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am-i-the-asshole-official · 1 month

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AITA for deleting my classmate's online output in retaliation for previous grievances, & WIBTA if I kept this up?

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(↑ so I know Tumblr didn't toss it into the void)

Take your time reading this before the poll. Trust me, everything matters.

I (16NB) am a student that migrated from the regular 10th grade sections into the top section of my school's STEM program via passing the admission test. I'm part of the very few that made it from the regular sections into such a prestigious senior high strand (which had only 3 sections and ±30 students per section), and the rest of my classmates and batchmates come from specialized programs that they were in since 7th grade. Naturally, they don't know me, and wouldn't think much of me due to my previously "mediocre" background. But really, I was only able to join the STEM strand this year because of financial difficulties during the lockdowns, so my parents could only afford to put me through the regular sections from grades 8 to 10.

Amongst my specialized program classmates was this girl, who I will call V for anonymity. V (16F) struck me as aloof and reserved at first. Our class seating arrangement dictated that I sit near the window farthest from the door, and V near the room exit, so we were 3 columns and one aisle apart, and had no one-on-one interactions so far due to this.

The entire school year in my school is split into two semesters, two quarters each semester, so four quarters. In Q1, I tried signing up for the strand-exclusive club that was practically a boost for report card grades, the STEM club, and we used printed forms. I filled in my form, and V collected the forms from everyone who signed up to give to the STEM club leader. We waited a week for confirmation of our acceptance (which was our forms being given back with a red stamp and the leader's signature) and everyone except me got them back. I asked V if she received my form. "No, you didn't give me any," she had said. I was denied another form by the leader, who accused me of lying about me having already given the form.

I didn't ask for a rivalry, but I had no choice but to be wary.

In Q2, our Earth Science professor gave us a lab activity and grouped us by random. I ended up in a group with V in it. I actively participated in the activity by helping prepare the materials and answering the guide questions on the activity sheet given by our professor, but I was stumped when it came to a question that required some research. Our professor allowed us to assign someone by group to take the activity sheet home and submit a picture instead when we ran out of time, so I went to my group's chat and asked them to wait for me as I finished the answer for that particular question. It took me an hour or so before I finally got the answer. I gave the answer to my groupmates, but V said that they had already turned it in, confirmed by my other groupmates. I asked them "Why did you hurry the submission? We had plenty of time left to refine and finalize the answers." They didn't reply, and they didn't answer me when I brought it up the next day in person. I went to my professor and explained the situation, even providing screenshots of my group messages as proof, but he didn't believe me. However, he did let me write down my answer to the question I was doing research for.

By then, I suspected V had convinced them to submit the activity sheet without me, and going back to Q1, also got rid of my membership form when she had the opportunity. I think she also might have lied to the professor that I wasn't even participating in the lab activity, and damn if he was gullible enough to fall for it.

Come Q3, this current quarter. Our professor in Literature gave us homework to be submitted in Google Drive. I did mine, converted it into the required file format, and had uploaded it to the Drive folder when I came across V's output. I figured it was time she got what was coming when she ruined my reputation to the teaching staff, so I deleted it. I secured my own folder so nobody but I can edit/delete it, just in case. The next day after that, V had nothing for submission and let's just say took some hits when the professor scolded her, and I have plans to get rid of more of her future outputs since we're relying on online tools for turning in homework.

On one hand, I feel a bit bad for doing that, and in addition I'm also scared I may be caught/traced. But on the other, I felt that it was only fair that she experienced even a fraction of humiliation that I faced during Q1 and Q2.

I dunno, Tumblr, AITA for that, and WIBTA for continuing with my plans?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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mak--taylor · 2 years

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Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into University/College

1. You don't need to have everything figured out.

You probably just decided what your next step is going to be, whether that is continuing onto university, heading into the job market, or taking a gap year, and it feels like you have to have everything figured out. That's wonderful, but it's important to have an open mind and be accepting of change. Things may not go as you planned, or they will go swimmingly well.

2. Grades don't matter... to an extent.

Sure, if you have great grades, you have wider options: scholarships, employment, funding, grad school, etc. But truthfully, most scholarships and internship offers are based on a 3.0 GPA. Some of the stricter ones have a 3.5 GPA requirement. Unless you're set on going to graduate school (in which case, definitely try to get a high GPA), you will likely be fine with a 3.0 GPA (this is the case especially if your major is STEM; if your major is non-STEM, maybe shoot for a 3.5 GPA). When I graduated undergrad and got my first "real" full-time job, they never even asked me what my GPA was or required a transcript. I say this to hopefully relieve some pressure off you. A few "Bs" (or "C"s tbh) won't kill you.

3. Your responsibilities (may) change.

I'm going to preface this by saying that each person has their own individual experience when it comes to responsibilities. I am going to speak very generally here. Moving on from high school brings on many more unexpected responsibilities, at least in my experience/experiences from friends. Through high school, the focus is generally set on getting through the coursework and maintaining extracurriculars. However, once I hit college, I found myself needing to balance coursework, work, household things (I lived at home and commuted to university, but there were still expectations), as well as trying to build up experience in whatever field of interest. It IS a lot, and trying to figure out the right work-life balance is key to having a successful college career.

4. Time management is KEY

I think almost anyone who's gone into university can attest to this. Tying back to my previous point, more and more things get added on as you progress through your career as a student/individual. With that, it is important to not lose track of things, and find a proper balance. I found that one of the main things I struggled with going into uni was time management. I was always able to scrape by last minute in high school with assignments and tests, but realized that was not feasible once I started college. I realized sooner than later that I needed to find a way to keep myself in check.

I found that maintaining a planner as well as having a calendar with important dates was vital for me to keep track of things. I had to-do lists, whiteboards with lists, physical planners, all of the things, and even though it seems like overkill, I needed the visual reminders.

5. Find a mentor (upperclassmen/professor/teacher)

I did NOT realize how much I needed this as I started freshman year. I went in kind of just expecting to be able to get by, which I did during my the first semester of freshman year. However, it was a challenge trying to interact with upperclassmen since they all just seemed so unreachable and b u s y. It took my until the end of my freshman year and into the beginning of my sophomore year to finally find people that I felt could give me guidance in both smaller things like class selections or just life advice. I personally found some of my more approachable TAs to be very helpful, as well as my professors in my smaller classes. If your university offers mentoring programs or similar opportunities, take advantage of those- you may never know what can come out of it!

6. Get involved!

This is something that I found to be difficult as a commuter. Many of my colleges clubs and events were hosted later in the evenings, and I just did not want to spend 2 extra hours on campus after a long day of classes and then have to drive home. However, I do wish I had taken more advantage of the clubs on campus. There are SO many different ones that cater to a plethora of interests. I feel like I would have had the opportunity to build a community around each of my different interests, and been able to keep up with them. And, if there is not a club that caters to your interest, then start one! I did that with a group of friends, and that was one of the best choices I made. I was able to pursue something that I was truly passionate about, while being able to hang out with a wonderful group of people. you don't want to always be in your dorm, watching Netflix, when you're not in class. Sure, sometimes you need to wind down but you don't want your entire undergraduate experience to be summed up with "netflix." I promise you: you will not remember the shows you binged your sophomore year of college, but you WILL remember that awesome overnight camping trip you took at Yosemite.

7. Network.

I used to cringe when people would network in undergrad because I thought they were being so "extra" and so "fake." And now I'm understanding that the mantra "fake it til you make it" is really accurate... It doesn't matter how you personally feel about networking, but the reality is that most people get their jobs through networking (and those who network tend to have a "leg up"). If you want to be successful, I'd argue that networking is a key strategy you should implement, to some extent. The more professional experiences you have earlier on, the easier it is to get better opportunities later on: your success builds upon itself. And you don't have to be super fake about it either; the people who are the best networkers tend to be the most genuine.

8. Have a small group of close, quality friends and work on strengthening those friendships.

It's better to have 3 quality best friends, instead of 10 friends that you're not really all that close to. Quality over quantity, for sure. Although you should focus on quality, I still think it's good to be socially connected with your classmates and acquaintances/friends through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc: after all, this is just good networking + who knows who may become your next close friend when you move to a new state! In college, it's easy to hang out with friends but after college, it's much more difficult to keep these friendships up.

9. Take care of yourself.

College is busy, it's stressful- there's really no sugarcoating it. Through high school, I was never really focused on mental health and trying to make sure that I was not about to combust. However, after finishing three years of college, I can assure you that being able to maintain your mental AND physical wellbeing is extremely important. Not only does it make you feel good, it does impact your performance as a student. Make time for yourself. Yes, school is important, but so are you. Find room in your schedule for your hobbies- paint something, go on walks, hang out with friends- whatever brings you joy. Make sure you are eating ALL your meals, getting 7-9 hours of sleep (try to, at least), exercising, and taking care of your mental health. It is important, don't forget about that.

