First, I hope this is the right subreddit to ask for this sort of advice in. Second, it’s a bit more complicated than “just kick him out/ask him to leave”, at least in my opinion, so I’d ideally like advice that can help both parties (my father & myself) get what they want/need (if possible).
My father lost his house a few years ago after my mother died. He stopped caring enough to pay the bills and just sat and waited for eviction day. He even left most of their things behind, taking only a few totes of his own possessions and moved into my aunts (his sister) spare room.
I’m trying to make a long story short so apologies for how blunt some of this may come across, but he was removed from my aunts home after some time for being abusive towards her and her family.
He moved in as an old friend’s roommate from there and got kicked out, again, for literally the same reason. Since he has burnt bridges with everyone else including the rest of our family, he ended up in a homeless shelter which he called me from. I had previously been no-contact with my father due to his abusive nature but I agreed to come get him from the shelter and landed myself in the mess I’m in now because of it.
I live in a one bedroom apartment with my partner and our handful of pets. Having a long-term guest is absolutely in breach of our contract and could get us into some serious trouble, so from day one I have had him applying to apartments or just looking for literally any other housing that wasn’t mine.
I didn’t feel safe having him here because of the past and because of the recent reasons he’s been kicked out - he isn’t above putting his hands on or threatening people.
I think the only thing that has kept me safe is I am literally the last resort. If he were to hurt me and I had police remove him, he’d either end up back in the homeless shelter or worse, so he has very much been on his best behavior, which almost makes all of this so much harder.
It’s been almost a year now that he’s been sleeping on our couch. Every apartment has denied him, even low income and senior communities, because his SS check (his only form of income) does not meet their minimum requirements. He has bad credit, no car, no job and obviously no home.
But I simply can’t risk my own roof in order to house him indefinitely and I’ll be honest, I don’t want him here. Even on good behavior, I still feel like he’s just an undetanated bomb and it’s causing me a lot of anxiety.
We actually have gone to our local resource offices for aid and resources, but it’s clear he is more comfortable crashing on my couch rent free in our cramped little apartment than interested in continuing to fill out various forms and applications which I constantly have to beg him to complete.
I’m 2-3 months it’ll be a year that he’s been with us and I’m honestly at my limit.
But if I kick him out, then he’ll be homeless again and I don’t wish that on anyone, even someone as shitty as my dad for some reason. And like I said, he has no car and hardly anything to his name left.
I’m sorry this was so long, but it’s a very complicated situation and I need advice. How can I (safely) get my father out without causing either of us further distress?

Thanks to some of you guys, I got the guts to see my Dr and fill out disability accommodations for work, so I can work remote 2-3 days a week or when I am symptomatic. (which is all the time but mostly doing this for the bad flare ups)
My primary Dr is awesome, I have always loved him and he has always listened and done what was best for me. I have had him through so many problems. He didn't know how bad this has gotten, or about the fainting spells. He looked at my paperwork and looked at me and said "We can do better" Not sure what that meant? He knows I am on a waiting list for Vanderbilt's Dysautonomia Clinic so.. he put that I can work remote up to August when I "should" be seen in that clinic.
Although, he should know this is chronic.. it doesn't just poof go away and I feel better. I hate that he ONLY put a couple months of working remote on my papers. Like wtf? Then he asked me if I see my cardiologist or neurologist. I said yes, but they throw me at one another like they don't know what to do with me... My cardiologist literally told me to do Yoga and increase my salt. Thats all... how Can someone like me, who cant even bend at the waist or squat- perform YOGA?! I wish I could but its physically too difficult for me with the risk of blacking out.
Anyways, as much as I love my Dr, I adore him and he has always been so great to me, I once again feel like he doesn't understand the Dysautonomia or POTS. Once again I have to deal with being looked at like I over exaggerate things. I hope my job even takes me serious now... and its not guaranteed they will grant me access to work remotely. I am jumping out on a limb doing this..
I also want a handicap sticker for my car because I have a 10 minute walk to my office, but scared to even ask now. Ugh. I am so frustrated.
I need a remote work from home job. I've applied for sooo many. I have a degree and everything but I haven't found any. I just don't know what to do anymore.
Before I left the office (and I was his LAST patient of the day.) I told him that there are only 56 board certified Dysautonomia specialist Physicians in the U.S. That is sad.

Question 0: please be kind. Thank you so much.
A rookie's perpective, I've not had a dedicated flat screen in my life, and nothing larger in the house than my 17" HD laptop. The TV will be for my new house, larger than 79" will just be stupid, even 75" is pushing it, but I just wanna.
The 8K QLED was a lower price than the 4K OLED.
My use will be "everything except TV channels and Netflix, etc. YouTube, downloaded movies, wall art, and some productivity. Room is to the south, but by trees and taller building across the street, so not super light. Due to me never using TV (I might obtain downloads of 4K car racing at times), it's barely a factor that 8K broadcasts are rare.
Yet to learn: the effect of AI upscaling 4K->8K and even HD->8K. These will be very common situations, but the store is not set up to show that. Let alone what productivity tools look like in native resolution.
In the store just now I saw these two next together. Both, I consider to look amazing. The store ran a demo (I think Samsung specific) that was supposedly being broadcast in 8K, I'll believe them. It was on all TV at the same time.
The 4K OLED looked lovely and actually quite bright to me.
The 8K QLED simple offered more depth perception, more immersion. Animal fur, human hair, it just was "that" bit nicer than on the 4K OLED.
I did also see the Samsung 8K OLED in 85". In the dark side room, so an unfair advantage. In 8K, just utterly stunning, even standing pointlessly close. We tried a 4K netflix nature documentary and it was less than meh. Perhaps it was shot in HD and the AI chip couldn't make much of it. YouTube 8K actually looked hor-ri-ble. Salesman attributed that to YouTube's bitrate, 4K comes out looking better he said. Question 1: does a paid YouTube service fix that to any degree?
The salesman echoed what I'd read on Reddit: OLED isn't the thing to have for produtivity with fonts and such. I won't use the 75" TV as my primary monitor (I hope), but for cigar chair or bean bag creative sessions and the odd collab with a house guest...I think I'll have to skip OLED TVs until they've addressed pixel placement.
I intend to get into sim racing. Sometimes the TV may be asked to perform. The serious PC this requires will also be needed for a bunch of my other use cases. This helps me justify the insane cost (that said, as a kid I bought a no-name 80486-DX2-66 MHz SVGA setup that was close to the best one could buy. In today's money, very similar to a decked out game PC minus screen. Do I need 8K for sim racing on a TV? No-one needs that. But it's nice to have.
The wall art, static and moving, just blows me away in 8K. Yes, in OLED it looks even better, but the price more than doubles which is hard to justify when it's largely the same product otherwise.
Question 2: does anyone have REAL experience with 4K media displayed on a 4K panel vs upscaled to an 8K, with the latest AI chips?
Question 3: Sony audio-through screen. Hyped everywhere, but not actively being demo'd in the store. I can ask next time. I am messy by nature, so any opportunity to declutter helps. I don't need BIG audio, can the Sonys with audio through screen save me their premium's worth in external audio devics (banned word, WTH?) and the hassle of keeping it working?
Question 4: Would the Sony keep me from getting an audio system for the room, or integrate into one? Am I correct to suspect that no sane person uses non-Sony flat TV speakers for just music or boost portable devices?
Question 5: What does the AI upscale-to-8K game look like now? Advanced to be expected soon? Samsung brags, but are they at the top in this game? How are Sony and LG doing? I wasn't able to test this yet in the store, or the media available made it suck on the OLED 85" unit. Anyway, you'd need a similar 4K panel next to it which seems a lot to ask from a store. I might not even see regular 4K vs 8K on similar panels :)

Writing this for folks whose home park is OG Disneyland and are considering or planning a trip to DLP. Whether that's you or you're looking for advice in the opposite direction, feel free to AMA!
I wrote up some aspects of my trip in this post, for reference. For context, I visit Anaheim a few times a year for 2-3 days each -- sometimes alone, sometimes with others -- and have been to Walt Disney World a handful of times (mostly for a single day while visiting my in-laws in the Orlando area).
Stow yer weapons: this is gonna be long. I'll talk atmosphere, attractions, food and drinks, and tips geared toward this audience. (I won't cover shows or character greetings, since they're not really my thing.)
Atmosphere:
Disneyland Paris is widely regarded as the most beautiful of the castle parks, and I agree. The attention to detail is stunning, from the horticulture to the rock work to the stained glass in the castle. The land transitions are smooth and beautifully executed, and the park generally feels more deliberately planned (probably since it wasn't built in a year and haphazardly swapping parts for the next seventy, like DLCA).
The park is bigger than Anaheim's, probably close to Magic Kingdom size, so add a minute or two to your commute time when crossing from one end to the other.
Some can't-miss experiences and details unique to DLP (skipping the rides since I'll cover those next, but including walk-throughs):
MAIN STREET

• The arcades on either side. Don't miss either of them! I enjoy the Discovery side with steampunk visions of cities in the future.
• If you can tour Walt's, do: the salons are themed by original lands and are charming. The home goods store named after Lily also has some nice turn-of-the-century fixtures and creative interior design.

FANTASYLAND

• The dragon. I mean, it's a dragon under the castle that snorts smoke!
• Shop interiors, especially Snow White and the Merlin shop. The beanstalk was closed when I was there, sadly.
• Cinderella's glass carriage near the Auberge.
• Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Do the walk-through. Eyvind Earle would be proud. The rectangular topiaries are a nice touch.
• The Alice in Wonderland labyrinth! Charming surprises, a true dead end, and a climb to a super neat park view in the center.

ADVENTURELAND

• The marketplace and Aladdin cave. Reminiscent of the Morocco pavilion at Epcot (sadly, I haven't been to Morocco). The restaurant has a very cool lived-in market look if you can take a peek inside. Even the windows have faux Maltese balconies/muxrabija and hanging wares.
• Adventure Isle. It's basically their version of Tom Sawyer's Island, so you can clamber through caves, look through Skull Rock, run around a pirate ship, and generally pretend you're eight. Genuinely photo-worthy.

FRONTIERLAND

• Peek into their version of the Golden Horseshoe. It may not be a replica of Calamity Jane's, like ours, but it's handsome and bigger.
• Phantom Manor's horticultural and exterior design. There's just more space for cool themed plants, and the queue design gives you time to admire them.

DISCOVERYLAND

• Steampunk everything! This is where we got our Astro-Orbiter and our short-lived, ill-fated redesign from the late 90s. It looks way better on them.
• The submarine walk through is really fun. Not sure how much it resembles the original walk-through from 50s Disneyland, but it's a low-key and visually rich treat, especially when it's sunny out.

Rides:
Some comparisons and contrasts. Didn't ride everything (e.g. carousel, teacups, Autopia), so I'll just share notes on the ones I did.
Big Thunder: Best version I've been on, period. It's on an island, so you plunge in and out of the darkness to get there, and the seats are actually divided so you're not body-slamming the person next to you every time you careen around a corner. Don't sleep on the detail and theming! Only bummer: no goat trick.
Pirates: Great queue: caves and little sneak peeks into scenes. Caribbean themed instead of bayou, restaurant included. Different structure and order of scenes, and frankly sort of confusing (e.g. Jack Sparrow is on the treasure pile among the skeleton tableaux for his little monologue). The sword fighting scene is unique to DLP (I think).
Fantasyland dark rides: Pinocchio is almost exactly the same as in CA. Snow White is more like the pre-COVID version, but even creepier; it's definitely the most divergent from the current CA version. Peter Pan is close to its CA version, but feels slightly larger?
Small World: More granular Europe, cute America section, generally quite different in layout. White-clad finale is a fair with a Ferris wheel and such.
Haunted Mansion/Phantom Manor: Identical ride track and Doom Buggies, but totally different storyline and different tableaux, particularly at the finale, which is a Western town instead of a graveyard. They don't put scrims in front of the frontier town zombies, which makes them creepier somehow. It's a unique take and a must-do.
Space Mountain: This one blows ours out of the water. Catapult launch, several inversions, much faster and darker. Be aware they don't have pouches for your stuff and will instruct you to put it on the floor. I stepped on the strap of my bag because I was certain I was gonna lose it.
Star Tours: Identical, though one time I got narration in English and the other time in French. May be randomized?
Railroad: No primeval world but they do have their own Grand Canyon. Circle tour is a must; you cover completely different ground and get a great pano of the whole park. My train was in compartments rather than long cars.
Indiana Jones: This is not the Jeep tour by any stretch; it's an outdoor roller coster that rattled my teeth out of my head. Think an extreme version of Goofy's Sky School with the unbanked turns. KEEP YOUR HEAD BACK. And even then, don't be surprised if you get off with sore ears and a buzzy headache that last a few minutes.
Food and Drinks:
I talked extensively about this in my other post, so I'll just note a couple of comparisons.

