#is what it is and im not destitute and i can get some support from relatives if i need it but i dont exactly

[fantastic-artemis]

Ok so I didn't get that job and I'd already made peace with it but holy hell do I need to be working more than 20 hours a week I need a side gig or something

[pennyserenade]

Hello! Hope you’re doing well!! I’m not sure you’d like followers to respond to/ interact with your posts w your thoughts in the tags but I just wanted to say that I totally agree w your thoughts on Coryo and Sejanus LOL. Im v surprised (tho I guess I shouldn’t be given how old I am at this point + the no. of fandoms I’ve been in) that people can read them so differently from the novel. Coryo is an unreliable narrator and that makes it kind of fun to read because his pov shouldn’t always be taken as the truth. In fact I think it’s fun to read how differently his peers view him/ his r/s w other people vs what he himself perceives. Sejanus is such a nice, sweet boy and it’s kinda sad that other people don’t read him that way just because the book is filtered through coryo’s thoughts haha. He’s kind and dares to stand up for what he believes in… I think the saddest thing abt his story is that he was genuinely trying to help others directly but unfortunately the people he spoke to weren’t the most honest/ dependable (I don’t think the stuff with the rebels would have gone down well) and he also trusted Coryo (I don’t blame him cause Coryo was the only “nice” person in the Capitol) 😭 I suppose that’s also how difficult it is to deal w people sometimes IRL (in extreme situations). Anyway ya just wanted to share my thoughts :x feel free to ignore if this isn’t something you’re ok with!!

hi nonie! i'm absolutely okay with followers interacting with my tags and posts/coming to talk about this stuff with me! as you can probably tell i've got a lot to say about this stuff - i'm just a chronic in the tag poster lol.

because suzanne collins wrote the ballad of songbirds and snakes in a third person point of view, i think that readers have taken to assuming that what they're getting is an unbiased narrator, when in fact we are still very much getting a biased point of view from coriolanus. sure, we are distanced from his thoughts--not exactly seeing things through his eyes as we did with katniss--but that doesn't mean we don't have access to him and that his thoughts aren't distorting what we are seeing. i've thought a lot about the reasons suzanne collins might've chosen to use third person pov when she used a first person pov for the rest of the novels, and i don't think there was one definite reason. some of the brilliance of suzanne collins' writing lies in the fact that you do have derive these meanings for yourself at times. personally, i like to think that she chose to use third person pov because this story, while very much coriolanus-centric, belonged to characters like sejanus plinth and lucy gray, too.

the fact that this book came out during the trump's presidency isn't at all lost on me. i think what suzanne collins was saying was: look how badly this system failed this once privileged white boy. for all intents and purposes this should make him angry, and here are these district kids who have suffered just as he has. he can relate more to them than he can to any of his capital peers. he knows what it is to hunger and suffer and fight for your life every day, to be made to perform. when coriolanus turns his back on sejanus plinth and lucy gray baird, it is so tragic because he was meant to side with them and yet at the end of the day he turned his back on them because he wanted to be with 'his people.' he upheld this system that had so failed him because he thought people like lucy gray and sejanus plinth were primitive and less than because that's the mindless shit he had been fed his entire life. this is exactly what happened during that election. i've seen countless white people, who are every bit as poor and destitute as the immigrants that seek to come to this country for help -- if not more -- turn their back on them and support trump. even the poorest of whites think they are better than the richest of latinos or black people because this what their systems teach them, and it makes them feel good to think that.

i think that's why sejanus was district 2 turned capital. i believe that this was commentary on how, no matter how far poc and/or immigrants come, these white people will always view them as less than and that the system will never be forgiving of them. i do genuinely believe that coriolanus thought that sejanus' parents would save him in the end, and the fact that they couldn't was so shocking because he had, up until that point, seen the ways wealth had benefited plinth. he could not conceptualize a world where wealth wouldn't get a person what they wanted because he did not know what it was to be district. they did not see sejanus plinth, heir to the plinth fortune. they saw a district rat, a nameless, faceless traitor to kill. it is no surprise that coriolanus snow climbed to the top on the back of sejanus plinth tragic ending, because that's simply what happens every day.

i do understand and don't absolutely hate the conversations people have surrounding sejanus' privilege and what he chose to do with it/ what he chose not to do, but i think to consider sejanus an annoying, selfish character is erroneous. he was a boy who knew that this system would never favor him and was trying his best to envision a world where it might, and yes he did make stupid rash decisions, but at the end of the day what killed him was coriolanus snow and snow's desire for power. sejanus plinth was not stupid for trusting coriolanus snow, either; coriolanus snow was evil for betraying the boy's trust for his own self-serving agenda.

it is hard to live in a world like this. even as a white woman with a mexican father, i have have had to experience the kind of things sejanus did with people talking poorly about him and his family behind his back, and openly to his face. i am not accepted by either side and never will be, just as he wasn't. i will say i do experience immense privilege because of the color of my skin, and i won't ever pretend that i don't know that, but that's what i'm talking about: no matter how much i look like them, and act like them, i will always be a mexican's daughter and i am happy about that fact. i am mexican as much as i am white but it doesn't make the fight i have to struggle because of it any more fun.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

one of my pet peeves for modern aus is the ones where they make izzy ed's best friend or longtime friend because if ed's gonna have one... its jack. it's literally supported by canon. like put izzy and jack next to the revenge crew and your answer for who fits in better is jack, whose only crimes in the show were trying to pull ed away from stede and committing seagull murder (all of which to save ed in a plan IZZY made) im so salty about all the hate jack gets in fics

Oh for sure. My least favoriate thing ever is when people put Izzy in another character's position. Jack is Ed's buddy at the very least. Izzy is just a coworker. Jack is who Ed would choose to hang out with 100% of the time if his options are Jack or Izzy. Also if you're gonna give Ed a best friend who is antagonistic to his new boyfriend, Stede and Jack being mean to each other is so much more fun in my personal opinion because Stede is mean to Izzy and Izzy's head explodes and steam starts coming out of his ears like he's in a cartoon and he yells something incoherent, where as Jack and Stede can have a bitchy little back and fourth that leaves Jack crying for sympathy and Stede's self esteem buried six feet under. It truly is the dynamic ever.

I don't usually have a problem with Jack hate in fics actually because jack is hateable and there often needs to be a villain, and in Our Flag so far the roster of villains has been Izzy, Jack, and the interchangeable badminton twins. Maybe the rich french fuckers but I don't want to give them that much credit tbh. so you know he's one of three and a half bad guys so I get it. However! there is one trope that frustrates me, and I think the main reason that it frustrates me is because its a trope that I hate with all of my guts and is pernicious in the calicobeard tag and that is the idea that Ed and Jack's relationship was non-consentual. There are tons of reasons to hate him, you don't have to turn him into a rapist. That's my pet peeve and my line. Otherwise yeah he's a villain, good. I like it when he causes problems. It's my favorite thing.

That being said I do think he's the most easily rehabilitated villain out of every villain in ofmd (I'm only counting Nigel, Chauncey, Izzy, and Jack as villains.) Simply because he's a pirate that we frankly don't actually know that much about. We don't even know why he's doing this. Yeah Izzy probably slid him a slice of that sweet sweet navy money under the table, but for all we know Izzy had that meeting with Jackie and Chauncey, found Jack afterwards and went "Hey man, so me and Blackbeard are on the outs right now and he's got this new boyfriend who is being super hunted by the British navy, the boyfriend is a rich guy and I know how much you hate those. But anyway Blackbeard doesn't know that Stede is being hunted and I just told them where they can find them so somebody should probably go get Blackbeard out of there and it shouldn't be me, because he's mad at me right now." and Jack said "Oh my god, you made a deal with the british navy? I'm gonna love watching Blackbeard kick your ass when I bring him back here. I'm going to now go do some insane shit to save his life again. Yeah sure I'll make sure the boyfriend dies just so that Beardy doesn't run back and get his ass killed, but only if you slide me a few dubbies for my troubles." It's also possible that he's full chaotic evil joker mode and when Izzy told him the plan he went "Yeah alright, haven't seen Beardy in a while could be funny." We simply do not know. Is he destitute because he's been mutinied three times and he needs the money? Has he never been mutinied in his entire life and he's minted because he's Calico fucking Jack and he's just here for shits and giggles? I tend to go with the "he cares about Ed" reading because I want to fuck him, but it's up to you. His backstory is wide open baby. What we do know Ed likes him a lot actually, Ed cares about him and Stede getting along. We know he saved Ed's life, even if he does hold it over his head because he's a shit head(although how often he does that is also a question mark, there's so much blank space to work with with him, he can be anything you want him to be other than nice).

And you know what, until the thing with Karl the crew liked him too. The crew never liked Izzy, whatever Jack's got going on is way more compatible with the crew than Izzy, and yet I see all these fics and headcanons where the idea that Izzy will stick around after all of this is over is just taken for granted. But they could easily forgive Jack if he sucked Ed's dick, moonbathed with Buttons, and slid Olivia some birdseed because he's funny and cool and Ed's buddy. Where as Izzy can never ever be trusted in a million years, he was never fun to be around, and no one likes him. (I'm sure Jack and Ed have fucked each other over before, they're messy bitches.)

Now I don't think Jack's getting rehabilitated in cannon, in fact we're probably never gonna see him again. I'm hoping for a flashback but I won't hold my breath. It's part of why I'm writing I'm Not Going Anywhere. Because somebody needs to put this man through the st*ddyhands treatment and it's not gonna happen in the show, so it is the realm of fanfiction and no one else is doing it. Jack was fucking built for an enemies to lovers because he's the kind of man who stands too close to his romantic rival at the urinals to prove his dick is bigger. Enemies to lovers is incredibly fun to do with Jack and Izzy because Izzy is eminently bullyable and also the kind of guy belongs in one of those "don't bully me I'll cum" shirts, but it can also be fun to do with Stede "pissboots" Bonnet. I'm not sure if INGA is going that direction I haven't decided yet, but someone should do it post haste I'm so serious.

I don't necessarily want everyone to see him how I see him. I'm fine with being his only apologist. back in april the universe decided he'd gone long enough being the most hated character and decided he needed one apologist and it spun the wheel of OFMD fans and it landed on me and I became the public defender appointed to him. I am over worked and underpaid and he is a terrible client. I have made him take a plea deal on the Karl murder charge.

This has gotten unhinged thank you for letting me chew on Calico jack for like 25 minutes.

[cheyenneisthedisaster]

This year I grew further and further away from who I truly am as a person. I have with my own actions caused so much pain and damage to my own life that isn’t on Alex, I chose the relationship over, quite frankly, a really great man. Not a perfect one, but a great one. Adding Alex’s own demons to the mix brought out PTSD and substance abuse manic behaviors, looking back now, taking my meds as I should, and really reflecting on the decisions I’ve made to allow these things to happen to me, there are many many times I could’ve been and should’ve been better. I care more about how my actions effect others then the quality of my own life, and that needs to change for me. I felt a lot of the insanity I endured this past year was deserved because of what I did to my husband. Mentally when Alex came into my life i was vulnerable and manipulated, but it doesn’t change the fact that im a grown ass woman and did this to myself when I have so much potential.

