#but do you really think that the issue is that folks on minimum wage love working so much that they CHOOSE to go in when they're sick??

[queerspacepunk]

rapid covid tests being so available has really made me wish that there was an accessible rapid test for adeno/corona/rhinoviruses. I know the argument is that knowing you have one won't change how u treat it since it's all symptomatic anyway, BUT! it would at least let me know WHAT i'm dealing with. Like do I feel like shit today bc i have a cold? allergies? slept with the AC on? sinus thing? cos i need to deal with each of those things slightly differently and what helps one might be shitty for others. PLUS i am chronically ill/disabled/whatever, and i cannot tell u how much it would improve my life to get a heads up. To get sniffly, take a test and know whether it's probably just allergies, take some meds you'll be right tomorrow OR nah bro this is a cold you're going down prepare yourself. like honestly.

#bing bong #not to mention that #as someone with allergies #covid tests let me determine if it's just allergies (safe to interact w people so long as allergy symptoms don't involve #coughing and sneezing on people #or if it's covid and i need to stay the fuck home #but like...... there are other illnesses i can pass to people!! #side note: shout out to the nz government for launching an ad campaign encouraging people to stay home when they're sick #while doing absolutely nothing to actually make that possible for people #like i'm with you yes stay home when yr sick #but do you really think that the issue is that folks on minimum wage love working so much that they CHOOSE to go in when they're sick??

[not-poignant]

Wooooheeee merch!! Me is excited!!! Food for thought, maybe you could start a kickstarter campaign or something to cover publishing costs? I know they have a publishing category 🤔 I don't exactly know their policies so it's best to check further but I've definitely seen erotica books/art campaigns on there. Might be a good idea?

Hi anon,

I think this is a cool idea if you're a) American and b) can get to a post office, lol.

The thing is, I can't do anything that would involve me fulfilling orders from my house.

Firstly, there's simply too many books to cover (Game Theory would have to be broken down into 4 volumes, with the possibility of a 2-part release later on). I don't want to run complicated and stressful Kickstarter campaigns every 6 months forever. (Not to mention, frankly, that most Kickstarter campaigns fail to earn the amount they need, and I'm still figuring out how to make minimum wage via Patreon).

I do not have the spoons to think about dealing with the shipment costs (let alone the fact that I can't drive or catch public transport and therefore get to post offices) of extremely heavy, chunky books. But what I do know is that a lot of readers will be extremely put off by shipping costs easily in excess of $50-100 alone - not including the books or the tax on the books. Australia has one of the highest tax rates for books in the world, we have some of the must punitive shipping charges (some of your favourite Australian artists use drop shippers and this is why), etc. I used to ship small original pieces of art internationally, about half the size of a piece of paper, and extremely light-weight, and the *starting price* for shipping was around $30 USD. For heaver books it shoots up immediately.

For this reason, I actually have zero confidence in how this is actually going to work out without using a drop-shipper and distributor like IngramSpark. Mosk Kickstarters don't fulfill out of Australia wherever possible. And I have no intention of paying thousands of dollars to put books in my tiny cottage, only to realise I've shafted myself and all my international readers (which is...nearly all of you) by forcing everyone to pay an extra 10% GST on the book itself along with the extortionate postage prices for what will be, honestly, heavy books (postage is calculated by weight). Not to mention that I then can't get to a post office, and am completely dependent on other people to help me with that! And then on top of that, I don't believe many books will actually sell, so I'd prefer to use third party vendors wherever possible so I can be not miserable about it. When people can always read the ebooks for free, the only folks who are going to dish out money for paperbacks/hardbacks are going to be the really hardcore fans (I do not have a ton of these, though I love every one of them), or folks who hate ebooks.

Even if I had money at my disposal, I could never use a system like this (Kickstarter / paying for the mass printing of books), and almost no Australian author would, tbh.

On the other hand, aside from the book cover fees, I could technically list a book today on IngramSpark and my only fee would be the ISBNs.

And that's way less stressful than a Kickstarter. ;) And if I get booted for my content, that's just gonna be how it is. It possibly leaves Lulu as an option, but I'd prefer not to go that route mostly because it dumps more of the cost on you folks, and it also eats more profit margins for me.

The biggest issue is and has always been tbh the editing and the fact that chunks of Game Theory need to either be completely rewritten, or removed (the spanking chapter is incredibly OOC), and working out the covers because if the story has to be broken into multiple volumes, continuity in design is vital.

#asks and answers #pia on publishing #i cannot overstate just how punitive shipping costs are in australia when sending internationally #this has been the reason i haven't offered merch for over 7 years via Patreon #and if i do offer merch again it will have to be once every 6 months #and that will be for *extremely light-weight goods* #there's so many things people in the northern hemisphere are privileged to be able to do #especially folks in the USA #which is that you can generally access fast shipping #and generally affordable shipping #did you know in january of last year i couldn't get anything shipped to me from the US #for under $150 #it's better now x.x #but not by much

[writingwithcolor]

Occassionally I come up with a story I really want to do where I just go "crap... I'mma need advice on this one..." and this one involves goblins. I wanted to write an episodic comic that picked on fantasy tropes a bit about an exasperated Goblin girl who just wants to do her "mundane minimum wage job of the week" but Goblins being the canon fodder level 1 mooks of the fantasy genre she keeps getting roped into "The fantasy bullshit quest of the week" usually due to some reward or prize that is too good to pass up to stay at her day job, usually just barely missing out on their reward before going on to the next episode with a new town, job, quest, and reward, while having left some positive impact in her wake that will eventually positively help her personally in the finale.

As much as it was completely unintentional, Goblins have their antisemitic roots and I have been considering changing her to something else that can translate as "Level 1 Fantasy Mook" for the story such as a rat girl or a kobold or something, the story is still a comedy about a member of a super marginalized group of non human humanoids being bribed with rewards/riches and still feels very unavoidably and problematically 'Jewish coded'.

I normally am not too worried about adding POC characters into stories I write because them being poc is not usually part of the plot and I am also prepared that I am going to mess up here and there and completely welcome people calling me out on unintentional microaggressions so I can improve in the future, but for stories like this one I think I might need some advice considering the roots in Jewish stereotyping seems to be this ideas grandpa and is intrinsic to the plot... or if this is something that just can't be done inoffensively and should just be shelved...

Non-human creature tempted by monetary reward

Can she be a little creature that isn’t ugly?

Sorry to put it so baldly, but for me a big part of why I find the goblin/dwarf etc. stuff disturbing and hurtful is that it often plays on imagery in which phenotypic features associated with us, like hooked noses, are exaggerated to the point of looking non-human. After all, what is the logical purpose of the prosthetic nose on the traditional Halloween witch costume?

So that would fix part of it -- if she’s a fairy instead of a goblin, since fairies are usually portrayed as attractive. Or if she’s something that has no connotations like a cat girl or an anthropomorphized rabbit in a dress.

I also think you might already be okay because while “being bribed with riches” is money/greed-adjacent, it sounds like she’s not actually being given access to any of those riches for most of the plot. Subsistence-level poverty and working for minimum wage would make anyone want more, no matter what their cultural background was, so I think reader sympathy will be with her and her genuine need rather than it coming across like she’s naturally motivated by money for its own sake.

But honestly I think this would be adorable with a hardworking little rabbit girl. And then you extra don’t have to worry about accidentally having coded her Jewish; rabbits are super not kosher anyway.

--Shira I love this story conceptually, but you are correct to point out possible issues. Goblins are often Jewish-coded, and even your possible replacements could easily pose their own challenges: propaganda images of us often featured rats, and there is an entire conspiracy theory about us being lizards that makes kobolds, lizard folk, dragonborns etc. a possible problem. Like Shira I feel like your character is in a financial position that will be very relatable to many readers, and won't seem like an extension of any sort of greedy stereotypes. 

For me, I feel that if your character doesn't have additional Jewish coding, and isn't falling into antisemitic tropes, it's fine to write a story about a goblin who is roped into adventures, and who makes money doing it that they can't make in their low-paying day-job. I'll be honest, I like goblins. I like kobolds, and gnolls, and orcs. I definitely want to be friends with an owlbear, and have tea with a hag, so I'm hesitant to advise people outside the community to avoid stories with goblins altogether. I encourage you to either change the character to something that is less likely to be Jewish-coded like Shira suggested, or keep your character a goblin, and put a bit of work into showing her do specifically not-Jewish things, while avoiding antisemitic tropes in her characterization and plot. 

Whatever you decide, I will be thinking about hanging out with her. 

--Dierdra

#asks #kichimiangra #jewish #Jewish stereotypes #Jewish coding #goblins #fantasy #Greedy Jew

[disillusioned41]

Not waiting before such thinking takes firmer hold or begins to be put into action, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is speaking out forcefully against radical centrist pundits, so-called "Never-Trump Republicans," and corporate-friendly Democratic operatives trying to advance a post-election narrative that the Democratic Party's growing progressive base is a faction to be sidelined as opposed to one that should be embraced.

"I need my colleagues to understand that we are not the enemy. And that their base is not the enemy. That the Movement for Black Lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for All is not the enemy."—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

As much of the nation—and the world—celebrated Joe Biden's historic defeat of President Donald Trump on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez gave an interview to the New York Times in which she repudiated those in recent days who have tried to cast a new wave of progressive lawmakers—backed by an army of like-minded supporters and organizers—as somehow dangerous to the party.

Epitomized by a comment that made the rounds on social media Saturday by former Ohio governor John Kasich, a lifelong Republican, the thinking goes that progressives policy solutions (which, in fact, turn out to be highly popular with voters across the political spectrum)—such as Medicare for All, forgiving student loan debt, expanding Social Security, a massive federal increase to the minimum wage, a green energy transition and jobs program, demanding racial justice, and working to end mass incarceration—are toxic politically to Democrats.

"The Democrats have to make it clear to the far-left that they almost cost him this election," said Kasich, who endorsed Biden earlier this year and was given a speaking role at the party's convention this summer, during a CNN interview Saturday. The comments quickly drew ire among progressives, who have condemned the very idea that figures like Kasich should have any say whatsoever in the party's future projection.

"Yesterday," tweeted People for Bernie on Sunday morning in response to the comments, "we officially entered a new era of not listening to anything John Kasich says. The era will continue until further notice."

And Ocasio-Cortez was among those who rebuked the remarks online as she defended her fellow Squad member, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), from the insinuation that progressive House victories in key districts didn't play a large role—as observers have pointed out—in helping deliver the White House for Biden.

"John Kasich, who did not deliver Ohio to Dems, is saying folks like Omar, who did deliver Minnesota, are the problem," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in direct response to his comments. "Please don't take these people seriously and go back to celebrating and building power."

Common Dreams reported Thursday how Omar in Minnesota—just like Rep. Rashida Tlaib in her Detroit, Michigan district—were "major factors" in helping Biden pull away from Trump in those key battleground states.

In her interview with the Times, published late Saturday night, the New York Democrat—who won her reelection with nearly 70% of the vote in her district—elaborated on that dynamic.

"If the party believes after 94 percent of Detroit went to Biden, after Black organizers just doubled and tripled turnout down in Georgia, after so many people organized Philadelphia, the signal from the Democratic Party is the John Kasichs won us this election?" said AOC. "I mean, I can't even describe how dangerous that is."

On Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez joined CNN's Jake Tapper to discuss the issues she raised in the Times interview and also emphasized the need for Democrats, as a party, to come together in unity:

Progressives like Mike Casca, former communications director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign, applauded Ocasio-Cortez for both her critique and outspokenness.

"What I love most about this interview, and AOC," commented journalist Alice Speri on Saturday morning, "is that she says what she thinks, pulls no punches, and puts her name to it. Just imagine if journalists stopped allowing politicians to stay anonymous for no reason other than their lack of courage."

Tana Ganeva, a criminal justice reporter, said: "AOC is so fucking smart. I can't believe there was actually an effort to deem her 'not smart.' This is the smartest analysis I've read in months."

In the interview—in which she acknowledged that internally within the party "it's been extremely hostile to anything that even smells progressive" since she arrived in 2018—Ocasio-Cortez expressed frustration that the more left-leaning members of the caucus are now under attack for losses suffered by its more centrist members.

What the election results have shown thus far, she said, is "that progressive policies do not hurt candidates. Every single candidate that co-sponsored Medicare for All in a swing district kept their seat. We also know that co-sponsoring the Green New Deal was not a sinker."

Instead of blaming for progressives—something that ousted Florida Democrat, Rep. Donna Shalala, did on a caucus conference call after her defeat last week—Ocasio-Cortez said the party needs to have a much more serious look at what led to those failures.

As she told the Times: "If I lost my election, and I went out and I said: "This is moderates' fault. This is because you didn't let us have a floor vote on Medicare for all. And they opened the hood on my campaign, and they found that I only spent $5,000 on TV ads the week before the election? They would laugh. And that's what they look like right now trying to blame the Movement for Black Lives for their loss."

Ocasio-Cortez said the party must begin to examine some of its entrenched belief systems—as well as internal power structures—so it can have a more honest assessment of where shortcomings exist and how to better prepare for the future:

There's a lot of magical thinking in Washington, that this is just about special people that kind of come down from on high. Year after year, we decline the idea that they did work and ran sophisticated operations in favor of the idea that they are magical, special people. I need people to take these goggles off and realize how we can do things better.  If you are the D.C.C.C., and you're hemorrhaging incumbent candidates to progressive insurgents, you would think that you may want to use some of those firms. But instead, we banned them.

So the D.C.C.C. banned every single firm that is the best in the country at digital organizing.

The leadership and elements of the party—frankly, people in some of the most important decision-making positions in the party—are becoming so blinded to this anti-activist sentiment that they are blinding themselves to the very assets that they offer.

Ocasio-Cortez further explained that while she and others have tried to get other members to modernize their campaign operations, those offers have persistently been rebuffed.

"I've been begging the party to let me help them for two years," she said. "That's also the damn thing of it. I've been trying to help. Before the election, I offered to help every single swing district Democrat with their operation. And every single one of them, but five, refused my help. And all five of the vulnerable or swing district people that I helped secured victory or are on a path to secure victory. And every single one that rejected my help is losing. And now they’re blaming us for their loss."

"So I need my colleagues to understand that we are not the enemy," she continued. "And that their base is not the enemy. That the Movement for Black Lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for All is not the enemy. This isn't even just about winning an argument. It's that if they keep going after the wrong thing, I mean, they're just setting up their own obsolescence."

And what if the Biden administration takes the lead of people like Kasich—of whom there is much chatter that he could serve in the next cabinet—and proves itself hostile to its progressive base?

"Well, I'd be bummed, because we’re going to lose. And that's just what it is," responded Ocasio-Cortez, who elsewhere said it is her simple belief that "people really want the Democratic Party to fight for them" and that it's the party's responsibility to show that not in words, but in deed.

"It's really hard for us to turn out nonvoters when they feel like nothing changes for them," she warned. "When they feel like people don't see them, or even acknowledge their turnout."

#Common Dreams #us politics #2020 election #centrism #aocroptop

[leam1983]

It’s the end of the work week and, well...

I’m having thoughts on labor culture.

My father was born in 1958. He lived as the son of an absent father of five children who had no ability to truthfully express his love and care, and who instead chose to bury himself in work as a means to display his commitment. My paternal grandfather made and sold mattressees and died quite young of a cancer strain that today would’ve seemed benign. He was described as a hard worker, either up to his neck in his business or wanting just a scant few hours per day to himself. It made an aloof lover out of him and a distant father - who still loved his wife and children to bits but who felt emotionally castrated in a sense, as were men of the era.

