#nontraditional learning path

[suryathelegend]

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[wilwheaton]

Mainstream journalists could learn a few things from social media, such as writing clear headlines instead of the cowardly, obtuse headlines that often appear in news outlets like the New York Times. And they should respect the fact that quality journalism can come from nontraditional sources – including fact-based outlets that lead with their values instead of adopting a false posture of objectivity. Among these startups is Courier Newsroom, the center-left news outlet that sponsors this Substack newsletter and brings pro-democracy news to under-reached audiences via social media. And there’s Meidas Touch, which broke a story last week about CNN including a longtime Trump supporter on its panel of “undecided” voters even though the voter’s social media made his Trump affection clear.

Mainstream media on a path to irrelevance

CNN: Why is it so hard for people to trust us? Why are our ratings in the toilet?

Also CNN: Let’s put a Trump partisan on a panel of people we tell our audience are undecided voters! Then we’ll use his dismissal of VP Harris as evidence that she isn’t reaching undecideds! And we won’t tell our viewers!That’ll be great for ratings!

Voters: WOW. Goodbye forever.

CNN: We just can’t understand why our ratings are cratering. It’s a total mystery.

[kattitude130]

the hakuchiori essay

Notes: i don't really subscribe to dynamic ordering of ship names, this is just the name i'm using. suggestions welcome for fun names like paperfish or [term]shipping. obviously i ship them romantically, but i am also heavily invested in the platonic and friendship aspect of their potential (queerplatonic OT3 perhaps? helllllll yes.)

let us begin

Intro: i didn't mean to get so invested in this OT3, in fact i deliberately tried not to until more of this arc was done, but i failed. miserably. it's taking over. i can't stop thinking about it. so now i'm taking all of you down with me (if you feel like it). hakuhiro is already so popular and rightly so, and i believe the addition of iori would multiply the cuteness and pulls at my heartstrings in a way an OT3 ship hasn't before. this is truly my One True 3airing (yeah? yeah)

The Parallels: this part of the post kinda doubles as normal character analysis and comparison-contrast, but i think it's important. any level of reading comprehension would hopefully reveal the narrative parallels between these characters, which always adds points to a ship for me. the most obvious are their relationships to their respective fathers and the importance of these relationships to their character development throughout the story. where they contrast is their level of closeness and the ways these relationships have (fatally) concluded, especially with iori's currently being up in the air. chihiro had a great relationship with his father and a pretty stable (if nontraditional) upbringing, until he was violently ripped away, now following a path of vengeance into hell which may only reveal his beloved father's hidden flaws. hakuri was once "loved" by his father, until he couldn't meet his expectations, leading to years of rejection and abuse, and a fatal confrontation. iori seemed to love her father, who loved her in return, but traumatic experiences and guilt have lead them to be separated; will she learn of her father's sins as chihiro has? will her father need to be stopped as hakuri's was? it's easy to see how her circumstances, while still new and interesting, can be related back to the other two; she may even exist in the middle of their venn diagram: her father as an antagonist who must be stopped, but genuinely tried to give her the best life he could. the emotional turmoil this causes in her is heartbreaking yet compelling to watch unfold, and having relationships (platonic or otherwise) with chihiro and hakuri who have had similar experiences could help her (and us, the audience) make sense of it all.

Chihiro x Hakuri Angle: knowing how popular they already are in these spaces, do i even need to explain? i'll talk more about the dynamics between the three of them as a trio and how it may affect the hakuhiro angle in a later section.

Chihiro x Iori Angle: on the surface, it may get dismissed as typical "ohh he's the male protagonist, she's the damsel, how basic" but let me try to explain it further. iori has so much going on besides just being a "damsel"; sure, she can't fight (yet?) and needs protecting right now (remind you of anyone?), but everything going on with her memories of samura and whatever the hell is going to happen between them is keeping me on the edge of my seat. there is incredible potential here as chihiro vows to keep her safe, but may have to take down her beloved father. it's tense! we've seen a few conversations between them now which acknowledges their similarities (and differences) and how chihiro feels on the matter. he cares about her and her agency in this situation, which i believe she appreciates. he also believes they are too different, restating his self-damnation; iori may even feel the same, as she is obviously not used to the violence chihiro engages with so easily (at least, in her amnesiac state), and does not want to be a part of it for any longer than she has to ("i want to go back to school"). however, i get the feeling she also cares for him. her asking "are you scared?" still gets to me. if she only saw him as a completely unrelatable killing machine, i don't think she would be interested in how he feels about all of this. she still sees the humanity in him despite everything he tries to say to deny it. she feels scared and helpless, but has complete trust in him. i think she feels sorry for him as well. chihiro wants what's best for her and can theoretically make that happen, but what can iori do for him? right now, she's a reminder of everything chihiro is not. i admit it's not a very happy situation right now, but who knows about the future… a shipper can dream, can't i?

there's a sort of "in another life…" and "the damned x the innocent" dynamic they could have going on as a ship that i think many would find compelling, and although as previously stated may be dismissed as "basic", yes, the "guardian/hero x damsel" as well; vowing to protect someone at all costs does add something to a ship, i must admit. but i am more partial to the other interpretations in which they help each other, not just one-way. and if you caught on, i do believe there are chihiro x hakuri parallels here. she's not immediately head-over-heels like hakuri was, but still! chihiro wants to be strong for her, too. i wonder if chihiro will again seek iori's opinions when it comes to what should be done with her father in a similar way he hesitated killing hakuri's family members until they fought kyora together. will he once again be subject to that hesitation, which he called weakness, now that he has gotten to know her? maybe iori will overcome her fears and find motivation and strength in chihiro's example the way hakuri did?

Hakuri x Iori Angle: HURRAY SPECULATION! a lot of this hinges on iori keeping her memories, whatever happens to hakuri next, and if they'll even meet… but others have shipped over less.

with the various parallels previously discussed, there's a lot here too! their respective dads left them for very different reasons, but they're both sad about it, and i think they could understand each other. hakuri's willingness to turn against his family for the greater good (and his own greater good as an abuse survivor) sort of mirrors iori's willingness to abandon her father's memory (good times mixed with trauma) or possible turning against him if she can't accept the man he has become.

i'm desperate to know how hakuri would react to iori in general. there could be some tension if hakuri comes to hate or be strongly against iori's father; he would never take it out on iori, but iori might be uncomfortable by it since she still loves her dad-- which hakuri would understand! despite all the harm, he wished desperately for his father to just acknowledge him. despite everything samura has done and that iori may learn about, she might still wish to be his daughter again. having familial attachment mixed with traumatic memories towards someone is a really hard thing to go through. hakuri may be able to help her through these feelings, especially if the decision to stop samura by killing him arises.

their traumatic pasts are another point of comparison. hakuri went through a lot, directly because of his family and the evil auction they were running. we don't know how much iori has been through yet, but it was definitely something scary, and at a very young age as well. her father may not be entirely at fault the way hakuri's family was, but he seems to feel pretty guilty about whatever she went through. i believe something very traumatic is being hidden in her memories that may be revealed soon. it's hard to imagine what could "top" or match hakuri's trauma, but it's not really about that. it's about being able to further understand each other, and maybe even comfort each other through recalling similar experiences.

iori's ability to still see chihiro's humanity despite his path to hell may apply, too. despite me laying out their similarities, hakuri might agree with chihiro that they are just too different from the innocent normal people, like (amnesiac) iori and her peers. hakuri may not have killed as much as chihiro, but his upbringing was far from peaceful, and he seems dedicated to following him in damnation. additionally, if chihiro vows to protect iori, he would too. iori and her guard dog boyfriends is something i'd kinda want to see, i must admit to you.

a lot of this has been the sadder/hurt-comfort part of their possible dynamic, but there's definitely room for fluff and sweetness. they're good kids! the way they would hypothetically behave while harboring a crush or developing feelings for each other is too much for my heart to bear!! please help!!!

