the stars are faded

I've changed my title! I've changed my lay-out! I AM BECOMING A NEW ME. One who will be responsible in leaving comments to all the stories I read. One who will actually post regularly in this journal. One who will--


Um, yeah. Right. Anyway. I am at least making an oblig sticky so people wandering through will have a better chance of finding my fic than by navigating my sketchy tagging system.

( UNDER THE CUT... )

Maybe I should also add some words about me. My name is Kathy! I'm starting college next fall. I like green. That is really a pretty complete picture of me. I'm kind of a shallow person. :D?

Oh, also, 99.9% of this journal is public. Feel free to friend me anyway; I will friend back ASAP. I should probably also disclose my horrible, horrible lurking habits here. So...I don't really leave comments all that much. /o\ I'm working on it! One step at a time. Soon I, too, will be a functioning internet person.

Hah, so you know how I was like, BYE, SEE YOU GUYS IN A MONTH in my last entry (posted approximately five minutes ago)? I lied!

Because this is super fucking important, and I want to devote a separate entry to the issue because goddammit, it's gotten nearly no national news coverage since the first shocking announcement, and it's so frustrating I could scream. So I'm posting it here, even though my flist is minuscule. IF YOU CAN, PLEASE REPOST.

I posted about this earlier, back when the whole mess began, but here are the quick and dirty facts:

Arizona's state legislature passed a bill (HB 2281, to be exact) that would BAN the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona's public schools. Their rationale? Basically that it promotes white resentment and privileges those pesky little minorities over the white majority. ("Why isn't there a white studies class? Isn't this reverse discrimination?") Here's an excerpt of the exact text of the bill, which is so ridiculous I can hardly even believe this is actual law, now:

9 A. A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS STATE SHALL NOT INCLUDE
10 IN ITS PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION ANY COURSES OR CLASSES THAT INCLUDE ANY OF THE
11 FOLLOWING:
12 1. PROMOTE THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
13 2. PROMOTE RESENTMENT TOWARD A RACE OR CLASS OF PEOPLE.
14 3. ARE DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR PUPILS OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP.
15 4. ADVOCATE ETHNIC SOLIDARITY INSTEAD OF THE TREATMENT OF PUPILS AS
16 INDIVIDUALS.

That's right. Overthrow of the government. Resentment toward a race. Ethnic solidarity.

And I'm not just defending ethnic studies based purely on principle, although I could. The bigger issue is that these ethnic studies classes bring results. Nowhere else in high school curriculum are you going to find an account of history from the perspective of a minority, information about cultural identity that hasn't been pasteurized specifically for white consumption. And reading those books, learning this knowledge, empowers children of color. Because finally, they're the ones being spotlighted. This information is directly relevant to them, to what they see and hear and experience everyday in their households, from their families.

And as a result, they want to learn. This is a class they actually look forward to attending. There are statistics that show their grades, standardized test scores, graduation rates, the whole enchilada, dramatically increasing after they take an ethnic studies course. It rejuvenates their belief in themselves as individuals by giving them belief in themselves as a collective.

Please, please, please, if you can, donate to this organization:

SaveEthnicStudies.Org



There is much more information on their website, all those statistics and everything that I was talking about. This group NEEDS help to fight the legislation. Their ethnic studies class is due to be forcibly ended by December, but they're going to keep fighting. They'll be coming out with a documentary called Precious Knowledge very soon (which I was privileged enough to see a clip of in my college, and it was fantastic), and I believe PBS has bought it, so it should be screening soon.

Okay. That's it. Again, please repost this so more people learn about the issue. Thank you.

♥

Okay. So. Wow.

It's been kind of a while, hasn't it? I MISS STANDING ON MY VIRTUAL SOAPBOX AND SCREAMING OUT INTO THE ABYSS. Sorry I've been gone so long. :( Life, you know. And some fucked-up personal issues. But anyway.

VAMPIRE DIARIES! I am completely engrossed in the show again, and it is killing me that I can't watch the latest episode until this afternoon. Stupid midterms. >:( But I've just been torturing myself instead of studying, clicking on ep reactions and then scrolling down really quickly in some sadistic form of skimming that lets me see stuff like "OH SHIT WHAT JUST HAPPENED" and "noooo, Matttttt" and oh my god I hate myself. Why do I do this? I don't even know.

But fuck, that episode is calling out to me.

And also, aj;fwjflkdsj Inception! If anyone's glanced at my delicious, it's pretty clear that fandom has pretty much devoured me alive. And I've enjoyed every bit of it. Arthur! And Eames! And carebears!

...Don't judge me.

So. Um. Still alive! And hopefully will be updating this journal on a semi-regular basis once again. If not, just go to my Delicious. It pretty much reads like my running internal monologue anyway.

THIS IS ME. PUTTING MYSELF OUT THERE. BITING THE BULLET.

Because, okay, bingos are just such a bad idea for me. I don't write on command. I don't write quickly. I mean, I can, I suppose, but no one wants to see the end result of that. Trust me.

