#val is at college in metropolis

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #1

[Masterlist]

Prompt from @stealingyourbones found here

"Valerie in Metropolis chews out Superboy for using her car as a projectile to hit a villain."

===============•‹«⟨·⟩»›•===============

Valerie wasn't aware that part of being a hero meant using the possessions of those you were protecting to fight the beings you were protecting them from. In fact, she's pretty sure it wasn't. Sure, she's not always been on the right side of the fight, herself, but she's gotten better! And besides, unlike someone she could name, she's never used a stranger's car as a weapon before!

"OI! You jerk! Did you have to throw my car?! Don't you have freaking laser vision, you idiot!?" Val yelled at Superboy Sr, who was levitating just above the intersection a few feet away from her.

Superboy glared incredulously at her over his shoulder, which, first of all, rude, she should be glaring at him, not the other way around. Second of all, she has every right to be upset about this, how he can be incredulously doing anything in response to that fact is, quite frankly, stupid.

"You call that a car? Honey, fuzzy dice are so 50s, and what was with the white wall tires? I was doing that dated hunk of junk a favor." Oh. Oh he did not. He. Did. Not.

"That 'dated hunk of junk', as you called it, was my grandfather's. It was a feta HEIRLOOM, you—you cheese curd! You leftover piece of string cheese! If you think you're gonna get out of this scott free, then buddy, you've got another thing coming! It may have been on its last legs, but that thing was, quite literally, my only reliable mode of transportation in this gouda forsaken place. 'Moby Dick'! Do you just casually destroy private property every time you fight some ne'er-do-well? How the 'Flygirl' you manage to get away with frequent property damage I'll never know, but—" who knew cussing out a superhero in the middle of battle was so hard to do? She had to up her cardio next time to went to the gym, this was unacceptable.

Superboy glanced at her again and rolled his eyes, dodging out of the way of a different thrown car before replying. "Look, as much as I'd love to hear you go on, I'm kind of busy at the moment, can we talk about this later? If you're really that torn up over the antique rust bucket, I'll make it up to you. Alright?"

Val narrowed her eyes at him as she ducked under a chunk of flying rubble. "You better. In fact, to make sure you don't get to get out of this, I'm going to stay right on your tail the rest of this fight. You try to lose me, I take you to court. Now will you stop dancing around this quack?! Just finish him already!"

===•‹«⟨·⟩»›•===

Incoming message

From: The Konman

Hey, question. Could you, theoretically, lend me some money for a car?

From: Third Tim's the Charm

... is this about that chick whose car you threw instead of using your heat vision earlier?

From: The Konman

Oh no, I am not losing that bet, I can totally go a full week without melting things with my eyes.

From: Third Tim's the Charm

... I'll see what I can do.

From: The Konman

You're the best ^⁠_⁠^

===============•‹«⟨·⟩»›•===============

Credit: "The Konman" is from the amazing chat fic "Crime, Love, and Ghosts. (And other, Probably)" by Thornrose270 on AO3, I highly recommend reading it ^⁠_⁠^

There's no specific make or model mentioned because, while I am an appreciator of cars, I do not want to make any more waves in the car enthusiast community than I might have already, what with my comments on fuzzy dice and white wall tires (⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

Also, on Val's use of cheese and literature as stand-in cuss words. Kids emulate the language used around them as they grow up ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠⊙⁠_⁠ʖ⁠⊙⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ also, I really wanted to use some cheese related cuss words (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)

I may or may not come back later and edit this, there was no beta reader and I barely know how to write Val or Kon, so there's probably lots of mistakes (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠) but hopefully it's not too bad? *fingers crossed*

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt in Memes 5

Once more, have a prompt entirely in memes because I'm too lazy to properly write one right now lol.