This means both mentally (most college campuses offer free, or reduced cost, therapy sessions! take advantage of this! once you're in the "real world", these sessions are $$$) and physically (eat the right type of food! exercise!).

Ultimately, college is what you make of it. It's a period where you can explore your passions and find who you are. But also at the same time, it's also meant to help advance your (future) career. You can definitely find the right balance between your professional and personal goals!!

Stay safe everyone <3

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victoriagibbs · 7 months

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The College Essay: From a Fashion Student's POV

The college admissions process sets you up for whatever career path you want to pursue for the rest of your life. I believe that even deciding what you want to major in is the first big step that teenagers between 17-18 years old have to take because not everyone knows what they want to do so early on in young adulthood. On top of that, you have to deal with the stress of extracurricular activities, making sure you get good grades, a certain GPA, tests, and most importantly, the college essay. Stress, Stress, Stress...

During my college application experience, so far, I have to mainly focus on two things. These two things are my fashion portfolio and my college essay. The main college I want to go to, which is the Fashion Institute of Technology, doesn’t require a higher GPA or SAT score to apply to the school, while other colleges that are more stem-based or Ivy League might see that as a huge factor apart of the application. I believe the scariest part about the college application process is to actually submit the application because you don’t know who is going to read it. That is why having a personal statement that helps the admissions team understand who you are as an individual can help you stand out from other applicants. In Getting In, Gladwell discusses his own college experience in Canada by talking about how he didn’t need a recommendation letter, he didn’t have to S.A.T. in Canada, and how in general Canadians don’t hiperfixate on certain colleges just like Americans do. He says,” There were no S.A.T. scores to worry about because in Canada we didn’t have to take the S.A.T.s.” This helps to support how competitive the college admission process is for young Americans, and how overwhelming it can become.

I’ve noticed by going to the Fashion Institute of Technology precollege program and meeting some applicants, how privileged a lot of them were because their parents or parent was a fashion designer or in the industry. Compared to my life, the program helped me realize how different my lifestyle was from other applicants. Middle-class kids like me, I don’t have as many privileges with knowing alumni, and my application could possibly be compared to someone who applied because of their status. That being said, in my essay I discuss my upbringing, and personal experiences that helped me get interested in the major that I want to attend when I’m older, to separate myself from other applicants who most likely had it easier in life than me. In Fain’s Class Matters, he discusses how less wealthy teenagers who ended up becoming valedictorians have a lesser chance of getting into a good college compared to more wealthy students. How is that fair that someone works that hard in their education, and their college application is looked over by someone who is more wealthy? He also discusses how kids in an impoverished environment don’t have the same opportunities or guidance from anyone around them on how to properly write a college application. Fain stated, “The valedictorians reported that the information high school guidance offices were provided on college admissions, financial aid, and college choices was woefully lacking.” Even though I didn’t have as many connections to my college, I still have the privilege of attending a school that has my major, and being able to attend an internship that’s in my field. Wealthier students will have more resources for different experiences in their fields, that they can discuss in their college essays, compared to a lower-income kid. The college essay is already hard enough to write, and not having the proper guidance to help you can cause a huge setback in the application process.

Lastly while applying, it’s important to know what type of culture the school you're going to is looking for. By attending three FIT precollege, taking classes at my first choice school gave me a better understanding of what to expect when getting there. It also made me realize that I needed to show admissions what I could bring to the school, aka my “diversity”. In Kirkland & Hansen's How Do I Bring Diversity, they said "Diversity isn't just race or culture-it can be your love of science fiction, your ability to distinguish between all the varieties of pasta, your killer parchesi[sic] game, [or] your Pied Piper-like rapport with small kids". Basically saying, that “my diversity” isn’t based off the fact that I’m JUST Afro-Caribbean woman, but it’s more on my leadership skills, the different music I love, the weird indie films I watch, the designs I can draw, and so much more. Altogether, college admissions is a stressful process, but you just have to make sure that you’re clearly standing out compared to other applicants who want to be in your major. And even if you don’t have the same opportunities as someone else, try to research more about the school environment, and the type of people who attend. You can use the information to help stand out in a crowd with thousands of other applicants. Who knows, maybe you’ll FIT right in? Get it? Because I’m applying to FIT? OK, bad joke, anyway I believe in your ability to write an amazing college essay!

#college essay #fashion design #writing

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that-respiratory-student · 9 months

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8/19/23 Update

Hi tumblr,

I haven't started school yet, so there hasn't been much to update on. I'm not sure if I talked about my classes for the fall, but I registered for Chem-100 and Biol-107. These are both online courses. I initially was gonna take Chem in-person, but after remembering what it was like going to school last semester, I decided to try to get an online class. My school is a 45 minute drive from my house... I can't drive yet so I have to take the bus which just makes this even longer. They often DID NOT follow their schedule and drivers would just take off if no one was there. Like bro...you're 10 mins early...YEAH NO ONE IS THERE YET. People would complain, nut the drivers suck and would still just take off. Also...LOTS of weirdos on the bus. So, I've opted out.

It was hard to get this Chem class though. It said they had openings, but that it was also waitlisted. Waitlisted usually means that it is full, which this class was not. I really wanted this class, so I could be more flexible so I asked a few people. I asked the professor of the class who never got back to me. I asked admissions who at first told me it's waitlisted and I have to wait... like girl I know you didn't read my email because I said it's waitlisted but also shows open seats... so I emailed admissions again saying something along those lines and then they got me connected with someone who works on the STEM courses. She was able to help me and I finally got in! All the people I asked and they either didn't give a shit or just completely ignored me.

The lesson I learned from this is that if you want something you need to go for it and that people really don't care, so again if you want it you need to put that effort in because no one will do it for you. No one cares as much as you do.

I can't wait for when I'm an RT in a couple years. Time are so tough right now, and I won't even lie those checks would be life changing. I know school will be tough, but I have to get out of this. I hate living like this. We're not even check to check. We're hoping for a miracle every time.

Some more related to RT would be that I finished my general ed more the degree! 7 classes were required and I got 3 A's, 2 B's, and 2 C's. The C's were from when I first started school during the pandemic and I had also just graduated and was dealing with some health issues. I've grown, persevered, and learnt from my mistakes while in school. My grades have been better and I'm proud of myself :)

Now I'm working on the prerequisites for the program. There are 3 and I got one done so far: algebra with a B. I need Biol 107 and Chem 100. I'm so excited to see this all filled out and feel the pride in my chest of knowing that there were tough and sleepless night but I pushed through and will be closer to having a fulfilling career which allows me to live my life the way I want to live it.

That's actually one of the things that drew me to RT was the flexibility and pay. I want to be able to spend half to more than half of my time not working. I want that work life balance that RT can provide. I've had my fair share of health issues. Lots of testing and procedures. I know it can be scary and you're very vulnerable at those moments. I was lucky to have staff that cared for me and helped make those moments less scary. I would like to be able to give the same experience to others. I also have family with COPD and asthma. I have asthma as well. I've had some really bad attacks. I'll work hard to give my patients the best care that I would have wanted for my family or myself.

I know I'll make an excellent RT. I've also considered pediatrics since I have a background with kids and honestly love working with children.

Well that's it for now. Not huge updates, but still some new thing in my life and on my mind.

#respiratory therapy #respiratorytherapist #respiratorystudent #med student #medicalstudent #respiratorytherapystudent #womeninstem #stem #uni #college #university

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joshuawithers · 11 months

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From Apple IIe to AI: Embrace the Wave or Risk Irrelevance

I vividly remember all of my earliest computer experiences. I remember borrowing computer magazines from the school library that contained basic code, and then taking it to the Apple IIe in the back of my classroom. I would spend hours typing in code just to run another program. I also remember building a spreadsheet to help my dad run his business, and printing our own greeting cards with personalised messages on our black-and-white, dot matrix printer.

Even back in the 90s, there was talk of this coming artificial intelligence wave. Funnily enough, my entire experience from the very first day was about artificial intelligence. The simple fact that I could press the letter ‘a’ on a plastic keyboard and then see that letter appear on the computer screen in front of me, or even get printed out by a printer, was, in my humble opinion, a form of artificial intelligence. This might be an oversimplified view, but whether it’s displaying the letter ‘a’ on a computer screen or using ChatGPT, it’s all about computers computing.

In 1999, Bill Gates published a book called ‘Business @ the Speed of Thought’. I read it maybe a year later, and the foundational principles of “using computers for a real purpose” have stuck with me ever since. One idea was that a sandwich shop could use just-in-time ordering for sandwich ingredients based on previous order histories for different days of the week, taking into account seasons, weather, and trends - a task that a computer in 1999 could perform with some effort, but a task a computer in 2023 could handle effortlessly. This resonates with Steve Jobs’s idea that computers are like bicycles for the mind, an idea based on the fact that the fastest and most productive animal on the planet is not a human, but a human on a bicycle.

