which doll looks like you?'

And unfortunately African American children always chose the black doll for 'Which doll is ugly' and 'Which doll is bad' and their reasoning was 'because they're black' and they knew that they themselves were Black which is saddening to hear that a child would think that... that's how much the segregation affected the children of any color...and the parenting of white parents as well... kids look up to parents/legal guardians as a role model on how the society works and how they should act as an adult...and at that period of life, kids's brains are like a sponge that absorb the info about the world around them...

Mamie confessed that it was not until the end of her undergraduate years that she finally became confident about creating solutions for segregation and racial oppression. After she graduated she started working as a secretary in the law office of Charles Houston, who was a prominent lawyer and leading civil rights figure at a time when segregation cases were taken up by the national Association for the Advancement Colored People legal defense fund. There she witnessed the work of William Hastie, Thurgood Marshall and others in preparation for the court challenges that would lead to the landmark 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education and this had an influence on her master's thesis 'The Development of Consciousness of Self in Black Pre-school Children' which would be responsible for the research and experiments which influenced Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board of Education. She was the first black woman to earn her Ph.D. in experimental psychology, which she did in 1943. From Columbia University and she returned to student life, her dissertation advisor was Henry E. Garrett,later president of the American Psychological Association who was an open racist. Later in life she was asked to testify in the Prince Edward County, Virginia, desegregation case in order to rebut his testimony offered in that court in support of inherent racial differences. Unfortunately after her graduation she experienced a lot of frustration in her career because she was a Black woman in a field dominated by white males. One instrumental role was a job in 1945. Conducting psychological testing for homeless black girls for the Riverdale Home for Children. She created and carried out psychological tests as well as counseling homeless African Americans and other black children in New York City she stated 'I think Riverdale had profound effect on me, because I was never aware that there were that many children who were just turned out,you know, or whose parents had just left them,so to speak' and this made her desire to open the Northside Child Development center.. she also conducted many other studies and there was another test that was given to African American 3-5 year olds where they were given line drawings of black and white people along with the line drawings of different animals. In February 1946. She founded the Northside Testing and Consultation Center in the basement of the Paul Lawrence Dunbar apartments where her family had lived. In 1948 it became Northside Center for Child Development, it was the first center to provide therapy for children in Harlem, and providing support to families who were homeless. By developing the center,Mamie was able to draw so much attention to the psychology of children of color and form an understanding of the social and the psychological effects of racism. The center was providing 64 children with psychiatric care and 45 children with remedial schoolwork support. The center expanded its services to include psychological consultations for behavior problems, vocational guidance, education in child training for Black parents, and various psychological testing. It just continued to expand more. In 1962. She collaborated with her husband on a project called Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited project that provided corrective/remedial education for impoverished youth that were falling behind in school,provided job opportunities for Black Youth and taught residents how to work with government agencies to obtain funds and services, the project merged with Associated Community Teams but it was short lived because of political conflict. In 1979. Clark retired as a director of Northside. She received Candace Award for Humanitarianism from the national Coalition of 100 Black women in 1983. Her work was an important contribution to the field of developmental psychology and psychology of race. She even worked for the United States Armed Forces Institute and the Public Health Association. She died of cancer on August 11th in 1983.

I hope she rests in peace knowing she made a very huge contribution to the branches of psychology

[prettyhennytea]

In the world of women's basketball, there are few individuals who have made as significant an impact as Adia Barnes. As the head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team, Barnes has not only led her team to new heights but has also become a role model for aspiring athletes everywhere. Let's take a look at her inspiring journey from her childhood years to her remarkable career in the league.

Childhood Years and High School:

Adia Barnes was born on February 3, 1977, in San Diego, California. Growing up in a sports-loving family, she developed a passion for basketball at an early age. Her father played college football at Fresno State University and instilled in her a strong work ethic and determination. Barnes attended Mission by High School where she excelled both academically and athletically. She quickly became known for her exceptional skills on the basketball court and was named California Player of the Year during her senior year. Her outstanding performance caught the attention of college recruiters across the nation.

Entering the League:

After completing high school, Adia Barnes received numerous scholarship offers from top-tier universities but ultimately chose to attend the University of Arizona. During her time as a Wildcat from 1995 to 1998, she left an indelible mark on both the program and women's college basketball as a whole.

Barnes' collegiate career was nothing short of extraordinary. She became one of Arizona's all-time leading scorers with over 2,000 points throughout four seasons while also setting records for rebounds and steals. Her exceptional talent earned her multiple accolades including All-Pac-10 honors and recognition as an All-American player.

Career in the League

Following an illustrious college career, Adia Barnes set out to make waves at professional level by entering the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft in 1998. She was selected as the second overall pick by the Sacramento Monarchs, marking a significant milestone in her career.

During her time in the WNBA, Barnes played for several teams including the Seattle Storm, Cleveland Rockers, and Minnesota Lynx. Although she faced challenges along the way, she remained resilient and continued to showcase her skills on both ends of the court. Her tenacity and determination made her a respected figure among her peers.

Transitioning to Coaching

After retiring from professional basketball in 2004, Adia Barnes decided to channel her passion for the game into coaching. She began honing her coaching skills as an assistant coach at various universities before returning to Arizona as an associate head coach under Niya Butts.

In 2016, Barnes took on one of her most significant roles yet when she was named head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team. Under her leadership, the program experienced a remarkable resurgence. In just a few years, Barnes transformed Arizona into a formidable force within their conference and led them to their first-ever NCAA Tournament Final Four appearance in 2021.

Adia Barnes' journey from childhood dreams to becoming an influential figure in women's basketball is nothing short of inspiring. From excelling on high school courts to leaving an indelible mark at college level and making waves in professional leagues, she has consistently demonstrated resilience and dedication throughout every stage of her career.

