#but I miss AM. but also I am not ready to have to see Rodrigue and Miklan die again lol

[dmclemblems]

Claude calling the people of the Kingdom and Empire monsters and rallying people under the promise of their deaths and only giving half of a shit for his own people, on top of being willing to worsen foreign relations and refuel fighting on the border wrt Sreng for the same reasons. Hm wow that sure sound like someone who sees outsiders as less than human and only as threats to his own people (who are the only ones deserving of peace and safety). You know, that mindset that Claude fundamentally hates and literally came to Fodlan to wipe out so that people can live in harmony with each other?

Fuck this game and the absolutely horrific treatment it gave to Claude's entire character. Literally nothing anyone says can possibly explain why such a core aspect of Claude's character is not just not present, but actively replaced with its perfect opposite - and this game doesn't even bother to give a HALF-HEARTED explanation, he Just Is like this now. This game can actually suck my ass.

I like the game generally speaking (and AG was written really well), but I'm definitely not fond of how Claude was handled.

Like you said, and one of the biggest things that bothers me that I mentioned in another post is how he basically tells people to surrender or die, yet he says he wants to minimize casualties. It doesn't even make sense that he wants that but attacked the Kingdom without so much as a letter being sent to speak to Dimitri personally talk to to him about the Church and whatnot. Plus, if he did, he might have been made aware that all his perceptions of the Church were wrong.

The whole Sreng thing bugs me because they informed Sreng about the war and whatnot so that they'd invade, but later Claude tries to... not get them involved? He used them when it was convenient and then suddenly didn't want to after that.

One of my biggest gripes is that Claude has no consistency. You know how in CF they kept doing this back and forth trying to be like Edelgard is a bad person who started the war, oh wait no she's just a good person with strong views, etc etc? They really did that with Claude here except at least Edelgard was always consistent with her character. Claude's writing here is just like... they're trying to make him the anti-war person he is in Houses but they wrote him to be the exact opposite. When it starts going too far they pull him back again and have him keep iterating this nonsense about not wanting the war to keep going because people are dying.

Also, Nader saying he couldn't wait to rampage in the Kingdom REALLY bothered me (and he says this at camp so it's missable if he wasn't spoken to). After all the shit they said about Almyrans not being barbarians and whatnot, he's planning to go nuts with attacking the Kingdom? All that would do is make the Kingdom more unwilling to make any kind of relationship with Almyra.

There was definitely a lot of "we're doing this for Leicester" and not... any bit of care for any other land. I've been goofing about it a lot and trying to be mellow about it but just in general I find the things Claude does and the things he says to be absolutely abhorrent in this game. The way he manipulates people with the politely worded "surrender or die" is seriously awful and isn't much better than Edelgard's behavior.

I really doubt there would be any true harmony after this war. Even if the Kingdom lost and ceased to exist (and became just Adrestia and Leicester), I can guarantee there would be civil wars and uprisings all over the place. The people in the Kingdom would never, ever settle for that. Honestly, I could see Sylvain rallying troops and launching an attack on Leicester. I feel like even though he acts mostly calm during the story, he still has that in him because of the way Dimitri didn't want his emotions to get the better of him in battle. It's pretty clear to me that Sylvain despises Claude and the Alliance in GW.

Literally the whole thing with the Kingdom just sits so wrong with me. They were just minding their own business and suddenly everyone is trying to invade. In fact, they're trying to do good things within their borders and fix their society, but they can't because everyone around them just wants to go to war. Even the Church kind of forced them to get involved by asking for their aid. I'd put the least blame on them honestly because they really don't do anything bad at all here/in this game, but the war forced Dimitri's hand in so many ways when all he wanted to do was make a better society for the Kingdom.

By the end of the game I'd say Claude is really just... marginally better than Shahid, and that is not a high bar. It just served to keep the theme going that Almyrans just want war and fighting. Claude had other options and he chose invasion and killing. He chose to do what Shahid did to Leicester.

I honestly feel really bad for the Kingdom. Nobody will leave them alone and the worst part is that they're all so loyal to each other and so tight knit that like... once you've fucked with one of them you've fucked with all of them. They're not just gonna let it go and be like oh yeah okay we'll just stop the Kingdom from existing and give up on it. Dimitri also just wants to keep his people safe and Claude abuses that fact to make Dimitri let him get past him to get to Rhea. Basically, Claude is saying either I kill your people or let you me pass by and kill Rhea. Seeing as Rhea has always supported Dimitri and has never tried to obstruct any part of his rule, it's really shitty to be like oh hey you know this person who has done right by you and has been super chill with you? Let us kill her or I'm gonna kill your people and make you feel like shit about it. He uses people's emotions to make them stop fighting, and what he said to Ashe really bugged me.

There's a lot of stuff at the camp in GW that I saw (I'll end up posting some of it later, it's just that my posts are totally out of order for when I actually post them compared to when I'm playing so that I don't end up posting tons of stuff all at once, flood people's dashboards and then just have nothing to post lol) that really highlight how awful all of this is. Several characters are unhappy with all of it, and then you have the dumbass types who don't give a fuck like Raphael and Leonie (which is BEYOND me, especially with Raphael. He's supposed to be the gentle, kindhearted one and he's like 150% okay and happy with invading and fighting people and just knocking them flat. He gets excited for it. Hopes Raphael just ain't the one for me lol), and they only care about a good fight no matter who they have to kill.

Only a few people regularly question the morality of Claude's army, like Yuri, Hapi, Lorenz and Ashe. Most of them just... do not care. They'd kill good people for a good fight or because they just happen to like Claude so they'll ruin other people's lives.

I know it's just a video game, but... I just hate everything about the second half of GW lol. I love the early Almyran lore and it helps a lot for the missing pieces in Houses, but the story is just... disgusting. I've always hated Edelgard's actions in Houses and I'm not gonna justify Claude's behavior and actions in Hopes just because I like him in Houses. Just like her, he's a huge warmonger in this game. I guess it's because I just... don't like war and I have a very strong mindset on people who do things like that, especially when they attack people who are just living their lives and doing their own thing. Even though I've always been a Kingdom girl, I don't think my feelings would change on any of this if I was more bias toward Leicester. I don't think I'd be comfortable seeing the Kingdom being trampled for literally no reason whatsoever. We can't even blame Cornelia or other TWS members in this game for a lot of what happens to them. It's Edelgard and Claude doing a lot of it.

There's just... a lot of really awful things happening in this game and Claude spearheads a whole ass lot of it.

Claude von Deserved A Lot Fucking Better.

#Three Hopes Spoilers #I'm torn for my next Houses run bc I AM technically in the middle of a GW run #but I miss AM. but also I am not ready to have to see Rodrigue and Miklan die again lol #I mean Miklan technically seems to survive in GW and... I guess in SB? I don't remember well on that one but #at least in AG he died having gotten better and being a commander! #but also I just miss the good writing LOL I miss AM and wanna play it but #my data/progression would end up being split off into two playthroughs and that just bugs me #I am sad and miss Dimi's accidental flirting!!! I miss the pure lil cutie who got to be at least #a lil happy at the Academy and WAS ACTUALLY FRIENDS WITH CLAUDE #this game gave me many good things... all of which were isolated to AG lmao #I got a lot of things I rly wanted in this game but LIKE. AT WHAT COST #DCB Reply

[missciato]

“I’ve spent all these years training for a duel with a corpse.”

[CW: discussion of death and loss]

One thing I really like about Azure Moon and Azure Gleam was the exploration of grief and how a single individual’s death can have rippling effects on a family unit. Felix and Rodrigue’s significantly different responses to the event alters the way that they interact with each other in the present. It casts a pall over all of their interactions; it has tainted their relationship.

Often, in times of hardship, family disagreements can spiral out of control, causing minor rifts to become major ones. As someone who has dealt with a lot of death in the family recently, I have seen this time and time again. Especially as a young person, platitudes about the death of a loved one can feel hollow and ring as insincere and hurtful even if the deliverer was trying to say something that would help in the moment. The tragedy of the Rodrigue/Felix interaction is that both of them are grieving and could use each other’s company and love in hard times, and yet their fundamentally incompatible ways of grieving make it impossible for Felix to reconcile with Rodrigue. 

I looked at the coin that my aunt handed me, with a cross on the front and back. “Everything happens for a reason, dear. The Lord was just callin’ your brother home. Let this coin remind you of him.” She gave me a pat on the back, an affectionate gesture. I admit, I had trouble comprehending what ‘Lord’ would see it fit to take my brother from this Earth at his young age.

After my own brother passed away, I found myself understanding much more vividly why Felix was so upset and so ready to bury himself in his sword training rather than interacting with the people around him, who seemed to be grieving in this way that he found unconscionable. He felt that they were trying to try to justify Glenn’s death using the norms of their culture, which was to say “He died like a true knight.” or “He was the very picture of a perfect knight–noble and virtuous. In the end, he laid down his life–the ultimate sacrifice. I feel proud of him in ways that words can't quantify.”  

Much like in the example I gave above, an event that happened at my brother’s funeral in 2021, there are cultural explanations for death that can seem comforting to those who ‘buy’ it. Most of us can accept that our older loved ones will sooner or later die, and then when we become old we will die as well. But when it happens to people who are young and have a life ahead of them, the religion/pseudo-religious in the case of Faerghus justifications become more incomprehensible. And make you angry.

Rodrigue and Ingrid, in these instances, are simply trying to square how such a horrible event could have occurred. They aren’t trying to be hurtful or mean spirited, but they are a product of their cultural upbringing. I think trying to ascribe one side as being 100% wrong or 100% right misses the point; all of them are struggling with the same grief, but are finding different ways to cope with it.

And Felix is struggling to understand the way other people are grieving. He’s young and has trouble putting himself in other people’s shoes. He’s also 17 at the start of the game and trying to cope with the senselessness of his brother’s death. As he talks about in the Seteth support, he doesn’t want to be around people who remind him of the thing he hates, the thing his brother died for, the thing that his father uses to justify said death.

Felix: My brother was doing his job. My father is the real problem. When my brother's armor was brought back to the castle, do you know what he said? "He died like a true knight." Chivalry begets the worship and glorification of death. Am I alone in finding that grotesque?

Ironically, the Dimitri/Ingrid support chain sheds light on the fact that Dimitri himself is not fully on board with Ingrid and Rodrigue’s logic, and because of his mental illness he is also struggling to cope with this event. Felix and Dimitri would be natural allies in grieving, except that Dimitri is turning into the boar, which also triggers Felix! 

So Felix is left to stew in his own thoughts. Left to build a wall around himself to protect from the hurt that his friends and father have inflicted upon him with their careless words. And yet, he does try to mend fences with them, in his own way. 

Ingrid: Why are you taking over my cleaning responsibilities?

Felix: You're wounded, and you're going too slowly. I couldn't stand to watch.

He wants to rebuild the relationships!!! He just finds it difficult because he’s so angry!!

