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nagisasstunningpersonality · 4 years

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The Character As A Tool: Why Your Fave Doesn't Get More Screentime

Please refer to this post

REMINDER THAT ALL VIEWS HERE ARE MERELY MY OWN OPINIONS

In truth, one of the most common complaints I see within this fandom is the treatment of side characters. Meaning, in short, a fair amount of the fandom are less connected to what’s going on with our main group of Nagisa, Karma, and Kayano, and instead relate to some of the less obvious choices. Now, there’s no problem with doing this. Hey, if you see something you like in a less important character, then absolutely go for it!

What We Do Know

I discovered for myself, whilst making my About Ass Class series posts, that absolutely some characters’ actual canon information is very dry. Matsui gives everyone a few bits here and there in both the Roll Call book and Graduation Album. If you’re lucky, there’s further points you can pick up just from watching/reading.

Now, and this I want to emphasise I’m stating as an opinion, Matsui actually gives us quite a lot to go from. Even if not every character is highly developed, there’s still a genuinely very solid starting block to go from with your own headcanon. Perhaps it can be argued that it’s not the reader’s job to supply that, but I’d counter that it’s actually kind of fun to not be fed every piece of information. Though more facts and a deeper dive into interpersonal relationships would be admittedly nice, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us as a fandom coming up with those ideas on our own, using the pointers Matsui does give us as a starting point. Honestly it would take the fun out a little if there was too much information, and we’d have less possibilities to play with.

Why Certain Characters Exist

I’m sorry to tell you, but one of the first things you’re taught in any kind of writing or literature analysis class is that characters are not people, they’re tools. This may feel a little harsh to say, and I’m aware that many people get attached to characters and have genuine feelings towards them. And that is totally valid! Definitely not on the same scale, but I too enjoy when people have real emotions towards my OCs, so I get it.

(rest under cut)

To put it plainly: characters exist within a story as either a plot tool, or a message tool. A plot tool is someone who, as it sounds, exists to move the story along. Characters that need to exist in order for the story to happen as it does. Now, don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to have planned this out. You don’t need to specifically introduce Hara, for example, for the sole reason of her upping the stakes in the first Itona/Shiro arc. Characters existing for filler is still, in a way, a plot tool. It’s like… you set up a chess board. Sure, you might use the knight or the queen piece the most, but the pawns are still an important and useful piece, even if you don’t always utilize it for every move, or they don’t always stand out. Message tools are when a character doesn’t really do anything, but they help to assist in the message you want to send with your art/writing. There’s not so many examples of this in ass class, the best I can think of is either Yuuji or Sakura, who don’t do much at all but are beacons for what Matsui wants to say with them (which if you think about it is just ‘don’t do drugs kids’ and ‘stay in school’ :’)).

So free bit of writing advice for you: your character is your chisel. Once you’ve picked them up and started to work at carving out the story you want, then you can start adding all your fancy upgrades and personality points, which is what ultimately makes your character stronger. You grow attached to them when you’re done? Totally fair. Just… don’t go through this process the opposite way.

Without going too in depth with them right now, Nagisa Shiota is a plot tool. He is a plain easy to follow narrator whose observation skills intentionally mean the reader can see things clearly through his eyes. Where he loses relatability is when he displays his talent, but at that point he’s been so clearly introduced that it doesn’t matter as much, we can hear his voice. Him being more plain makes his talent more effective and shocking as it is. Karma Akabane is a plot tool. He exists so we have those somewhat comedic moments, and so we can have these big bad ass mental/physical fight moments. I actually think him not being the protagonist is something that makes Ass Class hugely stronger (and less cliché) as a series. Kayano Kaede is a plot tool. Admittedly, less so, but she has a lot of function as a back up to Nagisa, and then later is the catalyst for Korosensei’s backstory. The story starts to come to its climax due to her arc alone. As an aside I think a lot of criticism for Matsui isn’t that fair within the fandom, but I will openly say his treatment of her post reveal was not the best at all. He kind of lost control of what to do with her.

So, let’s talk about archetypes. I intend to write a whole meta about why Ass Class is predominantly written as a comedy series, but for now just take that statement as my opinion. Honestly, I do think Ass Class, with a few tweaks, could have worked with a bunch of unnamed characters. I’m instantly going to follow that up with: I’m very glad it didn’t. I love that it feels more like a large ensemble with a variety of characters. So instead of just plain filler, Matsui kind of makes good use of archetypes. You know, such as Takebayashi and Fuwa as otakus, Hazama as the dark occult girl etc. etc. All of this for comedic purpose, more than anything, which we really see in something like Koro Q which is more directly comedy. You might argue this is one dimensional, and I’d agree, but in this situation it’s achieving an effect. It’s genuinely better than having nothing. And honestly, they all do stuff. Some characters are far more effective and entertaining as a background character (i.e. Terasaka) than carrying a bunch of weight themselves.

Matsui Actually Does This Comparatively Well

Honestly, try and name another popular series in a classroom setting, with this many characters who all have individual personalities. Genuinely, the only one I can kind of think of is BNHA, and that’s not a fair comparison given the difference in story length. Comparatively to most series, Ass Class actually has really good side characters. If they were completely uncaringly written, nobody would stan them as hard. For the most part, I’d certainly argue everyone is memorable. Given that we’re juggling at least 30 people here (including teachers, Gakushuu etc.), I’d actually argue that’s kind of impressive.

And the thing is, Matsui does care. He cares enough to give everyone designs, hobbies, and personalities. A good portion of them have an entire chapter to themselves, although relative to the story as a whole they might not do so much (example: Kimura). Matsui could have been lazy with it, but he was not. I don’t want to invalidate anyone’s feelings with this, but I do argue here that those who think the opposite might be a little wrapped up in the character they stan. And I can totally understand that rightfully, you want the character you love to have more screen time. However, just because you happened to fall in love with them (figuratively I mean), doesn’t change the purpose they were originally created to fulfil.

It’s an unfair criticism that not giving every single person a huge arc makes Matsui a poor writer. Honestly, if everyone was equal without a few main characters getting a greater amount of the attention, the entire series would be a hot mess. It might be fun to reimagine the series that way, and go ahead in your own time, but as a series from start to finish, as a first time consumer, it would be genuinely very hard to follow. Not without changing the entire structure and many many plot points.

I do intend to write more about this too at a later point (because I will admittedly need to do more research), but in my opinion the biggest issue with Ass Class, and the cause behind the problems I have with it, is the genuine lack of time. It’s a relatively short story, compared to a lot of manga, and thus there isn’t the space to contain everyone’s story in deep way. I’m absolutely certain, had there been 50/100 chapters more, every character would have had a stand out chapter to themselves.

So thus I bring up the fun and stimulation that is headcanon.

The Issue with headcanons

(this point will go much quicker, I promise)

Ass class ended a looong time ago, let’s be fair. Whether you’re newer or older to the fandom, there’s still been quite a while since any kind of new content (Korotan D being the last official piece, Koro Q manga being the last anything, though I could be slightly wrong with that). That means, especially if you’ve cared about this series for a while, that we’ve considered the series to death.

Playing with headcanons is great! It’s fun! But, I do fear that especially when it comes to perhaps the more popular of the minor characters, a lot of us are getting wrapped up. It needs to be kept in mind that whilst these headcanons may have been around for a while, they are not directly correct to the source material. As a quick note, since I have seen people within the fandom getting kind of bothered over opposing opinions to the things they assume as canon. That’s not really anybody’s fault, but it does warrant saying, I think.

A Conclusion

Basically, loving a main character is great. Loving a more background character is great. You’re not a better or worse, more intelligent or more basic person for whoever your fave is. The point is, you see something you like in a character and you relate to them, or else just enjoy them. But as fun as that is, characters are tools. They exist for a specific purpose. Sometimes, that purpose doesn’t warrant them having a huge stand out character arc.

But hey, that’s totally okay because we’re fortunate enough to have such a community (arguably, I’d say a genuinely active one too) where we can dream that up ourselves. We can pretty much endlessly explore these possibilities. So, perhaps instead of negativity complaining about certain narrative issues we find (just putting this here: it’s fair to do this, but I don’t think it should be the FOCUS of conversation), we focus on driving that energy into creation. And there’s a lot to play with and create. And honestly, seeing HC posts and all sorts staring these more minor characters is great, and I’m pretty sure the majority would agree with me on that. I fully realise and accept that I have a platform here, and going forward I personally want to be a part of that. In a constructive way, rather than ‘deconstructing’ (yes, there’s a pretty big different as I see it).

(I realise that this last part comes off a bit call out post like, and I want to ensure that it is not intended to be that. I just have a general sense of some attitudes towards things floating around in a very generalised way right now)

#ass class meta #assassination classroom #ass class #ansatsu kyoushitsu

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itstheelvenjedi · 3 years

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Abled people quit acting like disabled people are automatically inferior and need “fixing” just because we can’t do things you do/do things different to the way you do them challenge

Ableds will deadass go “I don’t mean to be insensitive and offensive but...” and then immediately say something, shock horror, insensitive and offensive.

Example, because this is brought on by a convo I had with a friend who I am sure was well-meaning but here’s the thing bc to disabled people it doesn’t come across that way and you ableds need to learn that bc you keep doing it and it’s so annoying:

Talking to a friend about art stuff etc. they immediately attempt to suggest that because I shake so much & holding pen(cils) - including tablet pens - is both painful and impractical for me, I should do x, or buy y, z thing to “help” me draw with a tablet pen.

This might seem like well-meaning advice to you if you’re able-bodied and haven’t had to go through the struggles I have to learn to do art the way I do it and then on top of that to like the art I make, but let me break down to you why this is actually a very bad thing to say.

I’ve practised, learned and to the best of my ability perfected the way I draw with a mouse for oh...about 12 years now. And it’s taken me at least 7-8 of those years to

a) stop comparing myself to other artists who are able-bodied, more skilled than me, or both of these things

b) develop a style of my own that is aesthetically pleasing enough to get me a little bit of interaction/comments/whatever, and not totally drain every spoon I have in the process of doing so

c) after all of that, not over-criticise and belittle the hard work I did put into a piece, such that I break it down so much that I hate it enough to never want to make another piece of art ever again

I’m not selling my art, and again, it’s taken me at least 8 years to make peace with the fact that because of my limitations (& my shitty self-esteem caused by them) I will never be able to sell my art.

But that’s okay. I don’t really want to sell my art anymore. I make it for fun. I make art because I enjoy making art. So, I don't need to be "better at art" than some other artist, it's not a fucking competition & I don't lose anything by drawing in the medium I've got the most skill & practise in. So, if my goal/reasoning for making art is to have fun and enjoy what I'm drawing, then why in the ever loving fuck would I want to put the 12 years of hard work I put into it in the garbage and go all the way back to square one (including hating the way everything I draw looks so much that I want to cry and feeling so unhappy with it that I never want to draw another piece in my life ever) just because someone else thinks It Would Look Better if I did.

Now, imagine all of that, and then an able-bodied person comes along and says:

“well it’s good, BUT it’d be better if you learned to use a tablet-” or “have you considered trying x instead of your current drawing method because that would be better”, or variations thereof (and I’m not saying that you have to like my art style, you might not, and that’s okay! Everyone has different tastes and some things will appeal to one person, but not to the next one etc.) *

But you really have to be a special kind of priveledged to look at someone’s hard work that they are proud of for what it is and then go on to do nothing but tell them what’s wrong with it according to you. Would you go to a rock concert and then complain about the music being “too raucous because you like classical music”, for example? I don’t think so. I mean, you’d be pretty stupid if you did (and also an asshole), So stop doing it to artists, especially disabled artists. I am begging you.

*And I am not saying “don’t ever provide (constructive) criticism to disabled people’s art” either before some abled clown jumps on that. There’s a big difference between “hey I noticed this particular thing in your art/style and I think if you tried to do more of x thing differently or added a bit more of y thing it would look more (anatomically accurate, atmospheric, highlight a part of the piece well, whatever)” - I’ve received many criticisms of this nature that have been very helpful to me over the years and my art has definitely gotten better by taking it & applying it to my drawing process - and “well able-bodied artists who draw with tablets do this infinitely better because they literally have physical abilities you don’t and therefore that invalidates any number of years or amount of effort you’ve put in to make something that you’re happy with because it’s not perfect enough”

or, and this one bothered me the most today

“I hate knowing that (because of your disability affecting your ability to hold pen(cil)s) causes issues with your art skills”

Note the particular words I’ve highlighted in this case, because the thing is, with this wording, this is what that sentence sounds like:

“Oh wow, you must feel SO bad that you’re not good enough! You definitely shouldn’t feel happy or proud of the progress you’ve made, because it’s not as good as an able-bodied artist’s work and that must be TERRIBLE.”

Kinda a douchy thing to say when you put it like that, huh? YEAH. THAT’S THE POINT. When you make comments like this, it implies that any progress I have made over the 12 years I’ve been practising and drawing things for fun because I like doing it, doesn’t fucking matter because I don’t match up to some arbitrary standard of “How Art Look Good” set largely by, abled people. You’re calling the HOURS of time & effort I put into getting myself this far a fucking issue as if it’s something that is inconvenient or in the way and not an achievement I’m allowed to be proud of because it’s “Good Enough” according to The Ableds(tm).

Bitch, NO, I’m PROUD of how my art looks and I’m fucking sick and tired of abled people coming in with their “well meaning” comments like this.

It’s not well meaning, it’s insulting. Fucking stop it!

Or I’ll start hitting you with my crutch and telling you to stop complaining that it hurts because it doesn’t hurt me when I hit you with it so you know, it can’t possibly be painful for you, and see how you like it.

This one got very specific relating to art/the convo I had, but I feel like the basic principle can be applied to any situation, really.

As a mildly-tangental closing note: Also, if a disabled person responds to a statement of this sort saying something like “well actually I don’t really think it’s a problem that I need to fix because I’ve put a lot of effort into getting as far as I have and I’m proud of myself for that”

For the love of all that is holy, do not then start your abled pity party of “oh my gosh I’m so sorry!! I feel so awful!” and “I feel guilty now, I didn’t mean to offend you!”

Why? Because the Laws of Social Decency dictate that if I say “well you should feel guilty, because what you said was shitty and it did offend me, actually. Stop doing that.” then I am the asshole because I hurt your poor widdle feelings.

