#since i'm working on my thesis this is so important :D

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

So you want to write about a Jewish Ed Teach - a quick guide to writing a Jewish man of color, by a Jewish moc

Given Taika Waititi is Jewish, I am always so happy when I see fanfic authors writing about Ed being Jewish! We need more Jewish poc rep and I'm always happy to see it. That being said, I've also seen a lot of misunderstandings, so I wanted to to write up a few quick guidelines.

Disclaimer: I'm just one Jew with an opinion, and this is based on my own experiences! I'd love if other Jews, especially other Jews of color, in the fandom would like to chime in with their thoughts as well!

It is possible to be a Jewish athiest! Judaism is membership in a people, and belief in g-d is not required (and, in my community, it's even considered a very personal question!). Some of the most observant Jews I know are athiests; belief in g-d and level of Jewish observance are not directly correlated. Cannot overstate how common it is for Jews to not believe in g-d or go back and forth on the question.

On that note, there are different levels of Jewish observance. Every individual is different, but in general there's Orthodox (very strict), and then, way on the other side, there's Reform and Conservative (Conservative does not equal politically Conservative). Conservative and Reform are very similar, except the Conservative movement tends to be more observant of traditional Jewish law and uses a lot more Hebrew. If you live in an area without a lot of Jews (like where I live!), it's very common for Reform and Conservative movements to have a lot of overlap and collaborate on a lot of stuff together.

Not every Jew keeps Kosher, or keeps Kosher to the same level of strictness.

Synagogue services are not like Christian services, especially outside of holiday services. Ordinary Saturday morning services are often more like a group conversation as we try to work new meaning out of the Torah. The B'Nei Mitzvah, the big ceremony that marks a kid being old enough to participate fully in Jewish life, is more like "baby's first thesis defense" than anything else! There have literally been pauses in services I've attended before as someone ran to the temple library to check their sources.

Not all Jews speak Hebrew. Some Jews might not know any, some might be able to stumble through the more important prayers, some might be able to sight-read okay, some might only know religious words but not modern words, some might be fluent! Just about any level of proficiency is believable.

Ed's got a lot of tattoos! Tattoos are a big traditional Jewish no-no, but (again!) different movements and different Jews have their own opinions. I know a Conservative tattoo artist! It's not something that other Jews would comment on (unless they're just assholes) and it wouldn't make anyone kick him out of synagogue services (no joke, I read that in a fic once).

Hannukah is not the only (or even the most important) Jewish holiday; it's just the one most non-Jews know about. The two biggest holidays are Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. I think Ed's favorite holidays would be Purim (you get to wear costumes and put on plays!) and Passover (retelling of a story along with a big meal!).

Depending on the area and the Jewish demographic, Jews of color can sometimes feel uncomfortable in our own community, especially when other Jews automatically assume we must be converts. While this is a real issue, it is not something I want to read authors who aren't themselves Jews of color write about because it is a deeply inter-Jewish issue.

Depending on the community you grow up in, religious trauma isn't as common with queer Jews as it is with queer Christians. The Reform movement has been advocating for queer Jews since the 1960s (you read that right, yes). I'm not saying there are no queer Jews who have religious trauma, I'm just saing it's a lot less common, and I have always felt immediately accepted as queer in Jewish spaces.

The inverse is not true. Queer spaces are not always accepting of Jews (or of people of color, a double whammy!).

A few stereotypes to avoid: Jews are often stereotyped as being greedy and corrupt. Jewish kids are bullied by Christian kids because "we killed Jesus," when I was ten I had another kid ask to "see my horns." Always avoid comparing Ed directly to animals, especially rodents.

If you're a non-Jew looking to write about a Jewish Ed, I recommend doing some research. MyJewishLearning is a great website that's very accessible.

Every Jew interacts with our Judaism differently, so if you're writing a Jewish Ed, please take a moment to think about what it means for him! Membership in a community? Calming traditions that remind him of home, family, and community? A point of pride - we're a resilient lot! Even just a note in his background that he's not as connected to as he might like to be?

[yeyinde]

I want you to know how absolutely IN LOVE I am with Lavender Skies

The whole time I was reading it I was genuinely in awe.

I’m so bad with words and explaining but it’s genuinely written so beautifully.

The way you give such life to it is astounding.

It’s so easy to see yourself in it but also so easy to see it as almost an oc? Not in the way where it feels alienating but in the way that there so much personality and love between them that it makes it seem so full of life it that makes any sense?

And the

“That you live, instead, somewhere in the parentheses of both.”

And

“You fit against him, tucked safe between the parentheses of his arms.”

K i l l e d m e

It’s one of my favorite aspects of it it’s so beautiful

I really love also how there no smut lmao

I love that it’s just romantic and comforting and full of love and affection.

Fanfiction is such a powerful medium and of course people can write what they want but it does get a little repetitive to see nothing but sexual content in my opinion. (No shade of course that’s all lovely too and can be very well written) but it’s so refreshing to see something so beautiful and full of love without sex being the main ‘theme’ ig?

Especially for how under-written Gaz it makes me appreciate this so much more.

I really hope that you’re as proud of this as I am cause it’s genuine a work of art.

My new favorite fic out of literally any I’ve read.

Thank you so much!

💚

Ahhh, thank you!!! I'm really glad you liked it 🖤

I've written tonnes of smut - a lot of it is incredibly gratuitous and just there for the sake of being there, but I also think physical intimacy can be a great way to explore deeper, more complex emotions like vulnerability, too. It can definitely be deeper than just instant gratification, but it just wasn't as important as the feelings already festering between them, if that makes sense. Plus, I think first time smut between these two would be pretty heavy on the emotional side since these two have been pining for a decade (and it would be a side of each other not yet explored which has it's own caveat, me thinks), but this was already chocked full of emotion and adding anything else felt a bit overwhelming.

I also had this whole background planned out for them (from college to now) to give more insight into their relationship but I cut it out to focus on them, in the present, instead. I was hoping the ambiguity would let people dream up their own scenarios about what happened, charting this relationship from start to finish with their own personal experiences and desires, but it snuck in, anyway 😅 I like blank slate characters but sometimes you need to give them a little bit of life to get the plot moving lmao

Ahhh, this comment really made my day!! I was pretty worried about this since most of what I write is a lot like an essay where I feel the need to constantly prove my thesis (they're in love and here is the proof in example a, b, and c), so this was a bit new to me and almost completely void of flashbacks (almostttttt), but this sort of quelled a lot of my fears. Thank you so much!!! 🖤

[writingonesdreams]

Happy sts to you, Dreams ^^ I hope you're having a lovely one. I don't have a specific question for you this week, so consider this your free pass to ramble about whatever writing-related has been on your mind recently, and also, to take a page from your book, may I have an update on how your writing is going? :D

Hehe update question, why not :D

I have actually two new characters as you might have noticed. Juno, fellow researcher and earth elemental and Cameron, from the international dragon management who will play an interesting contrast to Zephyr for Skye and be important for Zephyr's arc as a whole. I have been gathering and writing down quotes for their scenes all week, hadn't yet had time to write them down in full yet cause exams. But the exam from literary theory I'm taking is proving to be quite entertaining and inspiring on it's own. There are actually researchers for pop culture and genre defining books like Twilight and Hunger Games? And schemas fantasy follows, with four most well-known? This is great food for the thesis I'll be writing this semester.

I'm also coming to terms Zephyr's character might be better of telling me what it wants to be like himself, and through my unconscious decisions about him instead of conscious ones, cause when I overanalyze him I just give myself a headache. Someone remind me of that in my next Zepnyr related crisis XD. But like I found this movie series Hornblower about this rising ship captain in the navy and he is so heroic, noble, moral, polite, strict with himself...and so obsessed with all those heroic ideals, keeping his word, the greater causes it's hilarious and reminds me of Zephyr. I think he could nicely manifest the greater good and heroic ideals arguments - to show their charm and also their pitfalls. I hate the greater good argument personally, but he could be a good OC to explore and subvert it with.

I always struggled with making my OCs flawed in case they were too imperfect, cause if a flaw went too far I was the one to stop liking them XD. Is what I can't stand writing villains or abhorrent behavior. But recent debates with Nectar kinda made me realize that the fun aspect could come above the relatablity aspect and if I focus more on the dissonance between characters and myself and what I consider right and perfect...I would have much more freedom. To let my OCs do some questionable and nasty things. Maybe get called out on them, maybe not.