[dykerachelsummers]

earth-82 superfam continuity part one: the early years

dru-zod’s attempted revolution fails and gets him and his compatriots sent to the phantom zone, but there are casualties

among them being his sister, delle bet-zod, and her wife, teva van-dul. they left behind a three year old son, val-zod, who was adopted by jor-el and lara lor-van

val was two years younger than his adoptive cousin keren zor-el, at five, and two years older than his other adoptive cousin, kara zor-el. val and keren quickly bonded and became best friends

val was ten years old when his younger brother, kal-el was conceived. he was eleven when krypton was destroyed and their parents sent them to earth

val and kal were found by jonathan and martha kent and adopted, though jonathan and martha struggled with the language barrier as val only spoke kryptonese. it didn’t take him long to learn english though as his new adoptive parents learned kryptonese in tandem. (growing up clark was called kal as much as he was called his earth name by everyone in his family)

lana lang’s meta gene was activated by the meteor shower of kryptonite, although she didn’t learn this until she was sixteen. she moved to national city to study textile engineering and became superwoman only a scant year after superman appeared in metropolis and nimbus (val) appeared in san diego for the first times

lana fell in love with a young widow, eliza danvers née lee, when she was twenty-five. eliza had a ten year old daughter named alejandra or—as she preferred—ale/alex

as an adult, val moved to san diego for college, with the intent to become a nature photographer (partially as an excuse for why he traveled around the world, partially because he learned he was both talented at it and enjoyed it)

clark was twenty-five and val was thirty-six when lex luthor created what was supposed to be an alternative hero for metropolis in matrix, who took the form of a seventeen year old girl. this eventually ended in clark bring matrix, who would soon be named mae beatrice kent, home to smallville to be properly raised by martha and jonathan. she became a little sister for clark and val

almost a year later, the pods that held keren and kara were found. clark, at only twenty-six, didn’t feel prepared to take in a thirteen year old and an eleven year old and val wasn’t an option as he didn’t tend to stay in one place for long, so they asked lana and eliza, newly engaged, to take the two girls in, feeling that with lana’s abilities and eliza’s history with the deo (the department of extranormal operations), they’d be able to hand the two young kryptonians, knowing he was almost always only a call of his name away. keren and kara were introduced as karen and kara starr, eliza’s distant cousins who had been newly orphaned

after the formation of the justice league, keren soon became acquainted with several teen heroes and decided to become one herself, becoming power girl at age fourteen, and soon after becoming a founding member of the first iteration of the teen titans

[ao3feed-supercorp]

The Anonymous Letter

by vespina

Lena Luthor was finally at a place in her life where she was comfortable. She loved her job as a college professor in Metropolis, lived close enough to her mother to visit her regularly, and had two children who were flourishing. Lena had no plans to change her life after she told her husband that she was gay and divorced him, but she was about to embark on a new adventure: co-teaching a course that includes a three-week international field study.

Lena could think of a dozen reasons why she shouldn’t go, one being a dazzling American scientist who will be teaching alongside her. Professor Kara Danvers was charismatic, a world traveler, and more like Lara Croft than Lara Croft, all of which unsettles Lena, who prides herself on being immune to any person's charms. She wasn’t looking for love, but it turns out, Professor Danvers was. As the two co-professors lead the rigorous program together, first on campus, then in beautiful Africa, their biggest challenge was working closely together while resisting the undeniable chemistry they feel when they’re with each other.

Words: 5675, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015), Supergirl (Comics)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen (Supergirl TV 2015), Esme Olsen-Danvers, Samantha "Sam" Arias, Andrea Rojas, Val Luthor, Lori Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Eliza Danvers, Other(s), Original Characters, Jeff Colby

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Additional Tags: Kid Fic, Professors, Alternate Universe - College/University, Teaching, Falling In Love, Emotional Hurt, Romantic Fluff, Lesbian Sex, Fluff and Smut, Alien/Human Relationships, Magical Pregnancy, Alien Biology, Flashbacks, Teenager kids, Good Lillian Luthor, Flirting, Soul Bond, Africa, Metropolis (DCU), Tags Are Hard

from AO3 works tagged 'Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor' https://ift.tt/6JPlo0m via IFTTT https://ift.tt/6JPlo0m

[chispas-and-broken-bindings]

So, I started this WIP back at the beginning of the pandemic...and I’ll probably leisurely continue it, though I don’t think I’ll post it to AO3 until I have a lot more of it written or I have it completed. 

