#right into the middle of that situation. the Drama of the principal's office scene and then bam jared's going Holy Shit!!!

[tremendouspeachduck]

Besides the regular stuff

and could they be talking about education issues or problems?

Maybe she's thinking about  .  .  . something substantial.

Of course, he's so sexy and appealing she’s thinking.  Maybe I should turn up the heat.

Could they be interested in . . .  EDUCATION? - such a difficult subject, right?

In 1998, a high school junior named Eric Harris from Colorado wanted to put on a performance, something for the world to remember him by. A little more than a year later, Eric and his best friend Dylan Klebold would place bombs all over their school — bombs large enough to collapse large chunks of the building and to kill the majority of the 2,000 students inside — and then wait outside with semi-automatic weapons to gun down any survivors before ending their own lives. “It’ll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together,” Eric wrote in his journal. “Maybe we will even start a little rebellion or revolution to fuck things up as much as we can. I want to leave a lasting impression on the world.” Eric was a psychopath, but he was also smart. Despite what media outlets would later claim, Eric Harris was not the victim of bullying any more than other students, he was not a goth or a member of the “Trench Coat Mafia.” Eric was a straight-A student. He read Nietzsche and Hemingway for fun. He had friends and girlfriends. He was charming and funny and had a disarming smile.

But Eric also understood people. And because he understood people, he changed everything. By 1999, there had already been a series of school shootings across the United States. But Eric wasn’t interested in those. They were small-time jobs, amateur hour. Eric was far more interested in Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168 and injured 600. Eric wanted to top that. But he didn’t just want to top the body count, he wanted to top the notoriety, the fame, the horror. He wanted to terrorize people and he understood that his best weapon was not the guns he secretly purchased or the bombs he built in his basement — it was television. He would not kill jocks or preps, he would kill indiscriminately, because that’s what caused the most fear and got the most attention. He wouldn’t just blow up the school, but he’d blow up the parking lot, the police cars and the firefighters and the journalists who rushed to the scene. He would, quite literally, go out with a bang, the shockwaves of which, carried by mass media and the internet, would reverberate through the world for decades. On April 20th, Eric and Dylan arrived at Columbine High School and opened fire on teachers, students, administrators, janitors and police officers. Eric’s largest bombs failed to detonate and bring the building down as he had hoped, but that did not prevent the ensuing carnage that would last for almost an hour, leaving 15 dead and 24 wounded.

As chaos engulfed the school in Colorado, it would quickly fan out across the country, commanding more or less 24-hour television coverage for weeks on end. The drama would be replayed endlessly — bloodied and crippled students climbing out of the library window, the heroic coach who lost his life saving dozens of kids. And then there would be the questions and the speculation. Why? First, it was goth culture and Marilyn Manson. Then it was bullying. Then it was being social loners and outcasts. All of the explanations were later discovered to be untrue. The event truly seemed inexplicable. And because it was inexplicable the media and the viewers couldn’t let it go. Books were written. Memorials were built and ceremonies filled out. Eric Harris got his death wish: “Columbine” was a household name.

Recently, a student named Elliot Rodger from Santa Barbara City College killed six and injured 13, the latest in a long series of school shootings that are all but becoming a normal part of American tradition. As usual, the killer left a cache of material behind to explain his intentions and milk as much publicity for his personal grievances as possible. This time, the focus was on women, and how they wouldn’t have sex with him.

Like they always do, the media have descended to explain away the madness. And like a Rorschach Test, each outlet had its own pet cause primed and ready to be read into the situation. Gun control advocates used the event as an opportunity to campaign for stricter gun control, despite the fact that Rodger bought his guns legally and easily passed the background checks. Mental health advocates used it as an opportunity to urge better mental health care, despite the fact that Rodger had a small army of therapists and social workers working with him for practically his entire life.

First, come and get the USA history and more NOW, before it’s not taught, erased from the net and books or before it’s tweeked, tampered-with or getting the waterdown disturbing version.  

What is Melania doing to help our kids?

Time to lighten up - see video -

Feminists used it as an opportunity to promote awareness for violence against women, despite the fact that Rodger killed indiscriminately and the majority of the victims turned out to be men. Social justice advocates used it as an opportunity to rail against white male entitlement, despite the fact that Rodger was mixed race and a significant number of school shooters have also been minorities (Two examples: Seung-Hui Cho and Kimveer Gill). All of these issues are legitimate and deserve a conversation. But they are not the singular cause. They’re not the point.

However, the Fed. Govt. is not in charge - you are. There are many home school options available.   Or go to curriculum meetings at your child’s school.

If you want some curriculum changes what do you do besides go to the PTA, get group together and approach the principal?  You seek help from:   Parent Revolution, Education Reform Now, and Stand for Children.

What kind of parent are you?

Elliot Rodger was a member of a number of sites, email lists, and Facebook groups. And all of these authors and dating coaches — some of them legitimately decent men, others shady marketers — are all frantically trying to cover their tracks as best as possible. But this “witch hunt” we go through every time a school shooting happens is a total ruse. Elliot Rodger didn’t become a killer because he was a misogynist; he became a misogynist because he was a killer. Just like Eric Harris didn’t become a killer because he loved violent video games; he loved violent video games because he was a killer. Just like Adam Lanza didn’t become a killer because he loved guns; he loved guns because he was a killer. Every school shooting incident comes in the same dreary package: an angry, politically-charged rant, shrink-wrapped around a core of mental illness and neglect. These shooters leave behind journals, videos, diagrams, manifestos, and treatises. They broadcast their plans and intentions to their friends and family. They email news outlets minutes before they start firing. They write down their plans and make checklists so that others may follow in their footsteps. They go on angry rants against materialism, hedonism, the government, mass media, women, and sometimes even the people close to them.