As much for plot stuff. Unrelated to that I found out about Sicktember and Whumptober and I'm considering writing this mini series of hurt/comfort moments for my cast just for myself (since I don't know if and where to post it anyway). The lack of plot and higher meaning for these fascinating self-indulgent instances still worries me, plus there is also the factor of how much do you have to know and care about a character before you enjoy seeing them suffer or get comforted? But I gathered a prompt list and scene ideas, so maybe it will work. Or maybe it will work better once I introduce Kieran and Cameron properly (do those two names sound too similar in English? They look different enough written, but I'm not sure and I hate similar names. Terror of storytelling experience brr).

Ha, look at that, I rumbled quite a bit. Hehe this question will work for me, I always have some weird writing thoughts going on XD.

Thanks for asking!

[mechanicalinertia]

Bubblegum Black Chapter 8 is now live!

Hello all! It's been nearly three weeks since I posted this chapter, and I've been delaying writing the notes for that long while mostly because I wasn't sure how to talk about the chapter. The focus is Celia and Balalaika talking with one another and very little else, so what little worldbuilding details do I really need to highlight? I think there's some stuff, but by and large the chapter is about these two characters. So let's get into that.

Centara District Exterior: Can you tell I was playing lots of Phantom Liberty when I wrote this? You can, can't you! hasukashii na~

Balalaika's Dress: So this is actually inspired by the latest chapter of the New Girl In The Hood arc, where Balalaika is opening an Art Deco-vibes casino and wears an art-deco-ish dress. Of course, a year and a bit later, all her efforts have come to naught. A big fancy Balalaika figure, similar to the Revy Dominatrix one, has come to be released, by the way, and the dress she wears in that one is not the one I'm using here. According to a guy on reddit, said figure has sculpted and painted nipples underneath the glued-on dress. Never change, Japanese 'hobby' industry, never change.

Father's Corporate Princess: This is kind of important, but I'll likely have Balalaika explain it herself later. Suffice to say that I'm not doing some sort of 'she's part of the Neo Soviet Union', and so Balalaika comes from an oligarch clan tied to a real Russian corporation. Again, though, this is information that shouldn't be buried in the notes.

Celia And Her Cause: I actually have read not one but two fanfictions, both from the 90's era of BGC fic, where Celia pops off a suitcase nuke in GENOM Tower. And goodness knows the idea of Celia trying to only keep GENOM 'in check' is an idea as old as its proposition in Scoop Chase. Look, scroll back through my posts and you'll find me going on a rant about how The Sabers Can't Win just pisses me off as an idea, okay? It's... it is what it is, I guess. Some people will say that it's the only valid interpretation, or will even delight in describing how GENOM collapsing would make everything worse. Fuck, look, this is the same thesis I've advanced in Anatomy of a Lovedoll. You read my fics, you know where I stand on stuff like this. And hey! It provides a good foil to Balalaika, who believes that the world cannot be changed, and desires only to have her little niche on a dying planet.

Dinosaur Meat: Look, if we can 3d print synthetic meat, we can 3d print meat that no longer exists as a gourmet novelty. I am completely serious about this. Also, the Psittacosaurus is a dinosaur that just looks edible:

Yeah. You see it too, don't you? Like a little piggy-chicken thing. Heh.

Islamic Combine: A political entity founded by the Emiratis attempting to unite the Sunni and eventually Islamic world into a new caliphate. Pushing the Russians out of Central Asia to control its mostly-Muslim population was what lead to the Kazakh occupation by the Russian military, and that went supremely badly for all parties involved. Of course Balalaika despises them. About a week or two ago, by the way, I came up with the idea of a third metacorporation besides the Japanese GENOM and the Chinese World Prosperity Corporation, the puppetmasters of the IC, called Sunduq Alkhilafa, or Al-Sunduq (In English: The Caliph's Fund, or The Fund). I'm probably not going to do much with this organization for now, since D-Company is their primary puppet in Roanapur, and as we've seen D-Company is on its way out...

Various Megacorps within the Concern: Okay, here's some Deep STMPD Lore Bullshit to play around with. Fuck all that tragic character stuff with Balalaika trying to impress Celia and failing, we megacorping up in this hizzouse now. Yo. For realsizzles. - Black Orb is basically a spoof of megafunds and private equity giants like BlackRock and Vanguard, predatory funds who in the 2060's control most of the US's economy indirectly. Their practices haven't changed much since the present day, leeching the life out of industries and companies and turning competitive fields into stagnant monopolies where genuine innovation goes to die. - Verdanse I think I already covered, but they're basically Biotechnica in Cyberpunk 2077. They're food monopolists relying on single-celled vertical agriculture to manufacture bioproducts and petrochemicals of all kinds, ostensibly based out of Africa. They relied on old European seed capital to make it big, though, so they're... let's call them African cosplayers. - The Dangote Group is a massive Nigerian industrial conglomerate IRL, and while in this timeline Nigeria's economic fortunes are not what they could be due to the lack of demand for petrochemicals compared to the metals the Congo possesses, I put them in anyway just because I could, and also because it's nice for pasty dudes like me to remind myself that Africa has industry, has government, it's not just Le Dark Continent. Give it a few decades and I imagine the Western perception of Africa will change drastically. -Bharati Megacorps: Well, who survived the Indo-Pakistani nuclear war? Reliance? Mahindra? TATA? Take your pick!

HCLI: I did explain this, right? Remember, Koko's from the animanga Jormungand, where she's part of an arms-dealing / logistics conglomerate called HCLI. Here, though, she's left said corporation for greener pastures in GENOM. Celia's saying she thinks she could play the rest of her family off against Koko, keeping her unable to control the Redevelopment Concern. This goal - Get Koko - will animate much of the battle against the Concern in chapters to come. Of course, the Sabers won't just be fighting the Concern. Things keep getting in the way...

I Woke Up In An Old-ish Bugatti: I know Bugatti only does models on limited runs, instead of doing annual runs. That was a goof on my part.

Bamboo Network: A shorthand for the Chinese business networks of Southeast Asia, which basically run the region. Check the Wikipedia article:

Anyway, that's it. That's the nerd shit. Which this chapter wasn't really about.

Anyway! Next chapter is a big long fight scene, the first battle for Roanapur. It will take time to write, probably until like mid-March or so. I'll do what I can to put it out but IRL demands are ramping up so don't expect anything anytime soon. See you then!

[kidskingdomgo]

Cohort-Based Learning (Online) – Learning Systems Hot Trend in 2023

When I began writing this essay, I realized it wouldn't be as straightforward as saying, "This is cohort-based learning, this is why it is so great, and this is why vendors and people in L&D are flinging themselves at it." It is not that easy. There are benefits to doing it as well as drawbacks. Before diving in head first and claiming that it improves knowledge, individuals remember more information, and everyone is interacting in such a manner that it taps into a combination of informal and formal learning, there are a number of variables and aspects to take into account (which cohort does).

Before considering cohort-based learning on the corporate side, it is important to be aware of a few brief points, regardless of whether you work in L&D, Training, HR, Marketing, Sales, or another department.

Also Check: Nursery in Damac Hills

In the e-learning sector, particularly in the learning system area, and even in certain HCMs with learning modules, it will be a hot trend. By the end of 2023, the tendency will dominate the whole hot skills trend, but skills will still be highly popular and are definitely significantly targeted to a professional (office) workforce. The trend is already beginning as you read this, um, talk.

Vendors of learning systems, talent platforms, and HCMs with learning will claim to offer cohort-based learning but will be missing several essential elements (which will be presented below). Cohort-based learning isn't taking place if just one person is absent. I want to emphasize that a seller is free to say whatever they want; nevertheless, just because they say it or it appears in their marketing does not imply that it is accurate. I have personally observed this with merchants that claim to have LXP features or an LXP in their system but who lack all of the essential elements/items that all LXPs have.

There will be sellers of learning systems, including HCMs and others, who will mention or demonstrate cohort-based learning but who, in reality, have no idea what it is, where it originated (EdTech), or how to effectively harness its potential.

There will be learning system suppliers, HCMs, and others who will say that "a client" or "clients" haven't requested for it, thus they won't incorporate cohort-based learning or have any interest in doing so. I hear a lot of excuses, but this is by far one of the worst. However, it does provide an explanation for why a system could be out of date in terms of functionality and cutting-edge learning technology. As you may have noticed, why would I inquire whether you had X if I had never heard of it?