I can’t fix Alex. I was naive to think love would be enough. And that I hated looking in the mirror at what I had done to my life, I fixated on Alex, his demons and ultimately perpetuated the insanity. My husband deserves peace and so does everyone else. Period. Poor man is exhausted of being the ‘white knight’ everytime something happens that is completely out of his control. As Alex spiraled I should’ve backed off, you invest so much of yourself and give so much that you don’t want to see things for what they are. I can’t save him, I can’t clean up his messes anymore and ultimately I enable alot of these situations to occur because I myself am not strong enough to make the right decision. Sometimes unconditional love is stepping away. Knowing when shit is to toxic and chaotic to keep moving forward. It’s okay to love someone and cheer them on from a far, but I’m just fuel to the flames.

It’s time I take the necessary steps to fix myself, understand that I am blessed to have the support system I do and go into a treatment program that will help me love myself again. Alex and I’s relationship is pretty masochistic on my end. 30-60 days with a team of professionals to heal myself to a standard that is culpable to regular society is what’s best for me, my presence and own personal issues with Alex boil to this point each time. God gave me a chance, and some Moments I’m pissed, and I point fingers at Alex but in my world, I’m my own villain. Not a lot of people get the opportunity that I am receiving, and it’s time I take it. You know, all things happen for a reason, and god has a plan, and all of this might’ve happened to catapult me in the direction I need to in my life. To stop fucking complaining and take control of my own life and choices. My quality of life is what I make it to be. Alex never asked me to martyr myself for him. Quite frankly that’s stupid because martyrs die. I’m also far from a saint in so many ways. Alex isn’t a bad man, he has his own Demons to reconcile with, and his healing Cannot have me as a part of it. Not now at least, maybe not ever. But I refuse to sit here and pretend it was all bad, we had a lot of good. At one point he had enough love and hope for himself that he choose sobriety. Maybe without the constant reminder of our short comings he can find it in himself to heal, find that beauty and hope within himself that he had when we met. The spark that made me fall for him in the first place.

The anger I feel is misguided, anger is such a cop out. It’s used to deflect from the bereavement I feel from living in the consequences of my own actions and ultimately situations I allowed myself to be put in. I myself am pretty stubborn; I have a masochistic way of learning lessons in the absolute most destitute way I possibly could. I love to quote Robert Frost;

‘I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Well it’s time I make a difference in my own life with the chance god gave me. I’m brilliant at throwing egregiously large stones standing inside of this glass fortress I’ve constructed out of my own life. My mother always said, “do as I say not as I do”; at almost 30 my choices aren’t cute little stumbles anymore. They are abhorrently hypocritical and catastrophic too just about everyone around me. It’s always easier to pick apart others, then it is to take that long hard, needed, look in the mirror. Alex and I are just two idiots standing in a circle pointing fingers at each other; while I reflect on it, it’s absolutely quite embarrassing for our age. We are both choosing to live this life, either one of us is free to opt out. Yet we stubbornly chose not to do so- time and time again. This last Tuesday, god smacked me back into reality; “Cheyenne, it’s time to opt out or I will for you”.

[missmentelle]

i want to write a character who just left a toxic relationship, but the character depends on the toxic partner, because they are having trouble finding a job. when character leaves the toxic relationship, they are left with basically nothing and are kicked out of the only home they had. however i have never experienced something like this(fortunately) and im not sure what would and could happen. could you help me? (fyi later on the character does actually get help, in the end everything is ok)

Unfortunately, I do have a lot of experience with this kind of situation. I have never personally had to go through something like this, but in working with the homeless and in intimate partner violence crisis centers, I have met many, many people who’ve been in this exact situation. These stories are very individual and complex, but typically, if you have left a toxic relationship and lost your home because of it, there are a couple of places you end up from there:

If you have family and friends nearby, that’s probably the first place you’re going to land. You might end up sleeping on a couch, in a guestroom, or back in your old childhood bedroom after leaving an abusive relationship. That’s not an easy or comfortable situation to be in, however - it can be very, very difficult to admit to your loved ones that you’re in this situation and need their help, even if they have never been anything but loving and supportive towards you. Most people have some degree of pride in being able to take care of themselves, and having to admit to your friend that you were abused for years and you need to crash on their couch can be absolutely humiliating. Abusers also tend to isolate their victims and actively try to sabotage their social connections, so turning to friends and family after escaping often involves that you break months or years of silence to reach out to someone that you are no longer certain you can count on, and then immediately confessing some of your darkest secrets and asking for help. If your abuser has moved you far away from family and friends, and cut you off financially (another common tactic), you’ll also probably need to ask someone to send you some money for a bus/train/plane ticket home. The shame of having to reach out to family and friends can be so overpowering that many survivors will allow themselves to become homeless rather than reaching out - the greater the perceived obstacles in place (distance from family, closeness of relationship, time since last contact, whether or not the family already suspect abuse, how much of a burden they think they will be on their family), in my experience, the less likely they are to actually reach out. 

If you don’t have friends or family to turn to (or if you are not emotionally able to reach out, or if your friends/family are not in a position to help you), you can also end up in a domestic violence shelter. These vary wildly from shelter to shelter, but typically you will go in, speak to an intake worker, and be assigned to a shared room with several other women (these shelters are almost exclusively female-only, or female-and-child-only). The shelter will also typically provide the bare-bones basics that you need if you had to flee with nothing - they’ll give you basic toiletries, clean underwear, socks, etc. Your time at a domestic violence shelter is typically limited; they are somewhere to land while you get back on your feet, but they are not intended to be a long-term solution. Many shelters here in NYC do not have maximum stay limits, simply because this is such a difficult place to get housing, but I have worked with shelters in other cities that had 60-120 day limits, with some ability to get an extension if you needed in. In that time, though, you’ll generally be working with counsellors at the shelter to try to get your life together - they’ll try to help you with your resume, look into going back to school if you need to, help you look for work, help you look for employment, assist you with any court case you may be dealing with, etc. Again, though, this can take an enormous emotional toll. You’ve just been through a horrific experience, and instead of taking time to recover, you are now being rushed into achieving a level of independence that you might never have experienced before, with the knowledge that there is a ticking clock over your head and you don’t know what will happen when it runs out. You’re also trying to deal with the loss of privacy that comes from sharing your living space, and from having to tell your story to shelter staff before you’re totally ready to do so. Domestic violence shelters do amazing work, but being there is not easy. 

Many domestic violence survivors end up homeless. Many people who leave abusive relationships do not immediately have the life, job or emotional skills necessary to immediately transition to independent living. Abusers like to make their victims dependent on them, to discourage them from leaving - many people living in abusive relationships are prevented from completing their educations, furthering their careers, managing money, properly treating mental health or medical conditions, or fostering a strong social support network. As a result, many people struggle immensely after leaving a relationship, and may experience short-term or long-term homelessness as a result. This kind of thing doesn’t discriminate - in my career, I’ve met women with multiple graduate degrees who ended up in long-term homeless shelters after leaving abusive relationships. It’s hard. There is a strong, documented link between domestic violence and homelessness, and we don’t yet have the kinds of resources we need to break this connection. 

You’re almost definitely going to end up in an ugly legal battle. In many jurisdictions, it’s not really legal to kick your spouse out of the house and make them homeless and destitute - but the battle to get alimony or marital assets from your ex-spouse can be long and ugly. Abusers typically lash out when their victim escapes them, and one of the ways that they can try to do that is by attempting to make the divorce as messy, vicious and drawn-out as they possibly can. A woman who has left an abuser she is legally married to will face a long battle to divorce her spouse and get any kind of financial recourse. Abusers can generally afford much nicer lawyers than their victims can, and can afford to let the case drag on and rack up legal fees. There are pro-bono or low-cost legal resources out there for survivors, but the court case can take an enormous emotional toll all the same. 

Returning to the job market is incredibly difficult for most survivors. Again, abusers like their victims to be dependent on them - they will go out of their way to discourage you from fostering your independence. That often means that they will discourage or prevent you from finishing school, having a serious career, hanging on to your own money, or developing professional contacts. That can take many forms - they might move you away from a city where you have a career, tell you that you can’t afford school, ensure that you are constantly pregnant/parenting, constantly accuse you of cheating with coworkers, whine about you “neglecting” them until you agree to quit your job, etc. And all of this can be very hard to overcome. Having a large gap in your work history because your partner made you stay home for several years can make it hard to find work, and disclosing that this gap is due to domestic violence can hurt your chances of landing the job. Plus, many survivors come out of these relationships with their confidence absolutely shattered, which makes it difficult to think that you’re even worthy of applying on jobs that you are qualified for. 

Domestic violence (and life after domestic violence) is definitely a topic that could stand to get more coverage in fiction and the arts. When you are basing a story around domestic violence, though, I think there are three things that you really need to keep in mind:

What is my purpose in telling this story? What message am I trying to convey? Writing about domestic violence should not be done simply because it’s a shocking topic, or because it’s an instant tear-jerker - there should be some purpose for basing a story around it. What are you trying to say about the topic? What are readers supposed to take away from the story?

Talk to real survivors about their experiences, or at least do some research by looking at narratives from people who have personally experienced this. There is no end to the memoirs/stories/films/shows written about this topic by people who have actually been there. See what they have to say about it. What do different people’s stories have in common? What things set them apart? Ideally, you should try to have someone with personal experience read over your story when it’s finished, to see if anything comes across as hollow or unrealistic. And if you are basing your research heavily on a survivor creator’s work, try to buy their book/kick in a few dollars to their ko-fi or Patreon if you can. 

Consider what a “happy ending” looks like in this situation. The hard reality of the situation is that very few people get to have that victorious ending where they become more powerful and successful than their ex and get to destroy their abuser and laugh in their face. For many people, a “happy ending” is a quiet, humble life where they are no longer actively haunted by the abuse, and where they are at peace with the fact that their abuser faced no real consequences for their actions - and even this happy ending can take years to achieve. Having someone bounce back from this kind of situation quickly in a story can come across as flippant, and as glossing over the hard realities of the situation. 

Best of luck to you!Miss Mentelle

[cicadas-epiphany]

Black Hat’s past lovers: Hazel

Black Hat sits down in his chair. His desk is empty, save for his prized red skull. “You have all been asking and asking, BEGGING for me to tell you. So fine. I'll tell you imbeciles about my past love life.” he huffs and folds his arms, seeming like he wanted to be elsewhere. He rolled his eye and continued, “My first love was a Sahterrian named Hazel. Well, that's what name I gave her. She was very… peculiar. She didn't want to tell me anything about her, and she didn't want me to tell her anything about me. Her outlook on life was extraordinary and complex. It's hard to explain, so I will let you figure it out yourself. I met her on her homeplanet, Sahterra. Not many…” He pauses, looking for the right word. “People, let's call them. Not many people lived there, as it was very barren and near uninhabitable. The planet was large, hot, and full of desert. The air was thick and humid, but lacked water vapor. There were very few water sources on this planet, and those that did exist were contaminated with sand, making it undrinkable. The sand was red, the sky was red, everything was red. It stained the skin and fur of anyone living there, masking everything in deep red. The winds were strong and aggressive, and the planet was prone to horrible natural disasters.