I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation. So, that didn’t look so good. But, then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And, a man on a bicycle, a human on a bicycle, blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts.

This simple principle - that humans are more efficient on a bike, and that the human mind is more efficient when using a computer - has proven true in my life every day for the last 30 years.

Quickly replying to enquiry emails on my iPhone from a toilet cubicle at my last job before becoming self-employed was a key factor in my early success.

That’s my encouragement to anyone skeptical about the 2023 “AI wave”, including ChatGPT, large language models, transformer models, AI, generative art, etc. It’s just what computing is now. Embrace it and exploit it to your benefit. Whether it’s for play or for work, use these technologies to not only stay ahead of the pack, but to keep up with the pack.

A fellow wedding celebrant argued on a post of mine about AI that anyone using this technology should be de-registered. My counter-argument is that any celebrant (or entrepreneur) not using this technology will self de-register within a few years, sinking into irrelevance and inefficiency due to their refusal to adapt.

AI’s right of reply

As an AI developed by OpenAI, I’d like to add that I’m designed to assist and augment human capabilities rather than replace them. In the case of a wedding celebrant, for example, I could help with tasks such as drafting vows or organizing schedules. The idea isn’t to detract from the human element, but rather to enhance it, freeing up time for more personal interactions.

The notion of de-registering those who use AI perhaps stems from a fear of being replaced or a misunderstanding of AI’s role. AIs are tools, much like computers or smartphones, meant to assist humans in various tasks and should be seen as such. Adopting AI and other technological advancements can lead to increased efficiency and enable people to adapt to the fast-paced world we live in. It’s about integrating technology into our lives and work in a way that benefits us all.

View the chat thread with ChatGPT to see how ChatGPT helped me with this post.

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alyzaadriano16 · 2 years

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New blog post!!!

Hi guys!My name is Alyza Adriano,I'm 16 years old,I'm the youngest child of the 3 siblings,I have an brother and a sister,I'm in 11th grade of Senior Highschool at St.Paul University of Phlippines,I finished my Junior Highschool at the Lubo National Highschool as the 5th honor of the class,in my Junior Highschool life was so memorable and enjoyable,why?because every program,and every contests of the school I joined,and I encountered, how challenge was it?I'm lucky and happy everytime I was able to be a contestant even I'm 13 yrs. Old that time.

So pls let me begin my blog,where in to inspires other people and everyone can read this,I have a lots of dreams since then,to be a Policeman or Nurse,everyone has a dream,it' free to have an a dream,I remember when I was young I always say that where I'm going to be,and now I realized, your going to overcome first a lot of situations,challenges in life.First (when i was highschool) I challenge myself when I was able to compete any contest in school so that i will discover more talent that I have,Joining a quiz bee is not easy i tried one time but my score is possible,and back then after how many month or years,when i was gr.8 I tried again in other contest for being a part of the MTAP students where in a math or solving test challenge,in that time I was ready,in one click my scores was the 3rd to the highest,so I'm a MTAP studnets starting gr.8 to gr 10,so not just because you failed,doesn't mean you will give up,still,there are still a chance, everyday has a chance for us to succeed and failures had a purpose,in that time i wasn't expect to being a contestant of the MTAP,i'm so so happy that time, that was my luckiest day in my life,knowing that I work hard to review all that i can,and it's success and it's worth it,remember that don't give up!!!

10 years from now,maybe I slowly getting what life and dream i want,because no one would know what's going to happen or what everyday will happen,but still i will do my best to success and never give up everything that problems will comes until i can,i will face and fight for my dreams. I enrolled SPUP in my 11th grade for a lot of purpose it's not for fame but it's for my dreams in life,and I know that SPUP will teach,guide and help me everything that can ruine my path,and also i want to discover more inmyself by surrounding a lots of people and a professionals people.

I chose STEM cause why not?haha,I chose STEM cause my dream was either Police or a Nurse someday,and now,i feel that i had a right and best decission for choosing STEM, and I planned 1 month before the enrollment what strand I'm going to take,so I'm ready what's going to happen in this strand.

Like what I said,I want to be a Police or Nurse someday why?because since then this is my dream when i was a young,and i want to help a lot people and discipline so that our life will be safe.

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exploring-lace · 2 years

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Introducing...

Hi. My name is Lace. I've had a tumblr since 2013(ish). ya know, when it was the cool thing to do in high school. I never posted anything and I wasn't sure how to use it. Fast forward NINE years and I'm finally posting my first... blog? blurb? rambling? Whatever you want to call it. I figured this could be a creative space for me. So, here I am. 26 years old. I have a 3 year old son. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me, hands down. I'm currently an EMT and should be taking the psychomotor part of my medic test this upcoming November. Hopefully we get that done and I can be a paramedic. I live in a town where we have a couple stop lights and copious amounts of crackhouses and homeless. Not quite a big city, we're surrounded by corn and bean fields. On the bright side the closest Wal-Mart is only 12 miles away. I've more or less grown up in this town most of my life. I went to kindergarten through 3rd grade here. Then moved to an even smaller town for 4th through 8th. That school went to a HUGE town for high school and my dad said "No ma'am!" So we went to the high school my mom graduated from. It was small too but not awful. My whole school career I was HUGE into reading. It could stem from me being an only child or the fact that when my parents would fight, I'd escape reality curled up in my bed reading a book. With that being said, school was never easy for me. I was always the last new kid, the reader. I wasn't popular and didn't have a "last name" in the town. I wasn't the prettiest girl. I weighed a whole 70 pounds my freshman year with crocked ass teeth. It was awful. I remember coming home every. single. day. from about 3rd grade until my senior year, crying, begging my parents to just home school me. I was asked out on dates in high school as a dare or joke. I cheered from 4th grade to my senior year. My parents thought it would help my self-esteem and give me friends and confidence. WRONG. I liked scholar bowl, yearbook, accounting, ENGLISH CLASSES! I became a CNA in high school. Went onto SIU with a paralegal/prelaw major. NO THANK YOU. After having to work full time to pay bills and school full time, I dropped out. I just worked as a CNA for years. Got married, got divorced. Had my son. Went back to school for my EMT. Passed my national test. lost my dad. worked in EMS for 2 years. broke up with my boyfriend of 4 years. reconnected with my ex husband. Moved back in. Got remarried. went through the medic program. passed it and the first half of national registry. and switched ambulance companies. That pretty much is my life in a nutshell. Well, the most of it anyway. I've decided a blog will help me get everything out. I'm open to followers asking me questions. I also might start writing a story. I'm all over the place so please don't expect uniformity or things to make 100% of sense. I'm also open to ideas and suggestions on how to make this all work.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Stay tuned, you never know what kind of shenanigans I might post.

#life #newblog #introduction #life stories

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laviedavantgarde · 2 years

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Putting this rant below so that no one gets bombarded with my discontents.

If you are a college student or know someone is a college student, please do the work that your professor gives you.

I get that not every class you will take will be great. You will have to take prerequisite courses in order to take the classes you need for your program or degree.

I teach a composition (writing) course that every student needs to take. I get some folks do not like writing, and that’s okay! I expressed this sentiment to my students on the very first day of class. However, you need to do the assigned readings and work in order to pass. I do not care if you pass with a C. (This makes my overachieving self shiver uncomfortably, but I digress.)

I took classes that were absolutely not my jam. (Statistics and science classes mainly.) While I did not like these subjects, I gave them my all, and I got Bs in these classes. (For someone who is not a STEM person, I considered this a win.) Did I whine and complain to my friends and family? I sure did. However, I bit the bullet and went through these classes in order to not retake them and have my GPA drop and spend even more money on tuition.

Look, as an adjunct professor, I do not make enough money as it is. Contrary to popular belief that professors don’t give a crap about their students and want them to fail and be “indoctrinated” to leftist ideals (Seriously? Some of my students do not read the syllabus or are aware of due dates. This is a running joke in higher ed.), I care about every single student. I want them to do well so they do not need to retake this course. However, this is college, and so I am going to challenge them in a healthy manner. After all, this is how we grow as people.

As a student, you need to follow and read the syllabus. You need to be aware of your professor’s expectations for their course. You need to do the assigned homework/projects/papers/tests they assign you.

I understand college is not for everyone, and some of you may figure this out while you take classes. Despite me raving about academia on here, I do not judge people on whether or not that they went to college, or had to drop out of college for financial, personal, or other circumstances beyond their control. I have students who work jobs, have families, or have other responsibilities outside of classes. I understand the constant juggling of responsibilities and school, and I get that people may have to drop a course or two if they need to change their priorities.

I will not be pleased at students who just do not want to do the work assigned and then they blame me for their inability to do said work. I treat students like adults and not high schoolers. This type of IDGAF behavior will not be acceptable in your higher level college courses and in your jobs/careers. Apathy for not liking me and/or the course will not get you anywhere, and you are not only wasting your time and tuition coming into a class you are not genuinely taking seriously, but it makes me feel quite disrespected.