Also Check: Nursery in Motor City

You must be aware of all the elements, benefits, and drawbacks of cohort-based learning if you are going to use it for your staff, members, or even clients (which is possible). I can vouch for the fact that you will be misled if you solely depend on information you may find online or from other so-called experts who have never integrated cohort-based learning with e-learning and corporate.

I haven't really written a two-part piece in at least eight years, but this one is genuinely two parts. (I only accomplished it once before, not including any accolades.)

Part 1 is the entry from July 27, 2002. (for those who will read this at a later date). The week of August 4th is the start of Part 2. The second section will continue from the first and include research findings (based on a literature study I'm doing; anybody interested in writing a thesis or dissertation? I apologize; it is a characteristic of each of those fantastic experiences.

If you want to do your own research, don't worry; the second post will include citations and information about where you may learn more about it. I'll write the second piece in a manner reminiscent to how I wrote my thesis' literature review. Since my thesis, this will be the first time I have written a piece with a more academic slant. I apologize in advance if it lacks any of my excellent snarky or nasty quips.

When writing on cohort-based learning, I find it difficult because much of the data originates from EdTech, particularly higher education. You can counter that they are competent, thus it doesn't matter. I respectfully object. The usual age range of students at a university or college is 18 to 21 (adult learners 25 and older are in universities and colleges, but they are not the core). There are certainly items you can remove to offer some context. Unless you have a child and the school is ready to adopt this method, I highly advise ignoring the K–12 programs that use cohort-based learning.

Also Check: Nursery in Business Bay

Because it mainly focuses on synchronous-based learning, which implies learning as it pertains to the course and material, edtech with online learning has been a mixed bag. Once more, I discover suppliers in EdTech that are ignorant of what SBL is.

Asynchronous learning, often known as self-paced learning, is the most popular type of education in the workplace. Even blended learners often include a self-paced learning component.

Are there any institutions or universities that provide ABL (also known as self-paced education for the sake of this post)? The reply is yes, but they are hard to come by. You are more likely to come across someone who still believes that CBT is the trendiest method of instruction and that online education cannot compete with ILT (sorry Charlie Tuna, you are wrong).

Remote learning, the name given to EdTech's online courses, was a huge failure from a US perspective during the epidemic. It received a bad reputation, from which it has yet to fully recover. Do schools still employ it, though? Yes. Even though the Pinto was a tinderbox on wheels in the 1970s, people continued to drive them.

Three key components make up EdTech SBL; I've highlighted them here since they also feature in cohort-based learning, and you should check to see if your system supports them. By the way, cohort-based learning includes them as a necessity.

Think of online instruction as an ILT classroom that includes a syllabus, a linear structure (you must complete each step before moving on to the next one), and a teacher who directs the learning process. If the instructor is active and effective online, the learning experience can be excellent; however, if they are inactive or otherwise terrible, it will be miserable.

Because of the entire syllabus aspect, courses often contain a TOC (Table of Contents). At the corporate level, you may not see the syllabus angle, but the TOC should still be present (honestly, it really must be, but again, people and systems may skirt).

Engagement and interaction are not the focus of this. Real-time interaction or engagement does not involve reactive actions like clicking on a hotspot or watching a video. In this SBL paradigm, robust sim-based learning is not taking place.

Assignments are fairly common and typically (but not always) a part of SBL. You have a deadline to do these duties, and you must.

You have till X day or time to accomplish the first step, and if you don't, you risk getting zinged for it. This is how SBL uses a time restriction (although on the corporate side, that is less likely to happen, what is more likely is the facilitator will just carry on)

Do you recall the MOOC craze? SBL is the format that is employed. The completion rates are still in the 8 to 10% range. That is very terrible. However, I am discussing here right now on the details of SBL and SBL just as it exists in EdTech and MOOCs which were significantly affected by academic issues and followed to the letter the SBL structure. Thankfully, cohort-based learning and its methodology should not exist in those numbers.

Cohort-Based Education

When thinking about or considering cohort-based learning, there are several terms you should keep in mind. It should never be an acronym, thus any vendor who does this should be made to watch either one episode of a TV show where the police sung the whole time for 100 hours as their CEO outlined the advantages of working there (yes, it did exist).

P2P Learning refers to peer-to-peer learning.

Community is a part of cohort-based care.

Peer cooperation - see before

Learning Pods - Although I haven't seen this addressed in any articles on cohort-based learning, I believe it is extremely applicable to the corporate side of the house and much simpler to explain to someone when they think community since it can go to the extra level you desire. Although it would make perfect sense to do so and even demonstrate it, vendors are probably not going to do so, which is unfortunate.

Cohort-based learning includes the practice of knowledge sharing.

Must have a network. In the end, this seems to be one of the main goals.

Last but not least, I saw a remark that said the key to cohort-based learning—rather than its functionality—is how it is used. I disagree; you need both, particularly in simultaneously. There is no first and second in this situation. Hands clasped.

Second, it was mentioned that you might need to discover additional systems in order to do all of the aforementioned tasks. Once more, you shouldn't. Cohort-based learning vendors must have all the necessary elements; they may not be excellent, but they may be adequate. I'll also mention that certain manufacturers will go deep into integrating with, let's say, MentorCloud, which can really elevate mentoring to a whole new level and incorporate learning pods. Which you won't know whether it is well integrated.

Despite this, you may find mentorship on learning systems all over the place that chooses not to go into integration with a third-party solution. I have witnessed both awesome and a lot of "are you serious?" But just to let you know.

Oh, and you can combine MentorCloud with a learning system if you want to use various systems. They could combine. Only MentorCloud is included since, as of this writing, it is the greatest (new) platform I have come across in 2022.

How to use cohort-based learning All of these elements must be present if you are a seller. BOTH OF THEM. Therefore, if you want to purchase a cohort-based learning system (and yes, there is one that truly is), you should make sure that it is either available when it launches or that it will be added before the end of 2023. (which means it is on their roadmap, and I surmise that many vendors rolling out Cohort-Based will not have all of these components, simply because they are not aware).

[sweettodo]

Professor ⟿ Hisoka Morow x femreader

Includes : smut, student x teacher

Word count : 2,7k

[STUDENT IS AGED, IN COLLEGE]

••

"Please- please sir, I'll do anything, please don't fail me this semester."

Professor Morow sits in his office chair; hand on his chin as he ponders, he did like the sound of you begging.

••

You could cry.

You could drop out right fucking now. Beyond fed up.

Tutor after tutor, study session after study session since ninth grade never did you any justice, even cheating- peeking over to your neighbors left you with an end result of the huge red D's, F's and C's scribbled onto your paper. You were tearing the hair out of your head.

You couldn't write an English essay even if there was a gun being held to your temple; you weren't necessarily illiterate, but you envied your classmates who could throw together a thesis in an hour lecture, not to mention these giant papers which could've driven you to kill.

Today, bright and early in the morning, here you sit in your English classroom writing a timed essay, an essay about the logistics of capitalism, whatever that meant. Headache booming while you wrote illogical sentences onto lined paper vigorously.

You didn't even bother to read over your work; an hour later you're finally standing up from your seat and shuffling down the row, reaching to drop your paper into the basket, "Miss. Y/l/n, have you looked it over?" Professor asks, you smile and nod, he takes it from you.

"I wrote it sir, I don't need to reread it." You retort, he leans back in his chair and raises an eyebrow at you.

"That's not necessarily what I meant; very well then." He smiles, you go back to your seat and wait for class to be over.

Thirty minutes later, kids are gathering up their bags and papers, scurrying out of the classroom to their next lecture, as you walk out of the double doors into the hallway, your last name is being called and you stop in your tracks, turning around, "yes, Mr. Morow?" You respond, stepping back into the classroom, he stands from his desk, hands patting the black button up as he stands, he waits for you to approach his desk, his arms crossed and he seemed a little irritated.

You approach the front of his desk, nervous, "now, you can't honestly tell me this is your best work." He sighs, you swallow hard, slightly embarrassed, he looked completely unfazed.

"W-well, in my defense Mr-" you stutter, he immediately cuts you off.

"There is no excuse for this lackluster paper." He states, you jump out of your skin, his tone threatening. Everyone always knew not to mess with professor Morow, he was strict and rarely tolerated unprofessionalism. But you- you, always drove him mad, he hated how you acted, he wished he could fail you for the year, being as you were so incompetent.

But that would be immoral or him to stoop that low.

"I should have you rewrite this, do you know how important this is for your grade? Do you want to pass, y/n?" You not, picking at your nails in fear, he was definitely failing you for this semester.