As head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team today, Adia Barnes continues to inspire young athletes with not only her coaching prowess but also with unwavering determination that anything is possible with hard work and perseverance. Her impact extends far beyond wins and losses, it serves as a testament that barriers can be broken down through passion and commitment.

[aces-and-angels]

okay because i'm already in love with enid here are some q's <33

what prompted her to choose health law? is it because of her med background? or just why choose law as a whole

does enid have any icons? inspirations? role models?

what's enid's ultimate goal? like the laurel-wreath-crowning-equivalent in her career?

ahhhhhhhh ty ty (my first enid query🖤🖤)

what prompted her to choose health law? is it because of her med background? or just why choose law as a whole?

enid's pre-med days definitely played a role- as well as being from a family full of healthcare professionals (parents are both physicians) -> with that much exposure + insight on how fucked the us healthcare system is- it was hard not to gravitate towards cases regarding health law

w/ her parents' connections- she had an in for med schools + residency programs- it would have been easy for her, which is exactly why she didn't want to. she wanted to feel like she earned her place at the table

the idea of turning to a career in law started after taking a medical ethics class. she exceled in all her classes, but she really shined here. so much that her professor took notice and ultimately steered her into pursuing a law degree (became a mentor, in a sense- aided her throughout the application process to columbia)

does enid have any icons? inspirations? role models?

she holds the founding partners at her firm (park & davis) in high regards. i hc'd park & davis as 'the mecha of the matriarchy'; two bipoc women calling the shots? yeah, enid has no choice but to be in awe

i feel like aislinn would be another person enid would admire- one brilliant legal mind to another; she pours over aislinn's case write-ups in Law Association Monthly

what can i say? enid is drawn towards the feminine energy lol

what's enid's ultimate goal? like the laurel-wreath-crowning-equivalent in her career?

to start to explain this- a quote that guided me while filling out enid's character sheet: "it's always nice having someone owe you a favor."

her overall law philosophy (out of the three pb provides) aligns best with pure law; enid is a bloodhound when it comes to negotiating contracts- creating ironclad bylaws that prevent her firm (and herself) from getting screwed over/manipulating bylaws to her will if she finds herself on the offensive

the ultimate goal is to become indispensable- she doesn't have to be a named partner to hold all the cards. and to do that, she never agrees to terms without ensuring there's a benefit

her crowning moment: the first time she one-upped a senior partner as an associate

[mit]

Teen uses calculus learned through MITx to better understand his cancer treatment

High schooler Dustin Liang estimated his blood cell counts by applying knowledge from an MITx course and talking to doctors.

Sara Feijo | MIT Open Learning

When Dustin Liang was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in June, the cancer consumed his life. But despite a monthlong hospital stay, aggressive chemotherapy treatments, and ongoing headaches, fatigue, loss of appetite, and nausea, the 17-year-old high school senior enrolled in MITx’s class 18.01.1x (Calculus 1A: Differentiation).

MITx, part of MIT Open Learning, offers hundreds of high-quality massive open online courses adapted from the MIT classroom for learners worldwide. The Calculus 1A: Differentiation course was designed and created by the Department of Mathematics and offered through the MITx program. Liang took the free course this summer in between treatment sessions and medical tests so that he could meet the four-year math requirement to graduate from a Massachusetts high school — an arrangement he made with his school. 

In class, Liang learned how to differentiate functions and how to make linear and quadratic approximations. He then applied this knowledge to estimate his blood cell counts. “I was in a hospital bed when I saw the doctor draw a graph of my neutrophils on a whiteboard, and I thought you could apply a quadratic approximation to it to estimate my blood cell counts at a certain time in the future,” Liang recalls. “I talked to the doctors about it, and they said it was a good idea but that they currently didn’t have the technology to do that.”

In Calculus 1A, Liang was learning how to predict the near future value of a function using linear or quadratic approximation methods. After seeing a doctor’s chart of his neutrophils, Liang hypothesized that he could use quadratic approximation to predict his neutrophil count. 

“Given a series of points of the blood cell counts, a function can be modeled,” Liang explains. “So, predicting a future point not far away is mathematically feasible.”

Determined to test his idea, Liang called his mentor, Jiawen Sun, who works in a London security exchange firm as a trading analyst simulating and modeling stock market behavior. Sun helped Liang create a graph to estimate Liang’s neutrophil count at a certain time. When Liang compared the graph to his blood test results, he found that the math worked.

“I was able to predict the blood cell counts. It was a little off, but close enough,” Liang says. “There are some challenges in simulating the function of blood cells. However, the human blood cell counts turned out to be converging easier than the stock market to simulate.”

Keep reading.

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[clowngames]

when I was in high school there was this upperclassmen I'm going to call Jim. The thing about Jim was that he was ambitious, responsible, smart and mature. He had some serious leadership qualities. The other thing about him was that, before I became he became an upperclassmen, he was none of those things. He was the class clown, the butt of all jokes whether he made them or someone else did, and his humor wasn't exactly refined.

He did a lot of growing between his freshmen year and his junior year, when I became a freshmen. I didn't see any of that growth, because I only saw the person he grew into. The other juniors, on the other hand, didn't see that growth because they only saw the person he used to be.

Jim and I were both in theater in high school, and in the theater program you could measure someone's age by whether or not they respected Jim. To the people his age and older, he was still a joke and a jokester, and to the people younger, me especially, he was a leader and a potential role model. When he became a senior, our director/drama teacher allowed him to direct a show, and it was like someone inverted the gravity the way the younger actors took direction and paid attention and the older, supposedly more mature actors only ever half-listened to him.

I don't remember if I ever told him that I looked up to him. I don't know if it ever occurred to him that I did.