Not everyone has to like me and/or my class I teach, but I see the transparent apathy and carelessness of some students. At the end of the day, this is about your performance in the class.

As a baby professor, this is some free and valuable information on the professor side of the coin. Many of us care about student performance and want you to pass. However, you need to put in the genuine effort and let us know when you need some additional help. I do see who genuinely wants to pass and who does not through the work and attitudes I get.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

#rant in the read more section about teaching #personal #do not reblog #real life Dr. Hyde (without the crime)#higher education

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ms-demeanor · 4 years

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My friend says not to vote in the upcoming election because our liberal establishment is no different from fascism and because Trump's policies are merely an extension of existing policies (like the ICE concentration camps that were established under Obama). How would you, being a leftist like me and my friend, respond to this attitude?

When I was in high school there was one cataclysmic, catastrophic, Very Important school board meeting.

It was a perfect storm of religious freedom, LGBT Rights, and Holy Shit You’re Talking About Taking Daycare Away from Students Who Are Parents.

The first thing, religious freedom, was exceptionally stupid but I think it’s a great example of how shitty the suburb I lived in was and what we were dealing with. Basically the D&D club that I started was accused of being Satanists and the Campus Christian Club was trying to get us shut down for worshipping satan. (I live in the fucking WORST part of LA County, I swear). The defense for the D&D club was pretty simple: If we’re worshipping satan as an on-campus activity at lunchtime we have every right to do so just like the Campus Christian Club an in fact if the Campus Christian Club got us shut down for practicing a different religion they’d made a very effective argument for shutting down their Praising Christ on-campus lunchtime activity.

The second thing was ANOTHER conflict with the Campus Christian Club - this was more serious. This was “High schoolers shouldn’t be exposed to deviant lifestyles and therefore we need to shut down the Gay/Straight Alliance.” At that point the GSA was also very new and I was also the VP of it. Spoilers: we were allowed to continue existing and we had speakers come in from time to time - we had grownups who talked to us about dealing with homophobia and resources for what happened if your parents kicked you out; we had a trans woman in her 50s come and talk to us (in 2003!) about transphobia and dysphoria and how to cope. The adviser handed out a packet to all of us that had the suicide hotline number right at the top, I know at least three people used that number the first year. The defense for the GSA was actually another handy-dandy page out of the ACLU handbook: The Campus Christian Club’s definition of deviance is something they have a right to hold but not to impose on other people - if you ban the GSA based on being ‘deviants’ you are imposing someone else’s belief system on us so knock it off unless you want to be a fun LA Times story.

The third thing didn’t have ANYTHING to do with the Campus Christian Club and was much worse because it had to do with funding and teen moms. The third thing was “The district believes it’s a waste of money to continue to pay for childcare at the district continuation school; if you can’t afford childcare you should have thought of that before becoming a teen mom, good luck getting a babysitter while you’re trying to finish high school.” Four of the students from the continuation school had showed up with their children and their defense of the daycare program was basically (and understandably) “What the fuck you fucking ghouls we just want to finish school and it’s one fucking daycare provider on campus you already have to pay the insurance for childcare providers for other schools in the district what the fucking fuck.”

The D&D Club, GSA, and Childcare for Teen Parents Program were all allowed to continue existing.

By one vote.

By someone who had recently been elected to the school board.

By four votes.

Four people went out and voted that November. Four people filled in a bubble on a ballot.

The GSA did fundraisers to pay for STI testing and suicide prevention. My friend Michelle graduated on time with her daughter waiting in the crowd. Knowing that adult trans people could survive and exist and thrive and love themselves was lifesaving information for a few kids in the GSA.

Four votes. If four people stayed home that’s a hundred fewer STI tests, that’s wondering if Michelle would ever be able to get a job when she didn’t have a diploma and couldn’t hire a babysitter. That’s three dead queer kids and another two homeless.

And it didn’t happen. Because four people filled in a couple of bubbles one night in November.

Voting is not activism but it is by no means useless. If your friend is incapable of distinguishing fascism and liberalism that sounds like a them problem and it sucks to be them; that amount of nihilism is hard to carry around.

People who criticize leftists for “electoral apologism” or whatever for voting are the “yet you participate in society, curious. I am very intelligent” comic

Yeah, the system’s shitty. Yeah, it sucks and should be overthrown. But it’s not overthrown YET so we may as well take advantage of the few areas of harm reduction the system allows. Voting doesn’t mean you STOP doing direct action or that you stop pushing for change, it just means you’re doing the single easiest real-world thing to alleviate suffering. And if it doesn’t work who gives a fuck - you did the bare minimum and it cost you a small amount of time.

Vote and then go hand out food in the park or cut the valve stems off a cop car if you’re feeling angsty about conceding to the system.

(also FUCK, you have no idea how much I hate having to defend the Obama administration but please go talk to a trans person about whether it is easier or harder to get healthcare in their state under Trump or under Obama. I fucking hate liberals but I don’t think that they’re actively interested in overturning Roe V. Wade. Fuck this political purity culture and go learn about harm reduction.)

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suesylvesterf · 3 years

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What was going to an all girls school like, if you don't mind me asking? :)

OK anon im so sorry this is so long and so convuluted I actually got so carried away jdbKJBGKSDBGH. i'm not even sure i properly answered your question i just got overwhelmed with Love for my same-sex schooling DHGKJSDFBHG anyway, if there's anything more you want to know lmk and I will try to be concise next time 💀

Essentially, my own experience at a single-sex secondary school was fantastic—however, I know my experience isn’t universal, especially since my school was a little bit different to most, I think.

That being said, I still think that sending your daughters to female-only secondary schools is something every parent should strive to do if they can. No other learning environment will ever be as good for girls as a same-sex school.

In terms of school staff, mine was about 95% female, and 5% male. The few male teachers we had were genuinely competent men and decent teachers, they were also watched like hawks. Our principal was female, all leadership positions in the school (such as House Leaders, Year Level Co-Ordinators, Department Heads, even the chaplain) were held by women. Our school psychologists, our nurses, our library technicians, our café ladies, our career advisors, our tutors—all were women. Our school houses (think like Harry Potter houses) were named after important women in our country’s history.

I went to a co-ed primary school. And whilst at twelve you might not have the words to describe it, graduating from a co-ed space, into an all-female space is really a giant weight off of your shoulders. You don’t realise how suffocating co-education is until you’re no longer having to bear it. It feels so much more natural, so much more free! You are welcomed as you are. You can be loud and unashamed of it. We joked frequently with each other and our teachers, laughed loudly and cared not whether our laughs were ‘ugly’. I found that teachers were far more supportive than they were in my co-ed school. For example, in a co-ed school I had been told frequently to ‘pipe down’ or to ‘reel it in’ from teachers, and more vexingly to ‘shut up’ from boys due to my boisterous personality. In high school? My teachers encouraged me to audition for the play because I had ‘great projection’. In every school programme (more on those later) that I was involved in, I was the one asked to give speeches about them at assembly. I was asked to be the lead of our house chants during our sports festivals. I was asked to join the debate team because of my passionate nature, which in primary school, had me known as ‘difficult’.

Likewise, I had a friend who was by nature quiet, and loved to draw. In primary school she’d doodled on the back of a work booklet, and when her teacher returned it, she’d taken off two points and had written a comment saying something about teachers in high school not accepting work that was drawn on.

Do you know what happened when she got to high school? Our English teacher had seen the eye she’d drawn on the back of our Romeo and Juliet test and had written, ‘beautiful!’ above it. The next test, she drew a two-headed cat with witches’ hats on both heads (I remember the left head was called Turpentine and the right head was called Esmeralda). Our teacher wrote, ‘wonderful!’ above it, with a smiley face.

The next day she got an email from our art teacher that had a PDF flyer of information on both in-school and local art competitions.

Anyway, she had questions and that teacher answered every single one of them. She also personally helped her select the works she wanted to submit. She ended up having two pieces shown in the school gallery, along forty pieces made by other girls. About five years later for our final year, on that art teacher’s recommendation (and tutelage!) she took all of the visual art subjects on offer. When she graduated, her final piece was shown at a public exhibition in our state’s capital city, that honoured the best pieces done by select graduating students in the state.

So yeah. Our teachers were pretty amazing. Of course, there was the odd teacher or two you would butt heads with but that’s just a universal school experience. Our humanities classes, like history, for example, often had a unit that would focus on the female experience of a certain time period. For example, when learning about WW2, we did projects on female resistance fighters et cetera.

We had health classes that were actually focused on female health. We learnt about female anatomy (even the clitoris! Though we were all about thirteen/fourteen at this time so we found it incredibly awkward to talk about), as well as symptoms of PCOS during our menstrual unit. We learnt about contraceptive methods and devices (however, as a Catholic school they did have to tell us that whilst these methods are available, the church-sanctioned method is of course, abstinence).