"I'm sorry sir, I try- I really do, it's just I can't bring myself to it." You mumble, head down in total humiliation. "Please- please sir, I'll do anything, please don't fail me this semester." You plead.

Professor Morow sits in his office chair; hand on his chin as he ponders, he did like the sound of you begging.

He sighs and moves towards his bag, opening it and shuffling through papers, pulling out mine, you braced yourself, "you're going to rewrite this, I will swallow my pride and give you a chance, I'd like to see you get higher than a C." He deadpans, you nod, gracious for his generosity.

Handing the essay back to you, "would you like me to do it right now?" You ask, he shakes his head no, closing his bag and picking it up.

"Nope, I'll help you later, you'll have to leave campus for this evening, so clear your schedule." Your eyes widen, he begins walking out, back to you before he peers his head back towards you, "do you want help?"

"Yes, yes sir I do." You sputter, he gives you a half cocked smile.

"That's what I thought." He leaves you breathless as he turns off the lights as he turns the corner out of his class, leaving you there in the barely lit room. You slowly walk out of the empty class, unsure if something like this was even appropriate, 'but it has to be, he's helping you.'

The next few hours would feel like eternity, laying chest up, looking at your ceiling spread eagle bored out of your mind. Waiting for time to pass before you anxiously awaited for later tonight. As you lay there, you hear your phone swoosh, indicating you had just received an email. You sit up and snatch your phone off the bed stand, opening it and seeing an email from the professor.

With an address being the only thing sent to you, you don't bother responding, 'this must be his house,' you spoke out loud, looking at the time on your phone, you might as well get ready, only an hour until you need to leave.

Wearing the same thing you had worn all day, a plain black skirt with a sweater, you just spray perfume over yourself and brush through your hair.

It was only 5pm, but the time of the year brought early darkness; so it was pretty dark by the time you were walking through the parking lot and unlocking your car door. Bag in toe you drive off campus, you scolded yourself for being so, so stupid. How can’t someone write an essay? Not to mention you were at fault for letting it get this bad... a teacher, y/n? A teacher is doing this for you? It was embarrassing.

Soon you're driving up the spiral driveway up towards the large house in your view, nice car in the driveway, lawn well taken care of. It was beautiful. You take off your seatbelt, opening the car door with your bag and keys in hands.

You walk up the path and inhale before you're knocking on the door; waiting a few seconds and the door is opening. Professor Morow allowed you entrance, wearing the same button up and black slacks as earlier in class. We great each other, "follow me, my office is upstairs." He speaks, you follow him up the marble stairs, down the hall and he's opening a beautiful wooden door, a large desk, chairs in front, a couch with a bookcase behind it with stunning red curtains which were closed.

"You have a nice home Mr. Morow, stunning." You breathe, looking around and observing.

"My, well thank you y/n." He hums, sitting in his chair behind the desk, you sit in front of him, taking out your paper along with a notebook and pencil, “I'll have you rewrite, and after each paragraph I'll read it over for you." He says, crossing his leg, you nod.

"I- I wanted to thank you again, for helping me." Yoy mutter, he nods slowly.

"Don't worry, you'll make it up to me." He smirks, motioning to your paper to get you to start; so you do. Starting with your thesis, you spend extra time making sure you think it looked good. You hand it to him and he reads it over, eyes trailing across the page, "not bad, but I know you can write more about the proprieties within some enterprises.” You groaned and quickly started erasing, his hand immediately grabs your wrist, stopping you, “I didn’t say erase it.” He insists, you look up at him, then down at his hand; a big hand wrapped around your wrist obviously didn’t fill your head with appropriate things.

He suddenly stands, walking around the desk and reaches his arm to grab your pencil, his arm flexing next to your head while he rewrites the things you disregarded, your throat hitches, sitting still and tense; intimidated by his cologne aroma and the fact he was inches from you, “what has you so tense?” You internally gasp, heart beating and you see him now standing against his desk to your right. How the fuck could you answer this?

“I-uh, no reason.” You nervously chuckle, he crosses his arms; he didn’t buy it at all.

“Cat got your tongue?” He chuckles, stepping closer to you, you stared up at him, he towered over you, swallowing hard, “no need to be nervous, y/n.” He says. The tension was really thick in the room, you didn’t notice until you found yourself pressing your thighs together for pressure.

“Sir I-” his hand moves, tucking hair behind your ear, instantly silencing you. You’re spinning. Such an authoritative man making you feel small was a new feeling you hadn’t felt before; like you needed to listen to him or else you’d be in some type of trouble.

“I hope you’re paying attention, if you want to do good of course.” He murmurs, dropping his hand back down, you nod slowly, listening to him. “I’ve always known you could be a good girl.” You were stunned, you chewed on the inside of your mouth like crazy as he still stood over you.

“Mr. Morow,” you breathe, nervous, “I need to pass this class.” The desperation in your voice was pitiful, and Hisoka fucking loved it.

He brings his hand up to your jaw, caressing only a little with his thumb, “don’t worry, you’ll get a good grade,” he purrs, thumb running across your bottom lip, agonizingly slow, “open.” Mouth opening immediately. His thumb slides into your mouth and down deeper towards the back of your throat. You look up at him with beady eyes, he licks his lips and smiles.

He pulls out of your mouth, you hesitantly bring your two hands up, lightly touching his belt, his head drops down and he assists you in unbuckling his black leather belt, “my my, such a fast learner, so good.” Your face heats up, fingers working at the zipper of his pants, the tight space was noticeable, the bulge in his pants made you squirm.

Hand grabbing the back of your head, he’s releasing his cock from his open slacks, you braced yourself for the thick and long cock to stab the back of your throat. He holds your hair back out of your face while you’re spitting up the base of his dick, taking the tip between your lips slowly while you looked up at him with those eyes.

Tongue swirling around the tip, his grip tightening on your skull. You push your head further onto him, spit seeping down your chin; taking over, Hisoka pushes your head down all the way to the base, choking and your throat constriction, he groans and pulls you off him quickly, “do you like my cock down your throat princess?” He purrs, index finger lifting up your chin, you nod, he smiles and grabs you from under your shoulder, you stand and he pushes you over the desk, legs locking and you’re held up by your arms.

“Hmm, how about you give me these wrists.” He hums, ripping you off your only stability, side of your face hitting the desk... right on top of your essay. You hear a click followed by another, cold metal now holding your wrists together.

“What, do you just have handcuffs in arms reach for this typa’ thing?” You found it humorous.

Mr. Morow didn’t.

Your skirt flying up, followed by a shard pain on your thigh, you gasp and try to look up; belt in hand, your English professor had whipped you. Hard. Your leg tries to move back but he’s placing his hands on your waist, keeping you still, “tell me, why might your panties be this soaked? I haven’t even touched you.” He had bent down to your ear, vibrations sending you crazy, “do you want me to fuck you? Princess? Fill you up?” You bite down on your lip, he made you tingle just by the sound of his voice.

Another smack of the belt against your ass rings through you and you yelp out in pain, hissing. “Answer me. Go on,” even his soft voice made this sound harsh, you press your forehead against the desk, panting; the pool of wetness most likely slipping down your thighs.

“Fill me up professor, please.” You mewl, he chuckles deeply, the sound of the belt on the floor caused you to sigh out of relief; instead his hands were grabbing your thong, pulling them down slowly and letting them hit your ankles.

“Oh my, so fucking wet.” He hums, pulling apart your ass cheeks to get a better look.

“Sir.” You retort, needy and beyond ready to be fucked at this point.

“Yes?” You tense up, mouth dropping open when you feel his tip stroke up and down your folds, your thighs tremble and shake under his grasp, slowly pushing his throbbing cock into you. You cry out, “use your words, what is it?” He questions you once more.

“So fucking big.” You moan, he pulls your hips further onto his cock; shaping your pussy to his liking, stretching you out and hitting every nerve possible, “oh my god!” His hips finally touching your ass, you twitched and tightened around him, fitting around him accordingly.

“You take my cock so well.” He pulls out, hands tight around your waist as he slowly thrusts you, you gasp and squeal, he didn’t even need to try to hit your gspot. He speeds up, enough to feel that sharp pressure of his head poking at your cervix, his name spilling from your mouth.

“Such a good girl, do you like that?” Ramming into you, your legs wanted to drop as he fucked you numb, his big hand grabs your hair, yanking your head upwards, “answer me.” He grits, you couldn’t, you couldn’t even compose words as he fucked every syllable out of you.

