#might enjoy *some* parts of hs critically and all

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @textless​​

Hi! My name is Amadee, and I am a librarian who lives in Arizona. I also love taking photos in my spare time.

Check out our interview with Amadee below!

What got you started in photography?

Both of my parents were very interested in photography. I’d always loved looking at their work, and in high school, I got a 35mm camera as a gift, so I could start taking photos myself. Back then (in the actual 80s), HS students in the Minneapolis area could take classes at area colleges for dual credit. I started taking photo classes at the University of Minnesota and had access to a darkroom and nearly unlimited film and processing supplies without realizing just how amazing that was. I took many photos of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, and I loved looking at work by Nan Goldin and Bill Owens. After college, without access to a darkroom, I stopped taking pictures almost entirely.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

Bluntly, technology allowed me to start taking photos again. The first digital cameras I tried in the early 2000s were terrible: slow, clunky, and with next to no storage capacity. Even so, they seemed like the first step in an interesting direction. By 2008 or so, I had a point-and-shoot digital camera and rediscovered what I loved about photography… except that I no longer wanted to take pictures of people. Soon I started taking photos of tiny things, especially insects, and my little camera wasn’t up to the task. I got a DSLR with a macro lens in 2010 and haven’t stopped taking photos since.

I know many photographers who are nostalgic for film, whether or not they were around in the analog era. More power to anyone who wants to spend the time and money, but I don’t miss film even a little. For the kind of photography I enjoy, which is almost entirely documentary, the ability to take an unlimited number of photos, and see what did or didn’t work right away, makes all the difference.

You've also written books in the past—what was the most challenging, yet rewarding part of the process?

I was a children’s librarian for many years and just love books. So, when I started writing, I hoped to create books that would connect with kids and spark their imagination. Cortez the Gnome was a book I would have liked to see as a kid, and the art project elements were fun and frustrating. Gentle Hands filled what felt like a gap in my storytimes and gave me a chance to work with a publisher I like very much. Alas, my biggest challenge is that I haven’t had an idea in years! I write occasional blog posts for Free Spirit on topics related to serving youth, but working with kids was the spark for new ideas, and these days my work is mostly admin. I enjoy it more than I would have guessed years ago, but as a wellspring of inspiration, it is not.

How do you create healthy boundaries in balancing your day job and personal aspirations?

Work comes first every time. That might sound like a drag, but I truly like my job and think library service is critically important. In some of the tiny communities we serve, the library is the only gathering place open to everyone, and the only place to access fast internet, enrichment activities for kids, books, movies, and all kinds of other good stuff. I love taking photos, but I would hate to make a job of it.

What is the hardest part of your process?

The process itself is just fun, and I’d stop if it weren’t. I used to stress about editing and posting photos soon after taking them because I wanted to create a sort of nature journal in real-ish time. That wasn’t sustainable, partly because the subjects that interest me are so seasonal. I might take 2,000 photos in August (peak macro season here), but only 100 in February. Now I just try to indicate when photos were taken and know that I’m the only person who particularly cares about that. For years I posted six new photos each day. Now I generally post two and skip days or longer whenever it suits me.

Right now, the biggest challenges are external. First, my vision is less and less sharp. It’s nothing severe, just a function of age, but it makes me think I’d better develop an interest in non-tiny subjects at some point. Second, some small but annoying health problems have kept me from getting out much over the last year. I used to take a hike or long walk at least once or twice a week, and more in peak bug season. Since last September, I’ve taken two longish walks and mostly stuck to the yard. On the plus side, it’s an excellent yard with an ever-growing assortment of interesting plants and insects.

While this is frustrating in some ways, it’s also a distillation of something I have always liked. Even when I was hiking all the time, I enjoyed going back to the same places, again and again, getting to know them in detail and watching the seasons roll through. Staying so close to home this year has been an extreme version of that, and some aspects of that have been very satisfying.

I should also say, for the record, that I am not technical at all. I’m not interested in new gear as long for its own sake, and I don’t like messing with camera settings or anything fiddly. My favorite piece of photo advice ever was “f/8 and be there,” which I took to mean finding a basic setup you like and focusing on the subject at hand. I like finding strange or beautiful things that other people might not notice and trying to make them interesting to a wider audience. (Wider than just me, that is.)

What is something you would love to photograph but haven't had the chance to yet? Why?

This is oddly specific, but I desperately want to find an Arizona Unicorn Mantis (Pseudovates arizonae; check out the photos here). Several have been spotted within two miles of my house, but I have never found one yet. They are otherworldly and just fascinating. Insect goals!

Are there similarities or differences in your workflow when it comes to photography and writing?

Mostly difference in that photography is relaxing, and writing is nearly impossible, at least right now.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

There are several excellent photographers who live in my corner of Arizona, and I love their work because it shows different aspects of a place I care about. Also, their photos are just gorgeous.

@fatchance​ is practically a neighbor and an all-around lovely person. He takes beautiful pictures of birds and desert flora, and unlike me, he takes the time to learn about and share good information about his subjects.

@thelostcanyon​ is another south-eastern AZ photographer I admire, and he is also a very good painter.

@inlandwest​ is actually my partner. We’ve lived all over the west together, and I like that his wide-open-spaces aesthetic is so different from my focus on the little things.

A little farther afield, I love @macroramblings​, and Celeste, of @celestialmacros​, @celestialphotography​, and @occasionallybirds​, for their beautiful macro work.  @mostlythemarsh​ is another long-time favorite. He’s not a macro photographer, for the most part, but I like seeing familiar places through the seasons, and I like the stark difference between his environment (east coast/Canada) and my own.

Thanks for such wonderful answers, Amadee. Check out her beautiful photography work over at her Tumblr, @textless​!

[asmoteeth]

¡Hey Asmo! How are you doing? I hope that you have been fine (idk from which part of Argentina are you (and it's not my business to know), but I hope that you are not suffering the heatwave as much as I'm XD)....

That last wedge fanart was simply sooo good Asmo...the look of shock, but also betrayal/slash anger, was spot on *chef kiss* idk about you, but with all the fluff present, some angst too would do really nicely (this is so perfect)

My personal hc: even as an established couple, HS still feels awful for his attitude towards Wedge when he found out he was an ex-con; it's really obvious when he's in that state, because he looks like a kicked puppy and exudes misery when around Wedge. How do you think he would fix this? Mandatory cuddle time? Wedge will turn HS into a burrito when he refuses to cuddle? Kinda like this?:

*I bet he also does it when HS tries to do something stupid or when he's sleepy but doesn't want to recharge* Bonus: if you are into completing ship charts, would you be interested in doing this one? Only if you wanna ofc... You can ignore the horny level part, though (cause I know your opinion on that matter)

Anyway, ¡sending you good wishes Asmo!

THE FIRST LINES WERE A WHISPLASH DO YOU MEAN LIKE-- YOU LIVE IN ARGENTINA TOO????? THAT'S SO COOL IF THAT'S THE CASE JSNWKABSIWKWBEIQJQ WHUAAAA The heatwaves have been painful, my clasroom is a forsaken OVEN and I almost threw up from the heat today, thank you for asking (´-﹏-`；)

THANK YOU SO MUCH <333 Honestly the expression was the first thing I drew in the whole piece, I just had an idea of anger+shock+fear+sadness and had to put it down to drawing QUICKLY and then I kept going, I didn't even expect to finish it today, I'm very proud of the lighting and blurry parts doing their job at giving the drawing profundity.

I DEFINITELY FEEL LIKE HOTSHOT COULD GET THOSE GUILT TRIPPING MOMENTS, even if he changed his whole view on deceptions he was probably raised with AS SOON AS HE DISCOVERED WEDGE WAS ONE I feel the things he said ("decepticons don't count as anyone" for example, ouch) might crawl on his back from time to time, what if he needs to overcompensate for that night?

What if he makes a day FULL of silly activities Wedge enjoys? Idk, weight lifting? THEIR DUO DRAG RACE STUNT, etc.

But Hotshot keeps getting guilt trips and it shows so at some point Wedge shakes him by the shoulders like WHAT'S WRONG WHY AREN'T U HAVING FUN

Hotshot is cornered and has no other way than to explain what's bothering him, Wedge is a little mad, but over the fact that he didn't tell him in the first place, specially when it was related to him and the fact that it was eating him from the inside this much.

They decide this day should be more soft, so they just head back inside, SOMEHOW GET A BLANKET LONG ENOUGH FOR THEM (sewing???) And YES, THEY CUDDLE YOU ARE SO RIGHT (tho honestly for me their "cuddling" is napping sprawled on the conversation pit, Hotshot is def a spider hugger when sleeping I accept 0 criticism)

I'M SO SO INTO COMPLETING CHARTS, I LOVE COMPLETING CHARTS, FEEL ABSOLUTELY FREE TO SEND ME MORE PLEASE PLEASE <3333

I love the slider thingie so much omg

THANKS FOR SUCH A BIG ASK SINCE I BEEN FEELING KINDA DOWN THESE DAYS

[raimi]

had to see a post mentioning vr*ska on the dash so that is now filtered content. can't fucking stand her

[tamhrayis]

so now it is a high chance the leaks are really truth. your thoughts on that? i didnt believe Yams would make it worse for us EreMika's after last month when he killed Eren, but he still did it. I am just really in shock. but on the other hand at least we now know why was Mikasa's tattoo scenes in M6 and why Jean had that dream with wife!Mikasa and a child.

Hi!

I still don’t really believe that these are legit, because the amount of content we have in these leaks are literally enough for ch.140🤣

Today I didn’t really check anything (besides those that my friends sent me), because I don’t feel like checking social media these days due to the horrible things happening lately...Really hope that people’s prayers will be heard and things will get better.

I already have expressed my thoughts on these leaks and again, I’m not going to believe them for the previously mentioned reasons. I might change my feelings when we will get some actual evidence as illustrations, but for now, I don’t believe these things, because everyone is coming up with new “leaks” every hour.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t deny that these might be true to some extent (because we never know unless it’s June), just logically for me most of these literally contradict the whole ending we got in April and as Kasumi said, these additional 8 pages should simply explain certain things without fully changing the context of ch.139 and whole manga.

I wasn’t sad about EM’s ending, because I really saw it coming despite wanting them to be alive and happy together. But I don’t really see these things happening after all the set up EM had, because again, it makes EM look like a plot device, which was literally for nothing (judging by the content of some leaks). Jk would be plausible if there was actually some mutual development going on, but Jean’s crush on Mikasa was bought back in ch.15 and ch.127, which is in comparison with EM or other semi canon ships isn’t enough to make it an endgame (we don’t compare it to Farmer and Historia’s situation, because that’s vastly different).

On Mikasa’s passing down the mark, to be fair, I don’t think that it was somehow Mikasa’s goal nor a dream to continue her mother’s heritage. She didn’t care that much about Hizuru nor wanted to be a part of it, because she rejected Kiyomi’s suggestions on leaving Paradis and moving to Hizuru. Yeah, if leaks are true, it’s good that these M6 lines became relevant, but again, I will believe these if we actually get some real evidence.

Though! From positive things, I really liked how EMA went to watch a movie in HS au and Armin is being a critic, while EM is just chilling and enjoying the movie🤣

All in all, I will update you if my feelings about the leaks are changing, but as for now, I think we better focus on more important matters than doing mental gymnastics.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep19

OK this episode was actually just fucking with me by having Rika at a Western-style preppy boarding school drinking tea in a parlor and having debates with people. This level of concentrated Umineko content bait is going to literally kill me at some point.

Thoughts under the cut. [Plus even more Umineko stuff, but honestly who can even blame me at this point, lmao]

I don’t think I commented on it last week, partly because I was hoping we’d get the actual visuals for it in this episode, but the new ED theme is extremely good. I think I like it a lot more than the first one, but they’re both really good. I’m kinda biased though, since the new ED feels extremely Umineko-y, but still, it’s really good.

I’m kinda surprised that we still haven’t gotten the visuals for it yet. And instead of just having the ED theme play over the final scene of the episode or something, it was another round of having the credits roll over a black screen for the duration of the ED, which makes the continued lack of visuals really noticeable. I guess it’s possible that they just haven’t completed the animation for it yet, but I’m hoping that they’re holding back on it because something about the visuals for it is a spoiler for something that’ll happen in the next episode or two. And that makes me really curious to see what it might show, since at this point there’s only a narrow list of things that could probably be ‘spoilers’ for upcoming stuff in this arc.

Realistically I doubt it’d be on the level of straight up showing Umineko characters, but I’m probably still gonna get my hopes up anyway, lol.

At the very least, with how this episode brings us to 1987, and we know that Rika dies as a teenager in 1988, we’re rapidly approaching the point where everything goes to shit, and we already know that Satoko apparently got contacted by Oyashiro-sama, so honestly it wouldn’t be that strange for some kind of witch character to show up, even if maybe they’ll be presented in a somewhat abstract and indirect way.

Anyway, this episode went a long way to show the path of trauma that leads Satoko to initiating the new loop, but I think there’s going to be more going on in the next episode or so that really pushes her over the edge. Obviously she’s already in a downwards spiral because of Rika drifting away from her, and her being socially isolated all over again, but I don’t think this alone would make her go as far as trapping Rika in an endless torture loop.

I wonder if maybe Satoko is going to start getting directly bullied by the other girls at the school, rather than just being ostracized by them. It’d suck to see it happen, but it’d be the sort of thing that’d make her situation even worse than it is now. 

From what we heard here about how the school runs, I don’t think they’d directly expel Satoko for having low grades, but if she winds up slipping into the Special Class, it’d probably make her feel more and more like everything could fall apart for her at any moment, which could also make her way more volatile.

I’m pretty sure we already know that Rika ends up getting killed in 1988, and that’s how she got thrown into the new loop, so I’m curious to see how that ends up panning out. Satoko might just end up snapping and straight up killing her out of anger, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some kind of horrible accident. With what Satoko was saying in this episode about wishing she could just have fun setting up traps around the school, I could see her setting up a situation that ends up getting Rika killed.

Either way, it feels like we’re on the brink of disaster, and I’d be surprised if it takes more than one more episode to show how everything falls apart and the loops start.

Which is also making me wonder how the arc as a whole will be paced out. In spite of being the longest arc in the show, it feels like there’s still a LOT that needs to be covered. We still need at least one more episode to conclude this big flashback sequence, then we’ll probably get some sort of flashback to show how the Gou question arcs played out in the background to solve those mysteries, and then we still have to go back to the end of Nekodamashi to follow up on that whole cliffhanger, and get into whatever the true ending of the show will be.

I still doubt that we’ll get a full second season, but I’m just not sure if five more episodes will be enough to do everything it needs to do.

At the very least, I’ve basically given up hope on Gou doing more than the bare minimum to touch upon Rena or Shion’s backstories at this point, lol.

I’m also still wondering what the ending will be like in the first place. Ideally everything would just work out fine and Rika and Satoko will talk things out and resolve everything peacefully after we return to Nekodamashi, but I’m feeling more and more like this will have a darker ending than that. Mostly because it really feels like this is barreling straight towards the ‘Bern/Lambda origin story’ route, and that just makes me feel like the ending will be really depressing and make it more clear why Bern is so messed up in Umineko.