Basically, it’s a pandemic/In The Mood for Love AU where Jon and Sansa knew each other before a northern rebellion that ended in Robb/Ned dying and Sansa marrying her college boyfriend, Harry, while she was in college in the south. 

The story takes place years after the conflict ended, when Jon moves down to King’s Landing to complete some post-doc research and Sansa has been living in King’s Landing with her husband, Harry. He and his partner, Val, move into the same building and when Harry/Val go on a business trip before quarantine starts, Sansa and Jon help each other heal old wounds. 

Supporting cast of characters (drunk poet Tyrion and his very new girlfriend Shae; Civil Engineer Brienne, Jazz musician Tormund, teenage Margaery and her landlady grandmother Olenna Tyrell, retired Broadway actress Myranda Royce, Asha Greyjoy and her couchsurfing brother Theon, and divorced dad Beric and his precocious son Ned.)

It’s shameless self-indulgence at this point. 

Anyway, a little excerpt from the prologue below the break.

8 Months Ago

The last time Jon had seen Sansa Stark was the summer before she left for college in the Vale, three years before the rebellion. She had smelled like coconut sunscreen and cherry chapstick and had been vibrantly snotty in the way only particularly attractive teenage girls can get away with, bickering constantly with Arya and doing her best to ignore pretty much everyone else for the two weeks they spent at the Stark's lake house.

When Jon got the invitation to complete his post-doctorate research at King's Landing College, it was Catelyn Stark who suggested he get in touch with her eldest daughter. After all, she had spent the last seven years in the city. Who better to help them track down an apartment in the famously expensive metropolis? The sophisticated woman who met him and Val at the café across the street from Highgarden apartments was a far cry from the haughty freckled teenager from his memories. Sansa Stark re-entered his life in a palette of cream and beige, her copper hair tamed to a shiny straight sheet and not a freckle to be found on her pale flawless skin.

"Jon Snow." She stood before him, offering a perfectly manicured hand. "You look just the same." He scratched at his brow.

"Well, that's certainly a line," Val laughed, taking Sansa's hand in her own. "The last time you saw him, he was just a fresh-faced ingénue, right? I've seen pictures. He was a bonny lad before the beard and the falcon."

"And, this is Val." Jon nodded as Sansa's smile widened, reaching her eyes. "Val, this is Sansa Stark."

"Hardyng."

"Right. Congratulations. Sorry, I didn't send a card or anything."

"Jon, you always were so painfully honest. You could have just told me the mixer got stopped by border patrol, and I'd be none the wiser. It was years ago, anyhow." When Sansa turned to order a skinny decaf latte from the barista in the rapid-fire accentless clip of a southern city-dweller, Val arched an eyebrow at Jon in question, but he just shrugged. It had been a stupid thing to say. He knew she had married during the rebellion, behind enemy-lines. Without her family.

"So, I know this isn't the most convenient commute to campus, but it’s a great neighborhood." Sansa explained as they stepped back outside, and Jon looked around in mild surprise. When she had e-mailed him to let him know a unit opened up in her own building, he had expected her to live in one of the glossy River Row condos or perhaps in one of the growing suburbs. Instead, they were in the heart of the old city, just a few blocks east of the infamous historic brothel district, in a neighborhood of narrow cobbled streets, oddly angled walk-ups and the scent of late summer blooms creating a heady mixture with the less savory smells rising from the sewers grates.

Though it was late morning on a Tuesday, the sidewalks were filled with dog-walkers and couples and Jon was charmed by the colorful entryways and clotheslines crisscrossing the alleyways. It was nothing like the miles of untouched tundra that Jon and Val were used to, but if they must be surrounded by people, Jon figured this was about as charming a neighborhood as they were likely to find.