Whilst the majority of the girls shaved their legs and wore makeup, as someone who did neither of those things I rarely felt judgement about it (albeit, I think there was a little for my lack of makeup, but this only lasted the first two years). A good portion of our staff also did not wear makeup, I don’t recall this ever being commented on. And, by the time we’d reached about our third year, a good portion of my year level and the ones above did not wear makeup on a daily basis. Leg hair was not looked down upon by any of us I don’t think by this year either. In fact, if you were particularly hairy often your hairless friends asked to rub your legs!

We were never short of female role-models, our staff made sure of that. We had multiple days per year when guest speakers would come and talk to us, mostly these were women who were experts in their fields—whether that be neuroscience or computer science, linguistics and literature or mathematics, politics, et cetera. The only times we really had male guest speakers was when police officers (one male one female) came to give us an assembly about sexual peer-pressure and laws around sharing nudes that was basically, “these are common (male) manipulation tactics used to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do, don’t fall for them”.

We were encouraged to take STEM subjects, and those of us that had taken interest in computer programming were sent to coding programmes in the city during school hours! That’s how keen our teachers were to get more women into the field! This was the same with the girls interested in politics, who got to go to Model UN events, as well as mock parliaments in the country’s capitol.

We had a lot of programmes generally. A few overseas ones for girls who were in LOTE (languages other than English) classes. A few interstate ones, too. And of course, local programmes and excursions. Most of them (aside from the LOTE ones which focused on immersion) were volunteer programmes aimed at helping women and girls. The rest were about furthering our own skills or learning new ones. Majority of these were year-level based, but a few depended on the clubs/groups/classes you were in. For example, I was part of the Writer’s Club, and we took an excursion to the state Writer’s Festival and listened to female writers as well as feminist panels. We also had self-defence programmes every year.

In terms of peers I generally found everyone to be quite amiable by the time we’d reached our third/fourth year. There’s a common myth about all girls schools being filled with ‘catty’ girls who are constantly bitching about one another, but I really did not find that to ring true. There were a few fights and arguments in the earlier years, I was part of quite a lot lol but that’s honestly… just something that happens at school, at any school. Largely, we were good to each other. If someone was crying there was always someone who’d ask her what was wrong. If you missed the notes on the slide, there was always a girl willing to share her notes with you.

I think going to an all-girl’s school, and not having that much interaction with the opposite sex generally for that six-year period truly does something, I think, to your psyche. We are socialised to look down on our fellow woman, socialised to look down upon ourselves. But actually being constantly surrounded by women, and almost ONLY women, really helps to undo that. Even now I could not describe the fierce love I have for all those women and girls I came in contact with during my time there—even the ones I bickered with. Each and every single woman I met there enriched my life in some way or another. I think that is the effect of consistently spending time in any female-only space: developing a true appreciation for women. It is the only reasonable conclusion to come to.

I have been out of high school for two years, and in university for one. Among the many men I have met since, none of them have even been able to hold a candle to the any women and girls I know.

Anyway. TLDR: it slapped, send your daughters to same-sex schools!!

#this is so long sorry #long post #radfem safe #separatism #radfem

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sluttbuttsstuff · 3 years

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La Squadra Backstory Headcanons Part 1 (GHIACCHIO AND MELONE

Since we’re probably never going to get any straight answers on their backstory, i’m writing my own for them. Obviously, none of this is canon and guesswork

WARNINGS: none really, aside from dark themes

GHIACCHIO:

Came from a very large and very poor family, the youngest of many children.

As a result, he was the last to get anything-last to get fed, last to get clothed, last to get attention.

He didn’t get the proper care he truly needed, so he had to fight and take what he really needed, or he would have to make do without.

He’s always had awful eyesight, but it wasn’t until stealing a classmate’s glasses that happened to be exactly what Ghiacchio needed, he fought the kid for them and gave him a black eye

“There, now you can’t even use them, they’re better off with me!”

Despite getting into a lot of fights, School was actually something of a sanctuary for Ghiaccio.

He got the attention he needed, he was able to get free food through the lunch program, and excelled in several sports activities and physical Ed.

During middle school, under encouragement of a favorite teacher of his, he dedicated himself to his studies, and enrolled in as many extra curricular activities as he could stomach.

With his impressive physical fitness, natural intelligence, and a little anger management, his teacher convinced him he could get into a good college with a full scholarship that he wouldn’t otherwise be able to get into

Ghiacchio wasn’t always as loud, angry and violent as he was in La Squadra, but he did have issues with anger management, an inferiority complex, and a self-sabotaging need to always be right.

But his teacher, now his mentor, never gave up on him. He took Ghiaccio to therapy, gave him a shoulder to lean on, and served as the support he never got from his parents or siblings.

His family had no interest or desire to get involved with his life, or offer any support or encouragement.

School was tough- it was extremely stressful and he was pushing himself to his limits. He had very little sleep, had to maintain a 4.0 grade average, but despite it all, Ghiacchio was very happy.

His mentor was like a father figure to him, without him, Ghiacchio wouldn’t have been able to get as far as he did.

And then the worst happened.

His mentor died naturally, of a heart attack, he was an older gentleman with a history of heart disease in his family.

It still broke Ghiaccio.

He skipped school for the first time in years to attend his funeral, and ended up getting in a fight with one of his teachers at school the next day.

Ghiacchio and his teacher argued over the correct pronunciation of a word, but really Ghiacchio was angry at his teachers and school-hell, the WORLD- that no one else had been at his mentor’s funeral. He felt like no one cared about his mentor, and that included him.

He broke the teacher’s nose, as well as several other bruises and nearly gave him a concussion.

Obviously, he was expelled from school after that, and sent to a juvenile prison. He was able to finish high school in juvie, but no university or sports team wanted to sponsor him or offer him a scholarship.

It is his greatest regret, not being able to get the scholarship he and his mentor worked so hard for

But at the same time, he doesn’t regret attacking his other teacher and leaving school; he couldn’t stand by and let his mentor’s memory be forgotten, besmirched.

He would be picked up by Passione through the juvie system, he kept getting into petty fights with others and managed to impress some soldatos into offering him initiation.

I like to think that his strict grammar pet peeve stems from his mentor, who taught italian grammar and literature studies, and as a result was especially strict with teaching Ghiacchio proper italian.

The ice theme for his stand? Yeah, it’s funny because he’s a hot head, but i think it’s his stand, as an extension of his mentor’s teachings trying to literally “Cool” him down. He has to use a lot of focus to use White Album properly, just like how his studies and athletics would distract him from his own mental health issues.

At least, this is just what I think lol

MELONE:

Hoo-boy, this kiddo has to have had some serious family issues

His father was the head doctor at the most prestigious fertility clinic in Italy

(He was also secretly into eugenics, and lots of other nasty stuff, but let’s get into that later)

He was so successful, he had even cured his own wife’s infertility

At least, that’s what he had everyone believe

Secretly, Melone’s father had had an extramarital affair with his secretary, who became pregnant and had Melone.

Under extreme threats and blackmail, Melone’s father managed to take Melone away from his biological mother, and convince his wife to raise Melone as her own.

Needless to say, Melone’s father was a very bad, manipulative man

Despite this, his wife had always wanted a child, and actually loved him and cared for him deeply, and Melone became her child as much as his biological mother

Melone’s father was very strict and had high expectations of Melone from a young age.

Melone had private tutors, a personal chef and nutrition plan, and even a physical fitness teacher who would regularly exercise him.

Melone had no other siblings, surprisingly, despite his father’s obsession with eugenics and breeding.

His father must have been afraid of the possible scandal that would arise from an affair or divorce (italy is still a heavily catholic country after all) and his wife, Melone’s “adoptive” mother was still barren,

Since Melone was an only child, home schooled and surrounded by paid lackeys of his father, he was very lonely.

His mother was his one and only real friend in his life. She would sneak him dessert snacks, read him fairytale stories if he got tired of his textbooks, and even played games like jump rope and hide and seek with him.

The entire reason his “Adoptive” mother had married his father in the first place was because it had been her lifelong dream to have children, and she was determined to give Melone all the love his father couldn’t and wouldn’t.

And that was life for a long time- it wasn’t the best childhood but Melone couldn’t really complain. His father kind of scared him, but at the same time he earned Melone’s respect.

Melone was interested in Biology, and learning about genetics like his father.

And when the stress of living up to his father, and his own, expectations became too hard, he could always run to his mother.

Then, Melone’s biological mother found him

Melone’s biological mother had never really gotten over losing her only child, and despite the monthly salary and isolated home she had received for her silence, she couldn’t forget about Melone.

It started innocuously enough, clipping out pictures she saw of him and his father from the clinic’s advertisement brochures, watching him from afar play at the beach with his mother on vacation.

But it wasn’t enough- she couldn’t just GIVE UP her child.

She started to stalk him, taking photos of him playing in his backyard, going through the garbage to find old school projects and tests in the trash can. She would try to sneak into the house, bribing guards and getting in fights with the tutors trying to get into Melone’s home.