And on that note, on top of it just being really nice teasing, it’s actually kinda neat to see Rika entering this sort of Western-style ‘high society’ life, since it goes a long way to clarify why Bern’s entire personality and aesthetic is the way it is. They never really ‘explained’ it in Umineko, aside from it just matching more with Umineko’s more Western-style setting, and in a lot of ways it feels like this ‘explanation’ was thought up way after Umineko was written anyway, but even as a retroactive explanation it’s still nice to see them show why Rika ends up that way. They haven’t shown exactly why she’s so bitter in Umineko, but at least now we know why she’s the sort of person who likes stuff like this.

In a lot of ways, everything about this whole arc and the St. Lucia’s stuff kinda feels like Ryukishi’s sort of clumsy way of directly tying together these loose threads between Higurashi and Umineko, and showing us exactly why Bern ends up the way she does. I kinda agree with the criticisms I’ve seen that Rika apparently idolizing high society upper-class life and seeing St Lucia’s of all places as Heaven on earth feels really forced, and I think that has a lot to do with what I said about how Ryukishi probably just designed Bern as a Western-style goth lolita because that fit Umineko’s setting more, and he’s only just now trying to go back and give an in-universe explanation for it via Gou. So for better or worse it kinda has this vibe of retconning parts of her character in order to brute-force this connection between the two series.

Though I can’t help but be OK with it, at least for now, since it just makes it feel like he’d only be this overt about it if he was actually setting up for something better that justified making up all this new story stuff just to contextualize Bern’s whole character in Umineko. It might just be his way of tying things together and he’s not setting up for anything, but it’d feel like a waste at this point if he’s not, considering how many people are already feeling like he’s messing with Rika’s character retroactively to make it all tie into Umineko. So it’d at least feel more justified if it’s actually setting up for something along the lines of an Umineko anime remake, even if that’s still probably just wishful thinking. 

Anyway, I think this episode is gonna cause lots of discourse about how people feel about both Rika and Satoko’s choices in this episode, but my stance right now is just that they’re both understandable, while also both being in the wrong in their own ways. Ultimately this just boils down to them not communicating with each other properly. I can see what people mean by Rika’s whole attitude here feeling out of character, but I can understand why she’s genuinely enjoying her new life, and honestly she’s always had major issues with not talking to people about things and just going with the flow, so I get why she’s not doing more to reach out to Satoko, especially since doing so would mean rocking the boat with her new friends who clearly all look down on Satoko.

And on the other side of things, I think Satoko’s whole side of things makes total sense, even though she’s also in the wrong for continuing to respond to trauma by bottling it all up and rejecting any help or communication that people offer her. That at least feels like a totally natural extension of her personality, especially when you think about how the current timeline is one where Teppei never came back to the village, and so she never had to have her whole character arc where she learns how to open up about her trauma to people and seek help. Also the end of the episode makes it feel pretty likely that this is going in the direction of her re-developing HS, which would go a long way to explain why she’d go into a full on downwards spiral, mentally. I highly doubt that she actually got completely cured for good, even if Hanyuu’s absence changed how the virus works.

Which also reminds me that we still haven’t heard anything about what happened to Satoshi, despite them talking about the virus more or less going away. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s past the point of no return, and learning about his fate might be one of the things that fully pushes Satoko over the edge.

Either way, I get why a lot of people don’t really like where this is all going, but I’m at least enjoying it for what it is [even though I’ve had to really readjust my expectations for it, lol]. But tbh at this point a big chunk of this is just me being hype about the pipe dream of a new Umineko anime, and if this ends up not leading to that, I’ll probably be a lot harsher on Gou in hindsight after it ends.

[ardenttheories]

imo the worst influence kate has had on the hs fandom -- well it's normalizing harassing people off social media entirely bc of them shipping the wrong thing or having a Wrong Thought about a headcanon, but the second worst is the habit of taking a character, declaring them transfem, and then deciding that 'is transfem' removes and then replaces every other part of their personality. vriska? transfem. [NO OTHER QUALITIES]. yiffy?? transfem now! [IMMUNE FROM CRITICISM]. it sucks. she sucks

Honestly Kate is just a giant bag of bad quality worms that never seems to end, and pretty much all of her online interactions are just tiring at this point. The way she responds to genuine criticism is just the most childish shit I’ve ever seen - and that’s not when it’s outright aggressive or phobic.

But, honestly, I think I agree with you on that one. Kate has this big fucking tendency to declare a character she likes transfem and then claim them free from criticism and fault. Vriska is just... the biggest evidence of this. Anything anyone says about her shitty writing regarding Vriska - her abuse apologism, the erasure of all of the shitty things Vriska has done - is met with a cry of transmisogyny and transphobia. Because, apparently, pointing out that a transfem character is actually sort of a shitty person is transphobic? Didn’t realise we could get away with literal abuse just by being trans. 

Oh, no, wait, we can’t - it’s just transwomen, right, I forgot that Kate fucking hates transmen. 

Like, I’ve mentioned this before, but there is just something inherently wrong with that ideology. Transwomen face such violent hatred at the best of times, both within and outside of the LGBT+ community, and Kate is trivialising ALL of that, what transmisogyny actually is and the fucking hoops transwomen have to jump through just to be considered women, let alone people, into “well actually I think this shitty character has done nothing wrong and you can’t do anything about it :)”. 

Transwomen are consistently fucking accused of being abusers, and Kate plays into those accusations by stating that, in fact, transwomen can get away with any violence against anyone, without consequence. How can she not see the federal fucking issue with this stance she’s taking? Yes, it’s about a fictional character, but fictional characters are one of the best points of representation we can have as a community, and are one of the best ways we can validate ourselves, especially to people outside of the community - and, quite frankly, a lot of her screenshots from that previous post show that she doesn’t actually think much differently from what she points out in fiction to what she sees IRL. 

We can’t just make characters devoid of criticism because they’re trans. That completely negates the point of a fucking character. It also completely belittles the genuine upset people have towards things the characters have done and represent - which is something that SHOULD be listened to, and not just blatantly ignored or talked over. When the fandom says “this is a really shitty take”, you shouldn’t respond with, “sorry, can’t hear you over how transfem Vriska and Yiffy are”, as if... those are the issues literally anyone has? And, again, it trivialises their identities into a defence rather than something that can actually be enjoyed. It’s the reason WHY Vriska can get away with shit; the reason WHY we can’t be upset about Yiffy. That’s just not good in any capacity. That’s terrible fucking representation.

And the erasure of everything Vriska has done to validate her being a transwoman also ruins all the interest in her as a whole - because Vriska is a wonderfully complex character, morally grey and desperately enticing to look into, to understand, to discuss and debate with other people. Like, that’s the sort of character authors DREAM they can make. And they erase all of that, become apologists, turn her into an icon for something fucking terrible, just because they want to pretend that she’s never done a bad thing in her life. She can be trans AND an asshole. Kate, frankly, is living proof that this combination exists. 

If they could just say, “Vriska is a bad person but she wants to improve, and here’s her uphill struggle to better herself - oh, and also, she’s a transwoman”, that’d be... amazing. That’d be fucking perfect, actually. Or even if they just say, “Vriska is a bad person but for these reasons, and she won’t really improve but here are some more morally grey actions for you to question if she really does care about people after all but just can’t open up for these reasons - and, by the way, she’s a transwoman”, then we’d have no fucking complaints.

Like, the issue isn’t that she’s a transwoman. It’s that they’re using her transness to completely deny any criticism that comes their way. Accepting that criticism and improving her as a character, or even just fucking accepting that she’s a morally grey character and that’s kind of her whole point, is all it would take to make everything better and everyone happy. The fact that this concept is foreign to them is just... baffling to me. It’s such a simple fix. It’s such an easy thing to do. It’s such a good way to make Vriska into actual, genuine representation that isn’t mired in transphobia.

And yet something tells me that might never actually happen.

[seriouslyhooked]

I Luv You (A CS HS AU)

Reader prompted CS High School AU oneshot where Emma and Killian are friends but Emma wants more. There’s miscommunication (Emma thinks he loves someone else), but ultimately a cute and fluffy ending. Available on FF here and AO3 here. 

A/N: Hey all! I have had quite a few of you ask for more high school AUs for Emma and Killian, and my muse rarely trends in that direction. But, after many many months of trying to find a story that worked, I stumbled across this song, ‘I Luv You’ by Sofia Carson and R3MIX. One of the lyrics has been stuck in my head on repeat, and I’ve thought of how wonderful it would be to incorporate into a CS drabble. As such, this story centers around Emma and Killian meeting in their senior year of high school. Killian is new to their school, having moved from the UK, but they’ve instantly clicked and prom season is coming up. Emma wants to go with Killian, but she’s aware that he might not be over someone else from his past, then, because I’m addicted to fluff, it all turns out to be a great big misunderstanding. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy and thanks so much for reading!

Everything’s going to be fine. I can handle this. I can get over him. Maybe? Someday? Oh God.

Closing her eyes and taking a steadying breath, Emma shook away the anxious thoughts that had clung to her for weeks. She didn’t want to linger in them, but she couldn’t let them go. Everywhere she went they followed, and there seemed to be no reprieve. As a result, she was a stressed-out mess, and her ability to hide her feelings was growing weaker and weaker by the minute.

“I don’t know why you’re so worried about this, Ems,” her friend Ruby said casually from where she was perched on Emma’s kitchen countertop, eating directly out of a tub of Ben & Jerry’s chunky monkey.

Ruby’s legs dangled as she swiped the last of the ice cream from her spoon greedily. She’d downed a full carton just this afternoon, the calories and sugar rush a non-issue. Emma knew if she tried that her mother would probably have a fit, but Ruby could get away with anything in the Nolan house. Emma’s parents had adored her since Emma and Ruby’s first day of kindergarten all those years ago when Ruby announced to the class that Emma was her ‘bestest friend’ and anyone who messed with her was ‘gonna know her wrath.’ At age five Emma had no idea what that meant, but to this day her Mom and Dad adored Ruby. She was loyal and courageous, and she’d lived up to her promise, proving to be the best friend Emma could ask for.

“I’m not worried,” Emma replied, but the declaration was hollow and lacked conviction.

“You’re gonna need to work on your acting, girl,” Ruby said with a sigh and a sad headshake, as if Emma’s attempt at seeming okay was just pitiable. “But seriously, all this stressing is for nothing. Killian is totally going to ask you to prom. He’s gonna swoop in with everything but a white horse, tell you he loves you, and steal your heart.”

“Ruby,” Emma whispered, chastising her friend but without much conviction. She wanted to reprimand Ruby for her fanciful ideas, but she couldn’t form more words in the face of someone stating exactly what she dreamed of.

“And honestly, it’s about time. You’ve been dancing around each other for ages. I mean I love a good slow burn, but this is just ridiculous.”

It certainly felt like Ruby was right, but Emma knew better than to believe that. No matter how many butterflies might take flight within her every time she saw him, or how many times her thoughts drifted to the handsome boy who’d become one of her closest friends, Emma knew that the feelings in her heart were one sided. Killian was in love with someone else, a girl back where he was from who he’d known before moving here. She still had his heart, and so Emma never could. She only wished that everyone else understood, maybe then they’d stop always talking like the two of them being together was a given.

“You’re one to talk. Dee, asked you to prom literally months ago, before prom was even announced.”

“Of course she did. She’s my girlfriend. Plus, she wanted to lock me down. I’m a hot commodity, as you well know.”

Emma rolled her eyes at Ruby’s antics. Her best friend loved to talk a big game, but since meeting her girlfriend, Dorothy, last year she’d been nothing but the picture of fidelity. She was smitten as could be and very much in love, but Ruby was determined to be considered a ‘wild child’ and Dorothy, or Dee, as everyone called her, was only happy to oblige.

“Okay well new rule, happily coupled off ‘besties’ don’t get to tell the single one not to worry.”

“Ugh, fine. But only because I love you and you used the word ‘besties’ with only limited sarcasm. I’m totally wearing you down.”

Emma bit back a smile and shook her head, but she was grateful for the out Ruby provided her. It wasn’t her friend’s natural instinct to walk back her opinion, and it showed Emma how much their friendship mattered to Ruby that she’d even try to do so.

“Also, I may or may not have agreed to be part of a conspiracy meant to distract you and then guide you to an important event that I cannot actually tell you about because I swore myself to secrecy.”

“Come again?” Emma asked, totally confused even as her pulse began to beat in faster time. Secret plot? What the heck was that? And why did she feel like it involved a certain hot, charismatic, and irresistible boy she could never stop thinking about?

“Wish I could explain, but that’s the whole thing about swearing yourself to secrecy, you kind of have to mean it. Mums the word, or whatever people say.”

“Ruby, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything except for making one teeny tiny little promise.”

“And that promise was…?”

“To make sure you stayed right here until…” she glanced at the time on the stove and smiled, “Now. All right, two minutes from now, but still. You get the drift.”

“Ruby, I don’t understand.”

“Emma,” Ruby said taking Emma’s hand and squeezing it gently, “You know I would never steer you wrong, right? I can’t get into it, but let’s just say there’s a reason I’ve been promising you that everything for prom would work out.”

Emma took Ruby’s words in and did the simple math: Ruby had been telling her not to worry about Killian asking because she knew he was planning to. He had told Ruby somehow, convincing her to help him with this surprise, and Ruby had agreed. It made Emma’s heart thump loudly in her chest over and over again, but then dread crept in. He was going to ask her to prom, but it was going to be a friend asking a friend. Somehow that was worse than not being asked at all. It would mean being so close to what she wanted, but still so painfully far away.

“Killian,” Emma whispered, her lips not daring to utter more than his name as the nerves took over.

“Yes, Killian,” Ruby said with a gleam in her eye, hopping off the table and straightening out Emma’s hair and her outfit like a personal stylist with a critical eye. “Don’t worry, you look totally kick ass, and so my work here is done. He’ll be here any minute, and I think it’s best if I get out of here before he does. Wouldn’t want to stifle any moments with my ever-present wit.”

Emma stood there in shock, watching her friend grab her bag and sashay out of the kitchen. Emma heard her retreating footsteps and barely managed to all out “Wait, Ruby!” before the front door closed. Ruby was gone, having departed the scene in a haste on par with that cartoon roadrunner she used to watch as a kid.

For a moment Emma warred with herself about what to do. She wanted desperately to wait here and to let him ask her. Maybe it would be more than a friend asking a friend. Maybe something had happened with the girl back home. Maybe he was free, free to love her, to choose her, to want her back… but then again maybe her greatest worries were exactly right. Maybe the nagging voice in the back of her mind that said something so perfect could never work out was correct. Either way she panicked, choosing self-preservation over facing what may come.

Leaving everything behind, Emma snuck out the sliding back door, breaking out in a run from the porch and heading into the thick grove of trees behind her home. There was a well-worn walking path that headed deep into the woods, and Emma knew it well, well enough to veer off of it and find her way to the one place she could imagine any kind of comfort at a time like this – the meadow.

Not far from her house there was a private glen that ran along the river, out of the way of any foot traffic that may come through the bramble of these woods. Emma had found it as a child, and for some reason no one ever seemed able to find her there. She could get lost for hours in that grove, enjoying the sun and the flowers and the sound of running water coursing by. It was close to home, but felt lightyears away and in that glen she could be anything and anyone. Her imagination was free there and her cares were far away. It was her special place, the one she never shared, the one she kept so close to her heart it felt like only hers. But then, on a whim, she’d brought Killian there, and though it was scary to do that, he’d reacted in the perfect way.