But WHATEVER a new day is a new day and a new chance for self-improvement! To grow as a person! To...yeah, I'll just post my high school bingo and be done with it. (PSA: get your own at hs_bingo!)

first day of high school	break up	parents not home	rivals	class— foreign language
late for class	mutual hate	prom night	locker room	alcohol/ drugs
sports	shopping	WILD CARD	suspension/ expulsion	teasing
first date	first time	sweet sixteen	applying for colleges	last day of school
first love	exchange student	student/ teacher— private lessons	class— home ec	graduation

I really should have known. High school prompts will always be my kryptonite. BUT ANYWAY, even though I will probably fail and make a fool of myself in the process, I am kind of ridiculously excited for this. Yay high school and longing glances and faily come-ons and homework! :DDD Expect fills to be mostly bandom--if I'm feeling really adventurous, maybe some figure-skating rps. MAYBE some VD. Maybe.

...This is going to end so badly.

Oh, hey, on a slightly more optimistic note: I won't be making any more rec posts in my journal because I'm sure it's easier for everyone involved to just check my delicious. Go look! Om nom nom multi-fandom recs.

I MADE A DELICIOUS. There are, like, nine bookmarks on it. BUT IT WILL GROW. This is really exciting for me because bookmarking the fics is forcing me to comment on all of them. So.

Also I wrote some comment fic for provetheworst's prompt, and it kind of expanded without my consent, and now I am posting it in a separate entry. I am a problem-solver!

Title: hundreds of cats (I am the most original, shut up.)
Pairing: Jon/Ryan
Wordcount: 3,000
Warnings: None!
Summary: For the prompt: Write about cats. Hundreds of cats.

( a hundred is a lot. )

provetheworst, you should probably know that I listened to Justin Bieber THE ENTIRE TIME I was writing this. I don't know if that tells you anything. But it feels like the sort of thing I should disclose.

OH MAN, it's been ages since I've posted. Stuff's been happening. Life's been kicking my ass. My online presence overall, not just in el-jay, has pretty much plummeted. Ask chaoticallyclev.

I also haven't really posted because I've been kind of mad a lot. At...everything. First it's like, SCHOOL, YOU'RE FIRED. Also, el-jay, YOU'RE FIRED. And then it's, Certain People in Fandom, FIRED. And France, FIRED. Arizona, FIRED.

I need to say that a few more times. Fired. FIRED. So, so fired. (huh, that doesn't even look like a word anymore.)

I just--I literally do not understand what is going through the minds of the Arizona government. Something along the lines of caveman grunting? "My stuff, my money, my land. No can has." (Apparently my cavemen also moonlight as lolcats in their spare time. /o\) Honestly? I'm not even going to comment on the immigration law because there are people out there much more eloquent than I am already speaking about the situation. But--banning ethnic studies classes?

Wow. I just--wow. Straight from the governor's mouth, she's worried about these classes fostering "white resentment." Let's say that again. White. Resentment. Because clearly, white resentment isn't caused by entitled assholes. Clearly it isn't caused by that immigration law she just signed. No, of course not. It's ethnic studies classes that are really pushing all those violent minorities over the edge. Well, shit. If only we had known before those goddamn ethnic studies classes were so awful. Bad for your digestion, too.

Who cares about actually teaching people about their heritage? They're in America, now, aren't they? Doesn't that mean they're supposed to conform to all our standards? That they're supposed to single-mindedly adopt our culture? And if they don't, doesn't that just mean they're ungrateful?

Oh, wait, what's that you're saying? I'm sorry, I can't hear you over all the ethnocentrism clogging my ears. Try again in a few moments.

I don't know why it's so hard for me to believe that this kind of bullshit is still happening. I just--aren't people supposed to learn from their mistakes? Aren't we, I don't know, the most adaptable species on the planet? Except for how we still can't tell our heads from our assholes in issues that have been around for centuries. What's even the point of me shouting uselessly into the ether? I'm just preaching to the fucking choir.

Ugh. This was supposed to be cathartic, and I think I've only succeeded in making myself feel worse. :\

OH MY GOD, just have a rec. I really enjoyed this fic! It's Merlin/Arthur, modern AU and h/c. Hopefully it will make you feel better if you just read through my entire incoherent rant.

This is very long. Flist, my apologies.

Just quickly popping in to say:

I'M POSTING MY BIG BANG TOMORROW. :D And it's all already up, set to private. \o/







...and now I have to go beat myself into doing my schoolwork.

( Don't Turn Me On )

angelsaves, you are the AMAZING-EST for making this mix! :D Thank you so, so much.

Please download the songs and leave effusive compliments here!

Oh my god, I just received my posting date and mixes for bandombigbang, and I might be kind of hyperventilating with excitement.

!!!!!!!!

:DDDDDDDDD

\\\\\\\o///////

(I just counted the slashes above so that the emoticon would be symmetrical. My OCD is the best OCD.)

But oh my gosh, I am SO GIDDY RIGHT NOW. I want to hug EVERYBODY.

(Can I talk about my mixes before my posting date? Is that illegal? I haven't even listened to them yet, but the cover art for ALL OF THEM is SO BEAUTIFUL. The graphics geek in me wants to rub my face in their awesomeawesomeawesome design skills! That's not weird, right?)