Trophy Wife prose, not poetry

And each time, as a culture, we work ourselves into a frenzy debating the angry exterior message, while ignoring the interior life and context of each killer. We miss the point entirely. Reality Check According to the FBI, mass shootings (defined as shooting events that kill at least four people) occur on average every two weeks in the United States. Yes, every two weeks. Yet we rarely, if ever, hear about most of them. The reason is that these shootings are easily explainable. In most mass shootings, the crimes occur at a private location and the victims are people close and well-known to the shooter — family members, neighbors, friends. Many of them are attributable to gang violence or illicit criminal activities. Others are a crime of passion. School shootings only account for 4% of all mass shootings and yet they dominate the news media and get the entire country talking about them for weeks on end. There are a few reasons for this: They occur in everyday public locations which are supposed to be safe. The victims are targeted and killed at random.

You missed the March, 2018 update: 

The victims are innocent bystanders and often children. The killers leave behind large amounts of material about themselves for the media to share. The perpetrator and victims are generally upper-middle class, white, and privileged. These shooters know what they are doing. They’re not “crazy.” They don’t just “snap.” Most of them spend months or years planning their massacres. Elliot Rodger had apparently been planning his shooting for over a year. You don’t just show up with a 140-page manifesto and a large stockpile of weapons one day. You work at it for a long time. And you plan not only the violence but the presentation for the audience, the performance — what they will see from you, what they will hear from you, the reasons why, the message. It’s all very conscious and deliberate. And it works. Their killing sprees are specifically targeted to generate the most fear and uncertainty from the public, because the more fear and uncertainty they generate, the more attention they get. They then use all of the attention as a platform to promote themselves or whatever complaints they may have against society. It’s the Columbine formula. It works. And as Eric Harris pointed out in his journal, it’s not about the guns. It’s about the television. The films. The fame. The revolution. If this sounds like a familiar strategy, that’s because it is. Mass Shootings as Non-Political Terrorism

Parents ATTENTION – build this for your daughter 

For a country that is so single-mindedly obsessed with terrorism, it’s jaw-dropping that almost nobody recognizes that school shooters use the exact same strategies to disseminate fear and their twisted agendas throughout society. Terrorists use violence and mass media coverage to promote political or religious beliefs; school shooters use violence and mass media coverage to promote their personal grievances and glorification. When viewed in this way, our responses to the school shooters look juvenile in comparison. Can you imagine arguing over whether misogyny made Osama Bin Laden plan September 11th? Or whether video games caused Dhokhar Tsarnaev to plant bombs at the Boston Marathon? Or whether heavy music inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City? You would be laughed at. And in fact, when anyone goes as far as to suggest that Islam causes terrorism, they are immediately and rightfully scolded for it. Yet when it comes to school shootings, these types of discussions are not only tolerated, but engaged in willfully. It’s not that we should respond to school shootings the same way we respond to terrorist attacks. It’s that we already do. We just don’t realize it.

  What are the 10 best states for K-12 ed?  Are you ready to move?

If you can’t move, then do you prefer charter or voucher choices?  Transportation to/from should also be considered, right?  What about low income before/after school meals, tutoring or sports activities?  Perhaps charter, voucher or public choices should be contingent on anti-gang, low-income after school participation, right?  No participation = no school = mandatory work program in Sudan or Uganda.  I’d like to see some corporate, ball player and entertainer money come forward to fund before & after school meals/tutoring/sports.

I’d also like to see some funding go fornutrition parenting and school meal classes:

When Elliot’s creepy YouTube videos went public, declaring vengeance upon every college girl that wouldn’t sleep with him, every woman who had ever heard a guy mutter something similar suddenly felt a chill run up her spine. And that chill caused the video to be posted and reposted, sending more chills up more women’s spines until it had spread across the country. My guess is that’s exactly what Elliot would have wanted. And we’ve seen this viral dissemination over and over again. After every school shooting episode, writings and videos of the killers get passed around on the internet. Television specials show and reshow the footage. Books are written. Experts are hired. Rinse and repeat. Last year, I wrote that terrorism works because it takes advantages of psychological inefficiencies in our brains: we pay a disproportionate amount of attention to threatening events and we always overestimate how likely it is for a random event to happen to us. School shootings transfix us by leveraging the exact same inefficiencies in our minds. And once they’ve dominated this mindspace, we can’t seem to shake them out of it.

Common Core is no longer mandatory for Fed money.  States can now choose and let’s not forget about STEM career prep.  

Next subject is about college loans.  Predatory lending is any lending practice that imposes unfair or abusive loan terms on a borrower. It is also any practice that convinces a borrower to accept unfair terms through deceptive, coercive, exploitative or unscrupulous actions for a loan that a borrower doesn’t need, doesn’t want or can’t afford.

If the terms are unfair or abusive then seek another loan, right?  How can a college loan officer be deceptive, coercive, exploitative or unscrupulous?  Maybe someone has a recording of such, who knows?