The family consensus is that his work killed him.

My father is now 65 and survived a bout of Non-Hodgkinian Lymphoma. The oncologist and anyone with half a brain agreed that stress was the culprit. Early on, Dad had the family as an excuse for his tendency to overwork. He had to provide for us, after all, and garnish my mother’s meagre savings. All she has is her government-issued pension plan, while my father does have his own pension as a retiree of the City of Montreal’s Real-Estate Appraisal service. Considering, he felt obligated to pull a heavier load to bring in more, so they’d have better investment opportunities. Later on, he kept working out of a sense of fealty and attachment to his division, breaking out of retirement during the pandemic to join the work-from-home team. He wanted to help techs and city officials find ways to bring more of the traditionally snail-mail-based parts of the system online so the city’s Land Management service wouldn’t be paralyzed by COVID-19. What was supposed to be a single month turned into four, which turned into twelve.

By the end, they were begging him to stay on the team and to pull longer hours. We’re talking twenty hours per day, in some particularly grueling stretches. That means being logged in by breakfast and scarfing bagels down with Urban Design techs on Zoom instead of your own family, or having supper with your boss because she needs a play-by-play of the situation to stave off her executive anxiety.

Long story short, I didn’t see Dad much during the first wave. His reasoning was that he’d eventually stop, pool all this cash, and chuck it into his and Mom’s Registered Retirement Savings Account - with maybe an extra two thou or so in case the country reopened enough for their postponed trip to Cuba to take place.

Guess what? His zona flared up and he ended up with odd, shingly bumps along his scalp which to this day the local dermatologist grimaces at and tentatively has us dab with cortisone cream.

Mom, though? She’s a retired and registered nurse with a self-negating streak and a chronic propensity to undervalue her own physical ailments. Someone who quite literally understands the pain of busted hips on a clinical level because she was trained in Gerontology - and also someone who refuses to schedule an appointment with her GP and who inexplicably self-medicates with white wine.

As for me, I’m a 37 year-old man with a paycheck I consider massive with its meagre six bucks above the minimum-wage threshold - someone who chose to shack in with his folks until the current crisis ends and who therefore has a history of a single, willingly terminated apartment lease that originally began in the Planned Housing market. The apartment I want is basically a Barbie doll house for adults, a gleaming fantasy I’ll never have enough capital to touch unless I feel like trying my hand with criminal applications of my skills. The apartment I can get right now is a shithole, and I have the audacity to think I deserve a shithole that at least wasn’t someone’s former cockroach den.

Now here’s the kicker: I value my sanity and my health. I know my mental stamina levels and I know from experience that after working seven-point-five hours per day with the occasionally shorter Friday, I’ve found my limit. I could invest more if I worked more, yes, and I’m already in a better position than my parents, retirement-wise. I’ll never be rich, but I’m already set to be comfortable, provided I don’t spend my golden years trying to make it as an unsponsored TechTuber or anything else that’s equally ludicrous.

Where that’s a problem is in the toxicity this is generating. See, I have the gall to slide my daily schedule later so I can start at an hour that fits my biological clock and ends at an hour where I’m at my most creative. That means the folks saw me spending my pandemic mornings on Animal Crossing while Dad was trying to wrangle Excel spreadsheets for non-tech-savvy fellow Boomers while preventing the dog from eating his meeting notes. That means they guzzled vinho verde like it was Kool-Aid after seven while I made sure to find more concrete means to distance myself from work - ideally ones that didn’t involve functional alcoholism.

Naturally, what was bound to happen, happened: Dad soon spent his evenings calling me shiftless or “unwilling to commit”, while I was stuck watching him miss all the cues his stressed-out body were sending him. We already had Trump’s last desperate months and a global plague to handle, I really didn’t want my work to turn into more of a nuisance than it already is. I already love the people I work for and hate what I do (repeating the family cycle, it seems), but I’ve at least decided to give myself ample Me time every single day. 

I’ve paired that with smaller, if consistent portfolio investments, along with a few new habits I wanted to get into to stay saner. Dad pulls crosswords or plays competitive chess in the wee hours, while I usually lay down to meditate around midnight and fall asleep by 1 AM at the latest. I’m half-expecting my father to pull a Tyler Durden and to sneer at me, at some point. “Self-care is masturbation,” he’d probably say.

Looking at classifieds for rentals, it’s obvious that the entire system is predicated on abuse. Work yourself down to the therapist’s office, right down to the fucking bone, and you just might earn a half-decent retirement because nobody’s taught you to invest incrementally. Nope, Society seems to say, you’re supposed to buy, buy and buy some more, until you realize you have ten years left to start from scratch!

I remember Dad’s face on my eighteenth birthday. “Why would you want a Disability Care Savings Account, Brain? You just turned into a legal adult by Canadian standards - you’re in no rush, right?”

I told him the real gift I wanted for my birthday, that day, was a ride to the family’s Financial Investments counsel. I pulled up the PDFs I’d printed out and filled and brought them over. From then on, if I dropped a penny in my nest-egg, Ottawa would drop another one. If my share grew, so did the government’s. In the twenty-odd years since, it’s expanded exponentially.

Dad thought I’d done this to have a big cushion by the time I’d retire. Mom thought I’d done this in case my disability worsened and I started requiring equipment or physical assistance. Honestly, my dumb, if slightly prescient eighteen year-old self figured I’d rather spend my time reading or playing video games than working. I knew I’d need something to help cushion my admittedly low career-related ambitions. I might throw several thousands at a new computer every seven to eight years, but that’s because I’ve saved them up for just as long, little by little. I have no vices beyond what sillicon offers and what you’d find in the pages of a book and don’t exactly need a big ‘ol, stonkin’ humidor stuffed with conoisseur stogies.

I have a shoebox with a poked-out Ziploc bag and a sponge, with a handful of joints and a few Santa Anas I got off of a buyer’s pool from work. Five of us occasional chair-bar goons pooled cash together on Cigar Chief and cushioned prices with a single, shared and massive order. I’m nowhere near rich, but assuming the housing market can catch its breath eventually, I’ll be able to live modestly - with one or two markers of occasional luxury I’ll have chosen.

I have a shittier job than my father has had and I’ve chosen to be happier than him. It’s just sad that the usual response elevates overwork as the supposedly one, true way to leave a mark in society.

No, Dad. I don’t want to die while my own cells eat me alive, I want to die blazed out of my fucking mind, happy because I’ll have had time to enjoy my friends’ company and to finally make some sense out of Kerouac’s Subterraneans or to figure out what the fuck is going on in Joyce’s Illiad. I’ll die crusty as shit and fulfilled as a Pop Culture jockey, because I’ll have either finished Persona 5: Golden in my lifetime or I’ll have watched the entirety of the MCU’s output before Disney finally manages to kill their golden goose.

I want to die decades from now, feeling like I at least owned my choices and didn’t spend my time tethered to someone else’s professional expectations of me.

#personal life #thoughts #work culture #overwork #cancer #free time #mental health

[relationshipsandpolitics]

Part 3

Since I last posted, we’ve gotten word that a certain rich asshole is going to enter the race.  Now, I could do 500 words on why this guy is awful, but it would sort of go against my belief that just because someone is really rich does not mean we need to pay extra attention to them and their thoughts.   This guy is not winning the nomination, won’t even poll about 3% in most states, and overall is not worth the amount ink that will surely be spilled on his campaign.  Next.

Joe Biden. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders

So we are down to the final 3.  One of those 3 objectively should have been culled much earlier.  If I was doing this purely based on the level of support for each candidate, this guy would have been cut about 8 candidates ago.  But Joe Biden is still the front runner, consistently leading national polls and absolutely killing it in several early primary states like South Carolina.  Biden remains popular among black voters, who serve as the lifeblood of the Democratic party. Even though his policies and personality suck, he is unique from all the other shitty centrist candidates.  So he gets his own takedown.

Joe Biden is a very old man hoping to blind the voters with his connection to President Obama.  And for the most part, it’s working like a charm. Forget the fact that he is a rambling, incoherent mess during campaign stops.  Forget his abysmal views on race, including his support for segregated busing and racist colleagues.  Forget the fact this guy railroaded Anita Hill and still can’t sufficiently apologize to her.  Forget all the bad parts of Joe Biden.  That’s what he is banking on.  Biden is trying to win not based on policy or his strategy for improving the lives of everyday Americans.  No, he is trying to win by painting a false image of who he is and how electable he would be.  Biden is basing his entire campaign on appealing to low-key racist white suburbanites who don’t want to pay more taxes.  That’s his base.  And it’s not an awful strategy.  But it highlights something terrible about the Democratic voter.

The average Democratic primary voter appears to support progressive causes.  They want to see Social Security expanded.  They support a $15 minimum wage and gun control.  They support paid family leave and some form of universal health care.  But the average Democratic voter of a certain age, race and class level doesn’t want to fight for those things.  Because while they agree with those policies in principle, they won’t be that affected by them, and more importantly, would have to pay more in taxes.  So they say they support these goals yet refuse to put any skin into the game to achieve them.   The other possibility is that they would support enacting these policies and paying a bit more, but they don’t think anyone else would and thus think we need to support the least-controversial candidate.  No one really likes Joe Biden, or if they do, no one can really identify what exactly he is running for.   Even though health care remains a joke in this country, Biden isn’t arguing to make it better.  He isn’t supporting a wealth tax.  What is this man running on except a vague idea about returning dignity to the American worker.  Yet voters still support him, either because they know he actually won’t change anything (except make it ok to be gay again) or because they think not changing anything is the only way for a Democrat to win.

The American voter (not just Democratic voters) collectively is a stupid person.  They personally want a politician to enact massive change to better their lives, yet believe the ideal candidate is a moderate who won’t do anything major, and still someone in doing nothing substantial, will improve their lives.  Then, just to double down on that stupidity, they will vote the opposition party into power in Congress to ensure nothing happens, all because they love compromise. Of course, the last thirty years of politics have shown that bipartisanship is a myth.

The American voter is both very ignorant and very naïve.  We accept that.  But it’s tougher to accept that from our politicians.  At a recent fundraiser for millionaires, Biden touted his sincere belief that when Trump goes, Republicans will have an epiphany and start working with him to make our country better.  Folks, this is disqualifying.  The sheer insanity of that belief needs to be a deal breaker.  Biden, in the very same speech to the very same contingent of rich assholes, said that he personally called dozens of Republicans to get Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court.  The Republicans said no and pulled a move so disgusting and unprecedented that we will never see something worse in our lifetimes.  And this was all before Trump was even nominated.

Joe Biden is an idiot. He also is in the bag of the rich. He regularly attends fundraisers hosted by lobbyists for some of the most nefarious industries.  His campaign is mostly funded by Wall Street and Health Insurance.  And how do you think he’ll govern once in office?  Will he go after these bad actors?  Or will he appoint them to his Cabinet?  Remember, this is the guy who worked in an administration that wanted Larry Summers as Fed Chief.  He appointed Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury.

Joe Biden would continue the worst aspects of Obama’s administration without all the good stuff. He’d be in his late 80’s by the time his second term ended, too.  For the love of all that we hold holy, we cannot nominate Biden.

It is now time for the top two candidates.  I would happily vote for either of these candidates, so my choice for one is not a slight on the other.  Each candidate has issues, but they are minor compared to what they bring to the table. So I urge you to vote early and often for either of them.

Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders

A presidential candidate should make you excited to vote for them.  It can’t just be “I can’t vote for the other guy so I guess you’ll do.”  It’s a recipe for disaster.  People need a reason to take a couple hours of their day, find parking, wait in a long line, deal with eighty-year old volunteers who yell at you to close the curtain more, and then go into work and deal with their daily amount of shit.  People need a reason to see the process of voting as exciting.  

I think Bernie and Elizabeth are the only two candidates one can reasonably get excited about.  I’m not saying everyone will be excited by them because a lot of people don’t support their policies.  I call these people assholes.  But can anyone honestly say they are excited to vote for Amy Klobuchar or Joe Biden? Even if you support their bland policy proposals which consist of “we need better jobs but fuck if I know how to do that.”

But which one to choose?

I’m going to start with Bernie.  The negatives against him are one of perception rather than reality, but in politics its not the truth that wins out but what you can convince people the truth is. And Bernie will definitely be portrayed as an out-of-touch Socialist.  While the youngins like the word “socialism” the majority of the electorate is still scared to death of the term because they equate social democratic government as the Soviet Union and bread lines.  In other words, most people are stupid.   Sanders best hope would be to hammer home how amazing European countries are, the benefits they enjoy without all the negatives that Republicans conjure up in places like Venezuela. Unfortunately, Republican messaging still rules the day.   Even if you could strap a person in a chair and explain point by point why Sweden and Denmark work as social democracies, they still wouldn’t get it.

Trump will absolutely attack Bernie for being a socialist, and the problem compared to the other candidates he would attack for being a socialist is that the suburban Democratic voters would actually believe him.  Bernie absolutely will upend the system, and a lot of people are still benefiting from that system.  People like my parents.  They have a good amount of money but are not rich.  Taxes going up on them will impact their daily lives, and most of the benefits Bernie is advocating for would not benefit them.  There is a lot of good research out there that suggests the key for Democrats to win across the board is to get the suburban moderate vote. And there is a legitimate argument that Bernie will not get that vote.  Now, one can say that those voters would never vote for Trump. But you must remember a very important thing about politics: white people can get pretty racist when they think you’ll take money away from them.

But here’s what I love about Bernie.  He is entirely genuine in his advocacy for the poor and working class. Most politicians say they care, of course.  They give a speech supporting raising the minimum wage or not cutting Medicaid. But they also tie themselves with rich donors and businesses whenever they can.  They support the poor until there is a good reason not to.  Not Bernie.  He’s been singing the same tune since the sixties.  He doesn’t care if it isn’t popular. He’ll make it become popular. Bernie almost single handedly shifted the conversation on universal health care.  We are talking about paid family leave and free college because of him. And the man deserves credit for that.

Bernie has been hit a lot from the Democratic establishment.  People are still sore that he had the audacity to challenge Hillary Clinton.  Even though he endorsed and campaigned heavily for her after dropping out in 2016, there is still a narrative that he sabotaged her campaign.  Let’s be clear, though.  The reason why the establishment Democratic contingency dislikes Bernie is because he thinks they are just as corrupt as the Republicans.  Which is true.  Democrats work out of the same bubble as Republicans.  They rub shoulders with the same Wall Street donors. Try calling up your Democratic Senator to get an in-person meeting.  Now look at who does get those meetings.  I support Bernie because he actually is trying to change our corrupt political system.  A politician can’t work within the given system without being corrupted by it. The system is a cancer that needs to be destroyed.  

Bernie has said some dumb things and has held some dumb positions.  This can’t be denied.  He’s been accused of being a racist, sexist and homophobe.  Some of this is absolute bullshit and some of it is based on dumb things he’s said.   But judging by the policies the man has supported, the votes he has taken, and what he has said during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, does anyone honestly believe him to be a racist, sexist or homophobe?

If you are having a tough time getting behind Bernie, I’d ask yourself the following questions:

Do you honestly believe he would pursue anti-women and anti-reproductive rights policies?

Do you think a more robust paid family leave policy, along with a policy promoting affordable childcare, would significantly benefit women?

Do you think Bernie would restrict LGBTQ rights or would he expand protections for this group?