You didn’t answer, he shoves your head down, slamming onto the desk painfully, you wince and he picks up pace, “I told you to answer me,” drilling into you, you’re stomach twisting into a tight knot.

About to reach your hard orgasm, he only fucks harder, screaming out a gasp, “fuck! Your cock feels so good Sir!” You cry.

Your moans and screams were music to his ears, only inching him closer to stuffing you with his kids, “such a good little fruit, you’re sucking me in so good.” He groans, your cum coating his dick, he picked up your arms by the metal chain of the handcuffs, using it as leverage to demolish your insides.

Your wrists sore, makeup dripping down your eyes along with your tears, hair a mess, legs numb and shaking ready to give out, “I’m-I’m gonna cum again!” You wailed, he didn’t change his pace, cock stroking against your sweet spot.

“Do it.” Hips sputtering, only slowing down slightly, you become his cum disposal, dumping his seed into your hot cunt. He’s groaning, panting lightly; throwing your second orgasm into the mix, your slick and his cum pouring down his cock and your thighs, you shook profusely, he massaged your ass with his hands before unlocking the cuffs and pulling you up, dropping to your knees and huffing.

“You took me so well.” He purrs into your ear whilst picking you up by the armpits and placing you in the chair, he wipes under your eyes where most of the mascara was and brushes your hair out of your face, crouching down to your level and pulling your panties over your knees, you lift up a little so he can pull them up completely while watching his every move.

While you composed yourself, he walked back around to his desk, gathering papers together in a stack, “we can finish writing tomorrow, how about that princess?” You smile and nod, relived he wouldn’t put you through the torture tonight.

“Sure,” you say, standing and trying way too hard to walk normally, you pick up your bag and keys, walking towards his office door.

“See you in class tomorrow, professor.”

[cloudslou]

hi i really like reading about your thesis bc i'm also working on mine rn and i'm! so! lost! i wanna know if you have like a plan for writing yours? i'm also a humanities student so basically i just have to read a lot djkjf but i find it so hard to 😔 if your source is a book or a dissertation do you read it more than once? if you don't how do you choose your citations and stuff like that? do your write a summary for everything you read? i feel like i should but just reading has been really hard for me lately and i recently got a very demanding job so </3 yeah idk fkjdf also i'm sorry for this long ass message 😩

hi anon!!!

a) OMG good luck on your thesis!!!!!! wishing u all the best <333 lets get a support group going

b) reading so much IS hard, but i try to only read what i need. i dont write summaries for everything i read, though early on in the process my advisor did have me list all my sources and justify why i had them/their importance, but i've since gained more sources and havent done that on my own. you can mostly get the benefits of this just by thinking to yourself "how does this source help me? what will i need from it? am i likely to actually reference it in my thesis?"

c) if a source i have is really long (i.e. full book or someone's 300 page dissertation), i dont typically read the whole thing, but rather identify chapters or sections that i need and read those. for instance, one of my sources is Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War. my pdf is 343 pages, which is a lot to read if i'm only going to end up using a couple paragraphs. instead, i focused on chapter 7 specifically since that is what suits my needs. this chapter, at just over 20 pages, is a lot more manageable to read not only once but multiple times if i need to.

d) you dont have to become an expert on every book/article/etc you use as a source. i read things pretty fast and highlight what looks like something i'll need to refer back to, reading around it if i need context when i DO go back. but the highlight tool is my bestie cus i can scroll fast know when to stop on smth past me thought was important.

e) i dont know your thesis paper or what you study, but for history i am very much constructing a story around my evidence, so when i write something and need sources, i dont deep-drive into my sources, but rather just command+f to search for key words that i need (for example, the book i just posted abt in my tags. google books shows me about a 3 line preview of the pages i need based on my search of key terms, but those 3 lines are enough for me to justify writing a sentence in my thesis, and so then that book is now one of my sources).

f) i don't really have a "plan" for writing mine, but every week i meet with my advisor and i set goals for the next time i see her. over spring break, my goal was to get 2/4 analysis sections done (the sections where i am making my Own Original Historical Claims), and i did that! now my goal is to outline the following two sections and get this draft to her by tonight.

my advice is to list out your sections very clearly (even if you know what they are in theory, or you have to delete them when you are done). think about what your priority is (for me, its Making My Historical Claims) and focus on those. other things, like background info, introduction, etc are much easier to push though and the quality of those matters less.

also, focus on getting the words out rather than getting Good words out. think "what do i actually mean?" and try writing that, rather than thinking "here is my thought, how should i best put it into academic language". this might give you clunky sentences, things that dont sound good or need to be reworked, ideas that dont go together well or fully make sense yet, etc, but it gives you more to work with. and once you have the "bones" down, you can work on refining it.

pls dont read every source in its entirety. for history, i mostly need to read the introduction + conclusion, and then skimming inbetween (that is, if i dont just skip to what is relevant to me). i dont know what your discipline is like, so craft these rules to suit your thesis work.

[luvdsc]

Hi Cat (i hope it's okie if i call you Cat 👉🏻👈🏻)! I hope you're doing well! :3 It's Tam once again w some updates UwU

I had a discussion w my supervisor last week and submitted my draft for the Ethics Review Board (ERB) to my supervisor last week soooo yay!! 🥳 just waiting for her to review the draft before we officially submit it to the ERB, I'm hoping it's all good and that there aren't major issues ToT

Aside from that it was free & easy last week after having experienced hell month * - * hehe also I'm going for my vaccination tmr!! (First dose) AHHHH but it's a day before my finals for economic psychology so let's hope it proceeds well too ToT

I left some replies under the previous post but I'll also summarise here keke:

Huhu honestly I doubt I would've had a topic had I not read August :/ my back up topics were either not feasible cuz of complicated measurements or it had too lil studies 😭 ngl i panicked a lil cuz what if I couldn't come up w topic in time ? 🥺😭 I'd face penalties and it'd rly slow down my thesis process huhu so I'm glad this topic was born ToT super ultra grateful 🥺💖😭

This study is pretty novel as there's no prior research has linked these 2 variables together so it's a big gap in itself! I'll have to conduct surgery and piece past literature tgt to create a big narrative in this research topic, so yup there are studies to back me up just needs a lil extra work, innovation and ice cream 😙 it's def more fruitful than my other backup topic that literally, just had 1 study in existence though, I aborted ship immediately ._.

The current sem I'm in is a short sem! Huhu that's why things have been a lil more hectic and crazy, esp w thesis :/ doesn't help that our batch got 2 of the heaviest subjects tgt in a short semester + everything was due tgt towards the end of the sem too (2-3 weeks ago) so it was draining :( but I'm glad we got over this phase and now I'll just have to sit for 1 final paper and I'm done w sem 2! :3

My oral defense went smoothly too! Super glad i didn't have to defend myself too much * lowers gun of defenses * it was more on clarifying the direction of my theoretical framework (TF), my co-marker advised me to ensure clarity & coherence when I actually write my paper and my supervisor's comments were just on seeking further clarification for the scoring of the scale and my theoretical framework! Yays to this hehe UwU

Also IT'S A MUST TO INCLUDE YOU IN THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🥺 you've inspired me through yr writing and 10k words in one sitting? THAT'S MY THESIS RIGHT THERE :O

Thankiew for yr kind words and showing so much love and support in my thesis journey!! 🥺💖😫 this motivates me to WORK HARD AND GET THAT HD (a distinction (D) is fine too 🥺) for my thesis huhu 🥺😭

hi, honey bee !!!! 💕 i'm so sorry about the delayed response, i wasn't able to see my later messages in my inbox on the app since it only shows the first ten or so for some reason ?? and yes, it's absolutely okay to call me cat, lovebug! 🌸 i'm doing good, and i hope you're doing good and enjoying your weekend 💘

i saw your most recent message and omg big congrats that your supervisor approved and you got to send it off to the ERB, sweetpea !!!!! 🥳🥳💟 i'm so proud of you :')

alkfhdalkjsd i hope these past few weeks have been kinder to you!! how was the first dose? did you experience any symptoms? have you gotten the second dose already? and omg how did your econ psych final go? :o

i'm so sorry, i didn't see your replies, honey bee 😭 i think it might've gotten lost in my notifications especially since i went mia for a couple weeks 😅

oh goodness, then i'm so so glad that you were able to come up with a topic after reading august, lovebug 🥺💖 what were your back up topics if you don't mind me asking? and i feel that tho 😭 i didn't know what i wanted to do for my final art pieces and panicked a bit because i needed to submit my ideas for it too 🤧

omg that sounds like so much work, but also researching is so much fun when it's for a topic you actually enjoy?? plus, psychology studies are so interesting to read !! i love reading up on those sm 💕 how has the research been going for you? (also, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? 👀) and i'm glad to hear that there's more studies to back it up compared to your previous topic omg only 1 study...... rip

wait what's a short sem? :o i thought most semesters are like aug - dec and then jan - may? oh god, this makes me suddenly grateful that i'm no longer in college because i remember the grind that happens in the last few weeks when everything is due 😭 i'm glad to hear that it's over for you now though !!