“It’s otherworldly, Emma. I can understand your love for this spot. I can think of no better place that I’ve ever been before.”  

Emma held back tears as she approached this little oasis, knowing that it wouldn’t hold the answers that she wanted. Instead it would likely just remind her of Killian, and all that she wanted but that they just couldn’t have.

The closer she got, however, the more Emma realized that something was different. It was early spring, but she saw bright colors from afar. They were similar to the wildflowers that bloomed in May and June, but it was too early for them. Only when she got closer did she realize what was happening. The flowers here were real but were not wild. They were an assortment of every kind of blossom she’d ever loved and they had been placed by someone, filling the space in an attempt to recreate the most magical moments this meadow had to bring.

It dawned on her that no one would know to do this but Killian, and as she got closer Emma felt the tears brought on by his sweetness. By the time she was at the meadow’s edge, tears were streaming down her face, and she didn’t bother wiping them away as her hand came over her mouth.

There must be thousands of flowers here, and Emma had no idea how he could have possibly done this. Where would he even find so many flowers? And how could he have time? It would have taken him all day to do this, and so much longer to think of it. This was so much effort to go through for a friend, it almost made her think that she had to be wrong. He must feel the same. He must –

“I had pictured this going a little differently,” a voice said and Emma whipped around to see Killian, looking at her with a warm smile. He was genuinely glad to see her, but the bashfulness on his face was unmistakable and it made him look even more handsome. That earnest feeling mixed with seeing him dressed up, well it drove her a little wild, but she didn’t dare to move, waiting for him to approach her instead. “But I should have known you’d find your own way. You always do.”

“Why?” Emma asked, and Killian’s brow furrowed before she elaborated. “Why did you do all of this?”

“Because you deserve nothing less,” he countered, taking her hand though his blue eyes stayed locked on hers. “I did this because I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a very long time. I’ve gone back and forth about when and how. I wanted it to be right, but I couldn’t decide how. It’s just – well it’s complicated. Us being friends, it’s amazing and I’ve never had someone in my world like you, and I was afraid I’d muck it up, so I…”

He trailed off, his hand scratching behind his ear in a show of embarrassment and Emma swallowed down the hurt as best she could. She had been right. This was a prom proposal based in friendship, nothing more. He didn’t feel the same. He didn’t want her. He was just kind and good and perfect and he wanted to give her a lovely memory even if he couldn’t give her his love.

“Emma Nolan, will you -,”

Before he could get the words out Emma interrupted him, afraid that if he asked she’d break down in front of him and give herself away. This was a nightmare right now and she couldn’t bear it. “Killian… I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Before he could respond, she sprinted back towards the house, tears falling as she raced through the backwoods. Through the haze of her adrenaline, she heard him call her name, and then she felt his hand on her arm, halting her, holding her steady.

“Emma, love, I don’t understand. Have I done something? Is there…” his voice grew fraught and tense. “Is there someone else?”

“Of course there is!” she exclaimed, “But not for me. For you!”

“I don’t understand,” he replied, looking genuinely perplexed.

“Of course you don’t,” she said, a sad laugh emanating from her as she waved her hands in dismay. “I love you, Killian.”

“I love you too,” he replied immediately, and she shook her head.

“No, not as a friend. I love you. Like for real.”

“Emma, I feel the same way about you. I’ve been trying to tell you forever, but every time I tried you shut me down.”

“I had to,” she cried out. “Because you’re not over her.”

“Over who?”

“Merida.”

“Who?” he asked, sounding completely unaware of the name of the girl he loved.

“You know, the girl Liam’s always reminding you about.”

At the mention of the name Killian still looked confused and then he laughed. Wait, he’s laughing? Why is he laughing? This is serious! Before she could get angry though he pulled her to him, distracting her with his nearness as the sound of his voice washed over her.

“God I could kill my brother for this, but I haven’t got the time. Emma, ‘Merida’ is not some long-lost love I’m pining away for. She’s a seventy-six-year-old Scottish woman who used to be our neighbor.”

“Oh.” What else was there to say? Clearly she’d been an idiot.

“The only girl I’ve ever pined for has golden hair, jade colored eyes, and a bit of a temper.”

“Hey, I don’t -,” Killian interrupted her with a kiss she never saw coming, but that Emma immediately melted into. How could she fight with someone when they could do this instead? God it was perfect, everything she’d ever dreamed of, and even more he loved her! He’d said he loved her right? Oh please let her have heard that right. She waited when they broke apart, hoping he’d reiterate the words she’d always craved.

“She’s also brilliant and beautiful and bold. She’s kind and honest, fair and good. She’s always looking out for the people who she loves, and by God when she smiles at me, it’s like heaven itself made just for me.”

Emma looked at his face, searching for any trace of deceit, but there was none. He was pouring his heart out to her and laying it all on the line. It was just what she’d always wanted.

“I love you, Emma. I knew I would from the moment that we met. It’s you Emma. The girl I can’t get over is you, and I have no plans of ever trying. You’re it for me. I know we’re young, but I don’t care because -,”

This time it was her turn to pull him for a kiss, and she couldn’t help herself. After months of wanting him, he was finally hers, or maybe he had been all along. It felt so good to finally have this, to know that the dream she’d been waiting for was even better than her imagination could fathom, and only when they broke apart did she realize what this meant.

“Oh my God I messed everything up,” she said, hiding her face in his neck in embarrassment. “You tried to ask me to prom in the most romantic way and I ruined it.”

“I wasn’t planning to ask you to prom, Emma.”

“You weren’t?”

“No, love I was asking you to be mine, just as I’m yours. But as for ruining things, surely you must know you never could,” he said, his fingers running through her hair as he gazed at her adoringly. “You’ve made this the best day I’ve ever known. You told me you loved me. You let down the last bit of wall that was separating us. Everything’s been said now. There’s no secrets, no more doubts. You know my heart and I know yours. I couldn’t ask for more. And as for prom, if you want to go then we’ll go. I want to be wherever you are, Emma. For me it’s just that simple.”

“I want that too,” Emma said, kissing him again and feeling the lightness and joy that came with love that was reciprocal and true. After all the heart ache, they were together, and Emma knew their love would be forever. No matter what may come, or where they went from here, they were just meant to be. Always had been, always would be.

And though they spent the next few hours surrounding themselves in their newly found bliss, they eventually concurred that prom was a must. After all, Ruby would kill her if she didn’t go, and with Killian by her side it was bound to be a night she’d always remember and never forget.  

…………….

You the type of guy to write a song about You're laid back, nobody know what's on your mind We been talking for a while now (We been talking for a while now) And I been falling for a while now You say that everything with you is fine Even though we're always hanging out I get the feeling that you're not around, yeah

We were always up to something Now you're all in your head

I love you But I wish it wasn't true 'Cause I know you think of her When I'm lying next to you I love you And I don't know what to do 'Cause you can't get over her And I can't get over you

You the type of guy to tell your mom about You're laid back, but running circles round my mind I been falling for a while now (I been falling, I been falling, I been falling) But you been lying for a while now You say that everything with you is fine Even though we're always hanging out I get the feeling that you're not around, yeah

We were always up to something Now you're all in your head

I love you But I wish it wasn't true 'Cause I know you think of her When I'm lying next to you I love you And I don't know what to do 'Cause you can't get over her And I can't get over you (I can't get over you)

I love you And I don't know what to do 'Cause you can't get over her And I can't get over you

Post-Note: So there we have it. I hope you guys have enjoyed this little drabble, and to my lovely readers who always ask me for more bisexual Ruby representation, I had you guys in mind with this one too. I know it’s a very short feature, and I am usually very committed to the Ruby/Graham pairing, but I’m happy to share the love for everyone that I can. I wish the show had developed a lot of these characters and relationships more, but hey, there’s always fanfic! Anyway, thank you all for reading and hope you have a great weekend!  

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10,Part 11, Part 12,Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24,Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31,Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38,Part 39,Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45,Part 46,Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53,Part 54,Part 55, Part 56, Part 57, Part 58, Part 59, Part 60,Part 61,Part 62, Part 63, Part 64, Part 65, Part 66, Part 67, Part 68,Part 69,Part 70, Part 71, Part 72, Part 73, Part 74, Part 75,Part 76,Part 77, Part 78, Part 79, Part 80, Part 81, Part 82, Part 83,Part 84,Part 85, Part 86, Part 87, Part 88, Part 89, Part 90,Part 91,Part 92, Part 93, Part 94, Part 95, Part 96, Part 97, Part 98,Part 99,Part 100, Part 101, Part 102, Part 103,Part 104, Part 105,Part 106, Part 107,Part 108, Part 109, Part 110,Part 111, Part 112,Part 113, Part 114, Part 115,Part 116, Part 117, Part 118,Part 119,Part 120, Part 121, Part 122, Part 123,Part 124, Part 125,Part 126, Part 127, Part 128,Part 129,Part 130, Part 131,Part 132,Part 133, Part 134, Part 135, Part 136, Part 137, Part 138,Part 139,Part 140, Part 141, Part 142, Part 143, Part 144, Part 145,Part 146, Part 147, Part 148,Part 149, Part 150, Part 151,Part 152, Part 153, Part 154, Part 155, Part 156, Part 157, Part 158,Part 159, Part 160, Part 161, Part 162, Part 163, Part 164,Part 165, Part 166, Part 167, Part 168, Part 169, Part 170,Part 171,Part 172, Part 173, Part 174, Part 175, Part 176,Part 177, Part 178, Part 179 , Part 180, Part 181, Part 182, Part 183, Part 184, Part 185, Part 186, Part 187, Part 188, Part 189

[samgreenstorm]

I got tagged by @morathicain Danke^^

Answer 30 questions and tag others~

So, here we go!

1. Name: Zobe

2. Gender:  Who knows.. not me rn.

3. Star sign: cancer

4. Height: 163.

5. Time: 12:02h

6. Birthday:  july 10th

7. Favorite band(s): This is always hard for me so i’m just gonna say what i’m into right now: NCT (All units), BTS and EXO. Huh three letter groups I guess

 8. Favorite solo artist(s):  Right now, Rina Sawayama, Loco and Dean.

9. Last movie:  Les saveurs du palais, a french movie about the private chef of the french president, the food looks so good. Love a good french movie about food ngl. 

10. Last Show: The last show I watched entirely is Doctor Romantic so the kdrama version of Grey’s Anatomy. Nah.. it’s bettter.

11. When did I create this blog: I think it was around march 2011. Have I been 10 years on this app?? wtf!!

12. What I post: Whatever I feel like to be honest, lgbtqia+ stuff, things I find funny, movies, shows.. honestly whatever. 

13. Last thing I googled: 30% of 12,95 I was trying to figure out the discount on a calendar. I didn’t buy it. 

14. Other blogs: One is more than enough for me.

15. Do I get asks: Not really, do bots count?

16. Why I chose my URL: Sam is my fave name and greenstorm is the last name of character from a story I wrote back in HS, well the name was grønstorm but i could find the ø.

17. Following: 593 but I’m sure most of those accounts are disabled.

18. Followers: 168, most of them are bots that I forgot to block i’m sure.

19. Average hours of sleep:  8 on a good day. 

20. Instruments: Ha! They taught us the flute at school and I had some classes on piano so i know how to play happy birthday hahaha

21. What I am wearing: dashhound pajama pants and a grey hoodie.

22. Dream job: I wish I was a food critic that travels around the world eating pastries and writing about it. I’m a baker and I really enjoy that but that’s the dream. 

23. Dream trip:  Korea, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Sweden,Scotland...so many... 

24. Favorite food: Arroz a la cubana, so rice, a fried egg, tomato sauce and plantains. 

25. Nationality: Spanish although I’m trying to get the peruvian nationality,

26. Favorite song: Somewhere only we know by Keane, it’s been almost 15 years with this as my favourite song.

27. Last book I read: I think it was the third book of the trials of apollo... maybe..  it was a while ago. 

28. Fictional universe I want to live in:  The pushing daisies universe, the aesthetic is just *chef kiss* and it’s inclusive so double points for that.

29. Fictional universe I want to live in part two: one better that is better this one.,

30. Fictional universe I want to live in part three: mmmmm....  I kinda want to live on the marvel universe but mostly because I want to meet Captain America but I’m pretty I might have died already between the terrorist attacks, the alien invasions and stuff.

I tag whoever wants to do it!

[h3trappedcollection]

Author Interview Part V

The talented and all-round fabulous @weilongfu joined us today for another part of the Author Interview. 

Stories written for the Collection:

The Day of Singularity

Four meetings with Officer Meng (But one with Shao Fei) 

Interview:

How did you come into the Trapped fandom?

I came into the Trapped fandom the way I’ve gotten into many of my fandoms. By everyone around me screaming about it. People like @andwebegin, @ctl-yuejie, and @florbexter were pretty instrumental in getting me aware that it was going to happen. Especially after having taken their word about HIStory2: CTL, I was more than willing to check out Trapped. Especially after I found out more about the potential plot. 

My usual philosophy after that is to at least watch the first few episodes. If I’m not hooked by anything, then I give it up. Trapped kept me hooked for good! I fell in love with everyone in the show and the rest is… history? 

Who’s your favourite character?

I love a lot of characters in the show for different reasons. I love Zhao Zi for his honesty and genuine desire to do good. I like the mystery and mischief of Jack. I admire Tang Yi’s deep feelings and emotions. And I greatly enjoyed Shao Fei’s straightforwardness and ability to commit. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Zhao Zi because we both love food, potentially like dangerous boys, and we both want the world to be a better place.

What’s your favourite trope?

I honestly have been enjoying a lot of the AU fics that are in the fandom. Like the original Trapped setting is great, but pushing the boys into college or further back? It’s been an amazing thing to read and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. As to whether I’ll write it? Eh… Someone did ask if I’d ever write a proposed fic about College Freshman!Jack dating HS Senior!Zhao Zi so…

What do you like about writing for Trapped?

The best part about writing for Trapped has actually been the fandom. Everyone is so supportive and nice. It’s a real pleasure to see the responses I get which are also always very friendly. 

Aside from that? Trapped has such varied and interesting characters. It’s very easy to find the right knob to twist or switch to flip that can make a large variety of fics happen. 

Care to elaborate about your writing process?

My writing process is a mess!

I don’t usually outline because then I over-outline. A lot of my fics were spawned from just coming up with a good title! And that’s in every fandom I write for. 

But once I get going, things usually just flow. I’ll go back and read it once or twice to make sure I haven’t truly fucked something up, but once I’m done, I’m usually done for good and I post it before I second guess myself. Truly, I treat writing fics like how I take exams. Just get it done and hand it in before you delete/erase something that actually worked!

Sometimes it’s not that easy, and I have struggled with a few fics just because I’ve managed to overthink myself or I get hung up on an idea, but I have yet to find a better or more comfortable way for me to write. 

Your favourite Trapped fic by another author?

Oooo…. Well I have to give a shout out to @decadentdeerpolice and @the-wintry-mizzenmast for their lovely fics during the last exchange. I absolutely loved how they filed the prompt for me. 

I’m also a big fan of Skuld’s The Divine Art of the Househusband series. It’s definitely a twist on what Jack’s life as a househusband would be like and it’s always fun to see a new update!

I also liked @sarah-yyy ‘s fics fortune and amuse bouche. 

The next set of fics I’m actually eagerly awaiting updates on is Flor’s Breaking the Firewall series. The espionage and manoeuvring that’s happened in just the first parts is already super fun.