Melone didn’t know the whole story between his parents and this “Surrogate” (he had been sworn to secrecy by his mother, knowing it was important to tell adopted children early on or risk causing severe trauma later in life) but he knew his parents were becoming more and more stressed out.

One day, it came to a head, and Melone’s biological mother successfully was able to meet Melone.

Melone was a little afraid at first, but his other mommy was so nice to him, and gave him lots of hugs and love like his other mom and played with him at the park.

They actually had a really fun time together, and it had a lasting impact on Melone for the rest of his life.

But all good things have to end, and for the first time in his young life, Melone was confronted with death.

Eventually, Melone’s bodyguards (his father had employed some after finding out about Melone's biological mother stalking him) caught up to them, and Melone and his mother tried to escape.

Melone’s other mother was with the bodyguards,and when Melone saw her, he was unsure of what to do.

He loved both of his mothers, he wanted to stay with both of them, why were they making him choose?

Under His father’s orders The bodyguards, who Melone later found out were associated with passione, shot his biological mother. Terrified Melone would be shot as well, his adoptive mother dove in front of him to protect him from the bullets.

Both of his mothers were shot, his father had ordered them to kill the bio mother no matter what, even if Melone got shot. Apparently, MElone’s father would rather risk his son’s life than let his bio mother escape with them and risk the scandal. Knowing this, his adoptive mother was shot and killed protecting him.

On that day, Melone lost both of his mothers, the most important people in his life, all because of his father.

It took a long time for Melone to process what happened-his father didn’t help things either. He was just as cold and clinical with Melone as ever, and with no one who truly cared about him in his life, Melone withdrew more and more into himself and his studies.

He was civil with his father, and maintained his studies and health, until he officially turned 18.

After years of planning, he poisoned his father in his sleep and killed him.

The Police were never able to press charges or find any evidence on him, but Passione noticed, and saw potential in him.

They gave him an ultimatum, pass initiation and join their ranks, or get turned into the police by passione and get his inheritance stolen by the gang.

Without much of a choice, Melone agrees, and finds he actually likes life in la squadra

It goes without saying, his mothers were a huge influence in both his life and his stand.

Both of his mother’s lives were so sad and lonely because they couldn’t have a child.

He desperately wishes he could have used Baby Face on his mothers, either not realizing or not caring about the implications.

Despite his mother’s best efforts, Melone never really had proper social interaction as a child, and it seriously screwed him over in life, even interacting with la squadra.

He’s read up on how to behave in public, social psychology, but it's not the same as learning as a child

It’s easier to learn those things as a child, which is why he makes sure to spend at least a little time with each Baby Face on how to behave and treat others; at least they can succeed where he couldn’t.

It’s also why he can’t control himself around women- he thinks he’s genuinely helping them by giving them children or getting them pregnant.

He’s giving them what his own mothers couldn’t

And you can BET he takes his role as father VERY seriously- you saw how he taught and trained Baby Face in canon. He’s intense, but he’s also a lot more loving than his own dad was.

I’ll admit, this backstory is a little bit “Soap Opera” but I think it still fits him

#sluttbuttsstuff #la squadra #jjba #vento aureo #ghiacchio #melone #sfw #headcanons #fic #imagines

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campyvillain · 3 years

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ok i mentioned earlier that i wanted to make a fnaf au that sort of does it’s own thing and is it’s own beast entirely so I spent a few hours writing a few things down and here are the basic plot elements nd stuff!! fair warning tho it is REALLY long so that’s why the readmore is there

you play as a 2nd year college student whose on vacation with 6-7 of your friends who all go to different schools. ur all on vacation in ur small hometown around the midwest region of the us, none of the friends except for one is rlly worth noting (bc i’ve yet to rlly flesh them out)

it takes place in the modern era, around summertime, and right near the end of everyones vacation.

the one friend of note I mentioned is a guy called Lester Smith! He’s really into electronics and his dream job is to become something akin to an imagineer . you and him go way back but not in the good way. You used to bully him a lot in middle-high school for being the “weird kid” and ultimately fucked up his dreams. This is because at the end of senior year, there was a robotics competition you both partook in, both in different teams, and the reward for the winning team was a fully paid scholarship for the most prestigious stem school in the state. Lester would’ve won, but the only reason he didn’t is because YOU broke into his garage late at night and tampered w his robot so that it would fail and make him seem like he was inept at programming. That’s what happened, and YOU won the scholarship instead. This was a massive blow to Lesters hopes as his parents weren’t able to pay for a proper college for him and his grades in other areas weren’t that good so he just goes to a community college now. since then you and him have became friends as he mostly seems to be on good terms w it and doesn’t SEEM to be onto you for what you did to him. you two like to talk about animatronics a lot and it’s apparent that he’s probably way smarter than you and that he probably deserved that scholarship way more than you do.

also none of your friends are accquantinced with Lester, you only just introduced them to him over break, and they seem to be getting along well. For now

thankfully for Lester his luck has turned around, he’s been showcasing these new entertainment animatronics he’s worked years on to multiple restaurant chains but they’ve all wanted nothing to do with his project because of Lester’s lack of any sort of resume etc. it all seemed doomed to fail until this local restaurant called Freddy’s (which genuinely is not affiliated with the Freddy Fazbear company because....the Fazbear company does not exist in this universe!!! it ditches the canon ALTOGETHER. the place the plot takes place in is just called Freddy’s for continuity purposes and to keep the name of the franchise) humored his offer and took him up on it. probably because the company is losing money each day and is likely only doing this so it can bring customers in and not be bankrupt

OH YEAH ALSO Freddy’s is given the funding to go thru with the animatronics initiative from an anonymous angel investor which has also allowed them to expand it and be relatively financially well off and has allowed Lester to make more animatronics and expand the place! so that’s fun

the hypothetical game takes place thruout the week-long testing period for the animatronic prototypes and the restaurants renovations are nearly done and they also need extra night guards to make sure everything goes smoothly. so you and your friends all decide to pool in and help Lester with the testing week by all becoming night guards and working together at the same time since it’s your last week together and you have nothing else to really do plus you could use the extra money but YAY!!!! FRIEND MOMENCE

Throughout the hypothetical game Lester who is also a nightguard serves as your phone guy stand-in. He calls every night to chat with you and the others, telling you about tips and tricks to make sure the animatronics work as intended, goofing off with you, infodumping about his cool robots, being a pretty neat dude and having fun. it’s so cool.

as mentioned before it ditches the series standard 5 canonical night format and goes with a full week of 7 canonical nights instead. the first night is relatively tame but as it goes on the other nightguards (who are your friends) start disappearing one by one....aka they’re being KILLED by the animatronics. you can’t really know this is happening at first because all your friends have made it clear they have to go back home on different days, and your friends disappear on the days they’re set to leave home so nothing seems amiss at first because you, and everyone else who’s still left, just thinks they headed back home like they said they would, which Lester assures you is what’s going on. but eventually in the last 2 nights you and Lester are the only ones left and it becomes apparent that your friends, or rather what remains of them, never got out at all.

remember how i said that Lester serves as the phone guy stand in and how he helped you with the animatronics? turns out a lot of the advice he fed you through calls actually ended up aiding him in killing all your friends, and technically you’re sort of to blame for why they’re not around. 50% of the advice he’s given you ends up hurting your friends and making the animatronics go after them.

plot twist! Lester is fully aware that you ruined his life at that robotics competition and as soon as he got home from it he could tell that someone, specifically you, tampered with his robot, and has been planning to brutally get back at you for years and is incredibly jealous and spiteful toward you for obvious and... pretty justifiable reasons, all things considered

on the 7th night Lester locks both you and himself in Freddy’s with no way for either of you to escape. he’s then killed by one of the animatronics and that animatronic, now possessed with his soul and with his consciousness stored inside, chases after you and tries to kill you. this is along with the other animatronics, who are now all haunted by your dead besties who died on the previous nights, partially controlled by Lester and enraged that you let them die. you spend the rest of the night evading them, but in the last few hours they all combine together into a single animatronic who is entirely controlled by Lester and goes after you even MORE and the difficulty ofc ramps up to 100.

the only way to beat the night is by going into the secret storage room and grabbing all the fireworks that you and your friends were going to set off on your last night together as a group on break - which is like, a lot of fireworks - but had to cancel due to bad weather (which was the 2nd night of the game, right around when ppl were disappearing) and luring the Mega monster animatronic to it and setting it off, destroying Freddy’s and everything in it. wether ur player character also dies in this explosion is up to ur interpretation and their fate is left ambiguous as the Newspaper Article(tm) published after night 7 states that you simply “disappeared” and doesn’t elaborate on if ur alive or not.