In Hopes, we get a support between Felix and Rodrigue where those differences are splayed for all to see. While I’m not a big fan of Azure Gleam, I like how there are two possibilities:

The path of reconciliation 

or

Words that go unspoken because of death

It really fits in with the themes of grief and loss; sometimes you are angry with your loved ones and when they pass from this Earth, there is no turning back the clock. I was angry with my brother when he died; he was a Trump-loving anti-vaxxer who fell into the maw of the cult. I was frustrated and sad at what he had become. Stopped contacting him much at all. And in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

One of the really important things about the whole situation, at least to me, is that no one in this situation is ‘wrong’ to grief in the way they do. It’s not as if Rodrigue’s coping mechanism – which is a logical one, given the culture he is part of – is horrible, it’s just the coping mechanism that Felix did not need. And Felix pushing his family and friends away is not good for his mental health or long term grieving, but it’s the thing he felt like he needed to do given the way he cannot cope with the way other people have processed this event that he finds so triggering.

And if Rodrigue ends up dying, it makes the whole situation even more tragic.

[reposted to add some stuff]

#felix hugo fraldarius #rodrigue achille fraldarius #ingrid brandl galatea #azure moon #azure gleam #fe3h #fire emblem three hopes

[fireemblems24]

Chapter 16 Battle

Below is my random thoughts playing Ch 16. I may or may not have gotten embarrassingly emotional playing a certain route.

I'm playing all 4 routes as my "first route," so please no spoilers beyond this point.

Crimson Flower

As much as I'm absolutely dreading killing Rodrigue and Ingrid, I'm going to relish taking Cornelia out.

My very first move this battle - Felix kills his father. RIP Rodrigue. (Felix used the Crest of Fraldarius first, then crit him. Damn, I hope he's nicer to Ingrid).

Rodrigue and Felix's battle dialogue though :(

Oh, God, Ingrid's chosen to fight for Dimitri till she dies. I'm surprised how upset I am having to fight her. I mean, I always liked Ingrid, but I think I like her more than I even thought I did.

Linhardt just said "is any of this worth it?" Me too right now, buddy, me too.

Time for Felix vs Ingrid. She dodges his bow, then hits his ass with her batallion on EP. I'm proud of her.

God, you have no idea how happy I am that Ingrid called Felix out for betraying everyone - that she didn't forget Glenn. Because, I mean, Felix IS fighting for the team that killed his brother.

His rebuttal was so weak too. "You don't understand." No shit, Sherlock, that's why she asked.

Shit, Ingrid's dead :( that sucked.

God it felt good to kill Cornelia after that.

I really am not ready for Fhirdiad. Ingrid and Rodrigue were hard enough. I'm so not ready for Dedue and Dimitri.

But I think this is my last Crimson Flower level until I'm ready to play the last two back-to-back? I don't know about that. I may just want to get the next chapter over with.

OMG Felix was my MVP. His "motivation" is maxed out after killing daddy and Ingrid and preparing to off Dimitri. That's so cold blooded.

Silver Snow

Time to kill criminally underused dragon lady.

A rare sight - Lysithea having to hit something - twice.

Ok, so does my CF team suck? Or is there a steeper difficulty curve because it's shorter? CF Ch 16 wasn't hard, but everyone in SS is easily killing everything. Like this level is a legit joke to my SS team, but in CF I at least had to be cautious.

You know, I've talked about my SS!Ferdinand before, but my Lysithea and Sylvain are also both absolutely terrifying.

Oh no, Lorenz! He was one of my core SS units 😭(before he betrayed us).

Didn't people say he comes back if I kill him with Byleth or something? Not sure I need him anymore.

Should I? Just? Kill him? Because I can? Or be nice? I'm not even sure killing him with Byleth will work.

Anytime the enemy uses that firey wagon batallion and it misses it's so funny.

Oh, man, Lorenz was told fight for the Empire or die? He sounded so sad about fighting Byleth. I can't not try to spare him after that. Not sure if this is going to work.

OMG OMG IT WORKED! I don't have to kill him!!!! I can't, not after learning he thought he'd die if he didn't join the Empire.

This is the first chapter Ferdinand has actually been dancing. And the second I unleash him, double crits against an armored night. Man is bloodthirsty.

"Defeat boss" when the boss moves and is on a dragon sucks. Because every level is always and forever - route enemy.

Annnnd . . . . that's it. Killed everyone but Ladislava and only Bernie and Anna used their turns, so now it's just a matter how picking who gets the kill.

For the record, Linhardt got the final blow. I always feel bad making him kill, but he needed the experience points so . . .

Seteth just prayed for his enemies 😭

Verdant Wind

I already have Lorenz, so I don't have to "kill" him with Byleth this time.

Oh, wow, Ferdinand's on the map. Didn't see that at first.

Even if he wasn't an enemy commander, I'd kill him. Kill 'em all is just too much fun. I'm also less upset about killing him than I thought I'd be. I thought he'd be a much bigger deal than he actually is. He's a good boi and all, but I'm just not emotionally attached, and I thought I would be.

OMG, Claude. He's like - naw, just kill Acheron. He's a nuisance.

Acheron is really a meme though. He show up in some paralogue (I don't remember) and yeah I don't think we're supposed to take him seriously.

I find it mildly amusing that every noble who sides with Edelgard in the Alliance and the Kingdom either a.) have lands close to the Imperial border or are b.) the corrupt nasties.

Man, I even danced Lorenz so he could reach Acheron and no unique dialogue.

Lysithea is dumb. She one-shotted Ladislava.

Sometimes I think I forget just how hot Claude is.

RIP Ferdinand. At least his dialogue didn't make me feel guilty like Ashe or Ingrid did. His motivation was just inflating his own ego and his petty one-sided rivalry with Edelgard. He grows into a better person if he's recruited.

It's funny the last man standing was the Lorenz replacement lol.

Lorenz was my MVP, seems fitting.

Azure Moon

Alright, so a few people seemed hyped to see my chapter 16 reactions, and nothing worth hyping happened in the other routes (sans killing Rodrigue and Ingrid, but I've already made my feelings known about that). So it's got to be something in AM, but I kind of expected that.

Why does Rodrigue get dialogue, but I don't get to use him as a unit 😔

My AM gameplay every. single. time. Have Dimitri draw as much aggro as possible. End turn.

OMG.

😭😭😭😭😭😭

HE'S BACK.

OMG, Dimitri knows he's alive now. I can't.

OMG he got so hot. That hairstyle is much improvement. And those scars. And he's so tall. I forgot just how tall he is.

OMG he's going to be in the Monastery again. I'm spending every single fricken Professor Point tea timing him.

And all his supports. I finally get to see his A supports. 😭😭

He's got new quotes and everything 😭😭

Dimitri and Dedue fighting side-by-side again. 😭😭

It's been like since December when I last saw Dedue. 😭😭

And his first level up got like 6 points, including speed!

His "I will Break You!" quote is INTENSE.

Oh, right, Lorenz. I'll try to kill him with Byleth. Should be easy. My AM!Byleth is a pegasus knight so.

Lorenz's battle quote is so much more polite than Ferdinand's. I know I want to do a "kill em all" but I just can't after hearing Lorenz say that.

I am DYING to see what Dimitri and Dedue's dialogue is, but it's 12:13am, and I still haven't showered, and I gotta get up at 6am for work 😭😭

OMG lol looking at these. Everything else is so organized and AM's is just crying emojis and Dedue gushing.

#StanDedue 😭😭

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem 3 houses #fe3h #fe16 #😭😭 #dedue molinaro #my boi is back #and he's okay #and hot

[professor-tammi]

sometimes I just want to discuss felix/dimitri at 4 AM

I feel like Felix and Dimitri’s dynamic is quite easy to misunderstand if you’re used to FE games where most relationship development happens in supports, because there’s a lot about them you only learn outside of their supports... so let’s discuss those bits of dialogue! in fact, why don’t we discuss all of it?

- Felix and Dimitri’s ancestors, Kyphon and Loog, were very close friends (to the point that legends were passed down about their friendship), as were their fathers. this is far from the only “destined friendship” FE3H has to offer (a milder example is Linhardt and Caspar, whose fathers are described as being good friends with a similar dynamic to their sons), but it’s almost certainly the most poignant one

- early on in the game, Felix has a monastery conversation where he talks about how he wishes Dimitri would just take up the throne already; at this point their relationship is obviously still very rocky, so it’s more likely that Felix wants Dimitri to do his duty and fix the chaos in Faerghus more than anything, but it’s worth noting nevertheless!

- their first dining hall conversation has Dimitri reaching out to Felix and offering him meat as he remembers he used to like meat when they were children, which Felix is having none of. it sets the tone for their dynamic at the start of the game: Dimitri trying to reconnect, and Felix stubbornly refusing it’s also incredibly easy to make a bad joke about offering meat here but I’ll refrain

- their second dining hall conversation takes place after their B support, where Felix makes it quite clear he doesn’t want Dimitri speaking to him... so, instead, it’s Felix initiating the conversation, mentioning how Dimitri “eats like he hates the food”, with Dimitri apologizing. this one’s a bit curious, but I interpret it as Felix being observant enough to notice that Dimitri has lost his sense of taste, which suggests he worries about him despite what he claims :’)

- I’ve actually yet to see all of their group task dialogues (missing the B rank ones?), but the first one is Felix grumbling about having to work with Dimitri (”you again”) and Dimitri telling him there’s no use complaining. if they get a mediocre result, Felix says to not make him work with the boar again (iirc), but if they get a perfect result, Felix makes some amusingly suggestive comments about how “the boar is useful if you know how to handle him”, and Dimitri seems surprised by the praise, but returns it (aw he’s happy Felix said something nice to him :D)

- near the end of part I when Dimitri is starting to unravel, Felix has a monastery conversation where he comments on how his spearwork is getting sloppy and says to “cage the boar before he gets himself killed”. the crux of the conversation isn’t Felix’s apparent anger at Dimitri, but rather his fear of him dying (but, with Felix being Felix, he cloaks his concern in insults, as always)

- if you recruit Felix to BE-E, he will say he’s become the exact same monster he once berated Dimitri for being if talked to in the monastery. he will later comment on how he still believes Dimitri is a monster, but more curiously, while he says he’s resolved to go against his friends and country in an earlier conversation (notably saying he’s “prepared to kill a man [he] once called friend” -- ie, Dimitri), he also says his “sword arm feels heavy”... because he’s forcing himself to go against everything and everyone he cares about to justify the murders he’s committed

- Felix is the only member of the Blue Lions whom Dimitri has a unique boss fight conversation for. Dimitri seems shocked Felix would go so far as to kill his own father, but Felix responds he’s ready to cut down even his father and his friends (with a sad portrait... maybe not as resolved as he thinks he is!). Dimitri says that’s all he needed to hear to work up the resolve to kill him, which, well... I’m glad he admits he needed to work up the resolve to kill Felix specifically, but I’m also still crying

- if you recruit Felix to GD instead, then once Dimitri dies, Felix has a monastery conversation where he’s very shaken-up: he talks about how their “relationship started before [they were] born”, a nod to the friendships of their ancestors and parents, and says he once considered Dimitri his best friend (this is notable, as it’s one of several implications Dimitri and Felix had a closer bond with each other than the rest of the Lions childhood friend group). he then goes on to admit he didn’t understand his friend’s anguish, and blames himself for failing to be there for him: “could I have saved him? could I have stopped him?”