So what do I then have to do? Immediately pander to your feelings by saying “no no, it’s okay!” and “I get what you were trying to say, it’s fine, it wasn’t offensive” (even though it was incredibly offensive!) just to defuse the situation and not look like a dick.

If you didn’t want me to call you out on it, maybe you should check yourself before you start shit and make yourself look like an ableist dick.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#a talking post #elven rants #tw: ableism #long post #hi i'm salty and therefore i must yell about it

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askovertherainbowblog · 5 years

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Do you ever feel like your government is actively working to institute a theocracy right under your very nose, and all anyone can seem to do is tweet? (I’m not knocking the art of the well-placed tweet, by the way. Case and point the account pictured above.)

Here’s what’s going on in my part of the world, which is Alberta (Commonly known as the bible belt of Canada):

The recently elected UCP (United Conservative Party #UnderHisEye) has, by its inaction, effectively canceled a work group dedicated to eradicating the insidious and abusive practice of “reparative” therapy for LGBT+ persons. Minister of Health Tyler Shandro has claimed on twitter that he told the group they were welcome to continue meeting. However, according to Emma Graney of the Edmonton Journal, his office released a statement that “The working group has disbanded with the change in govt.” AKA, they’re pretending the group (which included a survivor of conversion therapy) doesn’t merit focus because conversion therapy/torture “doesn’t happen here.”

If you dig a little deeper, you’ll see this simply isn’t true. Of course, nobody is coming right out and calling their services conversion therapy. That would be bad PR. The practice is couched in the language of soul-searching, healing trauma, and respecting individual faith. Alberta survivor Kevin Schultz was undergoing private faith-based counseling to realign his sexual orientation as late as 2007. Journey Canada, formerly Living Waters, which claims to help folks “experience Jesus in their sexuality” (kinky?) still operates across Canada.

If anyone is in doubt, the Human Rights Campaign and the Canadian Psychology Association can shed light on why conversion therapy/counseling of any kind is deeply damaging and can even be life-threatening.

The previous NDP government at least gave the appearance of caring about the LGBT community. The UCP gives the appearance of wanting to give the appearance of caring. In any case, I kind of wonder, why not just oh I don’t know BAN CONVERSION THERAPY AS IF WE WERE A CIVILIZED 21ST CENTURY SOCIETY? The UCP certainly hasn’t shied away from taking bold action on controversial issues (eg. lowering minimum wage for minors like a bunch of literal cartoon Scrooge McDucks).

This conversion therapy fustercluck is one move in an alarmingly swift series of policy change plans the UCP has begun rolling out since April of this year. They have also pledged to remove key protections afforded to GSA’s (Gay-Straight Alliances, common “safe space” organizations for LGBT students found in secondary schools). This means teachers could, at their own discretion, be permitted to notify parents if their child joins a GSA. This would obviously defeat the whole purpose of GSA’s and put children at greater risk of abuse at home.

When urged to consult experts on why this was such a monumental mistake, and questioned about the purpose of his party’s decision, premier Kenney had this to say:

"I think it would be very rare [for parents to be notified]," Kenney said. "Probably only [when] dealing with very young kids or kids with unique emotional and mental health challenges."

AKA, he has no idea what the repercussions could be and is speaking in “likelihoods” like some kind of fiendish gremlin under a bridge, desperate to grant you three wishes whose loopholes will ruin your life. (PS: Back in 2006 Kenney bragged about working to repeal a spousal law that allowed gay men to visit their dying partners in the hospital during the AIDS crisis. So that’s the attitude we’re dealing with here.)

If you’re curious about what other draconian policies the UCP has lurking just around the corner you can read up on their full platform, which includes such gems as scrapping the carbon tax, pausing the K-12 curriculum review, pushing for more private health care options, and something ominously called the “climate war room.”

If you, like me, are having some serious Handmaid’s Tale flashbacks right now, you’re not being overdramatic. The erosion of minority and women’s rights at the hands of backsliding democracies worldwide is not some fad. It’s a real thing that is happening all around us while shiny apps are being pelted at us as a distraction.

So let’s move on to what can actually be done. Before I list some ideas, I want to cover a few key points. We’re often advised, as constituents of a district or riding, to take action by writing to our political representatives! Here’s why I think that’s a waste of time: the current political climate is extremely polarized. It’s a buzzword because it’s true. If your MLA is conservative, and you write them a letter urging them to see things your bleeding-heart liberal way... well, why would they care? You’re not even a part of the voter base they’re targeting, and they know it. They don’t need your support. Alberta voters skew overwhelmingly right-wing already.

My advice is to follow the money.

A PAC (Political Action Committee) is an organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates them to campaigns for or against candidates or legislation. Shaping Alberta’s Future is a PAC whose stated aim is to promote a conservative Alberta with Kenney at the helm. In 2018, they raised a whopping $170,000 in two weeks to fund UCP ads. Their financial disclosure documents are pretty lengthy and can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That’s why I’ve broken down the info into a list of the major 5-figure contributors, all (you’ll be bowled over with shock to learn) men, most of them members of the Motor Dealership of Alberta for some reason.

For those of us who live in Alberta/Canada, that means we can do the following:

HERE is a link to a form letter addressing major donors to Shaping Alberta’s Future, politely urging them to bring matters of LGBT youth safety to the government’s attention.

HERE is a link to a list of specific donors, their contact information, and contribution amounts. This info can be filled into the indicated sections on the above letter.

Simply print, sign, and mail the letters to the addresses provided. Postage should be fairly inexpensive but if it’s an issue, take a photo of your signed letter and Canada Post receipt and I’ll etransfer you the value of your postage (within reason, guys!). If you can’t access Google drive, I’ll copy the letter to you by whatever method you prefer.

If you’d like to add information to the above list, or offer a correction, please message us or email [email protected].

Additional things you can do (from anywhere):

Spreading the word always helps. Set up an email list or reddit thread. If you’re Albertan, print ten extra letters and ask a few friends to sign them. Pride month is just around the corner: bring a sheaf of letters with you to a parade and throw them in the air like confetti. (You’ll probably get some free condoms for your trouble; nice!)

Donations are not possible for everyone but if they’re possible for you, Youthsafe.net has a list of organizations that could use your support.

Stay vigilant. Read full articles covering both sides of the issues you’re investigating, and investigate in turn the veracity of your sources. Read posts from people you don’t agree with and, as infuriating as it is to have your person-hood invalidated by pseudo-scientific doctrine, pause to digest other points of view before formulating a vitriolic response. I’m not advising moderation (fuck moderation) but I am advising strategy.

Pursue local involvement. It’s tough to sit in front of a news cast in rural Canada and watch women in Alabama have their reproductive rights stripped from them, knowing a small donation to the ACLU is probably the most you can do short of upending your life to go on a march, and that won’t even move the needle much. But everyone, everywhere where voting happens, can march into a town hall and make their voice heard when it comes to the bullshit in their own community. The people around you want to get involved; they’re just not sure how to do it. Give them a means and they’ll stand beside you!

xoxo

#a handmaid's tale of alberta #ableg #conversion therapy tw #toto #lgbt

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phxse-shifter · 5 years

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interference (dr. x/ kaito)

words: 1904

summary: trying to get dr. x to say ‘sorry’ is like trying to convince the devil to ascend back to heaven (a previous written fic with an addition [part 2] ).

part 1.

“Can you do nothing right? Must it always be some sort of mishap with you? It’s as if you’re incapable of doing a simple job without fail!”

“I got it done, didn’t I? It doesn’t matter the execution so long as it’s done!” Kaito retorted, not at all pleased with Dr. X’s criticisms.

This always happened. It always happened. Kaito would choose his own method of completing a job and it would be so wrong he endured these constant lectures from Dr. X that included one too many insults from him which led to Kaito just… Becoming so unhappy he shut himself away.

Yes, maybe the methods he chose was a little risqué… However, it didn’t, in his eyes, warrant this–the questioning of his intelligence (which he hated), unfair punishments like being unable to work in his own laboratory, and overall just making him feel like shit.

“Doesn’t matter the execution?!” Kaito’s previous statement was repeated by Dr. X as if he sounded ridiculous. “You looked and sounded like a madman. I’ve to doubt that you even got your credentials honestly. How long did it take you to get them again?”

Kaito opened his mouth as if preparing to speak, but then slowly closed it. That… That hurt him. That hurt him tremendously. He looked embarrassed, as if Dr. X said that in front of everyone and virtually humiliated him. Even if he didn’t do exactly that, Kaito still felt that way. He didn’t even want to try to defend himself anymore. His eyes felt like they were burning. Damn it, he wasn’t going to reach that point, not in front of him. There was time to do that when he was alone.

There was no stopping emotion.

He tried one too many times to do that.

“Y-You’re full of shit,” Kaito says, letting tears run down his face for mere seconds before he wipes them away furiously. “…But okay. That’s okay. Perfectly okay. It means nothing to me. See? Means n-nothing.”

Yet Kaito felt the tears coming again and decided he didn’t want to show that disgusting display again and abruptly turned on his heels and walked away not caring the repercussion.

There was some sort of bothered look on Dr. X’s face, and even if he wanted to say something, he just couldn’t make the motion to do so.

This is fine.

Kaito sank to his knees, hugged them and let out a loud scream. It was not worth all of this pain. If he couldn’t do what he loved the way he would have liked to, then the cruel years of getting to this point was not worth it. It wasn’t worth having every single year of his studies invalidated within minutes. If he didn’t stop feeling like this he would end up having to take his meds for the second time this day. He usually only took them once as directed. Sometimes it wasn’t enough, that ‘once a day’ but he settled with it knowing full well that the more he did things that made him happy, the more he would feel better.

But it’s so hard. It’s so hard. It’s so hard to deal with this.

He’s crying again. He’s starting to shake and get hysterical. He wants it to stop. He wants it to stop before it’s too late but memories upon memories keep flooding in his head, even ones he swore he’d never be bothered by again.

It was… So difficult for Kaito to reach this point. Getting his PhD was Hell. People thinking he couldn’t do anything right and insulting his intelligence and undermining it when countless times he’s proven them wrong. He took years off from his classes because the amount of stress was so strong he couldn’t function and barely wanted to get up from bed. When he couldn’t sleep he was awake, and drank so much coffee to stay awake at one point the taste now makes him want to vomit.

And this is what happened today. Someone I respected undermined my intelligence, and doesn’t even think I’m worthy of my PhD. I need to sleep. I need to go to my bedroom and just sleep for a couple of hours. I need to calm down. I can’t break myself again. Not because of him.

All Kaito does is get up, try to calm himself down, and goes to wash his face before leaving his lab. He’s closed the door and prepares to enter the code to shut and alarm it when the sight of Dr. X catches his eyes. He was a couple of spaces away, like he was about to come to Kaito’s lab right before Kaito decided to leave.

“Kaito-”

“Doctor,” Kaito narrows his eyes, speaking coldly. “To what do I owe the visitation?”

“Earlier,” he began. “Yo-”

“If it isn’t anything related to my work, then please kindly let me take my leave. I have nothing to speak with you about that does not involve my findings,” Kaito cuts him off.

“Just listen t-”

“Doctor,” Kaito gives a forced sweet smile. “I am currently trying to prevent myself from doing impulse things that I would regret. I am trying to prevent myself from remembering a dark episode in my life. I am trying to prevent myself from feeling things that would make me die inside. I am trying to prevent myself from breaking down for the second time today. I’ll say this to you in the kindest way possible: Leave me the hell alone.”

Kaito, having alarmed the door by now, turns in the opposite direction from Dr. X, leaving him there, unaware of what looked like a pained expression coming from the other.

part 2.

There was no end to the coldness Kaito showed Dr. X. Days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. To him, they were just associates. Kaito did his work as he were supposed to, his skill showing with every creation, but that was it. When he was done, he set it down in front of Dr. X, and turned on his heel, walking away. No explanation, no comment. If he needed something to be clear, he had to go through his daughter, Refia, who didn’t take a liking to Dr. X because of his cruel words to her father.

He searched for opportunities to get Kaito alone, to speak with him just once, but the man was terribly smart and always was either conversing with someone, or locked within his lab, working for hours on end and getting his tasks done so he could futher avoid Dr. X by locking himself in his room. At last, this opportunity came to him during the annual event of “congratulating” the winner of the Genius League. Everyone knew how that went, especially Kaito, since he was one of the major conspirators of the “Genius League Winners’ Disappearance”, or so the media called it when it happened. He would have no choice but to associate with Dr. X, who he had to report to at all times when this event unfolded.

Dr. X never showed himself, or made any sort of speech during this event. The partygoers were paid to act happy, and the members of the Midas Group were always there to perform the operation. He simply watched from on high from a black tinted screen. He saw Kaito then, who looked at him once, then began to walk. It was that gaze, that said the deed was done. Of course, he followed.

“Where is the body?” He asked, voice low.

“Dr. Sharon’s lab. Sedated and chained down. As usual. I’m leaving no-“

“I want you to stay,” Dr. X cuts him off abruptly.

Kaito chuckled. Now that was different. He usually reacted coldly since this all began, or just simply walked away until he lost Dr. X or he stopped following and let him go.

“You have a body to dissect, Doctor. Don’t let it run too cold.”

His anger was taken out on the poor soul that dared to win his distorted League. He didn’t know if he were angry at himself, or Kaito—because how dare he act so defiant to his leader, the very person that could show him why exactly his little rebellion will end? Yet, he did nothing to end it. No punishment, no harsh reaction. He just let Kaito be. Why was his resolve so shaken when it came to Kaito?

No matter Kaito’s words, he visited Kaito once more, allowed himself in, and found himself watching Kaito as he dealt with the viscera Dr. X didn’t tear into pieces out of anger belonging to the precious “winner.” When he were done, he cleaned himself off—the bloody gloves, top, face mask, and stared at Dr. X nonchalantly.

“What?” He asked.

“I want this to end,” Dr. X growled. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I will not allow you to-“

“You underestimated me for the last time, Casimir,” Kaito snapped. “You think you can come in here, with your ridiculous, uncalled for, disgusting, idiotic, CRUEL, insane, and hurtful comments you give to me on a daily basis and expect me not to be upset? The FUMES you must smell from the bodies you burn must have fucked up your brain or something. Your desire for supernaturals has failed you.”