• Alcohol is more widely available in the Paris park, akin to DCA. Your best bet is wine or a kir (or a beer, if you prefer) unless you're at a place with a dedicated cocktail menu.
• The little stalls across from Small World serve things like ham and gruyère sandwiches and gauffres and sweets, with beer and wine available. Meh by Paris standards, but decent snacks that you wouldn't find in Anaheim.
• Unique themed dining. Captain Jack's has sub-par food, but if you're a fan of the Blue Bayou, it may be worth it just for the Caribbean nighttime theming. Boats floating by, and a more defined/secluded space than the sea of tables at BB. (Who goes to BB for the food anyway?) Agrabah restaurant has the most divergent theming and food from anything you can get in DLR.

General info/advice:
I have a lot of good news for Californians, because Paris is a cakewalk in comparison. I'm sure I hit a slower period, but it's so easy to go with the flow without playing nine-dimensional chess on your phone every three minutes.

• Stay at a hotel on campus! The great news is that the hotels, parks and shops are after security, so you won't have to leave the bubble for your whole trip. Say goodbye to waiting in line for bag check behind one billion strollers every morning. If you're staying in the DLH (covered in my other post), you basically roll out of bed and through the turnstiles.
• Early entry was EMPTY, and since it was 8:30 instead of 7-7:30, it felt downright luxurious. Hit those Fantasyland rides like they're going out of style. I hit Peter Pan twice before 8:40. That one does fill up later and skipping the line costs an absurd amount of money, so morning is your best bet. Not everything is open for extra magic hour, though, so do check your map.
• The park is significantly bigger and you're going to do a lot of walking. It's not as easy to jump from point to point in rapid succession as in our little jewel of a park. Plan accordingly.
• That said, take the time to really slow down and enjoy your surroundings. No need to travel halfway across the world just to bang out a bunch of rides. It's fun to check out the beautifully executed transitions (John Hench would be proud). There's even a list of horticultural treasures within the app.
• Express pass is way easier than Genie Plus. I don't recommend getting the full day; the one day I did it, I failed to break even on what I would have spent skipping the line for individual rides. Get it for the rides you want if the line looks too steep for you. They're generally valid either immediately or within 5 minutes.

I'm tired of typing, and you're doubtless tired of reading, but if you have questions about the Studios park, feel free to ask in the comments.

This is going to be long, but seriously; what is the problem with apprenticeships in this country.
I’m 22 years old and trying to get an apprenticeship. I moved to Aus at the end of Christmas and quickly found out without papers, you won’t get far. So I decided to come back and get something for myself, I don’t regret going or coming back because it showed me what I needed to do.
I was working in an agricultural machine manufacturing factory for just over 3 years in the paint shop. I started out prepping, cleaning sanding etc for just over 1 year before the painter offered to teach me and over the course of a few months slowly learning I was full time spraying for about 2 years. I really enjoyed this much more than welding and it’s what I wanted to do as a job.
Unfortunately you cannot get a qualification in spraying/paint application in Ireland without doing something like panel beating despite most countries a panel beater and a painter are generally different, I didn’t mind this because I’d learn more skills.
I didn’t have experience painting cars or using water base paints because as I stated I was doing agricultural machinery, so my experience was with standard 2pac paints. But I really wanted to learn, so a vehicle body repair apprenticeship was naturally the way to go.
For the life of me, I could not find anywhere taking on apprentices for panel beating. It’s a completely dying trade. I spent ages and finally found a place and after doing a months trial I was let go because the garage only had one panel beater who was doing mostly mechanical work and there just wasn’t much panel beating happening and they didn’t want to hold me back, fair enough. I found another place after a long time but left because the boss treated me with absolutely no respect. Like I was his child. I’m a 22 year old man and he was shouting and roaring at me over the most ridiculous things. Like I couldn’t find a socket in the tool box because many lads use it and one must’ve misplaced it, he started roaring at me to “hurry the fuck up” and when I politely told him I don’t know where it is he says “ I didn’t fucking ask you if you could find it, I told you to go get it” when I finally found it somewhere it shouldn’t have been, I told him sorry one of the lads had thrown it somewhere and he told me “I didn’t have to mention that” and I just exclaimed the reason it took me so long and he told me “to stop giving back chat, learn to shut your mouth and fucking take it on the chin”. That infuriated me on top of other examples throughout my time there so I decided to leave, because I was not putting up with that bullshit for 4+ years.
After leaving, I was on the hunt again, not being able to find anywhere. Everywhere I went, it was the same shit, people asking me what experience I had etc, and I’m trying to come in as a phase one apprentice. I’ve had interviews in countless places and despite my industrial painting background, it was the same shit of them asking me how much experience I had as if they wanted a phase one apprentice to have years worth of experience. Everywhere I went it was the same thing of “okay send us your CV and we’ll get back to you” and then nothing.
Everywhere I went, they all wanted years of experience as a phase one apprentice trying to learn. And when you actually get somewhere they treat you like absolute shit. No wonder nobody wants to do it anymore these days. Everyone wants you to be a fully qualified phase one apprentice.
Not to mention the money. It’s about €240 a week as a phase one vehicle body repair. I don’t understand how companies should be allowed to pay you so little money. I understand a young teen just finished his JC or something but a 22 year old man who had bills/car to run etc they’re allowed to pay me well below minimum wage despite working 39 hours a week doing the exact same work as everyone else, I mean if you went into McDonald’s you’d make far more. They really should have something in place where if you reach a certain age you should at least be entitled to a liveable wage as a phase one.
After about 3 months of all the BS of a horrible manager and countless interviews I still cannot find anywhere, so I’ve officially given up trying to do what I wanted and have to try and find another apprenticeship. Probably in electrical because it’s what everyone seems to be doing, but even then I am still struggling to find anywhere. Because as per, everyone wants you to be a fully qualified phase one apprentice. It’s absolutely tiring, and I don’t know what to do, I feel like every step forward I try to take I’m knocked back too. Is there any point in even trying to get an apprenticeship at this rate, it makes me feel like I should’ve stayed in Australia.

We’ve this tunnel where cars cross by on top, after rain the tunnel is filled with sewage water (probably) it’s not tunnel exactly more of a beam bridge or overpass or just the rain water but it smells like absolute shit every night the smell increases it reaches my house I live in maqam, those who live here know how bad it stinks it reaches the whole maqam I can’t sleep because of the terrible smell it’s been like this after the big rain occurrence I don’t think anyone’s trying to solve it I want help how do i get rid of this ? Do I’ve to call some kind of cleaning department from uae so I tell them to come pick this shit water cause it stinks? There have been no progress I m sick of it the hot weather makes it worse I want to found a solution to get rid of this