[diaspora9ja]

Sports on TV: Saturday, December 19, 2020

Saturday, December 19 (All occasions Japanese) Schedule topic to vary and/or blackouts

BOXING 9 p.m. SHO — Particular Version: Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. Reymart Gaballo (Bantamweights), Uncasville, Conn. BIATHLON 8:30 p.m. NBCSN — IBU: World Cup, Hochfilzen, Austria (taped) COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) 11:30 a.m. FS1 — Butler vs. Indiana, Indianapolis 12 p.m. CBS — Iowa vs. Gonzaga, Sioux Falls, S.D. ESPN2 — ACC/Huge 10 Problem: Louisville at Wisconsin 2 p.m. CBS — CBS Sports activities Traditional: North Carolina vs. Kentucky, Cleveland ESPNU — Western Kentucky at Alabama 2:30 p.m. ESPN2 — Crossroads Traditional: Notre Dame vs. Purdue, Indianapolis NBCSN — Mississippi at Dayton 3 p.m. PAC-12N — Portland at Oregon 4 p.m. ACCN — Campbell at North Carolina State 4:30 p.m. CBS — CBS Sports activities Traditional: UCLA vs. Ohio State, Cleveland NBCSN — Delaware at La Salle 5 p.m. PAC-12N — Regional Protection: California State (Northridge) at California 6 p.m. ACCN — Buffalo at Syracuse 7 p.m. PAC-12N — Arizona at Stanford 8 p.m. SECN — Cincinnati at Georgia 9 p.m. ACCN — Central Florida at Florida State FS1 — St. Joseph’s at Villanova COLLEGE BASKETBALL (WOMEN’S) 12 p.m. BTN — Michigan at Illinois CBSSN — Mississippi at George Mason 5 p.m. PAC-12N — Regional Protection: Oregon at Washington 9 p.m. PAC-12N — Stanford at Southern California COLLEGE FOOTBALL 12 p.m. ABC — Huge 12 Championship: Oklahoma vs. Iowa State, Arlington, Texas ESPN — Texas A&M at Tennessee FOX — Huge Ten Championship: Northwestern vs. Ohio State, Indianapolis 1:30 p.m. FS1 — Washington State at Utah 3 p.m. CBSSN — Air Pressure at Military 3:30 p.m. SECN — Mississippi at Louisiana State 4 p.m. ABC — ACC Championship: Clemson vs. Notre Dame, Charlotte, N.C. BTN — Minnesota at Wisconsin 4:30 p.m. FOX — Mountain West Championship: Boise State vs. San Jose State, Las Vegas 5:30 p.m. FS1 — Illinois at Penn State 7 p.m. ESPN — Stanford at UCLA 7:30 p.m. BTN — Michigan State at Maryland 8 p.m. ABC — American Athletic Championship: Tulsa at Cincinnati CBS — SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida, Atlanta 10:30 p.m. ESPN — Arizona State at Oregon State COLLEGE HOCKEY (MEN’S) 6:30 p.m. NBCSN — Michigan State at Notre Dame GOLF 1 p.m. GOLF — LPGA Tour: The CME Group Tour Championship, Third Spherical, Tiburón Golf Membership, Naples, Fla. 2:30 p.m. NBC — PGA Tour: The PNC Championship, First Spherical, Ritz-Carlton Golf Membership, Orlando, Fla. NBA BASKETBALL 8 p.m. NBATV — Atlanta at Memphis NFL FOOTBALL 4:30 p.m. NFLN — Buffalo at Denver 8:15 p.m. NFLN — Carolina at Inexperienced Bay SKIING 5 p.m. NBC — FIS: Alpine Snowboarding World Cup, Val d’Isere, France (taped) 9:30 p.m. NBCSN — FIS: Alpine Snowboarding World Cup, Val d’Isere, France (taped) 10:30 p.m. NBCSN — FIS: Alpine Snowboarding World Cup, Val Gardena, Italy (taped) SOCCER (MEN’S) 7:25 a.m. NBCSN — Premier League: Liverpool at Crystal Palace 9:55 a.m. NBCSN — Premier League: Manchester Metropolis at Southampton 12:30 p.m. NBC — Premier League: Arsenal at Everton 6:25 a.m. (Sunday) ESPN2 — Serie A: Bologna at Torino 8 p.m. FS2 — CONCACAF Champions League: Tigres UANL vs. CD Olimpia, Semifinal, Orlando, Fla. 10:30 p.m. FS2 — CONCACAF Champions League: LA FC vs. Membership América, Semifinal, Orlando, Fla.