Dr. X—Casimir-- couldn’t even count the number of insults that were just dished out, with divine ease ,by Kaito, nor did he anticipate him having the gall to use his real name, which was absolutely forbidden to be used unless in private. They were in private, but it shocked him to his core. It drives him to grip Kaito’s shirt, pulling him closer. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. The cold gaze he gives Kaito is broken by his mocking laugh.

“I’m not scared of you. Especially since you’re a little lacking in the balls department, Doctor. You don’t even want to do anything to me. Is it that you’re developing a soft spot for me?”

Ah, back to formalities, and a dreadful theory. His hand softened until he released his grip and took a step back. His expression softened.

“And if I have developed this ‘soft spot’ for you? What is your reaction to that? What if I’m doing all of this because I just wanted to fucking talk about what happened?”

Now Kaito is the one to be taken aback. For starters, Casimir was never vulgar, and second, as harsh as those words were supposed to sound, his expression did not match it, neither did the tone of his voice. He sees Casimir avert his eyes and grit his teeth.

“I regret what I said that day. Are you happy? Look what you are making me feel. I regret it! I wish I never said it! Just so we do not have to reach this part again! So I do not have to see that cold harsh gaze again! So I do not have to hear those words! I regret it! I regret!”

“Regret it all you want, but are you sorry?” Kaito asked softly.

Casimir gripped Kaito’s shoulders, practically in hysterics.

“What do you think?! I… am.”

Kaito wrapped his arms around Casimir then, holding him.

“Alright. It’s alright. Don’t worry,” Kaito reassures. “Let’s forget about it. Let’s move on.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes,” Kaito responds warmly. “I’m certain.”

#game of dice #dr. x & kaito #yes i'm christening this blog with dr. x/kaito #fight me.

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smashboxgirl26 · 3 years

Text

vengeance / chapter 11: manipulating

chapter 10: loving | chapter 12: catching

vengeance masterlist

After everything that had happened the night before, Bakugou practically pushed you into hanging out with one of your friends for the rest of the day, saying you didn’t have to worry about work or school or any of that “shit” right now.

And while you appreciated the thought, you were still terrified. You didn’t want to leave the house, at all.

But here you were, stepping into Camie’s car so she could take you to the mall - so you could heal in a “healthy” way.

“I’m so sorry babe,” she said when you’d settled down into the passenger seat, instantly pulling you in for a tight hug. “You don’t deserve this at all.”

You didn’t really have an answer to her statement, so you only allowed your arms to wrap over her body over the middle console. She seemingly understood, pulling away and giving a small smile before driving off.

“How are you holding up?” she asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Okay, I think. It’s still more shocking than anything.”

“Well of course. That’s to be expected.”

You hummed in response, listening to the soft music coming from the radio. You were trying to distract your mind from staring at all the people walking outside the street, looking to see if the Ito guy was following you somehow.

He’d been doing it for so long, who’s to say he wasn’t there right now, just watching you? He hadn’t even been caught by the police yet, he could be anywhere.

“Well if anything else happens, know that you’ve always got me on your side, ‘kay?” she reassured, giving you a large smile from the side.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“How’s Katsuki holding up?”

You were a little baffled at the quick topic change, but Camie and Katsuki knew each other before you’d even met him. It made sense that she was worried about her friend.

“He’s trying to show me that he’s fine, but I can tell he’s trying to hide his feelings about this. He’s definitely more mad than anything else.”

“Classic Katsuki,” she chuckled.

You gave her a confused sidelong glance, which she ignored as she continued to speak.

“It makes sense that he’s holding back, like usual. He doesn’t want you to freak out. He’ll come around eventually, though, so don’t worry about it too much.”

“Right..” was all you could say, leaving the words lingering in the air.

Camie’s words were planting a seed of doubt in your mind. He’d been holding himself back this whole time? Were you the reason that he held himself back constantly? Was it because you reacted in a way that he didn’t like, or was it because you’d accidentally invalidated his emotions somehow?

Your brows furrowed in thought, and you couldn’t help but drift back to the Midoriya situation.

As soon as you’d said his name the other day, Katsuki froze up and refused to talk to you. You’d only chalked it up to him being annoyed, tired, angry, or some combination of all three. But then again, this morning, you could see the way he was holding back from you. His eyes were bright, but his mouth was silent. That was the only time you’d ever gotten indication that he wasn’t actually telling you the whole truth, but left it because you were feeling too frustrated and scared to want to address it.

“We’re here!” Camie cheered as you both pulled into the parking lot, breaking you out of your whirlwind of a mind.

It was too much to think about at the moment, and you decided you’d talk about it with Katsuki when you got home. So you pushed it into the back of your mind, and decided to try and enjoy the day, even with the nagging and paranoia tugging you constantly.

The mall was crowded and busy, like it always was, and that only added fuel to the tiny flame of fear growing in your mind. You were constantly alert and on the lookout. Even though Camie, an actual hero, was with you, you were instantly regretting the decision to leave the house.

It was too much, in too little time.

Camie watched as your eyes began flickering back and forth between everything and everyone you could, and quickly pulled you into a store.

“Nothing some new clothes can’t fix,” she said with a smile, before pushing you towards some racks to check something out.

It was only then that you realized that she’d pulled you into some swanky, expensive, designer store that you knew you couldn’t afford. But in an effort to show that you appreciated her trying to help, you just thumbed your way through a couple of racks and pretended that you were looking at the clothes on the hangers.

In reality, they all blurred together and the only thought on your mind was that you were the one making Katsuki act aloof and distant. It had to be because of you, you were sure of it.

Camie had known him for a lot longer than you had, and she’d basically said that it was usual for him to hide his feelings. That was something you already knew, but you thought you were past that at this point in your relationship.

“Y/N! You should totally get this dress! I bet Katsuki would love it!” Camie came bounding up to you with a hanger in her hands.

You plucked the hanger from her hands and twirled it around so you could see the front of the body-con dress. It had a deep v-cut, as well as slits coming up the sides.

“It’s, uh, really nice Camie,” you said cautiously, trying not to hurt her feelings. “But, it’s not really something I’d wear out.”

“Why not?” she pouted, holding the dress up against her own figure.

“Well, it’s really revealing, and I don’t usually wear stuff like that.”

“Right,” she paused, giving a seemingly random smile. “Well, that’s too bad. I have a similar one and Katsuki complimented me on it.”

You only stood and blinked at her response, seemingly confused on what you were supposed to say in that situation, which she brushed off like her comment meant nothing.

“Let’s try somewhere else then!” she exclaimed, tugging your hand to lead you out of the store.

…

Your fear of someone currently following you wasn’t wrong, however, no matter how much you convinced yourself you were being paranoid.

You were just worried about the wrong person.

After his mishap with Ito the night before, Midoriya was adamant that he had to help fix the stupid mistake that he’d made (because he thought Ito would be too scared to run). He’d been berating himself all morning for letting Ito go with just a bloody nose and a few bruises. He deserved to feel enough pain that he craved for death and didn’t get it when asked.

But at this point, he had no idea where he could’ve ended up or where he was hiding. The only thing he knew was that Ito had been trying to take you, which meant that he was more desperate now than ever to follow through with that plan. And that meant that Midoriya had been following you the second you’d stepped out of the apartment.

But now, in some ways, he was quite curious about the relationship that you had with your friends.

His meeting with Mina said something that went against his deep online dive, and he was sure that there was no way that he was wrong about the situation. Even the first time he’d followed you indicated that there was something borderline toxic going on in the relationship that wasn’t being addressed.

Maybe your relationship with Mina was simple and easy, but the nervous look on your face the day before when Camie had called you indicated that it wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.

And his suspicions were almost confirmed when he saw the look on your face when you got out of the car with Camie in the parking lot in the mall. It was quiet, stoic, and intensely focused; and in the short time he’d seen you, you weren’t normally like this.

You, at the very least, had a smile of some sort plastered on your face, fake or not. The perception you gave other people was relatively important to you, so he could tell that you tended to hide your more normal feelings and trade them for happiness.

So seeing you like this in public was almost, unsettling.

He suspected that it had to do with Camie in some way, and it was confirmed when he saw a smirk form on her lips.

After parking his car quickly and following the two of you inside, he watched as you practically had a mental breakdown from the amount of people around. Clearly, you were psyching yourself out with Camie’s words and the news about Ito stalking you.

Something had to be wrong with Kacchan if he’d just let you go out in public that soon after finding out someone was stalking you. In fact, you barely looked like you wanted to be out in public.

Your face was swimming with anxiety and anguish, and Midoriya felt the look tug on his emotions.

You don’t need to be scared, Y/N. I’m here to protect you after all.

After all, he’d experienced a similar fear, where there was no one around to protect himself. There was no way that he was going to let you experience that on your own, whether you knew he was there or not.

He watched as Camie dragged you into a store from across the long pathway after seeing the look on your face, but then grimaced immediately at the store’s name.

It was a top-of-the-line, designer store. And with you being a student, he knew you couldn’t afford it.

But he guessed Camie knew that too, and that’s why she brought you there. She was trying to intimidate you in some way, but he wasn’t sure how or what the underlying issue was.

As much as he wanted to step inside the store behind the two of you and eavesdrop, he knew it would’ve been too plainly obvious about what he was trying to do. Even if Camie seemed like the scum of the earth, she was a hero, so she couldn’t have been that stupid.

Not to mention that he was wearing a baseball cap and a mask so he couldn’t be recognized, and that was suspicious enough.

Midoriya only huffed in annoyance as he made his way to the walkway facing the opening of the store. Who knew what kind of poison she was putting in your head? He just wanted to go in and undo it.

But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t be recognized by you, not yet. Not until Ito was caught.

A few minutes later, he watched Camie practically drag you out of the store with her hand on your arm, as you just silently followed behind with a bewildered look.

Camie had said something to you.

Midoriya silently seethed and glared holes into her, his tongue harshly running over his teeth before following the two of you from across the other end of the mall. As annoyed as he was, he couldn’t go out and break his cover. He’d just have to deal with the consequences Camie’s words had on you later.

But as he followed from a distance, he noticed a person dressed in all black clothes, with a baseball cap and a hoodie up, with their head down following behind you as well.

Ah, so Ito did come to play today. How fun.

──────────────

sorry this chapter took sooo long, i was kinda caught in a rut about how i wanted to approach these next few chapters and ended up rewriting this chapter three times. hopefully, i've conveyed what i was trying to show lol

just ask if you'd like to be tagged :)

tag list: @spicy-therapist-mom @triviajeongin @iliketobullydeku @nuclearnoir @lilyblossomblooms2020 @all-in-the-fandoms @no-post-ghost

#midoriya x reader x bakugou #yandere midoriya #izuku midoriya #midoriya x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #yandere #mha #bnha #yandere izuku #mha fanfiction #bnha fic #bnha bakugou katsuki #bnha izuku #mha x reader #bnha x reader #vengeance #keke.writes

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jdumblr · 7 years

Note

I don't know if this will qualify in your realm of ask and you can ignore if it doesn't. So here goes my ask. Some were saying that Jensen's tbt IG posting of him and Danneel (the November 2nd one) was actually done by her on his IG. What are you thoughts on the subject? Especially since she responded so quickly after he posted the picture.

Dear Anon,

Thank you for your question. I indeed wanted to talk aboutthis subject, as I don’t think most people understood what Jensen and D didwith that post and comment. See, in order to understand the reason behind what they did, I will have to go back a week before that. Please, bear with me.

Timeline of J2 Slander — Reasons & Damage Control

Wed, Oct 26th — Supernatural Episode 2

The episode causes a major rift in Fandom. And by Fandom Imean The Only Fandom that exists: Sam & Dean fans. Never in all my 12 yearsof being a SPN fan have I ever seen such uproar; so many people screaming theirdissatisfaction with storyline, character erasure, character being dumbed down to jumpstart the spin-off. However,instead of uniting for a common complain, what we saw were BiBros, SamStans,DeanStans fighting each other. Nobody was happy. That was the episode that broke fandom.

Sat, Oct 28th,NOLA Con — D at the Vendor’s Area

D sets up a Family Business Beer Co stand and sells merch at the vendor’s area.Fans line up to talk to her. Some TinHats are attackedfor wanting to meet her, and Hets and Hellers team up to bully them. Here’ssomething you need to understand about Hellers: they love the wives because intheir twisted logic, the wives invalidate TinHats/J2 and anything that could upsetus is game for them. Raise your hand you whose TinHat tweet/post was neverbashed by a minion.

Eventually, things evolve to an attempt to starta witch hunt.

Sun, Oct 29th,NOLA Con — J2 Panels

During the J2 Gold Panel, a questionabout pick up lines prompts a joke that the entire fandom had heard from J2before and no one had ever batted an eye (timestamp: 20:21).

youtube

In the Afternoon Panel, J2 are asked whatlead roles in SPN, other than Sam & Dean, they’d choose to play.

What follows is the longest M*sha/C*stiel shade ever thrownby Jared and Jensen, individually or combined—see for yourself those 3 fullminutes (timestamp: 10:12 to 13:02):

youtube

Once again, I’ve never seen J2 throw such enormous shade, Iguess it speaks volumes about how fed up they are with M*isha. You can see in thevideo the immediate reaction from Hellers booing Jared, who started the shade.

Now think with me: who’s the one Hellers most want out ofthe way because of their nonexistent ship? Jared. The two situations have onething in common: Jared. He was the one to mention the chloroform joke, and hewas the one to initiate and continue the M*sha/C*stiel shade. Now tell mewho Hellers were most pissed at? Jared.

You think I’m exaggerating? Here’s some foodfor thought.

Mon, Oct 31st— pseudo-article trashing J2

A wannabe author from a blog where literally anyone could bea part of, makes an unabashedly Heller post, accusing J2 of making a rapistjoke. To back up their allegations that “fandom was dragging J2” theyunsurprisingly add caps of D*estiel accounts. No agenda at all, as you can see.

[Let’s go back to the Sunday events for a minute. J2 bashedM*sha, Jared was the one starting the shade, Jared is the one they hate, Jaredwas the who told the chloroform joke this time around. Now tell me if thatwasn’t the reason behind that “article”?]

J2 fans lash on the blog’s account for tweeting the “article” and thetweet get deleted, but not the article.