Round 2, Pick 33 - Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State:
NFL: After trading back twice on Thursday, the Bills stick at 33 and take a big, physical and athletically gifted target. Coleman isn't fast and isn't a deep threat, but he can win in a variety of ways. But who will Josh Allen's deep threat be? Stay tuned.
CBS Sports: C-. “X” receiver for a WR-needy team. Plays faster than his combine speed but doesn’t separate consistently and isn’t as good of a contested-catch wideout as his size and highlight-reel would indicate. Young though.
ESPN: After trading back twice, the Bills addressed the team's most significant position of need with Coleman, a big outside receiver with the ability to make splash plays -- 12 receiving touchdowns on contested catches since the start of 2022, second-most in the FBS, however, only a 31.7% contested catch percentage in 2023 -- to create separation and a release that general manager Brandon Beane described as "about as good as any." Beane acknowledged that while he's "probably not" going to run away from defenders, Buffalo feels his play speed is faster than the speed he showed at the combine -- 4.61 40-yard dash -- also noting that they liked his athletic ability that came from playing basketball. The Bills needed starting-level talent at outside receiver and Coleman, who turns 21 in May, fits into what Buffalo was looking for, while the team was still able to move back and add picks.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Believes that knitting is the original “Netflix and chill”.
Round 2, Pick 60 - Cole Bishop, S, Utah:
NFL: Safety was a big need for the Bills, and they go back to the Utes for help after taking Dalton Kincaid in Round 1 a year ago. Bishop is a very good athlete and field general who can play the post safety spot and cover a lot of ground. He played like the QB of the Utes' defense the past two years and could be a rookie starter for Buffalo.
CBS Sports: A-. Large, intimidating safety with magnificent movement skill. The QB of the defense. Aligns everywhere. Can wear many hats. Excelled as slot defender and vs. TEs in coverage and runs the alley on outside runs as well as any safety in the class. Ball skills and tackling must improve. Short arms. Need filled.
ESPN: Another pick for the Bills in the second round, another big need addressed. Drafting Bishop adds someone who can compete for a starting role this season, in addition to being a potential answer in the secondary after moving on from Jordan Poyer this offseason while Micah Hyde continues to contemplate retirement. Bishop has the ability to move all over the field, along with speed -- 4.45 40-yard dash -- and many of the qualities and instincts the Bills look for at the position.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: He always weebles and wobbles, but he won’t ever fall down.
Round 3, Pick 95 - DeWayne Carter, DT, Duke:
NFL: When I first watched Carter at the Senior Bowl, I wrote in my notes: "rolling ball of knives." Carter's game doesn't have a lot of pretty to it, but he's a scheme disruptor with his low center of gravity, ferocious style and nasty demeanor.
CBS Sports: B+. Active, high-energy interior rusher who’s on the ground a bit more than what’s desired because of his frenetic style. But it also gets him to the football more often than most DTs. Flashes of swim move and spin just needs to utilize them more. Length is a plus and he works hard vs. run. Some power too. Fills niche need on Buffalo’s defensive front. Needs to use his length better on passing downs.
ESPN: Using the pick acquired via the trade with the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, the Bills addressed another hole with Carter bringing depth at defensive tackle. The three-technique tackle will have the opportunity to continue to develop -- potentially as Ed Oliver's backup -- adding to a defensive tackle room that has limited young talent. The Bills didn't draft a defensive tackle last year due to the way the board fell, but the team was able to add to the rotation early this year.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Still says ‘weeeeeeeeeee’ when on a playground swing.
Round 4, Pick 128 - Ray Davis, RB, Kentucky:
NFL: Davis has overcome a lot to reach this level, and though he lacks long speed, he can be a Zack Moss-like player for the Bills. Davis' vision and wicked spin move have left a few defenders in a blender.
CBS Sports: C. Compact, older RB with plus stop-start ability, married to his feet well. Can deploy multiple cuts in a run to make defenders miss. Good, not amazing overall elusiveness though. Quicker than fast too. Will work hard to fight through contact. Has the skills to be fine complementary RB in NFL.
ESPN: With Davis, the Bills add a needed bigger back -- 5-foot-8, 211-pounds -- to pair with James Cook, but also someone who has the ability to catch the football (seven touchdown catches in 2023, tied with Najee Harris for the most by any SEC running back in a season in the last 25 years). Buffalo had a variety of veterans complimenting Cook last season, but Davis, 24, will give Buffalo a power runner and another younger presence in the room, albeit with plenty of collegiate experience from two seasons at Temple, two at Vanderbilt and one at Kentucky.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: This divorce is taking forever Erica why are you doing this?
Round 5, Pick 141 - Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, C, Georgia:
NFL: He's a tough, durable competitor with good anchor strength and three years starting experience for an SEC power, although SVP's lack of athleticism and smaller frame might make him a center-only projection.
CBS Sports: A-. Multi-year starter in the SEC with wrestler’s mentality. Battles through the whistle every snap. Mobility stands out. Explosive short-area quicks. Doesn’t have supreme length and clearly has to add weight/strength to his game. Methodically carries out run-game duties with ease. Second-level climbs etc. Older prospect but comes with high floor.
ESPN: This offseason, the Bills moved on from the team's starting center, Mitch Morse, and backup Ryan Bates. Last year's left guard Connor McGovern is set to slide over to the starting role. Adding Van Pran-Granger brings depth at center -- he allowed one sack his entire career in 1,337 pass-blocking plays, according to Sports Info Solutions -- and a strong candidate for the future at the position with significant starting experience (he started the last three seasons at center for Georgia).
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Is constantly telling people how different things are on Linux.
Round 5, Pick 160 - Edefuan Ulofoshio, LB, Washington:
NFL: In recent years, Buffalo has taken some interesting shots on linebackers in Rounds 3-7, and Ulofoshio continues that trend. He was one of the final players in my top 100 prospect list with his excellent speed, intense style and special teams experience, even if injuries have clouded his projection.
CBS Sports: A-. Six-year LB who starred for a long time as a full-time player in Washington’s program. Big-time tester and it shows on the field. Just takes a second to diagnose. Keen block-avoider as he’s sifting through traffic. Smooth athlete all around but doesn’t quite play to his workout. Reliable tackler who also flashed coverage skill down the seam. High-floor pick here. Crowded LB room.
ESPN: The Bills lost major special teams contributors this offseason, including linebacker Tyrel Dodson and defensive back Siran Neal, while captain linebacker Tyler Matakevich remains a free agent. Ulofoshio adds depth to the linebacker room, but perhaps more importantly, he can find a role on this roster as someone who can make an impact on special teams, an area of priority for the Bills. He has experience from playing six years at Washington, and while he dealt with multiple significant injuries in 2021 and 2022, he played every game in 2023 and earned Washington's Guy Flaherty Most Inspirational Award, the program's oldest and most prestigious honor.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: DROP TABLE card_facts; [please crash your pc, reader].
Round 5, Pick 168 - Javon Solomon, DE, Troy:
NFL: Solomon was a highly productive rusher the past few years in an unusual frame. He's short and undersized at 6-foot-1 and 247 pounds but with nearly 34-inch arms and huge hands. That extra length helps Solomon get to the quarterback, along with his quick burst and non-stop motor. An interesting study for sure.
CBS Sports: A. Burst, bend, speed predicated outside EDGE. Small frame but serious length. Unique build. Doesn’t get engulfed by bigger blockers as much as expected because of his speed-to-power conversion. Hand work is good, not amazing and can flatten to the QB. Motor hums on every play. Bills needed this type of quick winner on the outside.
ESPN: Solomon provides depth at edge rusher, another position of need for Buffalo. He led the FBS with 16 sacks last season and totaled 31.5 sacks since the start of 2021 (also most in the FBS), in addition to 49 career tackles for loss (third in Sun Belt history). Being a Day 3 selection, finding a special teams role will be important for Solomon. He'll also have the opportunity to develop behind the likes of Greg Rousseau, Von Miller -- someone that Solomon has modeled his game after -- and AJ Epenesa.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: He once painted the walls of a Buccees stall, hasn’t been back since.
Round 6, Pick 204 - Tylan Grable, OT, UCF:
NFL: He's a converted Jacksonville State tight end who became a solid left tackle the past two years at UCF. Grable is a quality athlete with great length and potential to be groomed at center, even if he's still learning how to play O-line.
CBS Sports: B. Height and length type at OT who probably plays guard at the next level. Smooth athleticism and can sustain speed throughout the play. Not just quick. Hands are more active and heavy than they are accurate. Good depth add here with positional versatility. Can grow into his frame.
ESPN: Grable started his collegiate career as a walk-on tight end at Jacksonville State, but transitioned to offensive line starting in 2019 and then started 27 games at left tackle while at UCF. He will compete for a roster spot in an offensive line room with veteran players, and said he's prepared to make a switch to a different position if needed. General manager Brandon Beane said that Grable is "gonna have to continue to work on his lower body strength, his power to move guys in the run game, but has great feet you know for pass pro."
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Still refers to Google DUO as Google MEET.
Round 6, Pick 219 - Daequan Hardy, CB, Penn State:
NFL: His return skills might be what keeps him in the league, as Hardy lacks the mass and strength to hold up full time on defense, but sub-4.4 speed is always appealing in a DB.
CBS Sports: A-. Case for most sudden, twitch-up athlete at CB in the class. Super speedy too. Plus recovery talent. Explosiveness in every movement. Not always sticky in coverage but does have high-caliber reps. Check Ohio State game. Erratic tackling and hard to get off blockers because of his size. Chippy in trying to make plays on screens.
ESPN: Hardy brings depth at the cornerback position and skills as a returner. In 2023, he tied the Penn State record for most punt return touchdowns in a season (two) and finished seventh in punt return average (14.6) in school history. Beane noted that if not for the new return rules, he's not sure if they would have picked Hardy, but "this guy can play one of the backup corner spots, but also he's a really nice returner." Buffalo lost multiple players at the returner spot in free agency, and with more focus on it going into this season, Hardy will have the opportunity to compete for the role.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Owns the complete N64 collection including a CIB Conkers.
Round 7, Pick 221 - Travis Clayton, OT, England:
NFL: The Brit, who is 6-foot-7 and 301 pounds with 35-inch arms, ran a 4.81-second 40-yard dash at South Florida's pro day and immediately put himself on scouts' radars late in the process. He's a total project but might be a terrific find with some seasoning, thanks to those unusual athletic traits.
CBS Sports: C+. At 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds with 35-inch arms and a sub 5.00 40-yard dash, this is a ridiculous athlete who is new to football from London.
ESPN: Despite the Bills never seeing Clayton play football, he's an intriguing addition to develop. The initial projection is as an offensive tackle for the 6-foot-7, 303-pound boxer and former rugby player from England after offensive line coach Aaron Kromer came away from watching tape of his workouts. Notably, he ran a 4.79 40-yard dash, faster than all offensive linemen who competed at the combine in the last 10 years. He'll have an opportunity to show the Bills exactly how his skills will translate and what he may be capable of in the NFL, especially as he does not count for a roster spot as part of the International Player Pathway program.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Just like a fantasy draft, the true sleepers can be found in round seven.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/jamie-bryson-breached-red-traffic-light-after-fearing-he-was-being-followed/a1716441527.html
Prominent loyalist activist Jamie Bryson breached a traffic signal fearing he was being followed and an attack was imminent, a court heard today.
While the 34-year-old told District Judge Francis Rafferty he accepted running a red light on 12 September last year, Mr Bryson told the judge he had a “reasonable excuse” defence, emphasising that at the time the PSNI had recently told him he was under a verifiable death threat.
Giving evidence to Newtownards Magistrates Court on his own behalf, the prominent loyalist also highlighted that a man who had made repeated threats against him and whom the police believed “had ready access to guns,” was on the run.
At the start of the ten minute contest, a prosecuting lawyer told District Judge Rafferty how the defendant’s Audi Q2 breached the traffic light at the junction of the York Link and Nelson Street.
Representing himself however, Mr Bryson maintained that he had a “reasonable excuse” for running the red light.
He told Judge Rafferty that as he drove towards Belfast he noticed a car with tinted windows behind him, adding that as the journey progressed: “This car made a number of attempts to get around me but then came back in behind me.”
“As. I approached the lights I manoeuvred my car across over two lanes as I believed that this car was going to come up alongside me and potentially carry out some form of attack on me,” Mr Bryson explained.Jamie Bryson breached red traffic light after fearing he was being followed
In reference to paint being daubed on the walls of Ards court during the North Down feud, he said that around that time: “I had written a public letter to the Newsletter after this court was attacked…and I had been subject to death threats from drug dealers and drug gangs.”
Having been given a TM1 notice by the PSNI that there was a verifiable threat on his life, Mr Bryson told the court he had been given a booklet by the police which advised on what to do when a person is subject to such threats.
One aspect of that, he told the court, was what to do when stopping at traffic lights so when he believed the tinted window car behind was following in a sinister way: “I made the conscious decision” to breach the traffic signal.
Under cross examination the prosecutor asked the loyalist activist why, if the car had been following him for about five minutes, he had failed to note the registration plate but he told the lawyer he would have done so had the car followed him through the red light.
“Why not phone the police…or drive to the nearest police station,” Judge Rafferty asked him but Mr Bryson maintained “there is a demonstrable context in this,” highlighting that seven other people have been sentenced “in this very court” for making threats against him.
“I am living under a daily death threat so I am taking precautions and when I’m driving, I’m checking my mirrors and all around to see if there’s anything suspicious,” he told the judge adding that he “may well have” driven to a police station if the tinted window car had followed him “but it didn’t.”
In final submissions the PPS conceded it was a matter for the judge to decide what could amount to a reasonable excuse while Mr Bryson maintained that although he accepts breaking the red light, “the prosecution have offered nothing to refute the death threats I have been under” and as such, he had put forward a reasonable explanation.
Judge Rafferty said while he found it “incredible” that Mr Bryson did not call the police when he feared he was being followed, “nevertheless I’m required to be satisfied to the criminal standard and in the circumstances, I cannot be so satisfied so I’m marking the matter dismissed.”

Posting here because I need help/advice. I 28f have been with my bf 27m for 5 years now. My bf has difficulty holding down jobs. He was always looking for something better which was fine. However last year he quit his job and took on drinking and taking edibles daily. It’s embarrassing to admit but I stayed thru it all. He used insta cart and doordash to make his monthly bills but it’s not enough. I’ll pitch I here and there to help with his car payment. I’ll break down in bullet points bc i don’t know how else to tell my story.
Holidays: For Christmas I bought his family gifts and had him say it was from both of us. I knew they were getting us gifts and I didn’t want to get something without giving them something?? None of my family knows how bad it is. I’m really close to them and I just brush things off. I lied and told them he finally found a job but he hasn’t. I didn’t get a Christmas gift. But I gave him money. He took me to a steak house for my birthday. Paid for it. Then asked I pay back for my meal bc he miscalculated and needed the money. He did buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day. I bought us an expensive dinner for his bday. I will admit I like a certain type of lifestyle even if I can’t afford it so I may overspend on things.
Addiction: Recently he lost his wallet which meant no Id which meant he couldn’t go to the dispensary or buy alcohol. He ended up finding his wallet but I offered to hold onto his id. It was going well but one day I left an expired id with him so he could buy a beer. I left and came back 24hrs later and he was drunk at 5pm. He gets overly emotional and depressed when he’s drunk and I don’t know what to do other than comfort him. Before I would say I was going to storm off or leave him and that would send him into a deeper spiral so now I nod and try to appease him.
Credit card debt: I’ve been swiping my card for food and drinks for both of us. He uses my car for DoorDash which means I pay for the gas. Before he quit his job (he had been unemployed for 3 months before his most recent job) he really wanted and oled tv and asked I put it on my card and he would pay me back. He made payments for the three months that he was employed then stopped. He ended up selling the tv it was $1,100 he kept the money to pay his bills and buy weed. I finished paying off the card myself. I’m in such a hole borrowing money in hopes I can cover my ass until the next paycheck. I got a part time job im starting soon which should help me a lot. I make a decent wage.
Financially irresponsible: we went on a trip to the casino (he was still employed at this time) I booked the hotel on my credit card. He ended up winning $5,000!!! The first night there. Want to guess what he did next??? He took copious amounts of edibles and blew $3,000 of it on more gambling. He won another $1,000 and also blew that. With the remainder he bought a pc AND I had to beg him to pay me for his half of the hotel room. He did pay for dinners and lunch while we stayed there.
Promises: he says he’ll pay me back. I’ve helped him make his car payments. I help him with food. He says things are going to change. He paints this really pretty picture that I so badly want to be true. But it’s MAY 2024. He quit his job June 2023. He promised me Christmas he promised me my birthday gifts. All which fell flat. And now I just feel like a fool. He says once he starts working he’ll pay me back.
I’ve been helping him apply to place none call him back. He also can’t pass a drug test currently.
Relationship: aside from the money I think we’re okay? We trust each other we love each other. When we’re together we’re always laughing and having a good time. We get along. On weekends we take turns on who gets to pick the movie. He’ll watch twilight and mean girls with me.
The only thing is when he is in withdrawal or hungover he becomes easily agitated and needs space to calm down. The worst he’s done is raise his voice and so do I. Normally he just needs to walk it off or blow off the steam and things get better. He’ll hyper fixate on something I did and call me out on it. I’ll apologize but he won’t let off of it when he gets like that there is nothing I can say to change things. In my mind if I did something wrong I get it I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do to change it? But if he lies or does something he brushes it off and gets upset with me for being upset at his lying?! He’s a terrible texter and never answers his phone. If I needed immediate help I’d be out of luck. But I always have to be there for him. Let’s say he’s having a bad day he needs me there and wants me there. I have to drop everything and if I don’t he feels bad and guilt trips me.
In the end what I would like to see is him get clean and sober find a good job so we can buy a house have a family. Right now he is on an upswing where he makes his promises that things will get better and things will change. If things crash again and he fails to find a job I will have no choice but to leave even if I don’t want to. Go ahead and roast me bc I know I should know better but I can’t bring myself to leave him.