What do you want to write but never had the nerve to?

Hmm… I’m not sure? There aren’t a lot of ideas that I’ve never really had the nerve to put down on paper, if only to get them to stop bothering me. There are a few that never really made it to paper though. Like my Fantasy!AU where all the boys are different positions and have different abilities. 

I wanted to write Jack as a member of the Assassin’s Guild. Zhao Zi would be part of the guard and mostly be seen as a scribe, except when he pulls the robes off and gives most thieves a run for their money in his trap deactivating, lock picking, and ward/seal breaking. Shao Fei would, of course, be a paladin as he believes in the law and doing what’s right. Tang Yi would so be a weapons master type character, as once he was adopted by the ‘noble’ Tang Guo Dong, he was trained in many styles to defend himself. 

The idea fell apart after that because I had no idea what they’d do afterwards. Plus they’re missing a ranged caster and committed healer in the party and everyone who has played D&D knows that’s a mistake waiting to cause a total party kill. (I mean you could argue Hong Ye would totally make a great sorceress and Dao Yi would be the cleric cleaning up her messes, but let’s not get this any bigger.)

If you want, please share a snippet of your current Trapped WIP!

It wasn’t very often that Zhao Zi wondered what was the first link in the chain of decisions that lead him to slightly less than desirable outcomes. Not because Zhao Zi lacked insight or critical thinking, he was a police officer after all. It was often because Zhao Zi was usually pretty good at pulling himself out of a pinch.

A smile and innocent disposition were very good for many things. When those failed, being flexible in many ways helped some more.

(The third option was that he was legally allowed to carry a gun, even if no one wanted Zhao Zi to carry a gun.)

But as Zhao Zi lifted a large, homemade sausage to his lips while Jack eyed him expectantly, Zhao Zi contemplated if his grandmother would approve of what he was about to do to a perfectly decent piece of food and what had brought him to this new point in his life in the first place.

------

Zhao Zi had been through practice interrogations before, but none of them had prepared him for someone like Jack. And despite Jack’s initial countenance, there was something about his smile, how easily he showed his teeth. It should have been predatory and dangerous. But in the curve of Jack’s eyes, Zhao Zi knew he wasn’t in any danger.

Of course, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Jack. Working with Shao Fei for so long, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Tang Yi’s most recent right hand man. Jack was a known mercenary, but he’d somehow managed to keep his nose just clean enough, just on the gray side of legal. All evidence was circumstantial. Even the International Crimes Division was often stuck dancing around Tang Yi’s lawyers when they were aiming for whatever secrets were hiding in Jack’s mind.

So it was Jack’s smile and eyes that allowed Zhao Zi to sell Shao Fei out in exchange for food. He did not expect the food to taste as good as it would. Nor did he expect that he might enjoy Jack pulling him close as Zhi De knocked over his bowl of noodles.

Zhao Zi decided to be open-minded. Jack was certainly interesting and fun. No harm in getting to know someone, right?

------

Jack knew he was smitten the moment Zhao Zi sold out his friend for food.

Good survival instincts. Good taste. Cute face too.

Jack was also hardly the kind of guy who just let things happen to him. But Zhao Zi was a new quantity. He’d have to slowly edge his way in, find out just how Zhao Zi might handle another man pursuing him.

So when Zhao Zi said, “Don’t you need to try it?”

Jack knew this was his chance to appeal to the clear foodie Zhao Zi was. “I don’t need to. I know I’m a good cook.”

“Huh? I meant Ah Fei’s number!”

“Too subtle,” Jack thought.

But Jack got to hold Zhao Zi close and a promise to see him again anyway.

“That could be like a date, right?” Jack thought as he rushed to collect Tang Yi from the hospital.

Thank you so much @weilongfu for the Interview

[redandfranticfeelings]

My friend is getting really into Homestuck, and I'm tempted to grab your critical posts about it and show it to her But I want to legit know your so critical of HS, but you enjoy SP, when it's probably worst?

i mean if your friend is getting into homestuck, then let her enjoy it? she’ll probably discover the flaws in her own time, just make sure she doesn’t give credit where it isn’t due or that the comic doesn’t trigger her or anything. i think it’s silly to constantly remind people that their interests are problematic (i may have believed this when i was like 15 but i’ve grown past it), you should give them the chance to be informed but also give them the benefit of the doubt, unless it’s, like, literally propaganda.

as for the difference...a lot of it boils down to personal taste and my relationship with the fandom. and this got....long.

i believe south park is the worst fandom i’ve been a part of, both on and off tumblr, but it has a good subsection of people who are quite critical of the show, and enjoy it in the way i do: understanding why it became popular while also constantly pointing out the key failings in its satire. most people in my personal fandom circle know south park’s infamy and make it clear they don’t stand by it; i’ve gotten a people on my ass for calling out the show’s transphobic messages and such, but it feels good to watch the show just to pinpoint why it has such a bad impact. the show is also a simple enough premise to redo in fanfiction, and i have a lot of fun taking these characters out of their environment and finding the unearthed potential while the writers just continuously show they don’t give a shit.

homestuck is probably better, at least in terms of intentions, but i have issues with the way fandom interacts with the comic. a lot of them brush the problematic jokes in the early comic under the rug, or praise hussie for his modern inclusiveness as if he didn’t make incest canon less than two years ago. every single fan seems to defend characters who do shitty things while chastising other characters for doing shitty things- there’s people who chastise eridan but sweep vriska’s ableism and sexual abuse under the rug, people who chastise vriska but sweep eridan’s genocide under the rug, etc. vriscourse is really what pushed me out of the fandom because one of my biggest pet peeves is when a complex female character gets her character twisted so you can’t criticize anything she ever does or you’re misogynistic, even if you do like her character and accept her flaws are what make her interesting, and the homestuck fanbase really started crossing lines for me by trying to recontexualize vriska’s abuse victims into the bad guys (saying tavros was a chaser based on flimsy evidence from when vriska wasn’t confirmed trans yet, etc).

also generally i hate the new loose way they do canon, especially in the context of LGBT canon, because if you have to argue about the canon then it’s cowardly IMO, even if i do appreciate the new representation like with roxy i fucking hate that it only cropped up once hussie and company decided canon no longer mattered. fandom has been praising hussie for poor representation since that agonizing meenah/vriska bullshit (which was unhealthy and fetishized by in-comic hussie but he praised it as ‘better than korrasami’ which reeked of wanting brownie points to me). and if more people could enjoy the comic critically then maybe i’d still be into it but i’m constantly afraid of being dogpiled by not just the fans, but the writers themselves who are former fans with very strong opinions and have their own controversies behind them. plus i could never truly follow the plot and it got even worse with the epilogues, especially when characters i liked kept getting sidelined constantly which especially stung with jade’s deliberately-bad characterization in the candy storyline. some people might enjoy that but for me it makes everything harder to follow, and doesn’t inspire me to rework it anymore because i just associate the comic with ship wars and fandom wars and biphobia and misogyny and ableism and just. frustration overall.

south park constantly frustrates me, no shit, but i expect that from the show. it doesn’t take itself seriously anymore, and i understand that, which makes it more rewarding to take it seriously and remind people of the impact it has. and i enjoy my selective fandom because it calls out the bullshit and makes it better. and i know not to take shit from the people who get mad at me, because they’re a bunch of anti-sjws who aren’t arguing in good faith. it’s fun to feel like i’m taking this show back from the assholes it’s meant for.

homestuck frustrates me because it could be better. it takes itself more seriously than south park, and the fandom probably takes it even more seriously. and it’s frustrating because not only can i no longer follow the comic (my attention span just isn’t made for it if it’s not a special interest anymore), i can’t find enough people in a fandom circle who can criticize the comic without pulling some other frustrating “[x] did nothing wrong!!!” bullshit. there’s too much discourse, complex discourse, often about complex topics like abuse and LGBT representation, and it just isn’t fun at all for me when i barely care about the plot anymore. that’s really it.

[yuissamidare]

@codes i think i may have put this on my artblog but... Here

i guess ill start w ichi bc i always forget about him somehow like i always come up short when im making lists and im like 'oh wait shit yeah that guy’ bc im stupid n i only think of fishing trio + choro. I’m an Idiot. idk i never thought too hard on ichi bc i so rarely think about him but he looks so high its really funny i said this on main but he looks like my friend when he decided to try a weed gummy bear then started babbling about hentai then watched to watch porn with me but got mad all the intro scenes are a billion years long and started ranting about the industry but now that i think about it he looks like someone who used to send me weird shit when he was high like bad pick up lines about body parts i wish i didnt have

and thats so funny that its Ichimatsu who looks like that but also proof that hes high. but anyway!! hes really cute and im mad hes boutta ruin my reputation for my complete and utter lack of care and interest in him no matter what im mad. my friend gwyn said 'Sp lubing us up for the fuckening that is the reason why Ichi is sad in present day’ im really curious at the change like if hes trying a fake it till you make it type thing bc really emotionally exhausted or if hes just genuinely having a good time or hes puttin on a front since like. nails who stand get hammered down right??? just gotta do your best n Never Relax n i can relate to all that. but uhhh old hcs i guess

in kun ichi was the most serious! really smart but just as bad w school as the rest of them apparently but!! yeah so id think that!! ichis that guy who participates in class discussion constantly and is always willing to debate the readings, but turns in sloppy papers with typos and no a coherency or stucture or anything. he’s A+ in participation but has an average of 60% on most of the written assignments with points knocked bc of lateness then more bc its A Mess. you could ask about the prompts for one of his papers, he could babble about his position on it complete with paragraphs and footnotes but like the day before its due hes playing rpgs and watching horror movies.

his classmates think hes so smart n so intimidating. the family knows hes a hot mess. the teachers tell him he has a lot of potential but they don’t think hes applying himself. all are right. also he doesnt cheat or let people cheat off of him since hes always been about rules and boundaries and Rightness n he n jyushi were the only ones who Minded Themselves in kun

uhh jyushi!! let me talk about schoolwork again bc yeah i love jyushi so so so so much and thinking of him in a school environment is so weird i thought about it a lot n i thought about it him in kun n san and Woah!! i really really love delinquent jyushi, bc when i saw that i was like 'huh! that fits actually!!’ i love that like him and choro flip flopped completely from what i thought. his school must be so cold theyre too cheap to afford heating in the winter and in summer the acs Blast. he was so Shy and quiet and he cried and he liked to sing so i always thought that when he participated in chorus festivals hes always like right in front!! he hums a lot in class and also moves around alot bc he actually like school and people like primary trio are the types that make friends often. i wasnt supposed to talk about this yet whoops.

unlike ichi who relatively neat despite everything but has shit notes, jyushis notes are amazing and understandable and utterly illegible.

theyre covered in doodles, arrows and lines leading every which way, different colors but not like color coded n theyre not in order by date, but he opens to a random page every time yet somehow always seems to know where to find each lesson. he writes footnotes and caveats and corrections and criticisms of the teachers and random thoughts and just smears ink everywhere. sometimes his notes are on a completely different subject. the notebook itself is a horrifying mess, the front and back covers both covered in drawings and designs and falling apart, random papers shoved between the pages, coming apart at the seams, covered in stains of unknown origin. assignments are full of emoticons and informal language, and they always manage to make his teachers feel like hes smarter than they are (most likely). he does his projects the minute theyre assigned, and is finished a minute later so can talk to his friends. he loved school.

sophie told me once about how she thought was Like That was bc one of his main concerns is that he thought he had nothing that made him Jyushi n in kun she said he might have been the one who was the most concerned about having a distinctive personality and i talked about how that sorta carried over san and how he always blended in bc of how gentle and soft and push-overy he was. he was actually the and most gullible and weakest in kun so i was like :0 when i saw that and intentionally did stuff like only carry 14 yen in his pockets to be quirky but it always sorta fell flat and he was still invisible so i was like hmmmmm. and i can see how he couldve toughened up and thinking of this now!! i love that. oh im so happy. this is so much better than i ever couldve imagined ever.

totty…. i do not think he was very popular or good at school. i think he’s very decent at schoolwork but he never put much effort into it. just copies whats on the board but if the class runs out of allotted lesson time n he couldnt finish his work he just didnt do it like cram schools a pain in the ass. if he put effort hed be a star student but he just craps out whatever since hes was the laziest!! oh but something i noticed was that him and jyushi would play together often since sometime he felt overwhelmed by karamatsu a lot. also hes the money thief and scammer its great kun todo is so good. he gets shy and flustered easy too!!

but uhh yeah!! depending on the day im always like 'zaimoku love each other so much they are best friends and the perfect other halves!!’ then im like 'these mofos hate each other what the fuck is this trainwreck’ did you see their shitty small talk in the horse episode. what was that. like they are genuinely trying to communicate and are pretty easy with each other but they have nothing to say. its like when youre having a boring day at school and theres nothing to talk about with an acquaintance so you just look at the walls and go 'have you ever noticed how stupid these posters are’ then you both start reading posters aloud but you both know its not that funny and youre just doing it to waste time but you still enjoy their company you just dont want silence. thats their relationship. and i think they are just very similar in very different ways and like. the key things that make them both similar and different and the same fuck them up (like suiriku!! theyre both really similar even if it doesn’t seem like it at first which is why their compatibility in the relationship chart was so low in s1, but i saw a lot of improvement in both of their behaviours and their communication and honestly. s2 was worth it for that sophie was so happy to see her faves get along) like sometimes when you look in the mirror all the things you see are the things you dont like about yourself instead of what makes you wonderful and unique. also i didnt mean to talk about this but i guess i am.

but yeah. totty is bitter n resentful at kara during hs n karas more confused and upset at tottys behaviour in their twenties n thats bc like i said. theyre dumb. karamatsu!! i think was actually pretty popular in highschool n had a good amount of friends - i genuinely think theatre kids are well liked bc i literally know everyone in my department and im friends w a good amount of people and im not even That extroverted. my actual extrovert friends know everyone in the school by name and everyone in my department is so nice even though theres a lot of bitchiness and drama its not as bad as w other humanities studies (jesus christ humanity students outside of theatre are a hot mess.)

uh yeah n that ultimately makes totty feel a bit… betrayed? karamatsu is his partner! theyre supposed to be there for eachother! kara’s the first one to branch out, get friends etc etc and todomatsus left behind bc hes always the one playimg follow the leader and he breaks out of that once they graduate - he grows up resenting karamatsu slightly though he still cares. but this time Hes the one cancelling plans to hang out with friends instead. my friend katie put it best when, in response to me telling them this, they sent me:

'kara: totty you have so many friends now. We barely see you anymore.

totty, applying chapstick: well, I learned it from the best.’

when i told them about it. but at the time gwyn and i were babbling about possibilities and different storylines and how theres a possiblity the movie might break down into three manageable plotlines n she gave zaimoku 'popularity’ and this was me throwing out ideas but honestly. Good. (aha, the end of this scenario ended up with todo throwing hands and shoulder checking someone outside a window and then getting removed from the premise n hanging with atsushi all night after) why am i on this. shit what happened here.

uhh but yeah totty is Def someone with learned behaviours rather than being a natural extrovert honestly just look at him hes an introverted mess masquerading as a decent human being and i know full well how people like that are bc some of them have been my best friends for years n seein the new hs promos solidifies that fact bc look at him. Crybaby. He is Miniscule. A Child.