Effect of Adding Iori to Chihiro x Hakuri (The Anti-Suicide Glue) this section is thanks in part to @trans-hakuri (aka blinkeasy). to quote: "I'm curious to see how much she matches their freak re: putting yourself on the line for others. She's done it once already when she was fairly certain the Hishaku wouldn't kill her, but she doesn't seem to carry the same self-worth issues that Chihiro and Hakuri do (as far as we know) and it would be nice to see her as a voice of reason for them sometimes. She should participate in the mission just as much as they do, while modeling how to be less suicidal about it." iori being the glue that keeps them from killing themselves for the sake of others is admittedly a bit darkly funny to me. chihiro x hakuri is great partly because of how messed up they both are, and throwing in a (to be fair, also somewhat emotionally messed up right now) civilian girl who at least sort of knows what "true" normalcy feels like into the mix might just be the missing ingredient they need. although iori may not come out of this completely "normal" anymore, she would still have that perspective to offer. (and while chihiro had a relatively peaceful childhood, he believes he must abandon that life forever, and iori may be able to bring him back to reality somewhat.) it's true that i enjoy thinking about all the ways chihiro and hakuri support each other through the madness, but an extra (un-bloodied) hand can't hurt, and i do think there is some significance to gaining a friend their age. (for the AU lovers, i can also vividly imagine the close friendships they could develop in a more peaceful world (like high school AU) if canon is not meant to be.)

lastly, i want to highlight trans-hakuri's quote "She's done it once already when she was fairly certain the Hishaku wouldn't kill her" to state once again that iori is not just a damsel. she's scared and feels out of her depth, but she can be strong and brave too. that being said, i believe she also symbolizes normalcy and innocence/ignorance, which she may soon lose; if so, i do hope chihiro and hakuri are there to catch her.

[teitpp]

Dal/Gwyn, Janeway/Chakotay parallels

I've been mulling this over for a while so I just wanna put all of these down. I really have been enjoying the parallels between these four, and there's a bunch. Will add to this as I think of more.

Dal and Janeway:

They're both on a quest to find home. Janeway back to Earth. Dal back to his family.

Both captain a nontraditional crew and bring them under the Starfleet banner. Dal captains his crew of escaped prisoners from Tars Lamora and Janeway the combined members of her original crew and the Maquis in each case this is born of expediency. They need the crew numbers to get the ship running. And for both part of their journey becomes learning to be a better captain to their unique crews.

Both explore and grapple with their relationship to starfleet ideals. In Dal's case learning Starfleet ideals and laws from scratch and putting them into practice. In Janeway's having her existing ideals tested by an environment where they are difficult to hold to. She and Dal both experience obstacles that test their commitment to these ideals and face consequences of straying from them.

Stars: Dal's window of dreams. Janeway's love of nebulas. The stars mean different things to these two: freedom to Dal and discovery to Janeway but both are seen to have a particular affinity for them.

Learning to lean on their crew: Both in one way or another return to themes of accepting help rather than depending only on themselves. For Dal, this comes from a past of self-preservation and survival. For Janeway, from guilt-driven instinct to put her crew before herself. Both see some of their greatest successes and moments of growth when they set aside those tendencies and accept help from their crew.

Gwyn and Chakotay

Both leave their home for Starfleet, and later return to it when it is in trouble. Chakotay leaves Dorvan/Trebus at 15 against the wishes of his father in order to pursue Starfleet Academy. and only returns when it attacked by the Cardassians. Gwyn idealizes Starfleet her whole life on Tars Lamora only to decide to try to save Solum rather than join her friends as warrant officers.

Both have complicated relationships with their dead fathers. Both of their fathers disagreed with their pursuit of Starfleet, and wanted them to embrace a future that more directly benefited their homeworld. Both were in conflict with them before their deaths and Both of their fathers were killed violently, spurring a shift in their thinking.

Both love exploring other cultures. Gwyn has a love of languages. Chakotay of archeology/anthropology. Both enjoy learning about new people and places and making connections.

Both of their homeworlds are abandoned by the Federation for political reasons - a treaty with the Cardassians in one case and a commitment to non-interference in the other. In Chakotay's case this leads him to turn against starfleet for a time, feeling that it had abandoned its ideals. I'm curious if Gwyn's mission to Solum will lead her down a similar path.

Both act the first officer to an equal. Chakotay was a captain of his own ship before agreeing to be Janeway's second in command. Gwyn has more technical expertise about the Protostar's systems than Dal, and more familiarity with the Federation.

Dal/Gwyn &. Chakotay/Janeway

Both pairs begin their relationship at odds in similar ways. Janeway is seeking to arrest Chakotay. Dal is first Gwyn's prisoner and then takes her as a captive.

The Moral Star/Coda parallels. I just enjoy a good "You might be dying in my arms and I never told you how I felt moment" okay. I am a sucker for it.

Gwyn and Dal ending Season 1 in a similar place to where Janeway and Chakotay were at the start of it. Chakotay winds up trapped on Alt!Future Solum after accepting a mission to complete some of the unfinished work/fix some of the mistakes Voyager had when it first traversed the Delta Quadrant. Gwyn ends Season one going to fix some of the mistakes made between Solum and Starfleet in the alternate future. Janeway and Dal, meanwhile, are at HQ with their own Starfleet-focused duties.

Speculations:

All of the above have me wondering if both couples are in a similar place romantically. Dal and Gwyn are just beginning a romantic relationship when they separate. Is that where Janeway and Chakotay are as well?

And will this mean that Gwyn will also need a rescue? Will her mission go sideways like Chakotay's did?

[cryptidsmagick]

Welcome to the Blog!

Hey everyone! We're an eclectic crooked path warlock. That's right, a warlock, as in oath breaker, yadda yadda... we don't bite. It's just that every other path we tried before this didn't fit. Finally settled down and picking the labels that fit.

We're of Taino descent on our mother's side and black descent on our father's side, so you can expect a bit of ancestral work ever so often, or at least mentions of it. Being eclectic, however, you might find that it's very random incorporations of our tribal practice in our work—for example, partaking in animism, acknowledging the Great Spirit in lieu of Gaia, and so forth.

Crooked path basically means we mainly follow the traditional witch ideology despite experimenting all the time.

So, who do you work with?

Spirits

Ancestors (The Caracaracol), The Great Spirit, Familiar Spirits (Fox), House Ghosts, Soul Bonds, Elynas, Spirit Guide (Phoenix)

Beings

Fairies (fey), Familiars, Dæmons (Lyra; Snow Leopard), Patronous (Thestral)

Pantheons The Entities (The Magnus Archives), Dragons Sovereign (Genshin Impact), Unrecorded Pantheon, Zemi-no (Technically; Ancestral)

Specific Divinity

Apostasia (Unrecorded), The Arbiter/Noren (Unrecorded; Fairy), Hades/Pluto, Aine, Wayob (Genshin Impact), Isis

Godfamily

Nontraditional relationships with deities.

Lesser Lord Kusanali (Godsibling)

Things You Can Learn From Us

👁️‍🗨️Hexes/Curses (In moderation)

👁️‍🗨️Candlework

👁️‍🗨️Wand Work

👁️‍🗨️Spirit Work

👁️‍🗨️Misc Spells

👁️‍🗨️Pop Paganism

👁️‍🗨️Dæmonism

👁️‍🗨️Patronus

👁️‍🗨️Tarot

👁️‍🗨️Past Lives

👁️‍🗨️Energy Work

👁️‍🗨️Astral Travel

👁️‍🗨️Altars

👁️‍🗨️Offerings

👁️‍🗨️Soulbonds & Spiritual Alter Help

👁️‍🗨️Deity Work vs Deity Worship

👁️‍🗨️Herbiology/Apothicarism

👁️‍🗨️Potion Work: What not to do.

👁️‍🗨️"Is <this> appropriation of [your] tribal culture or not? Can I partake in it?"

Things We Want to Learn From You

📜Spells

���Kemeticism

📜Druidism

📜Shinto

📜Necromancy

📜More about Hellenism

📜Alchemy: Not spiritual alchemy. Traditional and magical alchemy.

📜 More about our tribal heritage!

To get started, send an ask!

[coochiequeens]

Sure his wife endangers her health with extra pregnancies but the extra income is nice.

When his wife suggested being a surrogate, he was taken aback. After 3 pregnancies, he gets why she does it.