Do you genuinely believe Bernie would support or champion policies that would discriminate against black people?  

Do you think health care is a crisis in this country and everyone should have access to it? If so, do you think Bernie makes the situation better or worse?

Do you think a president should fill his administration with people from the financial and insurance industries?  Do you think Bernie would do this?

Do you think millionaires and billionaires should be taxed more and more money should go into programs that help the poor and middle class?

Should college be free or at least much more affordable?

Ask yourself these questions.  Don’t worry about whether he can get them passed.  Truth is it will be tough for any Democrat to get anything passed.  I’d be looking at which candidates are most willing to use executive orders (hint: it’s Bernie).

We can’t keep hedging our votes on what’s practical because the truth is everything is doable with enough willpower.   Think about how insane Social Security is as a legislative success.  We taxed everyone, rich and poor, to provide money to senior citizens for the rest of their lives.  That’s insane, and we did it.  Same with Medicare.  If you think are country needs massive changes to secure our future, vote for the candidate who is advocating for massive changes.  That candidate is Bernie Sanders and…..

Elizabeth Warren.  Everything good about Bernie can also be said about Elizabeth Warren.  This is a person who literally created an agency designed to help consumers go against corporations.  Warren has correctly diagnosed the problem for wealth and income inequality and a lot of the bad shit that’s been happening to the American worker. Corporations suck. Rich people suck. They both need to be taxed way more and we need to use those funds to give benefits to the poor and working class. Warren has a plan for pretty much everything, and that is a great thing.  She doesn’t talk in platitudes about restoring dignity to the working class. She identifies the problem and comes up with an actual solution.  

And for her efforts she gets skewered by her opponents and the media.  When Pete Buttigieg says we should invest more in affordable housing, no one pushes back on exactly what that means.  But when Warren releases a comprehensive plan to pay for Medicare for All, she is eviscerated.  Her plans should be critiqued, but they should also come with the acknowledgement that she has put in the work and is way more open with the American people than the other candidates.  The media and voters need to start making candidates pay a price for not articulating actual plans for their policy goals.  

Warren is fucking smart and driven.  She has the brain and energy to do the job.  She’s not a crackpot; she’s an advocate for the little guy.  Honestly, there isn’t much to criticize Warren on outside of how she will pay for her policy proposals.  But the media will attack what little they have while giving Trump and the more moderate Democrats a pass.  When Trump or Biden talk about strengthening the military, no one will ask what that means and how much it will cost.  But when Warren comes up with a tax plan to pay for free childcare, every single pundit will pounce the second some study comes out that her funding is off by a few million.

Of course, the dumbest part is the idea Warren needs to fully fund any proposal.  Right now, the economy has been doing great for about five years.  And in that whole time, we’ve been running huge deficits.  Maybe government spending without offsets isn’t such a big deal. Warren can’t say that because the media won’t allow her to.  It would be great if Warren could just say “things are going great now despite a trillion-dollar deficit, so why not get free healthcare for a $2 trillion-dollar deficit?”

That’s what I love most about Warren.  The lines of attack against her are so shitty.  Bernie has legitimate concerns that the Republicans will easily exploit. The best they can do with Warren is attack her policies, which are broadly popular.  And with Warren, you get a bunch of different contingencies that will come out for her.  You have women and those who want to see our first female president.  You get progressives excited about finally having a candidate who advocates for them with a fighting chance.  And because she is being so careful not to raise middle class taxes, I think you get a lot of the suburban vote.

I think Warren can win this thing.  She articulates the message well, she lacks genuine baggage and when compared to Trump, she comes off even better.  

So who is my final pick? I’m going with Elizabeth Warren. Not only does she hold most of the same policy positions as Sanders, but she also is fundamentally opposed to the corporate interests that got us to this point.  And I think she can better cajole moderate Democrats to support her agenda.  Finally, I think she comes with less baggage.

What I would love to see, based on the polling, is for Warren to either win or come in second by a close margin to Biden or Buttigieg.  Sanders would drastically underperform, at which point if New Hampshire was also going poorly, he could drop out and swing all his support to Warren.  That would make her the clear front runner. Let’s see what happens.

  Elizabeth Warren

#elizabeth warren #bernie sanders #joe biden

[prorevenge]

Treat me like garbage for 3+ years and try to deny me my unemployment? We'll see about that.

This is a bit of a long one, so strap in, grab some popcorn, and enjoy. Happened some years ago. If you find any spelling or grammar errors. Keep them and breed them, they make great pets. Tl;dr at the bottom.

So some background; due to some personal reasons, I needed a new start. Years ago, I moved cross country to a state famous for its mountains, colours, and legal drug use. Since I had some family that wanted me to drive some items they'd stored on the eastern coast of the US to the state. I agreed and decided on moving since I could easily transfer all of my schooling to another college in the area. My folks were abusive and I moved out about a week after getting a job, but this isn't about them.

Enter my old boss. They came from the kind of money that paid their way into an ivy league school and owns several properties around town. Their also the sort of person who stopped their birth control just to get pregnant and keep their equally douchey boyfriend around. Just some background and used to establish character.

The Details & Background

My new job was working as an assistant. I thought that it was odd that the interview was at a Starbucks, but I needed the job. I accepted minimum wage as a 1099 employee--yes I know I was dumb at the time, don't worry, I've learned better--and started. My new workplace was out of their basement. Odd, but I'm a good guy, so I roll with it.

Folks I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say I worked sometimes upwards of 70+ hours a week. This was a job that was pitched to me as "part-time." After months there, I did everything from answering phones, running social media and websites, drafting estimates, doing all IT work, some minor cleaning, and generally trying to help out this business in any way I could. I bent over backwards and then some more. Years later I realized I set an impossibly high standard for myself and others as the first employee of this business.

Fast forward to some years in the future. I had left due to some stress-related health concerns. Essentially, I had a small stroke because of the stress and berating. I later came back, as I was and still am a very "pay it forward" person. And felt that I owed the company for getting me a start in an industry that got me out of retail. I've since learned better in this respect too.

The work environment was never great. Any small mistake was treated as a large offense. Instead of this being a red flag to me; I doubled down. Did beyond my best to check all work and even taught myself some coding and server management that would help the business. Business started to pick up and we were soon busy enough to be able to afford a new location (I had suggested leasing a place near our primary clientele). We also needed to hire more staff since the workload was too much for two people.

Before I left the first time, I had trained two office personnel. The company had also promoted me. As anyone who has worked in a small business can tell you, you'll wear a lot of hats. So my job title was somewhere around Estimator/IT/Office Manager/Field Representative. The owner had also bought a house in a residential neighborhood with the intention of renovating it to be our new office.

Problems & Red Flags

Well... any business has it's problems, here's the ones for this company: -New office was a house. The lot was zoned for residential. This was apparent at the time of purchase. -While homeowners can pull permits, you have to actually pull the permit for the work. -We couldn't keep staff or subs to save our life. Turn over was ridiculous. -The owner was using the business accounts as their personal accounts. -Anytime the owner came back in; all staff were expected to drop what they were doing and listen to their tirade and demands. Gods help you if you forgot anything or didn't do it to their exact--sometimes incorrect--specifications. Or the specifications they came up with and didn't tell you about. -The owner would scream, shout, and fume with staff. -The owner dated subs. -The owner often requested that I forge or backdate paperwork. (I'm a notary, this is not only illegal, but I could lose that privilege.) -The owner and other workers would smoke pot on the premises. (I'm cool with recreational use, but don't partake myself.) -We would have to constantly juggle credit cards, accounts, and other funds, often begging the owner to be able to pay our supplier(s) to end the throng of endless, angry phone calls and emails asking for payment. -The owner was a serial appointment canceller. Often, I had appointments dropped into my lap past the time I would need to actually travel there and arrive on time.

After more than three combined years of verbal abuse, threats and demands for payment, dealing with a revolving door of angry staff, and having more than one occasion where subs threatened me and the office staff for not being paid; I was ready to leave. I put in my notice as I was having the same stress-related health issues.

The owner panicked and offered to sit down and talk things out. I had no intention of going back to working for $13/hr, with no benefits, and dealing with downright childish behaviour. I hadn't even been sat down for an interview, offered any sort of salary when I came back, and jumped in because they desperately needed the help. I knew that and got straight to work.

But here we were in a public shop, talking things over and I explained the issues in this toxic environment and how it was affecting me. Why I was leaving and that I was sorry things had turned out this way.

To my surprise, they came back with a counteroffer for a fair wage, praised my work, threw in some benefits, and offered to let me work from home for a large percentage of the week. I was still working on lining up a better job at the time and due to a series of equally bad employment situations before; don't work for a GC if you can help it, I needed to rebuild my savings. I agreed and had written proof of this agreement.

Three months go by and for nearly every week I've received multiple calls after my shift asking, why I haven't been doing (x, y, z) task. Why (insert insurance or customer name) hasn't paid up yet. And, of course, being called into the office more due to the "needs of the business." Anytime I'm in the office I'm putting out more fires than the New York Fire Department. Their bookkeeping assistant treats me like garbage. Anytime I had to teach them how to use a new system or even Excel, I'm met with opposition, stubbornness, and later would receive complaints about how I was "being condescending" to them. (In truth, they were very computer illiterate and unqualified for their position.) But they worked for next to nothing and would flatter the owner. They were generally two-faced and a brown-noser.

The company also had a new office manager since I was working on mostly estimates and negotiations. This was one of the two I had trained and they were a sweetheart. They deserved more than they got there and were days where I had found them breaking down crying. The owner treated them worse than they had treated me and so did their "bookkeeper." I felt sorry for them and eventually, they were fired. It's unfortunate, but they are doing better now from what I've heard.

Well, when the office manager was fired, bookkeeper and the owner drafted up a TON of fake write-ups. Backdating them, forging signatures, and generally trying to make them look like the worst worker to ever exist.

I was upset. This was someone who had been in a similar position that I had been in; saved from the world of retail and trying to gain experience to get a better job. They were a hard worker and set the standard impossibly high. The customers loved them and they ran the office like a well-oiled machine. I honestly think that they had done a better job than I had in some respects.

I brought up how the office manager as indicated by the write-up form was entitled to a copy of the form. That backdating and what was done here was not only inappropriate but illegal. Both bookkeeper and the owner brushed off what I said.

Big red flag.

At this point, I started looking for other work. I was in the office nearly every day and I had even gotten there early enough to open up on most days, then close. I was miserable and kept having chest pains due to the stress. During this time, I was trying to get approval to go on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) since I am trans. In order to qualify, you have to be of certain health requirements. Having a high BP will disqualify you for very valid health reasons.

Due to where I live, I had to drive over an hour away to be seen for these services. Bummer, but I do it anyway. It takes over six months to get an appointment, where I'm told that I need to lower my blood pressure, or I can't safely start HRT.

I'm devastated, I cried, I got seriously depressed, and it only made things worse. To the point that my toxic work environment had stressed me beyond stressed. I came home one day, walked past my roommate like a zombie, went into the shower in our bathroom fully clothed, turned on the cold water, and just... laid there for an hour.

My roommate had been urging me to quit. Seeing the employer abuse, how upset I was, and how my depression was starting to spiral out of control again. Instead of quitting, I put together a solid business plan, job descriptions, improved workflows, and really just a huge document on "How to Unfuck Your Business." Presented the product of several hours of my own time to the owner. Who dismissed it in a loud bar where we could barely hear each other.

After three more months of waiting and trying to prompt change that would never come, I quit.

The Revenge

Since I had left without lining up another, immediate job; and frankly, need therapy, I applied for unemployment benefits due to health reasons. In my country, you can be awarded benefits if you meet a set of strict criteria. Which, after a good day of research, I realized I did meet.

I had never applied for unemployment in my life and having grown up with family that were a mix of benefits fraud poster children and welfare queens; I never wanted to "use the system." But I had bills to pay and needed the time off to pick up my mental pieces after everything that had happened and I was going through. My roommate and I were running low on our savings, so I needed the unemployment.

Swallowing down my pride, I applied and after over a month of back and forth and paperwork; I received my unemployment award.

We breathed a sigh of relief as I continued to recover and look for work. Three months go by and we're past the period of an employer being able to dispute a claim. Again, sigh of relief. I was nearly certain that they were going to try and file against me.

Well, I was right. Turns out they had lied and gotten an extension, filed against my claim. Claiming that I was fired for poor performance.

I was livid.

How dare they insinuate that I did anything less than give 100% at that festering hole of toxicity they called an office! I worked well past my shifts, I had learned and set up the systems and documents they used for nearly everything, and I had treated their company as though it was my own. Sacrificing time, sanity, health, and even some of my own equipment to ensure it succeeded. I kept going when so many had walked away from the dumpster fire that was their business.

Fuck this.

Fuck the owner and fuck this. I immediately and angrily started my research to build my case.

I read the document and the "hearing" was scheduled as a phone hearing in front of a deputy representing the department. There's also a deadline to submit supporting documents. The very latest you could submit documentation for both the former employee and employer was within 24 hours before the scheduled hearing.

Over the next three or so weeks I gathered up years worth of notes from medical providers I had seen, statements from former employees, witnesses to both my mental state and the state of the office environment, etc.

When the office manager had left, they filed for unemployment (which they were justified in). The owner had laughed, drafted up false write-up forms, filed for an extension, and the office manager's claim was decided that the office manager didn't have enough proof and documentation--they hadn't bothered to turn in any--and lost their claim. Which means that the claimant has to pay back any money awarded. The owner and bookkeeper laughed and carried on, bragging about their "handiwork."

Now, I knew that there was going to be a fresh stack of fake write-up forms with my name all over them. I was the one who had authored the write-up forms. I've never once had a write-up form in any job I've worked. I waited until 10 minutes before the deadline, used an online faxing service, and faxed over copies of all of my supporting documents to both the former employer and the deputy for the hearing. Leaving the company no time to turn in any documentation. I kept copies of the faxes to both of them, along with the successful notification that they had been received by both parties.

If they had any documentation, they had to send it to both parties. Since I hadn't gotten anything from them or the deputy, I knew I was the only one walking in with ammo.

Upon further research, I discovered that I could attend the hearing in person. Which, I was more than happy too. Armed with a bulging folder full of evidence, collared shirt, tie, and a beaming smile on my face, I shook hands with the deputy and they called my former employer.

Bookkeeper answers the phone, we're sworn in, all documentation is listed and verified that it has been received, and they give the employer's side of the story.

My gods, to say that they bashed me would be an understatement. Speed bumps take less abuse. "I didn't work." "My work was sloppy." "I was rude to customers." "I refused to go into the office," and so on.

At this point, I'm honestly doing my best to keep quiet and not laugh. They even tried to say that because I was trans, I left because of that. Makes no sense, but ok. I give my statement; which I had written out and practiced several times before this hearing. All the while bookkeeper continually interrupts me and the deputy has to tell them to let me speak, as I did the same for them.

I finish and we start going through the evidence.

Of COURSE bookkeeper is waffling, saying they have evidence (emails and write-ups, both easy to fake since they controlled my employee email account) and starting to reference evidence that neither I or the deputy have received. The deputy has to interrupt them and state that anything they have is inadmissible since they didn't turn it in before the generous deadline.

They are livid and I can tell in the background that the owner is feeding them things to say. (Bookkeeper is not the sharpest spoon in the knife drawer.) Which was an old habit of theirs for anyone who answered the phone in the office.