I naturally fell into babysitting around the age of 14. Through friends and family, I got leads for babysitting to score some cash, which definitely beat having to work at a restaurant. The job had its ups and downs, but overall it wasn’t a bad gig at all.
Yet, as many good experiences as I had, they were all eclipsed by one night.
A new family in town talked to my dad at work and it turned out that they needed a babysitter. I happily took the job and found myself watching their 10-year old boy a couple of weeks later. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the family themselves. They were the model citizens of suburban America, complete with the white picket fence and blue shutters. Nothing about their house was strange or even unique. Their son Avery was very mild-mannered and polite. Even their car was basic. Not that these were bad things, but I expected it to be a very boring night.
What I did not expect was the uncomfortable, inexplicable feeling that I got when I set foot in the house. A chill ran through me, but there was no draft. I rubbed my arms as I gazed at their staircase as we passed. They gave me a brief tour of the house before they left a note of instructions and all the usual information I expected from a job.
While trying to figure out what was making me so uneasy about the place, I noticed something about their basement door when I passed it. A padlock was placed on the door, along with a deadbolt in place.
"Any questions?” The father asked as my mind was pulled out of my curiosity.
"No, sir. Everything looks great!”
So they left and Avery and I played some games before I made dinner. A couple of times, I thought I heard Avery call me into the den. Both times, I found him sitting on the couch in what most recognize as the TV-zombie state. He denied having called me, and I went back to making dinner. After the third time, I told Avery it wasn’t funny and that he should stop.
“I’m not doing anything, I’m just watching TV!”
His voice went to that higher tone of pleading, sounding desperate for me to believe him.
“Avery, I know it’s my first time and sometimes you wanna test things out, but I’m trying to get dinner ready so if you call me again, I’m not checking on you, okay?”
“I didn't say anything.”
The child glared at the TV with a pouting face, and I began to feel bad. As many times as I’ve heard lies, I was starting to sense that he was telling the truth. So what was I hearing?
“Hey, it’s fine. I’m not mad. Promise.”
Avery turned his head back towards me, seeming to test if I was the one fibbing now.
“How about I let you stay up a little later if we forget about it?”
“Do you really promise?”
“Pinky promise.”
With our contractual pinkies interlocked, spirits were raised again and I was able to finish dinner. Although I didn’t finish without hearing Avery’s voice calling me once more. I ignored it, and when Avery didn’t mention it at dinner I figured it was him fooling around again. The whole time we chatted as we ate, I couldn’t help but feel that something was not right about this house.
As hard as I tried to not look, my eyes kept diverting to the heavy padlock and chain on the basement door. Curiosity got the best of me and as we were cleaning up, I couldn’t help but ask.
“So Avery, what’s the deal with the basement door?”
“What do you mean?”
His words did not match his demeanor. It was obvious he didn’t make eye contact as he forced his sentence out.
“C’mon, you know what I mean. The padlock, chain, and deadbolt. Y’all have dangerous chemicals down there?”
Avery’s face grew paler and he stared at the wall for a moment.
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. I didn’t mean to…”
“Dad said no one can talk about it anymore.”
This really threw me off, and I couldn’t possibly finish my sentence now. A thick veil of tension materialized between us.
“So you…you guys aren’t allowed to talk about it?”
Avery shook his head.
“Ah, okay. That’s cool. No big deal.”
It was nothing but a big deal.
Was their dad doing something illegal down there? Or was it something strange that no one could do anything about it? Maybe their dad was in denial about something going on. There were waaaaaay too many questions going through my head now.
“Hey, how about we put on a movie?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“What am I saying? Everyone likes movies, right?!”
Now excited, we decided on a fun movie that quickly pulled our minds away from the mysterious basement door. Well, that’s not entirely true. Maybe Avery was distracted, but it was killing me. As we ate popcorn, I couldn’t help but watch Avery, wondering what was going on in that little head of his.
Was there something awful going on in the house and there was nothing I could do to stop it? Or maybe the dad was just…
“Stop,” I told myself inwardly.
Mulling over it all endlessly was not doing myself any favors.
So the movie ended, and I ushered the drifting child to his bed. Now, the house was all to myself until twelve, so I had a good three and a half hours to myself. Immediately, I began texting my friend to tell her all about the weird experience I was having that night. She dismissed it, saying that I was getting spooked by a new place. This annoyed me to no end. I’d been at bigger, way creepier-looking houses but never got weird vibes like this.
Then…I heard it.
“Stephanie…..”
I went instantly still and listened intently.
“You didn’t hear that, Steph. Just keep texting your friend and…”
“Stephanieeeee…”
There was no mistaking it this time. It was definitely coming from the basement.
The acoustics couldn’t have been from Avery upstairs. The voice sounded like a little girl’s. In fact, I’m not even sure he could make his voice like that, anyway.
Slowly, I stood up from the couch and approached the door. Maybe like earlier, I was just hearing things. Maybe being creeped out by the house was starting to mess with my head. That made sense…right?
“Stephanie?”
I jumped back from the door, almost wetting myself in the process. There was no way I could dismiss it as anything else now. There was a little girl’s voice coming from the basement.
“H-hello?” I responded.
I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking.
“Is this Stephanie?”
“Y-yes, it’s Stephanie.”
“Can you help me?”
“Who are you? Why are you locked in the basement?”
“My name is Meredith Rosenberg. They’re kept me locked up for a long time now. The police were almost on to them and that’s why they moved. Can you get me out?”
A cold shock washed over me and made it hard to respond. Was I actually babysitting for a family that kept a little girl prisoner?
“Oh my God…um….how long have you been locked up with them?”
“Ever since I can remember.”
I felt somehow hot and cold at the same time, and wanted to throw up. This all made sense now with what Avery had told me. Of course his father didn’t want him talking about the door…
“I just need to find the keys and I can…”
“They’re hidden in the garage underneath the metal shelf. It’s inside a magnetic key holder.”
“Okay, just hold tight.”
In a panic to free the poor girl, I darted into the garage and began feeling the space underneath the bottom shelf and sure enough, there was a magnetic key holder there. Running back, I popped the key holder open and began to insert the key into the padlock.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes, sweetie. I’m almost there!”
“Oh, please hurry! Sometimes they come home early!”
This sent me into even more of a rush, and I barely managed to fumble the key into the padlock. I finally heard the successful click of the padlock, pulled the chain off, and slid the deadbolt to the right.
“I’m coming, Meredith. Hold on!”
I turned the doorknob and threw open the door, only to be met with darkness. Now full of adrenaline, my hands felt around for the light switch. Finally finding my purchase, I flicked the light on which lit up most of the stairs.
“Meredith?” I called out.
Unless I was remembering it wrong, it sounded like her voice was just on the other side of the door a minute ago. In fact, it was quite strange that she wasn’t waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Wouldn’t you immediately run out of a basement that you were locked in for God knows how long?
“I’m down here!” The little girl’s voice called out.
Judging from the distance, it sounded like she was calling from somewhere at the bottom of the stairs. My brain suddenly began piecing all the details of this interaction together and the idea of going down into the basement became absolutely terrifying.
“Meredith, you can come up now! The door’s open!”
I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice. Why I was scared of a little girl was beyond me, but much like the house itself, something felt very wrong here.
“I hurt my leg, owww! When you said you were getting the key, I went back down to get some of my things and got hurt. Ahhh….”
Her sounds of pain filled me with sorrow, but an invisible force was holding me back from taking another step into that basement.
“Can you move? Maybe pull yourself up on the railing?”
“I can’t! It hurts too bad!”
“Okay, sweetie umm…”
“What’s wrong? Won’t you help me?”
“I-I it’s just…really dark down there and…and I don’t want to get hurt too. Is there any way you can get to the stairs? Any way at all?”
“I tried to sit up, but my shoulder hurts too much.”
“I thought you said your leg got hurt?”
The words hung in the air like a noose. It was only after I said it that I realized there was several things seriously wrong about all of this. A question popped into my head I didn’t even have time to think about until now.
How did she know where the padlock key was?
A deathly silence took up the space between me and wherever this girl was. It was a standoff, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say. There were questions I could ask her to figure out what was happening, but I felt that her answers weren’t going to be honest. Perhaps at this point, the truth was too frightful to know.
"Meredith? Are you still there?"
It was a stupid question, but it was the only thing my mind could conjure. The additional silence only unnerved me, so I decided to try and get a better look. Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I clicked on the flashlight. It didn’t do me any good because of the awful range, so I did the one thing I’d already told myself not to do…
I took a step forward...
Maybe it was the angle of the stairs or the lighting, but that one step gave me more information than I ever wanted to know. I caught a better view of the bottom step, which was essentially a ledge into a black abyss. Something looked different on this step, but it took a second to register what it was.
The step was wet, a pool of some unknown liquid overflowing into the darkness of the basement. I knew for sure that the father hadn’t mentioned any flooding so it would be way too random for that. So I stood there, watching in frozen curiosity as the puddle then suddenly rippled…and I realized the abominable truth.
It wasn’t water.
It was a puddle of saliva…and something was drooling into it from the dark.
A wretched chuckle emanated from the horrid void beyond the step, and it cemented me even further into place. It was a wet chortle, and positively evil.
“How did you like my voices?” The thing said from the dark. “I’ve been practicing."
The epiphany creeped down my spine…it was now talking in Avery’s voice. Everything in my body screamed at me to run. I heard the screams but I couldn’t respond no matter how hard I tried.
"A pity though…almost got you."
At this, the most gruesome face peeled back the shadows and revealed itself, along with its unearthly mandibles and small fountain of saliva. My faculties finally came to and I threw myself into the house and kicked the door closed. In mere seconds, I had the door bolted and chained. Leaning against the door, my chest heaved as I struggled to catch my breath.
Just as I felt I was safe, the door shuddered as a terrible blow rocked it. I screamed and ran upstairs to grab Avery.
I practically dragged the poor kid out the door and called the police. It wasn’t until the operator came on that I realized I was about to report a monster in the house. Thinking quickly, I told them that I heard a burglar in the home.
It wasn’t long before the police and Avery’s parents came home. Nothing was found, even in the basement, but I didn’t even care at that point. I just wanted the hell out of that house and away from whatever that….thing was. Avery’s parents kept glancing at me funny the whole time, probably because they knew I had their basement key. I shoved it into their hands before I hugged Avery and got into my car to drive home. That poor kid has to live in that house with that thing, but there was nothing I could do about it.
As long as I am alive, I will never….ever set foot in that house again.
And as for basements go, I can't go into them anymore. I just simply can't...

DATE: Thursday, May 16th, 2024 TIME: 5pm – 9pm LOCATION: Art Windsor-Essex, 401 Riverside Dr. W, Windsor, ON
COST:

• Current AWE and/or Museum Windsor Members: Free admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum
• Non-Members: $13.25 – Admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum

Save the date! On May 16th, Art Windsor-Essex is open late for an evening of art activities, community conversations, guided tours, and good vibes.

Art Activity: Creative Ecologies with Garvin Chinnia ⎮ 5pm – 9pm, 2nd floor Education Studio

Join us for the Creative Ecologies Workshop, hosted by the SMArt Communications program at the University of Windsor! This workshop is for students and community members who want to learn about how drawing can connect us with nature. Participants will make circular drawings of plants and materials found on the gallery’s Green Roof Terrace, using small microscopes. Through observational drawing, participants will exemplify the inherent fragility and subjectivity of our local ecology as it relates to the degrees of change in species abundance, composition, and environmental disturbances.
Participants are encouraged to display their drawings as part of a display in the WFCU Eco Lounge on AWE’s Third Floor.

Teen Tour: Waawiiatanong Forever with Jace Pillon ⎮ 5pm – 5:30pm, AWE, 2nd floor galleries

Join co-curator Jace Pillon for a guided tour of Waawiiatanong Forever. Complete a bingo treasure hunt for a chance to win prizes! Waawiiatanong Forever is a photography and postcard project that celebrates the representation of women and two-spirit folks and their families within our vibrant community.
Jace Pillon is AWE’s Indigenous Youth Mentee. Jace is from Thessalon First Nation, and currently attends F.J. Brennan Catholic High School. Ever since a young age, he has been interested in all forms of art from paintings, to literature and music. Other interests are cars, computers, & giving back in any he can. Jace plans to attend St. Clair College for a degree in Indigenous community work.