The inhabitants, Sahterrians, were split into two groups. The incredibly wealthy and the incredibly poor. The wealthy lived in ships, and came and go as they pleased. Nobody had houses or permanent structures like we do, for it was too difficult to build and manage. Nobody stayed there for very long anyway, so trying to build there was a waste of time. The wealthy lived in home ships, and traveled in work ships. Food and water had to be imported from other planets, since Sahterra was too unstable to support anything. The wealthy only continued living there to show status and strength.

The poor lived in villages made of scrap ship parts, abandoned ships, unusable ships, and malfunctioning ships. They didn't have any way of leaving, and were very sickly from the constant sand flooding their lungs and the lack of resources. The land was impossible to farm and the water was impossible to drink. They had no way of living on their own.

The wealthy there, some were generous. They would donate food they didn't need, want, that had spoiled, or they’d have crates of food to be purchased and delivered if they were especially kind. Some villages were favored more than others, due to the social hierarchy developed in the past. It just became traditional to favor them.

But some of the wealthy were cruel. They felt like the poor hadn’t worked hard enough to deserve it. They would follow transport ships and destroy them or steal from them to prevent resources from reaching villages. They would raid villages and steal what they felt the lower class didn't deserve. They couldn't fight back, so families would just stand back as their pitiful home ships were destroyed.

Hazel was born and raised on the planet, in a favored poor village. That is the only real information I know about her, due to her appearance. Everything else about her is unknown.

I met her over 100,000 years ago. I was still powerful, but not as powerful as I am now. My powers were still maturing, as I was unable to teleport myself long distances and I had some… difficulty keeping a solid form. My body was very bulbous and misshapen. I wore a cloak to hide it, though it didn't prevent the spikes on my back from tearing through the fabric. I had horns, four of them. Two smaller ones going out horizontally, and two going up vertically before curving in slightly. the rest of my body was constantly shifting and mutating, never staying solid. I had to use a ship in order to travel, just like everyone else.

I was on Sahterra for business. One of the wealthy Sahterrians was building a machine in order to wipe out the poor half of the planet. My mission was to assassinate him and steal the machine. I didn't do it out of care about the people, I wanted the machine. That glorious machine would have the capability to disintegrate half a planet! It was perfect. I planned for months, and finally was strong enough to go for it.” black hat smirks at cambot, who has been eagerly recording him. “I don't need to tell you how i got in,” he flirts, “but I was in. I was deep into the ship, searching for the living quarters.

I scaled across the ceiling, gripping the details of the structure. I had become close, I could smell a Sahterrian. I grew excited and lost my footing. My claws slipped, scratching the wall and generating a piercing screech; similar to nails on chalkboard. I froze. Everything was quiet. I felt anxious, and my body gurgled and pulsated underneath the cloak. The smell of a Sahterrian grew closer, making my body panic and spasm further. As the smell grew, I looked for them frantically. I knew they were here, but I couldn't see them.

Something shot forward and grabbed my throat. I struggled, lost my balance, and fell onto the floor with a loud thud. I was pulled across the floor by an odd device, and I knew it was being controlled by the Sahterrian. Struggling to escape, I was thrown and pinned by the wrists, and my face was shoved into the wall.

“State your function.” She said.

“She? I was hunting a male. Who was this?” I thought to myself.

“Thats none of your concern!” I growled back, my voice oozing into her skull.

She stayed quiet for a moment. Most likely in awe at how amazing I am, I don't know. I didn't care.

“State your function, now. Or I will kill you where you stand.” She said.

“Oh, dear. I’m simply trembling in fear.” I respond. “But if you must know, im an assassin. Like you, I assume.”

She tightens the grip of the device on my throat. “Sorry to say, but I am still going to have to kill you.” Her voice was a hushed whisper, but was still full of authority and strength. She was obviously a very experienced and confident assassin.

“I doubt you could manage that.” I throw myself at her, pinning her to the opposite wall with my back. “I happen to be immortal. So good luck with that.”

She struggled underneath me, glorious and amazing me, before pushing me off. I ripped the device from my throat and crushed it without looking at it, more focused on looking at her. She was still young, much to my surprise. She was thin, like the poor, but strong like the rich. She must have come from a favored village.

She stood on two cat-like, thin legs. Her body frame was elegant and bold, with few curves. She wore a black skirt that was long in the back, and a dark brown sleeveless half shirt. Her short purple fur was stained red from the sand, and her claws were dirty and dull. Her half-lidded hazel eyes had thin pupils, and her horns stood high and intact. A tuft of fur sat between her gray horns, stained red too, as her body was. Her tail was rat-like, with a tuft of fur at the end.

But what stood out most were her eyes. They were a beautiful and vibrant. Full of life and lust for adventure. Most Sahterrians of her status had given up hope of being significant. They are taught at a young age that they are meaningless. That they are too destitute to have worth. They are trained to think that they need someone else taking care of them to be whole. Individuality is dead.

But she had a purpose, and she knew it. She was destined to do what she does, and she was damn good at it. Her eyes beamed with tenacity.

But let's not forget the situation at hand.

I had been… distracted. She took the opportunity and pushed me back into the wall. We wrestled for a few minutes, trying to beat one another for authority to kill our mutual target,  before we heard an audible click. We both froze, and she looked up. I followed her lead, and everything went black.

I woke up to a loud bang. Looking over, she was flying through the air and landed perfectly on her feet. We had been locked in separate floating prison cell pods, and she had just escaped.

“Get me out!” I yelled at her.

“No. I am going to do my job. You can free yourself.” She responded flatly, heading towards a near hallway.

“I wasn't asking, I was ordering! Free me now!” I screeched, scraping my claws against the inside of the pod.

She stared at me. A cold, hard glare. “No. This is a personal mission. I must eliminate him before he wipes out half the planet. The weapon will be destroyed after he is dead.”

I didn't like this. I needed that weapon. I thrashed about in the pod, trying to break through. She turned and left, disappearing from my vision.

An hour passed, and I still was trapped. How she got free, I haven't a clue.

She appeared through the hall, clearly pleased. She had accomplished her mission.

“Still trapped, mister almighty immortal?” she mocked. She MOCKED! How DARE she! I was about to counteract, but the pod suddenly burst, dropping me to the floor. She had made her way to the control panel and freed me.

Leaning against the panel, she watched in amusement as I stood and fixed my cloak, trying to recompose myself. “Took you long enough.” I mumbled.

Her only response was a smirk. I was furious.

Walking forward, she pushed a card at me. “My services. If you ever need someone to disappear, let me know.”

The card didn't have much information. Just a contact number and a picture.

“Do you have a name?” I ask.

“That is unimportant.”

And with that, she was gone. I stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. The machine was destroyed and the builder was dead. I had no purpose being here, so I left as well.

I boarded my ship and left the planet.

A time later, possibly a year, I had to go back to Sahterra. I had business there again, and this time I was successful with my mission. But as I was trying to leave, I was rendered stranded due to a rare natural phenomena.” Cambot leans in, being invested in the story. Black Hat shoves him away, showing irritation.“To put it simply, the core of the planet overheats and magma forms at a drastic rate at the same time the tectonic plates go through a massive shift, causing volcano quakes. I think you dullards can use context to figure out what that means.

The ground had begun shaking violently, and I was unable to walk steadily to my ship. The tremors had thrown me to the ground, and the sand burned my eyes. I lied there in pain, trying to rub the sand from my face, when I heard an ear-splitting crack. The ground was opening up, and sand was rushing forward to fill the hole. Smoke billowed out of the opening, and I ran.

Volcano quakes don’t stop at just one. No, there are multiple quakes at once. It can destroy miles and miles of land, and it takes hundreds of years to recover.

I ran for as fast and as long as I could. Lava was inching closer from all directions and the sky was black as night. The sand and ash choked me and blinded me. Bodies of the inhabitants who had been killed lied all around me, making escape even more difficult.

I may have been powerful and immortal, but I was still able to feel pain. And let me tell you, burning in lava while sand and ash choke you isn't the most pleasant feeling.

After some time, I was unable to continue running. Needing a rest, I looked for a safe place to camp for the night. A small abandoned ship could be seen in the distance, so I went to it.

After entering, I noticed a body on the floor.

It was her.

I go up to her and feel for a pulse. She was still alive, barely. I leave her there, heading to the second floor of the small ship.

The controls were odd and confusing, I had no way of understanding them. I hadn't learned to read the Sahterrian language yet, though I can read it now.

I didn't know how to pilot this ship, if it could even function in the first place, so I stayed there and waited. I watched what was happening outside, and the volcano quakes had seemed to stop forming. Lava still shot out from them, slowly creeping closer to the ship.

But the ship was safe on top of a large sand hill. I stayed there for another few hours, waiting for it to stop.

The destruction seemed to be finished, so I started heading down to the floor level to leave.

I was wrong. So, so wrong.

An aftershock threw the ship forward. It was falling off the hill, and could crash and become damaged. I’d have no way off this planet, and nowhere to hide.

As I tried to escape, again, I passed by her lifeless form. I felt bad for her, so I grabbed her shoulders to wake her.

“Wake up! Wake up now!” I yelled.

“Wh- huh? What is happening? Why are you here?” She asked, seeming confused.

“Volcano quakes. An aftershock just hit, we need to leave now.” I said. The ship lurched forward again, and I scrambled to escape, leaving her behind.

I got to the entrance to find the winds outside were stronger than usual, a sandstorm had swept through. “Goddamnit!” I thought, “I can’t see!”

Having no choice, I turned back to the interior of the ship. She wasn’t there, so I rushed to the the upper level to try to figure out the controls.

She stood there, pounding away at them. “Hold on.” she commanded.

I was about to question her when the ship fell hard, falling down the side of the hill at a dangerous rate. Sirens screamed and lights flashed, alerting us to the danger we already knew. I crashed into the wall and she almost hit the viewport.

She frantically worked the controls, and the ship began to rumble and come to life. It shot forward, tearing down the hill and jerked back right before crashing into the ground. The ship hoovered there, shakily rising up higher and higher before stopping a few feet above the tallest hill.

Now we were safe.

The ship was unstable, but worked. She stepped away, falling to her knees in exhaustion. I sat next to her, and we were in silence.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

“I walked.” She responded.

I glared at her before giving up. It wasn't worth it.

“Night will come soon. Do you need food? There should be a few barrels of food in the storage room.” She stood, looking at me for a response.

“No. I’m fine.” I said, not looking at her.

She leaves silently, and returns moments later with a basket of food for herself and some blankets.

She lays out two and sits down on one. She begins eating.

I watch her, but she doesn't seem to care. She finishes and turns to me.

She quietly stares, as if to mock me for staring at her.

“What is your name?” I ask.

“What do you want it to be?”

I am confused. “What? Just tell me your name. I don’t have time for this.”

“Last time I checked, we are stranded on a floating ship. You have time. What is my name? Who am I?”

I decided to give in. “You are a Sahterrian assassin. Your name…” I look her over, looking for something significant to call her.