then its 'delinquent who looks like an honour student’ choro. i never studied him until sophie started liking choro n since i love sophie i wanted to take an interest in him too. n i started to think very hard about him! then gwyn planted this in me n its taken root and im just never not gonna think its great. yall see his shitty gokudo impression what a bossy lil shit. he pulled a whip on kara once and it was mad funny but also Gwyns Big Evidence for him just being the absolute worst not like a casually skips class type but a Choro was a legit a bully and really mean n sabatoged other classmates to make him look like he was 100% That Bitch. maybe not him being Mean and cruel but just an asshole who bums around, is something i really like that one a lot its been one of my faves since gwyn n i started talking about it but i just!! have a ton of other things too!!

hes a lot like karamatsu in that theyre both stupid and weird and embarrassing and they put on airs but they also!! dont try!! they talk so big and such high goals n expectations and they dont do shit bc they have so much hubris but i always talk about them bc suiriku is sophies Beloved so ill like. Not. but he acts like he’s better than all of them n forces the role of the straight man on himself because he wants to be seen as the responible, level headed one even if hes just. So Much.

i think the movies calling back to how touchy feely and clingy he was in kun and adding on to how jyushis a delinquent and kara… Is Like That he’ll be around them the most bc jyushi might either be really protective or push him away and then they do something to mend their relationship later on or hell cling to kara and they just. grow apart. sticking to my hc until the end bitches. oh.

for choro… personally!! i thought hed be a slacker instead of a delinquent but not in the way totty slacked - totty was lazy n knew the work but didnt want to put in effort but choro just. Doesnt. choro has so much energy all the time and choro Can Not deal with school situations. bc like… you always hear people say that studying is meant to be done at the desk, silently, no distractions what so ever!! focus on notes and nothing else!! ise a highlighter but dont use it too much!! make your notes legible but you only have five minutes before the board gets erased!! review!!! look at your notes or youll die! take breaks bit dont take too long and honestly. listen. kun choro wouldnt be able to stand that shit and id think hed just think he was doing it The Wrong Way n he just wasnt meant to do it.

he doesnt like quiet classrooms!! he cant study like that and hell get distracted. he cant sit still n thats why totoko broke up w him in the beer ad and why hes just Everywhere in kun!! hes understimulated and its just Ugh! you know??? he’ll fidget w his pens until he breaks them or hum or tap his foot and annoy everyone or leave for the bathroom at least three times a class just to get up and move.

eventually he just. gives up even though hes super smart he like, stops caring bc if you dont care to understand material then you wont have to read and read and reread and rereread something to get it! classes just make everything uncomphrehensible and makes any idea he may have sublimate into nothing. but he can work on the trains and the buses! he needs something kenetic to get him moving and trains n shit always have enough going on to work with, just like with home!! chorochoro motherfuckers. he works much better moving forward, ironic as that is. he feels sorta set apart from every thing like hes behind some big plane of glass doing everything wrong and being all set apart from everything. eventually he takes to acting like a real fussy mom to avoid his own problems and help everyone else out even though hes annoying and even when he graduates but it gets Worse bc then figures out how much!!! he fucked up!! then he kicks himself into high gear n still cant do shit. ahh.

its illegal for me to talk about choukei bc i talk about them so much and im always being annoying n typing stupid essays about them bc theyre… my faves.. But this is so long…

it actually makes me super happy that he kara acne he still can be really fighty and he cries and he still does stupid impulsive shit for others and even though hes really sweet and caring is still an utter monster and fucking mess of a person. love him. i always like to think his shittymatsu nickname came from iyami n it just morphed from there bc in 66 you can hear iyami calling him specifically garbage. ive always been glad they kept his sewing hobby too. ahh, actually from what i see hes pretty similarities to kun so i wonder when he decided to air out that teremity. idk what to say about him that i havent in tottys section. he just Feels like someone who had a good support group and nice friends bc of how hes able to move in the world. kara feels like some whos doing their growing up in their twenties bc highschool came easy to them and now theyre just really struggling with the real world. like i shouldve expected softboy hs kara and i appreciate him very much!! i talk about choukei a lot bc they were the first characters that spoke so i immediately attached myself to them n i talk about karamatsu Specifically but im not sure i ever mentioned how much i appreciated how smart and cautious hes proved himself to be time and time again, like how hes the only one to point out totokos fish shtick aint doing her favours or how he was the first one to notice osos irritation n how you can pick out his voice warning jyushi to calm down in the bg of 24 or how in the comedian episode he was ready to take Notes from iyami and a lot of other small things!!

i would think hes actually a bit more serious n calm in hs and san is him amping up traits that drew people to him in hs and it backfiring on kara spectacularly - kara is always gauging people and their reactions and acting in a way he believes will get something positive, but at the same time is utterly oblivious when it comes to actually Getting them n i talked about the girls on the bridge but this is also prevalent with ichi who kara just. Doesnt Get and can not figure out how to maneuver their relationship. like oso, kara is and elder brother!! and elder brothers have an image theyre supposed to uphold, but while kara acts the part he doesnt do the shit a big brother does and shrugs that responsibility off on oso until oso fucks up until s2, where they share the role more evenly and his relationship with ichi improves but this is another essay entirely. what im trying to get with that is that hyperfocus on what other people think of him, but his complete disregard when it comes to their actual reaction and instead what he wants their reactions to be would also greatly impact him transtioning from a teen to an adult im sorry im getting sloppy now

osomatsu… i really adore him too much and i understand how totty felt in their episode bc i also lent my phone to a friend who needed to desperately jack it before meeting new people n i talk about him a whole lot too. hes mean and an asshole and garbage n i know a lot of people find him plain n boring but idk. i dont think thats the case hes a really complexed n nuanced character n hes literally has always been way back from kun n thats expected from a main character but… hes always been mean n dumb n sly and he can get so pathetically vunerable and thats literally!! him. hes a normal dude nothing wrong with that n it can be real refreshing. n i suppose im so fond of fishing trio+choro bc they remind me of my friends. but yeah even if hes 'plain’ i dont see why thats a bad thing. n this they always have the most interesting body language like despite kara being So Much his body language was always closed off n singled him out as everything But exuberant and bright, and osos quirks like how he stands on his toes a lot had always been so cute… its relaxed and open n screams Talk To Me!!!!

ahh but i always end up thinking oso was. oso??? theres not much to say that i havent before but i do think that he was a lot more like he was in episode 2 when ranting to chibita about having shitty brothers and then actively Chose to be a good brother even if he wasnt a good person and be a stable rock and be someone they could all come back to at the end of the day. and hes good at math im never letting this die.

[realtalk-princeton]

@maybach how did you adjust so well to college? I feel like in a lot of ways I’ve had the opposite experience, I was a really committed student in hs, got a 2400 sat, 15 perfect app test scores, all A’s, I even literally did lab work multiple summers at prestigious universities lol. I never really did much socially in hs, few friends, no SO, not much life experience in general outside academics. But now that I’m here, I’ve found it so hard to adapt. I actually took a gap year before starting,

but I’ve struggled so much here. I’m actually taking a leave because I couldn’t keep up. I guess part of this is not prioritizing academics enough cause I still feel like I need a ton to make up for lost time” from all the stuff I missed (even after taking a gap year). Honestly, it’s hard to even motivate myself to do academics at all, I mean I could always drop to an easier school or even just not go to college. I don’t even really like having “intellectual conversations” and all that, I’d rather just be around ppl who are more “shallow” (but is anything really “shallow” in the first place, I mean it’s really just about how you look at the world) but I digress. I don’t even care that much about honing critical thinking skills, and anyway, you don’t even need college to do that. it seems like the main justifications for the existence of liberal arts education, and really maybe even college in general (except for ppl going to grad school cause they are actually putting (Jesus this is turning into an op-ed) tangible knowledge they are directly using in their career, or ppl not going to grad school who are going into tech/engineering (also chemistry/biology?) and last I checked, not a huge number of students here go to grad school right out of college. I worked my ass off in hs to get here and now I’m really starting to regret it. so to tie it all back together, how did you even get into the mindset you’ve talked about to this place (not trying to be confrontational or anything, just genuinely curious) much less go from your hs experience to doing really well here? Or maybe I really should leave honestly. My parents didn’t even pressure me that much academically, it was a lot of self-motivation. Lol sorry for the screed

Response from Maybach:

No problem anon! I read the whole thing, but just needed sufficient time to build up to my answer. Also, there are a lot of components obviously lol, but I’ll mainly focus on your actual question for brevity sake. Even I’m getting tired of my long responses haha.

Let me first respond to some of your assertions and share my thoughts. I was kind of confused when you wrote, “it seems like the main justifications for the existence of liberal arts education…y are actually putting (Jesus this is turning into an op-ed) tangible knowledge they are directly using in their career, or ppl not going to grad school who are going into tech/engineering (also chemistry/biology?)” What are the main justifications you are referring to? Are you saying that college is to develop knowledge directly for a career? But anyway, I think college is really important at is the core for two things: time for maturing and learning how to learn. Nothing we learn for most of is will be directly related to a job, but it becomes vitally important and sets us apart from the vast majority of people. For the first thing, most kids are just not ready to enter the workforce after HS. They need to actually start growing up, taking responsibility more for their actions, going through life experiences. Can you imagine what it would be like for the average college-aged kid to go through a breakup in the post-graduation world for the first time lol (just an example)? Most people need time to mature so they’re ready for life after. As for learning how to learn. This is very important as well and Princeton EXCELS at this. I don’t care what anyone says, this is pretty much indisputable in my mind. I learned how to speak a language at a near-professional level within 1 year, I learned about centuries of detailed American economic history, etc. and none of this ever came up for a job. What is great about this and important for life is that I can now quickly learn new things in very different topics in a rigorous manner and adapt to situations in an efficient manner. I am constantly exposed to new and diverse ways of thinking and analyzing issues, which allows me to become a more efficient producer of ideas. When I interned in auditing, I was the only sophomore in my intern group and the only non-accounting major with only 1 semester of financial accounting coursework. Of course, they were way ahead of me at the beginning, but after only 2 weeks, I had caught up and mostly surpassed them in the speed and quality of my output. The only other sophomores in my group were a kid of the COO and a kid from U Chicago. My education was a big reason I was able to do this. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know to do accounting that well before because it’s not like the accounting majors even remembered that much stuff from their classes anyway. What I could do is synthesize complex information quickly and creatively innovate new ways of processing that were more original and not based out of a book. Princeton does this in an excellent manner no matter your major. You can’t do well here just by memorizing a couple formulas, reading a book all the time, etc. You are forced to approach complex large new problems all the time by using newly learned information. This is what makes our student so successful in many situations later in life and the earlier one starts to develop these skills, the better due to compounding interest (if you’re familiar with that concept). When you say “I don’t care about critical thinking skills” and “I’d rather be around “shallow” minded people” and “who cares about having intellectual conversations?” All of those points are totally fair and if you feel that way, there’s nothing wrong with that. I think you’re kind of missing the point though. It’s not like I’m proud of Princeton because we have more deep intellectual conversations. Rather, this is evidence that we are able to apply a rigorous analytical mindset to new situations and problems and come up with meaningful solutions on an unparalleled level. I’d rather trust the average Princeton student to construct a public policy that the average Brown student any day. Who’s the person who’s more likely to independently look a the situation and not just one-to-one apply what they read in a book? Who’s more likely to know how to work hard under that pressure? I’ve had to write 50-page essays in 1-2 weeks on highly complex issues. So of course, when I had to do a large client-project with hundreds of thousands of dollars actually on the line, I was more than ready to do it. Guess what student from which university wasn’t able to be organized enough to get their responsibilities done? 

There’s literally nothing wrong with not caring about developing these things or becoming a stronger critical thinker who approaches the world and absorbs information better than 99% of the population. In many ways, just taking it easier and just growing up slowly is better. Honestly, you really seem to me like you might have enjoyed a less stressful college more. You’re super smart, but you were so burned out from HS and didn’t have time to actually be a kid that long, to just enjoy yourself and life in an immature manner. If you were already so burnt out from HS, Princeton is just so hard because you’re already on the verge of not being able to do much more difficult thinking and you don’t have the time to develop the experience and coping mechanisms to deal with high-stress. For Brown, I am glad I didn’t choose it and go down that path for many reasons, but perhaps very important are the two reasons I talked about earlier. 1. maturity and 2. learning how to learn. 1. is debatable on who is better on average, but I’ve literally had a student there tell me they needed to do college first so they had time “to be an immature, reckless, and selfish asshole” before entering the workforce and having real responsibility. It feels like Brown at times is just for severely immature kids to mellow out before they have real responsibility at a slow rate. You can spend hours smoking weed without having to commit to real activities with actual value at stake. What do you think is going to happen in real life? What’s going to happen when they want to go beyond simple casual sex relationships? For me, spending all that money, I would rather go to a place that allows me to grow further and actually take more responsibility. As for 2. all that stuff about “shallowness” and “intellectual conversations” is related to this. If I’m going to college, spending all this time and money, I want to actually become a better thinker and learner not just for a job, but for life in general. People at Brown consistently just take classes to reaffirm their own extreme beliefs, are not exposed to that many new ideas that disagree with their opinions, and they aren’t forced as often to actually have rigorous learning experiences that force them into situations where absorbing difficult material is required. Thus, they aren’t actually learning that much, which is precisely one of the main points of college! I know this sounds harsh, but it doesn’t apply to everyone there. I just would be disappointed if I was one of many people there who didn’t grow up that much after college and was still puerile. I would be disappointed if I spent time in a degree where I’m no better an expert on it than the average Princeton student who read a book on my subject. And I would be disappointed that I didn’t have to challenge my previous beliefs and develop better-thinking skills. And once again, I want to say that I really hope I’m not being too antagonistic towards them. I really respect the university, but it’s clear that in my previous attempt to be extra considerate, that I spurred regret with some people and also did not accentuate the differences well enough.

Finally, as for adapting to college fast. I’ve always been an independent person. My parents sent me to France alone for several months when I was 16. I had to go camping in a forest for 1 month with just a few other people and no electricity.  I think this was helpful for college because, with increased independence, I was able to be even more efficient than in HS where my freedom was limited. I stay organized, I strategically plan classes, and I know when to ask for help when I need it. This is all more important to doing well academically rather than pure intellect. My procrastination is super low due to discipline and good habits. THIS IS ALSO HUGE. Also, let’s face it. There’s luck involved too. I plan my schedules well, but I’ve never had to take 2 midterms on the same day and that helped A LOT. I also prioritized relationships and health to ensure that I am in optimal fighting form. Honestly, I don’t want to play internet psychologist, but your descriptions of lack of motivations and your HS experience are all reminiscent of depression descriptions from some of my friends. If you had little social life in HS and had few life experiences outside of academics, that’s certainly not a formula for optimal mental health. Plus, you stated that you have serious motivations problems now, which is another sign. Let me just say that you could be twice as smart as me and still do worse academically if you had a mental health concern prior to starting college, which is the worst situation you can be in for Princeton, which unfortunately does not acclimate these students well compared to say Brown (there a positive lol!). I know very high functioning depressives, but they have to work 3 times as hard as me to do well. If they were in good condition they could study a topic in 1 hour and have it down, but due to mental health and focus and motivations problems, it now takes them 3 hours to do the same task. Therefore, if you asked me how I adapted well, another big thing is maintaining good health. Finally, I have a good support group composed of friends, family, and faculty that always has my best interest of mine and provide invaluable advice for academics, which helps a lot. If you have an upperclassman friend who took a class before you and will help teach you and give you tips, of course, you’re going to do better. But more importantly, this support group also helps with life issues and general and like I said before if someone gives you advice on how to study more efficiently in general, that’s super helpful to ALL your classes. So, I would say that I adapted “well” because the increased freedom and free time of college did not result in me procrastinating and being irresponsible. On the contrary, I was able to use the extra time to be even more productive and efficient. I also strategically planned my classes well. Secondly, I stay as healthy as possible, which is critically important. Lastly, I have a good support group.