- in a latter GD monastery conversation, Felix wants to deal with the Slithers so that Dimitri can rest in peace, and for the first time in this particular route, he actually calls Dimitri by his name (stopping himself before referring to him as a boar again)

- in both BE-E and GD, Felix’s negative character development mirrors Dimitri’s (which I wrote a quick post on), which makes a lot of sense when you consider they’ve been through similar hardships. this ties into Felix relating his way of dealing with the deaths of those close to him to Dimitri’s method of coping in their A support; despite his sharp tongue, he does understand!

- all of Felix’s endings change on the non-BL routes, as Dimitri’s death impacts him very negatively. I wrote a post on this, too! with Felix having been raised to be the king’s right-hand man, this makes a lot of sense: if Dimitri dies, he’s essentially lost his purpose in life and, from his point of view, failed to save his best friend from himself, and so he “copes” by devoting himself to the sword, becoming a death-seeking mercenary

- post time-skip on the BL route, Felix has surprisingly little to say after joining up with Dimitri, but does point out he’s “like a completely different person”. his monastery dialogue is more interesting: he’s in the cathedral for the first time, specifically to watch over Dimitri, and tells Byleth to do something about him, as he can hardly bear to look at “it” (apparently, he’s not even willing to refer to Dimitri as a boar anymore). despite his apparent anger, it’s, as always, a way for him to mask his concern, as he’ll gain support points if Byleth promises to help Dimitri.

- after Rodrigue’s death, Felix is harsh with Dimitri, but (assuming you have them at the appropriate support level) nevertheless promises to help him in his father’s stead and finally calls him by his actual name, implying he acknowledges the Dimitri he considered his friend did not truly die with the Tragedy of Duscur and is no longer just “the boar”

- after reaching A rank, Dimitri’s dining hall dialogue with Felix has him say “you used to whine unless you could do everything with me” (with Felix reacting in an appropriately tsun manner). when paired with Sylvain’s comments about Felix coming to him crying whenever he had a fight with Dimitri, we get a good picture of younger Felix as a bit of a clingy crybaby who couldn’t stand being apart from Dimitri, which is very telling: he probably retains a bit of that clinginess deep down, even if he’d do everything in his power to deny it :D (I also feel it makes it quite clear Felix was closest to Dimitri!)

- their group task dialogue at A rank has Felix still being quite tsundere, but Dimitri seems to be very much unaffected and tells Felix it’s assuring to have him there. if they get a mediocre result, you (iirc) get some rather cute dialogue where Dimitri tells Byleth to praise Felix for having worked so hard, to which Felix goes “stop it, boar. I only worked hard because you made me” (still tsundering, I see!); with a perfect result, Felix comments on how they “work so well together it’s eerie”, to which Dimitri agrees, but also says it makes sense as they were childhood friends

- in a latter monastery dialogue, Felix comments on how his father would be proud if he could see the progress Dimitri’s made, then hastily adds, “don’t you dare tell anyone I said that”. sure, Felix

- before the final battle, if you have Felix and Dimitri at A rank, Felix has this to say: “go and win. be the boar that you are, and don’t you dare look back.” this shows an implied reconciliation that their A rank by itself didn’t really offer, and is also rather sweet as Felix is using “boar” as more of an affectionate nickname than an insult here, acknowledging Dimitri’s two faces. (during the final battle, Felix and Dimitri will also have a short conversation if you defeat Myson, where Felix chides Dimitri for getting distracted!)

- Felix’s solo ending has him become Dimitri’s right-hand man, which is referenced in a majority of his endings on the BL route (so even if you choose not to support them, Felix still ends up dedicating his life to serving Dimitri), and, finally...

- Felix and Dimitri’s paired ending mentions that their friendship rivaled that of Loog and Kyphon’s, mentioned above, but also has this lovely line: “their lifelong bond grew so strong over time that, when Dimitri finally passed, it is said that Felix's grief was more potent even than the queen's.” yes, Dimitri having a queen is brought up... but only so we can learn that Felix cared more for him than his own wife did. a fitting ending! :’)

#fire emblem #fraldarddyd #felix hugo fraldarius #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #text post #text: fodlan #fe16 spoilers #felix #dimitri #sometimes i wish i used less organizational tags :') #ship: don't you dare look back

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 41 - TBL - Warm Bodies

6-4 Regulation Loss

The season is now halfway over. It’s also got halfway to go. I suppose it’s a glass half full, half empty kinda situation. I imagine the first half of this season has evoked some pretty strong feelings along those lines of optimism and pessimism one way or the other. There’s a lot to unpack there and Midseason Thoughts will be out tomorrow so read that. This is only going to be an incomplete lookback on the first half that was. After all, there was a New Year’s Eve game last night and a big narrative coming into that game. Jeff Skinner got injured in one of the games against Boston and here we find ourselves once again down another forward. And here comes the snide remarks about the surplus of defenseman that don’t really help the problem with forwards dropping like flies. Well guess what: I’m there. I’m ready to be mad about this shit too! It’s January when you’re reading this. January 2020! Jason Botterill was hired in May 2017. He’s closing in on three years on the job. Sure he didn’t get the coaching choice right the first go around and we restarted the rebuild and yatta yatta yatta; but how has Rebuild 2.0 gone so… uh… terribly? There were poultry changes in summer 2018 after the accidentally super shit season that got us Rasmus Dahlin and then in 2019… uh… he moved out Nylander for Jokiharju. You can’t look past the Jeff Skinner trade and signing, the risk and reward of that, but barring the Henri Jokiharju trade that was far and away his best move. The defense is changed but the forward ranks are… actually remarkably similar to Dan Blysma’s last game behind the bench. That whole conversation was brewing and then came the Skinner injury. The Sabres are now the furthest out of a playoff spot they’ve been all season at five points back. That’s something we’ll talk about in Midseason thoughts. The team was up and down in the first half but mostly down. Meanwhile everyone is sorta thinking one move for a top six forward saves the day. True or not we were hungry for a move when… *drum roll*… Rochester American Dalton Smith is signed to a two-way contract so he can be called up to the NHL… uh… say what now?

This is literally the kinda thing you joke about a lazy General Manager doing. At first glance he’s just a goon you’re signing for the kinda things boomers dribble about on Facebook: he’ll bring grit to a roster the Coach and GM say doesn’t need any more grit! Smith wasn’t at Training Camp you see! His game is improved dramatically you see! He’s got… lots of penalty minutes in the AHL! Okay, I give up. I don’t know what they’re doing now. If you’re going to tell me with a straight face Smith was brought up as a Skinner replacement I guess I’ll agree he is in fact a warm body. This is just a team of Jack Eichel and a bunch of warm bodies right now anyway, eh? The most logical answer is a very unwelcomed one: the idea he was brought in to “take care of unfinished business” with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is, the Sabres needed a guy to avenge the Dahlin injury back in November. So we used up a contract on a guy to come up from the A to punch Erik Cernak in the face? Is that the plan? Look Jason, we understand trades maybe risky, but we’d prefer you make one before going with the lowest common denominator within the organization. Remember a dozen games back or so when I theorized it was never the plan for the team to make the playoffs this season? I put together some pieces including the opinion of John Vogl who said exactly this. The huge salary opening this summer allow a lot of room for movement… but they’re also somehow in cap hell too? Is that what’s stopping you from taking this season seriously, Jason? The theory is basically confirmed now and I’m not going to lie: I am very turned off by it all. Other NHL clubs should take note: this is how you turn off your fanbase. You’re already on a pretty ugly skid? Make a really bad roster move when the obvious choice is clear as day for all to see and make it about fighting. Honestly, who was dying to see Dalton Smith fight Erik Cernak? Whose opinion of this club’s season is now changing because of him skating four shifts all game and almost getting into a scuffle? We even got a video of Cernak getting fighting pointers from a teammate at the Bolts practice! You have one of the most talented rosters of the decade coming to town for a New Year’s Eve game your billing as a big deal and you’re intending to give them a punching match? To top it all off about an hour before puck drop Joe Yerdon at the Athletic broke the news that Evan Rodrigues asked for a trade upping that number to three players who want out. Summer 2019 Sabres twitter would have gone to Defcon 5 with that news but five months without a GM has made us cold, hopeless husks. On that cheerful note, let’s do that hockey!

To be clear I am not, nor have I ever been a hockey player. Anyone who makes the NHL, even for a single game like Dalton Smith, is a better athlete than I will ever be. Each and every player on that ice could murder me quite easily. However what unfolded in the first and third periods of this game was a glorified badminton match. The shots were 10-3 in favor of Buffalo in the first, but the game did not even kinda look that way. At least two of those Bolts shots were off the post, the team MVP candidate hot on Jack Eichel’s heels. Ding-Ding-Ding. The Sabres got another impotent powerplay early on after Steven Stamkos tripped Eichel. Ralph Krueger did a very interesting interview this morning on WGR550 where he was asked about the lackluster powerplay. One quote sticks out: “Whether we score or not [on the powerplay] is irrelevant.” There is very little additional context needed, that’s the quote. He was making a point about how even fruitless powerplay help team confidence 5 on 5. I’m no hockey coach either but… uh… I think that’s some motivational bullshit, Ralph. Luckily I didn’t actually rear end the car ahead of me in the Tim Hortons drive thru when I heard that line. The slight edge the home team developed in this game became apparent late in the first and the Sabres got a goal almost by accident. Curtis Lazar peeled a puck off the Lightning as they attempted to exit the zone and shot it over to Conor Sheary. Sheary, tardy on getting out of the zone evidently, almost one-timed it and the shot snuck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to put Buffalo up 1-0.

Steven Stamkos and Jack Eichel both had shocking misses in the first; like wow, you had the whole net and didn’t get it in kinda misses. Both visibly realized their mistakes. In the second period Conor Sheary got an early assist when he put the puck on net where Marcus Johansson edged the puck in. All of the sudden the Sabres were up 2-0 and I doubt many of those assembled in Key Bank Arena thought this would be the way it would go based off everything going on off ice. Linus Ullmark and a tough defensive scheme wouldn’t hold up forever and almost inevitably Andrei Palat shot one in five hole. The powerplay goal for Tampa felt as mocking as it did inevitable. But then somewhere deep down in this team they revived the clap-back energy, just for a little bit. A minute later Jimmy Vesey takes the puck over after a fortuitous bounce and gets his first goal since the dawn of time. If you took even a minute to be shocked you’d be forgiven but you’d miss Jake McCabe doing what Dalton Smith got an NHL contract for: fighting! McCabe got into a bloody boxing match with Andrei Sergachev after a hit on Eichel he took issue with. To be fair to the cavemen not reading this, Dalton Smith did have a little spat with a player in a white jersey earlier in the period, but McCabe was the one who really brought your almighty grit. The lengthy penalty record now somehow put the Sabres on the penalty kill. Enter Jack Eichel stripping a Tampa forward on a botched pass before charging down the ice, undressing two defenseman and a goalie to backhand it in for the 4-1 lead and a shorthanded goal. That was at about the halfway point of the game. That beautiful Jack Eichel goal that will certainly be in the season highlight reel… was halfway through this game. Before the second period ended the disaster would begin: five unanswered goals started with another powerplay goal for Alex Killorn followed by Tyler Johnson snipe about three minutes later. The second period ended 4-3 Buffalo. The game would end 6-4 Tampa. The Lightning completed their season sweep of the Sabres in a comeback fitting of the next level shitty decade this club just concluded. Shattenkirk, Killorn again and then Anthony Cirelli with an empty netter, I’m not going to torture you with the details, it’s easy to imagine how that went just off experience.