“Your name is Hazel. For your eyes.”

She nods. “I am Hazel, a Sahterrian assassin. You are Umbra, a king from a planet unknown. You are here to find ways to enforce your commands on your people, since they have started to fall from your grasp. Your powers are almighty, but they have lost fear. You are in search for new ways to gain back their loyalty, drawing you here, to the planet Sahterra. You come here to gain high status, just like everyone else has come for. Once you prove yourself, your slaves will respect you once again.”

I was baffled. I was at a loss of words, simply nodding in response. “I am Umbra, king of a planet unknown.”

She seemed content with herself and lied down on her blanket. I assumed the second was mine, and lied next to her.

I wanted to question her, but I was too in awe to ask. Luckily, she gave me an answer without question.

“My life story means nothing to you. I am just a pawn in the game of life, and so are you. Nobody asks how you are because they want to know about you. They ask about you so they can tell you about themself. Our real stories are insignificant. You have to make your own. Build your own life story and shape it how you want it to be.”

She paused, turning to face me. “You have met a girl on a foreign planet. What is her name? What is her story? What is she to you? How does it affect you? Why is she special?

That is for you to decide. I am just a new character in the story of your life. Who I am is yours to answer. You are the writer. Tell me who I am.”

I am quiet for a moment. I wasn’t sure what to make of this situation,  I hadn't thought of this before.

“You are Hazel. You are a Sahterrian from Sahterra. You were born in a favored village near a rich city. You-”

She cut me off. “No, no, no. Realizm is so boring. Try again. Be creative.”

I start to get frustrated, what did she want from me?!

“Fine then. You are Hazel, A Sahterrian hybrid. The other half is unknown, because your mother was a slutty bitch. You have seven siblings, all hybrids as well. Your oldest sibling died at the hands of another being, and you made it your life mission to get revenge. You became an assassin in hopes of finding the murderer and destroying them. How’s that?”

She nods. “So be it.”

“What? You're just going to take that? I insulted you!”

“Actually, you insulted my mother.”

I was enraged. “Fuck you! Fuck all of this! I’m leaving.”

“Okay.”

Why wasn't she offended? Why wasn’t she responding to any of this? Why wasn’t she mad?

I went to the controls, suddenly remembering I have no idea how to fly this ship. I pressed a button, but a lock flashed on the screen. She had locked the controls. I couldn't do anything.

I sat back down on the blanket with a huff.

“Back so soon, your majesty?”

“SHUT UP, SLUT BABY!” I yelled, laying down on my side facing away from her. I could hear her snickering, tantalizing me.

At this point, I didn't like her. But we continued talking through the night, and I warmed up to her. She was much more pleasant to talk to than I originally thought. Once morning came, she settled the ship down on land that hadn't been destroyed by the volcano quakes.

She asked if my ship was destroyed the the disaster, and I said yes.

She offered one of her own ships. She had a few that had never been used, and she would teach me how to use the controls. I eagerly agreed, and I was to meet her at her home ship in a weeks time. She gave me the coordinates of her home ship and left.

I had no home for that week, so I wandered the planet, exploring the social construct. Their lives are brutal. How they manage to live there for generations, I'll never know.

Anyway, I met her at her home ship a week later around midday. She invited me in, and we looked at some of her work ships. I picked one I fancied, and she showed me how to pilot it.

They were surprisingly easy to maneuver.

Now I… may have flirted with her a bit afterwards, leading to a… well, a date, but that isn't important.” He adjusted his tie, seeming uncomfortable.

“Not much happened on the date. Well…” Black Hat looks down, getting even more uncomfortable. “Nevermind what we did. Nothing happened. NOTHING.

After a few weeks, we were officially a couple. I do not wish to give much detail of our dating life, but we were cozy. Sure she was a smartass, but she had a good sense of humor. She was nice to look at, and I had a tendency to get distracted and stare at her. One of the many flaws of love; it’s a distraction.

After several years, we lived together on Sahterra on her home ship. She would disappear for days without a warning. I didn't mind, I knew where she was. She had a job to do.

She helped me mold a more solid form, and I copied her thin stature. I liked the design, and thought she’d like it, too. I hadn't known there was a difference between the feminine and masculine body… and she never quite let me live that down.

She taught me their writing, some history, and more. I taught her foreign tongues when she has a job on an unfamiliar planet.

We were strong, and we thrived together.

One day she received a job from another Sahterrian. It was a job that no other assassin had accomplished, and the reward was a monstrous amount of wealth, and even power in the social hierarchy. Being treated as an equal to the wealthy was a great honor, and she accepted the job.

She prepared for months. She trained, gathered weapons, and trained some more.

Soon, she left. She gave the estimate of two months before she'd be back.

Two months later, she was still gone.

I didn't think much of it, I believe in her. She has gone over her estimate before. So I continued waiting.

Another month passed. Then another. Soon, a year. I became worried.

I didn't want to seem like I didn't feel confident in her, so i waited longer.  After another year, I went looking for her.

I knew the solar system her job was located at. I searched every planet, and every solar system around that. I searched that whole galaxy for her.

Her lack of a name made locating her difficult. Sahterrians weren’t common, so her appearance would be recognizable. But because of her job, she hid her body and face. Again, making it harder to find her.

I searched for thirty years. After that point, she had to be dead. Saherrians have a lifespan of about sixty years, and she was in her late twenties when she left.

I’ve never seen her since. I had traveled back to Sahterra a few times after that, but it was hopeless. I gave up and moved on.

She was gone forever.

Fic 2: Zharduu

[thedressingvineministries]

Good morning for the next few minutes friends and family, I've been up this morning but I've been busy writing elsewhere; I have cleared my head and my heart this morning just petting it all out, worked on other campaigns also but still need to study the word and spend time in prayer. I didn't get to update yesterday because I overslept and had to be to work, so I knew I needed to at least sit down and say hello today; and of course pull a little pic art together for those who enjoy it, I enjoy making it at least so I share it. I'm going to share what I wrote on another campaign that I'm currently working on and then may have a bit too say from there.

Well I'm struggling along with the help of the system,

I ve been back in the apartment the last couple days; an agency will help me keep it, but I have to get together with my landlady to take care of documentation. Im not good at this so my case manager is taking care of bringing the paperwork, she will act as a liaison on between the landlady and I; God willing I will get it signed and approved quickly. The master of the house has not been available for phone calls I'm told the last couple of days, so I am feeling a bit uneasy to be honest. I started writing this on the Help Homeless USA Facebook fundraiser page.

But that's not the goal of the fundraiser, the goal of the fundraiser is to raise money to help other homeless persons and families.

There is nothing else...

Hi

I am Beach and although I am facing life outside again, my goal is to help others in the same predicament; both those facing homelessness and those who are already homeless, individuals and families alike. We want to help them thrive, I don't know how I managed to live out there as long as I have; God carries me that much I can say, I am the fool who stumbles on this own words. But if I can offer a blanket or a warm meal if not hot for the cold weather ahead, a bag or backpack to carry your things; if possible lead you to shelter for the night, at least pray for your safety. I don't have money to give but these types of things I can gather, it's not difficult to get ahold of these things for those who need them. Money now that's very hard to get ahold of, money struggles like a honey badger trying to get out of a corner; it's dangerous it constantly controls us, we live by it and forsake the living God for money. However it is a necessary evil I am told, can't say I agree; there is something God given in the heart of the greater part of mankind that is so much more powerful. Ever sat and talked to yourself, I mean seriously had a conversation with you? Ever ?

Sorry I have some problems with my brain, it's hard to focus and stay on track.

The point is we need your help with the financial side of things, we as an organization are committed to assisting those of the homeless and destitute communities with the help that they deserve.

We have been active for many years now, serving in the community to ease the burden of indigents and homelessness.

We greatly appreciate you taking your time and reading, come back and visit us anytime. We also greatly appreciate your love and support and your prayers are always welcomed.

Overall, 66.7% of the total homeless population of the United States is single individuals, with the remaining 33.3% being families. In recent years, homelessness increased nationally by almost one percent. This number comprises unaccompanied children and young adults, single adults experiencing chronic homelessness, and people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

The top four causes of homelessness, in order, are:

Lack of affordable housing

Unemployment

Poverty

Low wages

This campaign is for a page that we have run for years now on Facebook, it lists itself throughout the article and it is pretty self explanatory; I associate with this page to take the focus off of me personally and redirect it to the problem at large, it's too easy to get caught up in what we have until we reach the point of understanding clarifying that what we have is not a important as who we are.

I sit and remember the days of the hobos,

they never carried much but they for the most part were happy and in good spirits; most of the tramps that I have met in my life be they railroad, rubber or cardboard (hitch hiker) have had sparkling personalities always quick with the wit or the crack of a joke, these have been some of the most interesting people I have ever met. However travelling like that nowadays is dying off, the world has become more aware of itself and the dangers it presents making everyone more alert; this in turn incites a form of domestic paranoia leaving everyone on edge, ultimately raising levels of stress and anxiety on the overall. So we turn our focus down other avenues such as things, yeah we all like having things; and with the ratio of commercials to programming of course you're eventually going to want more things, materialism at its finest even those of us who don't watch TV or surf the internet or listen to the radio are bombarded by ads. Then we get stuck clinging to dust, our lives ambled away into nothing but the accumulation of possessions; but those of us who've had nothing are content with very little, it's nice to have a roof and a warm bed or the ability to make a meal. You don't realize how dependant you are on things like a microwave or a stove until you don't have one, or what a luxury it is to go to that refrigerator and grab a snack or a drink until that ability isn't there; the resources that the homeless once had are actually being slowly taken away, and safe places are growing fewer and fewer.

Maybe it's time for introspection, time to take a good long hard look at ourselves and discover what we can do to stave off this plight; most people don't plan on being homeless, it usually occurs due to circumstances beyond their control. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends all face this possibility; you face this possibility, but together we can at the very least lighten the load.

[onecrazysquirrel]

Good morning for the next few minutes friends and family, I've been up this morning but I've been busy writing elsewhere; I have cleared my head and my heart this morning just petting it all out, worked on other campaigns also but still need to study the word and spend time in prayer. I didn't get to update yesterday because I overslept and had to be to work, so I knew I needed to at least sit down and say hello today; and of course pull a little pic art together for those who enjoy it, I enjoy making it at least so I share it. I'm going to share what I wrote on another campaign that I'm currently working on and then may have a bit too say from there.

Well I'm struggling along with the help of the system,

I ve been back in the apartment the last couple days; an agency will help me keep it, but I have to get together with my landlady to take care of documentation. Im not good at this so my case manager is taking care of bringing the paperwork, she will act as a liaison on between the landlady and I; God willing I will get it signed and approved quickly. The master of the house has not been available for phone calls I'm told the last couple of days, so I am feeling a bit uneasy to be honest. I started writing this on the Help Homeless USA Facebook fundraiser page.

But that's not the goal of the fundraiser, the goal of the fundraiser is to raise money to help other homeless persons and families.

There is nothing else...