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from Diaspora9ja https://diaspora9ja.com/sports-on-tv-saturday-december-19-2020/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sports-on-tv-saturday-december-19-2020

[longtermintermission]

On Places

By Dani 

     I live in Orléans, the “Largest metropolis outside of Paris,” but notably smaller than its illustrious neighbor. A train departing from Gare d’Austerlitz will carry you around 133 kilometers slightly southwest of the City of Lights; it’s a pleasant ride, albeit the somewhat fogged-over and grimy windows ever present on the passenger cars. This is a minor shame because the ride has pretty views, probably less sparkling to me now than they would have seemed when I was freshly expatriated, but pretty nonetheless. As swathes of landscape pass by, I’m sometimes reminded of sitting in the backseat of the car en route to my grandparents’ in the countryside of Kentucky. On these occasions I might close my eyes, imagine the views on a certain stretch of Dixie Beeline Highway-- an unremarked constant in my youth and childhood--  and open them again to see if the resemblance is truly there. I think it is. 

     Orléans qualifies as a ville in French but treads somewhere between a town and a city in my anglophone mind, not quite landing on one or the other. By all other accounts it is a city; it’s the capital of the Centre Val-de-Loire region and has a population nearing 115,000. Joan of Arc once saved Orléans from English siege, and I once dressed up as Joan of Arc for a 6th-grade project on “Distinguished women.” Funny, things like that. Apparently the qualifiers for “Cities” and “Towns” aren’t so defined, at least not on the internet, but I do think that Orléans is the “smallest” place I’ve ever lived. In terms of population, this is by a long shot. I went to school in Chicago. I spent four years in Paris. I come from Nashville, which was pointedly unexceptional to me growing up but the longer I’m away, the more Nashville grows and changes, and the more my metropolitan Southern upbringing feels personally significant; like something to be protected. In any case, you achieve some perspective when the precocious 11-year-old girl you once babysat laments to you that she’s “just a Parisian,” or when a passerby on the dance floor asks you where you’re from and, upon hearing your response, widens his eyes and exclaims “You’re from the real America!” 

     I’ve officially lived here for 9 months now, which is incredible to me, and yet I can’t say that I’m an expert or a bonafide Orléanaise, and if I were I wouldn’t know it. I’m not exactly sure of what getting to know a new locale is supposed to entail, despite having done it several times, but I’m not the type to run out and join clubs, leagues, associations or anything of the like. For most of this year I’ve kept to myself, and my experience of the city has largely been that of errands and commutes. Orléans does have a certain conviviality, and Rue de Bourgogne (just a street away from me) is lined with bars, making for lively Saturday nights in the city center. I’ve enjoyed the occasional drink or coffee with a colleague, and one will inevitably run into one’s students. I went to college in the big city, so in a way it’s nice to finally experience what feels like the French version of a “University Town,” and it’s the polar opposite of Paris anonymity. On the whole, though, I mainly enjoy the comforts of my agreeably-decorated and immaculately-kept studio apartment. It even has a view of the la Cathédrale Saint-Croix, which, in my personal opinion, beats Notre Dame in a gothic beauty pageant (even before the tragic fire). Sometimes at night, bats fly in circles between my third-floor (American third-floor) window and the rooftops on the opposite side of the street. Bats used to fly outside of my earliest childhood home. We named one of them “Shadow.” 