Like, comment and share this blog. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing the first half of the season in Midseason Thoughts. We’ll be looking ahead to the back 41 games as well although it seems very clear they don’t matter to the Front Office. This club is within spitting distance of a playoff spot and are posturing to try and get further off by the end of the month. When I say this team is a collection of warm bodies and Jack Eichel, I mean it! I think I speak for a large swath of this fanbase when I say I’ve lost confidence. A move was necessary six months ago, but it never came. Sure I still like the Coach but if he’s going to pass off motivational smart talk as a definitive strategy for a hockey team to win enough games to make the postseason even he is going to lose me at some point! Tomorrow we get Edmonton coming to town and I doubt they’ll succumb to the Sabres quite as easily as last time. I have no more confidence in this club and honestly I feel like they’ll need to win us back when there is a playoff team in town! Well… that’s all folks. Happy New Year! Talk to you tomorrow. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. The Winter Classic was fun this year. I wish somebody had told me Dallas and Nashville hated each other two years ago.

#buffalo sabres #nhl #hockey #blog

[strykingback]

Promotion.

Location: Brumel, Actus. The Royal Palace.

OST: Wise Royalty 

Time: 5:00 PM, 

One Day after Team BLCKOUT’s, JNR, and RWBY’s Escape from Atlas. 

_____________________________________

The Royal Palace of Brumel. Never had Eros hoped to see those doors. Ever since he returned from Atlas after Ironwoods betrayal and the death of his close friend Clover, the leader of raptor squadron had been silent. The last time he was silent and angered was when the Atelier Agent Program was disavowed after the Retrison Incident. 

Yet, here he was being led by two of King Rodrigues royal guardsman as they approached the mighty doors as it opened up automatically with the room adorned in marble whites and hints of gold. Rodrigues was never a man who liked Gold. He was humble and understanding, but how understanding would he be towards Eros?

He stopped just mere feet before the king taking off his helmet and kneeling with his head bowed down looking at the ground silently. With the Royal guardsmen returning to their Lords side.  “My Lord.” Eros spoke looking down.  “Eros, you may rise.” Rodrigues replied with the Lieutenant looking up and rising back up to his feet. 

“You know why I have brought you here yes? Atlas has been taken after Ironwood melted down and you did not stay to protect it. ” The King spoke again with the Lieutenant holding his helmet tightly. 

“It was upon Ironwoods command that we were deemed as “traitors to Atlas.” I’m not proud of what I had to do sire, I am not. But I had to make it a priority to force our Atlesian brothers to see reason. Instead they only followed orders like all good soldiers do.” Eros answered.  “And Good Soldiers Can Disobey Orders.. but I take it you lead the assault on Atlas Academy?” the king spoke once more.  “Yes sir. I take full responsibility to what happened and if you shall sire, execute me.” He said causing Rodrigues’ eyes to widen with shock but he could see in Eros’ eyes that...he was suffering betrayed by good friends and the loss of a friend can weigh even heavily on a soldier. 

“Eros...I cant allow that. Not even after the loss of your friend.” 

“I miss him sir. I do....and I allowed the enemy to take Atlas all because of Ironwood going berserk. I’ll be damned if I allow the enemy to take Atlas and I will fight with my might to avenge my fallen brother in arms if I have to!” Eros spoke.

“The Artorians do not know of our existence yet, but it is only a matter of time until they do find out about out home and our people....I can see that my sons own actions are rubbing off on you.” Rodrigues smirked causing a soft chuckle to leave Eros’ lips.

“I... um. Well. Damn I didnt think you would see that in me sire. I mean if your son did come here and say he wanted to atleast find a way to save Atlas from Salem and the Artorians then I’m all for it!”  “Well that my son did of course.” The King of Brumel said with Eros’ eyes lighting up with passion and a fire in his hear. “ And he wanted me to promote you from Lieutenant to Commander.” 

“T-To Commander... sire. thats an honor but-.” 

“My son saw you plan every stage of the intial defense of Mantle and Atlas....and saw a commander within you even helped him out of Atlas with his team and his allies. Now then Commander. Your orders are this, to observe and study what the Artorians plan on doing and find a weakness, Find our where The Relic of Creation is, and lastly...avenge your fallen brother from Atlas.” 

“At Once my lord!” Eros said getting ready to leave.  “Oh Also! We have made the choice that some new armor was well overdue for your promotion.” Rodrigues said standing up from his throne  as one of the Royal Guardsman gave him a helmet with red markings on it as the King approached him giving it to the former Lieutenant now Commander. “Brumel Prevails....” He said giving the helmet to his new Commander as Eros heistantly took it.  “The Rest of your armor is being delivered but I believe that you will find it to your liking..” Rodrigues spoke smiling. 

Putting on his new helmet Eros smiled underneath it. “Yes Sir.” Brumel...will always prevail even under the most stressful of situations. Now armed with a commander who leads by example and shows it the Artorians will have something to fear.

#[Lore of BLCK- TEAM BLCK Lore] #[Sometimes A Story Has Its Heroes- Drabble]

[gothify1]

Welcome to #WhoWhatWearing , a series in which we highlight you, our stylish community of readers. Each of the following looks came straight from a photo you tagged us in on Instagram. Want to be featured next time? You guessed it: Use #WhoWhatWearing on the outfit posts you want us to see. Fact: Everyone with an Instagram account draws inspiration in some form from the app these days. Even we WWW editors are known to browse the social media platform when searching for new brands and styling ideas. (Hey, we are human, after all!) There are a few accounts I find myself going back to over and over again for creative outfit ideas , and they just happen to be members of our WWW community. If you're anything like me, you're constantly looking for new people to follow to keep your feed and outfit ideas fresh. So today, I'm here to share some of those accounts with you and let you in on why I like to follow them (and why you probably should too). From the girl who's constantly introducing me to cool online vintage shops to the one who has me drooling over her dreamy photography, there's something in here to fill whatever Instagram void you're missing. Scroll down to see the nine accounts that always leave me feeling inspired. Originally from Sweden and now based in L.A., Nathalie is my go-to for classic outfit combos with a twist. She's has a knack for taking wardrobe staples like blazers and button-downs and styling them in a way that makes them feel very of-the-moment. Her account has also introduced me to two amazing Instagram vintage shops I'm constantly DM'ing about. SVC is a gold mine for vintage leather pieces and unique outerwear, and Nalou Shop has insanely cool costume earrings from the '80s. Based in Orlando, Noor should be one of the people you look to for cool boot styling and modest dressing inspo . She always manages to incorporate bold color and has a major flair for prints, and I admit I have the below tiger-print look bookmarked in my saved folder. If you love neutrals , you're going to want to check out Christie 's account immediately. Based in NYC, Christie has the ultimate aesthetically pleasing account. The only thing more stunning than her Instagram grid is her outfits. She mixes high and low masterfully and makes every single piece she wears look luxe. I'm actually embarrassed by how many of her looks I have saved (#fangirl). Hailing from Oslo, Norway, Maren is easily one of the most innovative dressers on Instagram. She goes for it with bold prints, striking colors, and lots and lots of layers . One tap of the follow button, and you'll be inspired to break out your funkiest pieces—and maybe even wear them all together. Another Norweigan girl to have on your radar is Nnenna . She's mastered the art of color-blocking and mixing prints, and loves a bold accessory . Bookmark her profile for a little nudge to wear all those fun, printed pieces hanging in your closet. For a master class in playing with proportions, check out Débora 's account. She just gets it. From drastically oversize blazers paired with delicate tights to wide-leg pants perfectly tailored to her waist (and all set against beautiful backdrops with moody photography), her profile is one to watch for seriously inspired outfit ideas. This is another account I have an exceedingly high number of posts saved from. Prepare to meet a girl and brand you'll be following ASAP: Sandra Rodrigues Pinto and her new label, Lamarel. You can find genius blazer looks , elevated accessories, and fun prints on Sandra's account, plus some of the dreamiest tops I've ever seen from her recently launched brand (which I just discovered and am already obsessed with). For sneaker outfits that will make you forget you own other shoes, look no further than Khaoula 's account. She manages to make even the simplest of jean-and-sneaker pairings look innovative by adding chic coats, of-the-moment bags, and interesting textures. Oh, and she has a thing for neutrals that really speaks to me. Based in Bengaluru, India, Sonia  is innovative with not only her clothing and accessories but also the way she chooses to shoot them. Her photography (and location!) is dreamy, and her outfits will inspire you to wear pieces you most likely already own in new ways. Ready to show us your looks? Tag @WhoWhatWear on Instagram and use #WhoWhatWearing for a chance to see them end up here! Next up: Instagram is my job, and this trend is taking over my feed.

[ixvyupdates]

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics

You know, I find it real interesting that teachers are supposed to promote anti-bullying in schools but their unions constantly use bullying tactics to intimidate people who support school choice.

It happened in Chicago when the Chicago Teachers Union was trying to muscle the CEO of Civitas Education Partners, LeeAndra Khan, into a contract by striking a few weeks ago.

Sad to see CTU & @ChiACTS educators disrespect school leaders @leeandrakhan like this. Thought unions were progressive & had respect for people. @civitasschools teachers, you ok with this? Modeling what bullying looks like for your students. #MoneyforTeachersFirst #ChiACTStrike pic.twitter.com/sczwi7IaJs

— allison jack (@applejack32) February 13, 2019

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Now it’s happening during the Oakland teachers strike.

Let’s be fair, Oakland teachers get paid way too little considering they live in one of the most expensive areas in the country. But the situation in Oakland has escalated to an outrageous level. I mean, these activists are real life gangsta. Showing up at a local charter school leaders’ house and harassing them? Wow!

Here is the statement from the National Parent Council & national ed activists about the attack on @jonathanklein42 and @GOPublicSchools. Bullying, violence and intimidation is happening across the nation and MUST STOP NOW. @The74 @edu_post #educhat @arneduncan @JohnBKing pic.twitter.com/OFrZ6yV2nK

— Keri Rodrigues (@radiokeri) February 23, 2019

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Then, school board meetings are being cancelled because the safety of school board members is in question.

Peace. Folks. Well they cancelled the meeting. Couldn’t ensure our safety. I was grateful for the Brothas from Church that were ready to walk with me! I was prayed up. Ready to go into battle. Just do the work! Appreciate y’all! Tomorrow…#wecanteachourown #howareoaklandchildren

— jumoke hinton (@jumokehinton3) February 28, 2019

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And to top it off, every day this strike goes on, it’s costing millions of dollars that could actually be puts towards education.

As if all that isn’t enough to be pissed about, they always want to throw the term “privatized education” around to convince people that reformers are trying to tear down the public education system. They even called OUSD school board member, parent and activist, Jumoke Hinton Hodge, a privatizer.