Pooja Mistry 

Nov 6, 2023, 7:50 AM EST

Kyle Hanson's wife told him during dinner that she was thinking about becoming a surrogate.

Initially he was very much against it, but he warmed up to the idea. 

Supporting his wife during her three surrogacies made him a better dad, he said.

Kyle Hanson went to dinner with his wife, his sister-in-law, and his sister-in-law's husband, in what he thought was just another family outing. Midway through the meal, his wife, Sunshine Hanson, said, "I'm thinking about being a surrogate."

Kyle Hanson's immediate reaction was confusion and shock. Though the couple had a colleague whose wife was a surrogate, he could not understand why his own wife would want to pursue a similar path.

He was against it initially

"When my wife first mentioned she wanted to be a surrogate, I thought she was nuts, and I was very much against it," Hanson told Insider.

Over time, Hanson started warming up to the idea and moving past his reservations, especially as he started to learn about the mental, physical, and emotional tolls this decision would take on his family.

"I talked to a lot of husbands whose wives are thinking about doing surrogacy, and they're initially really cold to the idea," he said. "Their biggest fear — and mine when I first was approached with the idea — is that being the husband of a surrogate will somehow make you less of a man."

It made him a better father

On the contrary, supporting his wife during her three surrogacy journeys helped him become a better father.

As a self-classified "nontraditional dad" who's parenting an adoptive daughter, his wife's son from a previous relationship, and that son's half sister, Hanson said he wanted his children to move past archaic notions of what a family unit "should" be.

"I now know that family is defined in multiple ways," Hanson added. "Being the husband of a surrogate has made me a 'superfather' who not only is raising my own family but also helping my wife create a family for someone else."

The couple have lost friends over surrogacy

Sunshine Hanson has had three separate surrogacies, resulting in a pair of twins for a gay Australian couple and two children for a heterosexual couple.

Some of the couple's conservative Christian friends and family decided to step away from their relationships with them after learning that Sunshine Hanson was a surrogate for a gay couple. The lack of tolerance by people he once considered close fueled Kyle Hanson to be more accepting and less judgmental. His perspective has shifted and he's an ally. He hopes he's a role model and that his children adopt the same views.

"As a Christian, I didn't have much exposure or understanding of the gay community," he said. "I went along with the process, and after meeting them, I thought that if anyone deserves these babies, it's them. They were the kindest people who made loving parents."

When asked whether he felt an attachment to any of the babies, he said he didn't. Instead, he believes that attachment forms when a person is deeply involved in the raising, nesting, and planning of that child's life and not limited to the physical birth, especially since his sperm was not used for the pregnancies, he said.

Surrogacy has helped them financially

Besides helping out families, Hanson said surrogacy had helped his family financially. Despite their steady jobs, their expenses were high, and surrogacy proved a helpful secondary stream of income. Now the couple have left those jobs to pursue an agency, Surrogacy Is, that matches surrogate candidates to partner agencies and assists prospective surrogates in making educated and safe choices about their journeys.

Hanson aspires to continue educating husbands and partners of surrogates to teach them patience, acceptance, and kindness for people struggling to have children with alternative methods.

"I'm a much, much better person having gone through these surrogacy journeys with my wife," he said. "We're closer. I already knew we were a great team, but this allowed us to show off how strong we were together."

[kewltie]

when i write something i tend to have a goal, or actually a specific moment or scene, i aim toward. for this specific scene in stepdad au i had this image of izuku surrounded by his sleeping children and talking about how he wants to protect his kids from becoming like their villainous sire so that they dont walk the same path as him. it was very clear in my head and i knew what i wanted but i have to build to get there.

i like nontraditional family unit as someone who grew up with both parents, divorced, and then raised by a single mother i have a lot of respect for the nontraditional family unit!! stepdad au is one of part of many of AUs that centered around that lol. i like that katsuki who literally been a bachelor most of his life suddenly stumbled his way into like a family and now he's juggling parenthood to these small tyrants and HE'S TRYING HIS BEST.

i think i talked about this before how im not a big fan of kidfics bc they dont really have much of personality and that they're more used as a tool to get the couple together rather their own char arc so for me it was really important that each of the numbers had a very distinct characteristics that you can pick them apart among the crowd. i wanted each kid bounce off e/o bc hey they're siblings should act like ones and have a storyline outside of bkdk's love story. so theres a lot of focus on the kids as much as bkdk's storyline bc izuku (and now katsuki also) world revolves around them. izuku put away his mate/husband to SAVE HIS KIDS!!

heroes comes in all shapes and sizes and not all heroes wear cape, ya know the quote but it's exactly what it is here. izuku's path didn't lead to ofa and becoming a hero but in his own way, even tho it seemingly small in the grand scheme of things, he put everything on the line to get his kids away from their villainous sire so they wont fall on the same dark path as him. he has no quirk and didnt have support from anyone for a long time but he planned this for many years just to finally put his husband away like idk that's fucking stone cold. izuku hid his true intentions and acted the part of the good spouse, the good omega, and kept producing kids and raising them for his mate but he was actually masterminding a plan to bring his husband down and escape with his kids like HE DID THAT!!! ON HIS OWN!!! how could ppl not admire that audacity, that fucking bravery????

even tho izuku did all that, he feels like it wasnt enough bc how long it took the plan to took shape like izuku didn't just come with this plan in a day and execute it within the same week or months. HE PLANNED THIS FOR YEARS AND YEARS and finally he got enough tools in his arsenal to pulled it off (evidences and waiting for his children to be old enough to carry it out). thats pretty badass but izuk doesnt see it that, its the duty of the parents to protect their kids and izuku think he's just doing what he must!!! but even then he wishes he didnt have to wait that long to carry them away from the abuse of their sires but for his plan to work he had to stay lowkey, underestimated, and the good spouse/omega so he had to watched his children suffered but he cant do much against it. it's a hard thing to watch and endure and izuku will always regret how he couldnt do much for them and i think even tho he managed to save his kids and put away his husband, it always live in him how he could HAVE DONE MORE (even tho unlikely). so when katsuki says something about thinking he's doing just fine in his eyes, it's someone ELSE not him that tell him hey, you're not such a terrible parent and izuku's guilt lessen just a lil.

izuku isnt the perfect parent but he's trying and katsuki definitely isnt made for parenting either but he's learning AND TOGETHER they're learning to be what the numbers need and this journey is what tied them together and fall in love even tho katsuki is like half way there already but god, izuku showing him that even with no quirks, izuku can do crazy shits for his children!!!!!!

[samritiwrites]

Embracing the Career Journey: Growth Beyond the Job Title

A career isn’t just a series of job titles and LinkedIn updates. It’s a story—sometimes winding, sometimes uncertain, but always uniquely your own. The career journey is the evolving path we take to discover who we are, what we value, and where we want to make an impact.

For many of us, that path includes not only technical growth but also personal transformation. From the first internship to the mid-career pivot or executive leadership, each chapter of your career is an opportunity to learn, adapt, and lead with purpose.

Whether you're just starting out or reflecting on years of professional experience, understanding and embracing your career journey is key to creating meaningful success.

Defining the Career Journey

The term “career journey” refers to the broader narrative of your work life—including your goals, transitions, failures, growth, and achievements. Unlike a linear path, today’s career journeys are often fluid and nontraditional. You might switch industries, move cities, take a sabbatical, return to school, or reinvent yourself entirely.

It’s less about climbing a ladder and more about creating a path that reflects who you are and what matters most to you.

In this sense, your career journey is deeply personal. It’s shaped by your values, cultural background, support networks, and access to opportunities. And the more intentional you are in navigating it, the more empowered you’ll be to make choices that align with your long-term vision.

The Early Steps: Exploration and Learning

Most career journeys begin with exploration. Whether it's picking a major, working your first retail job, or volunteering for a cause you believe in, these early experiences help shape your understanding of the workplace and yourself.

At this stage, it’s okay to not have all the answers. The key is to remain curious, build foundational skills, and reflect on what energizes you. Ask questions like:

What type of environment do I thrive in?

Do I enjoy problem-solving, collaboration, or autonomy?