Yet, for some reason, while we seem to imagine potential terrorists everywhere — in airport lines, at stadium gates, in subway cars — we never see the school shooters coming. We’re always caught by surprise. Hiding in Plain Sight When we think of terrorists, we think of some alien “other” — the bearded, turbaned man hiding in some cave on the other side of the world. Because he’s so distant and different, we let him eat at our imagination — he could be anywhere, ready to strike at any moment, hiding in behind every bush, planting a bomb on every bus or plane. We clog our airports and blast warnings through our public buildings for some imagined bogeyman who is never actually present. By contrast, we fail to spot shooter after shooter because they are so close to us and so much like us. We miss them because they are our neighbors, our classmates, our friends or even our family members. They are right in front of our noses and we ignore them for a whole host of trivial reasons. Maybe they’re too weird, or awkward, or they’re a loser. We don’t want to talk to them. We put our blinders on and pretend that they’re not miserable, we pretend that they didn’t just have that awkward outburst, we pretend they didn’t just make a joke about killing their own parents.

Pipeline info       more pipeline info

In writing, in the loan paperwork do you see any lies or anything to mislead a borrower?  The lender must be protected from students trying to pull a fast one, right?  No lenders = no future loans for students.  Betsy Devos, Sec of Ed, is fighting for our students to have loans to use to finance their college costs.  A very good fight, right?

College costs are high, so it’s no game or time filler.  The potential student must be serious and have the desire and ability to finish, right?  Most people old and young know that any loan has rules and risks, right?  

Signing without reading and understanding is at your peril, right?  If you are a student what should you look at?  

Eric Harris’ friends later said that he would often “joke” about blowing up the school and murdering classmates. Even after they discovered he was building bombs in his basement, they never put two-and-two together. They just couldn’t believe it. Not Eric. Not the guy they had played video games with and toilet papered girls’ houses with. Meanwhile, the wrong sarcastic word at the airport and you can be held in jail for days. An FBI study on school shooters found school shootings are never a result of a crazy person “snapping.” Most shooters do have serious mental health or emotional issues, but they all plan their attacks months or even years in advance. And as they plan, they almost always “leak” information about the attack beforehand, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes in incredibly obvious ways.

Are there any debt elimination scams?  

Some qualify whereby most fees can be paid through scholarships, grants or military service benefits, right?  If yourgrades suck, can you get a scholarship?

Are students aware of jobs for the future - dealing with the robot issue?

Many students get Fed. loans, grants or military benefits and most colleges/univ get Fed help.  Perhaps it’s time to  eliminate Fed loans or help, if the campuses are not safe for conservative speakers and still turn the eye at life/death hazing practices. Are parents aware of the current harm education is perpetrating on the youth?

Both Harris and Rodger had the police called on them multiple times due to suspicious behavior. Both of them had a history of strange and violent outbursts towards friends and those close to them. Both put their intentions and their angry rants up on the web for everyone to see. Elliot Rodger wrote and re-wrote his plan out, sometimes including murdering his family members and stealing their car. He wrote that if someone had just searched his room, it would have all come apart, he would have been found out. Eric Harris wrote almost the exact same thing 15 years earlier. Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 32 people, turned in paper after paper that depicted gruesome killings and gun violence. He had a history of mental health issues and had been reported to the campus police four times for aggressive and antisocial behavior, particularly towards women. One of his professors went so far as to tell the board that she would rather resign than teach another class with him in it.

Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, also had a history of mental illness and inappropriate anti-social behavior. And he too, began sharing his intentions online through forum posts and audio. Lanza had paranoid delusions about mass media and the government, and began to argue that school shootings were justified as a form of protest or revolt. People humored him and ignored him. No one realized he had a small armory of semi-automatic weapons in his house. Then there are those who are simply ignored. Dylan Klebold was suicidally depressed for over two years. He fantasized and wrote about killing himself liberally. Despite getting into trouble with the law, turning in school assignments that glorified murder and suicide and failing most of his classes senior year, his parents and friends claimed that they had no idea something was amiss.

If people insist on living on islands or near beaches, then the hurricane is a constant fear, right?  What would a hurricane proof house look like? Perhaps it’s time to have the conversation about Fed help to public schools K-12 to be contnigent on ROTC and a business subject or job readiness program.  What is your opinion? 

The above katana homeis unique, right?

what about his one?     what about a velvet blue sofa?

George Sodini, a middle-aged Pennsylvania man who shot up an aerobics class full of women, wrote in his journal that since he spent the past 20 years of his life alone and miserable, there was no reason to think that the next 20 wouldn’t be lonely and miserable as well. His mother had been emotionally abusive. His father hadn’t had a meaningful conversation with him in over 30 years. Simply put: he had nothing to live for. So why not take some revenge on your way out? Gun control gets the headlines. Mental health care gets the headlines. Violence and video games and misogyny and internet forums and atheism — the list is endless at this point. Here’s what doesn’t get the headlines: Empathy. Listening to those around you. Even if you don’t like them very much. We have come to live in a culture where it’s taboo or unacceptable to simply check in with people emotionally and offer some empathy and understanding. I’m not saying this would magically fix all gun violence. I’m just saying that all of these things — the lack of gun laws, the lack of health care, the inability to have basic conversations with friends and neighbors about what’s going on with them, these are all extensions of a callous and self-absorbed culture that lacks any real empathy.

Despite being relevant and important discussions, the glamorous headlines are ultimately distractions — they just feed into the carnage and the attention and the fame the killer desired. They are distractions from what is right in front of you and me and the victims of tomorrow’s shooting: people who need help. And while we’re all fighting over whose pet cause is more right and more true and more noble, there’s likely another young man out there, maybe suicidally depressed, maybe paranoid and delusional, maybe a psychopath, and he’s researching guns and bombs and mapping out schools and recording videos and thinking every day about the anger and hate he feels for this world. And no one is paying attention to him.

Are parents teaching kids to be responsible? 