Side note: Jaredattends 1 or 2 Halloween parties in Vancouver and takes pictureswith half the town’s population. Curiously enough, he was alone, no costume anddressed as if he had been dining outand decided to drop by. Oh, wait…

Tue, Nov 1st— T*een V*gue reposts article

What could have well been stopped by CW/J2’s reps on Monday, gets the unexpected and undeserved traction: a bigger, more accredited,teen-oriented website reposts the pseudo-article. No facts were checked, no oneapproached J2 for a statement and guess what? The same H*ellers’ caps werepresent; it was a mere copy of the previous article.

The damage is done and more websites publish the same storywith slight variations but none of them favors or approaches J2 for a statement.The articles get reposted outside of the US.

The slander shocks J2 Shippers, TinHats and Hets who,unexpectedly, unite in at least three hashtags to show their love and supportfor Jared & Jensen:

#IStandWithJ2

#ISupportJaredandJensen

#ILoveJ2Because

J2 Fans flood the websites that posted the slander with commentspointing out all the good things the Js have done for fans, Mental HealthAwareness, charities, etc. During these 48h of slander, I didn’t seeone single website or accredited institution show their support for J2, exceptfor Attitudesin Reverse.

Not a single peep from J2 co-stars, production, nothingexcept for the one you’d least expect: Mart Pellegrino posts a simple andhonest tweetpraising J2:

J2 Fans retweet and thank him for being the onlycast member/peer who dared support J2. It seems that the only ones mature enough to be honest and recognize that Supernatural only is what it is becauseof J2, are Mark Pellegrino and Mark Sheppard.

Nov 2nd —J2 issue a statement

Reps for both Jared and Jensen issue combined statementsaffirming they do not condone rape and the subject apparently dies down.

J2 Fans speculate whether this incident will cause Jared andJensen to share less on Con panels. Some even fear the possibility the boysmight eventually cut down the number of Cons.

Jensen post a pictureof him and D

Contrary to what Jensen had been doing until now, he poststwo different caps, one for his IGAccount and another slightly different one on Twitterwith an added “❤ u”:

The picture is apparently cozy, once they’re sorta hugging. However,some point out how weird the picture is with her half smile and peace sign, andhis closed off face. Does that scream couple to you? …

As you well pointed out, Anon, D quickly replieswith more information about the #tbt picture: they were at Cabo, they were meeting the parents andthey’ve been together for 11 years and going strong.

Eleven years?? Come again? Oh, wait, she’s justdoing her job, I mean, Jensen was the one who started that 11 years story,precisely in Oct 26th 2007, at an interview he gave for TV Guidetitled UpClose with Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles: Part 2:

So, one year before that 2007 interview, when they filmed TenInch Hero. How convenient.

Check out the whole story at Anna’s blog.

How interesting that he managed to “hide” his one-yearrelationship from anyone, right?

The funny thing is that apart from that statement he rarely,if ever, mentioned the amount of years they've been together. The only time that comes to mind was at Kelly & Ryan.

Well, Anon, all this ridiculously long post to conclude thatJensen and D were only using social media to take the focus off of the eventsfrom the previous days. Did you see how many RTs/Likes both his posts had?

Twitter: 4.5K RTs/ 36K Likes

IG: 632K Likes/ 3,905 comments(as of today)

Did you see the hets and Hellers swooning over their love?

Jensen did what had to be done to change the focus and giveFandom something else to talk about. BUT much like his mentor Kim Manners wouldsay, ‘give them what they want in a way they don’t expect.’ Jensen did postsomething for PR purposes but on his owns terms. Just look at his face on thepicture he chose to represent how much he loves D.

Bonus: Jensen low key liked Mark’s tweet.

#jensen and d's picture #j2 slander #11 years together #mark defending j2 #tv guide 2007 interview #IStandWithJ2 #ilovej2because #ask #nola #Timeline of J2 Slander — Reasons & Damage Control #102017 #timeline #J2102017 #J2112017 #112017

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mitthroughmylens · 4 years

Text

Celebrating a mentor, Professor Amah Edoh

#YouCanDoItOnlyYouCanDoItYouCantDoItAlone

Summary: We often take for granted the statement “you can’t be what you can’t see” but it is a phenomenon that is ingrained in the human psyche; even if it doesn’t ring true for you, it will certainly come up when you are in crisis. When you are a minority in a position of power, rising stars look up to you. Sometimes they may be dealt a blow that throws them off balance ; where possible, please support them.

———————————————

Professor Amah Edoh. A role model. A confidante. A teacher who prepares students for life.

Almost all my professors at MIT have been amazing teachers. Actually, all but one of them have facilitated my growth as a scholar and a community-minded individual.

One day I was in the middle of clarifying my question to a professor in office hours when they slammed the table. They said to me “This is a waste of my time! You should have figured this out long before...” I was so shocked that I couldn’t even form sentences. I managed to string words together to apologize to them, thanked them and left. Then I stopped in the nearest bathroom and called Isabelle crying. This professor had been subtly trivializing my contributions in class but I had convinced myself that I was overthinking their actions all along.

I wasn’t sure what to do so I cold-emailed Professor Amah Edoh asking to speak with her about a personal issue. Although she had not met me before, she responded promptly on the same day and offered to meet me as soon as possible. I was pleasantly surprised by how she went the extra mile to respect my privacy by offering to meet me in a more private space (instead of her office which had thin walls) so that I could feel comfortable speaking.

When I met Prof Edoh, I told her what had happened. So many things had compounded to this point that I wasn’t sure what to do next. Prof Edoh listened as I shared my experience. She empathized with me and tried to shed light on the professor’s perspective. She told me that their action was by no means acceptable, but that they may have had a bad day that they didn’t get a grip on. She also mentioned that sometimes there is an insane amount of pressure on a professor to crank out research papers or do a stellar job at something and that pressure can cause them to say/do things that they typically wouldn’t. However, all of that was not to say that what they did was okay. It absolutely was not. We brainstormed ways to navigate my situation.

As I listened to her speak, I started to wonder if it was possible to switch into her class instead. Here was a professor I knew from NOWHERE who had graciously offered me her time. The way that she empathized and calmly explained to me that the other professor’s action may not have been deliberate really touched me; she made sure to not invalidate my experience while helping me see the other side.

I decided not to report this professor and I will tell you why. They were not a monster. Even with the friction that I sometimes experienced, they had been nice to me on occasion. Their actions on that day were inappropriate but I thought that everyone deserved a second chance.

I believe that every instructor at MIT is brilliant. So when you are choosing a class, it is important to choose an instructor who will not just teach technical knowledge, but will also teach you to become a better person for your community and for the world. Prof Edoh struck me as one of those people; right before we parted ways, I asked her if I could switch into her class (literally the Wednesday before add date - look at God! 🙏🏾)

Long story short, moving into 21G.026 was one of the best decisions I made at MIT. It was my first HASS in which I read every single reading more than once (we had 3-4 each week).

Prof Edoh knew how to get everyone to engage with the material. The readings complemented each other so well and provided an enriching learning experience. They forced me to think about Africa through many different perspectives ; the subject’s perspective, the narrator’s perspective and the reader’s perspective. She taught me to engage with material and think critically not just about the content but the lens and the voice through which the content was presented.

During lectures, she asked people to elaborate on their one-liners so that they could shed more light on their ideas. She knew how to steer conversations to avoid monopolized, two-person discussions.

Prof Edoh has remained a mentor and confidante over the years. Every conversation I have with her enriches me as a global scholar and as a person who cares about my community.

That professor who lashed out at me gave me one of the biggest gifts I have received at MIT even though at the time it broke my heart. Dear friends, you too can be a silver lining in a stranger’s cloud. You too can help a helpless student to navigate difficult situations. You too can help to rebuild their confidence. You can be a Prof Edoh to someone today.

#YouCanDoItOnlyYouCanDoItYouCantDoItAlone

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ponyregrets · 7 years

Text

No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way

Kabby social media AU, 3200 words, T

did u know that 1. it is @kane-and-griffin‘s birthday 2. she accidentally went viral for ranting about Friends and 3. once I start thinking about how A Thing (random example: Marcus Kane writing viral Friends tweets) would go down I cannot stop until I just write the thing

anyway happy birthday claire!!

Marcus Kane is, unfortunately, very familiar with the Nice Guy phenomenon.

It's an occupational hazard of writing science fiction, especially in the internet age; all he has to do is look for his most obnoxious fans, and he finds an unfortunately loud contingent of entitled mostly white men who believe that the world owes them women and happiness without any effort on their parts. It's something he tries to combat as much as possible, wherever he can, and he knows it works in some cases. For every reader who's turned against him for being an SJW cuck (whatever that means), he has another who's expressed appreciation for his opening them up to perspectives they hadn't considered and broadened their empathy and understanding.

That's what sci-fi should do, as far as Marcus is concerned. The heart of science fiction is acceptance and unity.

Which is why he tells Bellamy, "I need you to do one of those Twitter threads for me."

"For what?" Bellamy asks, wary. As Marcus's assistant, he seems to think his most important duty is talking Marcus out of interacting with social media. And he may be right.

"Ross Gellar."

It takes him a second. "The guy from Friends?" he finally asks.

"Yes. I want to explain to my followers why he's bad romantic lead and role model."

To his shock, the response is instant. "Okay."

"No arguments? No lecture on how that isn't what Twitter is for?"

"No, fuck Ross," he says. "What do you want to say? I'll make it happen."

Marcus clucks his tongue. "I'll write up a statement."

* Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Last week, while ill, I watched Friends on Netflix for the first time. So, a thread on friendship, romance, Joey Tribiani, and Ross Gellar.

O @o-so-cool reblogged Sometimes my brother's boss is pretty okay.

raven @queenreyesthefirst reblogged brb adding @kanemarcus to non-sucky white dude sci-fi authors and shipping him with @scalzi

Finn Collins @finnishfirst reblogged this is kind of interesting but way too hard on ross. he does a lot of good things! see thread

Bellamy @bradburybell reblogged this is not nearly hard enough on ross

Clarke Griffin @clarkegriffin reblogged Relevant to your interests @ark-abby

"So here's what I think happened," says Bellamy. He's brought Marcus a coffee without being prompted, so whatever it is must be bad.

Marcus takes a sip of the drink. "When?"

"With your Twitter rant."

"Ah. I assume there are a lot of protests from the louder, stupider portion of my fanbase about how I've allowed the liberal fake media destroy my mind and masculinity?"

"Yeah, there are some of those. But, uh--it went way past your fanbase."

"Excuse me?"

"This is your most retweeted post ever. Not even close. It's viral. You've got people fighting you, people telling you it's a revelation, and about a thousand new followers already. In the last day."

He frowns. "Is Friends really still that popular?"

"Apparently." He shrugs. "Clarke says you made Buzzfeed and a couple of the other aggregator sites too. She and Raven have been texting me updates. They think it's hilarious."

"What does that mean?"

"Honestly? I don't fucking know. I told you when you hired me I'm not actually good at this stuff. I tried to warn you."

"You did." He takes another sip of coffee. "So, what do you think happened?"

"My sister retweeted it, and she spends about ninety percent of her time thinking about her social media brand, so she's got a ton of followers. Then Raven picked it up from her, her tech friends got a hold of it, and after that--" He shrugs. "You got out of your niche and into broader Twitter, and I'm not going to be able to find anything useful in your notifications for weeks. It's all Ross/Joey shipping discourse. Clarke's words, not mine," he adds.

"Should I be concerned?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out if it actually sells more books. And Clarke thinks we should try to leverage it into more publicity, she's got an idea for that."

Marcus hasn't actually met most of Bellamy's friends, but he references them enough that he knows who they are. Octavia, sister, Raven, ex-girlfriend, Clarke, current girlfriend. He also knows that all of them are more familiar with social media than Bellamy is, so he's not surprised that he consulted them.

Mostly, though, he still can't believe anyone really cares about this.

"An idea to leverage the Friends discourse?"

Bellamy shrugs. "Apparently this fit into an ongoing conversation she's been having with her mother. Abby Griffin? She writes for Ark AV. She did that think-piece about what mainstream science fiction gets wrong about female characters."

"Ah," says Marcus. He remembers the article, which had been harsh but ultimately fair, and an interesting take, once he'd gotten over the initial hurt of being used in a not entirely positive light. "I didn't know that was Clarke's mother."

"Yeah, I figured I'd tell you later. Once I didn't think you were going to call her up and argue with her about how much better you've gotten."

"And now you don't think I will?"

"Honestly, I don't care. I just want to see you guys fight about Friends," he says. "That sounds awesome."

"So, you have no ulterior motives here. Just looking out for my best interests."

"Obviously."

"If she's Clarke's mother, I assume she's local? Or will I be fighting her on a podcast?"

"We were thinking Starbucks on Saturday. Caffeine and lots of witnesses."

Marcus finally lets himself open up Twitter, now that he's had enough coffee. He almost always has some notifications when he looks; he's a public figure with a passionate fanbase, he's used to people trying to talk to him on Twitter. That's why he has a Twitter in the first place. But the number of notifications has never been so high, not in his memory. And, as Bellamy said, it really is a lot of passionate Friends discourse, both for and against his opinions. It's an overwhelming amount of love, hate, and passion. Like discovering an entirely new world.

He thought he understood fandom, but apparently he has a long way to go.

"Starbucks would be fine," he tells Bellamy, a little faintly. "I'd enjoy that."

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus A lot of new followers today. Here are a few notes for you:

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus I am a published science fiction author. Those of you telling me to just write a book instead of many tweets, I have written many books.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus You can find the link to purchase them in my header.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus I have never claimed to be an expert on Friends. This was my first time watching, and these are my impressions based on one viewing.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus My opinion on the Friends canon does not invalidate yours. Yours is as valid as it ever was. But if you feel threatened, examine that.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus My ideas may have merit you're reluctant to fully accept because of your own perceptions of how things should be in relationships.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus If you followed me for more Friends content, please be aware this is an outlier. I usually talk about science fiction.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus On that note, would anyone like to discuss the Hugo Awards?

Masper @gogglesdonothing Replying to @kanemarcus ross/rachel is forever tho

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus and @gogglesdonothing I'll take that as a no.