What values do I want my work to reflect?

Exploring different roles helps you identify your strengths and areas of interest. It also gives you the confidence to take informed risks later in your journey.

Finding Direction and Building Momentum

As your career progresses, you may find greater clarity on the type of work you want to pursue—or at least the kind of impact you hope to make. This is the time to seek mentorship, upskill strategically, and build meaningful professional relationships.

Organizations like Roots Inspire are making this part of the journey more accessible for diverse talent. Through mentorship and executive networking, they support future leaders from underrepresented backgrounds by offering access to insights and guidance that can otherwise be hard to find.

Having a mentor or a support system can provide invaluable perspective, especially when navigating career decisions, workplace dynamics, or the pressure to "prove yourself" in industries where you may feel like the only one in the room.

Overcoming Setbacks: Growth Through Challenges

No career journey is free from setbacks. Whether it’s being passed over for a promotion, facing burnout, or enduring a layoff, these moments test our resilience and character. But they also provide opportunities for reflection and redirection.

Sometimes, a failure becomes the turning point. You might discover a passion for a different field or gain clarity on what you don’t want in a job. By treating challenges as part of your growth, you learn to lead with humility and courage.

It’s also a reminder that success is not always a straight line. Growth may come in the form of lateral moves, stepping back to move forward, or choosing to prioritize purpose over prestige.

Reinvention and Purpose

Later in the career journey, many professionals begin to prioritize legacy and purpose. It’s not just about what you do—it’s about why you do it and who you’re lifting along the way.

This stage might include mentoring others, launching your own venture, or advocating for more inclusive and ethical workplaces. Leaders who reflect on their journeys often realize that their most fulfilling moments weren’t just the awards or salary bumps—but the people they helped, the values they upheld, and the courage they showed in being true to themselves.

Platforms like Roots Inspire play a role here too, by fostering communities where leaders at all levels can exchange insights, build inclusive networks, and invest in future generations.

Your Journey, Your Power

The beauty of the career journey is that it’s yours. You define the pace, direction, and destination. It’s okay if it doesn’t look like anyone else’s. What matters is that it aligns with who you are becoming—not just professionally, but personally.

So whether you’re climbing, coasting, pivoting, or pausing—know that your journey is valid. Learn from your past, be present in the now, and stay open to what’s next.

Because in the end, a meaningful career isn’t built in a day. It’s written through moments of clarity, courage, connection, and continual evolution.

Final Thought

In a world that celebrates speed and status, take a moment to honor the steps you've taken—and the lessons you've learned along the way. Your career journey is more than a resume. It’s a story of resilience, discovery, and leadership in motion.

And with support, community, and platforms like Roots Inspire lighting the path, your next chapter could be your most powerful yet.

[cleverhottubmiracle]

Welcome to Refinery29’s Why I Code, a Changing Face series where we ask inspirational, tech-disrupting trailblazers in computer science 29 questions about what fuels them on and off the clock. New York-based artist and designer Anya Karolyn never thought her longtime hobby of creating different types of art could turn into a full-time career. One dream art studio in Manhattan and successful print and apparel business later, it’s safe to say that she’s singing a different tune. As a mixed-media artist, Karolyn weaves together her passion for creating on a physical canvas with Photoshop-level computer editing and coding. You might call her a modern renaissance woman, constantly innovating via graphics and code. Growing up, Karolyn considered herself an “art kid,” but always thought it would just be something she enjoyed quietly. “[Art] was the thing that first gave me confidence in my identity because I wasn’t really identifying with anything else in school,” says the 26-year-old Boulder, CO native. “In art class, I just felt this weird sense of confidence that I didn’t have in any other aspect of my life, but I never thought it could be a full-time career — I didn’t even go to college for art. It was very much a fun talent I had.” Now, she’s fully immersed in KARO, her very own ever-evolving art project and business — but her journey to get there wasn’t always a straight line. “It’s [been] years and years of tiny baby steps, nuanced realizations, and breaking out of self-limiting beliefs,” she shares. “There have been so many sleepless nights, all-nighters on projects that I never got paid for, projects that never saw the light of day, or things that I felt were just a waste.” She started growing KARO on the side in 2018, but at the time, she was working as an in-house creative in the music industry at a major label, doing anything from directing music videos to animating lyric videos and GIFs to shooting single covers to editing concert recaps. “I was constantly working to make other artists’ visions come to life, and I kept asking myself, Why can’t I bet on myself like that? Am I going to live my whole life feeling like I’m in the wrong role? I was working at this job close to 50 hours per week, and then staying up every night working on art for KARO,” she says. “I couldn’t take it anymore eventually and saved up enough to give myself a chance and quit. The momentum built really quickly and it hasn’t stopped, which I’m super thankful for.” As Karolyn prepares for her first solo show in NYC, she’s incorporating coding into the experience in a unique and interactive way — another example of her layered approach to art. Although she doesn’t code in her daily life, she finds innovative ways to shape code to create anything her heart desires.  DashDividers_1_500x100 What’s the first thing you’ve ever coded? “The first thing I ever coded was a ‘choose your own adventure’ game in Python, which I think, is a pretty simple first project. It allowed a player to navigate different story paths, and it was really cute. It was my first experience structuring logic [in coding].” What’s a project that was the most challenging for you? “The one that I’m doing right now in terms of coding integration because I’m learning how to do projection mapping for my next art show. I have so many ideas for it and I want it to be really special and custom. Projection mapping is so cool in the art world because you can enhance a piece of art by creating animations around it to supplement it. “I’m first using [TouchDesigner] to create animations of motifs, poetry, and visuals of my work, then using [MadMapper] to do custom projection mapping onto the gallery space. I have some time — which is good — but it’s a multi-step process that I haven’t done before. It’s a great way to merge nontraditional coding and technology with art, and I love being very much in the weeds with everything that I do for KARO.” What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? “I have to start my espresso machine. I also like to physically rise as soon as my alarm goes off. Because, once I’m up, I’m up. I used to have the bad habit of snoozing my alarm all the time. So now, I need to physically shake myself around, defrost my brain in the morning, turn on my espresso machine, and make myself a little latte.” What’s the last thing you do before going to bed? “I have my little nighttime routine and the biggest anchor of that is journaling. I love journaling. I really believe in it — I think it’s so powerful. I’ve been journaling nearly every day for years and years. I’ll go periods without it, but even since high school, I’ve been keeping a journal ,and it just helps decompress my brain and get me calm for the night.” When does inspiration strike for you? “100% at night — never once in the morning. I’m such a night owl. My brain takes a couple hours in the morning to defrost. I’ve always wanted to be a morning person that