Hope that helps answer as much of your post as possible. Honestly, anon, you seem super burned out and were just not in the best shape to enter college because you didn’t have enough non-academic experiences in HS. I suggest that you work on your health and motivation problems and also don’t be ashamed of transferring based on your statements. Obviously, I’m speculating, but if you don’t care that much about being surrounded by intellectuals and having a rigorous learning experience that maximizes your thinking horsepower, then maybe Princeton isn’t the best for you. People who thrive here are super ambitious and motivated to constantly improve and learn new things, but that may not apply to you. If you just want to get your degree and have a relaxing time, no questions asked, this isn’t an environment that fosters that easily. Obviously, though, consult more resources before making more decisions. Or even feel free to ask us again haha. Hope things look up for you though in the future.

[hellotvv]

Small Realizations

I guess I just wanted to get these thoughts out somewhere to maybe look back one day.

When I become a parent (or if I do), hopefully I learn from some mistakes my parents made. My parents are good people, they genuinely love me, and they definitely provided for me. I can’t truly complain that much, since I know other people had it much worst. But my parents are human and they tbh have made some mistakes with me. OBVIOUSLY I am my own person, and I can always ‘fix’ these mistakes they made, but I feel like how a person is raised has a huge impact on their life lol. It shapes their world around them, what they believe in, what they value, what they like/dislike, and etc. I’m definitely not saying my parents are bad parents, I’m just saying that they’re human. We all make mistakes, have moments of anger, sadness, happiness, etc. Also, it’s genuinely hard raising a kid. Kids are tough, they’re their own person at the end of the day, they might not listen to you, each need to be taught differently, and etc etc etc. 

But somethings I promise myself that I would do differently than my parents: I would never hit my kid. Honestly I disliked being hit so much as a kid, and I personally idk would never hit my kid. I’d ground them, scold them, etc all before hitting them. I could see maybe just MAYBE spanking them at a LAST CASE scenario. But I don’t think it should be the first or even second option when it comes to punishment. I personally (I’m not saying spanking is bad/good) just would not do it myself. 

I think it’s good to be able to be friends with your kids. You’re more likely to actually know who they are as a person. I have some friends who could tell their parents anything and are good friends with them. Honestly I love my parents, but I can’t say their my friends. It’s just they valued respect (which I understand), being in idk a high superior position (I called them guys once, just as a short way to refer to both of them and I got heavily scolded and yelled at, saying they’re not my friends/etc can’t address them that way), and I’d like it if my kids can genuinely talk to me about their faults/mistakes/problems. I was so scared of failure or telling my problems to my parents, since I KNEW I’d get punished/hit/etc. Like I legit feel bad about this, but if I ever got into trouble at school or struggled, I hated to even tell them. Since they’d criticize me/etc/etc. When all I would like is maybe a gentle conversation where they just go, well we could do x and x to help you fix your problem. Like if I do bad in math, I got scolded, blah blah blah, then eventually I get my tutor to help me succeed. But I wish I was able to just talk to them about my idk problems without getting in trouble. I legit got in trouble for the most ridiculous things that I don’t even wanna write about them. 

A huge thing that deserves it’s own paragraph is something I realized as I got older. I’m decently well off, and I came to realize that fk money. I don’t disagree that money can bring happiness, I think it could (at least temporarily). I don’t disagree that money would help someone’s standard of living, possibly have less stress, and etc. But fk, I never want to raise a kid where I make them think money is everything or it’s important to be rich or wealthy. I think my parents did a lot of thing well in raising me (besides uh spoiling me/other stuff I listed above), and this is a big stereotype but I think some white ppl parenting methods are pretty smart. I think it’s important to just let the kid do what they want (in terms of career choices) and just let them be happy with whatever they pick. Since, it’s their life at the end of the day. I am NOT saying that a parent shouldn’t try to inspire kids to dream big or to push them to succeed/have high aspirations. I wanted to be a doctor for the longest time tbh. Even up to 2nd year in college and somewhat 3rd year, I really wanted to be a doctor. But did I really want to be a doctor, since I LOVED to help people? Since I saw myself slaving the next 8 years of my life at school, studying, cram studying till early mornings, possibly making tons of sacrifices, and etc just to become a doctor? Honestly no, but I was stubborn and kind of willing to do it for the $$$. The reason why is, my parents genuinely wanted me to be wealthy (understandable), being a doctor has prestige/they can flex/I can flex, and yeah. I realized far too late that my motives were retarded. I’ve obviously read that someone won’t succeed at becoming a doctor unless they’re truly passionate about it or motivated. I’m genuinely not, and it took me far too long to realize that. I really wouldn’t be happy being a doctor. I talk about career passion and hobby passion, how they can be separate, and etc. But honestly giving up that many years + god knows how many sacrifices (relationships, friendships, sleep, stress, mental/physical health in general, etc) of my life to school/late shifts just for some $$$, I would genuinely question if I really made this 1 life of mine in this world amazing. I guess around this point in my life, I realize that yes, I enjoy money. Would it be nice to have money? Yeah, ofc. But I realized that I could be genuinely happy with less. Hypothetically, if I had only a decent 1 bedroom apartment (like I do rn), have a good relationship with a sweet SO, enough money to go on vacations now and then, treat myself to nice food here, and hang out with friends on the weekend with a stable job. I think I could genuinely be really happy. I don’t think I need a mansion, a huge house, lavish furniture, or whatever the fk I would do with the money. The most I could see myself using a bunch of $$$ is on dumb material things. Yeah, I loved fashion, but honestly I don’t need a wardrobe full of Saint Laurent. I bought my grailed Robert Geller sweater, and I legit wore it once (partially since it was summer) and I was happy for like 2 minutes TOPS after I got it. Idk, I hope I find a SO with a similar view. Being in a social media position where I meet a lot of models nowadays, shot with an actress recently, popular IGers too, and etc. Holy fk, I grew to hate gold diggers, juice diggers, and people who only give a fk about being popular. Yes, it’s nice having followers and etc, but ppl who make it their lives geez... I’m not saying I would hate being wealthy, but I just realize that I don’t need it. My parents still want me to do something in the medical field/etc, but fk man... I kind of just want a stable job that pays alright, and I’ll be really happy. If it’s enough $$ to pay bills, get me my own place, able to afford a cute dog, some spending $$ to hang out with friends on weekends, and occasional vacation on holidays then I’m truly content/happy. Maybe some people aspire more, which is perfectly fine. I would too (after I at least have what I just asked for). But idk I just realized that’s all I really need nowadays. But back to the whole parenting thing. I don’t want to push my kids towards any jobs just for the sake of money. I’d aspire them to dream big ofc, but at the end of the day, I just want them to be happy. I shadowed a doctor last year, and he after making huge sacrifices with his wife for his monetary success, doesn’t even want his kid to be a doctor (unless he for some reason wants to). His kid might major in psych and be clueless about what he wants to do (according to the doctor), but he just wants his son to be happy. Honestly I think that’s what I would want to (maybe not the clueless part). If my kid has good aspirations, doesn’t want to be some degen and not work, is honest/kid, then who the fk cares what career my kid chooses. If he/she wants to become a doctor, cool. If she wants to be an artist, I’d support that. If she wants to be idk an actress, go for it. A teacher? Sure, go for it. Idk, I just know that I would be a lot happier right now, if I didn’t waste so much time wanting/chasing after a career path that I ultimately would not be happy doing.

It’s at least good I realized now before med school or something, since then it might genuinely be too late. I do truly respect doctors after knowing how hard it is to become one. I can’t imagine idk what sacrifices I might have to make in the future to become one. Since while I’m young, I really just want to be able to travel the world, live a life with minimal stress for a while, hang out with friends, spend time with a SO, and etc. If I was in med school/doing residency training/etc, I’m sure you can live a decently balanced life. But it would be hard to find time to vacation, spend time with a SO when studying for INCREDIBLY hard med school exams that determines how good of a job you’ll get as a doctor, spending time with friends/family when studying most of your days away, and so much more. 

While I’m still young. I do want to go to concerts and shows with friends. I want to travel to places and enjoy them. I want to be a degen lol for a bit and be as carefree as long as I could. I don’t see myself happy slaving away the next years of my life in school/studying/etc. I could be stubborn, push myself, and etc but at what cost tho? Idk, you really do only live once. I’ve spent honestly my whole life always wanting to be older, thinking it’ll be better. Like omg how cool would hs be, how cool would it be to have a car and drive, going to college, being 21, and etc. I’m finally at a point in my life, where I’m content and don’t necessarily want to get any older haha. I am tired of always chasing a brighter future. If I was in med school, I’d be chasing the future where I’m finally an intern at a hospital, then I’d be chasing finally finishing residency, I’d then chase idk finishing specialized training, then before I know it I’m 30+ years old, and been constantly chasing the future my entire youth. Fk that. This girl I have a date with next week wrote this, “I was so scared not being able to do everything I want in my life that I couldn't be happy about the current achievements I was making. (Like getting yoga certified) I'm taking a break from hobbies and life goals/dreams to train my mind to be content with where I am in the PRESENT. Funny how life goals, as motivating as they are, can make you discontent with who you are. One step at a time” on her recent ig post. I realized that’s so true. I’m so scared of not achieving being a doctor, letting my parents down, not being wealthy, etc etc. I always want to be this amazing perfect dude, no flaws/imperfection, and was never happy with success. Any success I’ve had, Idk if I really took the time to appreciate it THAT much (i obv appreciated to an extent), and I was always focused on these life goals/dreams of mind like being a doctor. I always chased the future, and never just lived in the present. I do want to be a better me, I will always strive to be a better version of me, but all these goals sometimes can make me discontent with who I am. Like fk, I am not insanely ripped/fit, so I’m unhappy with myself. I’m not a successful wealthy boy at just 21, so I’m not happy with myself. I’m not a doctor blah blah, and when I think about how I haven’t achieved certain goals, I’d just feel sad. What’s the point in being sad about what I don’t have? I have goals, but I can’t endlessly chase after them/endlessly chase after the future.

My plans to make the present better and be more present: don’t stress about what might happen ALL the time. If things doesn’t work out, it doesn’t (kind of thinking about uh my upcoming date primarily when writing this). It’s okay if you’re not where you want, as long as you’re at least trying, then it’s okay. Don’t constantly think about the future, just take things one day at a time. You’ll be a lot happier, more productive, and more likely to have a beautiful future too. Just fking live your life Theo. Go work out, go hang out with friends, go to those concerts/clubs, go and spend time on your hobbies (who gives a fk if you’re not good, just do it for fun and for yourself), don’t go wild and not give a fk about responsibilities/school work, but I can’t live my life/plan my career for other ppl, and just do whatever I love. I don’t really believe in reincarnation or anything, so this is my one and only life. Why the fk waste time thinking about the future all the time, stressing about ‘succeeding’, and why not just make sure that I’m happy. If I have family, friends, and wonderful memories, then I think I’d be happy with the time I spent in this world. :)

[oselatra]

Riverfest turns 40

Party with Wiz Khalifa, Morris Day and The Time, Cold War Kids and more.

In July 1978, "Grease" was No. 1 at the box office, where it would stay until mid-October. Farrah Fawcett was on the cover of "Vogue." The world's first test-tube baby was born in Manchester, U.K. Here on the homefront, the Junior League of Little Rock founded the Summer Arts Festival, renamed the Riverfest Arts and Music Festival the following year. The festival has evolved over its 40 years, drawing artists like B.B. King, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Al Green, The B-52's. Its identity has leaned at times toward the nostalgic, other times toward the new. In 2008, the festival introduced a local focus, dedicating a tent to Arkansas-only talent. In 2016, it split into two parts: April Springfest for family-focused activities and a newly music-minded Riverfest. This year, Riverfest Executive Director DeAnna Korte says, organizers will honor that history — and the cultural and economic benefits it's afforded to Central Arkansas — with a Sunday celebration. "Those who attended Riverfest in the early years will feel a sense of nostalgia with Sunday's events," Korte said.

The official 40th anniversary party for the festival, which kicks off Friday, June 2, starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 4, and it's for everyone; even those without tickets to the full weekend can gain admission to the celebration for $5 (children 10 and under are free). Festivities include the fireworks display at 9 p.m., stick pony races, a PK Grill Steak Cook-Off, a petting zoo from Heifer International, a celebrity dunking booth, a cake decorating contest with professional and amateur contenders and an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records' record for the most sparklers lit at one time. That Sunday-only ticket also gets you in for the last round of musical performances, including Morris Day and The Time, Amasa Hines, Andy Frasco & The U.N., Here Come the Mummies, The Hip Abduction, Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe, DeFrance, Brother Moses, Vintage Pistol and more.

Riverfest's sponsors are responsible, of course, for otherwise-familiar spots being suddenly rebranded with names like "Frio Light" and "Sweetwater," but they're also offering some cool little extras for Riverfest patrons: Verizon will have a charging station for all sorts of mobile devices, regardless of what carrier they're made for; the Clinton Presidential Center is offering a $2 discount for admission to its temporary exhibition, "Xtreme Bugs"; Arvest Bank's booth will be home to an arcade-style basketball contest, with winners, who'll receive $50 in "Riverbucks," announced at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Sweet Baby Ray's is giving away full bottles of barbecue sauce; Patron Spirits will have a Mobile Cocktail Lab on a cart, equipped with a tablet questionnaire to help you determine what type of cocktail trips your trigger; festival sponsor Oaklawn Racing & Gaming holds its annual Baggo National Championship at 1:30 p.m. Saturday on the Clinton Presidential Center lawn; and Bobby's Bike Hike is offering free valet parking for any cyclists who bike to Riverfest. There will be amusement park rides from Louisiana's Lowery Carnival, a mobile video game station outfitted with seating for 20 people, performances from the Southern BMX Stunt Riders at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and a return of the "Rock the Dock" Super Retriever Series — basically a track and field competition for dogs who like to swim.

If you're a wine or craft beer enthusiast, you can beat the crowds and attend "Flowing on the River," Riverfest's separately ticketed kickoff event in the River Market pavilions at 6 p.m. Thursday, $30-$40.

Check out riverfestarkansas.com for tickets and details, but first, here are some of our picks for acts to catch this weekend.

Dylan Scott

6 p.m. Friday. Frio Light Stage, Clinton Presidential Center.