Hi

I am Beach and although I am facing life outside again, my goal is to help others in the same predicament; both those facing homelessness and those who are already homeless, individuals and families alike. We want to help them thrive, I don't know how I managed to live out there as long as I have; God carries me that much I can say, I am the fool who stumbles on this own words. But if I can offer a blanket or a warm meal if not hot for the cold weather ahead, a bag or backpack to carry your things; if possible lead you to shelter for the night, at least pray for your safety. I don't have money to give but these types of things I can gather, it's not difficult to get ahold of these things for those who need them. Money now that's very hard to get ahold of, money struggles like a honey badger trying to get out of a corner; it's dangerous it constantly controls us, we live by it and forsake the living God for money. However it is a necessary evil I am told, can't say I agree; there is something God given in the heart of the greater part of mankind that is so much more powerful. Ever sat and talked to yourself, I mean seriously had a conversation with you? Ever ?

Sorry I have some problems with my brain, it's hard to focus and stay on track.

The point is we need your help with the financial side of things, we as an organization are committed to assisting those of the homeless and destitute communities with the help that they deserve.

We have been active for many years now, serving in the community to ease the burden of indigents and homelessness.

We greatly appreciate you taking your time and reading, come back and visit us anytime. We also greatly appreciate your love and support and your prayers are always welcomed.

Overall, 66.7% of the total homeless population of the United States is single individuals, with the remaining 33.3% being families. In recent years, homelessness increased nationally by almost one percent. This number comprises unaccompanied children and young adults, single adults experiencing chronic homelessness, and people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

The top four causes of homelessness, in order, are:

Lack of affordable housing

Unemployment

Poverty

Low wages

This campaign is for a page that we have run for years now on Facebook, it lists itself throughout the article and it is pretty self explanatory; I associate with this page to take the focus off of me personally and redirect it to the problem at large, it's too easy to get caught up in what we have until we reach the point of understanding clarifying that what we have is not a important as who we are.

I sit and remember the days of the hobos,

they never carried much but they for the most part were happy and in good spirits; most of the tramps that I have met in my life be they railroad, rubber or cardboard (hitch hiker) have had sparkling personalities always quick with the wit or the crack of a joke, these have been some of the most interesting people I have ever met. However travelling like that nowadays is dying off, the world has become more aware of itself and the dangers it presents making everyone more alert; this in turn incites a form of domestic paranoia leaving everyone on edge, ultimately raising levels of stress and anxiety on the overall. So we turn our focus down other avenues such as things, yeah we all like having things; and with the ratio of commercials to programming of course you're eventually going to want more things, materialism at its finest even those of us who don't watch TV or surf the internet or listen to the radio are bombarded by ads. Then we get stuck clinging to dust, our lives ambled away into nothing but the accumulation of possessions; but those of us who've had nothing are content with very little, it's nice to have a roof and a warm bed or the ability to make a meal. You don't realize how dependant you are on things like a microwave or a stove until you don't have one, or what a luxury it is to go to that refrigerator and grab a snack or a drink until that ability isn't there; the resources that the homeless once had are actually being slowly taken away, and safe places are growing fewer and fewer.

Maybe it's time for introspection, time to take a good long hard look at ourselves and discover what we can do to stave off this plight; most people don't plan on being homeless, it usually occurs due to circumstances beyond their control. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends all face this possibility; you face this possibility, but together we can at the very least lighten the load.

[lokbobpop]

Debt

Debt comes from the Latin word debitum, which means "thing owed." Often, a debt is money that you must repay someone.

Debt de bet deb t

Writing the word debt

I never spell it like this i always dept like i now its not and thsi is more like department short for an di just can’t remember the b it like doubt i just write dougt like that it’s confusing so i find these sort of words hard to remember.

Reading the word debt

The world debt who the hell do we owe these trillions and billions of dollars to who how can we be on this planet and be in so much debt to who i just googled it and some bullish of only the US debt comes up but now who they are to they just call it the people debt wtf really we need a stop all funds to stop and start again clear the debt whip it clean your not going to get he real answer on google now its so programmed fro you not to learn it awful google needs to be stop for stoping the expression of the people for the people.

I have a great fear of being in debt that we would lose out money and be in debt to a bank or person the thought of pressure and foreclosure of a home comes up being left destitute with nothing many have experienced this in there life already and many will come until we are all equal we all eat breath and sleep as one its coming it pushing its way through.

I wont take a loan out now not like this its to hard to say what will happen even thought we are thinking of retails in panama im unsure what to do i fear underlying what i do that i need to clear within myself as long as i iuse common sense i should be good.

How we have been driven into debt by the powers that be with getting loans easy access with money not having be educated in what to do with money how to do whats best for yourself no advise it should be taught a school but its not it’s corrupt if we we’re taught the truth at school we would of rebelled against the system years ago we are blinded not only but our minds systems but by our governments the elite and how these establishments will now fall with the ever increasing vibration of change.

In the red my brother has lived his whole adult life in the red always in debt i dont know how he allows this my parents also were like this why do they do it how come i didnt and couldn’t do this i just dont like owing money and especially with interest the fear is great for me here i see my money god say yes fear fear and more you must lol never leave this fear lol well im leaving you money god bit by bit as soon. I will have no chose i see but to leave you anyway so the quicker i see and realize you are coming to an end anyway the better for myself you are dying to be reborn.

Sayin debt out loud

I think of people losing there houses and still having massive debts to pay off bankruptcy they will have to cancel all debt I reckon throughout so it might be good to have a debt so they will cover it.

Should i or shouldn’t i comes up do we buy or not buy comes up not knowing what we should do fear money god confusing it for me rocking my boat of stability within like its meant to do to show me what im doing whats im allowing within me and whats happening right now for me to face lose of money well you can do they you’ve done it before so no problem i can see there you survived well i think i can do almost anything I’ve been there done that you can do it again no problem

Sf

Does this definition support me no it has much fear of debt but i do think that all debts will be called off if there was a big financial crisis for sure they would have to.

Debt de bate

Debt

To consider wether it would be worth going into debt to talk it over debate the best option for self and others

I will use this word as good debt and bad debt what kind of debt is best for self and all for the best and not just random loans.

[apsbicepstraining]

Stress fractures, thirst and low-spirited spend: one woman’s life as an NBA cheerleader

Many dancers are attracted to life as a cheerleader but they often find themselves disappointed at what the hell is thought would be a nightmare job

You can deflect leading questions that stereotype you by explaining that this is a hobby

Q: Do you get paid ?

A: All dance teams in the NBA get paid, and theres other enormous perks, like going our whisker and make-up done, tanning, etc

The above is excerpted from a manual on how to talk to the press, given to the 2013 Golden state Fighter dancers by their coaches. It was handed to me by former Warriors Girl changed labor preach Lisa Murray.

Salaries of NBA and NFL actors are, of course, widely available. They are fodder for headlines and talk radio beef have proven that sometimes Cinderella tales actually do come true. Until recently, there was little reason to suspect that within these wildly profitable societies, cheerleaders those archetypal is a matter of envy and passion were being brutalized and underpaid.

Lawsuits against NFL crews began in early 2014. In rapid attack inheritance, complaints alleging payment stealing and other serious strive contraventions were was put forward by former cheerleaders against the Oakland Raiders; Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Cincinnati Bengals; Buffalo Bills; and decided for as much as $1.25 m( the instance against the Bills has yet to settle ).

Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks became the first NBA crew appointed in such a suit when former dancer Lauren Herington filed a complaint on behalf of she and her team-mates alleging gross underpayment and illegally mandated out-of-pocket overheads. Soon after filing, she shared with me emails, agreements, and detailed notes further that she maintained during her term as a Bucks dancer. If her accusations are true, the team did not consider hires described in the organizations own internal correspondence as, high profile members of such Milwaukee Bucks community with the respect or compensation they were entitled to.

Prior to working for the Milwaukee Bucks, Herington too was agitated about being treated as a high-profile member of the organization. She equated being a professional cheerleader with being a mini celebrity. As is particularly so with many professional cheerleaders, she had been dancing since early childhood, and had long dreamed of a discern on an NBA squad.

I envisaged I still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer, Herington told the Guardian. But I guess thats over for me now.

Salary was not discussed in the month-long unpaid bootcamp Herington listened prior to being hired by the Bucks. This was also the speciman at training workshops I accompanied for potential Clippers dancers for another article last year, where we were told wages would be discussed only after we were hired. It was also the instance for Murray, who recollected of the Warriors Girls, They have a epoch where you come in, and you read the contract together, and you sign it. And thats when I found out I was realizing $10 an hour. I remember simply being outraged.

There was no discussing it, Herington said, of her event signal after molted already relocated to Milwaukee to work on the team. It was, If you have an issue, then you can go ahead and it leaves. We werent have been able to take it dwelling, and go through it or anything like that. It was just handed out at rehearse. We signed it and leaved it back. Harmonizing to the agreement, she would be paid $30 per bi-weekly two- to four-hour practise; $65 per weekly 6.5 hour home competition; and $50 per two- to four-hour public appearance.

Hertington was also contractually obligated to adhere to the Bucks taxing fitness touchstones, which she alleges in her suit amounted to significant hours of payable labor. Per their accordance, dancers were required to maintain a high level of fitness, which was to be obtained by fulfill( ing) the conditions for workout curriculum designed by the training staff at Elite Sports Club.

What constituted a high level of fitness would be determined by the Bucks dancers tutor Tricia Crawford, who declined to be interviewed for this story. Workouts were monitor the performance of Tony Moro, a manager at the above-mentioned Elite Sports Club, who was in close linked with Crawford. In one email at the beginning of the season, Moro planned crew members for seven-day-a-week mandatory workouts and noted that the women should always be sure to cc[ Crawford] so she knows what is going on. Outage to comply with the activity and weight commissions set forth by Moro and Crawford would, according to the Bucks policy, result in disciplinary action as deemed necessary by the Dance Team Manager.

According to Herington, exchange about her load inaugurated as early as the teams first appearance in August of 2013, where coaching staff payed her negative feedback about her illustration, and subsequently applied her on a special exercising schedule that surpassed the four to five hours of daily practise she was already fully participate in.

Herington too began starving and dehydrating herself to look[ her] absolute good. She often appeared faint while working out. She experienced severe diarrhea after ingesting for the first time after days of nutrient destitution for circumstances like the teams calendar hit. She emailed Moro asking for additional work out that might help her lose the extra fatty[ she had] around[ her] hips and waist area.

Despite these efforts, Herington never knew when she would be allowed to dance at tournaments, and when she would be benched( without remuneration ), for failure to adhere to the Bucks fitness guidelines. On 18 18 November 2013, the week after the Bucks firstly dwelling activity, Crawford explained in an email: This week you will be out. I think you need a little more time to focus on your fitness. I was looking back at my memoranda and photographs from auditions, and I can see a significant difference. At that time, I thought your fitness was close to where it needed to be, but you still had a little slimming and color to do.

Sometimes, she said, she would hear a routine simply to be slash at the end of rehearse, at which point she would awkwardly leave the studio as her tired team-mates were told they would now have to stay belatedly to relearn formations.