Guided Tour: Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment⎮ 5:30pm – 6pm, Chimczuk Museum, main floor

Join guest curators Walter McCall and Jeff Topliffe for a guided tour of their exhibit Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment. The exhibit explores the history of the Windsor Fire Department (W.F.D.) through some of the unique and innovative pieces of firefighting equipment and machinery that were used in the past. The exhibition features historical photographs, firefighting equipment, badges, and other unique items rarely seen by the public.

Artist Talk: Tony Mosna ⎮ 6pm – 6:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join artist Tony Mosna and Emily McKibbon, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at AWE, for an artist talk. Mosna’s work is currently on display in The Once and Future City, co-curated by Shanthi Senthe and Anneke Smit (Windsor Law’s Centre for Cities) and Emily McKibbon.

Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community Conversation ⎮ 6:30pm – 7pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join us for this month’s community conversation, Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community conversation. A panel of local voices will address the struggles, successes and promised initiatives aimed at revitalizing downtown Windsor. What barriers keep you from visiting downtown? What makes you feel safe in our community? With speakers Sarah Dewar (Maiden Lane Wine & Spirits), Shane Lyon (Culture Shock Bead Co.) and Chris MacLeod (Chair, Downtown Windsor, BIA), moderated by Dan MacDonald.

Art Windsor-Essex App Presentation⎮ 7pm – 7:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

In partnership with St Clair College’s Mobile App Development program, AWE is excited to demonstrate our new interactive app for Look Again! Outside St Clair College. Students Chris Green and Yash Pindiwala created this app to enrich student experience on campus by providing information on the installed reproductions as well as a collaborative platform that invites the campus community to contribute their own creative works!
The project was recently awarded second place at St Clair College’s Ford Innovation Showcase. Hear from the students and St Clair faculty members about the power of partnership and collaboration driving innovation in our region.

Music, food, and drink ⎮ 7pm – 9pm, 3rd floor

Let’s celebrate! Head up to the third floor to join us for music, food and drinks by Windsor Eats, and good vibes.

I have a 16 year old dog who has been going through the throes of Dementia since around August of last year. Her major symptoms are restlessness/anxiety/confusion. She is a 10lb chihuahua mix, who up until last year, was extremely low maintenance and also loved to be in cars. I even drove across the entire country over 2 weeks with her at one point...she previously was always quick to settle on the car seat/bed, and would just occasionally rise to look out the window here or there. She is now deaf, and her vision is not great, which might be a contributing factor.
However, since fall of last year, she has become extremely anxious in the car...she will almost never settle down, and she'll jump back and forth from front seat to back seat, pant heavily, whine, try to jump into my lap etc. I can't calm her, even when petting her with one hand, or even holding her when she does end up on my lap. The only thing that seems to put her more at ease is allowing her to stick her head out the window full time. Moreover, she must have her head out an open window...a closed window stresses her out more. This is difficult on freeways, at night, during bad weather etc. Also, she's lost a lot of leg strength this last year, so she's very unstable when she's posted up on the passenger arm rest to get her head out the window. She slips and slides, and sometimes ends up on the floorboard as a result. Needless to say, I can get distracted while driving, which is unsafe for everyone involved, and I hate myself for being in this position.
I wish I could not drive with her at all. But I work outside of the house, and my wife works from home only 3 days out of the week, so for the 2 other days, I drive our dog over to a family member's house for caretaking (this is because her dementia has her now peeing every 3 hours, and has also caused really bad separation anxiety/confusion when left alone).
I've installed one of those backseat covers that partitions off the entire backseat of my car, and have tried to drive with her just being isolated to only the backseat, so that I'm not as distracted, but she's just causes chaos in the back, and tries really hard to get her head out the window back there, but she's unable to because of how small she is relative to the back window....this stresses her out even more. Her dementia also has her pacing quite a lot in general, so one of those car harnesses that buckles into a seatbelt will not work b/c she ends up extremely tangled, and I worry about the asphyxiation risk. I tried to put her in a travelers crate (she had previously flown in this same crate at least 4x on airplanes) and she immediately peed in it because I think she was just so scared.
I already have her on selegiline, senilife, and other cognition supplements for her CCD. She's on librela for any possible joint paint. I can't say if any of the cognition drugs have done anything, because her dementia seems to still be progressing. When I last emailed my vet, she implied that if the selegiline doesn't seem to be working, we may have to transition her onto a more sedative prescription such as trazadone, or xanax. Shes been on Selegeline since January (5 months), and it has done nothing to help with her car anxiety.
Thank you if you've made it this far. Can you please let me know if you have any insight or tips if you've gone through a similar situation?

Had an incident taking alternate transit to the Angle Lake station back in October which earned me free parking privilege so I've been driving into downtown Seattle for the last few months taking advantage of free parking. I haven't parked at the station for almost a year now. Last time I parked there my window was lucky to have suffered gouges from a brick and didn't break like the car next to mine. Coworker's Kia got stolen last year as well as some other Redditor's around the same time.
Is parking still sketchy as hell?
Is it filling up now? What time on peak days Tue-Thurs?
Which floor(s) should I avoid?
Has anyone been brave enough to park motorcycles there post COVID? I haven't seen a single one. Pre Covid the small lot by the stairs was always full.
How's parking at Amtrak Tukwila/Kent?

DATE: Thursday, May 16th, 2024 TIME: 5pm – 9pm LOCATION: 401 Riverside Dr. W, Windsor, ON
COST:

• Current AWE and/or Museum Windsor Members: Free admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum
• Non-Members: $13.25 – Admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum

Accessibility: Accessibility and accommodation requests must be made at least two weeks in advance of the event. Please contact [shinch@artwindsoressex.ca](mailto:shinch@artwindsoressex.ca) for questions.

Save the date! On May 16th, Art Windsor-Essex is open late for an evening of art activities, community conversations, guided tours, and good vibes.

Art Activity: Creative Ecologies with Garvin Chinnia ⎮ 5pm – 9pm, 2nd floor Education Studio

Join us for the Creative Ecologies Workshop, hosted by the SMArt Communications program at the University of Windsor! This workshop is for students and community members who want to learn about how drawing can connect us with nature. Participants will make circular drawings of plants and materials found on the gallery’s Green Roof Terrace, using small microscopes. Through observational drawing, participants will exemplify the inherent fragility and subjectivity of our local ecology as it relates to the degrees of change in species abundance, composition, and environmental disturbances.
Participants are encouraged to display their drawings as part of a display in the WFCU Eco Lounge on AWE’s Third Floor.

Teen Tour: Waawiiatanong Forever with Jace Pillon ⎮ 5pm – 5:30pm, AWE, 2nd floor galleries

Join co-curator Jace Pillon for a guided tour of Waawiiatanong Forever. Complete a bingo treasure hunt for a chance to win prizes! Waawiiatanong Forever is a photography and postcard project that celebrates the representation of women and two-spirit folks and their families within our vibrant community.
Jace Pillon is AWE’s Indigenous Youth Mentee. Jace is from Thessalon First Nation, and currently attends F.J. Brennan Catholic High School. Ever since a young age, he has been interested in all forms of art from paintings, to literature and music. Other interests are cars, computers, & giving back in any he can. Jace plans to attend St. Clair College for a degree in Indigenous community work.

Guided Tour: Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment⎮ 5:30pm – 6pm, Chimczuk Museum, main floor

Join guest curators Walter McCall and Jeff Topliffe for a guided tour of their exhibit Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment. The exhibit explores the history of the Windsor Fire Department (W.F.D.) through some of the unique and innovative pieces of firefighting equipment and machinery that were used in the past. The exhibition features historical photographs, firefighting equipment, badges, and other unique items rarely seen by the public.

Artist Talk: Tony Mosna ⎮ 6pm – 6:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join artist Tony Mosna and Emily McKibbon, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at AWE, for an artist talk. Mosna’s work is currently on display in The Once and Future City, co-curated by Shanthi Senthe and Anneke Smit (Windsor Law’s Centre for Cities) and Emily McKibbon.

Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community Conversation ⎮ 6:30pm – 7pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join us for this month’s community conversation, Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community conversation. A panel of local voices will address the struggles, successes and promised initiatives aimed at revitalizing downtown Windsor. What barriers keep you from visiting downtown? What makes you feel safe in our community? With speakers Sarah Dewar (Maiden Lane Wine & Spirits), Shane Lyon (Culture Shock Bead Co.) and Chris MacLeod (Chair, Downtown Windsor, BIA), moderated by Dan MacDonald.

Art Windsor-Essex App Presentation⎮ 7pm – 7:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

In partnership with St Clair College’s Mobile App Development program, AWE is excited to demonstrate our new interactive app for Look Again! Outside St Clair College. Students Chris Green and Yash Pindiwala created this app to enrich student experience on campus by providing information on the installed reproductions as well as a collaborative platform that invites the campus community to contribute their own creative works!
The project was recently awarded second place at St Clair College’s Ford Innovation Showcase. Hear from the students and St Clair faculty members about the power of partnership and collaboration driving innovation in our region.

Music, food, and drink ⎮ 7pm – 9pm, 3rd floor

Let’s celebrate! Head up to the third floor to join us for music, food and drinks by Windsor Eats, and good vibes.

I've been self-employed pretty much all my life and never had to suffer the hellhole that is a customer service job (from what I've heard). That being said, a new Harbor Freight is opening up in my area and I've been thinking of applying, maybe just for a part time job. I could use the money and I keep hearing that "it's a nice company". I'm a married woman in my 30s. I've taken part in a couple of home reno projects: I know how to tile, drywall, paint, etc. and I'm proud of the quality of my work. I'm not particularly strong and I know nothing about cars or lawn equipment. I know a handful of tools but I definitely cannot make recommendations or have a meaningful conversation about tools in general. I'm willing to learn, of course. I guess I just want to be useful and not spend my days getting yelled at by old dudes because I don't know what a gauge nibbler is.
Based on this, what do you think my chances are of getting a job here? And if you do work entry level at one of the stores, how is it?