Look at how they smear our people simply for speaking up for our students and families.

This is why we fight. The devil is busy.@RealTalkGwenS @PeeplesChoice85 @nvlevy @MNTOY2006 @LatashaGandy @educatorbarnes @sowhesed @vesiawils @vivettdukes pic.twitter.com/EpYL1boHk0

— Citizen Stewart (@citizenstewart) February 27, 2019

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Well let’s talk about who’s benefiting and who’s suffering from a true privatized education.

First of all, how dare anyone accuse a Black or Latino parent of pushing an agenda of privatized education when our kids have been systematically legislated and zoned out of access to decent public schools for generations.

The fact that schools in predominantly White districts get 23 billion dollars more than those that serve students of color is exclusionary and points to inequitable funding practices that disproportionately affect those students.

By the way, shoutout to intentional and longstanding segregation that’s kept Black and Latino kids from getting into those better funded schools.

Also, schools that are predominantly White tend to have more challenging classes and coursework while Black and Latino schools have less high-rigor coursework. TNTP’s Opportunity Myth report proves that these students often receive coursework below their grade levels because their teachers don’t believe they can do grade level work.

It’s called the belief gap.

TNTP's Opportunity Myth report laid it plain: students in low-income communities get half as much grade level work & 1/5 less time with rigorous instruction. Let's start talking about EXPLICIT bias. https://t.co/xMsQRr3xmn @TNTP @DanWeisbergTNTP #TheOpportunityMyth #8blackhands

— Colin Seale (@ColinESeale) January 31, 2019

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Don’t even get me started on racially charged and biased discipline practices that send Black boys down the school-to-prison pipeline while White boys follow the school-to-politics pipeline.

Bottom line, White kids get to enjoy certain privileges, advantages and access in public education while Black and Latino students are knocking on closed doors, jumping through hoops and over hurdles to reap half those benefits.

So don’t tell me that choice advocates shouldn’t fight for something better because this current system, fundamentally, is a privatized education.

And that’s why I am entirely grateful for others who fight, day in and day out, for quality and equity for Black and Latino kids, despite heavy opposition.

School board members, like Director Hodge, who remain unbiased and truly work for students and families.

Organizations and groups like La Comadre and the men of 8 Black Hands who are keeping it real on the education front.

We appreciate that and hope others follow your lead. Thank you for all you do in education. https://t.co/Crbt6BfA1Z

— The 8 Black Hands Podcast (@8BlackHands1) February 11, 2019

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School leaders like Sharif El-Mekki and Christopher Goins who incorporate their experiences as Black men and expertise as educators to deliver culturally relevant and important curricula to their students that tackle issues in social justice.

And parents like Gwen Samuel who will stop at nothing—even suing her state—to make sure all our babies get fair and equal treatment.

"Imagine for a moment a Black mother attempting to enroll her son in a local, high-performing magnet school with open spots, only to be wait-listed and denied one of the open seats due to the fact that they were reserved for white students. https://t.co/mA2TExc3bW

— Yep! I'm "That" Mom (@RealTalkGwenS) February 25, 2019

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So y’all can stop calling us privatizers—we’re advocates for access, school choice and reform.

And I’ll say this again for the people who may have missed it the first time: We’re fighting for liberation and we won’t back down. We can’t be swayed or distracted by education politics, we won’t be bullied by unions or any other anti-choice proxies. We’re not giving up on our kids or communities.

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[winstonhcomedy]

“Dope A-F”- 1/24-1/25 - “Booed Off Stage and Reg Charity”

Sweet lord almighty. Thursday/Friday were some slobbrerknockers of shows. I’ve got three bad boys to cover so let’s hop right to it laydees.

Earlier in the week I got asked by Travis Carl if I could fill in for him at The Richmond Funny Bone hosting for the “Fresh Drunk Stoned Tour”. I of course agreed. Luckily the open mic this night was The Camel hosted by Jameson Babbowski. This was an early mic so I got to get two sets in.

I head over to The Camel right after work. I am the first comic there. The Camel always has a chill fun vibe to it. When Jameson gets there I look at the lineup and I know like half of the comics. The influx of new comedians continues. It is getting kind of insane. I feel like more and more experienced comics are either moving away/giving it up/taking a step back from standup. Which is a shame. I love the new comics, but I do miss the feeling of going to an open mic and it being filled with all the dudes I started with.

New comics are always good for a scene. As people trickle out you need more comics to trickle in. They bring audience members, and a sense of enthusiasm that is kind of gone from people who have been doing standup a while. The downside is when your scene becomes all new comics booking showcases becomes difficult. You want to give people opportunities, but at the same time a showcase full of newbies is just an open mic.

There is a family with a small child at the show. They tell Jameson they are ok with the swearing and are going to leave aft4er a quick bite. I get to see a few of my friends like Alex Castagne and Mike Engle. So that was a nice little hang.

Jameson goes up and does a quick hosting set before bringing me up. I go up and talk to the kid a little bit and get a few laughs. The crowd is interesting. Paying attention, but not really loving the comedy yet. My set goes pretty well. I need to write some new stuff because I am getting to the point where the new stuff I am working on is starting to become fully formed. The jokes go ok. Some hit pretty hard and some get nothing. All in all I was able to riff a couple new tings, and work on wording. I’d give this set a C-. I grab my stuff and run to my car to head to Short Pump to get to the Funny Bone.

It has been a while since I have been on a show here. I walk in and say hi to the staff. Every time I come by they have some new wait staff, but a lot of the people who’ve been there for years are still around. People like Cory, Derek, Buz, Brittany, and of course Jason the gm. I get to talk to everybody for a bit and shoot the shit before the comics from the “Fresh, Drunk, and Stoned” tour show up.

They were coming from VB so they had a comic down there drive them up and they gave them a guest spot. Drew Grizzly is the comedian who drove them. I have only seen him perform a couple times at clash so I don’t know much about his standup. I know the couple times at clash I wasn’t super impressed, but also that was forever ago and I think he was a super new comic at that time.

All three of the headliners were super cool. They were Tim Hanlon (LA), Matt Bellak (Chi) and Franco Harris (Chi). Very chill dudes and fun to hang with. all real professionals as well. Franco came in and had the complete run down written up ready to hand over to the sound guy Buz. I was going to be doing 10 up top, Drew was going to do 7, then each of them would do 20 each to close out the show.

They also did a great job of packing the show on a Thursday night. They didn’t sell out but they came damn close. I think there was close to about 220 people in there. Which is definitely a treat for a Thursday.

I go up first and have a super strong hosting set. I tried some material I’ve never done there before and it went over great. My “problems with China” bit hit super hard, and my “Angel/Devil” closer really got them. I’d give this set a B+. I really had them in a good place to get this show going and I bring up Drew.

I walk to the green room while he starts his set. I don’t really pay attention to it. He’s not getting a huge laugh or anything, but I don't think anything of it. I am talking in the back with the guys, and after like 2 minutes we start to hear a noise coming from the green room. I can’t really tell what the noise it, but is most assuredly not laughter.

I start to listen closer and realize it is boos. Drew is bombing so hard he is getting booed. Tim and I go out to check it out and we are just in awe. This crowd that was super into the show had now completely turned on him. Apparently he had started his set and said he had weird pubes. A woman responded, “you got a problem.” Instead of rolling with it he doubled down and started to be aggressive with the lady. He had not built up the goodwill in his set to warrant this type of response. So the crowd started to turn. He also mentioned that he doesn’t date black women (he is a black guy) which honestly is where he really lost the crowd (primarily black audience).

I have never seen this kind of shit before. It is surreal. People are losing their minds yelling at him, booing him, screaming to get him off the stage. People are standing up out of their seats. Like it had the vibe that someone was going to come up on stage and get him. Jason came out of his office wondering what was going on. It was too much for security to silence everyone. He was getting the light from the back, and he wouldn’t get off stage.

I don’t know how much time he did but it felt like a millennium in that atmosphere. It might be the worst set I've ever seen in my life. I was inching closer and closer to the stage trying to give him a hint. Also I was worried I was going to have to go on stage and take the microphone from him. The worst part is I have to go up after this. I tell Tim I am going to try my best to get the crowd back and do something before he gets on stage.

Drew finally gets off, and I go back up amidst a sea of boos. They’re still yelling and I give them a second to see if they’ll die down enough to try to get a word in. I finally grab the mic and say, “I think this is the first time in history where a room full of black people are like, ‘Thank God the white guys back’”, and it absolutely murders. People stand back up and are screaming and hollering. People are giving me high fives, and I'm really selling it leaning over with the mic stand talking to people and getting them pumped up. I bring Tim Hanlon on stage and the show is back on track. This is now one of my favorite comedy memories.

I go back to the green room and Drew is talking about it, and Franco and Matt are giving him good advice. Bombing happens, everybody does it, this is not a reflection of an entire comedians career or act. I do know that I have never in my life seen a worse set, and at least Drew knows it can’t get worse. He was in good spirits, and we all ended up having a dope rest of our night. I get a lot of compliments and I get to watch Tim, Matt, and Franco have super hot sets to end this amazing night. I also get a weekend of work from Jason in March. I love filling in dates on my calendar.

After the show I stick around, take some pictures, and meet some people. I say my goodbyes to everybody and then head to my car. I drive home enjoying the end of this awesome night.

1/25

The next day after work I took a nice nap, and then headed down to perform on Tidewater Tonight in Virginia Beach at Pinboys. This is a talkshow co-created and hosted by Roberto Lundgren Rodrigues. This isn’t a standup show. I had to create a character to be interviewed. I low-key love stuff like this, but I don’t get the opportunity to do it often.

I came up with the character several months ago when I was first asked, but I kept having to reschedule. I finally got an open Friday and was ready to unveil Reg Charity.  Basically the character idea I had was I'd be a disgraced, southern, ex PBA bowler who was banned from the sport due to my rampant alcoholism. So after my PBA career I started inventing. All my inventions are supposed to do the opposite of what they normally do (sunglasses that brighten the room, chips that help you lose weight, whiskey that sobers you up, and a toaster that turns toast into bread). It slowly becomes apparent during the interview that none of them work, and I get drunker and drunker on my “non-alcoholic” whiskey. 

I get to the venue early and am just hanging out with the people who run the show. Ryan Dix, Roberto, Laura Batty, and a few others. My buddy Nick Deez showed up also.

So after they set up for the show we wait for it to start. There is a tiny audience of maybe 5 or 6 who aren’t involved in the show. That’s ok though because everybody is super into the show. I am so excited to see how the video turns out because I am super excited about it. I improvised the entire thing. I feel like I went in and out of my accent, but I honestly don’t care. It was super fun, and I got people laughing. I had an absurd outfit on, and some great lines. I’d give it a solid B. If I get to go back I know I’ll do even better.

They do some ads, and a singing commercial. Then Donna Lewis goes up and is doing the character of an ex child star. She is having a hot one, and everyone is having a blast. The show ends and it was definitely a success.

They make several attempts to lift the couch up with me in it. We get some funny pictures of me falling out of it, and them failing to lift me. We keep chatting for about an hour, and just talk shop, and shit. It was a super dope show, and I can’t wait to do it again.