Jonty @themediumgreen Replying to @kanemarcus and @gogglesdonothing I'm so sorry Mr. Kane just ignore him I want to talk about the Hugos tell me all your favorite winners do you like Chuck Tingle

Jonty @themediumgreen Replying to @gogglesdonothing I CAN'T TAKE YOU ANYWHERE

Marcus will admit he does not feel broadly prepared to seriously enter the Friends discourse. He is, after all, a neophyte. If there are scholarly works on Friends, he has not read them. If there's any academic discussion of these issues, he is not familiar with it. His knowledge is vague and still forming, but for some people, this show was a huge part of their development. It matters to them on a deep, personal level.

For him, it was a decent use of his time while he was sick and confined to his couch. He had a fever for most of the first season. He's not sure he's prepared to fight anyone about it. Based on his mentions, he has many, many fewer horses in this race than other people. But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe his perspective as an outsider is valuable.

Or maybe he just wants the chance to sit down with Abby Griffin. Because instead of spending the past week either working on his next book or even familiarizing himself with Friends and the criticism surrounding it, he's mostly been researching Abby Griffin herself. He'd done it some after the first article Bellamy sent, curious to see her other work, but he'd been busy with a deadline and hadn't really had much time for that, had barely scratched the surface of this woman.

He doesn't have time for it now either, of course, but it's at least relevant to something in his life. And, as Bellamy and his friends have pointed out, this is at least good publicity. It's not a complete waste of time.

The Abby Griffin stalking might be a waste, but he can't help it. She's interesting. The pop-culture writing is, apparently, a side job, something she never intended to get seriously involved in. The website had been her husband's, and when he passed away, Abby and Clarke had taken over its upkeep, and Abby had started producing content when she had time. Given her full-time job is as the director of internal medicine at the hospital, he's frankly amazed she has as much time for content as she does.

And it's good content. She and Clarke have a weekly column where they discuss a movie they went to see together, and the female characters in science fiction piece was apparently part of a series. Her taste is good and her opinions are interesting, and by the time he's meeting her, he has one big question, and one only.

They get through introductions and are settled in at the table before he finally lets it out. "Honestly, I don't understand how you can like Ross."

She lets out a surprised laugh. "Excuse me?"

"Bellamy said he was looking forward to us fighting over Friends, but I have trouble believing you disagree with my opinion of Ross. I don't know what we'd be fighting about."

She smiles into her mug. He'd known she was beautiful from the picture he found on the hospital website, but it's different to see in person, and more awkward. Bellamy and Clarke are hanging out at their own table, pretending not to eavesdrop; it's not an ideal time to be caught staring. "I don't know what he told you, but I didn't disagree. It was an impressive rant. Well reasoned and accurate. I was more interested in discussing why you posted it and the reactions you got. I saw it wasn't popular among some of your readers."

"To say the least."

"One of the things I've been curious about since getting involved in online fandom is what counts as acceptable ways to interact, especially for those of us over thirty or so. I saw a lot of people asking why a heterosexual man in his late forties would care this much about Friends at all. As if that was the problem."

"Judging from the angry responses, plenty of heterosexual men are very invested in Friends. Although I'm not sure how old they are," he grants.

"Age is the biggest issue, in my experience. You'd been participating in an acceptable way, as a creator, but once you show yourself to be invested in Friends shipping--"

"I stepped into the wrong part of fandom."

"That's my thesis, yes."

He considers. "Am I on the record?"

"I'm not a reporter, Marcus," she says, sounding amused. "I'm not trying to trick you into saying something I can use against you. But if you'd like to officially be off the record, we can say that you are."

"My hope with that post was that it would make some of my readers rethink their attitudes towards women and romance. The number of responses I got to Valena's story in Bright Sky Morning that boiled down to her being wrong for not returning Pavel's feelings even though he'd been so devoted to her was--staggering. And depressing."

"Did your female readers appreciate it?"

"They did. Apparently Jin was a much more appealing partner."

Abby smiles. "I certainly thought so."

It's not his first time meeting a fan, of course, and she might not even be a fan, in the sense they're talking about. But she's read his work and has opinions on it, and that's always a little bit flattering. Especially when they align with his. "I'm glad. I was hoping he would be." He clears his throat. "So, you'd like to talk to me as a forty-eight-year-old man who publicly had opinions on shipping."

"And to get your thoughts on Monica and Chandler," she says, all innocence. "If you don't mind."

He can't help smiling himself. "Not at all. I'm all yours."

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Expanded my horizons this weekend with the High School Musical trilogy. A curious cultural phenomenon.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus I appreciated that Troy and Gabriela didn't go to the same college, but still stayed in the same general area.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus I still don't think the couple has much of a future, but in an unrealistic movie, I appreciated that nod to practicality.

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus Very disappointed about the last-minute attempt to cement Ryan's heterosexuality. Let children have LGBT role models.

Murphy @firstnameredacted Replying to @kanemarcus If you're seriously going to be talking about Disney movies from now on I'm unfollowing you, I don't give a shit about this

Marcus Kane @kanemarcus Replying to @kanemarcus and @firstnameredacted Please do.

"Look," says Bellamy, two months after the first Friends rant, "I'm not going to pretend I'm good with crushes, but it would be a lot easier to just ask Abby if she wants to get dinner off the record instead of coming up with new weird shit to have opinions about on Twitter every week."

"I assume the timing of this isn't a coincidence," Marcus says. He was just getting his coat on to go meet her.

"You've already got a standing coffee date. Turn it into a real date. I'm begging you."

"You don't enjoy my opinions on the High School Musical series?"

"I actually do, I'm just getting tired of blocking people. Also, I don't know if you're aware, but dating is awesome. You should try it."

"I appreciate your concern. You don't think it would be weird for you if your boss was dating your girlfriend's mother?"

"No weirder than whatever's actually happening right now. And don't even try to tell me you're not asking her out because you're worried about how it would affect me."

It does sound absurd, when he puts it like that. "No. That wasn't a major factor."

Bellamy rolls his eyes. "Just ask if she wants to come check out the Descendants franchise with you next weekend. Definitely a solid pickup line. Chicks dig it."

"The what?"

"It's like the spiritual successor to High School Musical. I'll send you a link. You should know this stuff if you're really going in on this."

"I should give you a raise."

"That too. Say hi to Abby for me."

It's not entirely accurate to say that he thinks about what Bellamy said as he walks over to his weekly meeting with Abby. Every time he walks to her favorite coffee shop near the hospital, he's thinking these same kinds of thoughts, so it's not really Bellamy's fault. He enjoys Abby's company company and would be happy to see more of her. He already knew that. But it's been a long time since he navigated anything like this.

If only Friends had prepared him for this kind of romance.

"Marcus," says Abby, giving him a smile when he sits down across from her. As usual, she's surrounded by papers, and he sometimes doubts that she'd even have time for a relationship. She does keep herself busy. "I enjoyed your meditations on High School Musical."

"I'm glad to hear it. Bellamy says it gave me a net loss of followers, but not as much of one as he thinks I deserved."

"I'm not surprised." She considers him. "I didn't mean for our friendship to hurt your career."

"I don't think it is. Plenty of people just read my books and never even find out I'm on Twitter. It's not a large percentage of sales. You're blaming yourself for the High School Musical tweets?" he adds, curious. They are her fault, broadly speaking, but he wasn't sure she knew.

"If you don't keep coming up with hot takes, we don't have much to talk about."

He laughs. "I hope we'd come up with something."

"I hope so too."

The conversation lags, but it's not a bad lag. It feels like she's given him an opening, and it's his job to figure out how to take advantage of it.

The easiest way would be to simply propose a dinner date, as Bellamy suggested. But he's never been good at simple.

"You know, you never told me your favorite relationship on Friends."

"I didn't?"

"No, we usually talk about my opinions."

She levels her gaze at him, considering. "Do you know what I think when I watch Friends now?"

"No."

"They're all so young. And don't get me wrong, I met my husband when we were young, and the two of us were happy, but--sometimes it worries me how much emphasis we put on meeting people early in life. The younger you are, the more romantic it is. And that's one kind of romance, but it's not everything. It makes me want to shake all these kids and tell them that life doesn't end at thirty, or forty, or fifty. You'll keep on meeting new people, and you can still be happy."

He lets himself reach for her hand, and relief floods him when she lets him take it, even turns it over so she can squeeze his fingers. "So your favorite relationship on Friends is the one Rachel has when she's forty-five and Ross is dead?" he teases.

"I hope you're not comparing my husband to Ross."

He has to laugh. "No. I would never."

Abby's smile is warm, and it's suddenly so easy to not be nervous at all. "Good. Because the rest of that was right."

"Good," he agrees. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Sky Crew Reviews @kaneandgriffin New list from @kanemarcus: top 10 YA sci-fi books for adults! Up next, top 10 adult sci-fi books for teens. Age is nothing but a number.

Murphy @firstnameredacted Replying to @kaneandgriffin I will pay you to stop

Bellamy @bradburybell Replying to @kaneandgriffin and @firstnameredacted when are you actually going to unfollow like you keep saying you will? asking for a friend

Murphy @firstnameredacted Replying to @kaneandgriffin, @firstnameredacted, and @bradburybell I keep hoping I'm going to come back and he'll be normal again

SJW Cuck @kanemarcus Replying to @kaneandgriffin, @firstnameredacted, and @bradburybell Don't hold your breath.

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charlierejouis · 8 years

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4 Groups of People I Feel Bad For During this Presidency

It’s been a weird time being a moderate in the United States of America. If you’re out of our country and can’t tell, it’s probably just as crazy as everyone is telling you. And unfortunately, I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with people on both sides on many things.

In case you’re wondering, I didn’t vote for Trump and I’m not a fan of his policies. That said, there are 4 different groups of people that I feel really bad for during this time.

1. Everyone who probably will be/is affected by Trump’s policies and rhetoric.

Yeah. I’m just getting all the people you’d probably think I’d put on this list out of the way now.

It might be refugees and immigrants who can’t get into our country. It might be undocumented immigrants who may or may not be brought back to their country of origin. It might be Muslims who may or may not be put in registry. It might be transgenders who, as I write this, just recently where barred from using the bathrooms they want. It might be Black people or women whom our President has shown either extreme ignorance of or prejudice towards. It might be the media he’s declared a war on.

It might be some other group I’ve forgotten or that he’s managed to offend after I’ve posted this. I wouldn’t put it past him, this guy is that unpopular. A lot of people are going to be hurt by the things President Trump and his administration are going to do.

2. The American Christian Church

The stat goes that about 80% of White Evangelicals voted for Trump. That’s the kind of stat that people are going to use to completely invalidate the message that Christians give. It’s the kind of stat that isn’t going to help the notion that Christians are nothing but hypocrites. As a Christian myself, one of my first thoughts about this stat was how this would hurt Christian evangelism in the States.

But this is also the kind of stat that doesn’t tell the whole story. It doesn’t tell the story of many non-white Evangelicals who didn’t vote for Trump. It doesn’t tell the story of the many white Evangelicals who didn’t vote at all (even thought that may have helped him get into office). It doesn’t tell the story of those important Christians who are decrying his policies in the name of their Christianity, such as the 100+ Evangelical leaders who put their names on a Washington Post ad speaking out against the immigrant ban.

3. Hillary Clinton and The Democratic Party

I know what a lot of people might be thinking with this one. “Why are they here? About the only thing they did wrong was lose.”

Well, fun fact kids: there are a few reasons why they lost.

They didn’t present anyone other than Clinton and Sanders as a viable option for the Democratic ticket. Was I really supposed to believe Martin O’Malley, Lincon Chafee or whoever that other guy at the Democratic debate was had a real shot? (He’s not even worth Googling).

They screwed over Bernie Sanders, the best person for actually beating Donald Trump in a presidential race, in favor of someone who was seen as a flawed candiate, even by people who ended up voting for her. In fact, many people, myself included, voted for her simply because she wasn’t Trump.

Clinton didn’t appeal to the White rural voters in the Midwest that ended up being one the main reasons Trump won. It was a given for many people, pundits and populous alike, that she was going to win. As close as the race as it was projected to be, many people assumed she was going to be the next president. Of course, that made it even more shocking and painful when the results came in during that November Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

And say what you will about Trump wanting to #Make America Great Again. It makes a better slogan that “I’m With Her”. The message of the former is clear: “America is messed up, I can fix it.” The latter is more a statement of making history by voting for the first female U.S. President and not *insert opponent here*. It doesn’t say anything about what America is like and what she would do to help it.

The later slogan used, “Stronger Together”, is definitely better. But how well do you propose that could work alongside the slogan “Love Trumps Hate” and the anti-Trump (policies and person) campaign the Democratic party, Secretary Clinton and her supporters were running at the same time?

Clearly, not well.

And finally (braces for impact)...

4. President Trump and anyone directly associated with his Administration

This is where my true moderate colors show.

Again, let me make something clear. I didn’t vote for him. I’m not entirely sure why he was able to get as far as he did in the campaign. I don’t agree with most of his platform. Considering a lot of the things we’ve learned during the campaign, I’m not sure that I even fully respect him as a person.

All that said, I genuinely feel kinda bad for him.

Only kinda.

I don’t feel bad because of the people mocking him and his administration for terrible and hilarious things they’ve done or are doing. I feel bad because whatever potential successes they might have will be swept away by the large amount of fail that he’s done and doing.

For example, this week Trump signed a few bills that, if they work out, may help getting women into STEM fields. You might not have heard of that but you’ve probably definitely heard of his recent claims of wire-tapping over Twitter.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the good he does outweighs any or all the terrible things he’s done. That’s not how it works. That said, I feel like it would be bad if Trump actually does good and we only remember him for everything terrible he does.

Then again, I’m not expecting a lot of good to come out of this presidency.

In Conclusion:

This presidency is going to be hard for a lot of people. Including the President.

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diariesof-kg · 3 years

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A Soul in Love...

It’s so strange to reread my diaries, honestly I am shocked at the amount of emotions I had and emotions that were hidden. Within three months of meeting this person, I was head over heels. But I was a fool. I smile at the moment, but sad, because I didn’t see it coming....