I spend my sweet, sweet time going through the mountain of evidence I have. I'm interrupted several times and politely ask in my most honeyed of tones, "Bookkeeper, I let you speak freely, can you please do the same for me?"

They are livid. Both the deputy and I could hear the seething rage over the phone and the poor deputy just rolls their eyes over the course of the hour. Having to remind bookkeeper that they are under oath. As they made several contradicting statements. After hearing the evidence from both sides and several claims by bookkeeper of, "This is the owner's 'bread and butter,' you're taking food from their kid's mouths." To which, I calmly reply, "Oh! Excuse me bookkeeper, I'll keep that in mind during this hearing, and when I go to pay rent." The deputy got a chuckle out of that but had to ask me to "keep it civil."

To add to this buttery, decadent roll of sweet, sweet revenge; one of my witnesses was called who was a former employee. Not only did they back up my story, but they got to enjoy jabbing them back too.

Needless to say, a few weeks later I got the results of the hearing and the deputy had ruled in my favour. There was a period of time where both parties were welcome to repeal the decision and we would appear in another hearing. At that time, recordings of the exchange would be made available to both parties. They never repealed.

You would think this would be the end of my revenge. Admittedly, it's not bad, but not pro revenge material yet.

It Gets Better

Before I had left, one of the many bills that had been perpetually left unpaid were the insurances for the company. Which included their unemployment insurance. I smiled each time I deposited my check, knowing full well that there was a very real possibility that over 7k of my unemployment came directly from them.

But I wasn't done. My professionalism had been insulted and dragged through the mud.

You see, I knew nearly everything that was going on in that company. I had made their systems, documents, edited contracts, and was ingrained in nearly every aspect of their operation. I knew they were facing an audit by their former insurance provider.

I called their former insurer and spoke with the auditor. I detailed all of the OSHA, federal, and state violations. I also informed them of the paperwork forging that I had seen while I was there and of several unsafe practices. They thanked me for my time and I happily ended the call.

Next stop, the IRS. I made a report and gave detailed information in regards to their records and even provided why they were not able to file on time. Again thanked for my time and honesty.

Afterward, I decided to touch up with a few of my friends with the regional building department. They were more than happy to listen.

In the three years I had worked there, I had the opportunity to meet and get to know several local businesses and their assistants around town. I spent the next two weeks calling and emailing several key businesses in the area that were their suppliers, vendors, subs, and labour suppliers. I never said an untrue word, asked if they had time to talk, and summarily, was thanked for my time. Funny thing about their assistants too; they control scheduling and well, answer the phones. I'm on good terms with several of them and they backed my story.

Wouldn't you know it, their business address was mysteriously devoid of their trailer, equipment, and signs not long after. They still have an online presence and probably will as long as their family continues to bail them out.

I'm writing this after years because after working for several bad employers, I now have a good job with an amazing company that supports me. It's the result of my years of experience, credentials, and having to eat shit for all those years.

Tl;dr: Abusive employer abuses employees, tries to deny me unemployment, drags me through the mud during the hearing. I not only win my case, but report them enough to drive them out of their location and likely, business.

(source) story by (/u/27thFrequency)

#prorevenge #by /u/27thFrequency #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #last10

[kaycmoney]

I Need Money Now – 25 Safe Ways To Get Cash Fast

Do you need money today? Times like these — when you’ve suddenly been hit with an emergency or an unexpected expense — can be stressful and overwhelming. But there are options.

Just remember: the cure for stress is action. The quicker you commit to taking concrete steps to solve the challenges you’re facing, the better you and your wallet will feel.

The good news is that with a little bit of creativity and hustle, you can get yourself out of the situation you’re in and prevent this kind of financial crunch from ever happening again.

Read through this list of viable, safe ways to get money fast. They’ll work today, but they can also serve as a solid foundation for building a better financial future.

Ideas To Make Extra Money In Less Than A Week

When it comes to needing money urgently, there are three strategies to pursue. You can borrow money, make money, or save money in a way that frees up cash flow today.

These strategies are not mutually exclusive. Depending on your situation, it may make sense to pursue all three today.

Keep in mind, however, that it’s best to avoid borrowing money if at all possible. Often, people in emergency financial situations take out expensive loans with bad terms. These loans may help them meet their immediate needs, but will only cause more problems down the road.

That said, the ideas below are broken down into three different categories:

Ideas to make extra money in less than a week.

How to save big money in a cash crunch.

The best (and worst) ways to borrow short-term money.

Without further ado, let’s find you some cash fast.

Leverage The Gig Economy

For most gig economy jobs, it may take a day or two to get approved and start making money. Once you do get approved though, having the option to earn money on-demand is quite nice.

Here are 10 popular gig economy jobs that allow you to make money on demand. If you have any interest at all, apply now; by taking action, you’ll avoid the “I need money today” desperation in the future. You can also check out our list of the highest-paying gig economy jobs for more options.

#1 — Postmates

Postmates is one of the fastest ways to get started making money in the gig economy. As a Postmates courier, you’ll deliver groceries, food from restaurants, and other miscellaneous items.

With Postmates, you can work literally whenever you want (as little or as much as you want), and you can cash out instantly after earning money. That means you can work for a few hours one afternoon and have that cash in your bank account the same day.

One of the unique things about Postmates is that it’s one of the few freelance delivery services that allows you to deliver by foot. This is really only a viable option in very dense urban areas, such as New York City and San Francisco. But if you live near such a location, it can be a decent way to make some quick money without a vehicle.

Learn more about Postmates.

#2 — Airbnb

You can earn money fast renting out your place on Airbnb. Stay with friends or your folks while your place is booked. (Your mom thinks you don’t visit enough anyway…)

Payments for Airbnb sellers are released 24 hours after your guests check in.

Think your place isn’t nice enough? Think again. You can offer everything from full homes to basement couches. You might not earn top dollar for the latter, but rates for shared rooms still tend to be around $30 per night, even in remote areas.

Learn more about Airbnb.

#3 — Instacart

Instacart is an online grocery shopping and delivery company. There are two types of work available on the platform.

In-store shopper: A part-time job as an employee of Instacart. You’ll work inside grocery stores, hand picking and packing customers’ online grocery orders and handing them off for delivery.

Because this is a part-time position, you’ll earn a consistent wage, but it will be on the lower end of the spectrum. Since you’re working in-store, you don’t need a vehicle.

Full-service shopper: An independent contractor (i.e., a freelancer). As a full-service shopper, Instacart will send customer orders to your smartphone. You’ll then go to the assigned store, pick and pack the items on their shopping list, and deliver the order directly to their door.

You’ll earn per-order commissions based on the time it takes you to complete the delivery (as well as the driving distance from the store), plus customer tips. That means you have the potential to make more money than in-store shoppers. However, since the work is dependent upon demand, it can be less consistent.

In general, full-service shoppers make around $10 to $20 per hour. Unfortunately, unlike with Postmates, you’ll be paid weekly and there’s currently no option for instant withdrawal.

Learn more about Instacart.

#4 — TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is a gig economy platform that helps connect people looking for help with odd jobs and those looking for short-term, on-demand work.

Taskers — as TaskRabbit freelancers are called — perform every kind of work under the sun. You’ll find typical day labor tasks like running errands, picking up and delivering items, and doing yard work. But you’ll also find less common things, like assembling IKEA furniture and even just standing in line.

Here’s an example: whenever Nike releases new limited-edition sneakers, resellers will pay Taskers to show up at stores hours early and hold a spot in line.

No matter what your experience or skillset is, chances are you can find a way to make money on the site.

Learn more about TaskRabbit.

#5 — DoorDash

Like Postmates, DoorDash is a food delivery service that allows freelancers to work (almost) on-demand, picking up and delivering customers’ orders from local establishments. I say “almost” because DoorDash does have a scheduling system; you have to sign up for shifts (which you can choose), and failing to consistently go online during your shifts can get you kicked off the platform.

However, one perk about DoorDash is that if you live in an area where it has a consistent stream of orders, the payout tends to be a bit better than Postmates. Also, each time you’re offered a delivery (via a notice on your smartphone), you’ll see a minimum guaranteed payout amount, and you can choose to accept or decline the job.

As with Postmates, “Dashers” can get paid daily, although there is a $1.99 instant cash-out fee.

Learn more about DoorDash.

#6 — Rover

Love dogs and need a quick way to make money? Rover might be the perfect option. Think of Rover like Uber for dogs; you’ll visit customers’ homes at designated times and take their dog for a walk.

Average pay is about $15 per hour, although you’ll do slightly better if you live in an urban area, or a place where there’s enough demand that you can take two or three dogs out for a stroll at the same time.

Learn more about Rover.

#7 — Tutoring

Good tutors are always in demand. EF Education First is an online education company that connects qualified freelance tutors with kids all over the world who are striving to learn English.

As an EF tutor, you’ll have clients assigned to you and all the necessary teaching materials will be provided. Base pay starts as high as $20 per hour, and you can earn bonuses by reaching teaching milestones (like 100 classes taught).

To become an EF tutor, you do need a bachelor’s degree (in any field) but no teaching experience is required as EF considers all aspects of your resume and professional background.

Learn more about EF Education First.

#8 — Turo

Turo is like Airbnb for car owners. When you sign up, you can list your car and rent it on a daily basis for cash. This can be surprisingly lucrative, and is one of the few options on the list that often works out better for people who live in rural areas (where there’s a lower supply of available rental cars).

Also, the type of car you own can really boost your earnings. Obviously, people are willing to pay a premium to rent a convertible. But other types of vehicles can also bring in above-average rates. One prime example is minivans, which are highly-sought by families on vacation but are often sold out at commercial car rental locations.

Learn more about Turo.

#9 — Uber

Uber is one of the most popular gig economy jobs. As an Uber driver, you’ll make money by picking up passengers and driving them to their desired destination. The rates vary by location and demand; for example, prices are usually higher when it’s raining. You’ll usually earn better rates in cities, but you can also do well in rural areas where rides tend to be longer.

Uber also has a service called Uber Eats, which allows you to pick up food orders from local restaurants and bring them directly to customers at their home or workplace. If you’re in an area with strong demand, you can often make slightly better per-hour rates with Uber Eats as compared to traditional Uber. And if you don’t have a car, Uber Eats allows you to deliver via bicycle or scooter.

One of the best perks about Uber is that once you’re approved, the company will send you a special debit card issued by GoBank. Having this card allows you to cash out your earnings and get paid instantly — that means you can drive for a few hours and immediately access your funds, with no waiting or clearance periods.

Another perk is that you can work whenever you want, with no restrictions or limitations. There are no schedules on minimum/maximum hours — it can be either a full-time or part-time job on the weekends, depending upon your needs.

Learn more about Uber.

#10 — Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace where you can sell services — which are called “gigs” — for as little as $5 (and for as much as you want). Some popular gigs on Fiverr are services such as proofreading, website design, data entry, and miscellaneous virtual assistant jobs.

But it’s a great forum for creatives of all types, as you can monetize almost any skill or talent. Keep in mind, however, that it takes three weeks from the time the client accepts your work for your earnings to clear and become available for transfer to your bank account or PayPal.

Learn more about Fiverr.

Sell Something On Craigslist, Facebook, EBay Or Other Marketplaces

Aside from the options above, your best bet for fast cash is to sell an asset you own.

To do that, you’ll want to:

Sell something that has a lot of demand

List your item on a marketplace with many active buyers

Some of the best marketplaces to list on are:

Craigslist

eBay

Facebook Marketplace

OfferUp

Here are some of the best options for selling specific types of items.

Books:Have extra books lying around? Head to a used book store to cash them in. Make sure to call ahead to ask if they’re buying books right now. For those that live in a state with a Half-Priced Books (120+ locations across the U.S.), they’ll give you cash on the spot.

Clothes:Plato’s Closet gives you cash on the spot for used clothes. The one catch here is that the store is aimed at teens and young adults, and only buys new and lightly-worn threads from in-style name brands.

If you’re a bit older and have designer items that might not be a fit for Plato’s, check out The Real Real. You might hate to part with something like a designer handbag or shoes, but just one such item can fetch a pretty penny if it’s still in great condition.

DVDs and other random stuff: Many people are surprised to hear this, but Amazon allows private sellers to list items like used DVDs, books, games, LEGOs and tech on its site. You can even opt-in to the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon program (FBA), which means you’ll send the items to an Amazon warehouse and they’ll take care of shipping them to the customer.

Electronics:If you have old electronics lying around (especially cell phones), a good marketplace to sell them on is Gazelle. What’s nice is that you’ll know the price ahead of time; as soon as you enter your device’s details, you’ll see a flat-rate offer.

Everything else: Try a pawn shop, which will usually buy almost anything of value. Of course, you’re not going to get maximum value for selling items at a pawn shop, but you will indeed get cash on the spot. Items that sell well are:

Precious metals and jewelry

Popular tech (phones, tablets, cameras, and e-readers)

Collectibles

Do your research beforehand to understand the value of what you’re wanting to sell. This allows you to negotiate better. Also, if you have the time, visit more than one pawn shop for a quote — and don’t fall for the “this offer is only good right now” speech; pawn shops need to buy items to make money… if they made you an offer once, they’ll more than likely make the same offer later.

Don’t forget about yard sales, the OG method for selling things quickly. If you don’t get any good offers from the options listed above, garage sales or yard sales are still an effective way to generate cash quickly. Plan your sale for a Friday and Saturday to maximize revenue. You’ll be surprised how many people still attend these sales.

Related reading: The Best Craigslist Alternatives for Buying and Selling

Do A Bonus Round Of Survey Companies

There are dozens of legit websites that pay you to share your opinion. You can’t make a lot of money this way, but you can definitely earn some extra cash relatively quickly — especially if you use a strategy called “the bonus round.”

With the bonus round, you sign up for sites that offer a new-member bonus and complete just the minimum amount of work necessary to cash out. For example, Swagbucks offers you a $10 sign-up bonus with a minimum withdrawal of $25.

Here are two survey sites with bonus offers that pay cash, along with the minimum amount to withdraw.

Swagbucks

$10 sign-up bonus

$25 minimum withdrawal through PayPal

Sign up for Swagbucks

MyPoints

$5 sign-up bonus (after completing five surveys)

$25 minimum withdrawal through PayPal

Sign up for MyPoints

#Make money online #，make money， #make money today

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Your post on Bernie has me a little confused. Do you consider yourself a strict democrat, leftist, socialist or anything else? To me at least, it seems odd that you dislike Bernie for not being an “actual democrate” when Clinton is pretty right wing.

So I dislike boxes. They’re restrictive. I vote for who I like in terms of policy and who I think will perform best once in office. I’m a democrat, sure. I have leftist ideals but a realistic/pragmatic approach to things. I understand that we all wish to burn things down but that’s not how things work sadly. So let’s be realistic about getting shit done. Guillotine memes don’t feed the starving and they don’t end white supremacy. I’m a uh, let’s call it a north american socialist (no one running is an actual, by the books, definition of socialist, but that’s neither here nor there). 