wakes up really early and is super productive, but I just had to accept that I’m more productive, creative, inspired, motivated, and energetic at night, and I can’t change it. That’s why I started talking about this on my YouTube channel. I made a video about it. I have a day shift and I have a night shift. My night shift is where the actual magic happens.” What does your workspace look like? “My studio is honestly a perfect reflection of myself. It’s my inner self materialized as a physical space. It’s kind of artistically messy. It’s very playful and it’s fun. There are lots of colors, but there’s a lot of intention behind the little knick-knacks everywhere. It’s like a showroom of my brain.” What do you do when you’re stuck in a rut? “I’ll journal or I’ll go for a walk. Going for a walk always resets my mental health — I love walking around in New York. Dancing in my studio [also helps]. I’ll put on a song that I love dancing to — it’s one of my greatest joys. That will really get me out of a rut [because it helps] to physically move myself. Also, sleeping. If I’m stuck in a rut, it’s likely because I’m getting burnt out. I tend to work myself to burn out pretty easily. Then, I’ll cancel plans and I’ll sleep because sometimes I just really need a mental reset. I need to sleep in without an alarm and I’ll feel so much better the next day.” What’s one thing you wish to accomplish? “A solo show in New York City! That one’s easy for me, because I’m already planning it right now, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. What’s your favorite piece of advice that you’ve gotten? “Leap and the net will appear. I just got LEAP tattooed on my hand [laughs].” Who inspires you the most? “A mix of all of my New York City artist friends that I spend my time with. There’s this very beautiful, artistic, creative community that I feel so giddy to be a part of. I see their journeys and I see what they’re up to and how they keep going. As an artist in my 20s in New York, I just love being a part of that; they inspire me so much. I feel like I’m kind of a mosaic of these people that are around me.” Who, if anyone, do you try to emulate? “I almost want to be a person that’s emulated — which I have seen when I start getting tagged in things and people would say, “This is so KARO.” It’s honestly the biggest form of flattery.” What’s something people ask you for advice about often? “People always ask me how to quit their job that they’re not happy with when they have artistic passions. I hear that all the time and that’s my favorite conversation to have. You can put me in a room with someone for an hour who’s on the brink of quitting their job and I’ll make them quit [laughs].” What’s a piece of advice you felt proud to give? “Definitely the above advice. It’s wild because a couple of years ago, I was on the other side of it, and wondering, How do I quit my job? It’s the most terrifying thing in the world. I had to ask myself: Are my passions legitimate? Or are they just this silly hobby? I had so many self-limiting beliefs and so many things that I was worried about. [It’s great] to be in a position where, I know for a fact, that I made the right decision. There’s no doubt or anxiety in my head, and I feel very thankful.” What is your most-used app on your phone? “It was StreetEasy until I finally found my dream apartment recently. I was using StreetEasy like it was Instagram — I was refreshing it every day. But now, it’s probably CapCut because I edit nearly everything on it. I spend so much time on there — my screen time goes way up because of how much time I’m working on it.” What do you do when you feel yourself burning out? “I will cancel all of my plans to give myself time to be alone, journal, exercise, and sleep. I need my alone time. I’m a very social introvert, but I need to recharge by myself.” What’s something you consider a secret weapon? “I think I have a couple. First, it’s the fact that both of my parents are immigrants. I grew up multiculturally and my stepfamily is also from a completely different culture than my own. My mom is from Peru, my dad is from Germany, and my stepfamily is Lebanese. I was raised trilingual with Spanish and German. My German isn’t that great, though. Growing up with an immigrant family really influenced my worldview, work ethic, and appreciation of diverse experiences. It feels like a superpower. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a much more open mind and a much bigger world view. I think that’s a huge privilege: to be able to see a bigger map of the way people live. My other secret weapon is that I know how to do all the parts of KARO that I’m doing — the business stuff, the software, the Photoshop editing, and the animations. I don’t have to rely on other people all of the time and I can be independent in a lot of respects. People can be intimidated and think they need to hire people for everything — which isn’t always true especially when you’re just starting out.” Where are you, compared to where you thought you’d be at 12 years old? “I’m light years beyond where I thought I’d be when I was 12 years old! My 12-year-old self could not even fathom where I could possibly be today. I just did not have any self-confidence at 12 years old, and I totally didn’t think that what I’m doing was even an option. I just kind of saw my life going in a very traditional, nuclear [direction] like everyone around me.” What’s been your biggest piece of support, helping you get to where you are? “My friends and loved ones in my life just loving me and always being supportive of my ideas and not making me feel weird about them. I know a lot of people that try and put themselves out there, and their friends are just like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ The judgment can be a major block. My friends would always like my posts on Instagram when I had zero followers and they would share them. Also, the people who follow me and have been supporting and talking about my art in person to other people. And anyone wearing my work or putting it in their home. That is what makes it possible for me to have this as a full-time career — that kind of support. I’m extremely grateful that I have an audience now. I would be doing this regardless, and I have been doing this my whole life, but the only difference now and why I can make it a career is because I have an audience that listens now.” If you could change one thing about your professional life, what would it be? “I wish I had more free time. It’s astounding how quickly a day goes by because my to-do list is never-ending, and it’s mostly filled with things that I’m really excited about and want to do. I love what I do. It’s just that there’s no time.” What do you do to start your workday? “Timeboxing. I block out my day because I’m very scatter-brained and all over the place. I have a never-ending to-do list, and it forces myself to pick three top priorities for the day, and then I can brain-dump in another section [of my planner], and then I can time-lock another section. It helps my brain immensely. I cannot go through a day without a time box or else the day is going to be a mess and I’m going to feel terrible.” What do you do to end your workday? “I’ll journal again. I like to exercise and take weird workout classes. By weird, I mean, I’ll just try new things. There’s a studio right next to my studio that does really fun pole classes, hoop classes, trapeze, and aerial art. It’s really cool.” Why do you code? “[I code] when there’s a specific effect I want to achieve with my art like projection-mapping. It gets me where I want to go and is the tool to get me there.” What’s one thing you’d change about your industry? “[I wish there was] more support and representation for women — women in higher positions and more female voices. I love the initiative that certain companies are taking now. Computer Science is Everything especially, with its efforts to empower women. I love that initiative, and that’s so much of what I want to have for my own brand, too. I’ve seen so much misogyny in the industries that I’ve worked in. So, continuing to put myself out there is hopefully a little tiny piece of that change. We need more female voices in these industries.” What are you hoping the future of tech will look like? “Definitely to see more representation and more female-led businesses.” Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Source link