     I didn’t choose to move to Orléans. Not really. I applied for a job here when it seemed I was out of options in Paris. I’ve always preferred big cities. The first two months that I lived here, I think I took a train back nearly every weekend. Once I met up with an old friend who introduced me to her chic Italian-American pal who had just moved from Rome to Paris for a job at Versace. Over a glass of wine in a café next to la Trocadéro she posited that you had to live in Paris-- or at least in a major big city--- when you were young. Youth was lost on anything smaller. I thought about that on the train ride home. My life was no more exciting in Paris than it is now; maybe a little, but the margin is narrow. I went through about a 6-month stint of raucous partying in various nightclubs and bars, but that lifestyle wore thin fast and was never really me being me. I was having fun but I’m not so sure it was my own idea of fun. I also didn’t run out to join any clubs, leagues, or associations in Paris either. Why does everyone tell you to do this in a new city? Maybe my unwillingness to “immerse” myself is a lack of motivation on my part, but I think it’s just who I am. Or perhaps my definition of immersion is  just different from how it’s largely understood.  I’ve never been a site-seeing fiend when I travel either; sometimes I wonder if I waste time in undiscovered territory by sitting in parks and restaurants or aimlessly walking about. When I do take an interest in a museum or historical site, it’s a no thank you from me to any kind of organized tour.  Did you know that John Stamos narrates the self-guided audio tour of Graceland? At least, he did when I was there. That’s where I first learned the hard lesson about such a thing’s capability of ruining a real experience. As compensation for lugging a tablet and headphones throughout the grounds, Stamos will let you in on exclusive information such as the fact that Elvis enjoyed playing the pianos in his own home. I would have much preferred to take in the tacky but touching décor of Elvis’ home on my own, with my own thoughts.  I digress. A compliment was once given to me (or so I think it was a compliment, and if it was, it’s my favorite) by a friend of my parents’ who, in mid-conversation with them, turned to me and said, “She’s not saying anything, but she’s listening, alright. Not one thing is getting past her.” I think that’s always how I’ve interfaced with life. Many of us are mainly observers. I’ve only recently begun to feel validated in my choices of experiencing the world.

     I won’t lie and say that I haven’t wondered if my existence isn’t just a little boring, and if it isn’t sort of, maybe, my fault. Sometimes that Thoreau quote that everyone loves so much about men leading lives of quiet desperation gives me uncomfortable pause. This past Thursday I had a somewhat lengthy list of banal and administrative errands to run; I had to complete my tax form, mail it in (How French), shop for groceries, and purchase some office supplies at the local bookstore. It was a day, not unusual for me, spent in the company of my internal monologue and with no spectacular plot developments. But the sun had shone, I had completed my errands, and I had enjoyed an unadventurous but quietly serene mood; the kind that comes with knowing exactly where you are and feeling no impending stress about anything in particular. The wait in line for the print shop felt only slightly long and when I left the place I was minutiously thrilled at putting my stack of warm government documents into my ready-to-mail envelope; the same one that gave me an equal thrill when I slipped it into the post box. I went into the bookstore looking only for a folder but found myself perusing the displays as if it were some kind of hobby of mine; sort of how I imagine birdwatchers to feel when bird-watching. I got my folder along with several unnecessary indulgences. The lady at the cash register was nice. I stopped by the corner grocery near my place where all three of the cashiers know me in a neighborly way. The fact that they recognize me used to make me slightly anxious, but these days it’s comforting. 

      I went back home, walking up main street with the Cathedral in my view, purchases in tow, missions accomplished, not regarding the monument in awe as I had that first time-- overlooking it, even-- but I feel that its mere presence must have done something good for my state of mind even without my knowing it. I feel like I must have, by an undetectable increment, come to know a little better the place where I live. I had understood what that Italian-American friend of a friend had meant when she talked about youth and big cities. It was an innocuous comment, and true in its own right. Still, it fed a strange notion I’ve held onto about happiness coming from location; as if people belong in a certain place, at a certain time. I won’t lie and say that I haven’t pretentiously entertained the thought that I’m more adventurous than the peers I grew up with; that their lives in the same city they’ve always been in and with the same pool of people they’ve always known must be dull. Such a thought is consoling for a moment, but sometimes those peers make me wonder what I’ve sacrificed to be here. I feel envious when friends go to visit their parents who live only an hour away. I’m cognisant of the privilege that let me choose to live abroad.  I’ve never had to move out of necessity. And yet I lamented having left Paris, all the while  living only an hour away and still in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I’ve always known and appreciated these things of course, but sometimes you lose touch. I’ve lived in astounding places yet still astound myself with my penchant for feeling unfulfilled. The problem has undoubtedly been me, and that’s a dreadful realization to face. 