Since people on this site apparently need to dissect my political beliefs, here you go: 

I believe we should have free healthcare; I believe that university education should be heavily subsidized (free would be great, but let’s start with at least making it subsidized and work from there); I think we should have universal basic income; I believe we should spend more on public infrastructure because our roads and bridges are falling apart; I believe we should have accessible, reliable public transit and an improved public transit network that works at municipal, state and national levels; I believe election days should be national holidays so everyone can vote; I believe gerrymandering is a curse upon our democratic system; I believe that we should spend more on public education at a K-12 level; I believe in subsidized and/or free after school care especially for the economically struggling; I believe we should have stronger anti-hate crime laws; I believe dental and mental health care should be covered anytime we talk about health care coverage; I believe in reparations; I believe we should start our own Truth and Reconciliation process for both slavery and the genocide against the Native Americans; I believe that we should try and address class and wealth disparity but that won’t solve racism, sexism, homophobia etc.; I believe we need electoral reform; I believe we need to do more for climate change but that the Green New Deal is empty in terms of actual things to implement in terms of policy - anyway those who wrote it admitted it was more of an economic plan than a climate one; I believe we need to tax the wealthy including all those pesky millionaires with three houses and wives who were investigated for tax fraud as well as the billionaires — 

I can go on. 

Of those running I currently like Castro, Harris, Warren. I really wish Stacy Abrams was running but she’s not. I think she’d be the best. I’m not a fan of Biden, Sanders, Gabbard (I mean, can we really call her a democrat?), Steyer, Yang. I’m neutral on Mayor Pete, Klobuchar, and Booker. I don’t know if that clarifies anything for you. Also, this is liable to change as we move forward through the primaries. 

And Clinton isn’t right wing. Calling her that continues the lie that she and the GOP are two sides/same coin which isn’t true. It’s a harmful position to perpetuate. There’s been a ton of stuff written on that so I’m not going to put it all in here. But I recommend starting with an analysis of her voting record - it’s on point with Sanders, if that’s your bar, on almost everything with some differences, the notable ones being Iraq (she was for, he was against) and gun control (she is for, he is generally against - his record is really dodgy on that).

I believe all politicians are up for grabs when it comes to legitimate critiques. But there’s a difference in saying “I disagree with her arguments for why she voted for Iraq” and calling her right wing. One is a legitimate critique, the other is hyperbolic and untrue. I also believe in understanding the context of the time in which many policy decisions were made. She, and Sanders, have been in politics for over 20 years. There are going to be decisions made in 1992 that we can look back on and go: Oh boy that was Yikes. But at the time, that wouldn’t have been so clear cut. No one has all the answers. No one is perfect. Purity politics isn’t the solution to our social ills. 

Anyway, some things HRC has supported, or accomplished, includes but is not limited to: 

The ACA - which was huge at the time. I cannot emphasize this enough. It was Ground Breaking. I think younger folk either don’t remember, or aren’t aware, of what a game changer this was. Indeed, it’s because of the ACA that the many Americans are even open to the conversation around medicare for all/any sort of more socialist health coverage. 

On a personal note, as a child of a single, poor working mom in the 90s this is the reason I had any sort of healthcare. Without it, we’d have been fucked. 

This is also one of the things that sent the GOP into a fucking TIZZY about HRC and why they started their 30 year long smear campaign against her which has influenced a lot of the more recent leftist rhetoric on her. 

Indeed, she was an early leader in expanding healthcare coverage in the early 90s and continued to be throughout her career. 

Leadership with SCHIP which which expanded health coverage to millions of lower-income children. 

I know we all wish we could have Instant Health Care For All but small steps is how you get these things. It’s incredibly complicated and difficult to set up health care systems and programs. They’re large, they become unwieldly, they’re expensive to fund, and they’re difficult to pass through congress. It’s useful to be able to point to precedents. 

She founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Supported and championed the Violence Against Women Act

Adoption and Safe Families Act (she was a supporter of it and helped champion it through) 

One of the leaders of the development of the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Equity Act 

Supported the Pediatric Research Equity Act - improving health and pharmaceutical access for children 

START treaty - an attempt to begin regulating the amount of nukes Russia and the US have which, even if one wishes we could snap fingers and get rid of them all, one must admit isn’t a bad thing. 

Negotiated ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in 2012 - again, regardless of views on Israel, Hamas and Palestine - having people stop fighting for a time isn’t a bad thing. The hope was it would lead to more productive, long term peace talks etc. but that sadly didn’t pan out. 

Copenhagen Climate Change Accord - one of the chief negotiators 

Etc. etc. she has 25 years of things to list but none of these things are right wing. One can disagree with her foreign policy approach, or think she didn’t push hard enough on health care, or that she came late to the table on LGBTQ issues, but that doesn’t make her right wing. I have right winger-s in the family and they’d all love to see Clinton dead. I know what the right wing looks like and it’s not her. 

Things she supports that make actual, real right wing people (like my great grandfather and my uncle’s sister) hate her: 

She supports and advocates for two weeks of paid family and medical leave at a minimum of 2/3s wage replacement rate 

She supports expanding social security 

You know, she believes in climate change and has worked to reduce carbon emissions, pushed for climate change accords, encouraged renewable energy, and ending tax subsidies for oil companies

clearly things a right wing person would do /sorry sarcasm I just can’t take it too seriously when people call her right wing

She supports immigration reform with full path to citizenship 

She supports the naturalization of around 9 million lawful permanent residents in the United States who are eligible to become U.S. citizens

She’s pro-choice and believes abortion is basic health care

Sorry how do people think she’s right wing again? 

She supports making it illegal for pharmacists to refuse to provide access to emergency contraception

When she was Sec. of State she wanted the US to join the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

She supports the Disability Integration Act, which requires states and insurance companies to provide people with disabilities who need long term care the choice to receive care at home instead of solely in institutions and nursing facilities

She’s obviously pro-gun control and was the first candidate in 2016 to produce an extensive position paper on guns and gun violence

She supports voting rights and advocates for changes in national voter access laws, including automatically registering American citizens to vote at age 18 and mandating 20 days of early voting in all states

She has criticized laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures that do not permit student IDs at polling places, place limits on early voting, and eliminate same-day voter registration

She had one of the most thorough mental health care plans that I have ever seen in a presidential nominee. 

It goes on. I again - I don’t get how people can look at this and think her right wing. I sure don’t agree with everything she’s done and every position she’s taken, but she’s not right wing. Good lord my people. 

There’s a lot many people have to thank her for and they’re unaware of it. Tumblr and twitter aren’t ideal places to form and consume political points. 

As a note, I work in the civil service in Canada (am a dual citizen), I’m very familiar with how large socialized programs work and how difficult it is to implement them. There are never any quick and clean solutions. 

And on that note - I’m done for the time being. I hope this answers your question. 

Required civic duty reminder: Everyone vote in the primaries and vote in 2020. Also - no politician is perfect, no politician is going to align 100% with your views and nor should they because you know, we live in a democracy. Do your homework, get off of tumblr and twitter, and make sure you vote! 

#politics #us politics #ask #anon #reply

[okaywowcool]

Let’s Talk About ASOS’s New Sub Brand, Collusion.

ASOS just released a new sub brand called Collusion, a collaboration between ASOS and young influencers (who seem to be taking on some kind of design or curator role for their first collection, though to what extent is unclear) which purports to be specifically for young folks “coming of age,” which seems to be defined loosely--the 6 influencers involved at launch are 18 - 23, but older and younger faces seem to be featured in ad campaigns and on their social media accounts. 

first of all, the line itself is very cool. the brand immediately makes some bold claims...things we’re used to seeing at this point from a lot of brands looking to make a buck off of progressive millennial and gen z shoppers, about size inclusivity (which is what we’ll be tackling in the most detail for this little post), experimental fashion, and a vague statement about the collaborative aspect of the line. we also get some more concrete claims, that everything is animal free and that the “majority” of their cotton is sustainably sourced.

i of course was instantly interested, the website was cute...

and their mission for fashion was insanely close to things that i’ve written for my own brand on my website.

all the listings on the site immediately take you back through to ASOS’ page for adding to cart and checking out however, so you’re back to seeing the typical ASOS model look and product listing page there. 

the prices are also quite good (more could be obviously said to this subject, the cotton may be sustainable, but who knows the wages of the workers are making these products & i’m not aware of enough to even comment on it in more detail than that), with the most expensive pieces being still under $100 (for coats and jackets) but the majority of the line being well under $50, in the $20 - $40 range. 

the models being used in campaigns are cute and refreshing, i like that brands are willing to take risks on more “real” looking people right now, though plenty of indie brands have been doing this for years w/ zero accolades so i have to admit (as one of those indie brands) that it is frustrating to have fast fashion brands get rewarded for inclusivity that would be considered bare minimum for most actual artists. 

i like their choice of influencers for this first collection and feel like the actual pieces and concerns that the influencers are bringing up are timely and that the final result of their collaboration (to whatever extent they were involved) feels like it rings true from the statements in their bios on the collusion site. 

plus size representation (for a brand that specifically claims to be size inclusive) is strangely absent in their first group of influencers, and on their social media...it’s a hole that i feel like is very much felt once you start looking at their actual plus sized offering. 

there’s not really any across the board sizing, usually i would expect all pieces in a collection to come in at least a specific size range, but these are kind of randomly distributed where the pieces are true plus sized and where they are not. when you break it down, there are literally only 10 pieces total that come in a size US 16 and above...which is an XL in most retailers. 

(no, literally. that’s all of them. i’ve zoomed out so you’re able to see all of these pieces at once.)

20 pieces come in a 2XL (which is the highest size they list in most of their dialogue about the size inclusivity) that are all unisex, jackets and tops. 

(a little more fun at least, though i’m getting extremely sick of boring cishet people thinking “unisex” means “boxy top” and nothing else ever)

with many of the pieces designed to fit oversized, i feel like most folks would be able to fit in those 20 unisex pieces, but they’re not necessarily the best pieces in the line by my standards...with the Actual 10 plus sized garments being even more basic. 

now, i’ve gone and picked up two of the dresses from that list of 10 plus sized pieces (both shown in the header above), the stripe midi dress (plus version / straight sized version) and the black roll neck sweater dress (plus version / straight sized version). luckily the sizes aren’t priced differently, and i thought the price on both of those pieces was really good, so i’m eager to see how they actually fit IRL. but i thought from those photos that the pieces were actually sewn to fit pretty differently for a plus sized consumer, and i’m a bit baffled about why. 

i’ve seen on shows like project runway, tim gun faces the workroom during a “real bodies” style sewing challenge and says something about how plus sized bodies are different and so you should make different silhouettes for them, but it’s never been something i’ve personally subscribed to. if i buy an oversized smock dress, or an oversized sweatshirt, and it’s actually coming to me in plus sizes, i expect it to come looking the same on me how it does on the straight sized model, specifically in terms of the fit and drape. 

before one of y’all heathens comments some useless nonsense, let me explain what i’m talking about just with the two images above as a representative example. now obviously changes in height and body proportion are one thing, but the neckline on the straight sized dress looks higher, like a mock neck, the sleeves are slightly off the shoulder, the waist line is more dropped, the bodice fits more loosely, the sleeves appear longer (which might be accounted for by the plus model just having longer arms or being taller) and there’s enough fullness to the skirt for the straight sized dress that it almost appears pleated. the plus size silhouette is missing all of that, like almost looking like a designer knock off of the dress on the left and missing a lot of the charm that the dress on the left has in terms of what it is doing, visually. 

maybe it’s just me but it is almost wacky looking to me in terms of difference. i’m hoping half of it is the photos that they’ve selected for this plus sized model (which aren’t at all very fashion...y....if that makes sense lol) but it’s kind of an issue i noticed with all of the pieces that are truly “plus sized” in the line up. 

the sweater has a lot of the same problems, mostly in the fit through the torso in this case, but the slight bubble hem on the sweater dress on the left is something that seems that it would be accounted for by the actual cut and shape of the garment and something that shouldn’t be affected by the model’s body at all. 

why even advertise your line as size inclusive when you’re altering major selling points to the garments to put them on plus sized bodies? or even more seriously, why advertise your line as size inclusive PERIOD when only 30 (if you’re counting the unisex and the truly plus sized pieces, let’s be generous lol) out of 152 pieces are size inclusive?

ASOS might be gauging response to see how this line does before expanding their size range, who knows. but i also don’t really feel like i owe companies benefit of the doubt...especially when there are companies doing this. the response to target’s wild fable line within the plus sized community was immediately so passionate as well--brands who are actually doing this and coming out of the gate doing it are doing well, a huge brand like ASOS shouldn’t be that timid to begin with...if that’s even their reasoning. i don’t even know anymore with brands claiming this as a label, sometimes i feel like brands are claiming these socially-conscious labels just to appeal to specific types of consumers....like claiming the animal free label when your garments are majority cotton and synthetic fibers just seems kind of intellectually dishonest to me, but who knows. i know just personally i feel like i fall for these kind of things every time but then end up almost always disappointed once i go to the actual page and see all the listings--big brands love to claim these things but then the follow through always feels so low effort to me. maybe they’re just too big to care enough to try and also not afraid enough of the blow back, while the little guys like myself or someone like big bud press or premme are scratching w/ everything we’ve got to actually genuinely stay true to our word, who knows. 

regardles, i’m looking forward to these pieces coming in the mail, and also am interested in what this brand does next...if they stick to their claims and actually sell more plus size, affordable clothing, i think they could make some really cool stuff. i’m hoping to review these pieces for here when they come in, and will let you all know how that goes. 

what do you guys think about this brand? what do you guys think about brands hopping on the plus size train so late, and also so lazily? (looking @ you, dollskill’s plus size line lmao) are you planning to pick anything up for yourself? i’m interested in hearing others’ thoughts! <3 

#asos #collusion #plus size fashion #plus size clothing #fatshion #body positive #fat acceptance #fat positive #let's talk #okaywowtext

[berniesrevolution]

There are still perfect moments. Not too many of them, but they happen. In my last one, I was sitting on a balcony in the quiet part of the French Quarter, eating a pistachio muffin and sipping an iced coffee. I was with an old friend, and we were talking excitedly about things we had read. There was a breeze, and we could see boats going by on the Mississippi River. In the distance, we heard the sound of a trumpeter playing on a streetcorner. I was wearing a comfortable shirt, it was spring, and there were flowers around. Music, food, sunshine, friendship, plants, old architecture, proximity to a body of water, and intelligent but unpretentious conversation: to me, these are all the elements needed for total peace and satisfaction.

I’m sure you have your own list of ingredients for a personal paradise. (Some people like snow, they tell me.) They rarely come together all at once, and when they do, it’s usually only for a moment. But what a moment! Kurt Vonnegut has a lovely quote that describes these sorts of times: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” Unfortunately, that isn’t what I usually murmur. Because underneath the feeling of bliss there is always a certain amount of frustration and anxiety. And what I end up murmuring is: “Since this is so nice, what is humanity doing with itself?”

The perfect moments do not end up being entirely perfect, then. They end up being exasperating, because I can’t help but be angry that such nice experiences are possible, yet aren’t ubiquitous. On a planet capable of being so extraordinarily beautiful and pleasant, why are so many things so absolutely rotten for so many people? The ingredients of the good life are not complicated. It’s a trumpet, a muffin, a river, and a nice day, basically. And yet we have a world filled with border walls, solitary confinement, drone strikes, gang violence, car accidents, student debt, preventable diseases, Walmarts, and Donald Trump. There’s so much loneliness, so much misfortune. So many children who never see a friendly face, so many old people who wait each day for a visit. In the U.S. alone, 40,000 people get desperate enough to take their lives every year. No, that’s wrong: 40,000 people succeed in taking their lives; for every suicide there are 25 suicide attempts, and God knows how many other people who hover on the brink. How could things go so horribly wrong when they seem so easy to make right?