Can someone explain to me specifically why this was removed, and how I’d be able to edit it without defeating the purpose of the entire story?
It was removed for breach of the “CORROBORATION/PROOF” rule, though after reviewing those terms, I don’t believe that I’ve broken them.
“A dream, a nightmare, a hallucination, a vision, a bout of sleep paralysis, is drunk and/or high, was in a coma or otherwise an altered state”— none of these are the reason behind my main character’s paranormal experience, and I’ve given no indication whatsoever in the story to suggest that they are.
In fact, I’ve outright denied the idea that my main character imagined her experience about as much as I possibly could for a story with a first person perspective.
The main character says “it definitely happened. It’s not the kind of thing you can just imagine, and I’m sure now that it wasn’t a dream,” in the second paragraph— a sentiment which she consistently attests to throughout the story, and a sentiment which is never walked back on or brought into question by the narrator.
My narrator was in a sound state of mind at the moment of her encounter, and is practical and methodical in her investigation of what happened. Any implication that she has become mentally unwell occurs long after the inciting incident which the story is built around.
I would like to respectfully request that this story be reevaluated. In the short time that it was active on nosleep, it clearly connected with people. If it cannot stand as is, then I need someone to help me make it fit the guidelines without defeating the entire purpose of the story and betraying its themes.
The nosleep subreddit is filled to the brim with stories in which the narrator’s words are taken at face value. When a narrator in a different story says “I walked to the store,” it’s not like the author HAS to give tactile, irrefutable evidence that the narrator actually walked to the store. The audience simply accepts that the narrator walked to the store. This concept of innate credibility is the bedrock upon which my entire story is built.
I do not believe my work would benefit from being altered to fit these guidelines as rigidly as possible, nor do I think that is a fair standard to hold it to. In fact, if I were to change the contents of my story in such a way, the themes which set it apart from others like it would be lost.
In short, I do not understand why my story was deleted, I do not know how to alter it to fit the guidelines beyond any shadow of a doubt without destroying its central purpose, and I refuse to believe that nosleep is not the right place for this work. I implore you to reconsider my submission, or to at least work with me to find a solution which keeps the story’s themes intact.
Here is my story:
I got grabbed
Last night, when I was home alone, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.
Nobody was there to see it, and nobody that I’ve told believes me, but it definitely happened. It’s not the kind of thing you can just imagine, and I’m sure now that it wasn’t a dream.
I was watching TV when it happened. The remote fell under the couch and I started fishing around for it without really looking, not wanting to get up from my seat. I brushed it with the tips of my fingers and it slid further underneath.
I was super annoyed— I had to get down on my knees to reach it. I finally found the remote, and that’s when it grabbed me.
As I pulled the remote out into the light, a hand shot up from under the couch and wrapped its fingers around my wrist.
I was able to yank myself away quickly. It didn’t hold on tight— just enough that I felt a little resistance. I jumped to my feet, obviously terrified.
I didn’t scream or anything. I was honestly too scared to even make a sound. My heart was beating so fast that my ears started to ring. The TV was still going, commercials droning on while I tried to process what had just happened.
The hand had only come out about a foot from under the couch. It had an arm attached to it, though I wasn’t able to see past its elbow, and it slinked back below the couch as soon as I pulled myself free from its grasp.
It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t leave any sort of bruise or mark or anything on my wrist, but I definitely felt it, and I definitely saw it.
All I could do was stare at the spot where the hand had appeared. I stood there for what felt like an eternity, until I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps right outside my front door.
I live in a second-story apartment. It’s a pretty cramped place and a pretty old building, so whenever someone comes over I can usually hear footsteps from the moment they enter the building downstairs.
I guess I was so freaked out by the hand that I didn’t even notice someone was outside until they were already opening the door.
My roommate walked in on quite a scene. She immediately registered how off the vibe was. I could see it on her face.
She found me standing upright in the middle of our living room, TV remote in hand, facing away from the screen while Full House’s laugh track filled the air. I’m sure I’d think it was odd too.
“Hey…” she said, shifting a paper bag full of groceries in her arm while she pocketed her keys, “You good?”
I felt like I was caught with my pants down, but just seeing a familiar face brought some of the blood back to my fingers.
“N—yeah,” I stuttered. I came back online, and flicked the TV off.
I felt her eyes on me as she walked over to the kitchen. There’s no wall or anything dividing the two rooms. Like I said, the place is pretty cramped.
She started putting her groceries away as if everything was normal, but I could tell she wanted to ask what was up.
I kept looking back and forth between her and the couch. I can’t explain it, but I already knew that if I looked under there, I wouldn’t find any trace of whoever (or whatever) grabbed me.
As she started loading up the fridge, I dropped to my hands and knees once again. Without taking even a second to ready myself, I brought my head down to the ground and looked under the couch.
Nothing.
Pretty much what I expected. There was barely enough room for me to squeeze my arm under there for the remote. No way a whole person could fit beneath that thing, and even if they could, there’s no way I wouldn’t have seen them or heard them or something before they grabbed me.
“Seriously, what’s up?”
I looked up to see my roommate standing right behind me, arms crossed, clearly concerned.
I knew I was acting strange, and I knew that nothing I would come up with in the next five seconds could possibly excuse my behavior. I made a judgement call, honestly not really caring about how it would be received.
“I uh… something grabbed me earlier.”
“What?”
“Under the couch. I dropped the remote, and when I picked it up, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.”
Took her a second to respond.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“That’s it. A hand reached out and grabbed me by the wrist. It happened like a minute before you got here.”
That part might have been a lie. I actually have no idea how long I had been standing in the middle of the room before she showed up.
“Wait so like someone broke in?”
“No. It’s just like I said. A hand reached out, grabbed me, and then it was gone.”
She just kinda looked at me for a while. I don’t blame her, but it’s not like there was any way for me to sugarcoat it.
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean ‘am I sure?’ Yes, yes I’m fucking sure!”
My voice broke a little when I said that. I was still down on my knees, like I was praying for her to believe me.
“Okay well obviously that didn’t happen Sam.”I let out a desperate laugh and threw my hands up in the air. I slapped them down on my thighs dramatically and shook my head in exasperation.
“Yeah obviously it sounds fucking crazy but you asked what happened and that’s what happened. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m just being honest.”
I pulled myself up to my feet and walked around to the armrest of the couch. She kept studying me, probably thinking this was all a prank or something.
“What are you doing?” She asked, arms still glued across her chest.
“I’m checking under the couch.”
I pushed one end of the couch away from the wall. It was pretty heavy, and the coffee table stopped me from moving it too far. I dragged the coffee table towards the TV to free up some space.
My roommate started staring at the spot I was clearing as if she expected to see something there too.
I went back over to the armrest.
“Can you help me?”
She snapped out of her trance and silently went to grab the other side. We pulled the couch away from the wall, revealing a thick rectangle of dust that had not seen the light of day since we moved in a year ago.
I dropped to my knees once more and began wiping away the grime with my bare hands. There was nothing but the floorboards beneath it. No surprise.
I sat there for a second, eyes darting around the floor. No fingerprints in the dust, no scratches or marks or anything. I felt the tension in the room dissipate as my roommate found her voice again.
“I think you must have imagined it.”
I didn’t. There’s no way.
“Dude, no. I felt it and I saw it. Clear as day. It was a hand, and it grabbed me. That’s not the sort of thing you can just imagine.”
She scoffed, any fear left in her giving way to frustration.
“Whatever. This is fucking stupid. I’m going to bed.”
She stomped off towards her room.
“Wait.”
She spun on her heels as I stood up, probably expecting me to tell her I was joking about the whole thing.
“Can you help me flip the couch over?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Sure. But I’m not helping you put it back.”
She helped me lift the couch off of its legs and tilt it onto its front cushions, exposing the fabric underneath. She disappeared into her room and I went to work studying the underside of the sofa.
There was a zipper lining the bottom, but I found nothing inside when I opened it up. Just a hollow wooden frame and a bunch of crumbs.
I sat back against the wall, more tired than scared at that point.
I can’t believe she thinks I’m making this up. Why would I even do that? What purpose would it serve?
As I solemnly went about rebuilding our living room, I decided that the next day (today) I was gonna take off work, wait for her to leave, and really get to the bottom of this.
I didn’t sleep at all last night. Every nook and cranny of my room felt like a door left wide open, with something sinister waiting on the other side.
What if the hand comes back? What if it wants to hurt me next time? How can I even protect myself?
After like ten restless minutes in bed, I decided to move to the floor. I couldn’t help it. I kept imagining the hand reaching up from under the bed and grabbing me again.
I made a makeshift sleeping bag out of my comforter and some pillows, and I laid on my side so I could keep an eye on the underside of my bedframe while I slept. Maybe “slept” isn’t the right word. Even down there, I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes for longer than a minute.
Eventually sunlight began to peek through the blinds, and I heard some movement within the apartment. My roommate was finally up. I heard the front door close, and it was time to get to work.
I nearly threw my back out yanking the couch away from the wall to reveal the floorboards underneath. They aren’t real floorboards, just the kind of cheap-o fake shit they put in crappy houses to make them look more modern. Our whole apartment is like that— a thin coat of paint slapped over an old building from the 40s or whatever.
My dad actually owns this building. He lets me and my roommate stay here as long as we pay him $500 a month, which is way cheaper than most places in my area.
It’s not really an apartment building to be honest. You can tell it used to be a family home before some realtor swooped in and broke it up into apartments. There are a lot of those around here.
Anyway, the fake wood came up easy. It was only about a quarter inch thick. I was able to pull up the first plank by hammering a kitchen knife into a slit between the boards, and then I peeled a few more away by hand.
After prying away about a dozen of these fake floorboards, I started to realize that I wasn’t going to find anything without making a significantly larger dent. Right beneath the thin layer of fake wood was a layer of very real, very thick wooden beams that seemed to span well beyond the hole I had managed to claw open.
My back crackled and popped as I sat back on my heels to admire my handiwork and contemplate where to go from there. I knew I would need a power saw or some kind of heavy duty tool to get any deeper, but I was afraid of two things:

1. That these beams were supporting the entire second floor of the building, and cutting through them would make the whole thing collapse
2. That going any deeper would lead me into the ceiling of the apartment below us, and whoever lives there would call my dad before I could see what I needed to see.

Regardless of the risks, I knew I had to keep going. I was certain that something was down there. Whatever grabbed me had to have left some sort of evidence.
I can’t stop thinking about that fucking hand.
I’m not supposed to have it, but my dad gave me a master key for the whole building in case of emergencies. He could really get in trouble if anyone found out, but if this isn’t an emergency then idk what is.
There’s a service shed around the back of the building, which has seen none of the love that the main building saw when it was renovated. Decades worth of rusty antiques and rotting furniture line the walls. A shiny, modern tool bench sits unnaturally in the middle of the chaos.
I rifled through all of that shit as fast as I could. I’m not really close with my dad all things considered, and I’m sure he’d be super pissed if he found me out there. He’s so secretive about random shit all the time, and he’s constantly dropping by the building unannounced.
I found the jigsaw under a pile of old newspapers and ran back upstairs.
I probably should have checked the driveway to see if anyone was home first, because the saw made so much noise. The cord barely reached from the outlet to the spot where the couch used to be, but as awkward as the angle was, I was still able to get it in there.
I went as small as possible with my first few cuts. I started with a single beam, cutting out a section about 6x6 inches wide. I slid the chunk of wood out, and, to my relief, didn’t immediately see the plaster that would be my downstairs neighbor’s ceiling.
A tuft of insulation stuck out where I made the hole. I didn’t know that stuff is made from fiberglass or whatever, and I got a really bad splinter when I went to yank it out.
I fished some leather gloves out of my roommate’s closet and got to work on the insulation. I pulled and pulled but couldn’t get a good enough grip to remove anything more than a few bits about the size of a tennis ball.
I went back in with the jigsaw, cutting bigger and bigger chunks until I had cleared a hole about two feet in diameter.
No sign that I was gonna bring the building down, that’s good.
I hacked away for hours. More wood came up, more insulation came up, and when I finally hit a fragile-looking layer of drywall, I knew the jig was up. That’s definitely my neighbor’s ceiling. Fuck.
My roommate and I got in a screaming match when she got home. I made a pretty big mess but I don’t really give a fuck honestly.
I don’t give a fuck if she believes me. I fucking hate that bitch. I told her if she tells my dad what I’m doing, I’ll bash her brains in with the hammer. That shut her up. She left with a bag full of her clothes like an hour later.
Tomorrow I’m going to wait for our downstairs neighbor to leave and start investigating from the bottom-up. If there wasn’t any evidence on the floor up here, there HAS to be something on the ceiling down there.
If I do find something, I’ll post again. I doubt anyone will even believe me, but at this point I just want everything written down somewhere accessible in case something bad happens.
There has to be something down there. Something grabbed me. And I’m going to find out what it is.

Edit: If you are going to comment on the length of this post, please don't. This is not a simple snark but rather an actual critical think piece about feminism and Taylor Swift.

Introduction

Pertaining to Taylor Swift, "Female Rage" has deviated from its intended meaning after Swift debuted a new performance of The Tortured Poets Department during the Eras Tour. Now, according to Swift's use of the phrase, female rage is interpreted as public backlash against Swift's dating choices rather than as a response to the broader injustices against women and women's rights. This post examines Taylor Swift's flawed feminism, philanthropy, branding, and the controversial trademark petition for the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical". Swift's background as an entertainer, indeterminate politics, and alignment with capitalism over feminism pervades her legacy, again threatening her public tolerance as not just an individual but as a brand.

Once Upon a Female Rage...

If you were cognizant in the early 2010's, you've heard countless jabs at Taylor Swift in the media. Magazines, radio, or online. Music critics did not take her seriously as a songwriter; parents put a woman on an unrealistic pedestal as the ideal role model for their children; she dated too much and used men as lyrical fodder. No matter the story, it inevitably spread, conjoined with everyone's respective opinions, and you'd be left to wonder, "Why does everyone hate this girl so much?"
Taylor's target demographic has always been young or adolescent girls, more so when Swift herself was one. She made music that spoke to the awkward misfit, cultivating a para-social relationship with fans on MySpace, then later twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, where Taylor posted relatable vlogs showcasing the life of a homegrown American girl. Taylor had a delayed public "growing up" and, compared to her female pop contemporaries, Swift never "gratuitously sexualized her image and seems pathologically averse to controversy" (and, apparently, never even had a sip of alcohol until she turned 21). She was more than happy to spin this narrative to allude to an inherent moral superiority above other women in the industry (Better Than Revenge, heard of it?), engaging in the very slut-shaming that she herself endured (the Madonna and Whore archetypes). The victim complex arose with the need to prove Taylor as a different type of pop girl. Based upon her holy and clean image, Swift had been dubbed "a feminist's nightmare", and that "[To Swift] other girls are obstacles; undeserving enemies who steal Taylor’s soulmates with their bewitching good looks and sexual availability." Feminism and Tennessee-Christian country values don't exactly mix, it seems.
Years later, Swift befriended Lena Dunham and thus experienced white feminism osmosis, where Dunham taught Swift that real feminists defend rapists, makes insensitive jokes about rape and abortion, and prioritize all-white casts. Swift then declared herself a feminist in 2014, saying,

"Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so."