All in all this was a helluva two days of shows. A real hoot and a half. I just want to give everybody who reads this blog a million kisses. XOXO I love you and I’ll be back to recap the weekend tomorrow sweeties! GOODBYE LAYDEES!!!!

#comedy #talk show #standup #bomb #boo #epic fail #improv #jokes

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: 2019 Training Camp Opens

Hockey is back! This offseason was a little bit slimmer on the back end than last year, phrasing intended; so the gap of time created by Hockey-less August felt much more oppressive. Earlier this week in the blog on the Prospect Tournament I waxed on poetically about how it’s harder to get excited for the Sabres this season. We’re probably looking at a less that 50% chance this team qualifies for the playoffs this season. Between the completion of the Prospect tournament and the arrival of Training Camp, my Sabres heart has come thundering back to life this week. That’s a huge relief considering the aforementioned difficulty seeing this club make the playoffs this season given its current roster construction. More good news: Training Camp narratives are not in short supply! Last year we celebrated competition at Training Camp as a long-awaited sign the team was turning a corner. Perhaps it was still the residual haze of the Jeff Skinner trade washing over us, but something was new about this club going into last year. This year still features a lot of competition for roster spots, Thank God, but this time around it requires a little bit more creative thinking to see how different players raise up the club overall. Last year both of Jeff Skinner and Conor Sheary were upgrades on the left wing no matter how you cut it. In the same way Rasmus Dahlin was a huge upgrade, even as a rookie, on defense. As the players filed into the building for their physicals yesterday and engaged in media day it may be helpful for us to look at Training Camp competition positionally this Preseason. While the new pieces and therefore the tighter competition for fewer roster spots came in the forward corps last year, this go around the change is much more obvious on defense… hopefully.

The big X factor I see in this year’s Training Camp is the guy behind the bench. Ralph Krueger returns to NHL coaching with the Buffalo Sabres six years after an Edmonton Oilers organization in even more chaos than the current version let him go. For someone looking at Krueger’s history for hints at how he’ll coach and deploy players it’s like he’s a super-electable politician: he’s more or less what you want him to be. In other words, he’s something of an empty glass you put your values in. The buzzwords that orbited around him in the early summer when he was hired were communication and flexibility. We were teased about that flexibility a couple days ago when he said this Training Camp will see the players pick what positions they’re fighting for a spot in. More on that later. After firing a Head Coach who was only consistently inconsistent with his roster deployment, General Manager Jason Botterill opted for someone in Krueger who maybe more of a chameleon. The last three coaches of the Sabres, two of which who are still being paid to not coach the team, were problematic in large part because they were too rigid in their systems and didn’t allow the skill players to be skilled in game situations. Phil Housley was moderately better than Dan Blysma on that front but all shit stinks, right? Ralph Krueger is going to let his butterflies fly and rigid is certainly not a word to describe him in anyway. Beyond that however it’s hard to say what exactly his style and decision-making will look like come Opening Night. He’s the biggest wildcard this preseason and maybe also once the games mean something in the regular season.

Unlike in past seasons this year we find ourselves with a rare logjam on the blueline. There are too many good defenseman on the Sabres depth chart! That was such a weird sentence to write! While at least three of Brandon Montour, Marco Scandella, Zach Bogosian and Lawrence Pilut will start the season in the Press Box nursing injuries, only two of those guys will the average Sabres fan be dying to see get back on the ice. Rasmus Ristolainen and Marco Scandella are two players you want off this club pretty soon for very different reasons. Ristolainen is likely traded for just not being up to par in the advanced stats categories the modern game requires of its defenseman. It was hilarious but encouraging to hear Risto acknowledge his defensive game needs some work yesterday. If he is on this roster Opening Night let’s hope we see the effort pay off. Marco Scandella on the other hand is, to put it creatively, a crater full of trash. Those two players, on the right and left sides of defense respectively, are jamming up the pipes for a handful of really awesome pieces fighting for roster spots. Colin Miller was acquired via trade with the hope he could be a good shutdown-defenseman on the second or first pairing depending on how optimistic you are. He probably makes the roster below the pairing he deserves. On the younger side Brandon Montour and Henri Jokiharju are poised for breakout seasons if they’re given the right opportunities. You could argue Montour could single-handedly be the difference maker on whether this club is close to that playoff line or not come April. Then again Jake McCabe and Zach Bogosian still have jobs if they’re not beaten for them this preseason. If Housley were still coach I’d tell you the chances of the kids getting their shot at changing this team, even in preseason action, are slim. Again, Krueger is a huge wildcard here and there’s a lot to be learned in the preseason games coming up next week. Two more dark-horses worth mentioning in any conversation about Buffalo’s defense are Lawrence Pilut and Will Borgen. Pilut was a true rising star in the chances he got last season and it will be very interesting to see what he can do after returning from injury. Will Borgen on the other hand has been developing for what feels like an eternity. The season he finally looks ready to make the jump to the NHL and that’s the season there is this giant logjam. Don’t be surprised to see him really gunning for a look as Training Camp goes on though.

The offense should be an easier discussion. It’s not because Jason Botterill’s weird move of the offseason was bringing back several guys who are or should be on their way out the door. I am totally okay with not buying anyone out, there are few guys that makes sense with and even the ones who it does can be banished in less salary-cap damaging ways. However if we’re going to bring back a fourth line of Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and Kyle Okposo you minus well just build a wall that says “Stay in Rochester” on it. Guys like Arttu Routsalainen, CJ Smith, Rasmus Asplund and even Victor Olofsson may be staring at the wall wondering if they have any position to gun for. And I’ll be very honest up front: I have no clue what the plan is with Tage Thompson. I’m more patient than the average joe with a guy like that but it’s just too crowded in the forward group. We probably just need to suck it up and ride out Okposo’s albatross of a Tim Murray contract, but those other two guys on the likely fourth line would’ve been very sensible departures given how long they’ve been given second chances. They each brought something to last season’s team but I’m not sure I don’t want their spots taken by the young guns anymore. I suppose there is still time for those young guns to take their spots. It is a new coach after all. As mentioned earlier Krueger wants to have each of these guys fight for the spot of their choosing. Is Zemgus Girgensons better than all of Thompson, Andrew Oglevie and Matej Pekar? Strong maybe I guess? What about Johan Larsson: is he better than all of CJ Smith, Arttu Routsalainen, Rasmus Asplund and Dylan Cozens? Two of those guys are likely sent to their junior teams once camp ends but Smith was an AHL All-Star last year. Competition in the bottom six, at least the fourth line, should be very interesting.

The biggest questions in the forward corps is who will be the second line center and who will be the first line right wing? Both questions have obvious answers that are not necessarily the only options. A top line of Jeff Skinner, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart is very on brand for this club but if you use Reinhart at second line right wing you give Casey Mittelstadt some help shoring up that second line center role. Sheary could play on his off-side if it meant tapping in Eichel apples. If Victor Olofsson does indeed arrive as this top six player we’re all expecting, and you put him at 2LW you got a promising second line and a very interesting potential third line of Jimmy Vesey, Evan Rodrigues and Marcus Johansson. Yeah, I opt for the more experienced 28-year-old Johansson to play his off-side because I think he can do it fine on the third line and our good friend E-Rod may be fantastic at center if we give that an extended look. Now you may look at that summation of the top three lines as a pretty upbeat projection outside of the bitching about the fourth line. Where’s the difficulty in this discussion of the offense? Click, Click! In rolls every Sabres fan’s lineup projection grenade Vladimir Sobotka! NHL.com says he’s from the Czech Republic but anyone who watched last season’s Sabres knows he hails from the Kremlin. Wherever Putin hides the illegal chemical weapons, that’s where Sobotka is from because he stinks on ice! He’s not off the roster yet and that alone throws a wrench in the most fun version of the Sabres we could get out of Training Camp. Thompson and Sobotka are the guys that make the most fun version of the forward lines look unlikely but hey… Thompson could surprise me? I know, I wrote that full of doubt. Joking aside, he could be a late bloomer even though he didn’t exactly shine after getting sent down to the Amerks last season. Hmm, we really do have a lot to figure out during Training Camp, don’t we?

So what did I miss… Risto came to Training Camp after he definitely asked for a trade but why would he say that on media day? Eichel wants to score more goals, of course sweet boy. Marcus Johansson thinks Ralph Krueger is *pause for comedic effect* not your average Coach. Kyle Olsen was a Prospect Camp invite who earned an invitation to Sabres Training Camp. He’s probably the darkest of dark horses to make the roster. Uh… I think that’s it for now. When we wrap up Training Camp we’re going to tie all these loose threads together and preview the regular season. Between now and then however we have six preseason games to see how some of the questions get answered. Note: Six is fewer games than last year’s seven thankfully. If you weren’t reading the blog last year those games will be a taste of what the regular season is like here. Game action is much more fun and has a lot more opportunity for humor. Even though they’re meaningless in the standings I hope you’ll read, like and comment for the fun of it. It’s a sprint to regular season hockey from here!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. So it looks like Mitch Marner is going to pull a Will Nylander and miss Training Camp. The drama is better this time around for us Leafs Haters because for some reason Marner is personally offended by an $11 Million contract offer because it’s not as big as Auston Matthews’. Better more he’s much more likely to get traded than Nylander. I’m giddy for that Toronto Meltdown!

#buffalo sabres #hockey #training camp #rochester americans #blog #NHL

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 24 - TBL - Going Stan

5-2 Regulation Loss

We’re all resigned to it now aren’t we? This brutally disappointing November has made us all accept, barring a wicked trade or a Yuletide comeback, that this season will probably be another stinker. Sure, they’re still only four points back of a playoff spot but we’ve all seen this show before haven’t we? It’s now looking like a decent chance the Sabres will have a two-win November… like March… ugh. I’m sorry, I don’t got a rant in me. I’m not upset, I’m just disappointed. How do you follow a sports team you know is going to suck? Other than the tank thing which I know I can’t do; you normally pick a player or two and ride them like you’re the biggest One Direction fan in your High School. I went off the deep end after this game last night. Someone tweeted Carter Hutton isn’t looking good, I thought back to Linus Ullmark’s god-like performance Sunday night and went into full stan-account mode. I’m finding all the gifs I can and dusting off my favorite hot take: Linus Ullmark is the best goalie in the organization. That’s right move over UPL and your fake hips! Move over Carter “I looked good because I was Pekka Rinne’s backup on a fun playoff run” Hutton! The revolution continues! Lord knows this organization is going to go on platooning them because it’s law apparently that this club cannot have fun and or a smart deployment strategy. Are we in hell? Like Donald Trump is President but not only that but he’s been all but proven guilty of treasonous bribery and nobody cares. Sorry, no need to get political but this world kinda feels like the upside down these days. Botterill hasn’t pulled the trigger on the trade we’ve been waiting for since July and the coach we all loved until Halloween decided to call Phil Housley for some deployment advice. I could just be grumpy because those Buffalo Wings from Sunday night wreaked havoc coming out the other end during this game. Saying that might be worse than going political. Hmm. I guess we should talk about the game now.

