EleCivil

Hi, Cole! I've been...well, it's a long story. But this thread is for a different long story! I knew most of this story before Cynus posted it, but seeing it all spelled out and in order like this was still powerful. I haven't been exactly quiet about my own criticisms of the way religion can dominate lives and inflict lasting emotional damage. A lot of the big issues addressed here (self-hatred, self-destructive behavior, denial, etc.) fit a narrative I've heard from a lot of recovering survivors of religious indoctrination, and I think having stories like this available for others to read is important. If my 12 year old self had known that there were other people who were going through the same internal struggle, it may have made a big difference. Thanks for posting this! -

Greek tragedy, episode of Dallas...yeah, pretty much the same.

I am working on it, I swear! I just added another three pages today. I'm just spitballing plot ideas. I don't plan on writing another one for a while - haha, it takes me forever to write ONE story, let alone juggling two.

Meh. I'll take Kanye. Even if his last album was pretty weak, and he seems to think he's Jesus. Haha.

Ooh, let me get in on this: Two twins: One straight, one gay. The gay twin is in a committed, long-term relationship with another dude. The gay twin is hit by a truck carrying a load of plot devices and dies. Throughout the grieving process, the straight twin and the gay twin's lover turn to each other for comfort, having lost someone very close to both of them. The lover starts falling for the straight twin, and is conflicted because it's like he's just replacing his deceased lover with a physical copy. The straight twin is conflicted because he feels a closeness and a connection with the lover, but doesn't share the romantic/sexual feelings. Plot, plot, plot, everyone grows to understand themselves a little better, and they come to accept the tragedy and move on, either with or without one another. Haha, this is fun. (Well, maybe not all the tears and vehicular manslaughter, but other than that...) But to answer the main question, yes, go ahead and download any of my stories for personal use.

Okay, guys, don't make fun of me too much, but... I recognize Kanye West, but who's the other guy?

First thing you learn as a juggler: How to keep your balls in the air, without having them slap against one another (or against anyone else's). It's all in the rhythm. And yes, every rule of juggling boils down to a double-entendre involving the word "balls": Never leave home without your balls. Never grab someone else's balls without permission. Keep your balls under control and out of others' personal space. Everyone's balls eventually drop. Don't let it discourage you. You might get hit with someone else's balls. Presume that it was an accident and move on. They're generally good rules for non-jugglers, as well.

http://digg.com/video/these-kids-are-entirely-too-good-at-juggling As a practitioner of the anti-gravitational art, I had to share this. Some students from Gustavus Adolphus College pulling off some throws that had me shouting at my screen in disbelief. Edit: Just had to mention - check out that strut/club swing at 2:40! Hahaha, perfect.

Learning opportunity! Put him to work. "Without using the snowblower or a shovel (since that's too obvious), how can you clear a path from the door to the car?" See what he comes up with. I did this with some student volunteers after school, just to see what they would piece together as kind of a real-world engineering puzzle. Note that I had to stop a student mid-run and say "Don't do anything that will get you or me arrested," to which he replied "...Okay, on to plan B." So make sure you add that caveat. --- Back on topic - what a great news story! I could see this turning into a short story or even a serial. (Not by me, though. I've barely got enough time to write one thing, let alone juggle multiple projects.)

You're in Tulsa, FT? The series of zany adventures that is my life has taken me through Tulsa plenty of times. I may have stayed at your hotel at some point. And yes, my first time in OK, I spent the whole night freaked out by the warning sirens and the flickering lights, paranoid that at any minute, the roof was going to lift right off of my hotel room and I'd be off to see the wizard.

Nah, you're not getting old. It's punk rock - it's SUPPOSED to sound like distorted noise. Haha, no. But I do wear a pink Against Me! pin on my tie, sometimes.

A while back, Tom Gabel, the lead singer of the punk band Against Me! came out as transgender, changing his name to Laura Jane Grace and living as a woman. I really, really love Against Me!. "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" is one of my all-time favorite punk songs. And Tom Gabel's rough, aggressive vocals are part of that. When I heard this announcement, I was curious as to whether Laura Jane Grace would change her voice to sound more feminine. Nope! Against Me!'s new album is just as aggressive as their classics, and maybe even a little more connected to their punk roots than some of their more recent releases. And its opening track is the most badass song about wearing a dress I've ever heard. Your tells are so obvious: Shoulders too broad for a girl Keeps you reminded Helps you to remember where You come from You want them to notice The ragged ends of your summer dress You want them to see you Like they see any other girl They just see a faggot They hold their breath not to catch the sick Rough surf on the coast, Wish I could have spent the Whole day alone with you You've got no cunt in your strut You've got no hips to shake And you know it's obvious But we can't choose how we're made You want them to notice The ragged ends of your summer dress You want them to see you Like they see any other girl They just see a faggot They hold their breath not to catch the sick Rough surf on the coast, Wish I could have spent the Whole day alone with you

Haha. I've driven through crazy blizzards in Michigan and I've driven through one-inch snow in the South. I'll take Michigan. As a former Ohioan, I've been known to share a laugh at the expense of "those crazy Michigan drivers"...but they know how to handle the ice and snow, I've got to give them that.

Yeah...this is stupid. I understand that there are a lot of state and national laws governing the free lunch program. If a school gets caught giving a free lunch to a kid who doesn't qualify for the program, the State Secretary of Fiscal Bullshit's "poor people are mildly comfortable" alarm goes off and the school gets fined a billion dollars. But this isn't how you handle that. About 90% of my kids qualify for free lunches, so collecting money doesn't come up all that often. When it does...we find a way around it, because we don't want our students going hungry. Officially, we're supposed to give kids who are behind on their meal accounts an "alternative lunch" - plain balogna on white bread with a cup of water. We've had some kids behind on their accounts. We've never actually given them prison food. Because that's stupid. It makes the kids feel bad for something they didn't do wrong, and puts more work on the cafeteria staff who now have to prep alt. meals and keep track of who gets them. You feed the kid and mail home a bill. This should all be taken care of in the office, between admins and parents. No reason to involve the kid at all. Not singling them out or taking food out of their hands or "punishing" them.

When you begin as an Education major, the first thing you learn is public speaking. They give you ten marbles, which you put in your mouth. You hold those marbles in your mouth while you deliver a lesson. If you can avoid choking, swallowing a marble, or mumbling incoherantly, you take out one marble and repeat the process. If you can manage with nine marbles, you go down to eight, then seven, and so on. Once you've lost all your marbles, you're ready to be a teacher.