I suppose the male-centric songwriting subject that permeates Swift's discography contained covert feminism and that we just didn't see that. Perhaps, the "Bad Blood" song and music video were written only in jest and not about poor Katy Perry, for Swift, as a feminist, would "never make it a girl fight" or tear other women down (though all Katy did was date your terrible ex-boyfriend and allegedly steal three backup dancers from your tour). In 2013, Swift said, in response to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's joke towards her serial dating, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."
There was that time in 2015 Taylor said that Nicki Minaj was "invited to any stage [she is] on" (as if Taylor expects to have access to every stage, award, and platform that Nicki might not otherwise have as a black female artist...yikes!) in response to Nicki's criticism of the white + thin VMA nominations. Later, Nicki responded with confusion, as Swift continued, "It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..". Of course, this 'beef' was 'squashed' when Nicki performed with Taylor at the VMAs, with Nicki quite literally only having 38 seconds of stage time without Taylor. Maybe all that parading around with a legion of famous white women - similar to the way Taylor might've done with her numerous 1989-era handbags - was in fact a stance against gender inequality, and that this display of "girl power" should be enough to constitute Swift as a feminist icon.
Even while Swift says that Dunham informed her feminist outlook, she dances around the exact contents of those beliefs: "what she believes, what she says, what she stands for" is not exactly insightful towards what beliefs Swift might have inherited. Taylor never broaches women's rights topics such femicide, FGM, forced pregnancy & marriage, sex trafficking, women in slavery, women's financial and political oppression, women's educational rights, women's health, or women's autonomy, so we can assume she only gives a fuck about "girls supporting girls" (whatever that fucking means).
Despite some questionable (and sometimes vindictive) behavior, Taylor as a young woman did not deserve every media lashing that she received. We cannot deny that most headlines and criticisms perpetuated a misogynistic rhetoric which has plagued Swift for a majority of her career. Acknowledging events such as the development of her ED, her sexual assault trial, "Famous" lyric and MV depiction of Taylor, and the explicit Twitter deepfakes, for example, as both disgusting and unfortunate things that happened to a young woman in Hollywood does not negate the fact that Taylor is mostly a performative feminist.

Get Your Fucking Ass Up and Be a Philanthropist, It Seems Like Nobody Wants to Be a Philanthropist These Days

In 2013, Taylor Swift cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The donation amount - $4 million - was the largest individual artist gift ever donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is, of course, mentioned on Swift's website. The two-story facility features three classrooms, an instrument room, and an interactive children's exhibit gallery. Swift also performed at "All for the Hall" charity shows and has donated numerous artifacts from her career (such as notable guitars, tour costumes, etc) to the museum.
This was over 11 years ago, and it is still the only notable philanthropic contribution Taylor Swift has made.
For a woman of her net worth and stature, and a woman who recognizes the difficulties for women in film and music, you would think that Taylor Swift might establish a scholarship program for women to study the arts or something. Perhaps Swift might even consider becoming a member of organizations that support female artists, or one that supports LGBTQ+ causes (since she is now proudly an ally), yet she remains superficial with her graces. Broader philanthropy, such as donating relief aid to Palestinian women or women impacted by violence and discrimination will probably never receive any financial support from Miss Swift because then she'd be using her money towards philanthropies involving anyone but white entertainers.
She even says herself in Miss Americana, "My entire moral code as a kid and now is a need to be thought of as 'good'." Well, she's certainly thought of as good, though her actions say otherwise. She's more than happy to do a vaguely altruistic song and dance for a clip-worthy interview quote and mass appeasement, then fuck off to one of her mansions on a 20 minute private jet flight, rather than actually contribute to anything pertaining to the causes she has endorsed. Yet, far too many people continue to give a woman such as her their money, time, and energy, and she hoards these resources to herself.

I Like Some of the Taylor's Songs, But What the Fuck Does She Know About Feminism?

Swift continued with her self-proclaimed feminist campaign, positioning herself as a political activist and LGBTQ+ ally in the Miss Americana documentary. The primary focus of the documentary consists of the sexual assault trial, Andrea Swift's cancer diagnosis, Taylor's ED and body dysmorphia, media scrutiny, and, largely, finally speaking up about her politics publicly, mostly her opposition to the 2018 Tennessee Republican senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn, and Blackburn's beliefs. Swift says, following a scene discussing her experience during the trial,

"I just couldn't really stop thinking about it. And I just thought to myself, next time there is any opportunity to change anything, you had better know what you stand for and what you want to say."

We must ask ourselves, though: when has Swift ever spoken up to change anything? Okay, pulling her entire catalogue from Spotify because they didn't pay their artists enough and similarly pulling her catalogue from Apple Music are changes that she leveraged due to her revenue potential and power, but they are not pertinent to the average woman's rights. Moreover, these are issues that directly impacted Taylor's income, which was enough reason for her to protest in the first place. Swift has sold the most units for a female artist in first week sales, is the first female artist with 100k monthly Spotify listeners, is the first female artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy 4 times, and is the first female artist to do X, Y, and Z, all while being inoffensive and family-friendly to boot. The actual Taylor Swift seems unwilling to compromise the brand of Taylor Swift by contributing in meaningful ways to feminist causes, especially if it is for women outside of America and Hollywood.
The reason political anthems such as "The Man" and "Only the Young" of the Lover era feel disingenuous and corporate is because, well, it is. Taylor has taken every opportunity to advance her career or public image at the expense of other women. What is truly genuine to Taylor's outlook on other women is vying for male attention, taking down female competition, and vocalizing feminist injustices only if they directly impact her and her money. Some will argue that it's satisfactory for a woman with such a huge platform to even TALK about feminism, but that just isn't enough. It's even less impressive when you candidly look at the scope of her feminist lens: "If I was the man, then I'd be THE MAN", or "I really resent the ‘Be careful, buddy, she’s going to write a song about you’ angle, because it trivialises what I do", and, of course, "We all got crowns". Feminism, but only when it happens to me. It gets worse when you look at Taylor's track record of copying other famous women and removing other female artists as potential threats to her pop prowess.
It's good for PR to align yourself with certain blanket feminist and political beliefs, therefore good for branding, therefore good for ticketing and merchandise sales, therefore good for business. And Taylor Swift is a business.
She's not a feminist. Taylor Swift is a capitalist.

I Can't Pay Those Sweatshop Workers a Livable Wage or Benefits! How Else Would I Make My Billions?

Recently, Taylor's team filed to trademark the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical" after Taylor said during Paris N1 of the Eras Tour,

"So you were the first ones to see The Tortured Poets at the Eras Tour...or as I like to call it, 'Female Rage: The Musical'."

This trademark petition was filed last week on Saturday, and news comes about just as numerous unofficial fan-made merch designs have cropped up with this phrase plastered on Fruit of the Loom basics. I'm of the opinion Swift's team motioned for a trademark so that they can send out cease & desists to all those that make knockoff merch, which disrupts potential sales for Bravado, UMG's choice merchandising company; however, since it was filed earlier, perhaps Swift has bigger plans with the bizarre use of the gendered phrase. One Swiftie referred to the phrase "female rage" as "a funny Eras Tour joke". Could it be a possible fourth version of the Eras Tour Movie? Whatever the reason, the motion to capitalize off of such a concept is disgusting, but not unsurprising, for a woman that profits on her vain feminism.
Swift, through her company, TAS Rights Managements, has also trademarked over 200 phrases, including "1989", where she owns the property rights to this calendar year on keychains, phone cases, sunglasses, stationary, bags, beverage ware, clothing, entertainment services, your subconscious, and, of course, Christmas ornaments.
The vapid consumerism in Swiftie culture is, frankly, disgusting. Bravado's sustainability statement is non-existent, the quality control is abysmal, and the materials they use are horrible. The materials, such as acrylic and polyester, are made from petrochemicals. This means they are non-renewable, shed microplastics, and are quite toxic in production. The manufacturing process to make all of those lazy-rushed Eras Tour logo graphic tees is a huge blow to environmental well-being. Apparently, though, Swifties don't give a fuck. They sell out products in seconds and either have to face the manufactured scarcity or buy from a scalper that resells for 200% of the already ridiculous retail price. This doesn't include the environmental impact of vinyl records, CD, and cassette production, of which Taylor produces many variants that sell unsustainable amounts.
If we're talking about women's rights violations, why is no one acknowledging the women that work in the inhumane sweatshop conditions that have to pump out fugly t-shirts and hats? The millions of plastic microfiber dander they are inhaling, or the toxic dyes that touch their bare skin? Are they being compensated fairly for their skilled labour and are they in safe working environments? Do these women have minimal bargaining power, and do they have authority over their worker's rights? Is Taylor Swift female raging at their injustices? Does Taylor Swift ever feels bad that her wealth was built on the backs of women of color, disadvantaged by the demands of the global economy and garment industry? Do you think she ever says a little white feminist prayer for them before she goes to sleep at night?
What's even crazier is not that Taylor herself doesn't care, it's that Swifties don't care. There CANNOT BE ethical billionaires. You only make a billion dollars if you are exploiting other human beings for capital gain. Based on public perception of the possible "Female Rage: The Musical" trademark, it seems like Swifties are already asking for merch with this phrase. "If Taylor made it, I'd buy it." Oh, cool. So not only do you champion Miss Swift's avarice and billionaire status, but you also are unashamed to admit to your blind consumption of her music and merchandise, no matter where they might originate in production or sincerity. Just as Swift takes and takes and takes, Swifties' consumerism of Taylor Swift cannot be quelled.
The tortured artist's most vulnerable and sincere poetry...available now in 21 different versions!

I Am Tortured Poet, Hear Me Whinge

Look - even if Taylor's intention is to characterize TTPD as more "tortured" and "angry", the main thread of the album is "I was ghosted by my decade-long situationship with a controversial indie boy and my fucking stupid fans wrote a 'Speak Up Now' open letter prompting me to drop him" anger, which is adequately expressed in the lyrics and performances. The extent of Taylor's "female rage" on TTPD is on tracks such as "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", which contends with relentless media scrutiny; "But Daddy I Love Him", where Swift firmly states she'll date whoever she likes no matter how "Sarahs and Hannahs" may react; and "The Albatross", a track mythologizing her reputation and the consequences of dating her. Of course, these coincide with deep psychological wounds that formed during Swift's early years in the media, and so, from her feminist perspective, these subjects tackle the misogyny and double standards that she faced.
Yet Taylor Swift still has no grounds to be claiming that TTPD best exemplifies female rage and therefore she, in the context of this album, is female rage incarnate. As the daughter of a stock broker and mutual fund marketing executive, Taylor was born into wealth and allowed privileges like trips and subsequent relocation to Nashville all so that she might get a record deal. Her father even invested at least $120,000 into the then-fledgling label, Big Machine Records, which ensured Taylor's place with Borchetta after leaving her dead-end development deal with Sony. The fact that her parents were able to buy her a fucking brand new guitar for Christmas and pay for music lessons says so much about the financial security and safety of her childhood.
Money is privilege and protection, and despite Swift's experiences with misogyny and loser boyfriends, she does not know what female rage is.
Her rage is derived from her frustrations with her obsessive fans pulling the moral superiority card on Taylor in response to her rebound with Matty Healy. That's literally it. She's just pissed that the monster she created is no longer obediant, it's become a feral, sovereign entity that depletes the world of its natural resources and thinks it is more intelligent than it actually is because it's mommy has started to talk to it with big words. Apparently, 'illicit', 'elegy', 'nonchalant', and 'precocious' are considerably big words for the oafish monster, and I find it strange that this level of literacy is present in a group of fans that allegedly have GPAs of 3.5 or higher, but I digress.
Taylor Swift has never been one paycheck away from destitution. Taylor Swift has never experienced racial discrimination. She may have instances of gender discrimination, but she possesses the ideal white, blonde American beauty standard and therefore reaps the benefits of being a conventionally attractive woman. Taylor Swift has sufficient social capital. Taylor Swift is a billionaire woman prolonging her victimhood though she, as a woman, has mostly had control over her image and music (unlike her contemporaries). Taylor Swift is NOT entitled to be championed for her "female rage", nor should she be. Taylor Swift has never even been the struggling artist, for fuck's sake. I don't give a fuck if she's trying to fill the empty lunch tables of her past. Taylor Swift purporting herself, her unpolished album, and her lukewarm feminism as a musical bleeding with female rage is asinine.