10_22_20

“at the end of the tunnel, they say there is a lost light; a lost light to…”

It’s been awhile since I’ve written diary entries, although they were filled with sadness, pain, and anger. The white pages could not possibly fathom, how someone could take another breath while losing complete control. Accountability is allowing oneself to avoid creating excuses. I am more responsible than accountable. But through it, I am consciously aware at all times of my actions. I am currently reflecting. The last time I spoke to my best friend, I said something is terribly happening and she said, it’s that time of transitioning. It’s difficult to explain to people how chakras work, the universe, manifestation, life paths, etc. The spiritual awakening while I found my purpose and healing years ago. You just can’t have those conversations with those who are unaware who they are to begin with. That’s for another diary entry.

I found someone I really like. I think my mind, body and spirit is trying to catch up, because it’s less than ninety days and various amount of valid emotions have erupted. Months ago, I spoke to God and wrote what I needed in my life. I manifested into the universe, I even posted it all over my social sites. It sounded desperate as I reflect but, I believe at the moment, with the various amount of interactions I had with women, that I was ready to settle down. I’ve been single for five years. It was only fair to myself to want to love and care about someone and share moments with. And then I fell in love. I had to question the person, if it was okay to have these emotions and I felt like a complete idiot. Because I know my emotions and what I feel and never excuse or invalidate them. Therefore, why was I even questioning my own self. Perhaps the past was invading that innocent moment. Abuse, Abuse abuse!

Two years of therapy did absolutely nothing. Before dialing in about that, I am grateful for the person in my life. Lord knows I love women from Georgia, it’s something about them. I honestly hear the echoes of her voice, and feel her presence constantly. It’s the spiritual ties that …make me smile. It’s everything. It’s a beautiful feeling to feel loved and to love. Especially for my brother, not sure why that makes me cry every time. But it matters. It honestly does. Her soul is pure but yet on the path of healing that you want to follow. Her energy is warm and colorful, that engulfs you with love. Her smile is innocent yet welcoming. As Monica would say, you’re just right for me.

We had depth conversations about our pasts which honestly, I fall in love with. Only because I figured I desired substance. I could care less about a birthdate, favorite color, favorite cars, etc. I needed something to penetrate my soul. I use to post about this on Snapchat, that I was over small talk. Allow yourself to be emerged in someone’s energy. Allow yourself to be free. But most were not free, they were all enslaved, enslaved by their subconscious mind. I saw a meme that said something about unveil all your past traumas so we could begin to heal as one and it was regarding asking upfront questions like this on the first date. A lot of people didn’t agree with that, but I believe in solely allowing yourself to be as free as possible to an extent of your own comfortability.

As I reflect on the interactions with these women. They desired me wrong. I understand relationships is such a commitment but so is life. You commit to wake up, breath, eat, work, workout, etc. What difference does it make to create a spiritual bond with someone before the legal contracts of marriage emerge? This woman I was talking to which I told her I was interested in going out on dates and getting to know others, since its clear you aren’t ready for a relationship. In the midst of this discussion she said, “meet me half way…” and I am thinking do what now, girl I am spiritually committed to someone and now you want me. The disrespect. On a serious note; I love all depths of conversations. When she mentioned that I was all about relationships and that she wasn’t going to allow someone to stop her objectives, which is self-healing and more self-loving, I was going to snap, but had to respond correctly.

I’ve brought this forth, because for a second, I had to question whether I was wrong for not waiting around and fulfilling what I needed. Then I realized, this is the same person who stated that my edges and hair resembled slavery. That’s a different story and I honestly try not to hold any type of past tense statements, but that was a WTF, especially coming from another black woman. That’s besides the point. Self-healing is amazing, but I also thought to myself, I’ve known you for a year and nothing has happened. We met twice; you were sexually interested and again, that’s a turn off. Upfront I said I wanted a relationship, you didn’t, but now I am someone all about relationships and you want me to meet you half way. People are a trip honestly. 2018, I waited a year for someone to get their shit together and it was sexually charged and then got mad when I wanted to see other people. I be wanting to scream but realize, the universe brought my queen. And now every single person can watch our debut on television. As we create our own herstory.

I’ve realized the trauma of my story still lingers in the darkness of the subconscious passionately waiting for triggers to awaken them and destroy my inner peace. The conversations I have with my person, awakened a few. Not in an immoral way, but to validate and move forth. Although my person dislikes when I bring up the past; it exists unfortunately. The abuse was real and I dealt with it for years, so the recovery is a little slower. I do apologize. I am truly sorry. I believe all my diary entries of abuse is still on the internet. I wouldn’t want anyone to read that. I am working on not bringing up the past, but also, I refuse to deny it. The past doesn’t define me, it was a life experience; that showed me what falsified love and care was. Even when me and her were having a disagreement about, why I didn’t want to post us or what have you. She kind of started yelling and cursing. And honestly, I wasn’t even in my body at the moment. That was at trigger, I wasn’t present I was back in 2013. And then I felt rage and had to get off the phone. My shut down I just can’t fix at all. I prayed about it.

I understand it’s not fair. She’s not deserving of my past traumas. It’s unfair. But going to the bay, I’ll try, but I’ll have a panic attack and that’s something she isn’t aware of. Abuse? Is there true healing from that? I honestly, can’t step foot in San Fran, I’ll pass out in pure agony. San Fran is beautiful. And part of me feels if I go it’ll close and I won’t feel this way any longer. It definitely is a process. I’ve been self-healing for years, but the abuse it like depression, it kills a portion of your mind. It’s a virus that invades and never disappears.

My friend passed away this year. I wanted to touch on this for a brief moment. I have not had the opportunity to mourn her. I’ve been taking care of my mother and all the house things since March and she passed away in April. I am still devastated, none of my friends understand what kind of emotional state I am in, to not be able to take a second and just reflect on her and the years we spent. She was beyond a positive soul. We created a pilot, we rented a damn Tesla, a Tesla!! We celebrated like it was the end of the world. I loved her so much! I remember crying and telling her, what you need. Do you need my heart, lungs, kidney. She said na, don’t be sad for me, I’ll be okay. The most selfless individual I’ve known. It’s still unbelievable. But I’d be tired too, look at this world we in. Peace is where you are and hell is where I am. I miss her so damn much. I think if I mourn and have a moment of tears than I’d have to confirm she’s really gone and accepting that; might hurt more than the day I got the news.

It’s getting late, my thoughts are over-pouring at this moment. Sometimes I wish I could disconnect from the world. I have done it before for three months, but realized that for some odd reason the world needs me. And if I disconnected, I would neglect my duties as a spiritual being. I’ve learned in life that my selflessness is who I am. Regardless if I feel sad, unhappy, irritated; I can disconnect for a couple of days, place those emotions away and become happy. Of course I would be denying my true emotions, but to burden them onto others would be selfish. Some will never understand that, but that’s because they failed to understand me. In my teens I was a selfish individual. I vowed never to do that ever again. It’s almost a battle within to do for others, care for others, love others and neglect yourself. But like the person said to me about the well being dry. I can’t change who I’ve become. Can only appreciate that I am here. I love who I am. Regardless if my well is dry, God himself won’t judge me for continuing to give myself to others in all ways possible. The blessings don’t just occur.

Until tomorrow …

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currenthealtheventsblog-blog · 6 years

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Monday, December 17, 2018 | Kaiser Health News

New Post has been published on https://currenthealthevents.net/trending/monday-december-17-2018-kaiser-health-news/

Monday, December 17, 2018 | Kaiser Health News

The Associated Press: Federal Judge Rules Health Care Overhaul Unconstitutional In a 55-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that last year’s tax cut bill knocked the constitutional foundation from under “Obamacare” by eliminating a penalty for not having coverage. The rest of the law cannot be separated from that provision and is therefore invalid, he wrote. Supporters of the law immediately said they would appeal. “Today’s misguided ruling will not deter us: our coalition will continue to fight in court for the health and wellbeing of all Americans,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is leading a coalition of states defending the ACA. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/14)

Kaiser Health News: Judge Strikes Down ACA Putting Law In Legal Peril — Again It is all but certain the case will become the third time the Supreme Court decides a constitutional question related to the ACA. In addition to upholding the law in 2012, the court rejected another challenge to the law in 2015. (Rovner, 12/14)

The judge’s ruling, practically speaking, won’t have an immediate impact on the way the health law operates. With enrollment closing on Saturday, the Trump administration said the court decision has “no impact to current coverage or coverage in a 2019 plan.” But the case, seemingly bound for the Supreme Court, now threatens to complicate a wide array of policies and send a shock wave through a marketplace that’s been in upheaval for years.

The New York Times: What The Obamacare Court Ruling Means For Open Enrollment Open enrollment was scheduled to end on Saturday in most states, and every year, a surge of people sign up at the last minute. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent out an email to millions of Americans on Saturday trying to allay concerns, and HealthCare.gov displayed a red banner alerting people that the court’s decision would not affect open enrollment. “Are you covered yet?” HealthCare.gov tweeted on Saturday. “Hurry!” (Mervosh, 12/16)

The Washington Post: ACA Ruling Creates New Anxieties For Consumers And The Health-Care Industry The ruling by a federal judge in Texas striking down the Affordable Care Act has injected a powerful wave of uncertainty about recent changes woven into the U.S. health-care system that touch nearly all Americans and the industry that makes up one-sixth of the economy. The opinion, if upheld on appeal, would upend the health insurance industry, the way doctors and hospitals function, and the ability of millions of Americans to access treatments they need to combat serious diseases. (Goldstein, 12/16)

Bloomberg: Ruling Striking Down Obamacare Won’t Affect Health Coverage, Yet The White House confirmed that the law remains in effect pending appeal, even as President Donald Trump called the ruling “great news” and suggested Congress start working on a replacement. The ruling has “no impact to current coverage or coverage in a 2019 plan,” Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, tweeted. (Tozzi, 12/17)

Politico: Obamacare Ruling Delivers New Shock To Health System Expanded Medicaid for millions. Penalties for poorly performing hospitals. Even the Trump administration’s own plans to lower drug prices. Those and many other initiatives would all be illegal under a federal judge’s sweeping decision that the entire Affordable Care Act must be struck down — the latest shock to the nation’s health system after a decade of upheavals, including two fights over the ACA that reached the Supreme Court. (Diamond, 12/15)

The Wall Street Journal: What ACA Ruling May Mean For Millions Of Americans’ Health Coverage Practically speaking, nothing will happen right away. The judge didn’t immediately block enforcement of the ACA, so it remains in effect for now. The White House on Friday night said the law would stay in place during the appeals stage of the case, a process that could take many months. … It is an open question whether some states may attempt to back away from administering the health law starting next month, once the elimination of the tax penalty goes into effect. If they do, it could spark additional litigation. (Kendall, 12/15)

CQ: Health Law Ruling Leaves Consumers Confused Tim Jost, a professor emeritus at Washington and Lee Law School and an expert on the health law, told CQ on Saturday that the next procedural steps are unclear. A group of Democratic attorneys general that are defending the law will likely soon file an appeal, but because the judge filed a declaratory judgment, rather than an injunction, all parties involved may need to take more time to figure out the next steps. “The main effect right now is just a tremendous amount of confusion,” Jost said. “I think we could possibly lose thousands or tens of thousands of people who need to sign up today.” (McIntire, 12/15)

The Hill: ObamaCare Signup Period Ends Amid New Uncertainty ObamaCare’s latest open enrollment period ended Saturday with the future of the law facing uncertainty after a federal judge in Texas struck it down. Sign-ups for ObamaCare plans at healthcare.gov, the federal platform used by 39 states, had already lagged behind previous years, putting enrollment on track to drop for the second year in a row under the Trump administration. (Hellmann, 12/17)

Bloomberg: Health Stocks Prepare For Market Jolt After Obamacare Ruling U.S. health-care stocks are poised for a potentially ugly trading session Monday as investors weigh in on a judge’s ruling that Obamacare is unconstitutional. A judge sided with Texas late Friday in a lawsuit alleging that Congress’s decision in 2017 to kill a related tax penalty essentially voided the entire Affordable Care Act. While many analysts expect the ruling to be reversed by higher courts, the news adds to volatility in a sector that had barely recovered from political overhangs this year and yet remains the top performing sector in the S&P 500. (Darie, 12/16)

And more on the state impact —

The Baltimore Sun: What Does Texas Ruling Mean For Obamacare In Maryland? After the U.S. Department of Justice said it wouldn’t defend Obamacare in court, [Maryland Attorney General Brian] Frosh filed a case in September. It seeks what’s known as a declaratory judgment saying that Obamacare passes constitutional muster. The Justice Department is seeking to have Frosh’s suit thrown out, arguing that Maryland doesn’t have grounds to bring a case in the first place. Frosh acknowledged that the case was unusual but said it was important that Maryland fight in court. (Duncan, 12/15)

The Star Tribune: Despite ACA Ruling, Nothing Changes For Minnesota If you plan to get health insurance through MNsure or have already, nothing changes despite a federal judge’s ruling that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. “Given the recent Texas court case, I wanted to remind Minnesotans that the Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land and that MNsure is open for business,” Gov. Mark Dayton said Saturday in a statement. (Stahl, 12/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia AG Carr Touts Obamacare Ruling In Suit Georgia Helped Bring Reaction in Georgia was swift to a ruling Friday night from a federal judge in Texas striking down the entire Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.Chris Carr, Georgia’s attorney general, said the ruling was just what he and other Republican leaders had argued, when Carr in February added Georgia’s weight behind the lawsuit as one of 20 states challenging the law. (Hart, 12/15)

Had Congress meant to take such radical action as to invalidate the entire law because of one provision, the experts say, it would have said so at the time. “He effectively repealed the entire Affordable Care Act when the 2017 Congress decided not to do so,” Yale law professor Abbe Gluck told The New York Times.