omg i'm so happy to hear that your oral defense went well too!!! this is so interesting to hear all about your thesis process, like i never had to do this, and it's so cool to learn about what other majors do :o

PLS IT IS AN HONOR THAT YOU WOULD INCLUDE ME IN YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH 😭😭💖 this is my greatest accomplishment ever🧎🏻‍♀️🧎🏻‍♀️

and omg of course, honey bee !!!! i'll be your biggest cheerleader like i'm so so excited to hear about your thesis and everything, and thank you for letting me be a part of your thesis journey 🥺🥺 YOU WILL GET THE HD 😤 I BELIEVE IN YOU !!!! i'm so proud of you for working so hard and doing so well 💜 but also pls make sure to take breaks and have some time for yourself too !! self care is important !! 🌷🌷

[funknrolll]

Michael Jackson and the use of classical music in his art

Hi music lovers, today I want to tell you how the King of Pop, Michael Jackson has been capable of creating some pieces of fine art by integrating pop music with classical music and visual arts. I will discuss deeply this topic and the meaning he gave to the outcome of this magistral work and the craftsmanship behind these works of art!! Let us start with this analysis!!

It was between the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s when Michael Jackson began to create his third studio album, Dangerous and among all the songs we can find in this work Will You be there is characterized by a very peculiar incipit/introduction. Honestly thinking about the Dangerous album as whole, we could have expected to listen to something more oriented to pop and RnB but Michael Jackson loved to surprise the public and his fans, so he decided to add “Will You be there” to the album as the 11th track. As we all know Michael Jackson was an eager lover classical music. Not only did Michael appreciate this music genre but he also had a deep knowledge of it and was a keen connoisseur of classical music and all its artists. Additionally Michael Jackson was blessed with such a brilliant mind, and his creative genius took him to use such a monumental incipit in the song I mentioned. Regarding the introduction to this masterpiece, Michael used the last part of Beethoven’s Symphony 9 in D Minor (op. 125), most commonly known as Ode to Joy. As I said Michael had an extremely precise knowledge of classical music, for this reason I can affirm that he had a precise motivation to use that precise segment of the Symphony. Therefore the most accurate question should be: Why would Michael use that segment of the 9the Symphony? Why did he choose Beethoven’s 9th Symphony? In my opinion the King of Pop was extremely aware of the deep meaning contained in the Symphony which gets along extremely well with the lyrics of Will You Be there. To understand better this topic and to have a better view of the reason why Michael used Beethoven’s 9th Symphony Ode to Joy for the introduction to his song, we need to discuss about the story of the Symphony, and its meaning!! Friedrich Schiller wrote the Ode to Joy in 1772 and in 1808 this poem was released. Beethoven composed the Symphony 9 in D Minor between 1822 and 1824. Regarding Schiller’s Ode to Joy, as we can see from its words, it is a hymn to peace, love for one another, joy and freedom. On the other hand, Beethoven for the last movements of the Symphony chose to take Schiller’s poem and transform it into music, for the fact that it was putting into words the composer ideals values, such as freedom, love, brotherhood and friendship. The outcome of the Symphony 9 in D Minor is therefore a monumental hymn to peace, love for one another, friendship and brotherhood. We also need to take into consideration the historic time the Symphony and the poem were composed and written: it was the 19th century which corresponded to the Romantic age, so we can’t be surprised about all the values and ideals these two works are expressing!! Going back to Will you be there by Michael Jackson, after this brief analysis of Ode to joy, we can affirm that Michael Jackson was aware of what the Symphony stood for, so he decided to use it to introduce Will you be there. In addition as a big fan of Michael’s, I can say as i mentioned, that all the values and ideals he stood for such as peace, love, brotherhood and freedom especially, are extremely evident and clear in this song and since Michael shared the same values and ideals expressed in the Symphony, here it is the reason why he elected the Ode to Joy to craft the introduction to his song, for example in Michael’s words “But they told me/A man should be faithful/And walk when not able/And fight till the end/But I'm only human” in these few lines it is clear that the artist was asking for freedom, another example of how this song is expressing a message of love and friendship “Carry me/Like you are my brother/Love me like a mother/Will you be there?/When weary/Tell me will you hold me/When wrong, will you scold me/When lost will you find me?”. As we can see the lyrics of this masterpiece are extremely eloquent, and clear.

Moreover, we can listen to how Michael used classical music in some other works of his, and another relevant example is Little Susie/Pie Jesu. This is another brilliant example of how classical music not only is used for the introduction of the song but also as an integration of this work, which has contributed to impart the song a more impactful meaning. The Symphony Michael used for the incipit to this song is the Requiem (Op. 9) : V Pie Jesu by Maurice Duruflé. As we can listen, Michael has used his own variation of the 9th movement of this Requiem. In his version, the Michael Jackson used a children choir instead of a single voice to execute this movement of the Requiem, but he kept the main melodies anyway, which is extremely important because in my opinion great melodies should never be changed!! Furthermore as we can see Michael used a Requiem for the incipit and it makes clear for the listener what kind of topic we should expect in this song. Indeed for those who do not know much about classical music, a Requiem is a musical composition or solemn chant in honor of the deceased. The song infact deals with the story of a little girl who was abandoned by her whole family, in Michael’s words “Her father left home, poor mother died/ Leaving Susie alone/ Grandfather’s soul too had flown../ No one to care/ Just to love her/ How much can one bear/ Rejecting the needs in her prayers”, and eventually the little girl after struggling to stay alive, committed suicide by throwing herself down the stairs. I do not believe this song was based on a true story, I would rather believe that little Susie is the personification of all those children who are left alone without anyone to love them. Another significant particular to support my thesis is the last part of this song “Neglect can kill/ Like a knife in your so/ Oh it will/ Little Susie fought so hard to live”, from these words we can see why this little girl died. Going back to speak about how the Requiem and Little Susie/Pie Jesu could match, as I mentioned Requiems were used to honor the dead and in my opinion the accuracy of the use of this type of composition to introduce a song that deals with the death of a little girl is extremely brilliant.

Another song in which Michael used classical music for the incipit, is HIStory. The composition the artist used is the piano concerto Pictures at an Exhibition by the russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. Like in Will you be there, there is the need to know about the story of Mussorgsky’s composition, to understand better the reason why Michael used this particular piano concerto to introduce his song. Modest Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition as a memorial to his friend, the painter and architect Viktor Hartmann, who died in 1873. After Hartmann’s death, Mussorgsky visited an exhibition of Hartmann’s paintings and architectural studies, and he felt the need to capture that experience in music. The logic of how Mussorgsky piano concerto and Michael Jackson’s HIStory are connected could possibly seem pretty odd and intricate. In my opinion HIStory by Michael Jackson is an extremely, i would say, visual song for the fact that it is very easy to picture all the lyrics and words Michael is singing, in our minds. Therefore I can affirm that as much as Mussorgsky felt the need to capture and recreate the experience in his music, so did Michael Jackson: he was extremely aware of what was happening around the world and he felt the need to capture all these images in his music as well. This is in my opinion what connects Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition and Michael Jackson’s HIstory. Moreover we can listen to how Michael Jackson had varied Mussorgsky’s Pictures, and made it more monumental by adding more wind istruments and more drums, anyway he kept each and every melody and harmony. It is pretty mesmerizing to see how well Michael knew classical music and its history, he was such a man of many surpres!!

Moreover not only did Michael Jackson use classical music in his songs, but he also used it within the songs he was performing during his concerts. Indeed in his Dangerous World Tour he used for example some pieces from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” which were used just in some dates of the tour. During his HIStory World Tour Michael used the Piano concerto Pictures at an Exhibition by the Modest Mussorgsky. Moreover during the 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2001 at the opening of the concert it was played the composition Fanfare for the common Man by Aaron Copland. Finally during his concert Michael Jackson and Friends in 1999, before his Earth Song the full Symphony Ode to Joy was played. Furthermore as we have seen in many clips taken at Neverland valley ranch, there was always classical music playing through the speaker sistem and one of the main pieces played was Bach’s Sonata for Flute in A minor. In addition in several interviews Michael Jackson said to be a great fan and connoisseur of classical music and among his favorite composers there were Claude Debussy, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov.