In an email on February 18 2014, Crawford wrote, Saturday will be your first day back, and then Ill make a decision as to the remainder of the season. Id like you to visit Tony on Friday if you are able and do one more researching.( Testing here referred to the regular torso fat percentage estimate that Moro played on Herrington and reported back to Crawford .)

Herington developed stress ruptures in her shins. She stopped get her span. At one point, she was refused weight loss prescription from a doctor who expressed concerns over Heringtons mental health, and advised her to retire dancing.

By late winter, Herington said, the girls started seeing that my look seemed actually thin, and they asked if I was losing heavines in a health practice. At one rehearse, a command expected Herington why she looked so stressed out. I told her I was on probation for the last 2 week, and if I didnt make improvements I was not going to be on this crew any more, she said. Two weeks later, in the same 18 February email, Crawford wrote: I know you asked[ the cheerleader command] about your status with the team yesterday, but she has nothing to do with this. This place is between you and I.

Crawford signed off that email with a smiley face.

When Im sitting here now, Im like, wow, that resounds really stupid. Why didnt I just say something? Herington told the Guardian. Why didnt I merely stand up and be like, No. This is wrong. But then when I think about how drilled into our thinkers it was that every little thing we did was being watched You get scared that youll never piece as a dancer again.

During a weekend-long retreat at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the opening up of the season, Herington recollected rooming with a team-mate who told her that any in-room eating she did would be reported back to Crawford. At the same departure, she said the dancers accompanied a forum on how to adhere to their contractual obligation to refrain from posting anything on the internet that could be perceived in a negative dawn. When they arrived, draws from their Facebook notes had been projected onto the walls to be used as examples of photos that made them look like sluts and lesbians.

This retreat was also where each lady received their makeover. A examination was chosen for them by Crawford and a unit of beauticians from Salon Nova& Lash, where dancers where contractually required to visit, at their own expense, for all “hairs-breadth” needs.

I was the a-little-bit-older-than-my-actual-age-one, says Herington. I was the jumpy one on the team I had to convey that throughout the season. I had no say in what I looked like. That was part of the brainwashing.

They change your examine. They change your personality. They change everything, said Murray, of her epoch on the Warriors Girls. Murray attributes some of professional cheerleadings bizarre culture to the fact that most women coaching are themselves former cheerleaders.( Crawford danced for the Detroit Pistons prior to her hire with the Bucks .) Professional dancers, like most pro contestants, generally start working at a young age, due to their professions finite arcs. Many coaches, then, have worked in the world of pro-cheerleading since early adulthood. Because of this, said Murray, coaches may accept the view that in this profession, relations are an appropriate form of compensation.

Something they say a lot of the time, she said, is its a sisterhood. The document Murray rendered me with advised dancers to tell press: Its such a support to be on the Warriors Girls because you get to meet women who have your same anger for dance. It absolutely is a sisterhood!( When I attended the Clippers seminar, dancers there had also employed the convict, It truly is a sisterhood! verbatim, to describe life on the team .)

Herington likewise echoed hopes of sisterhood when shed attended boot camp. By March, nonetheless, when her team-mates hosted what she described as a mostly mandatory sleepover, she was treated cooly by the other women, who did not volunteer her a glass of wine. The other cheerleaders, though genial at best, were the only people Herington knew in Milwaukee. Labor one or two additional activities on top of her paid and unpaid dancing indebtedness, left virtually no time or fund with which Herington could have socialized.

As soon as shed met the team, molted get a responsibility at Ruby Tuesday. After a couple of months, she took on a third chore working early mornings at a doggie day care. Between her three jobs and the online class she was taking, her eras generally began at 5am and ended at midnight. After paying her rent, invoices, and expenses like mandatory weekly dres cleanse and bashes decorating, she dissolved every month with about $20 in her checking account. She spent the entire season resuming clambering for extra income in this way to Jared Jewelers; another eatery; then back to Ruby Tuesday anywhere that might accommodate the following schedule of an employee who had another part-time chore utterly eating them.

The Warriors Girls manual promotes team members to deem their additional undertakings as a place of feminine pride: Each of you have interests, points, and flairs well beyond being a Warrior Girl In some lawsuits, you are a full-time student, the status of women with a full-time place and perhaps a family.

Milwaukee Bucks Dancers were also contractually obligated to fulfill, a minimum of 10 hours of benevolence/ non-paid figures a year. If team members did not find time during the course of its regular season to complete these hours, they were expected to work off the time in payable promotional appearances for the Bucks.

In an email dated 28 May 2014, Crawford wrote, As a remember, you are all still under contract until July 13 th The reactions Ive been getting thus far for summer episodes have been dreadful. If its because you still need to meet your hours, so you intend on worsening all phenomena because you wont get paid, then thats a serious issue that I will take up to my superiors.

It is unclear whether Crawfords superiors would have paid her any scrutiny. In the same email, Crawford expressed insecurity over the extremely future of the Bucks Dancers, We have no thought what changes the new owners will bring Who knows what could happen to our program.

Women in the coaching slot absolutely are terrified theyre going to lose their responsibility, said Murray, based on the pushback and precede capitulate shes saw when coach-and-fours or musicians have attempted to fight for higher salaries.

Currently, cheerleading crews in the NFL and NBA cannot collectively negotiate their own working conditions. Laborers would be impossible to form confederations unless they are direct employees of a company, and cheerleader employment status varies from team to team. Herington was hired as a direct employee of the Milwaukee Bucks, but many crews apologize the underpayment of dancers by classifying them as contractors. Incorrectly categorizing professional cheerleaders, as was the case in the dres against the Oakland Raiders, prevents all dancers in the tournament – even those who are direct staff members of crews – from unionizing, because crews they would join forces with are not properly classified.

Classifying professional cheerleaders as contractors is, according to California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez , not legal.[ Cheerleaders] signed an employment contract, she told the Guardian. They clearly represent the team … If youre an independent contractor, you place your own hours. You wouldnt be wearing a outfit for a company.

Gonzalez is the author of California Assembly Bill 202, which was passed in reaction to the classification issues involved in the Invader event. Per the greenback, as of 1 January 2016, professional cheerleaders in California must be hired as employees. Murray was one of the evidences to witness before the assembly in support of its passageway. Gonzalez prolongs work with New York assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who is attempting to pass a similar statute in New York State.

Thus far, progress in the working conditions of cheerleaders has been made mainly through suits like Heringtons. The status could be remedied by the NFL and NBA In the snap of a digit said Gonzalez, by introducing league-wide mandates that all dancers be direct employees.

Murray is optimistic that the NBA will be quicker to address the problem than the NFL, quoting business associations recent partnership with the equal repay advocacy radical #LeanIn. If we dont fix this problem, thats going to look really bad on them, she said.

Herington left the Milwaukee Bucks after her first season. Of her decision to speak out publicly against the team, she told me, Unfortunately, its probably the occurrence[ that I wont ever be hired on another unit ], her voice falling, but I at least hope now that maybe some things will change because of this.

When reached for remark, Milwaukee Bucks spokesperson Jake Suksi threw the next statement: The Milwaukee Bucks strongly disagree with the claims shaped in the federal lawsuit. The lawsuit presents inaccurate information that creates a false picture of how we control. The Bucks value the contributions our dancers acquire to the team. We treat all of our employees fairly, including our Bucks dancers, and pay them fairly and in compliance with federal and nation rule. We guess the lawsuit to be without virtue and will contest these allegations in court.

Herington, Murray, and Gonzalez continue to fight. The majority of American high schools and universities continue to offer cheerleading through their athletic districts. Mothers continue to waste the thousands of dollars on weekend clinics where organisations are learned. Somewhere, at least one minor continued to do those haul up even though they injured, and pattern that eight weigh even though theyre sick of it, because they still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer.

The post Stress fractures, thirst and low-spirited spend: one woman’s life as an NBA cheerleader appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[apsbicepstraining]

Stress fractures, thirst and low-spirited spend: one woman’s life as an NBA cheerleader

Many dancers are attracted to life as a cheerleader but they often find themselves disappointed at what the hell is thought would be a nightmare job

You can deflect leading questions that stereotype you by explaining that this is a hobby

Q: Do you get paid ?

A: All dance teams in the NBA get paid, and theres other enormous perks, like going our whisker and make-up done, tanning, etc

The above is excerpted from a manual on how to talk to the press, given to the 2013 Golden state Fighter dancers by their coaches. It was handed to me by former Warriors Girl changed labor preach Lisa Murray.

Salaries of NBA and NFL actors are, of course, widely available. They are fodder for headlines and talk radio beef have proven that sometimes Cinderella tales actually do come true. Until recently, there was little reason to suspect that within these wildly profitable societies, cheerleaders those archetypal is a matter of envy and passion were being brutalized and underpaid.

Lawsuits against NFL crews began in early 2014. In rapid attack inheritance, complaints alleging payment stealing and other serious strive contraventions were was put forward by former cheerleaders against the Oakland Raiders; Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Cincinnati Bengals; Buffalo Bills; and decided for as much as $1.25 m( the instance against the Bills has yet to settle ).

Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks became the first NBA crew appointed in such a suit when former dancer Lauren Herington filed a complaint on behalf of she and her team-mates alleging gross underpayment and illegally mandated out-of-pocket overheads. Soon after filing, she shared with me emails, agreements, and detailed notes further that she maintained during her term as a Bucks dancer. If her accusations are true, the team did not consider hires described in the organizations own internal correspondence as, high profile members of such Milwaukee Bucks community with the respect or compensation they were entitled to.

Prior to working for the Milwaukee Bucks, Herington too was agitated about being treated as a high-profile member of the organization. She equated being a professional cheerleader with being a mini celebrity. As is particularly so with many professional cheerleaders, she had been dancing since early childhood, and had long dreamed of a discern on an NBA squad.

I envisaged I still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer, Herington told the Guardian. But I guess thats over for me now.

Salary was not discussed in the month-long unpaid bootcamp Herington listened prior to being hired by the Bucks. This was also the speciman at training workshops I accompanied for potential Clippers dancers for another article last year, where we were told wages would be discussed only after we were hired. It was also the instance for Murray, who recollected of the Warriors Girls, They have a epoch where you come in, and you read the contract together, and you sign it. And thats when I found out I was realizing $10 an hour. I remember simply being outraged.

There was no discussing it, Herington said, of her event signal after molted already relocated to Milwaukee to work on the team. It was, If you have an issue, then you can go ahead and it leaves. We werent have been able to take it dwelling, and go through it or anything like that. It was just handed out at rehearse. We signed it and leaved it back. Harmonizing to the agreement, she would be paid $30 per bi-weekly two- to four-hour practise; $65 per weekly 6.5 hour home competition; and $50 per two- to four-hour public appearance.

Hertington was also contractually obligated to adhere to the Bucks taxing fitness touchstones, which she alleges in her suit amounted to significant hours of payable labor. Per their accordance, dancers were required to maintain a high level of fitness, which was to be obtained by fulfill( ing) the conditions for workout curriculum designed by the training staff at Elite Sports Club.