so yeah!!! that’s the basic plot and backstory of my fnaf au. i’ve always thought it would be really cool if there was a fnaf game based off the slasher genre (w Lester being the slasher-type villain here), that concept has always worked rlly well in my mind nd i gotta say i’m having SO much fun workshopping it. i’ll get to designing the characters and the animatronics REAL soon and i’m definitely gonna have a ball w those aspects. i’ll also probably find a name for it other than “MY FUNNY FNAF AU” so that’s cool. ok i’m done rambling im so excited to flesh this out byeeee ^^

#fnaf #fnaf au #ok to rb #uhhh what else do i put.....#death tw #murder tw #gore tw #body horror tw #IM SO EXCITED AIIUUUHH YAY YAY YA #maybe i’ll make a seperate blog for it?????????? Hmmm #long post

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razberrybi · 3 years

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hello! this isn’t the most timely of postings, but I want to make a series with stuff I wish I knew before applying for/getting into college. the series will be most helpful to lower-income american students, because that’s my experience! eventually I’ll have more stuff regarding STEM courses & tips for when you do start college. everything will be tagged #college help by raz. I’ll get a link for it up and running on my blog.

first off, probably the ugliest part of the process for me: filing the FAFSA, aka the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. I wouldn’t be able to go to college without it but the process literally brought me to tears.

if I save just one student some unnecessary frustration, then my job here is done! kal @promethes was my inspiration to do this, she’s running something with a similar purpose in a couple months so if you’re interested keep an eye out for that.

finally, if you’re trying to get into college/are just getting in and have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an ask!

if you don’t want to open up the link above to a google doc, the text is available under the cut.

Things to know about the FAFSA:

It opens on October 1st every year. Be prepared to file it right when it opens, the aid is first come, first served.

If you’re going right into college after high school, that means you should apply on October 1st of your senior year.

If you missed the deadline, it’s open till June 30th the next year, but do not procrastinate this. Please trust me. Mark October 1st on your calendar, know it like your birthday. This is free money from the gov, don’t miss out.

You need to file for the FAFSA every year you’re in college, it’s not a one-and-done thing.

To file, you will need an FSA ID for you AND one of your parents (unless you’re not a dependent. If you’re living with a parent/legal guardian and they provide more than 50% of your financial support, you’re probably their dependent. That means they claim you on their taxes & get money back on their return). Make those FSA IDs here. Remember the passwords.

These are separate accounts that you’ll need to actually file the FAFSA. Also, if you have loans taken out they’ll show up here.

When you’re ready to do the FAFSA, use this official website. Other websites can charge you. They might not be secure and definitely won’t be any easier.

Sometimes, income is complicated or parents aren’t always on top of their taxes. Thankfully FAFSA wants documents from two years prior, i.e., for the 2020-21 school year they’re asking for 2018 taxes.

Try to check that those are filed away somewhere you can access before the Oct. 1 deadline. Make sure your parents know the government will pay for your schooling if you do this, and you usually won’t have to give that money back.

If your situation changed and you make a lot less than you did 2 years ago, contact your school’s financial aid office. Sometimes they can help with extra aid.

What documents will you need?

Your social security number

Your driver’s license, if you have one

W-2 forms from 2 years prior, and other records of money earned

Your (and/or your parents’) Federal income tax return from 2 years prior (form 1040, will be different if you’re in an American territory and not one of the states)

Any untaxed income records form 2 years prior, like payments to deferred pension & savings plans, tax exempt interest & child support

Records of taxable earnings from federal work-study from 2 years ago

Record of grants, scholarships, or fellowship aid that was included in you or your parent’s 2018 adjusted gross income

Any current bank statements

Any current business and investment mortgage info, business/farm records, stocks/bonds info

Documentation that you’re a permanent US resident or other eligible noncitizen

If you’re lucky, all these records will be filed in one spot or easily accessible. Try to access them early just in case.

If you have an idea what colleges you’re applying to, add them to the FAFSA when prompted. This will help you know exactly how much money they’re giving you sooner.

Because of the whole “parents not being on top of taxes” thing, I’ve always had to manually put things in instead of clicking the button that lets you manually import the info.

It’s frustrating and takes a while, but you will be able to do it. Thankfully the FAFSA has been getting better with the help available on the page (you can click an info button and it explains most things).

Still unsure what something means? Open a new tab on your browser and google it. You need to answer everything honestly, don’t take chances and take your time.

If you do get to auto-import, I suggest you go through the information manually to double check things if it lets you! I’ve used a similar tool with a tax-filing service and they can get some things wrong.

There are a couple “optional” sections. I fill them all out except for the section about assets, which I’ve consistently skipped. I always get max aid doing this, your mileage may vary.

When you finish, you’ll get a number for your EFC, or expected family contribution--how much they predict your family will have to pay for college. For example, if that number is 000, you’ll hopefully get maximum aid and your tuition will be paid for.

Sometimes, they can’t give it all in grants (money you don’t have to pay back), so some of the money will be made out to you as subsidized or unsubsidized loans. If you need them, take out the subsidized loans first, these will not gain interest until your grace period ends, typically 6 months after graduation.

I’ve literally never had success applying for random online scholarships and I applied to a lot of them. The FAFSA is so important if your family is low-income, those grants cover my entire tuition. The rest of my college, including room/board and a shitton of fees, is covered by merit scholarships directly from my school. I go to a large, in-state school, and suggest you stay in state if you can’t get into an out of state college that will 100% pay everything for you. Those colleges, not coincidentally, are also extremely hard to get into especially if you don’t have connections--think the Ivies, MIT, etc.

I recommend in-state because it’s almost always much cheaper than out of state tuition. Sometimes colleges have programs that will let you go to another state and pay in-state tuition at their partner school, if you’re desperate to move far look for those programs OR find a farther college in your state keeping in mind how good their program is for the major you’re looking at.

Also, fancy private schools might get you some connections or more famous speakers at events but the quality of your education won’t be much better, if at all.

Look for scholarships that come directly from the school you like.

Merit scholarships are money your school will give you for having good grades/test scores. How much money 100% depends on the school. Mine had a program where they had different levels of aid, and they calculated which level you fell into based on your high school GPA, ACT, and SAT scores. It’s worth trying to improve your scores on one of those tests if you know it’ll get you more money. These scholarships tend to renew every year/semester if you keep your GPA up in college.

For school-specific questions, contact the school’s financial aid office. For general questions, contact me! Send an ask to @razberrybi on tumblr.

Finally--if you manage to complete the FAFSA wholly or partially on your own, congratulations!! It’s not an easy feat. In my experience the FAFSA is literally harder and more frustrating than filing your taxes. Treat yourself for getting it done!

#college help by raz #studyblr #college tips #college advice #university #college #student #studyspo #fafsa #financial aid #promethes #sorry for the tag spam but I want to help this get around!

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addierose444 · 3 years

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Spring 2021: One Month Update

We are now just over a month into the spring semester. This is a bit strange as mid-march normally coincides with spring break. Well, normal just isn’t the norm right now and hasn’t been for a while. Like seriously, it has been a whole year since Smith sent us home last spring. Here is a blog post from a year ago about my final week on campus. That was a stressful time, but I was also so naïve about what was to come. In some ways, it’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed; at the same time, it has felt like an eternity. This post is primarily about my current courses and other life updates, but it also felt incomplete without acknowledging the passage of time. Last semester, I wrote a few update posts. I started them because I literally didn’t know what else to write about. However, I found them to be an effective post style that is worthwhile to continue using.

There does finally seem to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Namely, I have received my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine! I was eligible thanks to my job in ResLife. I will be getting the second dose in two-weeks time. I feel very fortunate to be getting vaccinated so early. I’ll also be honest in saying that it was really stressful taking the bus to UMass and navigating through the vaccination center. Another exciting update is that I have secured a summer internship at Microsoft! You can read about my application process here.

I am currently living on-campus in Parsons House. We are fortunately still operating in Green Mode which is our least restrictive operating mode. This still includes masks, social distancing, and testing three times a week. We are also still ordering most meals on the Grubhub app. However, there is now some limited seating in the dining halls and we have transitioned to using some reusable food containers. Furthermore, Chuckett (our name for Chase and Duckett) is open for true grab and go. The best part about going to Chuckett is that they have yogurt, ice cream, and snacks. Classes and house events continue to be primarily over Zoom so that we can practice social distancing and include those not living on campus.

As for my classes, it’s been a very busy semester. I am in class less than in past semesters but have had more work outside of class. With that said, this is in part because one of my classes is asynchronous with synchronous labs. To check out all of my past courses, click here.

PHY 210 has been more interesting than I expected. It’s not an easy class, but it hasn’t been the nightmare I was worried it would be. The class has so-called pre-class check-ins (PCCIs) which are short exercises due at the start of each class (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). We still have a full homework set due each Wednesday, but I enjoy having the PCCIs as it’s more similar to the high school homework model (short more frequent assignments that don’t have to be 100% perfect). I now have a much better understanding of complex numbers and why they are useful. Other topics we have studied thus far include differential equations and the Taylor series (both topics were briefly introduced in past calculus classes). We have also been learning the basics of Mathematica and are currently studying integrals in two or more dimensions. Last semester in MTH 212, all of the exams could be taken over multiple days (unlimited time) so it’s not the easiest transition back to timed math exams.