Betsy Devos is also promoting the rewriting of college harassment proceedings.  They call on schools to conduct objective investigations and provide “prompt and equitable” resolutions. And, for the first time, the administration explicitly says that just as an institution’s treatment of a complainant could constitute sex discrimination, so would the treatment of the accused.  Under the new rules, schools would be held to a new standard for determining whether they took the proper steps to address the allegations. It sounds as though the proposed rules will go a long way towards restoring meaningful due process protections to the campus justice system, which will benefit both accusers and the accused.  What do you think?

What is rape? 

THIS IS MY CALL TO ACTION - schools need huge changes **   many do not believe adaptation in teaching environments will be sufficient to teach new skills at the scale that is necessary to help workers keep abreast of the tech changes that will upend millions of jobs. 

  Vote GOP and help make advancement easy and smooth!

#sexy #alluring #mysterious #fun #appealing #youth #politics #dirty politics #relationship #dating #education

[bugheadjones-the-third]

Title: Hematoma Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Summary: Based on the prompt from @bughead-fanfic-wishlist - “Jughead breaks up with Betty when he starts getting in deep with the Southside Serpents. After a few weeks, Betty decides to try and move on and get a new guy in her life. Everything is okay, at first, until her new boyfriend turns out to have violent streak. Jughead regrets their break up and starts to get worried about Betty’s new guy.”

A/N: This is it. The last chapter and the end of all this drama I created for them. This was a really challenging story for me and all the positive support I've received was just incredible. Thank you all for sticking around with me through this considerable short ride, and I really hope I can reach your hearts with this! Also, don't forget to tell me what you think! Comments are really appreciated!

Neither of them really knew for how long they had remained in that same position, breathing and holding each other, until their peace was finally disturbed by their friends. Archie was the first to show up, his eyes widening as soon as he saw all that mess, and as soon as Veronica, Cheryl, Reggie and a few other Bulldogs came up, it was as if they all had been staring at a crime scene. Tom was still laying on the ground, there was blood staining the grass around them and had the male ginger not stepped in, chances were that the other football players would’ve blamed the boy wearing the serpent jacket for the whole thing.

Veronica had also texted her boyfriend with the photos, and there was no way Archie would’ve just sat there and do nothing to get back on Tom. He would’ve probably done worse than Jughead did, for unlike the brave loner, the Andrews boy had Reggie Mantle and the Bulldogs by his side, and they were all ready to make that idiot pay for hurting the Cooper girl. Betty and Reggie might not be the closest friends, and he can actually be a jerk when he wants, but he would never let someone hurt her under his watch. They grew up together, after all. She had helped him countless of times with his math homework when he first started being friends with Archie, and that was a kind of bond that would make him kick someone’s ass for hurting her.

Everyone in Riverdale High would fight for Betty Cooper if she ever found herself in danger.

But apparently, no one was as fast as the boy from South Side High.

There was a certain turmoil around the athletes, and they all helped the couple stand up after they somehow managed to explain everything that had happened there. Veronica was on the verge of tears, and for the first time, Cheryl Blossom was the one who voiced out the orders to so they could all find a solution to their current situation.

She told the brunette to walk to Weatherbee’s office to inform the principal of what Tom had actually done to his precious student. The Blossom girl also made sure to tell the boys to take their future, ex-teammate to the school nurse, telling her it was all an unfortunate accident caused by the brutalities of the sport. Last, but not least, Cheryl made sure to clear the girls' locker-room so Betty could tend to his wounds and Jughead could wait until the dust settled so he could walk away without being caught.

Everyone did as they were told, and it didn’t take that long before Jughead found himself sitting in one of those long benches, both his leather jacket and beanie left aside, as Betty held a soaked towel to clean the mud from his face and the blood from his knuckles. He watched as she did everything with all the care in the world, for she knew as much as he did that the adrenaline levels in his body weren’t high enough anymore to make him not feel any pain. His knuckles were a mess now, and yet, even if he winced every now and then when the soap came in touch with it, his pain was certainly not his priority at that moment.

She was.

Even if Tom was already gone from their lives, the scars left by him were still spread around her body. The images Veronica sent him— even if a little blurred— were enough to send chills down his spine due to imagining the whole thing actually happening to her. Betty has always been the more delicate girl he has ever known, and the idea of her skin stained in hematoma broke his heart into millions of pieces.

It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel palpable, and it certainly felt as if it was all just a lie and that those pictures were from someone else.

It felt surreal, and for him, it would never stop feeling like that until—

“ I want to see it.” His words came out as a whisper, and at first, he didn’t even realize he had actually voiced out those thoughts. He felt her hand stiffening, her eyes suddenly widened, and for a moment, he realized how that unintentional authoritarian tone affected her. Blue eyes also widened for a moment, but soon, they softened yet again as they came to meet green ones. “ I mean… Can I?”

The blonde didn’t say a single acceptance word to his question, but the way her eyes looked at him was the only confirmation he needed at that moment. There was a silent agreement hidden behind their irises, and even if there were also feelings such as shame and fear, both Betty and Jughead knew that if anything, their love would be stronger than any of that.

Their love would keep her from fading in her own shame. Their love would keep him from running away in his own fears. Their love would keep them together through and through.

As the raven haired boy slowly moved his hand to the back of her left one, he could feel as she slowly surrendered to his touch. His heart was beating faster in anxiety, yet he managed to keep himself concealed as he slowly started to fold the white sleeve of her cheerleading outfit. Her eyes were focused on his fingers, and it didn’t take long before he saw a mix of purple and red creeping from under her clothes.