I missed a few things last game because… well to be very frank I’m not watching these games. I’m going to the Calgary game tomorrow and that will be the first game I sit through the entirety of since that Isles 1-0 snooze fest. Brandon Montour as a forward… *Very RJ voice* WOW! Evan Rodrigues injured in the first play of the game further deepening a forward injury crisis when the team has already fallen behind in the standings? *Even more RJ voice* They’re bad, SCARY BAD! So nobody would have been shocked if you told them the Sabres were going to lose this game. They’ve looked like garbage and Tampa is one of the better teams of the cap era. However this game was looking for ways to kick us in the balls. Andrey Palat hardly has to work to get a defensive zone turnover out of the visitors and he gets it to Nikita Kucherov who puts in… 13 seconds into this game. I don’t know what your game day habits are but my dad would still be on the concourse buying beer. I just ran out of money for the streaming service I got Sabres games on, so I’ve been working with the illegal streams reddit and that nasty underbelly normally causes me to not get my eyes on the game for the first 2-5 minutes. I would have missed that goal… you know, if I was watching. But as I said, this game, at least in the first period was looking creative ways to hurt our genitals. So after an early Tampa goal how do you do that? How about an Eichel to Olofsson to Sam Reinhart goal 3:40 in to even it up at 1? Sure! It was fun little goal. The cute top line we’re stuck with made a full neutral zone transition as the nerds say and Sam Reinhart took a shot that probably would have gone wide had Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pad not redirected it in. We’ve seen this show before though. With that tie the most I could muster was a solid Larry David “Meh”. This club can’t win unless it throws everything, and the kitchen sink out the door these days.

Buffalo didn’t look particularly awful in this game either. They outshot Tampa 27-14 in the first two periods. For a minute they wanted this game. But just like we’ve seen over and over this month, something just doesn’t connect, and they can’t get it going. Last night however, they had one more trick up their sleeves before the Bolts took the game away. Jimmy Vesey is the beneficiary of a blueline giveaway and takes it all the way home for the 2-1 Sabres goal! When I saw Jimmy Vesey unassisted I was already shocked but a breakaway against the Bolts? This stuff is getting weird now. Rasmus Asplund, now a fulltime Sabre because of the forward plague going on, got to Vesey first after the goal and you can’t see his mouth, but you know he was saying “Holy Shit, if you scored I can totally score!” Sorry, fourteenth Rasmus, you would not score in this game. But before we dive headlong into the negatives, and you know there is a lot of them, let’s sneak in some happy thoughts for your shortened work week. Victor Olofsson now has a four-game point streak with the Reinhart assist. Neat, right? In this economy!? A point streak during this stretch! There is more: Jack Eichel is now on a six-game point streak with six goals and five assists in that stretch. That’s the most points of any player on this team as if I needed to tell you that. I’m going to write a children’s book called Jack and Linus. It will be all about if you only have two friends in the world, you have to love them and treat them with respect. You have to defend them from the suburban hockey dads but also the stat geeks who will tell you Ullmark isn’t the best goalie in the organization. Yes, if this season is going to get bad I’m going to become a stan for Jack and Linus. I need something! I am not going to go to the Rochester Americans like I did in 2017-2018; they need to win a playoff game before I’m going to trust them with my heart again! Well after 2-1 we go headfirst into the rout.

First it was Mikhail Sergachev, the kid we passed on for Alex Nylander, getting a powerplay goal for the Lightning. Anthony Sciandra @SciandraSports brought up a devastating point: in November the Sabres have given up more goals on the powerplay than they’ve scored. They’re now 1-31 on the man advantage. That is the kind of stat where you can envision the Jennifer Lawrence Yikes gif as soon as you hear it. Are you ready? It. Gets. Worse! Yanni Gourde scores because to make it 3-2 Bolts and shortly thereafter this game gives us its hardest and most painful shot to the reproductive organs: the Sabres on the powerplay and Rasmus Dahlin drops the puck back before getting drilled in the face by Alex Cernak. When I say drilled, I mean the elbow was used as the drill head. Dahlin didn’t see it coming and falls to the ice. He did not return to the game. The zebras didn’t call it because of course they didn’t, this is the NHL! Cernak has a hearing but you and I both know this is a junk league, right? In a league where Robert Bortuzzo gets a four-game suspension for trying to murder Victor Arvidsson you know Cernak isn’t going to regret that hit. I don’t often use the term chicken shit but that was chicken shit. Ralph Krueger confirmed it was concussion in the postgame and say what you will about Krueger’s patience and hospitable manor, I would have preferred some anger over saying its in the league’s hands. I know you’ve been in England for a hot minute but over here we shit in the league’s mouth every chance we get. They deserve it. And the Sabres deserved the 5-2 loss that followed after surrendering in the third period. There was a 6-2 goal called back, but I think the game was over at that point.

How long am I going to be a Stan account? Well… if they lose to Calgary I am 100% going to stay this way into December. With a home-and-home series with the reborn Toronto Maple Leafs I’m going to need the armor of my sweet boys. Like, comment and share this blog if you need that armor as well. While you’re at it, if you like making fun little graphics, put Linus Ullmark and Jack Eichel in a little thing together; maybe two stoic faces back to back. I love the Eichel talking to Dahlin photo I got as my twitter cover now but if this gets rough I’m going to need the statuesque grace of Eichel and Ullmark watching over my tweets. I’m going Stan for now and it feels so right. It’s a busy holiday week on the blog, there is something going up every day. Yesterday and today it’s New Look Sabres. Tomorrow its State of the Support Episode Six, Thanksgiving Day its New Look Sabres again and Black Friday you’ll get a rare post from my religion blog: Hypostatic Thoughts. I think I’m going to post the one about Purgatory. That topic feels somewhat appropriate in a Sabres context right now as well, eh? Well I hope they don’t suck against Calgary. We’ll see! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. My Ten Year Challenge tweet was a little too easy.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #NHL #stan

[ixvyupdates]

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics

You know, I find it real interesting that teachers are supposed to promote anti-bullying in schools but their unions constantly use bullying tactics to intimidate people who support school choice.

It happened in Chicago when the Chicago Teachers Union was trying to muscle the CEO of Civitas Education Partners, LeeAndra Khan, into a contract by striking a few weeks ago.

Sad to see CTU & @ChiACTS educators disrespect school leaders @leeandrakhan like this. Thought unions were progressive & had respect for people. @civitasschools teachers, you ok with this? Modeling what bullying looks like for your students. #MoneyforTeachersFirst #ChiACTStrike pic.twitter.com/sczwi7IaJs

— allison jack (@applejack32) February 13, 2019

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Now it’s happening during the Oakland teachers strike.

Let’s be fair, Oakland teachers get paid way too little considering they live in one of the most expensive areas in the country. But the situation in Oakland has escalated to an outrageous level. I mean, these activists are real life gangsta. Showing up at a local charter school leaders’ house and harassing them? Wow!

Here is the statement from the National Parent Council & national ed activists about the attack on @jonathanklein42 and @GOPublicSchools. Bullying, violence and intimidation is happening across the nation and MUST STOP NOW. @The74 @edu_post #educhat @arneduncan @JohnBKing pic.twitter.com/OFrZ6yV2nK

— Keri Rodrigues (@radiokeri) February 23, 2019

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Then, school board meetings are being cancelled because the safety of school board members is in question.

Peace. Folks. Well they cancelled the meeting. Couldn’t ensure our safety. I was grateful for the Brothas from Church that were ready to walk with me! I was prayed up. Ready to go into battle. Just do the work! Appreciate y’all! Tomorrow…#wecanteachourown #howareoaklandchildren

— jumoke hinton (@jumokehinton3) February 28, 2019

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And to top it off, every day this strike goes on, it’s costing millions of dollars that could actually be puts towards education.

As if all that isn’t enough to be pissed about, they always want to throw the term “privatized education” around to convince people that reformers are trying to tear down the public education system. They even called OUSD school board member, parent and activist, Jumoke Hinton Hodge, a privatizer.

Look at how they smear our people simply for speaking up for our students and families.

This is why we fight. The devil is busy.@RealTalkGwenS @PeeplesChoice85 @nvlevy @MNTOY2006 @LatashaGandy @educatorbarnes @sowhesed @vesiawils @vivettdukes pic.twitter.com/EpYL1boHk0

— Citizen Stewart (@citizenstewart) February 27, 2019

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Well let’s talk about who’s benefiting and who’s suffering from a true privatized education.

First of all, how dare anyone accuse a Black or Latino parent of pushing an agenda of privatized education when our kids have been systematically legislated and zoned out of access to decent public schools for generations.

The fact that schools in predominantly White districts get 23 billion dollars more than those that serve students of color is exclusionary and points to inequitable funding practices that disproportionately affect those students.

By the way, shoutout to intentional and longstanding segregation that’s kept Black and Latino kids from getting into those better funded schools.

Also, schools that are predominantly White tend to have more challenging classes and coursework while Black and Latino schools have less high-rigor coursework. TNTP’s Opportunity Myth report proves that these students often receive coursework below their grade levels because their teachers don’t believe they can do grade level work.

It’s called the belief gap.

TNTP's Opportunity Myth report laid it plain: students in low-income communities get half as much grade level work & 1/5 less time with rigorous instruction. Let's start talking about EXPLICIT bias. https://t.co/xMsQRr3xmn @TNTP @DanWeisbergTNTP #TheOpportunityMyth #8blackhands

— Colin Seale (@ColinESeale) January 31, 2019

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Don’t even get me started on racially charged and biased discipline practices that send Black boys down the school-to-prison pipeline while White boys follow the school-to-politics pipeline.

Bottom line, White kids get to enjoy certain privileges, advantages and access in public education while Black and Latino students are knocking on closed doors, jumping through hoops and over hurdles to reap half those benefits.

So don’t tell me that choice advocates shouldn’t fight for something better because this current system, fundamentally, is a privatized education.

And that’s why I am entirely grateful for others who fight, day in and day out, for quality and equity for Black and Latino kids, despite heavy opposition.

School board members, like Director Hodge, who remain unbiased and truly work for students and families.

Organizations and groups like La Comadre and the men of 8 Black Hands who are keeping it real on the education front.

We appreciate that and hope others follow your lead. Thank you for all you do in education. https://t.co/Crbt6BfA1Z

— The 8 Black Hands Podcast (@8BlackHands1) February 11, 2019

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School leaders like Sharif El-Mekki and Christopher Goins who incorporate their experiences as Black men and expertise as educators to deliver culturally relevant and important curricula to their students that tackle issues in social justice.

And parents like Gwen Samuel who will stop at nothing—even suing her state—to make sure all our babies get fair and equal treatment.

"Imagine for a moment a Black mother attempting to enroll her son in a local, high-performing magnet school with open spots, only to be wait-listed and denied one of the open seats due to the fact that they were reserved for white students. https://t.co/mA2TExc3bW

— Yep! I'm "That" Mom (@RealTalkGwenS) February 25, 2019

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So y’all can stop calling us privatizers—we’re advocates for access, school choice and reform.