The New York Times: Health Law Could Be Hard To Knock Down Despite Judge’s Ruling Could a federal judge in Texas be the catalyst that finally brings down the Affordable Care Act, a law that has withstood countless assaults from Republicans in Congress and two Supreme Court challenges? On the morning after Judge Reed O’Connor’s startling ruling that struck down the landmark health law, legal scholars were doubtful. Lawyers on both sides of previous A.C.A. battles said the reasoning behind this one was badly flawed, notably in its insistence that the entire 2010 law must fall because one of its provisions may have been rendered invalid by the 2017 tax overhaul legislation. Had Congress meant to take such radical action, they said, it would have said so at the time. (Hoffman, Pear and Liptak, 12/15)

The Washington Post: Legal Experts Rip Judge’s Rationale For Declaring Obamacare Law Invalid “There’s really no American that’s not affected by this law,” said Yale law professor Abbe Gluck, who filed an amicus brief with other lawyers in the Texas case. The judge’s ruling, she said, flouts settled legal doctrine and places key acts of Congress in reverse order. By ignoring that Congress specifically declined to strike down the ACA in 2017 when it chose to alter only one portion of the bill, she said, the judge decreed that the 2010 Congress, which first passed the law, has more authority than the same legislative body in 2017. “It’s absolutely ludicrous to hold that we do not know whether the 2017 Congress would have wanted the rest of the ACA to exist without an enforceable mandate, because the 2017 Congress did exactly that when it zeroed out the mandate and left the rest of the ACA standing,” Gluck said. “He effectively repealed the entire Affordable Care Act when the 2017 Congress decided not to do so.” (Barrett, 12/15)

The Hill: Five Takeaways From The Court Decision Striking Down ObamaCare But where legal experts particularly criticize O’Connor is his next step, where he ruled that because the mandate is unconstitutional, the rest of the Affordable Care Act is also invalid. Experts say that violates the established legal standard that Congress’s intent should be the guide, and in this case it is obvious that Congress intended for the rest of the Affordable Care Act to remain when it repealed only the mandate penalty last year. (Sullivan, 12/15)

Republicans just spent months making campaign promises to retain popular provisions of the health law, such as protections of preexisting conditions coverage. The decision to invalidate those measures in a case pushed by Republican attorneys general ties the party, politically, to a decision undercutting those promises. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump touted the decision, calling it “a great ruling for our country.”

The New York Times: Ruling Striking Down Obamacare Moves Health Debate To Center Stage The decision by a federal judge in Texas to strike down all of the Affordable Care Act has thrust the volatile debate over health care onto center stage in a newly divided capital, imperiling the insurance coverage of millions of Americans while delivering a possible policy opening to Democrats. After campaigning vigorously on a pledge to protect patients with pre-existing medical conditions — a promise that helped return them to the House majority they had lost in 2010 — Democrats vowed to move swiftly to defend the law and to safeguard its protections. (Stolberg, Pear and Goodnough, 12/15)

The Associated Press: Judge’s Ruling On ‘Obamacare’ Poses New Problems For GOP Republicans, still stinging from their loss of the House in the midterm elections, are facing a fresh political quandary after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said the entire 2010 health law was invalid. Warnings about the Texas lawsuit were part of the political narrative behind Democrats’ electoral gains. Health care was the top issue for about one-fourth of voters in the November election, ahead of immigration and jobs and the economy, according to VoteCast, a nationwide survey for The Associated Press. Those most concerned with health care supported Democrats overwhelmingly. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Health-Care Law Ruling Puts Republicans On The Defensive After Campaign Promises Republicans are under greater pressure to produce an alternative to the law they have ardently opposed since its passage and a means to ensuring affordable health care coverage to some 52 million people with conditions such as diabetes, asthma and cancer. But they are still riven by the divisions that thwarted previous efforts to overhaul the law. (Sullivan, 12/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Politicians Grapple With Response To Health Law Ruling Republicans on Sunday said they wanted to maintain the 2010 law’s guarantee of insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But they also said they continued to oppose most or all of the law, such as its requirement that most people obtain health insurance, the so-called individual mandate. How they might accomplish both goals remained unclear. “There is widespread support for protecting people with pre-existing conditions. There’s also widespread opposition to the individual mandate,’’ said Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), speaking on CNN. She said the insurance-purchasing requirement, which is intended to ensure enough healthy people buy policies to make the plans economically viable, was particularly burdensome for low- and middle-income families. (Armour and Peterson, 12/16)

Politico: GOP Feels Heat In Wake Of Obamacare Ruling: ‘It’s All The Downsides’ The result is likely to be a split GOP caucus that draws flak from both the right and the left. Republicans who survived the midterm elections by vowing to protect people with pre-existing conditions will find themselves in a particularly tough spot, feeling intense pressure to make good on that pledge. “It’s all the downsides,” a House GOP aide said. “Politically, I don’t think that it helps us at all.” (Demoko and Cancryn, 12/15)

Bloomberg: Judge Lobs Political Bomb At Trump By Nullifying Obamacare “I’m not sure Republicans even know what they’re fighting for right now when it comes to health care,” said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida who now identifies as an independent. “Opposing Obamacare has become reflexive GOP orthodoxy, but they just spent six months saying they’d protect pre-existing conditions. Hard to square GOP campaign promises with the court victory by GOP attorneys general.” (Kapur, 12/15)

Nashville Tennessean: Obamacare Unconstitutional? Sen. Alexander Skeptical SCOTUS Will Agree One day after a federal judge in Texas issued a decision in which he deemed the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, a key Tennessee lawmaker expressed skepticism that the nation’s high court would concur. In a statement issued Saturday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said, “If the U.S. Supreme Court eventually were to agree that Obamacare is unconstitutional — which seems unlikely, however poorly the law was written — I am confident that any new federal law replacing it will continue to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions who buy health insurance.” (Ebert, 12/16)

Reuters: Trump Hails Judge’s Ruling Against Obamacare As ‘Great’ President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed a court decision against Obamacare as “a great ruling for our country,” while a U.S. government official said the decision by a Texas judge would have no immediate impact on health coverage. (12/15)

The Hill: Trump Touts Ruling Against ObamaCare: ‘Mitch And Nancy’ Should Pass New Health-Care Law “Mitch and Nancy, get it done!” Trump added, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and expected incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). (Axelrod, 12/14)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he will try to force a Senate vote to intervene in the federal case while House Democratic leaders plan to order House counsel to defend the health law as soon as they take control of the chamber next year. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama tried to calm any fears that the decision could ultimately strike down his signature domestic achievement.

Politico: Schumer Pushes For Senate Vote On Obamacare Case The Senate’s top Democrat on Sunday said he plans to push for a vote to intervene in a federal court case over Obamacare after a judge in Texas last week ruled that the landmark health care law is unconstitutional. “We’re going to fight this tooth and nail,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And the first thing we’re going to do when we get back there in the Senate is urge, put a vote on the floor, urging an intervention in the case.” (O’Brien and Ollstein, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Federal Judge In Texas Rules Entire Obama Health-Care Law Is Unconstitutional House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is expected to become speaker next month, issued a statement that said: “When House Democrats take the gavel, the House of Representatives will move swiftly to formally intervene in the appeals process to uphold the life-saving protections for people with pre-existing conditions and reject Republicans’ effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act.” (Goldstein, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Judge Rules Affordable Care Act Is Unconstitutional Without Insurance-Coverage Penalty Friday’s decision rattled top Democratic politicians, medical groups and health-industry leaders. Some advocacy groups called on Congress to immediately pass legislation protecting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and the American Medical Association vowed to work with other organizations in seeking an appeal. “This is a five alarm fire—Republicans just blew up our health care system,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said in a statement. “The anti-health care zealots in the Republican Party are intentionally ripping health care away from the working poor, increasing costs on seniors, and making insurance harder to afford for people with preexisting conditions.” (Armour and Kendall, 12/15)

The Hill: Klobuchar Calls ObamaCare Ruling ‘Absurd’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday called it “absurd” that a Texas judge ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional and called on Republicans to work with Democrats to improve the health-care law. “The ruling was absurd. [Supreme Court] Justice [John] Roberts in a conservative court has already ruled that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” (Burke, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Obama Hits Out At Republicans After Judge Rules Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional Obama responded on Saturday by saying in a Facebook post that “Republicans will never stop trying to undo” the health-care law and urging people to continue to get covered under the ACA as the decision makes its way through the courts in what could be a prolonged appeals process. As of early Monday, his Facebook post has received more than 28,000 reactions, and has been liked more than 72,000 times since he also shared it on Twitter. The former president tried to quell any dread that the ruling could ultimately strike down the entirety of his signature health-care law, which is commonly referred to as Obamacare. (Bella, 12/17)

Bloomberg: Democrats Vow Rapid Action After Obamacare Tossed By Judge Obamacare was struck down by a Texas federal judge in a ruling that casts uncertainty on insurance coverage for millions of U.S. residents, drawing sharp condemnation from some medical professionals and a vow for action by top Democrats. President Donald Trump termed the ruling “a big big victory by a highly respected judge” and an alternative path to the long-time Republican goal of repeal-and-replace. (Korosec and Mehrotra, 12/14)

The Associated Press: Judge In Health Care Case Had Blocked Other Obama Policies U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who ruled the Affordable Care Act “invalid” Friday, is no stranger to the conservative resistance to Obama administration policies. O’Connor, 53, is a former state and federal prosecutor who was nominated to the federal bench in 2007 by President George W. Bush. He has been active in the Federalist Society, which describes itself as “a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order.” (12/14)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump Floats Fictions About The Border President Donald Trump’s relationship with the truth tends to be borderline, at best, when it comes to the border. So it was this past week when he made a flurry of false or unsupported statements about immigration. He said, with no evidence, that migrants are plagued with disease. He asserted that Mexico has in effect agreed to pay for his border wall, even as he threatens a partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t approve billions of dollars to build it. He twisted federal statistics to claim the recent arrest of 10 terrorists who don’t exist. (Woodward and Yen, 12/15)

With reports on the rise of fentanyl’s lethality, even through accidental exposure, people are being prosecuted for endangering the lives of police officers who respond to emergency calls. Experts, however, say that the science behind accidental exposure doesn’t support the extreme measures. Other news from the national drug epidemic includes: secret OxyContin documents, recovery in a small town, naloxone, a massive drug operation and more.

The New York Times: What Can Make A 911 Call A Felony? Fentanyl At The Scene. Eric Weil, a gregarious 50-year-old painter who lives in a wooded neighborhood hugging the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, never suspected he would face felony charges when he called 911 last August. He had agreed to take in a friend’s son who was struggling with addiction, on the condition that no drugs be brought into his house. When Mr. Weil discovered a packet of white powder in the guest bedroom, he called 911. “Somebody’s messed up in my house,” he recalled saying. “He’s on drugs. I don’t know what he’s on. Can we get somebody here?” (Smith, 12/17)

Stat: Appeals Court Rules That Secret OxyContin Documents Must Be Released A Kentucky appeals court on Friday upheld a judge’s ruling ordering the release of secret records about Purdue Pharma’s marketing of the powerful prescription opioid OxyContin, which has been blamed for helping to seed today’s opioid addiction epidemic. The records under seal include a deposition of Richard Sackler, a former president of Purdue and a member of the family that founded and controls the privately held Connecticut company. Other records include marketing strategies and internal emails about them; documents concerning internal analyses of clinical trials; settlement communications from an earlier criminal case regarding the marketing of OxyContin; and information regarding how sales representatives marketed the drug. (Armstrong and Joseph, 12/14)

NPR: After A Wake-Up Call, A Small Town Struggles To Recover From Addiction In September 2016, the town of East Liverpool, Ohio, captured national attention when a photo of a local couple’s overdose went viral. It showed a woman and her boyfriend sprawled comatose in the front seats of a car, while the woman’s 4-year-old grandson sat in the back. The image was originally posted by the local police department. Overnight, East Liverpool, a town of just over 11,000 people, became the face of the opioid crisis enveloping parts of the country. (Brown, 12/15)

NPR: Pennsylvania Holds Naloxone Giveaway David Braithwaite was standing next to his pickup truck Thursday in a parking lot outside the Cumberland County health center in Carlisle, Pa. He’s a chaplain for Carlisle Truck Stop Ministry. His hat even says it. Braithwaite said he and another chaplain minister to truck drivers, homeless people and anyone else who needs help at the truck stop seven days a week. (Sholtis, 12/14)

The New York Times: Authorities Uncover $8 Million-A-Week Drug Operation In Pennsylvania It was a typical, single-family house with a landscaped yard and Christmas decorations in a quiet neighborhood in eastern Pennsylvania. But this week investigators, acting on a tip, uncovered a secret in the basement — a drug operation worth an estimated $8 million a week. On Wednesday, prosecutors announced that 11 people were charged with felony drug offenses in the bust, which was believed to be one of the largest in the county. (Hauser, 12/14)

The New York Times: Tracking The Opioid Epidemic Through The Books That Warned Us Medical knowledge is evolving at warp speed, spinning out reams of new information into sound bites, articles and more and more new health books to overload your sagging shelves. But if you’re tempted to toss out all the old stuff, better think twice — despite the changes in medical science, some constants endure. The human body still sickens and recovers much the way it always has; our dogged, heartfelt efforts to prevent and relieve pain and suffering are no different than they ever were. Even books published decades or in some cases centuries in the past may still speak clearly to today’s medical issues. (Zuger, 12/17)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Opioid Deaths Are Down, But Addiction Continues To Plague Virginia Even as Virginia expects a slight dip in fatal opioid-related drug overdoses in 2018, deaths caused by cocaine and methamphetamine as well as babies born addicted to drugs are on the rise, indicating a “disease of despair,” according to a report by the state health commissioner. (Balch, 12/14)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: After Confronting Mental Illness And Addiction, He Wants To Help Others. But One Thing’s Stopping Him. Last year, 1,481 certified peer specialists were employed in Pennsylvania, according to data the counties report to the Department of Human Services. Across the United States, there are an estimated 25,000 certified mental-health peer support specialists. Though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t track the position, it estimates job growth for community health workers in general will increase 16 percent in the coming decade — nearly double the average job growth. (Pattani, 12/17)

Texas Tribune: What The Medicaid Coverage Gap Means To Texans Without Health Insurance First, individual states had to agree to expand their Medicaid program, and the federal government offered to pay for 100 percent of states’ Medicaid expansion from 2014 to 2016 — aid that decreased to 90 percent by 2020. But a number of states, including Texas, fought the Obama administration’s mandate to expand Medicaid, and in 2012 the Supreme Court ruled states were not required to comply with the mandate. That left about 638,000 non-elderly Texans in the Medicaid gap as of 2016 — the most among the states that didn’t expand Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Allyson Waller, 12/17)

A sweeping investigation examines the quality and effectiveness of care for adult residents who transfer into subsidized apartments under a program called scattered site supported housing. Other news on quality in health care focuses on assisted living facilities and hospitals.