Illustrations by Christopher Matthews

It’s very difficult to be comfortable in one’s personal “perfect moments,” when one realizes just how many people don’t even get many bearable moments, let alone perfect ones. And in some respects, one person’s pleasures are built on other people’s discomforts. The street musician playing the trumpet is underpaid and struggles to pay for the basics (I’ve talked to him about it), because tourists treat him as part of the scenery. I buy my muffins at the coffee shop around the corner, where the workers probably don’t make too much more than the Louisiana minimum wage of $7.25/hr when it takes about $20/hr to afford a decent apartment here. Some of the world’s most delicious food is made in this small city, but it’s made by people who toil and sweat and suffer and get very little thanks for it. (This is not to mention all the animals that die so that we can feast on them.) It seems almost grotesque to talk of perfect moments, because to perceive them that way requires insulating ourselves and ignoring everything around us. The French Quarter, for instance, is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year, who come to stroll under the oaks of Esplanade Avenue and look at the fabulous Spanish colonial architecture. When you’re rumbling along in the St. Charles streetcar, looking at the antebellum mansions and smelling the magnolias, you can genuinely think you’re in a kind of Eden. But this is also a city where ⅓ of people are in poverty, where 150 people are murdered every year, and where the incarceration rate is the highest of any state in the country (which is, in turn, higher than any country in the world). What looks like a city of charm and luxury is actually a city of drastic racial and economic inequality, built by slaves and sustained by injustice.

It’s certainly enough to put you off your muffin. But I don’t think becoming aware of reality means that we have to lessen our enjoyment of the world’s wonders. That way lies an unhelpful negativity: “Isn’t this garden beautiful?” “I guess it is if you don’t think about how all the time spent making it could have been spent trying to end mass incarceration.” Instead, I think it’s possible to pair feelings of joy/appreciation with corresponding feelings of realism/responsibility, and we can view perfect moments not as an ignorant indulgence, but as a vision of the kind of experience that we ought to make accessible to everybody. They’re little glimpses of what we should be fighting for, and it’s actually important to have reminders of what the good life might consist of, and to have reassurances that it’s not actually fantastical to think we can achieve heaven on earth. We already have heaven on earth, it’s that we only have it fleetingly, and it’s not available to everybody.

Basin Street is a street Where the folks, they all meet In New Orleans, the land of dreams You’ll never know how nice it seems Or just how much it really means

—Louis Armstrong, “Basin Street Blues” (1928)

It’s important to use present-day experiences as source material for dreams of social transformation, because nowadays, it can be difficult to imagine a future that is substantially different from the present, except in ways that are horrific. It’s not that nobody can imagine things changing. It’s that the two possibilities seem to be either “like this, only more so” and “civilizational annihilation.” Granted, you still hear one or two moonbeams insisting that “a better world is possible.” But even that is a phrase rather than a vision, a chant meant to reassure us that we haven’t given in yet. The most creative imaginings of possible futures are bleak. Several times, this magazine has published articles on the regrettable trend toward dystopian film and fiction, which even the Star Trek franchise has succumbed to. The observation “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism” is tragically accurate.

The future wasn’t always like this. Once, long ago, people devised extraordinary utopias. From the original one—Thomas More’s 16th century satire—to the Victorian-era visions of H.G. Wells and William Morris, to the feminist science fiction novels that dared to dream of a world without men, in times past there were countless available tomorrows, only some of them depressing. George Scialabba, in his lecture “Slouching Towards Utopia,” notes the strange contrast between the popular literature of the 19th century and that of our own time. The bestselling books of the 1800s were exhortations to moral progress, like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, and Edward Bellamy’s utopian Looking Backward. (By contrast, over the last century, Scialabba says, it was probably The Da Vinci Code, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Hite Report.) The success of Bellamy’s novel is particularly noteworthy. As a novel, there’s not much to it: a Bostonian falls asleep and awakens in the year 2000, where he is shown around a future socialist society. But Bellamy goes into detail about the operations of future-Boston, presenting a world in which labor is minimal, goods are distributed equally among all, crime is treated as a medical issue, and everyone retires at age 45.

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #current affairs #utopia #democratic socialism #socialism #ecosocialism #capitalism #class oppression #depression

[spacephant0m]

cw for personal talk about religion/spirituality and trying to find myself. Srry for typos

I’m in my room on the verge of tears and switching between crying and having a blank stare, watching brendon’s livestream on my ipad while i type this. I’m trying to study witchcraft to some extent as I’ve never really read much of anything about it before. Specifically I was reading about christian witches. Now the thing is like, i grew up as a christian. And nowadays i still believe in God definitely, but i hate christian practices. I remember reading and studying world religions in college last year and absolutely loving it and being so sad because i never experienced such practices in my own faith that actually seemed..... like, fun, and super connective. Me bawling my eyes out at church camp and being “lost” was not exactly what i originally thought it was. I was just mentally ill and didnt know it. Deep down i always knew i had a connection with God that wasnt faltering over silly shit a kid does wrong. Kid sins. Whatever the fuck. As much as i fucken prayed and asked for forgiveness, i was fine. Christianity is always a race to be closer to God and its like.... how close can i get when im doing the same fucking exact practices over and over.... they never really taught us about meditation and becoming one with your surroundings and idk, letting your spirit free. They kind of talked about it sometimes.

But i just hate the entire setup of church. I miss the family aspect so much. Thats all i miss. I miss bible study but really i just miss the points where we talked about life. Thats usually what we did, we would have an entire lesson setup and it would become totally derailed by our conversations. And it was real and i had a sense of community that i cant get anywhere else. I havent been able to find it anywhere else. But i also miss my personal sense of spirituality. I love that word and i love that it has so many encapsulating meanings. I dont wanna be like a white man self acclaimed guru who’s like read this book it’ll help you change your life....... i feel like those guys really appropriate culture and commercialize it. Its kinda gross. I try not to associate myself with that idea but every time i think about meditating more and shit im like “ew im gonna be a gross white guy whos all at peace w himself and lives in the mountains and shit” AND IT MAKES ME MAD. I’m having a beer right now instead of a cup of tea. Probably a mistake. Tea helps me feel better but im filling my body w shit at the moment bc thats what happens when i get this sad.

Anyways i really hate the idea of practicing a religion. I made a post before asking for sort of an advice on this, like was it okay for me to like witchy things and not actually be one. I was told yes its totally okay. And im not disrespectful of anyone and i dont make fun of any religion. I just persoaally cannot see myself involved with having an actual religion. I dont even consider myself christian so how could i ever proclaim myself as a christian witch, idk.

I dont want to label myself at all. Maybe i dont need any of this. Maybe i just need to play dnd and live vicariously thru my character. Use that shit as therapy. I hear it helps a lot with mental health and social skills. That of which i am verily lacking. I’m just hurting and im pissed off. I dont know why exactly. I just want to do meditation and i wanna buy my crystals and start doing yoga again. This year i have been stretching more. Actually i started on the first of feb. i stretch every day and do vocal exercises to help my voice get more control and deepen it a bit (transmasc).

I am also just a bit overwhelmed at everything. I dont know where to start. All i know is i want to burn incense like i used to growing up bc it always made me happy. And that i only believe in like..... cleansing through these elements and a prayer to God. But i’ve always had faith issues because im so insecure, i never think God will actually help me because maybe i dont deserve it or maybe he just doesnt want to.

I’m also scared im gonna do something wrong or fuck something up. That something bad will happen or something because im dumb. I dont know if i could mix my own herbs that feel right to me, or if i should use a recipe. I feel stupid that i dont have as much faith in prayer as i wish i did, but i have faith that little rocks will help to cleanse negative energy and things like that.

I dont know why im crying, i guess because im so insecure? Or maybe life is just rly hard and i’m overthinking everything. I just feel kinda bad. Yet when my friends tell me theyre praying for me, i do have faith in that and it means the world to me.

I know none of this is a big deal to anyone, and maybe none of it should matter. But im like. Idk. Im very interested in plants and medicines of the earth and shit like i always have been ever since i was young i thought of myself as like. Awakened and shit LOL whatever that means @ 10 year old me. I dont want to feel like anything controls me or owns me, i want to feel like i am in control of my own life and that i could harness the energy around me to not only like bring me peace of mind but to help me through my journey of life.

But i guess my biggest issue is i have no fuckin clue where to start. I hate reading and all this research im trying to do to help myself figure out what i enjoy is just. Making me so fucken overwhelmed. I only read like. 1 blog post and 2 articles and im already losing it. I always grew up w the mindset that God will take care of everything but like. He already has. In my mind. Because he’s already given us all the tools we need. But folks just like. Wanna be lazy and wait for things to happen. Sometimes all u can do is wait but when it comes to like, being THE ONES IN CONTROL, “prayers for america” is dumb as fck.

Idk i dont know anything and its okay to not know right now but i want something more in my life but i want it to be like.... totally personal and i dont want it to be absolutely everything my life revolves around. I want it to just be something i do and that i love. I dont need a label for it. But idk. I just dont know what to do.

If anyone has any sort of advice or is dealing with anything like this i’d love to hear about it. My ask and msgs are open as well. I feel pretty alone right now. Im just patiently waiting for my paycheck tomorrow so i can buy these crystals i rly want. But who knows what it will take to satisfy my hungry soul.

Another problem i rly have honestly is just like. Spending a lot of money on a lot of hobbies. I feel shitty for having so many things i enjoy doing. I try to narrow it down. I havent started embroidery bc i dont wanna spend more money and i feel like i’ll never have enough time to practice. Im just. Mediocre at a lot of things instead of rly super good at one thing. I mean i think im pretty great at drawing but thats about it. But ive been doing that for 10 years so ofc im good at it NOW. But ffs. I wanna do so many things and its overwhelming. I work a minimum wage job and its. I dont have enough money for anything lol so most of my stuff is low-budge† which is fine i guess but. Idk. Im tired. Im sad.

I dont know how to be more spiritual i dont know where to start. And my mind is telling me to slap a label on it or its not anything of value. Which is bullshit. But y’know. Anxiety n shit.

#witchcraft #witch #spirituality #religion #christian witch #meditation #blurb #finding myself #spiritual advice #religious advice #tryin not to cry again #removing labels #self help #i guess #personal #dandan speaks #idk what tags to use

[tsukemono-bristol]

THE RESTAURANT IS DEAD - LONG LIVE THE RESTAURANT

A reaction to David Browns article in The Times “Fickle diners blamed as record numbers of restaurants go bust” on 5 November 2018 Find it here: https://bit.ly/2Qxcyy6 Dear David,  You got us.  Well done. 

I have to out myself as one of those people making “japanese pancakes” - they are called okonomiyaki by the way.  We run one of these pop-up kitchens you speak of. We are TSUKEMONO.  We make Japanese street food. At your service. Mostly.  It seems that you are blaming fickle customers and the recent development of pop-up kitchens for the closure of several mid-range chains. I don’t think that’s quite fair. That would almost be like solely blaming immigrants for the current economical state the UK is in. Don’t you think, David? Maybe it is one-sided and reductive perspectives on complex issues born out of equally complex circumstances that are the problem here.  You are interpreting the facts from the top, not from the bottom. You don’t think of the chefs, the waiters, the kitchen porters or even the small businesses. You think of the shareholders. (Will no one think of the shareholders?!?) Maybe customers aren’t fickle. Maybe one portion hasn’t got the disposable income anymore to take the family to a mid-range chain on a Tuesday. Maybe the other portion would like to spend their money conscientiously. In my experience customers aren’t fickle they are picky. They like to know where there money is going. I know I do.  Customers are intelligent, they do their research and most of all they have finely tuned bullshit detectors.  The pound fell. There is a housing crisis. Minimum wage has risen but is still desperately incongruous with the living wage. Brexit has everyone spooked and rightfully so.  Maybe the business model of mid-range chains used to work in a socio-economical structure with a healthy middle class. Maybe people are put off by the sloppily researched, supposedly authentic experiences some restaurants offer for way more money that they are worth. Maybe customers feel uncomfortable interacting with the desperately cheerful waiter that definitely doesn’t get paid enough to be genuinely that cheerful. Maybe the food, the ambience and the service are mediocre because, in a place like that, no-one has enough agency to genuinely care.  Customers, chefs and waiters are just there to support a business model. Not to feed people or to provide a service, but solely to create revenue.  Maybe it’s time to accept that the mid-range chain restaurant is an outdated business model that is simply not suited to the current economical climate. Maybe corporate business structures and hospitality don’t mix well. Maybe the smile of a formerly charming celebrity chef is now too thin a veneer to hide these realities.  We’ve chosen the transient and at times precarious business form of the pop-up because, like you point out David, it’s incredibly expensive to kit out a restaurant. We’d love to be able to confidently make that initial outlay. Kudos to all the small independent business folk who are making it work. You know who you are! In the meantime we’ve found a mutually beneficial business model: the pop-up. There are plenty of pubs and bars that simply can’t afford to run a kitchen (anymore). Many of them have fully fitted kitchens. The dying breed of the “independent pub” is being rejuvenated by teaming up with pop-up kitchens. We are not kitchen nomads on purpose. It’s hard work. Don’t think we’re not tired of carrying our kit in and out of places. But we’re making it work. Because at the moment this is the only way we can run our business in a way that enables us to make something we care about. And people care in return. Maybe our food isn’t a fad. Maybe it’s just interesting, honest and frankly, tasty. You deride people for taking pictures of their food but it’s actually a great way to support a small business. We don’t have money for big ad campaigns but we have social media. It really helps! Our customers are our platform and we appreciate every post and every picture. They want to be a part of what we do and we are grateful for that. We are lucky enough to have many customers that follow us around when we pop-up in different locations. To them it’s a culinary treasure hunt. Thank you guys! We’d love to have a permanent residence David, honest. But we’ve chosen the this transient business model because the economy or our personal backgrounds don’t provide us with enough security to do otherwise. We’re not going to get a massive bank loan just before Brexit. (That would just be silly, don’t you agree?) There is no safety net for us. No bailouts. If cuts (or brave decisions) need to be made to the company, it’s our own heads on the chopping block. We are growing our business slowly, from the ground up, because we have to. We won’t artificially inflate it with borrowed capital to the point where it can’t support itself or becomes something totally unrecognisable.  Because we are our business. We are TSUKEMONO. Literally.  We are not the enemy. We are the future. And no matter how hard you try to make us cry a tear for the shareholders I think the customers with their finely tuned bullshit detectors are on to you. Maybe that’s why they are staying away.  The restaurant is dead. Long live the restaurant. Sincerely yours,  TSUKEMONO

#business #restaurant #justsaying #hospitality #independent

[goldman64schneider-blog]

Meet Kamala Harris, Which Could possibly Come to be The Very first Girl President.