He could feel his heart breaking at every new inch of skin exposed, and he saw as tears started to pool around her eyes. She was biting her lower lip in apprehension, and at that moment, when he realized how uncomfortable that whole thing was making her, Jughead opted to stop around the middle of her forearm. His eyes had already seen enough for his broken heart to be convinced, and he figured there was no reason to keep on forcing their eyes to the same, bruised pattern of colors.

So it really was true, he thought. So that bastard had really gone that far to break her like that and to make her feel ashamed of herself because of him.

“ Why…?” He said, in a tone that only she could hear. “ Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“….” She took a deep breath, finally releasing her lower lip from her teeth. “ I was ashamed…”

“ Of what, Betty? You don’t have to be ashamed because of what that bastard did to you. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“ Of course there is, Jug. I-I… I could’ve left him. I could’ve done something to stay away, but I was stubborn and didn’t want to leave.” Her lips were trembling much like when they talked after his disastrous birthday party, and he could still see that there was something hidden deep within that was just destroying her.

There was more that she had to tell him.

And even if he didn’t want to force her to say anything, he knew she would never be free unless she let that out.

“ Then why didn’t you?” His voice was soft, and his eyes were on her face, trying to read her in the same way he always does.

“ Because of you.” She watched as his eyes widened in shock, not really understanding where she was trying to get with that. He wasn’t foolish enough not to recognize his own share of guilt in all that, but he was certainly not expecting her to tell him that soon— if ever, knowing how her selfless heart works. The raven haired boy, then, remained quiet, and she took that chance to let it all out. “ After… After you broke up with me, God— I was so angry at you, Jug. I was mad for seeing everything happening again and for seeing you let the world do as it pleased to our hearts! I tried to ratiocinate, I really did, but… But all that thinking just made even madder at you and at myself. And then, after a couple of weeks—“

“ You met Tom, right?”

“ Yeah, I did… And I already knew he was a jerk back then. Damn it, anyone could tell that after spending two minutes with him. I knew he would never be as good as you in anything, and perhaps that’s what made me choose him. I wanted to show you that I could be with someone else that was as labeled as me. I was going to turn him into the opposite of you, and that would… That was supposed to have made me feel better.” She bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to dig her nails into her palms. He could see the struggle spread around her face, and at that moment, something told him her story had just reached the point of no return.

“ What went wrong?”

“ Everything.” She smiled bitterly, licking her lips before continuing. She started shaking a bit, trying to gather courage to continue. “ My personal revenge was working just fine until the day when he… When he had one of his violent strikes. I knew I should’ve left that day. I knew I should’ve just talked to someone, but… I felt like I deserved that.”

“ Deserved?” His eyes widened and anger started to boil inside his veins. “ Betty, you would never deserve anything like that!”

“ Maybe you’re right, Jug, but… But I had no right to do what I did. I tried to use him to get revenge on you, and somehow, I got what I deserved.” Her face started to turn redder, and even if he was shaking his head in a way to tell her her words weren’t true, she started to nod in agreement. “ I deserved it, Jug. I knew I did, but then I lost control of everything and I saw myself getting cornered with every bad decision I made, and soon… Soon I was feeling like a coward.”

“ You were not a coward, Betty. That bastard was the one who cornered you with violence. He is the coward.”

“ I was the one who was scared, Jug. Scared of me, scared of Tom… I was afraid my life would forever be ruled by that constant fear and that I would— That you would never be able to look at me like you used to. I was so ashamed of doing what I did… I still am. And god— I’m sorry, Jughead. I’m so so sorry.”

She started to bite her lip again, closing her eyes as to avoid looking at him, and he could see how truly broken she was. Betty was hurt in more ways than he could tell, but her physical bruises were probably the last of her concerns. She was afraid and ashamed for things that had more to do with her than with Tom, and at that moment, he didn’t know it was possible to get even madder at that jock for what he did to such a sweet and kind girl like her.

He had traumatized her. He had made her think that it was all her fault and that she would never really escape his hands. Tom had broken her in a way that not even all of her insecurities together had over the years, and Jughead just hated him so much for destroying everything she had built during the past few months.

Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped punching Tom. Maybe he should’ve just killed that bastard, even if he had to face all those nasty consequences later. Maybe he should—

His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by the feeling of her wet tears falling over her wounded wrist and his fingers. His eyes widened in pure hurt, and just like back then, he felt himself being brought to his senses by her fragility.

Of course, he thought. There was no use in thinking about Tom anymore and all the other ‘What if’s that had been crossing his mind lately. Not when she was crying in front of him.

Not when she really needed him.

Soft and almost inaudible sobs started to escape her throat, and in a blink of an eye, all of his hatred turned to compassion, and he could feel himself getting stronger, not because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to bring her back from that hellhole the world had thrown her in.

Jughead had to be strong for her. He had to be stronger so she could be stronger, too.

By the way her eyes widened, he could easily tell that the sudden brush of his fingers against her skin brought her back from whatever lightless place she had chosen to hide at that moment. She watched in awe as the tips of his fingers ghosted over her bruised skin, drawing irregular patters around it in an incredibly soothing way. He outlined the hematoma, tracing the blue web of veins near her wrist, brushing through her scared palms, and finally, placing his fingers in between hers. Jughead locked them there, making sure their hands were messily intertwined, and giving her a reassurance squeeze.

At that moment, Betty didn’t move a single muscle under his touch. She simply watched in awe and with her lips parted, as he embraced all that new ugliness and all those different colors that were now sewed to her body. Her heart skipped a beat, then, as he slowly lifted her wrist, bringing it to his lips so he could kiss all bruised places with all the delicacy in the world.