What constituted a high level of fitness would be determined by the Bucks dancers tutor Tricia Crawford, who declined to be interviewed for this story. Workouts were monitor the performance of Tony Moro, a manager at the above-mentioned Elite Sports Club, who was in close linked with Crawford. In one email at the beginning of the season, Moro planned crew members for seven-day-a-week mandatory workouts and noted that the women should always be sure to cc[ Crawford] so she knows what is going on. Outage to comply with the activity and weight commissions set forth by Moro and Crawford would, according to the Bucks policy, result in disciplinary action as deemed necessary by the Dance Team Manager.

According to Herington, exchange about her load inaugurated as early as the teams first appearance in August of 2013, where coaching staff payed her negative feedback about her illustration, and subsequently applied her on a special exercising schedule that surpassed the four to five hours of daily practise she was already fully participate in.

Herington too began starving and dehydrating herself to look[ her] absolute good. She often appeared faint while working out. She experienced severe diarrhea after ingesting for the first time after days of nutrient destitution for circumstances like the teams calendar hit. She emailed Moro asking for additional work out that might help her lose the extra fatty[ she had] around[ her] hips and waist area.

Despite these efforts, Herington never knew when she would be allowed to dance at tournaments, and when she would be benched( without remuneration ), for failure to adhere to the Bucks fitness guidelines. On 18 18 November 2013, the week after the Bucks firstly dwelling activity, Crawford explained in an email: This week you will be out. I think you need a little more time to focus on your fitness. I was looking back at my memoranda and photographs from auditions, and I can see a significant difference. At that time, I thought your fitness was close to where it needed to be, but you still had a little slimming and color to do.

Sometimes, she said, she would hear a routine simply to be slash at the end of rehearse, at which point she would awkwardly leave the studio as her tired team-mates were told they would now have to stay belatedly to relearn formations.

In an email on February 18 2014, Crawford wrote, Saturday will be your first day back, and then Ill make a decision as to the remainder of the season. Id like you to visit Tony on Friday if you are able and do one more researching.( Testing here referred to the regular torso fat percentage estimate that Moro played on Herrington and reported back to Crawford .)

Herington developed stress ruptures in her shins. She stopped get her span. At one point, she was refused weight loss prescription from a doctor who expressed concerns over Heringtons mental health, and advised her to retire dancing.

By late winter, Herington said, the girls started seeing that my look seemed actually thin, and they asked if I was losing heavines in a health practice. At one rehearse, a command expected Herington why she looked so stressed out. I told her I was on probation for the last 2 week, and if I didnt make improvements I was not going to be on this crew any more, she said. Two weeks later, in the same 18 February email, Crawford wrote: I know you asked[ the cheerleader command] about your status with the team yesterday, but she has nothing to do with this. This place is between you and I.

Crawford signed off that email with a smiley face.

When Im sitting here now, Im like, wow, that resounds really stupid. Why didnt I just say something? Herington told the Guardian. Why didnt I merely stand up and be like, No. This is wrong. But then when I think about how drilled into our thinkers it was that every little thing we did was being watched You get scared that youll never piece as a dancer again.

During a weekend-long retreat at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the opening up of the season, Herington recollected rooming with a team-mate who told her that any in-room eating she did would be reported back to Crawford. At the same departure, she said the dancers accompanied a forum on how to adhere to their contractual obligation to refrain from posting anything on the internet that could be perceived in a negative dawn. When they arrived, draws from their Facebook notes had been projected onto the walls to be used as examples of photos that made them look like sluts and lesbians.

This retreat was also where each lady received their makeover. A examination was chosen for them by Crawford and a unit of beauticians from Salon Nova& Lash, where dancers where contractually required to visit, at their own expense, for all “hairs-breadth” needs.

I was the a-little-bit-older-than-my-actual-age-one, says Herington. I was the jumpy one on the team I had to convey that throughout the season. I had no say in what I looked like. That was part of the brainwashing.

They change your examine. They change your personality. They change everything, said Murray, of her epoch on the Warriors Girls. Murray attributes some of professional cheerleadings bizarre culture to the fact that most women coaching are themselves former cheerleaders.( Crawford danced for the Detroit Pistons prior to her hire with the Bucks .) Professional dancers, like most pro contestants, generally start working at a young age, due to their professions finite arcs. Many coaches, then, have worked in the world of pro-cheerleading since early adulthood. Because of this, said Murray, coaches may accept the view that in this profession, relations are an appropriate form of compensation.

Something they say a lot of the time, she said, is its a sisterhood. The document Murray rendered me with advised dancers to tell press: Its such a support to be on the Warriors Girls because you get to meet women who have your same anger for dance. It absolutely is a sisterhood!( When I attended the Clippers seminar, dancers there had also employed the convict, It truly is a sisterhood! verbatim, to describe life on the team .)

Herington likewise echoed hopes of sisterhood when shed attended boot camp. By March, nonetheless, when her team-mates hosted what she described as a mostly mandatory sleepover, she was treated cooly by the other women, who did not volunteer her a glass of wine. The other cheerleaders, though genial at best, were the only people Herington knew in Milwaukee. Labor one or two additional activities on top of her paid and unpaid dancing indebtedness, left virtually no time or fund with which Herington could have socialized.

As soon as shed met the team, molted get a responsibility at Ruby Tuesday. After a couple of months, she took on a third chore working early mornings at a doggie day care. Between her three jobs and the online class she was taking, her eras generally began at 5am and ended at midnight. After paying her rent, invoices, and expenses like mandatory weekly dres cleanse and bashes decorating, she dissolved every month with about $20 in her checking account. She spent the entire season resuming clambering for extra income in this way to Jared Jewelers; another eatery; then back to Ruby Tuesday anywhere that might accommodate the following schedule of an employee who had another part-time chore utterly eating them.

The Warriors Girls manual promotes team members to deem their additional undertakings as a place of feminine pride: Each of you have interests, points, and flairs well beyond being a Warrior Girl In some lawsuits, you are a full-time student, the status of women with a full-time place and perhaps a family.

Milwaukee Bucks Dancers were also contractually obligated to fulfill, a minimum of 10 hours of benevolence/ non-paid figures a year. If team members did not find time during the course of its regular season to complete these hours, they were expected to work off the time in payable promotional appearances for the Bucks.

In an email dated 28 May 2014, Crawford wrote, As a remember, you are all still under contract until July 13 th The reactions Ive been getting thus far for summer episodes have been dreadful. If its because you still need to meet your hours, so you intend on worsening all phenomena because you wont get paid, then thats a serious issue that I will take up to my superiors.

It is unclear whether Crawfords superiors would have paid her any scrutiny. In the same email, Crawford expressed insecurity over the extremely future of the Bucks Dancers, We have no thought what changes the new owners will bring Who knows what could happen to our program.

Women in the coaching slot absolutely are terrified theyre going to lose their responsibility, said Murray, based on the pushback and precede capitulate shes saw when coach-and-fours or musicians have attempted to fight for higher salaries.

Currently, cheerleading crews in the NFL and NBA cannot collectively negotiate their own working conditions. Laborers would be impossible to form confederations unless they are direct employees of a company, and cheerleader employment status varies from team to team. Herington was hired as a direct employee of the Milwaukee Bucks, but many crews apologize the underpayment of dancers by classifying them as contractors. Incorrectly categorizing professional cheerleaders, as was the case in the dres against the Oakland Raiders, prevents all dancers in the tournament – even those who are direct staff members of crews – from unionizing, because crews they would join forces with are not properly classified.

Classifying professional cheerleaders as contractors is, according to California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez , not legal.[ Cheerleaders] signed an employment contract, she told the Guardian. They clearly represent the team … If youre an independent contractor, you place your own hours. You wouldnt be wearing a outfit for a company.

Gonzalez is the author of California Assembly Bill 202, which was passed in reaction to the classification issues involved in the Invader event. Per the greenback, as of 1 January 2016, professional cheerleaders in California must be hired as employees. Murray was one of the evidences to witness before the assembly in support of its passageway. Gonzalez prolongs work with New York assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who is attempting to pass a similar statute in New York State.

Thus far, progress in the working conditions of cheerleaders has been made mainly through suits like Heringtons. The status could be remedied by the NFL and NBA In the snap of a digit said Gonzalez, by introducing league-wide mandates that all dancers be direct employees.

Murray is optimistic that the NBA will be quicker to address the problem than the NFL, quoting business associations recent partnership with the equal repay advocacy radical #LeanIn. If we dont fix this problem, thats going to look really bad on them, she said.

Herington left the Milwaukee Bucks after her first season. Of her decision to speak out publicly against the team, she told me, Unfortunately, its probably the occurrence[ that I wont ever be hired on another unit ], her voice falling, but I at least hope now that maybe some things will change because of this.

When reached for remark, Milwaukee Bucks spokesperson Jake Suksi threw the next statement: The Milwaukee Bucks strongly disagree with the claims shaped in the federal lawsuit. The lawsuit presents inaccurate information that creates a false picture of how we control. The Bucks value the contributions our dancers acquire to the team. We treat all of our employees fairly, including our Bucks dancers, and pay them fairly and in compliance with federal and nation rule. We guess the lawsuit to be without virtue and will contest these allegations in court.

Herington, Murray, and Gonzalez continue to fight. The majority of American high schools and universities continue to offer cheerleading through their athletic districts. Mothers continue to waste the thousands of dollars on weekend clinics where organisations are learned. Somewhere, at least one minor continued to do those haul up even though they injured, and pattern that eight weigh even though theyre sick of it, because they still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer.

The post Stress fractures, thirst and low-spirited spend: one woman’s life as an NBA cheerleader appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[apsbicepstraining]

Stress fractures, thirst and low-spirited spend: one woman’s life as an NBA cheerleader

Many dancers are attracted to life as a cheerleader but they often find themselves disappointed at what the hell is thought would be a nightmare job

You can deflect leading questions that stereotype you by explaining that this is a hobby

Q: Do you get paid ?

A: All dance teams in the NBA get paid, and theres other enormous perks, like going our whisker and make-up done, tanning, etc

The above is excerpted from a manual on how to talk to the press, given to the 2013 Golden state Fighter dancers by their coaches. It was handed to me by former Warriors Girl changed labor preach Lisa Murray.

Salaries of NBA and NFL actors are, of course, widely available. They are fodder for headlines and talk radio beef have proven that sometimes Cinderella tales actually do come true. Until recently, there was little reason to suspect that within these wildly profitable societies, cheerleaders those archetypal is a matter of envy and passion were being brutalized and underpaid.

Lawsuits against NFL crews began in early 2014. In rapid attack inheritance, complaints alleging payment stealing and other serious strive contraventions were was put forward by former cheerleaders against the Oakland Raiders; Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Cincinnati Bengals; Buffalo Bills; and decided for as much as $1.25 m( the instance against the Bills has yet to settle ).

Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks became the first NBA crew appointed in such a suit when former dancer Lauren Herington filed a complaint on behalf of she and her team-mates alleging gross underpayment and illegally mandated out-of-pocket overheads. Soon after filing, she shared with me emails, agreements, and detailed notes further that she maintained during her term as a Bucks dancer. If her accusations are true, the team did not consider hires described in the organizations own internal correspondence as, high profile members of such Milwaukee Bucks community with the respect or compensation they were entitled to.