From just over the Arkansas state line, in tiny Beekman, La., comes country newcomer Dylan Scott. He grew up in a place where, like so many Arkansans, his career prospects ranged from farm to paper mill to construction. His father, however, broke that mold, playing guitar on the road for the likes of Freddy Fender and Freddie Hart and coming back with whopping tales of life on the road — especially of that most magical of places, Nashville. So, inspired by his dad and Taylor Swift (no joke!), Scott moved to Nashville after graduating from high school and began the steep climb to Music City success. His debut single, "Makin' This Boy Crazy," was released in June 2013, and charted for 10 weeks on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, peaking at an unimpressive No. 54. But in August last year, Scott released his first full-length album (the eponymous "Dylan Scott"), and with his smooth baritone and genre-mixing rap vocals, the album debuted at No. 5 on the Top Country Albums, selling 9,000 copies in its first week. His latest single, "My Girl," has become a viral sensation, amassing more than 29 million Spotify spins. Scott will play at Riverfest on June 2, just five days after he marries the subject of his hit. HS

Cage the Elephant

9:30 p.m. Friday. Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage.

I'm suggesting to the members of modern rock band Cage the Elephant that if they ever consider a name change for something more memorable, here's one courtesy of Trump flack Kellyanne Conway: Bowling Green Massacre. A helluva lot more catchy that what they've been using for a decade, don't you think? Timely. Appropriate, because Cage originated in Bowling Green, Ky., home of the (non) massacre. Anyway, Grammy Award-winning Cage the Elephant offers the rock headliner on Friday at the park amphitheater, opposite the country lineup scheduled for the stage at the Clinton Center. And a good alternative it is. Cage the Elephant is probably best known for radio (and internet) hits "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" from its eponymously named debut record, and "Trouble," from the latest release, "Tell Me I'm Pretty," a song co-written by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. There is also "Mess Around," the first from that same album (while the album was lauded, critics thought "Mess Around" sounded just like the Black Keys — and what a coincidence, with Auerbach producing the album). Apparently going all Black Keys in the Nashville, Tenn., studio was the right move for Cage the Elephant, as they took home the 2016 Grammy for Best Rock Album. Those three aforementioned songs nicely showcase lead singer Matt Shultz's lyrical and vocal playfulness. He apparently carries that style to the stage as well with an energetic punk-inspired approach that fans in the pit should enjoy. You can sense the Pixies influence and more on Shultz, who relocated the group to London before its first album release. However, brother Brad Shultz on lead guitar shows other impressive rock influences and gives Cage the Elephant some separation from many of today's current acts that all start sounding the same. Cage has a date at Bonnaroo next week; catching the band here might be a better deal all the way around. Indie rocking Grouplove makes for a nice complement leading up to Cage. JH

Dazz & Brie

1:15 p.m. Saturday. Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage.

If Dazzmin "Dazz" Murry and Kabrelyn "Brie" Boyce were backed by a DJ or a dude with a computer and a synthesizer, their harmonies would still soar with infectious intertwining lines, and their versatile capability to jump across genres and styles would stand out. Lucky for us, though, they are backed by The Emotionalz, a force of their own that can lay down danceable grooves, slow jams, filthy-nasty riffs and rock the **** out whenever they feel like it. Dazz & Brie stole the show and won the title at the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase this year, and so no doubt it will be a treat to see them on a big stage outside. They describe themselves as "rock and soul," and while that's accurate, it still seems too small a box for Dazz & Brie. The pair is too dynamic and too expansive in their musical ambitions to really be classified. Sometimes you feel like you're listening to smooth neo-soul, other times like riff-heavy progressive rock, and still others like you just heard something on Top 40 radio that was too good to be on Top 40 radio. This "girl gang" and the ladies and gentlemen in their backing band are some of the brightest and most creative talents in Arkansas right now, and you owe it to yourself to check them out at Riverfest if for no other reason than that they will bring you a pure kind of joy. JS

The Wildflower Revue

2:30 p.m. Saturday. Frio Light Stage, Clinton Presidential Center.

The problem with supergroups is that rarely does the whole exceed the sum of its parts. Remember Jimmy Page's mid-'80s group The Firm? Us neither. But the balance sheets of the Wildflower Revue — Amy Garland, Mandy McBryde and Cindy Woolf, who has stepped into Bonnie Montgomery's place — are well in the black. These individual stars of the Little Rock scene were inspired by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt's Trio, an '80s-era supergroup that, unlike The Firm, improbably exceeded its parts. And the "peace-lovin' outlaw trio" of the Revue share a penchant for country music that goes back beyond the Reagan era — witnessed in part by their correct spelling of "revue" — as well as more modern sounds in country and Western music. Any complaint of crass commercialism in the Wildflower Revue's great-sounding eponymous debut album by the inclusion of covers of "Psycho Killer" and "Heart of Glass" are drowned out by the Revue's deftness and sheer joy. Would that we all had such well-balanced spreadsheets. SK

Seratones

3:30 p.m. Saturday. Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage.

Exhibit A in the quest toward a more musicky Riverfest: Seratones. This Shreveport quartet, fronted by high school teacher A.J. Haynes, packed the White Water Tavern a year ago on the strength of its debut album, "Get Gone," on Fat Possum Records and considerable buzz — neither of which were likely to earn the band a slot in your father's Riverfest. Happily, soon (Saturday at 3:30 p.m., to be exact) the world will learn what the WWT knows — that Seratones pack their energetic rock 'n' roll swagger with respect to its deepest roots in jazz and blues. SK

Split Lip Rayfield

3:30 p.m. Saturday. Frio Light Stage, Clinton Presidential Center.

Lord knows that two of the greatest musical concepts are "fusion" and "hard to categorize," which is why Split Lip Rayfield is a must-see for this year's Riverfest. This Kansas trio has spent the last two decades crafting its own brand of cowpunky thrashgrass — a rollicking mashup of banjo, mandolin, the occasional kazoo and a one-string stand-up bass fashioned from a Mercury Marquis gas tank — and they come to Riverfest as part of a tour supporting their sixth studio record, the excellent "On My Way." Their live shows are said to be damn near a religious experience. Expect to holler a bit. SLR are true pioneers in carving out new possibilities and territory for acoustic music and have spread their gospel across the country for years. Think acoustic shows can't be metal? Think punk needs electric power? Come on over beside me, Junior, and let's take a master class in DIY and genre-stretching. I'm talking about the classic bluegrass yearnings of heartbreak and lamenting that "she don't call at all" paired with an energy that somehow twists that pain into something strangely joyous and all too real. Seriously, you don't want to miss this. GH

Cody Canada and The Departed

5 p.m. Saturday. Frio Light Stage, Clinton Presidential Center.

Cody Canada's been at this music deal for a while now, first fronting Cross Canadian Ragweed (which, based in Stillwater, Okla., made regular stopovers at Stickyz in the 2000s) and now leading Cody Canada and the Departed. Bassist Jeremy Plato has been with Canada for 23 years as a member of both bands. They're so close and so un-controlling about band things, they put an album last year ironically titled "Jeremy Plato and the Departed," where Plato took the lead on vocals and Canada and the rest of the band (and some top-talent imports) supported him a bunch of old country covers. Real, tried-and-true Texas-style country and country rock is the sound you'll get from the Departed late Sunday afternoon, slap-dab in the middle of a country — and bluegrass-influenced full day of music in front of the Clinton Center and culminating with Arkansas favorite son Justin Moore from Poyen. They're typically linked on "sounds a lot like" sites with ZZ Top, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, and Texas red dirt-stylist Wade Bowen, who is Canada's brother-in-law. Canada's latest work has marked a return to his Cross Canadian songwriting roots, but let's hope such circa 2011 Departed favorites as "Ballad of Rosalie" are still on his set list. Either way, he's a proven performer worth showing up for, even more than for the later headliners or the fireworks. JH

Cold War Kids

8 p.m. Saturday. Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage.

Welcome to Riverfest, you two. Will you be having the indie? Excellent choice! The chef's special tonight is Cold War Kids. We take choice, Grade A indie rock, lovingly prepare it with pulsating beats, soaring melodies and sing-along choruses, and serve it sizzling. The special comes with sides of hand claps and soulful backup vocals. The restaurant shtick aside, California-based Cold War Kids have been hovering on the edge of breaking out of the alternative charts into mainstream success for far too long. Over the years, the CWK lineup has changed and absorbed two members of indie favorites Modest Mouse, but the band has retained its own signature sound that gets feet moving and hands waving in the air. The band is promoting its brand-new album, the anthemic and dance floor friendly "L.A. Divine" on Capitol Records. Last month, Cold War Kids joined with British singer Bishop Briggs and released a spare, stripped-down cover of Rihanna's hit track "Love On The Brain" that's enjoying a fair amount of buzz. Bottom line: If you're scanning the Riverfest menu in search of your indie dance party, order up a heapin' helpin' of Cold War Kids. They just might end up being your new favorite dish. GH

Wiz Khalifa

9:30 p.m. Saturday. Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage.

When you ask Little Rock seventh-graders what they know about Wiz Khalifa (as I felt compelled to do with the middle schoolers I teach), they tell you one of two things: He has a son with model Amber Rose and he smokes a lot of weed. They are right on both counts, and both facts have featured prominently in Khalifa's music. In his most recent studio album, "Khalifa," the rapper's son cameos on the track "Zoney." You can't really say pot cameos anywhere because, well, it's referred to constantly in his music. Even Khalifa's latest — which fans hope will drop this year — is tentatively called "Rolling Papers 2," a follow-up to the 2011 "Rolling Papers." But not all of his music is about pot: Khalifa's breakout "Black and Yellow," which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with its rolling beat and sparse mix, was about his Dodge Challenger (in which he smokes pot), painted the iconic colors of his Pittsburgh hometown's football team. Some may say he's gone too pop ("Say Yeah" grooves over an A-Ha-inspired beat based on its timeless "Take On Me"), but those in the Taylor Gang (his fan base, named after the Converse shoes he always wears), will be lining up to hear what Khalifa's been smoking — I mean cooking. HS

Morris Day and The Time

7:15 p.m. Sunday. Frio Light Stage, Clinton Presidential Center.

If you were old enough to remember the '80s, you probably know Morris Day and The Time and you don't need to read this because you'll already be there to see them. If not, let me make it clear: You cannot afford to miss Morris Day and The Time. You probably already love them and you don't know it, because their mark is present on so much pop and R&B today. It's impossible to talk about Morris Day and The Time without talking about Prince. The Purple One more or less engineered the band, picking and choosing some of the best R&B players in Minneapolis to assist him in his vision of going worldwide with his alchemical concoction of funk, R&B, rock, psychedelia, etc. Along with helping spread the Purple Gospel, The Time's Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis worked with Janet Jackson to lay the foundation for what would become the New Jack Swing sound that dominated the late '80s/early '90s, and produced countless other hits across pretty much all genres. All that said, watching them perform live, it's clear the bands stands on its own. Morris Day and The Time absolutely bring it, and you can guarantee that everyone out in front of that amphitheater is going to be on his or her feet or misguidedly attempting to breakdance on the grassy slopes. JS

Riverfest turns 40

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New Post has been published on http://attendantdesign.com/u-s-secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-issues-statement-on-new-title-ix-guidance/

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Issues Statement on New Title IX Guidance

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos  a responsibility to shield each student in America and ensure that they’ve the freedom to education and thrive in a safe and trusted environment Guidance.

This isn’t merely a federal mandate, however a moral obligation no person, school, district or state can abdicate. At my route, the Department’s Workplace for Civil Rights stays committed to investigating all claims of discrimination, bullying and harassment against those who are maximum susceptible in our schools.

The steering issued by using the preceding administration has given upward push to numerous prison questions. As a end result, a federal court docket in August 2016 issued a nationwide injunction barring the Branch from implementing a part of its software. On the grounds that that time, the Branch has no longer enforced that part of the steering, accordingly there’s no instantaneous effect on students by means of rescinding this guidance.

This is an trouble exceptional solved on the nation and local degree. faculties, groups, and households can locate – and in lots of instances have discovered – solutions that shield all students.

I’ve dedicated my profession to advocating for and fighting on behalf of students, and as Secretary of Training, I remember defensive all students, including LGBTQ college students, now not only a key precedence for the Branch, however for every school in America.

We owe all college students a commitment to make sure they have get admission to to a mastering environment this is free of discrimination, bullying and harassment.

Pay attention Put together to face up to: The Trump management Is Taking Us Down a Slippery Slope Into Theocracy

I propose it. I suppose it was accurate. Opposite to what many have stated, it sought to outlaw neither prayer nor perception in God. In a pluralistic society including ours, who is to determine what prayer shall be spoken, and via whom? Legally, constitutionally or otherwise, the state clearly has no such proper. I’m strongly opposed to the efforts that have been made to nullify the selection. They have been encouraged, I suppose, by using little more than the desire to embarrass the Supreme court. After I saw Brother Wallace going as much as Washington to testify in opposition to the selection at the congressional hearings, it best reinforced my conviction that the choice changed into proper.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Playboy interview, 1965. [About the Supreme Court’s decisions striking down prayer in public schools.]

On January 20, in his first hours as president, Mr. Trump issued a proclamation putting forward that there can be no peace wherein the human beings do not pray for it. Honestly?

Who satisfied him to trouble one of these proclamation? One of the five preachers or the rabbi invited to hope at his inauguration? Do not People pray sufficient? changed into there a shortage of prayers for peace earlier than World Wars I and II-and every struggle centuries earlier than and Seeing that 1945? What warfare happened due to inadequate prayers? I consider the Vietnam generation whilst draft eligible college students were praying for peace up the yin yang. Those prayers did now not have a great deal effect, both.

This proclamation is a representative example of the crazy communicate of politicians who insert their religious ideals into the discharge of their secular responsibilities, though in Trump’s case it turned into possibly more pandering to the evangelical base. God-hasn’t he finished sufficient of that already together with his appointments?

Properly, perhaps now not, in his thoughts.

That thought brings with it subject for the liberal democracy We’ve enjoyed in The us since the USA’s founding. Trump has created a cabinet of theocrats. What’s greater, he has pledged to appoint extra non-secular zealots to the excessive courtroom, in addition to additional key posts.

Horrific Moon at the upward thrust

Are we in threat of turning into a theocracy? extra so than ever, IMHO.

Trump and pals are equating patriotism with piety. How I would really like to place earlier than the president a statement from a Supreme court justice in Wisconsin more than a century ago concerning intermingling authorities with faith:

there’s no such source and motive of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, battle, and all evil in the kingdom as religion. Let it once input our civil affairs, our government might quickly be destroyed. Allow it once enter our common colleges, they might be destroyed… those who made our Charter noticed this, and used the most apt and complete language in it to save you such a catastrophe.

Susan Jacoby mentioned that even as the new president is himself indifferent to religion, he used the evangelical segment of the voters to get to the White Residence. In appreciation, he appears to have delegated his cabinet choices to zealot-in-waiting Mike Pence, the featured speaker at the approaching anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C. Whose fanaticism makes the average fundies seem agnostic by means of comparison. Deliver Trump credit he has now not (so far) nominated Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin for government jobs. That’s the coolest information. (I’m trying to appearance on the intense side here.)

The Bad information is that he is nominated a lineup of god-besotted extremists, inclusive of Rick Perry, Jeff Periods, Betsy DeVos, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Sonny Perdue, Jeff Periods, Scott Pruitt, Tom Charge and OMG!-Ben Carson. Those nominees are Christian zealots beyond the pale and outspoken combatants of church/nation separation. Every may want to seamlessly fill any Sunday morning as a substitute preacher for the five ministers who offered superstitious babble on the Trump Inauguration.

At the side of Mr. Pence, These new leaders of the very best government offices will carry their spiritual perspectives and lifestyle battle schedule, to the vanguard in their secular workplaces.