And I’ll say this again for the people who may have missed it the first time: We’re fighting for liberation and we won’t back down. We can’t be swayed or distracted by education politics, we won’t be bullied by unions or any other anti-choice proxies. We’re not giving up on our kids or communities.

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[ixvyupdates]

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics

You know, I find it real interesting that teachers are supposed to promote anti-bullying in schools but their unions constantly use bullying tactics to intimidate people who support school choice.

It happened in Chicago when the Chicago Teachers Union was trying to muscle the CEO of Civitas Education Partners, LeeAndra Khan, into a contract by striking a few weeks ago.

Sad to see CTU & @ChiACTS educators disrespect school leaders @leeandrakhan like this. Thought unions were progressive & had respect for people. @civitasschools teachers, you ok with this? Modeling what bullying looks like for your students. #MoneyforTeachersFirst #ChiACTStrike pic.twitter.com/sczwi7IaJs

— allison jack (@applejack32) February 13, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Now it’s happening during the Oakland teachers strike.

Let’s be fair, Oakland teachers get paid way too little considering they live in one of the most expensive areas in the country. But the situation in Oakland has escalated to an outrageous level. I mean, these activists are real life gangsta. Showing up at a local charter school leaders’ house and harassing them? Wow!

Here is the statement from the National Parent Council & national ed activists about the attack on @jonathanklein42 and @GOPublicSchools. Bullying, violence and intimidation is happening across the nation and MUST STOP NOW. @The74 @edu_post #educhat @arneduncan @JohnBKing pic.twitter.com/OFrZ6yV2nK

— Keri Rodrigues (@radiokeri) February 23, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Then, school board meetings are being cancelled because the safety of school board members is in question.

Peace. Folks. Well they cancelled the meeting. Couldn’t ensure our safety. I was grateful for the Brothas from Church that were ready to walk with me! I was prayed up. Ready to go into battle. Just do the work! Appreciate y’all! Tomorrow…#wecanteachourown #howareoaklandchildren

— jumoke hinton (@jumokehinton3) February 28, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

And to top it off, every day this strike goes on, it’s costing millions of dollars that could actually be puts towards education.

As if all that isn’t enough to be pissed about, they always want to throw the term “privatized education” around to convince people that reformers are trying to tear down the public education system. They even called OUSD school board member, parent and activist, Jumoke Hinton Hodge, a privatizer.

Look at how they smear our people simply for speaking up for our students and families.

This is why we fight. The devil is busy.@RealTalkGwenS @PeeplesChoice85 @nvlevy @MNTOY2006 @LatashaGandy @educatorbarnes @sowhesed @vesiawils @vivettdukes pic.twitter.com/EpYL1boHk0

— Citizen Stewart (@citizenstewart) February 27, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Well let’s talk about who’s benefiting and who’s suffering from a true privatized education.

First of all, how dare anyone accuse a Black or Latino parent of pushing an agenda of privatized education when our kids have been systematically legislated and zoned out of access to decent public schools for generations.

The fact that schools in predominantly White districts get 23 billion dollars more than those that serve students of color is exclusionary and points to inequitable funding practices that disproportionately affect those students.

By the way, shoutout to intentional and longstanding segregation that’s kept Black and Latino kids from getting into those better funded schools.

Also, schools that are predominantly White tend to have more challenging classes and coursework while Black and Latino schools have less high-rigor coursework. TNTP’s Opportunity Myth report proves that these students often receive coursework below their grade levels because their teachers don’t believe they can do grade level work.

It’s called the belief gap.

TNTP's Opportunity Myth report laid it plain: students in low-income communities get half as much grade level work & 1/5 less time with rigorous instruction. Let's start talking about EXPLICIT bias. https://t.co/xMsQRr3xmn @TNTP @DanWeisbergTNTP #TheOpportunityMyth #8blackhands

— Colin Seale (@ColinESeale) January 31, 2019

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Don’t even get me started on racially charged and biased discipline practices that send Black boys down the school-to-prison pipeline while White boys follow the school-to-politics pipeline.

Bottom line, White kids get to enjoy certain privileges, advantages and access in public education while Black and Latino students are knocking on closed doors, jumping through hoops and over hurdles to reap half those benefits.

So don’t tell me that choice advocates shouldn’t fight for something better because this current system, fundamentally, is a privatized education.

And that’s why I am entirely grateful for others who fight, day in and day out, for quality and equity for Black and Latino kids, despite heavy opposition.

School board members, like Director Hodge, who remain unbiased and truly work for students and families.

Organizations and groups like La Comadre and the men of 8 Black Hands who are keeping it real on the education front.

We appreciate that and hope others follow your lead. Thank you for all you do in education. https://t.co/Crbt6BfA1Z

— The 8 Black Hands Podcast (@8BlackHands1) February 11, 2019

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School leaders like Sharif El-Mekki and Christopher Goins who incorporate their experiences as Black men and expertise as educators to deliver culturally relevant and important curricula to their students that tackle issues in social justice.

And parents like Gwen Samuel who will stop at nothing—even suing her state—to make sure all our babies get fair and equal treatment.

"Imagine for a moment a Black mother attempting to enroll her son in a local, high-performing magnet school with open spots, only to be wait-listed and denied one of the open seats due to the fact that they were reserved for white students. https://t.co/mA2TExc3bW

— Yep! I'm "That" Mom (@RealTalkGwenS) February 25, 2019

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So y’all can stop calling us privatizers—we’re advocates for access, school choice and reform.

And I’ll say this again for the people who may have missed it the first time: We’re fighting for liberation and we won’t back down. We can’t be swayed or distracted by education politics, we won’t be bullied by unions or any other anti-choice proxies. We’re not giving up on our kids or communities.

We Won’t Be Bullied by Unions or Any Other Anti-Choice Critics syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: Preseason GM 2 - PIT

Buffalo Sabres win 3-2. I think… that is because I don’t recognize this team in Blue and Gold. They are too good. They got my energy up on a random ass Tuesday night. Is this what a good team feels like? This preseason game featured Penguins star Jake Guentzel and basically no one else. The Sabres, who are in their second preseason game to the Pens first, had a lot more probable regular season starters in their lineup including Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Eichel. It makes sense they dominated this game. They should. When it comes to assessing competition, generally speaking but also in the preseason, it’s always helpful to get a feel for what the other team is going through. One Evgeni Malkin, or Geno as the bros say, has expressed a frustration along with the rest of their leaders’ core with how their season ended in May. Perhaps this means the Pens don’t look like they could miss the playoffs until March this season. Maybe they have a fire we haven’t seen yet. They didn’t in this game (LOL) but I thought it was worth pondering for future reference and all that bullshit.

Rasmus Ristolainen dropped a wicked butt check to touch off a last five minutes of the first period that were chippy as fuck. The Sabres did look poor on the powerplays, at one point getting a five-on-three advantage. But they were bad because too many guys wanted to shoot: Dahlin, Eichel and Skinner were all on the ice. After that powerplay was over a bouncing puck went off Vladimir Sabotka into the goal in the dying minutes of the first. That was positive puck luck for a guy who got some good shots throughout this game. The Sabres are crashing the net now. They did in Columbus last night and they did it again tonight. Oh, the novelty! Jake McCabe scored a goal from Evan Rodrigues while falling on his ass. Who needs Ryan O’Reilly’s falling goals when we got Jake McCabe’s? Fight me, hockey dads. With the next goal the Sabres scored I had to remind myself this Pens team was basically Olli Matta and the Wheeling Nailers. Captain Jack (ahem) Eichel, sorry not sorry: got the puck way back in the defensive zone, skated through the neutral zone and did not take a stride from the blue line into a wicked deke out goal. It was a textbook Jack Robert Eichel goal. Yum. Is it October yet? The Third period was a bit scarier: Will O’Neill and Juuso Riikola scored a goal each in the last five to get your Sabres butthole clenching muscles ready for the regular season. Riikola. I’ve double checked. That name is spelled right. Hmm, well those two guys are evidently not starters for Pittsburgh and were very happy to score. God bless, I just got to keep reminding myself this is Preseason. The Sabres have not improved closing games out yet.

The Buffalo Sabres are a new team. I talked a little too big on twitter but this team is different than the one we knew. I know it’s the preseason and a whole different switch flips in NHL players’ minds in October but I already have the evidence of a new look Sabres team here. Carter Hutton alone changes the “confidence from the back” dynamic. The guy poke checked a puck away from a Penguin that was skating behind his net in the first period. That’s a nice trick but watch the game and you saw the guy had no quit. He cleared and played the puck like I haven’t seen a Sabres goalie do well in years. Hutton’s shutout (and Wedgewood’s very not shutout) play in this game might be my secondary note. There was passing and a transition game to the Buffalo side in this game that I simply do not recognize. Transition used to be something only Jack Eichel had; now, somehow, this team is not getting pushed around. They’re picking up loose pucks and returning to the offensive zone like they got something to prove. There were a lot of the big boys in this game and yet the secondary contributions were endless. Lawrence Pilut scored an assist in this game. Rasmus Asplund didn’t make his way onto the boxscore but he was on fire this game hungry like a wolf. Phil Housley talked after the game like he was disappointed. The two goals given up at the end aside, this game was not the ugliest game the Sabres played this calendar by a longshot, in fact it was pretty great. That means that Housley is talking that way because he has his system in place. He saw what we saw if not more. He knows the good and the bad from this game and he knows this team showed more good tonight than most games last season. He’s just making fine tunes to the message now. Phil Housley is a Hall of Fame defenseman and he’s now coming into his own as an NHL coach.

Speaking of defenseman, there is a pretty solid argument to be made from a Sabres perspective that this defensive lineup on its own was better than anything iced last year. That is in some part the Dahlin effect: this was the big guy’s first game in a Sabres uniform in Key Bank Center. He said he was a little nervous in postgame. Naturally, but I sure hope he is allowed to play his game. Poor deployment floats around that arena as if Dan Blysma is a ghost. Erik Karlsson is one of Dahlin’s comparables and that guy dragged a team that was actively working against him to within one goal of the Stanley Cup Final… with a broken foot! Hmm, let’s not make too many comparisons that way. Tonight’s top two defensive pairings could go into the regular season dandy: Ristolainen – Scandella, Dahlin – McCabe. Until Dahlin has his NHL legs this will do. Don’t @ me about Bogosian. I won’t participate in that name calling. The Sabres are 2-0 in the preseason going into a home and home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs and they look better than ever. I am so ready.

I am going to try some different stuff in these next two games against the Maple Leafs. Like player deployment in the preseason yours truly needs to experiment. Just like the O’Reilly trade “assets” we got are kicking ass, so I hope you’ll see the virtue of whatever this blog thingy is. Share it, Retweet it, comment! I would love to hear back from someone who is actually reading these who is also not me or my wife. Reach me on Tumblr or Twitter, I’m not picky. DM me on twitter if you want. I feel special when people DM me. Well anyway, get a load of these 2-0 Sabres. Sure beats living the Bills life right now, eh, Vontae Davis?

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Good exits, eliminate second chances. These were the words quoted out of Brian Duff’s mouth after the game as if performing an exorcism of shite Sabres teams past. I share the sentiment that it ought to be this new team’s motto.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #nhl #preseason #vontaedavis