[norajworld]

Welcome to Refinery29’s Why I Code, a Changing Face series where we ask inspirational, tech-disrupting trailblazers in computer science 29 questions about what fuels them on and off the clock. New York-based artist and designer Anya Karolyn never thought her longtime hobby of creating different types of art could turn into a full-time career. One dream art studio in Manhattan and successful print and apparel business later, it’s safe to say that she’s singing a different tune. As a mixed-media artist, Karolyn weaves together her passion for creating on a physical canvas with Photoshop-level computer editing and coding. You might call her a modern renaissance woman, constantly innovating via graphics and code. Growing up, Karolyn considered herself an “art kid,” but always thought it would just be something she enjoyed quietly. “[Art] was the thing that first gave me confidence in my identity because I wasn’t really identifying with anything else in school,” says the 26-year-old Boulder, CO native. “In art class, I just felt this weird sense of confidence that I didn’t have in any other aspect of my life, but I never thought it could be a full-time career — I didn’t even go to college for art. It was very much a fun talent I had.” Now, she’s fully immersed in KARO, her very own ever-evolving art project and business — but her journey to get there wasn’t always a straight line. “It’s [been] years and years of tiny baby steps, nuanced realizations, and breaking out of self-limiting beliefs,” she shares. “There have been so many sleepless nights, all-nighters on projects that I never got paid for, projects that never saw the light of day, or things that I felt were just a waste.” She started growing KARO on the side in 2018, but at the time, she was working as an in-house creative in the music industry at a major label, doing anything from directing music videos to animating lyric videos and GIFs to shooting single covers to editing concert recaps. “I was constantly working to make other artists’ visions come to life, and I kept asking myself, Why can’t I bet on myself like that? Am I going to live my whole life feeling like I’m in the wrong role? I was working at this job close to 50 hours per week, and then staying up every night working on art for KARO,” she says. “I couldn’t take it anymore eventually and saved up enough to give myself a chance and quit. The momentum built really quickly and it hasn’t stopped, which I’m super thankful for.” As Karolyn prepares for her first solo show in NYC, she’s incorporating coding into the experience in a unique and interactive way — another example of her layered approach to art. Although she doesn’t code in her daily life, she finds innovative ways to shape code to create anything her heart desires.  DashDividers_1_500x100 What’s the first thing you’ve ever coded? “The first thing I ever coded was a ‘choose your own adventure’ game in Python, which I think, is a pretty simple first project. It allowed a player to navigate different story paths, and it was really cute. It was my first experience structuring logic [in coding].” What’s a project that was the most challenging for you? “The one that I’m doing right now in terms of coding integration because I’m learning how to do projection mapping for my next art show. I have so many ideas for it and I want it to be really special and custom. Projection mapping is so cool in the art world because you can enhance a piece of art by creating animations around it to supplement it. “I’m first using [TouchDesigner] to create animations of motifs, poetry, and visuals of my work, then using [MadMapper] to do custom projection mapping onto the gallery space. I have some time — which is good — but it’s a multi-step process that I haven’t done before. It’s a great way to merge nontraditional coding and technology with art, and I love being very much in the weeds with everything that I do for KARO.” What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? “I have to start my espresso machine. I also like to physically rise as soon as my alarm goes off. Because, once I’m up, I’m up. I used to have the bad habit of snoozing my alarm all the time. So now, I need to physically shake myself around, defrost my brain in the morning, turn on my espresso machine, and make myself a little latte.” What’s the last thing you do before going to bed? “I have my little nighttime routine and the biggest anchor of that is journaling. I love journaling. I really believe in it — I think it’s so powerful. I’ve been journaling nearly every day for years and years. I’ll go periods without it, but even since high school, I’ve been keeping a journal ,and it just helps decompress my brain and get me calm for the night.” When does inspiration strike for you? “100% at night — never once in the morning. I’m such a night owl. My brain takes a couple hours in the morning to defrost. I’ve always wanted to be a morning person that wakes up really early and is super productive, but I just had to accept that I’m more productive, creative, inspired, motivated, and energetic at night, and I can’t change it. That’s why I started talking about this on my YouTube channel. I made a video about it. I have a day shift and I have a night shift. My night shift is where the actual magic happens.” What does your workspace look like? “My studio is honestly a perfect reflection of myself. It’s my inner self materialized as a physical space. It’s kind of artistically messy. It’s very playful and it’s fun. There are lots of colors, but there’s a lot of intention behind the little knick-knacks everywhere. It’s like a showroom of my brain.” What do you do when you’re stuck in a rut? “I’ll journal or I’ll go for a walk. Going for a walk always resets my mental health — I love walking around in New York. Dancing in my studio [also helps]. I’ll put on a song that I love dancing to — it’s one of my greatest joys. That will really get me out of a rut [because it helps] to physically move myself. Also, sleeping. If I’m stuck in a rut, it’s likely because I’m getting burnt out. I tend to work myself to burn out pretty easily. Then, I’ll cancel plans and I’ll sleep because sometimes I just really need a mental reset. I need to sleep in without an alarm and I’ll feel so much better the next day.” What’s one thing you wish to accomplish? “A solo show in New York City! That one’s easy for me, because I’m already planning it right now, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. What’s your favorite piece of advice that you’ve gotten? “Leap and the net will appear. I just got LEAP tattooed on my hand [laughs].” Who inspires you the most? “A mix of all of my New York City artist friends that I spend my time with. There’s this very beautiful, artistic, creative community that I feel so giddy to be a part of. I see their journeys and I see what they’re up to and how they keep going. As an artist in my 20s in New York, I just love being a part of that; they inspire me so much. I feel like I’m kind of a mosaic of these people that are around me.” Who, if anyone, do you try to emulate? “I almost want to be a person that’s emulated — which I have seen when I start getting tagged in things and people would say, “This is so KARO.” It’s honestly the biggest form of flattery.” What’s something people ask you for advice about often? “People always ask me how to quit their job that they’re not happy with when they have artistic passions. I hear that all the time and that’s my favorite conversation to have. You can put me in a room with someone for an hour who’s on the brink of quitting their job and I’ll make them quit [laughs].” What’s a piece of advice you felt proud to give? “Definitely the above advice. It’s wild because a couple of years ago, I was on the other side of it, and wondering, How do I quit my job? It’s the most terrifying thing in the world. I had to ask myself: Are my passions legitimate? Or are they just this silly hobby? I had so many self-limiting beliefs and so many things that I was worried about. [It’s great] to be in a position where, I know for a fact, that I made the right decision. There’s no doubt or anxiety in my head, and I feel very thankful.” What is your most-used app on your phone? “It was StreetEasy until I finally found my dream apartment recently. I was using StreetEasy like it was Instagram — I was refreshing it every day. But now, it’s probably CapCut because I edit nearly everything on it. I spend so much time on there — my screen time goes way up because of how much time I’m working on it.” What do you do when you feel yourself burning out? “I will cancel all of my plans to give myself time to be alone, journal, exercise, and sleep. I need my alone time. I’m a very social introvert, but I need to recharge by myself.” What’s something you consider a secret weapon? “I think I have a couple. First, it’s the fact that both of my parents are immigrants. I grew up multiculturally and my stepfamily is also from a completely different culture than my own. My mom is from Peru, my dad is from Germany, and my stepfamily is Lebanese. I was raised trilingual with Spanish and German. My German isn’t that great, though. Growing up with an immigrant family really influenced my worldview, work ethic, and appreciation of diverse experiences. It feels like a superpower. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a much more open mind and a much bigger world view. I think that’s a huge privilege: to be able to see a bigger map of the way people live. My other secret weapon is that I know how to do all the parts of KARO that I’m doing — the business stuff, the software, the Photoshop editing, and the animations. I don’t have to rely on other people all of the time and I can be independent in a lot of respects. People can be intimidated and think they need to hire people for everything — which isn’t always true especially when you’re just starting out.” Where are you, compared to where you thought you’d be at 12 years old? “I’m light years beyond where I thought I’d be when I was 12 years old! My 12-year-old self could not even fathom where I could possibly be today. I just did not have any self-confidence at 12 years old, and I totally didn’t think that what I’m doing was even an option. I just kind of saw my life going in a very traditional, nuclear [direction] like everyone around me.” What’s been your biggest piece of support, helping you get to where you are? “My friends and loved ones in my life just loving me and always being supportive of my ideas and not making me feel weird about them. I know a lot of people that try and put themselves out there, and their friends are just like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ The judgment can be a major block. My friends would always like my posts on Instagram when I had zero followers and they would share them. Also, the people who follow me and have been supporting and talking about my art in person to other people. And anyone wearing my work or putting it in their home. That is what makes it possible for me to have this as a full-time career — that kind of support. I’m extremely grateful that I have an audience now. I would be doing this regardless, and I have been doing this my whole life, but the only difference now and why I can make it a career is because I have an audience that listens now.” If you could change one thing about your professional life, what would it be? “I wish I had more free time. It’s astounding how quickly a day goes by because my to-do list is never-ending, and it’s mostly filled with things that I’m really excited about and want to do. I love what I do. It’s just that there’s no time.” What do you do to start your workday? “Timeboxing. I block out my day because I’m very scatter-brained and all over the place. I have a never-ending to-do list, and it forces myself to pick three top priorities for the day, and then I can brain-dump in another section [of my planner], and then I can time-lock another section. It helps my brain immensely. I cannot go through a day without a time box or else the day is going to be a mess and I’m going to feel terrible.” What do you do to end your workday? “I’ll journal again. I like to exercise and take weird workout classes. By weird, I mean, I’ll just try new things. There’s a studio right next to my studio that does really fun pole classes, hoop classes, trapeze, and aerial art. It’s really cool.” Why do you code? “[I code] when there’s a specific effect I want to achieve with my art like projection-mapping. It gets me where I want to go and is the tool to get me there.” What’s one thing you’d change about your industry? “[I wish there was] more support and representation for women — women in higher positions and more female voices. I love the initiative that certain companies are taking now. Computer Science is Everything especially, with its efforts to empower women. I love that initiative, and that’s so much of what I want to have for my own brand, too. I’ve seen so much misogyny in the industries that I’ve worked in. So, continuing to put myself out there is hopefully a little tiny piece of that change. We need more female voices in these industries.” What are you hoping the future of tech will look like? “Definitely to see more representation and more female-led businesses.” Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Source link

[jeremy-durham]

Considerations When Investing in Distressed Properties

A distressed property refers to one experiencing financial or physical trouble. Owners sell these properties because they cannot repair, maintain, or make the mortgage payments. However, both sides can win in these deals: distressed property owners lift the financial burden off themselves while buyers grab property at bargain prices. But before jumping in, investors should weigh several factors.

Three common types of properties fall into the distressed category: foreclosures and pre-foreclosures, real estate-owned (REO) properties, and short sales. Foreclosures or pre-foreclosures benefit investors eyeing homes repossessed by lenders or sold at auction due to unpaid mortgages. If a house does not sell at auction, the bank keeps it as an REO property and usually prices it below market value to sell quickly. In a short sale, an investor buys a house for less than the mortgage balance, but the lenders must approve the sale.