Jughead was kissing the new parts of her she was so ashamed of, and with that kiss, he was telling her that even with those bruises— that even with those memories and traumas— he would still love her in the same, unconditional way he always has, if not more. His eyes finally met hers as to prove his intentions, and for the first time, the tears he saw falling from her face held a certain hope in them.

She was feeling relieved, grateful and accepted; and just like when she first showed him her scars, Betty allowed herself to let go of all of her insecurities, slowly leaning in to capture his lips. It was a soft, chaste kiss that was immediately answered, and with that, it was as if they were sealing all their solved troubles away. With that hopeful kiss, she knew he was going to embrace that new, broken part of her until she could build herself back.

No matter what, he was still going to love her with all the same dedication, care and trust he always has.

No matter what, he will forever see her as his beloved Betty Cooper.

“ We’ll get though this, I promise.” He whispered, brining her head to rest against his chest and soothing the area behind her neck with his hand. “ You’ll be okay, Betty.”

And that is why she loves him so much.

-the end

tagging: @my-ships-will-never-be-sank @prongs-mileven

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #bughead fanfic #bughead fic #mybugheadfics

[evenstevensranked]

#46: Season 3, Episode 14 - “Dirty Work”

This episode was pretty popular. Ren and Principal Wexler have a falling out after she starts to realize he assigns her all of his “dirty work.” So, Larry Beale ends up temporarily taking over as Wexler’s student assistant. Petty drama ensues. Meanwhile, during the plot everyone remembers: Louis decides to start his own "Lumberjack Club" as an excuse to slack off in school. Where all they do is hang around, speak with semi-hillbilly accents, eat pancakes and wear flannels.

Let me start off by saying... To this day, people fondly remember the Lumberjack Club as if it were some major thing, but in reality it was only a (very) small subplot. That’s crazy to me. I did my research, and this Lumberjack Club plot resonated with people so much that students were directly inspired to start their own Lumberjack Clubs at school irl. I’m not joking. Here are some more examples. 

All of these clubs have basically the same mission statement as Louis’ and were formed in the Early 2000s. This alone made me feel like I should rank the episode much higher for “iconic” points. Buuuut, this was never one of my personal favorites *gasp!* and that’s outweighing a lot of things for me. So, please know that I had an extreme internal struggle when deciding where to put this one. I was originally going to rank this around #59-55. But, I didn’t think that was fair enough to the ~cultural impact~ it made, and decided to put it here at #46. That being said… let’s get into it.

This one opens with Coach Tugnut driving up to his school parking spot singing “‘cause I got a brand new suit, and pair of shoes to match! I wish I had a mustache—“ before he gets cut off by Ren. I just felt like those lyrics were worth sharing honestly. She tells him that Wexler has ordered his parking spot to be moved a block and a half away from the school. We find out the reason why when Wexler comes driving up in a new red convertible. He wanted that spot for himself. Idk why Wexler needed Tugnut’s spot though? Surely he has his own prominent spot? He asks Ren to look into some “Lumberjack Club” he came across while looking over the school budget.

What is up with Ren’s pants, btw? This outfit always bothered me. When I was young I always thought they were, like.. freaking Louis Vuitton pants or something, lol. I mentioned before that her wardrobe starts to include loud patterns and gives off an overall “older” and stuffy vibe towards the end of the series. 

The camera pans over to Louis and Twitty, who are accepting and signing off on a syrup delivery. They recycle their code names (Lars Honeytoast and Frenchie Von Richter) from an earlier episode in the series when accepting the order. The delivery man refers to Twitty as "Mr. Honeytoast." This is such a small thing that’s easy to miss, but it’s awesome and top notch casual continuity! I really like it.

It’s “New England’s Finest” syrup. I’m from Boston. This pleases me, tbh.

It cuts to Lumberjack Club! Where Louis, Twitty, Tawny and Tom are cooking pancakes and celebrating the fact that they’ve upgraded their syrup to premium quality, lol. “Lumber Tawn” asks “Lumber Lou” (yes, these are the nicknames they’ve given themselves) to tell them how he came up with the idea for the club again. Louis goes on to tell the story of the club’s origins. The hillbilly accent really kicks in now, accentuated by bluegrass music in the background. He starts off by saying “Well, ‘bout two weeks ago, when yous kids was much younger… everyone was siiignin’ up for cluuuubs.” That is one of my favorite lines though. Not gonna lie. He explains that anyone could get money to form a club as long as they got 50 signatures. So he decided to create a Lumberjack Club after remembering his “deep and loyal love for the pancake.” Incredible. 

Dat face tho.

Right about now is when Ren comes walking in, finding the four of them toasting to The Lumberjack. (See first image.) She grills them about what kind of club they are and what sort of things they do. Louis starts pulling crap out of his butt saying “We sing Lumberjack Songs.” Ren asks them to sing one and it’s great. None of them are in sync. They’re all making stuff up off the top of their heads and clashing miserably. The best part is Tom -- who’s repeatedly saying "Wood... Wood... Wood..." God bless Tom.

Louis says they’re “legit… with a big L!” “…and a small ‘egit’!” Twitty finishes. I feel like this is worth mentioning because one of the real-life clubs’ requirements for joining is that you have to “be legit.” Oh my god. Obviously, Ren vows to shut down the club.