To sum up, with this article we have seen how it was possible to inegrate pop music with classical music and craft some creative, original and unique works of art. With this article we have seen Michael’s deep research and knowledge of the music genre. Moreover The meaning and the message Michael gave to his music is also something extremely relevant!! As Michael Jackson once said “Great music is immortal, we still listen to Mozart today, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, any of them, any of the greats. Great music is like a great piece of sculpture or a great painting, it’s forever”, and today we can say that Michael Jackson has gained a place among all the great artists he kept talking about!!

Here’s the link to get your copy of Dangerous, a real masterpiece of music!!

https://amzn.to/2CqFNgZ

Here’s the link to get your copy of HIStory

https://amzn.to/2Y7X5sy

I recommend you music lovers these two masterpieces of music!! You needto have these albums in your collection!!

Thank you for your attention!! G❤️

[nellie-elizabeth]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I'm Finding My Bliss (4x14)

Yep, another good episode. Who's surprised?

Cons:

This isn't actually a problem with the episode, but maybe a function of me not being able to get my head out of my ass, but I'm still finding it hard to wholeheartedly support the idea of Rebecca and Greg. Skylar Astin is doing a fantastic job, and whenever he's sharing scenes with other characters, I'm totally sold on this being Greg. But when he's with Rebecca, the energy and chemistry that they bring to the relationship just does not feel like a continuation of what they built back in Seasons One and Two. It's compelling in its own, way, but it feels like a separate thing.

I wish Valencia hadn't given Beth an ultimatum like that, but I suppose we'll wait and see what the fallout is in the next few episodes. I really should reserved judgment, and I thought Valencia had a fascinating journey in this episode, but I'm a little bit frustrated at the idea of Valencia and Beth's relationship ending in these last few episodes. We'll have to see what happens.

Pros:

Paula getting amazing job offers is so great! I'm genuinely happy for her. I saw someone else review this show and point out that in a less nuanced version of this same story, Paula would have seriously considered staying put because of her friendship with Darryl. Then, Darryl would have the realization about letting Paula go, and only with his blessing would Paula agree that it was time to move on. But no. Paula has worked very hard to achieve her dream, and here in this moment she knows that she's worth it. Of course she feels bad about hurting Darryl and leaving behind a place where she's worked for so long, but that doesn't mean she'd ever consider putting Darryl ahead of herself. That's huge, for a character who had to put her dreams on hold for such a long time. Also, just as a quick note, I love Darryl a lot. I love that he was able to come to terms with Paula leaving because he wants his friend to be happy. Sure, he might want to keep her around, but he would never try to manipulate her or guilt her into staying. I love him.

Another character I'm very happy for is Greg. He has something of a mini-arc in this episode where he realizes, with the help of the ever-wise Heather, that it's not West Covina that Greg has always had a problem with - it was just his own self-hatred. His business-school thesis project, to reopen his family's restaurant, goes well, and he decides he's going to stay in town and reopen the restaurant for real. I just want to say, that separate from his relationship with Rebecca, Greg coming back and realizing that this place can be home for him is quite moving. I had my doubts about Greg's return, since it seemed like he had genuinely found peace and happiness elsewhere. But this is a thing that happens to people - they grow, they change, and their thoughts and feelings grow with them. Whether or not Greg and Rebecca end up together in the end, I'm happy Greg has stuck around. Also, Skylar Astin's reprise of "Hey, West Covina" was absolutely beautiful. He's got an amazing voice, and his version really highlighted the joy of his epiphany.

Like I said, I'm torn about Valencia and Beth, but I do want to praise Gabrielle Ruiz's performance. This is something of a backslide for Valencia, as she suddenly pins all of her hopes and dreams on marriage, with the idea that all her problems will be solved if she can just get down the aisle. However, we also see how she has grown. She pouts and grumbles, but her relationship with Beth is built on real love and respect. She comes clean to Beth and tells her exactly how she's feeling, and while she might have been a bit more tactful about it, I still ultimately think this was proof of Valencia's growth.

Oh, Josh. This week, we see that both Josh and Nathaniel get involved with the local musical production in order to be around Rebecca. In a way, both of these men are doing the kind of thing Rebecca would have done to be around Josh in the earlier seasons of the show. However, there's a twist with both cases. With Josh, it's the fact that he doesn't go as far as Rebecca would go, and he just sort of quietly fails in his quest to connect with Rebecca. Sure, she's happy to see him and glad he's helping out, but they don't have a character moment or a beat where it looks like Josh is winning her over. I hope that we get to see an honest character resolution for Josh, because honestly, of the three main suitors I've got to say that Josh's continued interest in Rebecca is the most troubling. It's not founded on a real connection or real romantic feelings. It seems like Josh is acting out and needs to focus on his own personal growth. I don't like his behavior in this episode, but it's a "pro" in terms of the story's development, because I think we need to see Josh overcome these hurdles the same way we saw Rebecca do.

But then there's Nathaniel. He is also doing something a little over the top in order to spend time with Rebecca, but I honestly think his behavior, while a bit unhealthy, isn't the same type of twisted manipulation we've seen Rebecca use over the years. Sure, he lets himself get roped in to being a part of the musical, but we see that throughout the rehearsal process, Nathaniel doesn't do anything to make Rebecca feel smothered or uncomfortable. It's not just a smokescreen - he really does learn the song, and learns Rebecca's song too. He really does intend to be a part of this thing. And there's nothing inherently creepy or wrong about doing an activity to be around someone you care about, although I do admit it's problematic that he doesn't tell her this until the end of the episode. Here's the bottom line of the situation, though: when Nathaniel went out there to sing Rebecca's song with the changed lyrics, he wasn't doing it in order to win her affection. He was doing it to make her happy, because he cares about her and he could tell this was important to her. That's huge. I'm not necessarily rooting for these two to end up together, but I find the delicate and intricate relationship between them to be very fascinating and touching. Rebecca's line: "someone else is singing my song," was huge, by the way. Whatever ends up happening between these two, I think that was a great moment for both characters.

And we'll end with Rebecca, appropriately. This episode was huge for her character development. We start with a somewhat familiar concept - Rebecca has found something or someone that she thinks is going to make her whole life better - if she can just a) be with Josh or b) be with Greg or c) be with Nathaniel or d) devote herself to being single or e) open a pretzel shop and get out of the legal profession, or f) go back into musical theatre... then suddenly everything in her life is going to click and make perfect sense. That's the setup, and if we know Rebecca, she's going to go to any lengths to make sure that her dream comes true. She'll warp reality to suit her purposes and make the experience what she hoped it would be.

Except... she doesn't. She's not great a singing, and she knows that, but she gives it her all, and is really excited by the song that she gets. Then, while she starts to become disillusioned with the message and lyrics of the song, she still practices and comes to rehearsal and doesn't let everything get all dark and twisty. She tries to change the lyrics and take ownership of the song's message, and she doesn't have a total breakdown when things go wrong. At the end of the day, Rebecca's first experience getting back into musical theatre goes horribly. But she's okay. She's not losing her mind. She's processing, and she's disappointed, but she's not going to give up just because of this setback. That's huge. I think this is a great personal accomplishment for Rebecca, and it's not due just to Nathaniel's interference, or any other external force. It's thanks to all of the hard work she's put in to building herself a healthy life.

And that's that! I can't believe how close we are to the end. I'm going to be extra super-duper emotional when this show comes to an end, I can tell you that!

9/10

[miss-pettigrew]

(1)a BUNCH of long asks coming your way, i'm so sorry I just love discussing KS with other people so I run my keyboard down lol.... so I finally read your latest post on KS. Anyway, I thought it was mind blowing on the point that the current story is almost always being narrated by Bum, so perhaps all the images are in Bum's perspective--which makes complete sense to why Sangwoo is always 'yaoi' sized compared to poorlittle Bum. I threw my hands up in surrender to you after that paragraph

Firstly,here’s the rest of the asks: 

To move onto my question, actual penetration seems to be the next step between Bum and Sangwoo in their 'physical relationship'. But part of me thinks that Sangwoo will never do it with Bum. Many times in the past chapters, Sangwoo has expressed dislike for homosexuals. Hell, he even dresses Bum as a country gal to (imo) remove any masculinity from Bum and sort of 'project' this image that Sangwoo is holding hostage a woman, not a man (imo again). 