http://agnes-recommande.info obtain individuals mentioning to me regularly that my 'job' - indicating blog writing as well as instagramming, looks a lot fun and they wish they might perform it. Well to start with, it is actually certainly not specifically a work, I indicate, I would mention you need to be earning a minimum of base pay (do not even get me started on living wage) prior to you may profess that as your 'em ployment'. Practically, it was actually a continuation of the brave relationship of the early globe, coupled with the importance on feeling usual to the Intimate Age. Seeing him do this, when I devoted my nights and weekend breaks at that bar, actually got me interested about individuals as well as just how they function and exactly how he was performing exactly what he was carrying out, because that felt like an incredibly electrical power to me, to become capable to take care of individuals. They determined to turn the garbage lot ground into a park ... a park with recreation spaces, seats as well as ball fields ... a location to celebrate lifestyle and also revitalization vs. death as well as decay. Know precisely what sort of person you would like to meet THIS time and also know your deal-breakers. One means is through cultivating a reputabled Band from Bro within our congregation that fulfill routinely 'to perform lifestyle together'. You apply the BRILLIANT standards to any kind of objective you prefer to obtain and if that does certainly not fulfill some of the five attributes you clear up as well as adjust it until that performs. This voids and also decreases your friend or relative's RA pain-- a thoughtless point to perform. The belief from pain depends upon a range from variables, including our overall health. That being stated, meeting a skin specialist on a regular basis could be good for your friend as well as their general therapy program. People in the seaside neighborhoods are actually certainly mosting likely to suit up in different ways than the people that live in Bel Air, or Hollywood, or even Silver Pond. Do exactly what you may to remove the urges of the high carbohydrate, reduced nutrition foods in the house as well as points will definitely begin to transform a lot better. There are actually lots of folks which aren't Christians who may, by some standard, be thought about better folks than some Christians. I checked out every thing folks must say, become aware of illustration, tarnishing etc and also intended to toss the assistance out the window given that I yearned for that look. Like just about anything, the more you involve your own self into a subject as well as border yourself by individuals which are actually passionate and enthusiastic concerning a subject matter, the even more this abrades on you. There's so much to perform that you will certainly not be actually bored or unhappy getting on your very own (and also it is actually effortless to encounter folks there as well). Ladies live their lives online: carrying out research, seeing TELEVISION programs, and consulting with buddies at the same time. Eligible 'Listed below's to Huge Bear' as well as 'Below is actually to Twinkle', the 2 movies center around a team of four close friends and also the switches that seal their relationship. Despite the amount of attempt you put into it, that's still inescapable for some folks to dislike just what you're referring to. Therefore get out certainly there, create a system for subsequenting that you will definitely make use of consistently, and find some individuals. So amazed along with http://agnes-recommande.info , Yousafzai welcomed her friend to attend the Nobel Tranquility Reward ceremony with her in Norway in December, together with 3 various other young supporters, Opportunity disclosed. Additionally, this article is going to detail a number of the toxic pals you have to remove ASAP. Beginning along with the book of Origin and finishing with the book. from Revelation the Holy bible refers a history of God's participation with his people. The higher visibility as well as openness from the internet and social networks has actually implied there are extra options and also tools compared to in the past which are offered in order to help you satisfy a personality, effective political leader, movie superstar, or any individual else.

The additional you stay a life from stability, the less complicated this will certainly be to look everybody you find in the eye, and also perform that with assurance as well as an actual smile. Perk Idea 2: The biggest objection of Trump is actually that his migration intends tell individuals of Hitler. Joblessness is still an issue, however amongst people I know regionally, far less are unemployed currently compared with a year or 2 back. Surrounding on your own along with pleased friends oftens increase your very own happiness; being with troubled friends, unfortunately, often tends to lessen this. There is no league from the law one of guys that typically check out a group and talk to individuals not to rest on the stairs before a museum. Researches additionally reveal that people with greater amounts from vitamin D and also omega-3 fats are less probably to end up being miserable. This quick unburdening reads as anxiety and repels people quicker in comparison to water off a duck's spine. This is actually an uplifting read and also one that I think will definitely possess a considerable amount of people examining the work they perform now, how this may be modified, improved, adopted, or even perhaps transformed completely. Whenever I want to overtake folks over lunch, I typically pack meals coming from house (leftovers are incredible for this) as well as welcome them to accomplish the very same. One more tactic I love to use, specifically along with people I merely met, is to launch the new person to other people I know. Discover a good friend which likewise really wants a far healthier lifestyle and discuss your triumphs and also has problem with one another. It is actually a straightforward concept, yet that may make a significant distinction along with how comfy folks feel around you. The scent and also sunglasses will be marketed individually, in addition to in a bespoke carton collection (at Oliver Peoples) with a customized situation and bag. Thus thanks for writing this and also motivating me 🠂 I got my domain as well as installed wordpress recently, however I was having those exact questions that you have actually stated - regarding my life being actually monotonous or even individuals certainly not reading my web content. It is actually opportunity to deliver all of them back into your group, so you could receive honest tips coming from folks who have actually known you for a long times. As soon as you leave college, as well as especially when you obtain wed as well as possess children, it becomes very difficult to earn and also always keep pals. Experiencing strong in bench press in the first time. in ... effectively for good practically, so this's a fellow feeling. Words coming from Ohio D-Dad and CWD owner Jeff Hitchock is that nearly 2,000 individuals joined this year, along with 10% from those being adult PWDs - much of whom grew along with FFL by means of the years. Irrespective of how many expert options social networks offer our team, people still utilize all of them generally for trading individual relevant information as well as corresponding along with friends and family. Christakis stated the paper supports the thought that humans are metagenomic with regards to the microorganisms in our company and also to the people around our team. Our evolutionary exercise-- the capability to replicate and endure-- relies on our personal hereditary make-up as well as the makeup from our friends.

[amberandmetal]

Beautiful

Author: @waywardkitten Featuring: Steve x Reader Written for: ..my own emotional purging? Warnings/Tags: Self hate, self loathing, issues with own appearance, angst Rating: Mature Word count: 2823 Beta: @hi-i-am-mia (Thank you, love) Summary:  Reader can’t stand her own appearance and struggles with self hate. She’s having a hard time dealing with it. Enter Steve. A/N: So this was a painful thing for me to write since this is basically my own emotions regarding myself and how I look. I had a bad day and a lot of not so nice thoughts about myself and I decided to pour all of that into this. So basically this is my emotional purging turned into fluffy mush or something like that. It has a sweet ending i promise, and if you're having one of those days when you don't like yourself very much I genuinely believe reading this can be a comfort.Hope you'll like it ~ Feedback is strongly encouraged  ♡

You felt the tears caress and wet your cheeks as you watched the same tears fall from the eyes of your looking glass twin staring back at you.

Different night, same story.

The night had been a blur of tuxedos, suits and evening gowns, one pretty face after the other; blinding white teeth between perfectly painted lips, smiling and greeting you as Pepper had made the rounds with you so she could introduce her niece because it was “ The polite thing to do ” and “ How else are you going to make friends? ”

It had been a never ending onslaught of slim faces, cheekbones that went for miles, jawlines that probably could cut more than glass, perfectly plucked eyebrows and flawless skin.

You wanted to seep through the earth never to return.

You’d lived in the tower for quite some time now. When your folks split you had to make the best of a bad situation but after years of moving from place to place and taking minimum wage jobs that never paid out you’d found yourself at a loss; and with nowhere left to go you’d finally swallowed your pride and called your aunt. She and Tony had taken you in without any questions asked and Tony had stocked your very own room with anything you might need — and you were forever in their debt.

Pepper had not only been kind enough to take you in but also not say a word about her brother — your father— and the fact that he’d bailed on you without as much as an explanation or even a goodbye.

She kept her opinions to herself, knowing it was hard on you as it was, but everytime his name was voiced out loud she still couldn’t help the thin tight lipped line forming her mouth.

Mouth..

The thought drew you back into the present, your eyes landing on your own in the mirror. Your gaze traced the lines and curves of your lips as they trembled slightly with the sobs you couldn’t quite hold in.

You felt ridiculous. A grown woman crying over her appearance. There were worse things in the world than an unattractive face.

Still.. you couldn’t let it go.

Every time you were looked upon you felt shame and a deep desire to become invisible. It was like the look of another burned your very skin making it feel raw.

You looked up, scanning your face; your way too plump cheeks, your unusually shaped nose, strange eyes and abnormal forehead. If you hadn’t already been crying, you would’ve started then.

The women at the gala had been beautiful, gorgeous, ethereal . And you- you they had squeezed into a pale lime green strapless gown that had done nothing to hide your not so slim nor fit upper arms and far from toned back and shoulders. You’d pleaded with your aunt to let you wear something to cover up but as you’d feared she’d just told you “ Nonsense, you’re beautiful ” and that had been the end of that.

Your legs started to ache from sitting on the floor but you couldn’t make yourself move. You were entranced by the vision in the mirror you despised so deeply, much like in the same morbid way you can’t look away from a car crash.

   “Y/n?”

You didn’t even register the soft call of your name. You just stared into your own eyes, racking your brain after any clue as to how you ended up looking like this. Your parents were beautiful, both of them, so it didn’t make a lick of sense. If it hadn’t been for you having the same twisted sense of humour as your father or your mother’s loopey intelligence you would’ve called adoption. But no, you were most definitely their daughter. The rather unusual colour of your eyes could attest to that if nothing else.    “Y/n? You in here?”

You didn’t even have time to react, much less wipe your face. Tall, blonde, beautiful and looking very much concerned Steve Rogers had appeared behind you, worried eyes connecting with yours through the mirror.    “ Oh, Steve.. hi..uhm, just gimme a minute”, you stammered, putting your arm up to shield your wet, red and puffy face from view as you reached for a tissue.

He surprised you by crouching down behind you and grabbing both your arms softly but not pulling at them.    “Hey, hey.. what’s wrong?”

You were thankful he didn’t sound the least condescending, only worried. It was a small comfort though since you thought you’d probably implode from the embarrassment.

Steve was the epitome of perfection— it was something you both hated and loved about him. You had studied him for months trying to find a flaw, chancing a glance every opportunity you got, even opting to observe his training sessions with the meek excuse that you found it educating.

Steve, being the kind altruistic person that he was, had no problems with that, and the weekly sparring sessions between the Avengers had become your favourite time of the week. And now Steve was there; in your bedroom; sitting behind you; while you were crying.    “Steve, really.. I’m fine..I-..I just”

He slumped down then and let his long legs sprawl out on either side of you.    “What? You just what?”

He kept his voice soft as he spoke. He let go of your arm with one hand to pull the curtain of hair covering your face behind your ear, your arms resting on your bent up knee still covering most of you.    “I’ve never seen you like this, has something happened? What’s going on?”

You just shook your head silently, hoping that he would eventually give up and go away.  An unsanctioned sob racked your body then and Steve surprised you by moving closer and moving those big arms around you in a 104 degree embrace. You shivered, the warmth pebbling your cold skin.    “Why are you here? Why are you being so nice?”

Your voice sounded small, pathetic, but you didn’t have the strength in you to care at this point. The solid weight of Steve’s head fell softly on you as he rested his chin on your shoulder.    “You disappeared the moment we got back without a word. Thought I’d come and check on you”

Making sure you wiped your face on the sleeve of the hoodie you’d put on the moment you entered your room, you slowly looked up from behind your arm, peering warily at the Captain’s reflection.

He smiled, looking right back at you through the mirror    “Hi there, long time no see”

You managed a slightly exasperated huff of a chuckle. You still didn’t want him to see you and you hadn’t gotten any bit closer to figuring out what the hell Steve Rogers was doing sitting on your bedroom floor, holding you while you sobbed with self pity. But you did manage to decide that you hadn’t got the strength in you to care anymore.    “Hi”, you whispered back.

A quick smile.    “So you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

   “I’m ugly”

The words were out of your mouth so fast you didn’t have the time to stop yourself. You squeezed your eyes shut on a groan. Damn it . You hid your face behind your arms again with a sigh, internally berating yourself.    “What?”

He sounded so adorably confused you jerked your head up without having made any decision to do so. His brows were closely knitted together and his eyes wide as he stared at the reflection of the two of you.    “You’re no— “

   “Yes, I am. And don’t try to deny it.”

   “You’re beauti— “

   “Don’t. Please don’t. I’m not. And it becomes even more apparent being around you, all of you… I mean is there a criteria in the ‘Being a superhero’ checklist stating that you have to be gorgeous beyond logic?-... It’s just.. I know I’m not..that. Never have been, never will be. I’m a disproportionate mess with scars, cellulite, rolls and a face that should be covered in makeup 24/7. I’m sorry.. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, I don— .. I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”

You couldn’t have stopped the pathetic rambling even if you’d wanted to. It was like suddenly you’d had enough of it, of feeling like this, thinking like that, it all just welled over and wouldn’t stop. You groaned, curling in on yourself further, a pink blush heating your cheeks. You were mortified.

Your entire body went rigid when you felt a warm cheek and a soft pair of lips nuzzling slow and light against your neck.    “Can I talk now?”

You nodded jerkily, not sure of what else to do.    “Good, and I need you to be quiet until I am finished, no protesting and no running away, deal?”

Your nerves were running amok but still, against better judgement, you nodded again.    “I think you are beautiful.. ah, ah, no, no protesting remember?.. You are beautiful and it is unfathomable to me that you can’t see it, or that you can’t see the way I’ve been tripping over myself around you..”, your head snapped up. What? “..are you really that clueless, Y/n? I am not exactly the most subtle fella..”

You just stared at him in the mirror, scanning his face for any sign of insincerity and resigned to question your own sanity when you found none.

   “You do look unusual-” your eyes shot down at his words but he simply took a soft hold of your chin and tilted your face up again “- and that’s what makes you beautiful. I’m not saying conventional beauty is unattractive but it’s not the only way to be pretty. Stars are beautiful, but so are flowers, Christmas lights and sunsets and they look nothing alike-” you looked at him then, mouth suddenly dry as your mind kept spinning faster and faster for every word he told you “- and you forget, I think, that this-” he gestured to himself “-is not natural. I was small, sick and weak.. no dame would even look my way. So I know what it’s like wishing you were born as something else, but I’m telling while I had reason to feel that way, you do not.”

He spoke gently and so softly it started to lull you into a sense of safety and calm that in some lonely corner of your mind both thrilled and jarred you.    “I’ve seen photos..”, you mumbled “..of you, pre-serum. I would’ve looked your way”

Steve chuckled in your ear and tightened the embrace for a second, squeezing you lightly.    “That was different though, I was born with a disadvantage, you were not.”

You threw your hands in the air lightly, suddenly feeling a bit exasperated    “But I’m not like— “

   “them”, he finished for you “so? I am around soldiers everyday, perfectly fit men and women, which is all good, but you- you’re real . You are soft and the realest thing I have in my life. Nobody can ever play the Celebrity look alike game with you because there is no one that looks like you. Your beauty is your own, and it’s unique and it’s wonderful ”

Tears were rolling down your face again but for a completely different reason. You weren’t sure you dared believe him but it felt so good to be enclosed in his warmth and just listen to his kind words softly rumbling in his chest.    “ You are wonderful”

You tore your eyes from the mirror to snap around and look at him and just as you did he sealed your mouths in a kiss.

A satisfied hum rose up from his throat as he molded his lips to yours and it completely short circuited your brain. You threw your arms around his neck and let yourself melt into it, not having the energy to second guess anything.

He turned you so your entire body was facing him and your legs stretched out over his thighs and around his body. You trembled slightly as he pulled you closer to him, connecting your cold frame to his heat.

Without as much as a huff of breath he got up, pulling you with him and carrying you to your bed. You squeaked at the first pull but then remembered superhuman strength and decided to just be okay with it.

He dropped you down on the bed with one knee on the mattress, hovering over you. His eyes were dark and his pupils heavy with want.    “I can’t believe you don’t know how beautiful you are, how good ..” you shivered at the word. Steve chuckled lowly “You like that, doll? Being told what a good girl you are? Because I won’t mind telling you again and again..”, he murmured, easily stripping you off your hoodie and then reaching for the zipper on the side of your dress.

You froze.