Competition for distressed properties can be tough - many buyers chase the same deals, and good properties sell quickly, making it hard to secure a good deal. The "as-is" condition of distressed properties places the burden of maintenance and updates on the investors, who also must watch for hidden costs, such as paying tax liens and evicting occupants. Investors can reap significant profits by buying low and selling high.

Investors have several ways to find distressed properties. Real estate agents are the simplest path since they know about troubled properties, their conditions, and upcoming auctions. These agents also have connections and market knowledge that save investors time.

Wholesalers find underpriced properties and put them under contract. Savvy investors may build relationships with wholesalers to see deals early, and wholesalers may even negotiate the prices.

Some investors prefer to do the legwork themselves. This hands-on approach, "drive for dollars," means cruising neighborhoods to spot troubled properties - signs such as overgrown backyards, broken windows, and uninhabited houses. After the search, investors can dig into public records to find the owner and their contact details.

Another option is checking a multiple listing service (MLS), an online database that shows all properties listed by realtors and brokers. Houses on MLS for over three months often have owners desperate to sell.

Location considerations are crucial. An inexpensive house needing only minor repairs might look like a great deal. However, if the area has several homes in similar conditions, investors will find it more challenging to sell their properties for a significant profit. Due diligence is also crucial. Before buying, investors must examine the property's physical state, find ways to boost its value, and learn the home prices in that area.

There are several options for financing distressed properties. Traditional mortgages work for investors with good credit, steady income, and cash for a down payment - but lenders may only finance properties with minor issues. Hard money loans provide quick funding for experienced investors willing to pay higher interest rates. Another avenue, the home equity loan, lets investors use the value of their primary residence to secure funds to purchase and renovate a distressed property.

Nontraditional lenders, such as investment groups, might also step in if the investor has a clear business plan. Each option has different rules and benefits; investors should compare them carefully since they often work differently than regular home loans.

[vincekiel]

Non-Traditional Pathways in Education and Their Role in Closing the Workforce Gap | Vince Kiel

The evolving job market increasingly demands flexible, skills-based education beyond traditional degrees. Nontraditional pathways, like apprenticeships, vocational training, and online certifications, equip individuals with job-ready skills, expand access to education, and promote workforce inclusivity.

What Defines a Non-Traditional Pathway?

Nontraditional education focuses on flexibility, skill development, and accessibility, offering alternatives to conventional degree programs. Apprenticeships, boot camps, and online certifications provide practical learning that prepares individuals for specific careers more quickly than traditional education.

Vince Kiel states, “Education’s greatest strength lies in its adaptability. By embracing non-traditional pathways, we’re expanding opportunity and creating a more inclusive workforce.”

Traditional education often limits access for those with time, financial, or geographic barriers. Nontraditional options help overcome these obstacles, providing affordable, flexible skill-building opportunities.

How Non-Traditional Pathways Address Workforce Gaps

Non-traditional education plays a key role in closing workforce gaps. A McKinsey report found 44% of companies face skills shortages, and many see non-traditional education as crucial to addressing this. Programs like community college courses and industry certifications help fill roles in high-demand sectors quickly and efficiently, often through employer-education partnerships.

These pathways not only expand the talent pool but also help fill positions in sectors facing labor shortages, especially as industries evolve due to aging demographics and technology. Non-traditional education’s focus on hands-on experience ensures workers are adaptable to industry changes.

At the Medix Foundation, paid apprenticeships help young talent gain vital career skills while mentors have access to a larger pool of potential employees, fostering growth and closing the skills gap.

Employer Perspectives: Shifting Attitudes Toward Credentials

Employers are increasingly valuing practical skills over traditional degrees, especially in commercial trades. Non-traditional education, such as apprenticeships and industry certifications, is seen as essential in fields like construction, plumbing, and HVAC systems. A Coursera survey found that 74% of employers prefer candidates with industry-recognized micro-credentials over those with only academic qualifications.

Employers value these pathways because they provide specialized skills and qualities like problem-solving, work ethic, and adaptability, which are essential in dynamic industries. With labor shortages affecting many sectors, non-traditional education helps companies fill roles more quickly.

Vince Kiel sums it up: “True educational progress doesn’t come from following one path, but from expanding our understanding of what a path can be. By valuing non-traditional routes, we build a workforce that thrives on diverse skills and perspectives.”

Embracing non-traditional education ensures companies not only meet staffing needs but also remain competitive and innovative long-term.

Read More: https://medixfoundation.com/non-traditional-pathways-in-education-and-their-role-in-closing-the-workforce-gap/

[kvibe-test]

Breaking Barriers: Kha's Inspiring Musical Transformation

TITLE: The Genre-Transcending Voyage of Kha

In the ever-evolving landscape of music, few artists break traditional barriers with the same finesse as Kha. Recognized for his boundary-pushing career, Kha has established a unique space by intertwining multiple musical genres into one captivating soundscape. His journey was not without its obstacles, yet every challenge honed his musical skills and expanded his creative horizons.

Early Influences and Inspirations

Kha's musical evolution is anchored in a vibrant array of influences, ranging from the timeless beats of blues to the energetic rhythms of contemporary pop. As a child, he was captivated by Bob Dylan's lyrical storytelling and Bach's emotive compositions. These formative experiences sparked a deep appreciation for music's narrative potential.

His wide-ranging musical preferences, touching on folk, classical, and post-genre electronic sounds, crafted his artistic vision. Eager to integrate these elements into his own style, Kha set out on a journey that would redefine his creative pursuits.

Pioneering a Genre-Defying Sound

Few musicians venture boldly into uncharted territory like Kha, melding seemingly diverse genres into a seamless auditory experience. His method of creating music resembles an alchemist’s dream, blending the raw passion of rock with the emotive depth of R&B, or entwining jazz elements with digital textures.

Among his standout projects was an album where Kha skillfully combined Eastern melodies with Western hip-hop beats, crafting a sound both novel and nostalgically resonant. This innovative fusion not only captured his fans' interest but also garnered industry praise.

Navigating the Challenges

The road less traveled is seldom smooth, as Kha found out early in his career. Introducing an experimental sound often faced skepticism, meeting initial pushback from record labels wary of backing nontraditional musical ideas. Nevertheless, Kha’s devotion to artistic authenticity remained unwavering, transforming these challenges into stepping stones toward achievement.

Persistent networking and a do-it-yourself ethos became his allies, as Kha fostered a grassroots following through independent performances and digital platforms. The modern music distribution landscape supported his efforts, enabling direct listener engagement free from industry gatekeepers.

Evolving as an Industry Icon

Today, Kha is a beacon among genre-bending musicians. His distinctive contributions have disrupted standard music conventions, inspiring a new wave of artists to experiment and innovate. With numerous partnerships spanning across various music sectors, Kha's portfolio continues to grow, demonstrating an unending evolution.

His latest endeavors include joint ventures with orchestras and electronic DJs, highlighting his drive to constantly challenge creative boundaries. Kha's readiness to reinvent his sound secures his enduring presence and relevance in the rapidly changing music scene.

Conclusion: The Legacy of Kha’s Musical Odyssey

Kha’s path exemplifies the power of determination and the beauty of artistic variety. Through his defiance of genre norms, he has reimagined how music can transcend borders and connect individuals globally. His inspiring narrative urges artists everywhere to embrace their distinct voices, fusing influences to create sounds that deeply resonate not only with audiences but also within themselves.

By weaving traditional sounds with modern innovation, Kha persists in setting the music industry's expectations awry, leaving behind a legacy that calls musicians to explore uncharted pathways.

#GenreDefying #MusicJourney #InnovativeSound #KhaMusic #ArtisticEvolution

Discover more about innovative artists redefining music. Learn the stories behind their success.

[seahoe]

it turns out that life will never stop being hard and it will also never stop being beautiful. And sometimes the truth of that inspires so much hope and joy, but also sometimes the truth of it feels like being Sisyphus pushing up that got damned rock for ever and ever

Like i have a fantastic long term committed relationship that I may continue to enjoy and be nurtured by for years and years as I age. I have friends who inspire and care for me across the whole country and despite the passage of time continue to understand and value my whole personhood. I have a pretty supportive family on the scale of things, and I have the joy and childlike wonder and love of dirt that enable me to continue living. Bitch!

but ALSO, i will likely never get rid of my chronic pain (fibro doesn’t work like that), will likely have to keep fighting depression and anxiety every year like I have been since I was 12, and will have a weird nontraditional and highly limited career path because of it. I will likely continue to feel guilt for not pulling my weight. And my dad will keep being dead no matter what I do.