     Geographical location has been a strange and constant metric by which I have evaluated my life. Coming to France was searching for adventure and running away at the same time. When  location, however, didn’t necessarily bring with it the adventure, the ragtag band of lifelong friends or the passionate love affair that I hoped I’d find, I felt a bit lost and unsure of my direction in life. I sometimes continue to feel this way. After all, when Jane Birkin came to France in 1968, she immediately landed a leading role in Slogan, became Serge Gainsbourg’s muse and lover, went down in fame and infamy and effectively wove herself into the very fabric of French pop culture. Of course, I didn’t have the same head start that comes with marrying John Barry (of James Bond fame) and appearing nude in Blowup. Don’t get me wrong. I have no regrets. Learning a new language and living internationally, I’m convinced, is the only way I managed to overcome almost crippling timidity. I’m better for it. I feel, however, that I’ve asked too much of the places I have lived; I’m not Jane Birkin, and Paris was never going to do for me what it did for her. You have to look for your life--or so I’ve heard in a certain Robert Wise movie-- and it’s a notion that I adore but one that I wonder if I’ve taken too literally. I’m not saying that I’m done looking; next year I’ll leave Orléans and go somewhere else; hopefully somewhere bigger, but the “Looking” will be a different kind of looking. It’s the age-old knowledge that happiness comes from within, not from without, but we all learn this lesson in different ways. I moved across the Atlantic ocean to learn it. Growing up, in my experience, has been moments of finally just “Getting” wisdom that you’ve heard a thousand times over, throughout your whole life. I know that I’ll feel a bittersweet pang when I close my apartment door in Orléans for the last time, so I want to enjoy where I am and who I am at this very moment. Orléans is the first place I’ve stopped expecting anything from, and because of that, I can appreciate it for what it is. When I was handed the keys to my little studio here in the center of town, the agent  told me reassuringly,  “Tu seras bien ici.” I think I am good here. I certainly won’t be returning to Paris.

[fitnesswomenshealth-blog]

Employers Jump Into Providing Care as Health Costs Rise

New Post has been published on https://cialiscom.org/employers-jump-into-providing-care-as-health-costs-rise.html

Employers Jump Into Providing Care as Health Costs Rise

KOKOMO, Indiana — Autoworkers in this blue-collar, central Indiana metropolis have an keen helper waiting around to decide up the bill at their next health care provider stop by.

Fiat Chrysler is offering free health and fitness care for most of its workers and their households — about 22,000 individuals — by means of a clinic the carmaker opened this summer close to just one of 5 factories it operates in the place. The company pays for fundamental treatment like health practitioner visits and consults with a dietitian and even an workout physiologist. Personnel you should not pay out a cent, not even a co-pay back.

The strategy: Expend far more now to boost treatment and finally pare the far more than $100 million that Fiat Chrysler Vehicles pays per year for wellbeing treatment, just in Indiana.

“We appeared at how do we improve the health and fitness treatment delivery method, which is genuinely what businesses are inquiring,” Fiat Chrysler government Kathleen Neal said. 

Corporate The united states is leaping deeper into the care its staff acquire beyond just offering them insurance plan playing cards and a list of medical doctors they can pay a visit to. Firms are opening clinics on or near their worksites or bringing in temporary setups to make certain their staff members get once-a-year physicals.

In numerous situations businesses are supplying no cost key care or charging only a smaller price. Several consider the value is worthwhile mainly because they can increase staff health and fitness and reduce even even larger expenditures in the long run that stem from unmanaged continual problems like diabetic issues or avoidable emergency area visits.