Prior to working for the Milwaukee Bucks, Herington too was agitated about being treated as a high-profile member of the organization. She equated being a professional cheerleader with being a mini celebrity. As is particularly so with many professional cheerleaders, she had been dancing since early childhood, and had long dreamed of a discern on an NBA squad.

I envisaged I still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer, Herington told the Guardian. But I guess thats over for me now.

Salary was not discussed in the month-long unpaid bootcamp Herington listened prior to being hired by the Bucks. This was also the speciman at training workshops I accompanied for potential Clippers dancers for another article last year, where we were told wages would be discussed only after we were hired. It was also the instance for Murray, who recollected of the Warriors Girls, They have a epoch where you come in, and you read the contract together, and you sign it. And thats when I found out I was realizing $10 an hour. I remember simply being outraged.

There was no discussing it, Herington said, of her event signal after molted already relocated to Milwaukee to work on the team. It was, If you have an issue, then you can go ahead and it leaves. We werent have been able to take it dwelling, and go through it or anything like that. It was just handed out at rehearse. We signed it and leaved it back. Harmonizing to the agreement, she would be paid $30 per bi-weekly two- to four-hour practise; $65 per weekly 6.5 hour home competition; and $50 per two- to four-hour public appearance.

Hertington was also contractually obligated to adhere to the Bucks taxing fitness touchstones, which she alleges in her suit amounted to significant hours of payable labor. Per their accordance, dancers were required to maintain a high level of fitness, which was to be obtained by fulfill( ing) the conditions for workout curriculum designed by the training staff at Elite Sports Club.

What constituted a high level of fitness would be determined by the Bucks dancers tutor Tricia Crawford, who declined to be interviewed for this story. Workouts were monitor the performance of Tony Moro, a manager at the above-mentioned Elite Sports Club, who was in close linked with Crawford. In one email at the beginning of the season, Moro planned crew members for seven-day-a-week mandatory workouts and noted that the women should always be sure to cc[ Crawford] so she knows what is going on. Outage to comply with the activity and weight commissions set forth by Moro and Crawford would, according to the Bucks policy, result in disciplinary action as deemed necessary by the Dance Team Manager.

According to Herington, exchange about her load inaugurated as early as the teams first appearance in August of 2013, where coaching staff payed her negative feedback about her illustration, and subsequently applied her on a special exercising schedule that surpassed the four to five hours of daily practise she was already fully participate in.

Herington too began starving and dehydrating herself to look[ her] absolute good. She often appeared faint while working out. She experienced severe diarrhea after ingesting for the first time after days of nutrient destitution for circumstances like the teams calendar hit. She emailed Moro asking for additional work out that might help her lose the extra fatty[ she had] around[ her] hips and waist area.

Despite these efforts, Herington never knew when she would be allowed to dance at tournaments, and when she would be benched( without remuneration ), for failure to adhere to the Bucks fitness guidelines. On 18 18 November 2013, the week after the Bucks firstly dwelling activity, Crawford explained in an email: This week you will be out. I think you need a little more time to focus on your fitness. I was looking back at my memoranda and photographs from auditions, and I can see a significant difference. At that time, I thought your fitness was close to where it needed to be, but you still had a little slimming and color to do.

Sometimes, she said, she would hear a routine simply to be slash at the end of rehearse, at which point she would awkwardly leave the studio as her tired team-mates were told they would now have to stay belatedly to relearn formations.

In an email on February 18 2014, Crawford wrote, Saturday will be your first day back, and then Ill make a decision as to the remainder of the season. Id like you to visit Tony on Friday if you are able and do one more researching.( Testing here referred to the regular torso fat percentage estimate that Moro played on Herrington and reported back to Crawford .)

Herington developed stress ruptures in her shins. She stopped get her span. At one point, she was refused weight loss prescription from a doctor who expressed concerns over Heringtons mental health, and advised her to retire dancing.

By late winter, Herington said, the girls started seeing that my look seemed actually thin, and they asked if I was losing heavines in a health practice. At one rehearse, a command expected Herington why she looked so stressed out. I told her I was on probation for the last 2 week, and if I didnt make improvements I was not going to be on this crew any more, she said. Two weeks later, in the same 18 February email, Crawford wrote: I know you asked[ the cheerleader command] about your status with the team yesterday, but she has nothing to do with this. This place is between you and I.

Crawford signed off that email with a smiley face.

When Im sitting here now, Im like, wow, that resounds really stupid. Why didnt I just say something? Herington told the Guardian. Why didnt I merely stand up and be like, No. This is wrong. But then when I think about how drilled into our thinkers it was that every little thing we did was being watched You get scared that youll never piece as a dancer again.

During a weekend-long retreat at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the opening up of the season, Herington recollected rooming with a team-mate who told her that any in-room eating she did would be reported back to Crawford. At the same departure, she said the dancers accompanied a forum on how to adhere to their contractual obligation to refrain from posting anything on the internet that could be perceived in a negative dawn. When they arrived, draws from their Facebook notes had been projected onto the walls to be used as examples of photos that made them look like sluts and lesbians.

This retreat was also where each lady received their makeover. A examination was chosen for them by Crawford and a unit of beauticians from Salon Nova& Lash, where dancers where contractually required to visit, at their own expense, for all “hairs-breadth” needs.

I was the a-little-bit-older-than-my-actual-age-one, says Herington. I was the jumpy one on the team I had to convey that throughout the season. I had no say in what I looked like. That was part of the brainwashing.

They change your examine. They change your personality. They change everything, said Murray, of her epoch on the Warriors Girls. Murray attributes some of professional cheerleadings bizarre culture to the fact that most women coaching are themselves former cheerleaders.( Crawford danced for the Detroit Pistons prior to her hire with the Bucks .) Professional dancers, like most pro contestants, generally start working at a young age, due to their professions finite arcs. Many coaches, then, have worked in the world of pro-cheerleading since early adulthood. Because of this, said Murray, coaches may accept the view that in this profession, relations are an appropriate form of compensation.

Something they say a lot of the time, she said, is its a sisterhood. The document Murray rendered me with advised dancers to tell press: Its such a support to be on the Warriors Girls because you get to meet women who have your same anger for dance. It absolutely is a sisterhood!( When I attended the Clippers seminar, dancers there had also employed the convict, It truly is a sisterhood! verbatim, to describe life on the team .)

Herington likewise echoed hopes of sisterhood when shed attended boot camp. By March, nonetheless, when her team-mates hosted what she described as a mostly mandatory sleepover, she was treated cooly by the other women, who did not volunteer her a glass of wine. The other cheerleaders, though genial at best, were the only people Herington knew in Milwaukee. Labor one or two additional activities on top of her paid and unpaid dancing indebtedness, left virtually no time or fund with which Herington could have socialized.

As soon as shed met the team, molted get a responsibility at Ruby Tuesday. After a couple of months, she took on a third chore working early mornings at a doggie day care. Between her three jobs and the online class she was taking, her eras generally began at 5am and ended at midnight. After paying her rent, invoices, and expenses like mandatory weekly dres cleanse and bashes decorating, she dissolved every month with about $20 in her checking account. She spent the entire season resuming clambering for extra income in this way to Jared Jewelers; another eatery; then back to Ruby Tuesday anywhere that might accommodate the following schedule of an employee who had another part-time chore utterly eating them.

The Warriors Girls manual promotes team members to deem their additional undertakings as a place of feminine pride: Each of you have interests, points, and flairs well beyond being a Warrior Girl In some lawsuits, you are a full-time student, the status of women with a full-time place and perhaps a family.

Milwaukee Bucks Dancers were also contractually obligated to fulfill, a minimum of 10 hours of benevolence/ non-paid figures a year. If team members did not find time during the course of its regular season to complete these hours, they were expected to work off the time in payable promotional appearances for the Bucks.

In an email dated 28 May 2014, Crawford wrote, As a remember, you are all still under contract until July 13 th The reactions Ive been getting thus far for summer episodes have been dreadful. If its because you still need to meet your hours, so you intend on worsening all phenomena because you wont get paid, then thats a serious issue that I will take up to my superiors.

It is unclear whether Crawfords superiors would have paid her any scrutiny. In the same email, Crawford expressed insecurity over the extremely future of the Bucks Dancers, We have no thought what changes the new owners will bring Who knows what could happen to our program.

Women in the coaching slot absolutely are terrified theyre going to lose their responsibility, said Murray, based on the pushback and precede capitulate shes saw when coach-and-fours or musicians have attempted to fight for higher salaries.

Currently, cheerleading crews in the NFL and NBA cannot collectively negotiate their own working conditions. Laborers would be impossible to form confederations unless they are direct employees of a company, and cheerleader employment status varies from team to team. Herington was hired as a direct employee of the Milwaukee Bucks, but many crews apologize the underpayment of dancers by classifying them as contractors. Incorrectly categorizing professional cheerleaders, as was the case in the dres against the Oakland Raiders, prevents all dancers in the tournament – even those who are direct staff members of crews – from unionizing, because crews they would join forces with are not properly classified.

Classifying professional cheerleaders as contractors is, according to California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez , not legal.[ Cheerleaders] signed an employment contract, she told the Guardian. They clearly represent the team … If youre an independent contractor, you place your own hours. You wouldnt be wearing a outfit for a company.

Gonzalez is the author of California Assembly Bill 202, which was passed in reaction to the classification issues involved in the Invader event. Per the greenback, as of 1 January 2016, professional cheerleaders in California must be hired as employees. Murray was one of the evidences to witness before the assembly in support of its passageway. Gonzalez prolongs work with New York assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who is attempting to pass a similar statute in New York State.

Thus far, progress in the working conditions of cheerleaders has been made mainly through suits like Heringtons. The status could be remedied by the NFL and NBA In the snap of a digit said Gonzalez, by introducing league-wide mandates that all dancers be direct employees.

Murray is optimistic that the NBA will be quicker to address the problem than the NFL, quoting business associations recent partnership with the equal repay advocacy radical #LeanIn. If we dont fix this problem, thats going to look really bad on them, she said.

Herington left the Milwaukee Bucks after her first season. Of her decision to speak out publicly against the team, she told me, Unfortunately, its probably the occurrence[ that I wont ever be hired on another unit ], her voice falling, but I at least hope now that maybe some things will change because of this.

When reached for remark, Milwaukee Bucks spokesperson Jake Suksi threw the next statement: The Milwaukee Bucks strongly disagree with the claims shaped in the federal lawsuit. The lawsuit presents inaccurate information that creates a false picture of how we control. The Bucks value the contributions our dancers acquire to the team. We treat all of our employees fairly, including our Bucks dancers, and pay them fairly and in compliance with federal and nation rule. We guess the lawsuit to be without virtue and will contest these allegations in court.

Herington, Murray, and Gonzalez continue to fight. The majority of American high schools and universities continue to offer cheerleading through their athletic districts. Mothers continue to waste the thousands of dollars on weekend clinics where organisations are learned. Somewhere, at least one minor continued to do those haul up even though they injured, and pattern that eight weigh even though theyre sick of it, because they still think its a big deal to be able to say youre an NBA dancer.

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