I’m not trying to complain i just … feel the weight of it all SO strongly these days. How can i be big enough to hold all that?? How can I be strong enough to keep pushing that got damn rock? I’m so so small and soft but I just have to keep pushing it bc maybe if I do I will learn more about bugs or get to kiss my love or eat a yummy treat or feel the sun on my aching skin

[xtruss]

The Rise and Fall of For-Profit Schools

— By James Surowiecki | October 26, 2015, The New Yorker Issue

Illustration by Christoph Niemann

Not too long ago, for-profit colleges looked like the future of education. Targeting so-called “nontraditional students”—who are typically older, often have jobs, and don’t necessarily go to school full time—they advertised aggressively to attract business, claiming to impart marketable skills that would lead to good jobs. They invested heavily in online learning, which enabled them to operate nationwide and to keep costs down. The University of Phoenix, for instance, enrolled hundreds of thousands of students across the country, earning billions of dollars a year. Between 1990 and 2010, the percentage of bachelors’ degrees that came from for-profit schools septupled.

Today, the for-profit-education bubble is deflating. Regulators have been cracking down on the industry’s misdeeds—most notably, lying about job-placement rates. In May, Corinthian Colleges, once the second-largest for-profit chain in the country, went bankrupt. Enrollment at the University of Phoenix has fallen by more than half since 2010; a few weeks ago, the Department of Defense said that it wouldn’t fund troops who enrolled there. Other institutions have experienced similar declines.

The fundamental problem is that these schools made promises they couldn’t keep. For-profit colleges are far more expensive than community colleges, their closest peers, but, according to a 2013 study by three Harvard professors, their graduates have lower earnings and are actually more likely to end up unemployed. To make matters worse, these students are usually in a lot of debt. Ninety-six per cent of them take out loans, and they owe an average of more than forty thousand dollars. According to a study by the economists Adam Looney and Constantine Yannelis, students at for-profit schools are roughly three times as likely to default as students at traditional colleges. And the ones who don’t default often use deferments to stay afloat: according to the Department of Education, seventy-one per cent of the alumni of American National University hadn’t repaid a dime, even after being out of school for five years.

Dependence on student loans was not incidental to the for-profit boom—it was the business model. The schools may have been meeting a genuine market need, but, in most cases, their profits came not from building a better mousetrap but from gaming the taxpayer-funded financial-aid system. Since the schools weren’t lending money themselves, they didn’t have to worry about whether it would be paid back. So they had every incentive to encourage students to take out as much financial aid as possible, often by giving them a distorted picture of what they could expect in the future. Corinthians, for instance, was found to have lied about job-placement rates nearly a thousand times. And a 2010 undercover government investigation of fifteen for-profit colleges found that all fifteen “made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements.” One told an applicant that barbers could earn up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. Schools also jacked up prices to take advantage of the system. A 2012 study found that increases in tuition closely tracked increases in financial aid.

For-profit colleges have capitalized on our desire to make education more inclusive. Students at for-profit schools are able to borrow huge sums of money because the government does not take creditworthiness into account when making most student loans. The goal is noble: everyone should be able to go to college. The result, though, is that too many people end up with debts they cannot repay. Seen this way, the students at for-profit schools look a lot like the homeowners during the housing bubble. In both cases, powerful ideological forces pushed people to borrow (“Homeownership is the path to wealth”; “Education is the key to the future”). In both cases, credit was cheap and easy to come by. And in both cases the people pushing the loans (mortgage brokers and for-profit schools) didn’t have to worry about whether those loans were reasonable, since they got paid regardless.

The government is finally making it harder for for-profit schools to continue to ride the student-loan gravy train, requiring them to prove that, on average, students’ loan payments amount to less than eight per cent of their annual income. Schools that fail this test four years in a row will have their access to federal loans cut off, which would effectively put them out of business. The crackdown is long overdue, but there’s an important consequence: fewer nontraditional students will be able to go to college. Defenders of the for-profit industry, including Republicans in Congress, have emphasized this point in order to forestall tougher regulation.

But if we really want more people to go to college we should put more money into community colleges and public universities, which have been starved of funding in recent years. We should also rethink our assumption that college is always the right answer, regardless of cost. Politicians love to invoke education as the solution to our economic ills. But they’re often papering over the fact that our economy just isn’t creating enough good jobs for ordinary Americans. The notion that college will transform your job prospects is, in many cases, an illusion, and for a while for-profit schools turned it into a very lucrative one. ♦

— Published in the print edition of the November 2, 2015, The New Yorker Issue.

[honeylavenderangel]

Hi there! I greatly enjoyed reading your blog post and getting to learn your perspective on "A Place Further Than the Universe". I have never seen it before, although I find that the anime's portrayal of Kimari's quest for adventure and meaning despite societal expectations placed upon others offers a relatable perspective on personal fulfillment. I do agree with you when you said that the series may not overtly critique capitalism like "Spirited Away" does consumerism, but instead it subtly challenges the notion of success tied to conventional paths. My time as a Florida Gator has been unconventional, I am in my third year although I was attending UF through the UF PaCE Program which is a nontraditional path. In a somewhat similar fashion, Kimari's journey symbolizes the pursuit of experiences that enrich life beyond material gains, which contrasts sharply with the capitalist drive for efficiency and profit. It's inspiring how the anime navigates these themes through the girls' heartfelt journey towards self-discovery and her pursuit of dreams beyond the ordinary. Your blog entry was a great read!

A Place Further Than the Universe and Escaping From Capitalism

I’ve always found something so charming about slice of life shows, and A Place Further Than the Universe was no exception. From its humble beginnings and seemingly impossible dreams, all the way to the Northern Lights that we see on the way back home, it truly feels like we the viewer are going along on the girls’ journey along with them.

When analyzing the themes of A Place Further Than the Universe, I don’t think it’d be right to say that this anime is a social commentary about capitalism like Spirited Away is for consumerism. However, that is not to say that this anime has nothing to say on the topic, even if it is not quite so blatant.

The issue that kickstarts our journey, and that ends of being a core point of the show, is that Kimari doesn’t want to waste her highschool years—she wants to do something spontaneous and exciting. At first glance this goal doesn’t have to do with capitalism, but we have to look at it through a different perspective. Capitalism, at its core, is about maximizing efficiency to get the most profit: this is getting the most out of your life means to capitalist mindset. To Kimari, this would probably look like putting the most into school so that she can go to a good college and get a good job with a good amount of pay. But to Kimari, this isn’t what getting the most out of her life means at all—what she really wants is to have an experience that she’ll remember, the joy of doing something new and spectacular.

Going to Antarctica isn’t just an adventure for Kimari, in a way it’s an attempt to break free from a capitalistic cycle. In fact, this is the case for all of our heroines. Hinata feels the exact same as Kimari, 16 years old and already working a job with plans for going to college early the following year, yearning to do something meaningful while she still has the freedom. Shirase knows no other way she can work towards her dream of going to Antarctica than to work job after job, earning as much as she can. Kimari herself faces the same issue when she finds that in order to even take the first step to achieving her goal, she has to get a job to fund her trip. Yuzuki, too, struggles under the capitalist cycle as her mother acts upon her increasing stardom to put her in more and more things that gain more and more profit, which ends up hindering Yuzuki’s ability to establish any lasting friendships.

But despite their struggles, we see that their journey actually does help them find the fulfillment they wanted outside of capitalism. Kimari and Hinata get the adventure they longed for, Yuzuki finds friends that value her for more than her profit; but most important of all these to me is the scene where Shirase makes her friends her priority over the money that had previously been her most important possession, her ticket to Antarctica.

In the end, no matter what their goals were in the beginning, no matter what reason they went on their expedition in the first place, Antarctica was truly an escape for them, and they all left it with their lives having truly changed for the better.