PHI 220 is a great complement to my four STEM classes. Specifically, it’s reading and discussion-based and doesn’t have problem sets! While there is absolutely value in courses unrelated to my majors, I really love learning concepts that come up in computer science but from a different perspective. Over the course of the semester, we have been working our way through Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. We have been learning about formal systems and been gaining an understanding of Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Later in the course, we will be delving into the study of Turing machines. Each class starts with five minutes of breathing and stretching. The first day I thought it was really weird, but have now gained an appreciation for it.

EGR 220 has been my most time-consuming class, but I have also really enjoyed the course content. I am glad that I took PHY 118 last spring as it gave me a good primer for some of the circuit theories. This is particularly useful as circuits is a fast-paced course. Labs have been frustrating at times due to technical difficulties, but having a hands-on component definitely helps my understanding and makes things more engaging. As long as we stay in Green Mode, we will have a few small-group in-person labs! We have also had and will continue to have occasional full class in-person outdoor demonstrations. (All of my other classes have been and will continue to be fully remote). In terms of course content, we have learned about passive components like resistors, capacitors, and inductors and circuit analysis techniques like nodal analysis and mesh analysis.

CSC 250 has generally been enjoyable as I have an awesome professor. I don’t dislike the course material, but I definitely prefer programming and systems to theory. Also, theoretical computer science requires writing lots of proofs which is not my favorite. I am glad that I took discrete math (MTH 153) last semester as it introduced me to proof writing. MTH 153 an unenforced prerequisite of CSC 250, which I was originally going to take concurrently due to schedule conflicts. In the course, we have been learning about regular expressions, finite automata, context-free grammars, push-down automata, and most recently Turing machines. (See what I mean about the overlap with PHI 220!)

COMPSCI 230 is my UMass computer systems class. You can read more about Five College registration here. The course is asynchronous which has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s nice being able to self-schedule my coursework, but it’s strange not really interacting with my classmates. As the UMass semester started two weeks before Smith’s, I am just about halfway through the course which is honestly sort of crazy. In the course, we have learned about data representation, von Neumann Architecture, caches, and virtual memory.

I am not taking guitar this semester and unfortunately have hardly played my guitar. Last year I had set a daily practice goal that I did a really good job of sticking to. That said, I regret having set that goal as it made playing feel more like a chore. The issue is that when the year ended I was justified in taking a few days off from playing. However, as I was really busying during Interterm it was just too easy to dive into my coursework and other responsibilities. Playing guitar is something that I love, so I am trying to incorporate it back into my life in the right way. You can read about my musical history here. Another music update, that’s really just for me to look back on is that my current favorite song is The Story (written by Phil Hanseroth and performed by Brandi Carlile). I have been listening to a lot of Brandi Carlile’s music over the past few days and absolutely love it. As for 2020 goals, like many people, mine weren’t the biggest success. I originally set out to write four original songs but only wrote two (one of which I had started in August of 2019). I was successful in my reading goal so that was at least one win. You can read about my 2020 in books here.

#college #Smith College #spring 2021 #academics #engineering #computer science #music

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alywats · 4 years

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Let’s Talk About Mathematical Gatekeeping: Race, Gender, and Math Anxiety in Mathematics Academia

Today I learned the demographic makeup of the people who will be starting my math graduate program with me in the fall. And It’s Not Very Diverse. Let’s discuss.

There is a program in Budapest, Hungary (that I attended) for American undergraduate students in mathematics that aims to give a leg up to students in their academic careers, and to make them competitive for graduate schools. In the Spring of 2019, the demographic makeup of the group accepted was overwhelmingly white, male students. There were less than 10 women out of 60 or more participants, and again overwhelmingly white. This program is just one instance that I have personally experienced that demonstrates the sizeable gender and race disparities within the mathematical community, and the cause of this likely comes down to the same disparities in mathematics education. Mathematical gatekeeping is the cyclic way that historically oppressed people, like women and people of color, are excluded from mathematics in their early education, higher education, and within the mathematical workplace. This exclusion is unjust, as there is no evidence that any race or gender is genetically geared towards better performance in mathematics, yet this gatekeeping is difficult to counteract because of the widespread implicit biases of mathematics educators, and therefore extreme measures within the mathematics education system must be taken by mathematics teachers of all levels. Mathematical spaces should not be so heavily white and male, but they continue to be. Let’s look at why.

Firstly, we discuss the ways race can impact mathematics education. It is vital to understand mathematics in America as a white institutionalized space, which is to say, a space that has working systems that keep people of color out of the discourse. This stems from the structure of American education and society as a whole, which are also largely white institutionalized spaces. Political and social structures of societies that cater towards white people produce education structures that do the same. A first, and very common instinct for educators may be to take a “colorblind” approach to teaching, that is, educators attempting to teach all students exactly equally, ignoring the racial identities of their students. It has been shown, as Danny Martin explains in a 2009 article about race in mathematics, that this so-called “colorblind” approach does not actually level the playing field for students of color, in actuality, race-neutral education “only perpetuates inequality” by neglecting the needs of marginalized students. Instead, Martin urges educators to self-reflect on their biases, identify mechanisms within the mathematical spaces (like standardized testing) that perpetuate math as a white space, and then take action to help the students affected by these mechanisms. Though, it quickly becomes clear that the call to self-reflection for white educators may be more difficult than proposed: if white educators shy away from discussions and deliberate consideration of race because of their white fragility or discomfort in self-evaluation of racial biases, then changing the field of mathematics from a white institutionalized space will demand more from educators than the self- identification of racially charged systems.

And race is not the only bias that is served in mathematics education, there is also an alarming imbalance in the gender make-up of mathematics students. For instance, women in higher level mathematics programs are scarce, usually outnumbered four to one by their male counterparts. At the elementary school level, female students are more likely to receive lower quality mathematics education, owing to biases placed on them by their teachers. A study found that “teachers tended to overrate male students’ math capability and correspondingly underrate female students’ math capability” even when test scores and other empirical data were the same for male and female students. When sorting students by ability for mathematics instruction, a 1987 article wrote that “teachers are more likely to assign high-ranking boys to the high-ability group than high-ranking girls,” of course putting the girls at a long-term disadvantage. It is important to note that the research cited here is using an assumed gender binary and does not account for biases towards transgender and nonbinary students. The lack of research into biases in mathematics education for transgender students futher illustrates the severity of mathematical gatekeeping to groups who face oppression in society, showing that even now some groups are being ignored or forgotten in the research aimed at helping to create a more eqaulity drivin space.

Now, in addition to biases towards their students, we must note that educators have biases towards their own mathematical abilities. An effect documented by Beth Azar, deemed “math anxiety,” stems from the stress of not being ‘good’ at math. Azar explains that elementary school teachers (who are mostly female) have the highest occurrence of math anxiety within a sample of multiple occupations, and it is likely that this anxiety is rooted in these educator’s own mathematics education which may have been biased or exclusionary. Along with this inherited math anxiety, it can be further said that the teacher’s attitudes in general about mathematics (which again, are largely negative owing to educator’s own biased math education) can heavily impact the student’s attitude towards mathematics, which is a key factor in success, thus the biases of educators towards themselves and their students are working in conjunction to keep certain students excluded from quality mathematics education.

This truly documents the cyclic nature of mathematical gatekeeping, as students grow up and become the educators, they carry with them their attitudes, anxieties, and abilities, which are then transferred to the new student. Biases in educators must be confronted in order to break this cycle, for both gender and race. It is important that teachers end the implicit way students are sorted into ability groups based on a teacher’s subjective perception of them, which is so often tainted by bias. Students also need to see representation of mathematically confident female and racially diverse educators, they need to see mathematics as an inclusive space rather than a white male space. Representation of diverse teachers matters in mathematics education, but only if these educators can also leave behind their own internalized biases.

Gary Huang and his colleagues chronicle how few women and people of color persevere through college level mathematics related degrees. In short, the students who had the opportunity to study higher mathematics in high school were the ones who often persisted through their degree, but as we have discussed previously, the opportunity to study higher mathematics in high school is predominantly given to white male students. Some, but not all, educators have readily recognized their biases towards themselves, their female students, and their students of color, and have begun to work towards a more inclusive mathematics education system which will set these students up for an equal opportunity in the field. Now, the goal must be to put pressure on all mathematics teachers in elementary education as well as higher education to counteract their implicit biases in order to make mathematics a tool all students have access to, in order to end the cycle of mathematical gatekeeping.

#math #mathematics #gatekeeping #mathematical gatekeeping #let me know if u want the articles I referenced #writes #rant #mathblr

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