Wexler surprises Ren with her own desk outside of his office. We’re getting into creepy territory again, guys. Wexler makes Ren, a 14-15 year old, do ALL OF HIS WORK while he goes out gallivanting in his new car. Remember when I said that Ren Stevens is basically the principal of Lawrence Jr. High…? Well, this episode really exemplifies that and takes it to a new level. She literally takes over as principal. How is this not illegal?

One of her tasks for the day is to fire the school janitor. Wow. (Fun fact: Jackie the Janitor is played by Knobby Frostybump -- the old elf from the Lizzie McGuire Christmas episode lol) This is the last straw for Ren. She confronts Wexler and quits being his assistant. But much like in Ren-Gate, that doesn’t last long. Over the course of a period, she gets all emo and decides she wants her job back. But, oh no! When she goes back to the office, guess who’s already taken over for her? Larry Beale. Dang, that was fast.

Another lazy name flub happens again here. Larry is polishing his nameplate and it reads "Lawrence M. Beale" when earlier in the series they say his full name on a few different occasions and it's "Lawrence Anthony Beale." I don't understand why something like this is so difficult to remember?! Although, I actually always thought it was weird that Larry's middle name was Anthony because Louis’ full name is Louis Anthony Stevens. Even weirder... The actor who plays Beans is named Steven Anthony Lawrence. What a strange coincidence. 

Ren and Wexler are being extremely passive aggressive towards each other while Larry sits there gloating. Out of spite, Ren decides to become Tugnut's new assistant instead. Like he even needs one. It becomes a petty, all out war between the pairs.

It’s Larry’s job to shut down Lumberjack Club now, so he busts into their meeting the next day. I’m pretty sure they’re not even going to class anymore. They hired a marimba player named Nate to entertain them during club meetings — which I think is absolutely hilarious. It might just be because I'm a musician, but any music-related humor kills me. I mean, a MARIMBA PLAYER?! And this dude is such a Jazz cat. It’s great. This is honestly probably my favorite scene in the whole episode:

So, yeah. Lumberjack Club needs to make an educational presentation in order to stay a thing.

Tugnut is chilling in a lawn chair, eating a burrito and telling his life story (”I thought about moving to Canada, but I don’t speak Canadian...”) while Ren does work on his car. Now she’s a mechanic. This is child abuse, I swear. She’s about to quit as his assistant, but she looks up and sees Larry and Wexler blissfully driving around in his convertible. She gets jealous and keeps working for Tugnut. These student/teacher relationships are so, so strange and not appropriate. Let’s be real... 

Anyway, the whole assistant war thing starts to come to an end when it becomes obvious that Ren is much more qualified and has a better relationship and understanding with Wexler than Larry does. Larry royally messes up as Wexler's assistant and ends up doing a lot of things wrong. Including inviting Wexler’s mother to school, putting nutmeg in his coffee, and forgetting to pay Wexler’s car insurance bill. (Really, what adult would trust a 14-15 year old to pay their bills…) 

Louis organizes the most impressive Lumberjack Club presentation ever within a few hours at the most. I do like seeing Louis at least fully see his schemes through, though. So that’s nice, I guess.

It’s like a freaking carnival.

Nate returns as the musical entertainment. I love this guy, lol. Everything’s going well, until Louis and Twitty chop down a tree during a demonstration which falls on Wexler’s car. Ouch. Wexler’s devastated and sobbing, but manages to mutter “Look what they’ve done to my sweet, sweet ride!” through tears. That made me laugh harder than I probably should’ve. Wexler faints when he finds out Larry didn’t send the insurance payment, and nowww Ren is responsible for Wexler’s literal life. 

Something always gotta go wrong. Louis was actually sort of pulling this whole Lumberjack thing off.

Wexler could be on his deathbed right now and it’s up to Ren to save him. Wow. “Breathe, Principal Wexler! Breathe!!!”

Turns out Ren sneakily sent out the insurance payment the other day and everything’s fine. The episode ends with Ren becoming Wexler’s assistant again. The end. 

So yeah, that’s it. I’m still shocked at how short the Lumberjack Club plot actually is. Pretty crazy how it somehow managed to burn itself into the memories of so many people. I’m also like, 99% positive it was inspired by this Monty Python skit. There’s even a song playing during the school presentation that’s near identical melodically (and lyrically a bit) to the one sung in this skit. The fact that it’s just a subplot also affected my ranking, because I’m not the biggest fan of this episode’s main plot. I love Larry/Ren conflict.. but this situation is just... slightly annoying to me for some reason. ALSO! I realized the other day that I should base my rankings on character development, as well. I’ve actually been doing that subconsciously so far, I think. Barring a few, the majority have been filler episodes basically. No material that actually advances the overall arc of the show. Just random, silly plots -- which makes it difficult for me to really consider it a “good” or “great” episode. And unfortunately, that’s what Lumberjack Club is to me. I’m so sorry. I just love these characters so much, so when there’s little to no character growth in an episode.. it sort of bothers me. I know the show is silly, but there’s a lot of heart there as well. Episodes that have a little meat to them are the ones I’m more fond of. 

We’ve officially reached the point in my list where I drew a line separating the lower half from the better half though, guys! The ball’s really rolling now. I’m excited. 

Thanks for reading! Were you a Lumberjack Club fan? Did you start your own?! Please, do tell. Haha. 