Steve’s eyes suddenly looked uncertain, fingers still hovering just above the clasp above the zipper. You just stared wide-eyed, silently wondering if it were possible for your heart to literally break your bones and beat out of your chest.    “If you don’t wan— “

   “No!..no, I do, I do..it’s just..”. you gestured kinda vaguely towards yourself before you went on to cover your chest and stomach with your arms.

The look on Steve’s face softened and he got up on the bed towering over you on all fours. He locked eyes with you for only a second, a glint of mischief and mirth in his eyes that had your skin buzzing with nerves. Next thing you knew his lips were on your jawline, your neck and clavicle.    “I guess I’m just gonna have to show you then, won’t I?”

You trembled slightly beneath him, brain overloaded with the sheer magnitude of trying to grasp the situation. You couldn’t believe what was happening, but happy that it did. You just prayed to whatever deity that he wouldn’t take one look at your body and run screaming the other way.

His lips had reached the upper hem of your gown and he made quick work of the clasp and zipper, inching it down slowly as he planted kiss after kiss along every new inch of skin that was revealed.    “Beautiful, soft, even your skin smell so good, sweetheart”

You whined lowly in spite of yourself, hoping he wouldn’t hear you; but he wouldn’t even have had needed super hearing to hear the low desperate noises you were making and his eyes shot up at the sound.    “ Beautiful ”

His eyes glinted.

He kept working your dress down your body, slipping it off you slowly, kissing every inch by inch that got exposed. He groaned low in his chest at the sight of your bare chest, braless and naked, skin pebbling in the cool air.    “Can’t believe this, can’t believe I get to.. that you.. ah, such a good girl , so sweet, so soft..exquisite, pretty, stunning, smell so good,wonderful.”

You swallowed, your throat making a weird clicking noise as your saliva struggled down your dry throat. Every kiss on your exposed skin felt like he left a mark, that the kisses were etched into your skin where they tingled long after his lips moved lower.

He kept murmuring soft praises as he rained kisses all over your skin. He didn’t stop until he’d gotten your gown completely off and he had reached the arch of your foot, planting one last kiss there tenderly. He’d left you in nothing but your panties and the hairs on your skin standing on end in the cold seemed to remind him. He slowly made his way up your body, dragging his solid warm frame against you as he went, careful not to put too much of his weight on you.

When he finally was up by your head again you felt delirious with it; intoxicated; drunk . You managed to scramble your broken thoughts together enough to mumble out a quiet “Are you sure about this?”

He captured your lips with his, sucking lightly on your bottom lip before letting his teeth graze softly over it. He bit, nibbled and laved over your lips until they felt swollen and completely kissed out.    “Positive”

That’s when you felt a hot warm tongue sliding across your lip and you eagerly opened up, surging upward to claim more of him. He smiled wide into the kiss, running his big hands all over your chest, arms and stomach. You hummed in pleasure and allowed yourself to just melt against him.

He angled his hips just so, the hard ridge of him pressing against your thigh, hot and hard.  A desperate moan escaped your mouth and he bit down on your bottom lip and tugged lightly before sliding his mouth across your cheek to your ear, his breath warm and damp against you.    “ Like I said.. beautiful ”

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[disinvited-guest]

4/17/18 Recap

It’s tradition that when a show is in the Cincinnati area, my sister and I have Cincinnati chili beforehand, so we grabbed Skyline on the way to the venue, arriving around 4:30.  We met up with a lot of folks we’d seen before at one show or another.  A few minutes into our wait, we heard This Microphone playing from inside the venue.  Then, a minute or so later, Flans started a Vibe Report with his voice still blasting from the venue.  A bunch of us in line simultaneously freaked out about the Vibe Reports being for Stale Vibes for a full minute before all realizing that it was the song that was a recording, not the video.  When they did do soundcheck, much later, they practiced a bunch of their less-played Flood songs and I Like Fun.

When they opened doors, we made two lines.  I ended up in the slow one, but my sister was smart enough to go in the opposite from me, so she went ahead to get us a spot.  We ended up in front of Marty’s drum riser, which is where we’d discussed before the show.  I was surprised by how tall the stage was, coming up nearly to my chin!

They came onstage early to the Last Wave video, which surprised me, and it wasn’t even quite 8 yet when they started into Damn Good Times.  Danny saw me right away and I got a huge smile (I think he recognized my sister too, but when I mentioned it to her between sets she snorted and said “you two only have eyes for each other” so I’m not sure).  

Linnell introduced them as They Might Be Giants and Flans explained how they would be playing two sets, and for the second set they would be playing Flood “in sequence.”  

The crowd cheered, then Linnell told us “not the sequence they are on the album, just a sequence.”  Which got a laugh.  Flans finally cleared up how exactly it would go by telling us they would be playing it in reverse sequence from the album.

They played The Mesopotamians, then I Left My Body, then Linnell introduced Hey Mr DJ by saying “This song has a fade out.”  They had obviously practiced doing it with a fade out since Louisville, it went really smoothly and they didn’t have to gather around the drum riser to make it work.  Linnell was hilarious during the fade out because he kept mouthing the lyrics, not even whispering, all the way through to the end.

They introduced the next song as a cover of Destiny’s Child, then got into a debate as to whether their cover version was just like the original or not.  Eventually Flans decided “different costumes, same sassy attitudes.”  Linnell thought that Flans had the sassy attitude down, but wasn’t sure if he did.  Flans then told us he was “portraying the sassy attitude of Kelly Rowland,” while Linnell was in the role of Beyonce Knowles.

Linnell told us he was a “mere understudy” for the role.  Flans went back up to the mic stand to respond, then thought better of it “I was going to make a really obscene comment, then I realized that that was a bad idea.”  They started into the song and Flans was especially dramatic.  He started out singing directly to a member of the crowd, did his pivot turn, and walked along the edge of the drum riser twice.  As they finished, Dan Miller left the stage and they started into Don’t Let’s Start.  Perhaps because it was earlier into the show, Flans and Danny weren’t jumping and spinning around stage as much as they usually do for this song, although there was still a fair amount of hopping and dancing from both of them.

Dan and Curt both returned to stage for Spy.  When it was Linnell’s turn for the ending, he had them playing opposite that sample of his from Here Comes Santa Claus.  When he turned things over to Flans, he kept them all playing for a bit, then stopped Linnell and Marty until it was just Curt and Dan playing some goofy sounding high notes with Danny supporting.  He then brought the crowd into it a bit with long, extended cheers, then ended things with no warning, saying “Spy” into the mic in a normal speaking voice.  Curt left,  and they played Number Three and then Wicked Little Critta.  Dan said something to Danny during WLC that made both of them crack up.  

Curt returned to the stage and Linnell went over to get the contra alto clarinet while Flans introduced it as “last seen at your high school concert band rehearsal.  I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not that one.”  Danny was singing the backing vocals to All Time What again, which is so incredibly adorable and wonderful. (He also sang a lot of the backing vocals for the Flood set and my sister pointed out that it’s probably because he and Dan practice together, which is even more wonderful.)

The Dans left stage but Dan Miller didn’t go far.  The whole set, he’d been switching off malfunctioning guitars with a harried Mr. Burnette, who would fix them just in time for the next to have a problem.  Dan stayed just offstage, working to fix the latest in the string of guitar issues.

Flans grabbed his acoustic then told us that they were doing this next song a little bit differently because the second set was a Flood set.  There was some feedback and he said “Oh, I think that was me.”  As the noise died a bit he said, “the noise is coming from my [name of the guitar I forget] made in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  It has the power of Christ behind it.”  This got a laugh, Flans clarified that when there was feedback, the guitar made people say “Jesus!” then tried the guitar again, saying he thought it was fixed.  

This resulted in more feedback, and Linnell told him “It will never be fixed.”

They then started I Like Fun, and I thought it was kinda funny Flans was all nervous about doing it differently when poor Marty was the only one doing something different.  The poor guy was incredibly tense, trying to play a part he was used to doing on electronic drums on his regular trap set.  He got through it wonderfully though because he is a national treasure.

The Dans returned to the stage while the Johns plugged the new album.  I believe it was here they asked people to hold up their vinyl copies of I Like Fun.  There were some Flood vinyls to, and Flans told those people they could make a killing on ebay because “people don’t realize it’s still available.” Linnell played a note on his keyboards that told me they’d be playing Mrs. Bluebeard, but Flans wasn’t done.  He made a few more comments about buying things at high prices and that was what made ebay so wonderful before they started into the song.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned before that when they play Mrs Bluebeard the lights onstage are all blue.  It’s a bit on the nose, but I think it’s a nice touch.  From there, they went into New York City. Flans sang King Kong rather than Dylan and at one point Danny stood behind Flans and randomly spun in a slow circle.  They finished out the set with The Guitar (with a wild Future of Sound) and left, with Flans telling us they would be back in 15 minutes.

They didn’t quite make 15, but they were back onstage to Gypsy before the regular 20 minutes with Dan taking pictures of the crowd with his phone.  Flans stopped to remind us they were playing all of Flood in reverse order, making it “a memory test for everybody,” before they started into Road Movie to Berlin.  Flans included the King of Liars verse, which I was super excited about, and I whistled along at the appropriate points.  They went straight into They Might Be Giants from there, it was incredibly goofy and high energy.

I believe it was here that Flans told us he could feel himself getting younger as they played the songs “like Benjamin Button.”  Linnell offered another example that he thought was more fitting, and Flans said “Well, I’ve never seen Benjamin Button.”

“So that’s the one you prefer,” Linnell responded.

“It’s about the businessman who’s a baby, right?” Flans asked.  Linnell said that was exactly what it was about.  Then, in a old-timey New York businessman accent, Flans did his best Benjamin Button impression “I’m Benjamin Button, see?”

Linnell told us the next song was originally recorded by an orchestra but that they had given it their own unique spin.  This lead into Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love.  From there, they went straight into Women and Men, which I was most excited to hear out of all the Flood songs.  It was as fantastic as I had hoped, although Linnell switched “shipwreck” and “beachhead” around.  After the song, all the lights went down and I clapped and cheered especially loud, which I think Danny heard, because when I could see again he was looking at me and laughing.  

I believe it was before Hot Cha when the band started discussing how tricky it was to promote this show “never since Tempe, Arizona” had a show cause such trouble, since it wasn’t in Cincinnati, it was in Covington.  They discussed the many different places their shows were that were actually just Boston, and Flans told us “We have no idea where we are most of the time anyway.”  They took a poll of the people from Covington versus Cincinnati, which wasn’t very successful.  Most people cheered for both, and Linnell told us that it appeared one and two thirds of the crowd was here tonight.  They played Hot Cha, then made a few more comments about the Covington/Cincinnati divide, saying they would be organizing chicken fights between us after the show.  Linnell grabbed his accordion and they played Whistling in the Dark.

As they got set up for Letterbox, Flans commented on the fact they now had two acoustic guitars onstage.  He told us that they were now “that kind of band,” and that “Next comes the stools and the cap’m’s hats.  Letterbox was as impressively word-dense as always.  When it was over, Mr. Burnett came out to give Dan his electric guitar and Flans commented on the exchange, causing him to present it to Dan with a bit of ceremony.

They played Minimum Wage and Flans sang a bit of the ending “bah bah bah bah” and then Hearing Aid before Flans stopped to warn us that we were getting “Perilously close to the beginning of side two.”  They finished off side two by playing Someone Keeps Moving My Chair.

Flans told us we were now on side one, then pause and said “There’s no stage banter between songs on the album so I’m not sure what to say.”  He asked Linnell how his day was, but Linnell hadn’t done much, and Flans hadn’t either.  Flans then commented that he had finished the book he was reading, and started On Fascism “because I felt like I wasn't getting enough of current events.” This got a laugh from the crowd, and Flans remembered a story.

He told us about the Belly Up, the place they play in Solano Beach on the West Coast.  He told us it was exactly the kind of place we would expect from the name and tried to do an impression of the guys who were there.  Unfortunately he “didn't have the bangs for it.”

Apparently the cousin of the guy who owns the Belly Up owns a venue in Aspen, Colorado and wanted to book them.  Flans said they were wary about it, but when they got there it was mostly the same type of people. “Ski-bums,” Linnell clarified.

Flans continued, describing the seats around the edges of the venue “and in one of those seats was Madeleine Albright. I still haven't processed it.”

Linnell called Madeleine Albright a ski-bum, and Flans said he thought she was more of a boogie boarder.

“No, that's not right,” he realized.  “What do you call that thing you do on the board?” A bunch of people in the crowd gave him the answer and he said “Snowboarding!” Linnell told him that boogie boarding was in the water, then Flans reminded us “I consider myself an indoorsman. You kids do what you want.”

They really started pushing for the end at this point, with little banter other than a few basic song introductions.  They played We Wanna Rock, Twisting, and Particle Man without pause.  They had trouble getting the crowd to clap during the song, and people stopped completely after Linnell's Here You Come Again interlude.  Curt came onstage for Particle Man just so he could clap, then left again for the sole purpose of making his grand entrance during Your Racist Friend.

He and Dan left the stage and they played Dead, then Curt returned to do the intro to Istanbul.  Dan started to take a picture of Curt, but saw Mr. Burnett was doing the same thing, so took a picture of him taking the picture instead.  Curt and Dan switched off for one of the endings, which was fantastic as always.

They played Lucky Ball and Chain, which was exciting to hear live. Flans switched the lines about the railroad apartment to lines from a different verse on accident.

They all played Birdhouse In Your Soul, then Flans thanked everyone while Curt and Dan left, and I thought for a moment they were going to skip over Theme from Flood, but I was mistaken.  It's a sort little thing, but I loved getting to hear it and it made an awesome way to cap off the set.

They returned with Fingertips, which is always amazing live.  Flans did his Heart Attack bit. The audience cheered between Dan's whispered “fingertips” and he pointed at us all while we did. They left stage after just that song, with just the Johns coming back onstage for the second encore.

They grabbed accordion and acoustic guitar respectively, then introduced How Can I Sing Like A Girl.  Flans told Linnell to wait, but he started the accordion part anyway. Flans called “John! John, stop.” Linnell did and Flans explained he had to check his guitar, since it wasn’t working the last time he checked.  It worked fine this time around, and they started into the song.

I was worried they would end it there, but all the guys returned to the stage and Flans introduced them to us.  When Dan was introduced “What’s this? Dan Miller on the keyboards!?” He played a bit on the keyboards, then apparently recorded and looped it somehow, because after a bit he threw his hands up in the air and the music he’d been “playing” kept going.  They ended the show on Doctor Worm.  As the song was ending, Danny moved over and played a note the keyboard, grinning over at Dan, who just told him what note to play instead to complete the chord.  Danny obliged and all the guys held and held that last note before leaving the stage.

They were back on with stickers, Flans handing them out on the other side and Marty right in front of my sister and I.  Danny didn’t come out for more than a minute after the others, and I was worried he wasn’t coming out at all, but eventually he did, flinging stickers left and right, far out into the crowd.  

Marty handed a setlist out on our side while Danny handed out two on the other.  While Marty moved back to get his drumsticks, Danny headed over to our side with another setlist and handed it to me.  After Marty came back and gave out the drumsticks my sister and I managed to escape the crush.  I wanted to stick around a bit longer, but my sister steered us back towards the car, telling me if I was going to cry, she didn’t want it to be in front of everybody.  I’ll have you know I didn’t cry, but it was a near thing.  I still can’t believe it’s over.

#tmbg #recap