Sigh Try and Come For My Job, Poors

Out there in the world right now is a 23-year-old woman, a recent college grad, who works as a barista. She has to wake up and get ready to go into a minimum wage job because she cannot get a job in her field. She doesn't have healthcare benefits or sick time, so she has to go into work no matter how she's feeling. All day long she is berated by vicious customers and creepy men, and, exhausted from being on her feet, she knows she has to go home to her shitty roommate that never does the dishes and her roommate's shitty dog. To comfort herself, she considers getting a treat, but thinks against it when she remembers that matcha lattes cost $15 and they taste like milky dirt. She knows that she needs to buy groceries this week, and so the woman resolves to go home, but notices that her gas tank is low. She goes to put gas in the car, but the pump stops at $27.86 because that's all that she has in her checking account. The woman, bereft and reeling, sinks into the driver's seat. "Well," she thinks, her head in her hands, "at least I don't have Taylor Swift's job. I just couldn't imagine."
Fame is somewhat of a choice. If at any moment Taylor feels that she is misunderstood, misconstrued, or overwhelmed by public opinion, she can LEAVE the public eye - Lord knows she has the retirement fund and residuals to do so. In "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", the TTPD song about meeting the demands of your career-zenith mega-tour while in the relationship trenches, Taylor ends the song by rambling,

"You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart...you know you're good...and I'm good, cause I'm miserable, and no one even knows!...try and come for my job."

Yeah, obviously we wouldn't know, you recently passed the billionaire threshold and are the most famous and in-demand performer in the world right now. Taylor Swift makes an estimated $10 to $13 million dollars A NIGHT on the Eras Tour. Furthermore, the Eras Tour movie grossed $261.6 million globally, (which, as the producer, Taylor takes home 57% of the ticket sales) not counting the streaming revenue from Amazon Prime Video and the estimated $75 million deal that Disney paid to have it on Disney+. We're not even considering the income from cheap plastic popcorn buckets and drink cups plastered with colored squares in her Era-specific likeness.
It's funny. Taylor Swift often said that being famous wasn't hard, that she "isn't complaining". I'm sure it is difficult to always have to present in a good mood, else you'll end up misrepresented in the media, and I'm sure it's invasive to virtually have no privacy or semblance of anonymity. Still, Taylor Swift shows up each night of tour and performs. For a majority of her career, she has penned her sad songs while on the road. Most of "Red", her breakup album, was written in the thick of the Speak Now World tour. Now, some Swifties say they almost "feel bad" for attending the Eras Tour with Swift's revelations in this song, that they have had a 'dimmed experience' upon hearing Taylor's misery whilst performing. Despite the fact that Taylor said that "this was the happiest she's ever been" at Gilette Stadium in May, the lyrics "boohoo, woe is me, smile for the cameras and make the fans happy!!!" are jarring for Eras attendees.
While Taylor Swift was making double-digit millions a night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and feeling miserable, Ana Clara Benevides Machado passed away due to heat exposure. The concert promoters, Time For Fun, are now the subject of a criminal investigation due to their lack of adequate hydration and safety. Taylor Swift cancelled the Sunday show that was to follow and offered VIP tent tickets to Benevides Marchado's family, which was a kind gesture, but perhaps incongruous to the incident of which they were offered as consolation. Everyone grieves differently, of course, but I'm not sure attending the very show at the very same venue that my daughter or sister passed away in two days prior, where the singer CONTINUED the show despite her death, would be healthy for closure.
There was no female rage at the show as Swift never saw Benevides Machado pass out. There was no female rage towards the disregard for fans as humans while Swift elected to proceed with her Brazil tour dates despite the country being in historic heatwaves (at risk of overheatting herself). If Taylor Swift was so shaken by touring with a broken heart or a fan's passing, she wouldn't have added an additional North American leg of Eras just two months after the Matty breakup. She's brokenhearted but willing to mend the cracks with your money and move onward with her worldwide female rage induced pillaging.
No matter what happens, even if you die at a Taylor Swift concert, Taylor collects a big fat check and flies away. She doesn't know you as anything other than a conversion rate or earning potential despite what her nearly 20-year long parasocial relationship with fans might otherwise indicate. She knows that, while some Swifties are without disposable income, they feel obligated to spend on a "48 Hours Only!" exclusive vinyl variant instead of necessities because they are so entrenched in Taylor Swift's intoxicating celebrity, they'll prioritize materialistic fandom before their needs. This is good enough for her because this means she can expand her real estate portfolio and finance her cat's lavish lifestyles. They're worth an estimated $100 million dollars. Her three cats could pool their net worth and solve world hunger.
While you and I might be denied bereavement leave and barely surviving the current political and economic climate, Taylor Swift has to, instead of gets to, perform for stadiums at full attendance for three nights in a row across the globe. You and I might be replaced by AI at our longtime jobs, but Taylor Swift is threatened with losing more and more money each time you listen to a "Stolen Version" of her songs. If we don't buy every variant of all of her albums, then who is going to pay for the fucking cats?
It is tone deaf to spend as she spends and lives as she lives in this economy, but this is her reality. She was able to donate $100,000 to all of her tour truck drivers, and that's wonderful, but it leads me to wonder about the ethos of the 2020s where one woman can hoard such life-changing amounts of money. Remember in 2014 when she gave a fan $90 ($120 in today's money) to get Chipotle because she had no fucking clue how much it cost? This is a 34-year-old woman who is increasingly out of touch with the reality for working class people and women in general. Normal everyday adults must wake up and go to their thankless jobs, and yet Taylor Swift, despite all her riches, incessantly references the lows of her life and career as a public figure and entertainer to farm sympathy and drive sales. And still, the corporate women have latched onto "I cry a lot, but I am so productive! It's an art!" as their cubicle battle cry.
Do you think that, from up in her private jet, Taylor Swift gazes at the world through her poetic, tortured eyes, and thinks, "All the little people, in their cars, walking, going about their lives...all those girls that don't support girls...do they know that I've made an album about female rage?"

Conclusion/TLDR

Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your critical insights towards this entire ordeal: TTPD, the trademark, the implications of it all.
TLDR: Taylor Swift is a bad feminist and is delusional to think that the TTPD eras set exemplifies female rage at women's injustice.

My ex and I split before LO was born. For the first 3 years, he literally did NOTHING besides show up and play. No diapers, no feedings, no baths, nothing. For a while he brought his mom and sister in to help him, but they would just monopolize the visit and not actually teach him anything. I tried to ask him to find a parenting skills class or something but he refused unless I was the one teaching it (he literally said that). Obviously if that’s how things were going to be, I couldn’t just let him take LO god knows where. He couldn’t even pick LO up (if I left LO in the swing, he would wait 10-15 minutes and then make up an excuse to get me to pull him out - like a diaper change or “he looks hungry” - so I’d take him out, assess, and say “no, he’s fine”, to which my ex would go “oh, okay, I’ll just take him then”), let alone get him in and out of a car seat.
Then, he moved. I work in real estate so even though I was on mat leave and didn’t have access to the system, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine to peruse the listings online. I saw the listing. A day or so later a close friend of mine who does a lot of work in that neighborhood sent me a screenshot of it on the realtor end (where it said the sellers’ names, who were his parents that he lived with) and said “hey, isn’t this [ex’s] parents? Are they moving?” So yeah, I knew. He didn’t tell me until I called him out 6 months later, to which he said “I didn’t think it was pertinent.” Still no address or even general location. I should mention that the ONE single time I drove by his house was completely circumstantial (I had an errand to run a block away so it was difficult to avoid). So it’s not like he had any reasonable fear of me stalking him or anything. He was just hiding his location. I still don’t know why. So yeah. Also not sending my literal baby with someone without any sort of parenting agreement or anything if I don’t know where they live. Not happening.
Speaking of an agreement, twice I tried to get one going. Both times he ignored it, picked the parts that “worked” for him/he would be legally obligated to do anyway (like child support, but only the base amount), and ignored the rest. He brought the birth certificate up a few times, and my response was always “figure out what you need from me and let me know.” Never a “no” or even remotely close.
This shit continued on for THREE FULL YEARS.
Then last summer, he found out I had a new long-term partner. Suddenly my home was an extremely hostile environment (with or without my partner in it) that he couldn’t possibly spend any time in. It was here where I found out where he’s living - turns out he moved an hour away! So he demanded every other weekend and a week in the summer. I said “that’s absolutely something we can work up to, here’s what I’d like to see from you to get there, and while we’re at it I think it’s time to revisit child support because as we’ve previously discussed, x, y, and x aren’t actually included in that and I’ve been paying it all myself for the last 3 years. I accepted that when you wanted minimal involvement and I was left to make these decisions myself based on my schedule and budget, but if you want to step it up and have the benefit of having more of a parental role I think you should have more responsibility as well.” He completely ignored me - again - and tried to just chip away to get what he wanted. Taking LO out. An extra 30 minutes here. An extra hour there. Being late for drop-offs. Etc. No extra money, and literally ALL of his time was spent with either his own partner or his parents. Never any one-on-one.
Eventually, LO came home saying some very concerning things. It started with just “grandma and grandpa fight a lot” and I was basically like “yep, they do. Sorry they’re doing that in front of you. I’ll talk to [ex] about it.” He tried to gaslight me and say they get along fine, which is complete bullshit and he knows it. But as the months went by, the things I was being told got more and more concerning, and LO started getting more and more agitated about going there. I tried to talk to my ex and suggest that he take LO out to do something instead, like to McDonalds or a museum or something - I even said LO was asking for one-on-one time with him - but he told me he couldn’t afford to and everything was fine. He wasn’t seeing any of the behaviour I was describing so obviously it was all my fault and he refused to change anything. We progressed to “I’m not allowed to tell you anything” (“you must not be making him feel safe to talk about his time with me”) and eventually to “grandma took off my clothes and we played doctor…but that’s a secret. I’m not supposed to tell you that.” That was when I put the brakes on, called CPS, told my ex visits would be coming back to my home, and enrolled LO in therapy to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
Then, in February, he had me served. Fuck. But he wasn’t using all of his time, so I was really confused.
We had a meeting with our lawyers a few weeks ago and now he’s done a complete 180. He suddenly has the money to take him to McDonald’s, he’s taking him to the park, he even took him to Starbucks for a treat.
A lot of things were said (mostly by him) during the meeting that would have left him open to getting a dressing-down by his lawyer afterwards, but I honestly don’t think that would’ve made a difference to him. But even if it did, why did it HAVE to come to this? I was willing to work with him, but then all of this happened. LO is STILL telling us outrageous things that I can’t unhear (except now he walks it back when I mention talking to anyone about it and says he’s scared of getting into trouble - the therapist is aware but can’t really do anything until he’s ready to talk). I’m so unbelievably pissed off that he couldn’t have just listened to me before and now we’re each several thousand dollars deep into a completely unnecessary legal battle. Like just…why.

https://preview.redd.it/nwiyokrzif0d1.jpg?width=2042&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4648c75d1568ae1be1283b207fd613c669864f23
The asphalt paint at Bartel-Prichard Square is faded and a danger to pedestrians and motorists alike. If you've walked or driven this circle then you know how confusing and dangerous it is to traverse. Cars frequently stop for the red light at 15th st in the middle of the intersection because it's difficult to see the lines (and drivers are not trying too hard anyway). There are lots of kids and families here 7 days a week and it can be harrowing on a good day.
I've submitted a 311 request but I feel like the more people that do it, the more likely they are to pay attention. The web form linked is very fast to fill out but don't bother calling 311, it'll be a lot slower and when I reported this over the phone they filed it as "rough/cracked asphalt" which was not helpful.
Lets get this thing painted and hopefully make things just a little bit safer for everyone!
311 link: https://portal.311.nyc.gov/servicerequest-create/What?caid=6adfd55a-1694-e811-a967-000d3a1c5096
details:

• Bartel-Pritchard Square
• Corner of Prospect Park West & 15th street
• You do NOT need to enter your contact info to submit the request