Can a theocracy be far in the back of? Will they endorse for an change to our godless Charter affirming that America of The us is a Christian nation? It’s now not so farfetched a few years ago, a YouGov Omnibus poll observed that 34 percent of Americans would prefer establishing Christianity as the reputable kingdom religion of their nation. Another barely vivid side observe-best 32 percentage might cross all the way and do the identical with the U.S. Itself. Small consolation. (This is a mean percent-imagine what the assist level need to have been in Alabama and Mississippi!)

Hallmarks of a Theocracy

at the danger of horrifying a few readers, recollect some of the ideas and policy agendas of those new leaders of key national workplaces, which include the Legal professional Widespread and directors/secretaries of H&HS, HUD, Power, Education, CIA, EPA and Agriculture. You may discover perception in and guide for:

Numerous biblical prophecies, not excluding The Rapture or give up-times. The suppression of important thought, investment for religious charter faculties, technology-denying initiatives from weather alternate to evolution and greater non-secular extremists appointed to fill critical positions in any respect degrees of government. Vehement competition to marriage equality and a lady’s choice to be a mom or not (i.E., felony abortion and different reproductive rights). Disdain for separation of church and kingdom-The Donald may be building one wall in which It is no longer needed and tearing down Another wherein it is. Converting the Charter from a mundane Republic to Christian nation theocracy-in part because they agree with That is a circumstance for the second coming of Christ. Sponsorship and passage of extra payments like H.R. 7, the “No Taxpayer funding for Abortion and Abortion Coverage Full Disclosure Act.” every House Republican voted for this bill. If it clears the Senate (Trump will signal it), the Act will deny extra than 28 million ladies access to abortion coverage. remember the person rumored to be Trump’s first preference for the vacant seat in the U.S. Ultimate courtroom, William Pryor. This outspoken opponent of secular standards within the Charter and the bill of Rights has as compared the ACLU and its plaintiffs to terrorists.

He has railed against gay rights, the teaching of evolution, courtroom choices legalizing abortion and barring college prayer even as selling presentations of the 10 Commandments on government belongings. He has compared homosexuality to “necrophilia” and “bestiality” and known as Roe v. Wade “the worst abomination of constitutional regulation.” He has long supported the notorious Roy Moore, the Alabama Ideal court jurist who positioned a Decalogue plaque in his courtroom and forced jurors to pray.

Recommendation from an Unlikely supply

The Christian Poet and novelist C.S. Lewis embraced the view that all strength corrupts. I’m wondering if Messrs. Trump and Pence are familiar with The sector’s Final Night time?

I absolutely embody the maxim that every one electricity corrupts. I’d pass further than all strength corrupts. The loftier the pretensions of the electricity, the extra meddlesome, inhuman and oppressive it will be. Theocracy is the worst of all feasible governments. All political strength is at excellent a vital evil: however it’s miles least evil whilst its sanctions are maximum modest and not unusual, whilst it claims no extra than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly restrained goals. Something transcendental or spiritual… In its pretensions is dangerous and encourages it to meddle with our private lives… Theocracy, I admit or even insist, is the worst corruption of all.

however, to no reader’s marvel, I assume Robert Green Ingersoll deserves the very last phrases. This is however the beginning of one among his speeches at the horrors of theocracy.

The authorities of God has been attempted. It changed into tried in Palestine numerous thousand years ago, and the God of the Jews turned into a monster of cruelty and lack of information, and the people ruled by means of this God misplaced their nationality. Theocracy was tried through the Center A while. God became the Governor the pope become his agent, and each priest and bishop and cardinal turned into armed with credentials from the most excessive and the end result became that the noblest and quality had been in prisons, the best and grandest perished on the stake. The result became that vices were topped with honor, and virtues whipped naked through the streets. The result became that hypocrisy swayed the sceptre of authority, even as honesty languished inside the dungeons of the Inquisition…

If God is allowed in the Constitution, guy should abdicate. there is no room for both. If the people of the wonderful Republic grow to be superstitious sufficient and ignorant enough to put God in the Constitution of America, the experiment of self-authorities could have failed, and the notable and remarkable assertion that ‘all governments derive their simply powers from the consent of the ruled’ will were denied, and in its region may be determined this: All power comes from God; monks are his retailers, the people are their slaves…

first-rate needs, stay Well and don’t forget factors of view: 1) There are no alternative records; and a couple of) there is no better authorities for The united states than a secular democracy.

May also this essay arouse your will to assist the insouciant loads in shielding their liberties. As RGI stated in phrases that represent the mild, air and love at difficulty-“liberty is the blossom and fruit of justice, the perfume of mercy. it’s miles the air and mild, seed and soil, dew and rain of development, love and pleasure.”

Guiding Innovation – An Technique from the Epistle of James

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are New Testimony names that Christians fast understand as authors of the four Gospels. Christians additionally identify Paul because the most prolific writer to the new church buildings he installed at some stage in the Mediterranean. However, there’s a group of seven letters no longer addressed to individual churches. These letters, of the apostolic age, every so often known as catholic letters, testify to apostolic religion and constitute canonical scripture.

The Letter of James is this type of letters and appears first within the series. Douglas Moo introduces the Letter of James as intensely sensible. James offers steering for Christian lifestyles in phrases that inspire followers and, on the same time, admonishes. The Letter of James is direct. The encyclopedic New American Fashionable Version (NASV) of the Bible places James in the style of parenesis or exhortation and within the fashion conventional Jewish awareness. Even though written as “very Jewish paintings” (NASB pg. 1201) it’s far in an top notch Greek fashion that is among the exceptional inside the New Testament.

James concentrates his letter “to the twelve tribes in dispersion” (1:1). Some Biblical texts use “scattered anywhere.” This greeting refers to Jews, followers of Jesus, residing outdoor of Israel. To answer why James wrote this letter, an information of the Pentecost event is vital. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49) and on Pentecost, the promise became fulfilled (Acts 2). The Jesus sect grew with the conversion of 3,000 Jews visiting Jerusalem from across the known International. Acts does not percentage that Those newly converted lower back to their home international locations and cities to inform the tail of Jesus and His followers, yet it is viable to deduce that new converts did percentage the story.

The number one message of his letter is moral behavior among fans of the new religion. The manner introduces this letter with succinct phrases. “The e-book of James describes a rugged every so often painful sort of Christian residing. James is practical, gutsy, and crystal clear in which means – even though we would like to avoid its impact.”

Even with the caution that the manner can be difficult (1:3), James presents a imaginative and prescient for fans who continue to be affected person, “…you will be prepared for Whatever, strong in character, Full and whole” (1:4).

James writes his letter at a time of persecution while many followers find adhering to the brand new teachings hard. Many have fallen from the faith however James calls them to be patient, that deliverance comes via faith in God, and they can searching for non-secular nourishment in prayer and excellent deeds. James’ letter tells the dispersed Jewish Christians to be robust in religion in a manner that echoes Matthew 5:eleven,12 “due to the fact amazing is your reward in heaven.”

James instructs Jewish Christians on many topics. But, the theme is the significance of faith and precise works in the whole lot.

James and a Message of Contradiction

There are individuals who argue that James and Paul contradict each other in their writing. Paul wrote in Romans 3:28 that men are justified through faith without deeds of the regulation. Obvious contradiction exists in James 2:24 in that James includes that both works of fellows and religion justify us to God. Another Obvious contradiction exists in Romans four:1-3. Paul concludes that Abraham glorified himself to God through his religion. James 2:21-23 concludes Abraham glorified himself to God by both faith and works in supplying his son, Isaac on an alter. Paul makes use of phrasing in Romans 1:five and 16:26 to inform Romans they must be obedient to faith. In Galatians 6:7, Paul writes of sowing and reaping, sowing Nicely returns properly to the shower.

In search of deeper information, both supplement the opposite in In search of justification in the sight of God. guy would condemn Abraham for supplying Isaac to God. However, God glorified Abraham for his religion and suitable works. James wrote his letter to dispersed Jewish Christians to teach that faith, Although intangible will display itself in Some style. James was no longer looking to outline faith; he wanted to set the criteria for conduct among The ones claiming to be of the religion.

James and Creativity

James 1:21-23 troubles a command to be a doer of the work, no longer just a listener. Greek texts use the paintings poiesis. In place of the door, poiesis approaches the innovative work of artists . James foresight in the use of this Greek phrase tells the Christian populace to be inventive, get off the trails of predecessors and blaze new trails simply as artists create new photos of their artwork.

Robert Cummings Neville defines the that means of a door as expressing God’s divine creativity “…not [by] what goes into you but [by] what comes out that counts.” it is God’s creativity beckoning us to paintings. James teaches the dispersed to grasp the gift of life given via God making something of it.

James sees making something of God’s gift and doing proper works with a compound Greek word prosoopoleempsia. This phrase consists of promotion, the front of Something, linked with Lamba noon, to understand or understand. The ethical moral lesson from this compound phrase is human beings decide us by way of our moves and our moves replicate our internal being. James affords know-how to aid outward actions with inward being. Chapter 2:1-4 James tells fans no longer to judge others through look and admonishes them (2:8) to love their buddies as they love themselves.

Cutting-edge Challenges

It is not radical to nation The arena is present process dynamic changes; perhaps it’s miles an understatement. Modern-day commercial enterprise and verbal exchange pupils liked the degree of alternate these days to innovations of the past. Guttenberg’s printing press altered the power of clergy via making the Bible available to all who should examine. Interrupting the Bible turned into no longer the area of clergymen and spiritual leaders. Moreover, books on any subject could be set in type and published for the literate loads.

With the discovery of telegraph and later smartphone, communique across significant territories changed into possible. business verbal exchange now occurred over cord with fewer time constraints, humans interconnected with developing interdependencies . Proliferation of computers and Internet technology now hyperlink us over invisible connections at real-time pace. Worldwide conversation through telephone, email and instant messaging connect employees inside the next room to employees on the following continent. Proposed with the aid of Camrass and Farncombe (2003), is that amongst 10,000 people, they may have as many as 5 million points of contact .

Coping with conversations throughout networks as sizable as 5 million humans calls for care. If the context of conversations is low, the end result becomes one among each person for themselves without a sharing. The want for records on one side needs repayment for the statistics on the other aspect. But, if the context of conversations is high, helping and sharing happens and people feel a feel of joint ownership collectively .

The Letter of James – Meet the Challenges

Printing presses and telephones merging into on the spot International conversation causes pressure on business because it adapts to fulfill the Challenges of alternate; meeting the undertaking is not smooth. Present day Global business is widely dispersed, as were the early Christian Jews that James wrote to in dispersion. Leaders of worldwide business have an opportunity to research from the instructions James shares.

James wrote a totally sensible letter imparting instructions and admonitions. commands and admonitions to Christians commonly parallel corporate policy and approaches. They offer proof of leaders’ vision for an employer, offer samples of predicted behavior, and provide warnings towards violations of true order.

A hit companies are trying to find leaders and followers who are doers. James told Christians to be doers, be inventive in their creativity. organizations want artistic creativity to remedy troubles and preserve pace with alternate. In an unscientific observer carried out on Fb.Com 14 humans responded to “could you as an alternative take the path less traveled or stick to what .” Ten humans selected the route much less traveled. To Another, 12 humans answered to taking a sure component or take a danger. Nine checked take a threat. Organizational leaders who searching for the destiny also are looking for people willing to take dangers and adventurous sufficient to take a new route.

In Every other manner, James gives Modern-day businesses with skill sets for leaders and fans. corporations, their leaders, and workers do no longer exist and paintings in a vacuum. External observers see agencies primarily based on how organizational participants behave amongst themselves and inside the network. ethical behavior for early Christians is an instance of The ethical behavior anticipated in business. In Another Fb.Com “could You as an alternative,” query, ten humans answered to “could you as an alternative be proper or morally right.” Seven answered be morally right.

James’ letter addresses Christian Jews advising them to be doers of their faith and be ethical and moral in conduct. The Fb.Com questions responded via each person using the “would you rather” subroutine suggests that among 70 and seventy five percentage might follow a direction much less taken, take risks, and, curiously, opt for being morally proper versus just being proper. without similarly clinical studies, there’s no declare to statistical accuracy of those numbers. But, there is an uncanny feel that the general public is ethical and threat taking.

creative agencies searching for ideas from all regardless their position in the employer or outdoor it. James writes that Christians should receive each other no matter their region on society. This parallel proposes that commercial enterprise Might also receive innovative ideas from sudden sources. on the face, a manufacturing worker won’t have an accounting background; However, this employee might have thoughts to simplify production and decrease expenses thus having an effect on accounting.

In commercial enterprise, leaders are activists of know-how; they may be catalysts of knowledge, coordinators of knowledge, and traders of foresight . there is little difference among Current Worldwide leaders and the leadership of James as catalyst, coordinator, and foresight merchant. Even though one-of-a-kind instances and one of a kind organizational needs, disciplined management aids preserving the vision alive.

Conclusion

The Epistle of James isn’t prolonged; However, the message is succinct imparting perception into the early lives of Christian Jews dispersed across the Mediterranean. it’s miles a sturdy coaching tool reminding fans to recognition on the imaginative and prescient. in addition, it presents a glimpse into the methods and policy fans have to adhere to.

This hub of this dialogue is predicated on three spokes, 1 – innovative doing, 2 – doing morally, and three – attractiveness of others. James told early Christians to be energetic of their faith and do true works that creatively confirmed their religion. James taught them the importance of moral moral conduct. Finally, he made it clear that social popularity does no longer make one person higher than Every other in the religion.

The leadership lesson to draw from These three spokes is that everyone contributors of any business enterprise are a part of the whole irrespective of the placement. Leaders should set the tone, establish vision and set regulations in area that guide employees towards the imaginative and prescient. Equally, leaders ought to have in vicinity approaches in location to correct conduct that strays. In the end, leaders need to just accept input from all.

Whether or not it is Christian leadership or secular leadership, faith in and faithfulness to the imaginative and prescient motivates leaders who encourage fans, but then need guidance. James diagnosed this and his became the primary of policy and process manuals for faith and faithfulness.

References

i. be aware: decrease case catholic refers to the universality of Christianity Rather than a reference to the Roman Catholic Church.

Ii. Moo, Douglas J. (2000). The Letter of James. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing company.

Iii. Rev. Gollner, Lawrence A. (Censor Librorum) & Pursley, Leo A. (Imprimatur) (1978). The manner: The living Bible – entire Catholic Edition. Wheaton: Tyndale Residence Publishers.

Iv. Miller, Earl (2008). The Epistle of James: element 1. Stewards Basis.

V. Ibid.

Vi. Neville, Robert Cummings (2003, August three). Running before God: 12th Sunday after Pentecost. Boston University, Marsh Chapel. Retrieved on February eight, 2008 from 

Vii. Camrass, Roger & Farncombe, Martin (2003). Atomic: Reforming the enterprise Panorama into the brand new Structure of The next day. Oxford: Willey.Sproull, Lee & Kiesler, Sara (1998). Connections: New Methods of Operating within the Networked corporation. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Viii. See vii.

Ix. Von Krogh, Georg, Ichijo, Kazuo & Nonaka, Ikujiro (2000). Allowing expertise Introduction: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit know-how and Launch the electricity of Innovation. By: Oxford College Press.

X. Hoffman, Paul (2008). Facebook profile of Paul Hoffman: would You instead subprogram