ProPublica: After Years In Institutions, A Road Home Paved With Hunger, Violence And Death Historically, supported housing was meant as a finish line for those who had demonstrated, under decreasing levels of supervision, that they could live alone. But the court order ushered a wave of adult home residents directly into a system in which people like [Nestor] Bunch were expected, overnight, to be able to care for themselves. Last week, ProPublica and the PBS series Frontline published an investigation, in collaboration with The New York Times, showing how the sudden shift has proven perilous, even deadly, for those who were not ready to live with minimal support. (Sapien and Etheredge, 12/14)

Kaiser Health News: Assisted Living’s Breakneck Growth Leaves Patient Safety Behind They found Bonnie Walker’s body floating in a pond behind her assisted living facility in South Carolina. There were puncture wounds on her ear, her temple, her jaw and her cheeks. Her right forearm and her pacemaker were inside one of the alligators that lived in the pond. Like 4 in 10 residents in assisted living facilities, Walker, 90, had dementia. Shortly after midnight one day in July 2016, she slipped out of her facility, Brookdale Charleston, as she had done a few days before. This time, no one noticed her missing for seven hours. (Rau, 12/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Hotel-Style Hospitality Comes To Hospitals The friendly touches at a luxury hotel aren’t normally expected at a busy Bronx hospital. But that is exactly what Marcello Khattar of Montefiore Health System is trying to do—put a little of the hotel experience into the health-care setting. Mr. Khattar, 36 years old, is a director of patient experience and customer service at Montefiore, a new role. His charge is to make the hospital experience feel a little warmer, easier and more personal. It is not enough for a patient or family member just to have medical needs met, he says. (West, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Flu Shot Choices Explained My kids and I tried something different for our flu shots this year. Instead of making separate visits to my doctor and their pediatrician, we all went to the same place: our local Target, where the in-store clinic offered us each a $5 gift card for getting vaccinated. The visit was convenient: We walked right in without an appointment on a Saturday morning. For the first time, my 5-year old didn’t scream as the needle went in. And the boys were thrilled to shop for new toys after their shots. (Sohn, 12/15)

Although the Trump administration wants to commit $20 million to develop alternative options to using fetal tissue in research, scientists say it is unique. Other news on public health focuses on CRISPR researcher He Jiankui, an increase in homelessness, low-salt diets, palliative care, second-hand smoke, the Marbug virus, a young Ebola survivor, aftershocks of suicides and more.

Stat: There Aren’t Any Good Alternatives To Fetal Tissue Research, Scientists Warn At an NIH meeting Thursday, Director Francis Collins said that research into alternatives is “scientifically, highly justified,” but also defended the value of fetal tissue research, saying, “There is strong evidence that scientific benefits can come from fetal tissue research, which can be done with an ethical framework.” As part of the Trump administration audit, NIH in September froze the acquisition of new fetal tissue purchases. That has already upset research at an HIV lab in Montana and may soon hamper work in groups studying cancer and eye disease. (Swetlitz, 12/17)

Stat: ‘CRISPR Babies’ Scientist He Jiankui Rose From Obscurity To Stun The World In the three weeks since the remarkable announcement about Nana and Lulu, STAT has pieced together the story of the years leading up to that fateful Monday. With details reported for the first time, it describes the many times He [Jiankui] met with and spoke before some of the world’s leading genome-editing experts, the low opinion they had of his research, and the hints he dropped about his grandiose aspirations. It is based on interviews in Hong Kong and with experts on four continents, with scientists and others who have crossed paths with He, as well as on documents and published accounts. He did not reply to requests for an interview. (Begley and Joseph, 12/17)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Homelessness Edges Higher Again After Seven Years Of Declines Homelessness nudged higher in 2018 for the second consecutive year, as cities struggled to get people off the streets even as many ramped up building and poured millions of dollars into potential solutions. The increase was slight—just 0.3%, according to an annual report to Congress by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be released Monday. But after seven years of declines, the small rises over the past two years are a troubling reversal at a time when unemployment is at a near 50-year-low and wages are rising. (Kusisto and Malas, 12/17)

The New York Times: Scant Evidence Behind The Advice About Salt Despite a number of studies questioning the usefulness of very low-salt diets in the last few years, most major medical organizations continue to recommend them. We would assume that they do so from a strong base of evidence. But with respect to heart failure, there is a shockingly small amount of evidence. (Carroll, 12/17)

The Washington Post: Palliative Care May Save Money And Ease Suffering Gordon Surber and Mark Hailey have the same terminal lung disease. Brothers-in-law, they live next door to one another on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in rural Northern California. But they live in different worlds when it comes to health care. Not so long ago, Surber, 57, was a robust man who loved fishing on the Trinity River, racing motocross and feeling his strength return each season when he went back to work in the woods as a logger. Now he can’t lift his baby granddaughter or walk more than a few steps without his oxygen tank. (Underwood, 12/15)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Babies, Toddlers At Greater Risk From Second-Hand Smoke Than Previously Thought, Penn State Study Finds Infants and toddlers in low-income communities may be even more at risk from second- and third-hand smoke exposure than has been believed, according to new federally supported research. In testing that included over 1,200 children, researchers found that up to 15 percent of them had levels of cotinine, a byproduct of the body’s breakdown of nicotine, comparable to what would be found in an adult smoker. (Giordano, 12/14)

The Washington Post: These Bats Carry The Lethal Marburg Virus, And Scientists Are Tracking Them To Try To Stop Its Spread By day, some of the most dangerous animals in the world lurk deep inside this cave. Come night, the tiny fruit bats whoosh out, tens of thousands of them at a time, filling the air with their high-pitched chirping before disappearing into the black sky. The bats carry the deadly Marburg virus, as fearsome and mysterious as its cousin Ebola. Scientists know that the virus starts in these animals, and they know that when it spreads to humans it is lethal — Marburg kills up to 9 in 10 of its victims, sometimes within a week. But they don’t know much about what happens in between. (Sun, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Congo Says Baby Girl Is Youngest Survivor Of Ebola Outbreak Congo’s Health Ministry says a newborn baby called Benedicte is the youngest survivor of what is now the world’s second-deadliest Ebola outbreak. The ministry posted a photograph of the infant on Twitter this past week showing her surrounded by caregivers who had watched over her 24 hours a day for weeks. (12/16)

Boston Globe: After Suicides In Acton And Boxborough, A Communion Of Sorrow There seems no straight line between that pressure and these suicides; no easy way to understand or to respond. Loss by suicide is like no other, and the succession of deaths has left a void at the heart of the two towns, as if they were struck by a meteor. The aftershocks of numbing sadness, pulsing outward in every direction, have spared almost no one. (Arsenault, 12/16)

The Washington Post: A Human Heart Was Left On A Plane, Revealing How Organs Move Around The Country A human heart left on a commercial airliner provides a glimpse into the nation’s transplant system, which relies on an obscure network of nonprofit organizations to collect and transport human organs and tissue. The heart traveled in the cargo compartment of a Southwest Airlines flight from Sacramento to Seattle on Sunday. It was supposed to be picked up in Seattle but remained on the plane when the aircraft left for Dallas. There are conflicting accounts of what went wrong, and an investigation is underway. (Kindy and Bernstein, 12/14)

The Washington Post: A Fitness Fanatic Runs Into An Alarming Ailment That Was Caught In The Nick Of Time Barry Goldsmith went to great lengths to stay out of the doctor’s office. His belief in the power of exercise — particularly running — to keep him fit and healthy had long been an article of faith. If he wasn’t feeling well Goldsmith would lace up his shoes and “run it off.” The Maryland patent lawyer routinely racked up about 30 miles per week — more when he was training for a marathon or triathlon — interspersed with swimming, cycling and weight training. (Boodman, 12/15)

The Wall Street Journal: To Expand Access To Emergency Contraception, Some Colleges Try Vending Machines Some universities are installing vending machines where students can purchase emergency contraception, an effort to remove barriers to and anxiety surrounding products like Plan B. Barnard College in New York said it would soon install a vending machine, months after Columbia University did. Stanford University, Dartmouth College and a few University of California campuses have added vending machines with Plan B or its generic alternative in recent years. Yale University students have pushed for one, and the student council at Miami University in Ohio voted last month in support of selling emergency contraception in campus markets as well. (Korn and West, 12/16)

Boston Globe: Detecting Pot Use In Drivers Will Be Tricky In the coming year, police in Massachusetts will likely have to deploy a litany of tests before arresting drivers for being high on marijuana, state officials said Friday. Because there’s no accurate breathalyzer for cannabis use, officers will probably need to use a combination of their observations, roadside assessments, saliva tests, and a 12-step expert evaluation at the police station, said Walpole police Chief John Carmichael, a member of the state’s commission on operating under the influence. (Martin, 12/15)

The Associated Press: Higher Percentage Of California Pot Passing Safety Tests A higher percentage of California marijuana products are passing strict safety tests, but the sudden closing of a lab that state authorities found wasn’t correctly checking for pesticides has raised new questions about the system intended to protect the purity and potency of legal cannabis. California broadly legalized marijuana at the start of the year, and mandatory testing began in July 1. During the first two months the failure rate was about 20 percent, but state data collected through November showed improvement — about 14 percent of nearly 24,000 products were blocked from store shelves by tests. (Blood, 12/16)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Ruling: Congress Can Save The ACA For the moment, nothing will change. The ACA will stand while appeals are filed, probably until the case reaches the Supreme Court. The new ruling may well be overthrown, but those who depend on the ACA are left stranded in uncertainty. The timing could hardly be worse. Enrollment in individual insurance is already down this year, and the population of uninsured Americans stands to rise.It’s maddening that the ACA’s legal troubles could be easily resolved. Congress needs only to restore the individual mandate’s tax penalties. Keep in mind, the mandate still exists: Americans are still required to have health insurance. All Congress did last year was set the penalty for failing to comply at zero. (12/16)

The New York Times: What The Lawless Obamacare Ruling Means In a shocking legal ruling, a federal judge in Texas wiped Obamacare off the books Friday night. The decision, issued after business hours on the eve of the deadline to enroll for health insurance for 2019, focuses on the so-called individual mandate. Yet it purports to declare the entire law unconstitutional — everything from the Medicaid expansion, the ban on pre-existing conditions, Medicare and pharmaceutical reforms to much, much more. (Jonathan H. Adler and Abbe R. Gluck, 12/15)

The New York Times: A Partisan Ruling On Obamacare After sitting on a ruling for months, a federal judge in Texas has given the Trump administration and a group of Republican-led states exactly what they asked for, and then some: the invalidation of the entire Affordable Care Act. Don’t panic. The ruling, issued late on Friday and only one day before the end of the law’s annual open enrollment period, is not a model of constitutional or statutory analysis. It’s instead a predictable exercise in motivated reasoning — drafted by a jurist with a history of ruling against policies and laws advanced by President Barack Obama. (Cristian Farias, 12/15)

USA Today: Obamacare Ruling Is Latest Republican Boost For Government Health Care What is the strongest political force driving America toward national health care? No, it’s not Sen. Bernie Sanders and his “Democratic Socialist” minions. It’s the Republican Party. Hang on, don’t Republicans stand foursquare against a government takeover of the entire U.S. health care system? So they say. But the GOP’s pig-headed opposition to less drastic ways to make sure everyone has coverage is stimulating Americans’ appetite for a bigger government role in health care — and it will only be fueled by a federal judge’s ruling Friday night that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. (Will Marshall, 12/16)

The Hill: Preventing The Next Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreak Seven years after Congress passed the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the FDA still hasn’t implemented a number of key reforms required by that law. Among other things, the law required the FDA to issue new industry record-keeping rules that mandate traceability, so the agency can quickly trace the source of food-borne illness outbreaks and strong standards to ensure that the water used to irrigate crops is safe and sanitary. (Jean Halloran, 12/14)

Stat: U.S. Government Is Asking Industry To Help Identify ‘Emerging Technologies’ In a highly unusual move, the federal Bureau of Industry and Security is asking U.S. industry to help identify emerging technologies that are essential to national security but currently escape the tangle of laws and regulations that govern — and in some cases restrict or prohibit — the sale or transfer of commodities, technology, and technical data to foreign businesses, research institutions, government and private organizations, and individuals who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents. The bureau’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking specifically mentions categories of emerging technology that ought to deeply interest STAT readers: nanobiology, synthetic biology, genomic and genetic engineering, neurotechnology, molecular robotics, neural networks and deep learning, evolution and genetic computation, direct neural interfaces, brain-machine interfaces, and biomaterials. (Zack Hadzismajlovic, 12/17)

The Washington Post: It’s The Beginning Of The End For The Gun Lobby’s Power Sometimes, dramatic shifts in American politics go unnoticed. They are buried under other news or dismissed because they represent such a sharp break from long-standing assumptions and expectations. So please open your mind to this: Taken together, the events of 2016 and the results of the 2018 election will be remembered as the beginning of the end of the gun lobby’s power. Supporters of reasonable gun regulation have been so cowed by National Rifle Association propaganda over the past quarter-century that we are reluctant even to imagine such a thing. No matter how many innocents are slaughtered, no matter how many Americans organize, demonstrate and protest, we assume the NRA and its allies will eventually overpower us. (E.J. Dionne, 12/16)

Bloomberg: J&J’s Talcum Powder Lawsuits Aren’t Going Away Legal issues are a constant of corporate life, especially in health care. That is especially true for Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest and most sprawling health-care companies, with products ranging from baby shampoo to cancer drugs and surgical staples. J&J faces major liability risk from lawsuits over a possible link between asbestos in its talc products and cancer. A Reuters investigation released Friday alleged the company was both aware of and worried about the presence of small amounts of asbestos in its baby powder for decades, but didn’t disclose it. (Max Nisen, 12/14)

Stat: ‘Outbreak Culture’ Can Derail Effective Responses To Deadly Epidemics The toxicity that can emerge in outbreak culture isn’t limited to the response to Ebola. We’ve documented the same dysfunctions — and sometimes worse — during other large-scale epidemics. Outbreak culture fueled the stigmatization of groups of people susceptible to AIDS in the 1980s, led to the underreporting of initial cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China in 2002, and delayed research into the 2006 avian flu outbreak in Indonesia. Outbreak culture also inhibited an adequate response to Zika. (Lara Salahi and Pardis Sabeti, 12/17)

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Monday, December 17, 2018

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