There was only one time (I think) during a sexual act when Bum and Sangwoo exposed their dicks to each other, which was that one BJ scene where Bum gets Sangwoo off and pulls out his own dick. Honestly I can't remember if that was accurate or not cuz it's very hard for me to read those earlier chapters (I get so nervous and disturbed omfg). But going back to that BJ scene, Bum is still dressed like a girl as well.

So for my question (finally) I know you said that Sangwoo will /most likely/ give Bum some sort of sexual reward after all this, but do you think that Sangwoo will some how 'feminine Bum' in order to justify their sexual acts? Perhaps slapping that bra onto Bum?? Another question that just came into my mind was this.. it's goes back to your point about how Sangwoo looks so much bigger and whatnot.

You've said that you're not a sensitive person in your post and I also agree with that for myself. I've seen a lot of things in the past and I don't get too affected by it all. I usually can shrug off things pretty easily. But what I can't shrug off is rereading those earlier chapters.

As I stated in my past question, I get deeply disturbed and really anxious even /thinking/ about the situation that Bum is going through (don't get me started with the arc where Sangwoo was acting kind to Bum--I was hyperventilating the entire time). Do you think that because the story is most likely viewed through Bum's eyes, that the anxiety and panic or any emotion anyone gets when reading these chapters is a mirror to Bum's?

It's probably an obvious answer but I'm curious to reading your response. And also, if you believe that it is a mirror, what about during the short time Ji Eun took control of the narration? Is there something different? Sorry again if these are stupidly long asks and that I spammed you with all of them, but you pose such good analysis that I feel like I wanna dive deep with you on it as well LOL... ANYWAY THAT'S IT I'M GONE NOW LOL.

Secondly - hehe, thank you! I really am enjoying this even if it is slightly embarrassing how much I think about all this stuff. It’s interesting because nowadays I don’t normally need to wait for anything - media wise (except videos games but that’s on me). Like, with Netflix, all the episodes come out at one time and there’s no time for speculation or analysis. Until YOI, I hadn’t waited on anything, so I found myself reading a lot of meta and analysis and I guess I figured this is the time to get involved and do my own.

Thirdly, this is a great ask, and there’s stuff in here I hadn’t really thought about and there stuff in here that I have so I’ll do my best with both of those.

So that next step question? It’s an interesting one, and one that I don’t have any final opinion on, but rather a few directions I could see where it could go. Because you’re right, Sangwoo is homophobic and that does manifest in the sexual encounters with Bum. And yet, he also just clearly doesn’t give a fuck as long as he’s getting something out of it. So it’s a very unique mindset to be in when it comes to sex. Because nothing outside of how Sangwoo thinks, feels or reacts matters. He’s not completely homophobic because society, as a whole, tends to be homophobic. But because he sees it as a... difference? weakness? something to take advantage of and look down on. Like for him, it’s just so weird that this little freak likes men wow he’s such a freak but that also this freak surprises me and will do anything for me and I’m into it.

So the panel that keeps coming to mine is the “have you even had sex yes” panel with the dildo. And that concerns me because, well for one, Bum has had sex - and I don’t think a single time has that sex been consensual - just rape. And he and SANGWOO have had sex? And I sort of talked about this before, but clearly Sangwoo doesn’t consider what they’ve as “sex” despite it definitely being yes. So maybe he’s just one of those penetration=sex or maybe what he and Bum are is completely outside of anything he would normally define. I’m not sure. 

So, my concerns lie in how does Sangwoo expect Bum to participate in this sexual portion of the murder? If he involved Bum as anything more than shock value for Jieun or will he try to have him lose his supposed virginity? Eh, probably not but maybe. And I realize I’m not answering your actual question here so let me get to a point.

I, personally, hope that “penetrative sex” is not the next step in their sexual relationship. Now - or ever. Because Sangwoo will hurt Bum. There is no gosh darn way he knows how to sleep with other men. He’s probably never even heard of lube - women are supposed to be doing all the work for him here. Plus, prep and going slow, like we have literally just seen how little time or care he takes when sleeping with someone because with Jieun he sort of just gets right in there - at least according to my reading of their intercourse. Time is a funny thing when it comes to sex scenes though. But, to get to your point, penetrative sex sort of makes sense when it comes to Sangwoo and his idea of power and control and homophobia. He simply wants to Bum submitting to him. That’s really what any sort of sexual interaction with Bum requires, I think? 

But you bring up a good, and interesting point. Bum has never been sexually naked in front of Sangwoo. And I think that’s on purpose. But not necessarily because Bum being naked would remind Sangwoo that he’s in fact, a man, but he had no problems messing around with his flat chest before. So the lack of boobs aren’t an issue. Instead, it might be more, he just doesn’t consider Bum’s pleasure a priority. He just assumes Bum’s gonna get all the pleasure he needs out of pleasing Sangwoo and that’s not really Sangwoo’s priority to solve.

So if he and Bum do have sex again post-Jieun (and I expect they will) it’s important to note that it’s not really a “reward” for Bum. But rather something Sangwoo will want to do because he feels close and intimate with Bum and wants to get his rocks off again, and Bum is expected to go along for the ride. And that’s the thesis of this. I’m so sorry how much I ramble. I guess, in short, the feminization won’t really... come into play here? Or rather it will but because submission is the key.

To your second question, I’ll put the thesis right up front.

AB-SO-FREAKING-LUTELY. Like, y’all, that’s the entire point of reading this story. And that’s why I started off my whole meta series over how GOOD Koogi is as a story-teller because she does a near flawless job of getting you into Bum’s head/mind without you having a single clue. Why were we all so upset at Sangwoo sleeping with Jieun? I even admitted if gave me the actual feeling of that time I was cheated on because for us, we had just been cheated on too, through Bum. Even though, taking even half a step back - um, they are not in a romantic, consensual, healthy relationship. Sangwoo can and will have sex with whomever we wants. But for Bum, not one whole chapter ago he made Sangwoo tell him what he and Jieun had done together. And for him, his assurance that Sangwoo had not slept with Jieun has been both betrayed and thrown right in his face, can we’re only getting a taste of that betrayal. Bum is breaking, and we are along with him. 

I can’t decide if I think Bum knows what’s coming. If he’s going to have to help kill her. I have a feeling he doesn’t, especially now when the fact he’s watching Sangwoo sleep with her is all he’ll be able to process, and obsess, and destroy himself over. 

Every step of the way, we are meant to feel a little what Bum feels. That’s good, psychological horror at its finest. All of our sane rational selves know that this story is horrific, and abusive and something none of us would want any real part of. But hip hip hooray this is fiction and the point of fiction is to explore parts of ourselves (and I mean this holistically, like us a species) in situations and relationships and terror that we hope  to never find ourselves in. That’s why humans have told stories since the dawn of time (and to like, pass down history and shit but you get my point).

And as far as Jieun, I mentioned it briefly before, but Jieun is 10000000% a foil/mirror for Bum. Break down their roles in the narrative and they are the EXACT. SAME. PERSON. Both love(d) Sangwoo, they’re devoted to him. They WANT him. Both have consciously placed themselves right into Sangwoo’s hands. And like, think about that dinner scene. People are making such a fuss because Jieun is being “mean” to Bum. But she’s acting like literally anyone would. She’s acting like Bum would if the roles were reversed. Nevermind, she’s acting like Bum IS ACTING because they’re both jealous, and possessive and wanting Sangwoo’s attention and affection. 

We got into her head because narratively, we’re basically still in Bum’s. No, Jieun and Bum are not the same person. But the distinction we’re meant to see, I theorize, will be the moment when Jieun finds out who Sangwoo really is. I seriously doubt she’ll react like Bum did. I imagine she’ll reject Sangwoo instead of getting on her knees and confessing love for him - like she even has the opportunity. 

I admit to being a little bit disturbed by the fandom’s overall reaction to Jieun. But in the same note, I doubt most are stepping back to see her as a mirror to Bum because Bum doesn’t see that. He sees her as a threat to him and to his relationship with Sangwoo. So I get the defensiveness on the part of the fandom, especially since most of y’all seem to be pretty young and it’s hard for your brains to take a step back. Hope that doesn’t offend, but it’s true because I was a teenager once too and I know what it’s like. lol.

This was long, but it’s also sort of my brand. Hope this was good!