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#rank #even stevens #louis stevens #disney channel #ren plot #lumberjack club #old school disney #nostalgia #90s kids #early 2000s #ren stevens #larry beale #principal wexler #tv shows #review #tv reviews #monty python #shia labeouf #christy carlson romano #coach tugnut #season 3

[houstonlocalus-blog]

‘Atomic Blonde,’ ‘Detroit’ and ‘Endless Poetry’

  It’s a typical week at the cinema with half a dozen films opening, and that’s not counting special events like QFest or the Sidewalk Cinema, a video installation at the corner of Main Street and Dallas funded by the Houston Downtown Management District and Aurora Picture Show.

This week some noted directors are getting their just desserts, including vets like Alejandro Jodorowsky and Kathryn Bigelow as well as relative newcomer David Leitch.

Jodorowsky remains one of the supreme surrealists working in film, however, his latest film, Endless Poetry, is easily his most accessible to mainstream audiences. While there are surreal moments in the film, there’s nothing like the imagery we’ve come to expect from the director of such films as El Topo or Santa Sangre.

Specifically, just like in his previous autobiographical film The Dance of Reality (2013), Jodorowsky mines his youth for story elements. When his mother talks, the words come out like a diva singing opera phrases. In the film, Jodorowsky uses his sons to play his father and himself as a young man. It’s brilliant, really, when you think about how many films you see where the parents and progeny are played by movie stars who look totally unrelated by blood.

In one of Endless Poetry’s few fourth-wall breaking moments, Alejandro himself shows up behind the actor playing his son (Adan Jodorowsky) as if to conjure up the metaphor of a person looking back at his own life. Another son of Alejandro, Brontis Jodorowsky, plays his father, Jamie, not just a stern paterfamilias but rather a bit of a fascist.

Young Alejandro distances himself from his family, who are aghast that he wants to be a poet. Eventually finding a like-minded group of outcasts, Alejandro develops what is to become his singular style of story telling. Other young characters portrayed in Endless Poetry, like Enrique Lihn, Stella Diaz Varín and Nicanor Parra, went on to be renowned artists in their own right.

As in his other films, Jodorowsky never capitulates to normalcy, especially in the father/son dynamics. Young Alejandro’s romance with Stella ends on a sad note. Yet Endless Poetry follows through with its narrative in such a linear manner that it sits among the best family dramas ever made. The cinematographer of the film is Christopher Doyle.

  Endless Poetry unwinds exclusively at the Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park starting today.

    David Leitch may not be a household name, but you’ve seen films he’s worked on mainly as a stunt choreographer or stunt double (for instance, Brad Pitt in Fight Club). Leitch was the uncredited director for John Wick (think Ron Howard on the Han Solo film). His upcoming 2018 film is the sequel Deadpool 2, but his current film is what people will be talking about.

Atomic Blonde operates on so many levels you may be challenged as whether to describe it as a hard boiled spy film, a nostalgic trip through 1980 new wave music cues, or the latest film to celebrate female empowerment.

Charlize Theron (no stranger to bad ass distaff roles) plays secret agent Lorraine Broghton, a no-nonsense MI6 operative who’s about to tear up Berlin on the eve of the collapse of the Wall. James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger and Sofia Boutella co-star.

Leitch lays down a soundtrack of that could be the definitive mix tape of late-80s progressive songs: “99 Luftballons,” “I Ran,” “London Calling,” “Der Kommissar,” “Major Tom” and “Blue Monday.” That’s leaving out several titles.

To accompany the music, Leitch escalates the violence of rapid-cut Bourne films to stage massive fight sequences that last for minutes, seemingly without cuts. Whether Leitch uses invisible digital editing doesn’t matter, the action flows, regardless of the technique, like a continuous means to an end.

For the film, Theron trained so hard she cracked her teeth, requiring dental surgery before principal photography. And when it comes time for her world-weary agent of change to find romance, it’s in the arms of another femme. Which is just as well, as the other available guys are probably double agents anyway.

  Atomic Blond opens wide today at area theaters.

    Kathryn Bigelow, first woman to win an Academy Award as Best Director (for The Hurt Locker), places her latest film during the Detroit race riots of 1967. Detroit is really about the Algiers Motel altercation, ann incident that saw police kill three black men while also beating seven other men and two white women during an impromptu interrogation that occupies much of the film’s running time.

Detroit is anything but black and white. Some of the police are shown having an upstanding moral conscience, while others use their badge to literally get away with murder. Likewise, the victims display flaws that make them less than perfect, although certainly not deserving of the abuse thrown their way.

Bigelow starts out the film with a series of art panels by Jacob Lawrence depicting African-American migration in the United States that play over the opening credits. The origins of the riots started with the police busting an illegal after-hours club in the middle of the night. Events snowball from there when martial law is declared and the city has regions cordoned off by the National Guard, the State Patrol, and local Detroit Police.

Remember in The Deer Hunter (1978) when the wedding sequence at the end of the second act seemed to go on forever? There’s a similar scene in Detroit that could be its own movie.

On July 25, 1967 the Algiers Motel came under scrutiny when shots were fired from a window towards a National Guard unit across the street. The gun was actually a starter pistol shooting blanks. Eventually, some bad cops take over the situation and line up a dozen or so suspects in a dank hallway and Detroit becomes a film within a film.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd gives Detroit a grainy period look. Considering how much time the characters are being photographed against dark wood hues, the film still retains a sense of the character’s fear, despite the close quarters.

The aftermath comes together quickly. The officers on trial are found not guilty and the world keeps spinning, although the axis has been changed. Detroit may be hard for some audiences to sit through because the truth can really be a bitch.

  Detroit opens exclusively at the Edwards Grand Palace today, opening wide on Aug. 4.

‘Atomic Blonde,’ ‘Detroit’ and ‘Endless Poetry’ this is a repost