Featuring handy treatment can also support catch the attention of new workers and cut down on time absent from the task. But this change signifies staff will have to transform how they use the health care process. And firms, which really don’t see person health care data, have to patiently wait around for some prospective added benefits from their expense like a fall in well being care charges.

“It is truly, seriously challenging to adjust habits,” said Carolyn Engelhard, an affiliate professor at the College of Virginia’s healthcare college who studies well being plan.

Major companies have long made available expert services to enable staff recover from workplace injuries, and now a lot more are delving into principal treatment.

Fifty-6 % of large businesses will have on-site or nearby overall health facilities by 2019, up from 47 p.c in 2016, according to the Countrywide Organization Team on Health and fitness.

Most of the corporations surveyed by the nonprofit, which signifies big corporations, have 10,000 personnel or much more. But added benefits specialists also see this trend in smaller sized corporations too, with some corporations signing up for forces to shell out for a nearby clinic that they share.

Office environment structures also have started off introducing clinics to entice tenants that want the benefit for their staff, in accordance to Dr. Jeff Dobro, a spouse with the rewards consultant Mercer.

Mattress maker Serta Simmons Bedding started rolling out cell health and fitness clinics to all 28 of its U.S. factories a couple yrs back to assist its mostly male workforce get annual physicals, with the firm covering the value.

“Most men and women just will not get their screenings, and a good deal of adult men just never have a connection” with their physician, claimed business government Steven Wilkinson.

Fiat Chrysler opened its clinic right after studying that 40 p.c of its staff in the Kokomo spot failed to have a key care doctor, and lots of defaulted to emergency rooms for treatment that wasn’t dire.

Enterprise spokeswoman Val Oehmke declined to say how substantially the clinic expense to construct, but she said Fiat Chrysler expects to make back what it expended in about two several years by increasing worker health and reducing health care fees.

The overall health middle arrives with exam rooms, an X-ray equipment and house for minor methods. Aside from a small memorial image of previous Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne on a waiting home desk, few signs within the clinic hook up it to the hulking transmission manufacturing facility close by. 

The carmaker pays a community medical center operator, St. Vincent, to operate its clinic solely for workers and spouse and children associates.

Dr. John Lynch expended practically an hour with a affected individual throughout a the latest bodily. That compares to the 10 or 15 minutes he utilised to get the moment or twice a 12 months in other tactics.

“It was discouraging that I could not do extra for them,” he stated.

Forklift operator Amanda Chipps took her toddler, McCoy, to the clinic just after he made a fever and a rash and she could not get in to see their frequent health care provider. Chipps mentioned that check out felt a lot more like an yearly checkup. Prior to inevitably prescribing antibiotics, a doctor and nurse questioned about McCoy’s healthcare record, diet and identity.

“They have been definitely just obtaining to know … every little thing about him,” she mentioned. “It was just authentic nice, a diverse environment from most doctors’ places of work.”

United Shore Monetary Services opened a identical clinic in its suburban Detroit headquarters for its 2,600 personnel a pair yrs in the past immediately after executives observed personnel coming in ill during flu period. The clinic logged about 4,200 visits in 2017, its initially full yr. 

Account government Sean McHugh mentioned he seeks clinic assist when back again difficulty flares up through the day. That saves him from losing time by driving household for care and then back to perform. 

“It genuinely tends to make the operate setting here appealing due to the fact it presents you your time exterior of the place of work,” the 36-12 months-previous reported.

Companies generally uncover that it can take time for workers to get used to a major alter in overall health rewards. 

But these clinics can catch on quickly, reported David Keyt, a Mercer executive who is effective with employers to set them up. He stated obtaining clinics on or in close proximity to the worksite gets rid of two large hurdles — charge and convenience— that prevent persons from receiving treatment.

“What we’re attempting to get to is the provider-patient marriage and all the boundaries that protect against that … from occurring,” he claimed. 

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The Affiliated Push Health & Science Division receives support from the Howard Hughes Health-related Institute’s Department of Science Training. The AP is exclusively responsible for all articles.

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