My coworkers complain when we can’t assign homework over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As if somehow this interferes with their ability to teach their classes.
My coworkers complain that our Muslim students get to leave class to pray Salat at noon. Like, we have maybe one Muslim student every two or three years - thus far, all extraordinarily respectful and lovely kids! - and they slip quietly out of class to pray.
My coworkers find all this infuriating. “Imagine,” they cry, “If a Christian kid asked to do that.”
I calmly explain, every single time, that a Christian kid would never HAVE to do that, because every single Christian holy day is a day off school. Good Friday. Easter Sunday. Christmas day. Our entire country interrupts its financial and educational systems - schedules its WEEKS - around the Christian prayer customs and seasons.
God forbid we temporarily unclip the rope barrier and leave an opening for someone whose religious traditions vary from our own.
If I was in charge of a Pokemon gym it’d be all fire themed. Like there’s just fire everywhere. There’s probably a random person on fire in the background. You have your team completely stacked against fire types. Everyone you fight before me has fire types. You get to me. Expecting more fire types. You send out your first Pokemon, a water type. I throw my pokeball. You expect the expected. A vaporeon comes out. My team is actually entirely made up of vaporeons. I only own vaporeons.
im the leader after you.
my gyms water themed. yu do water level puzzles and fight swimmers and those kids with the floaties. everyone has water types. knowing the theme, yo bring a team half/half strong against fire and water, just in case because ofnthe last gym. you get to me.
my team is made entirely of gastly, haunter, and gengar, all named exactly 5 purple hearts. i just really like gengar.
the gym? you ask.
it was on sale, i respond.
i cant even swim. ive been here for 6 weeks.
I’m the third gym leader…by this point you know what to expect.
You walk through the soft meadows of my gym thinking what should I expect this time? Electric types? FIRE TYPES???? You cross over a beautiful field of daises and tulips, encounter trainers wearing flowers crowns and boasting a plethora of high-level grass and fairy types. Than, deep in the forest while you’re still wondering how the fuck I fit all of this into one building, you encounter a ring of mushrooms, a fairy ring. Inside the ring sits me, the gym leader. You step into the ring ready for battle.
I stand up, walking slowly over to you take you’re hand in mine and gently place something cold and hard into your palm.
It’s the fairy gyms badge.
I’m not even a Pokemon trainer, I just respond to an ad on craigslist for a gym leader and was the only applicant.
You walk away very confused…and slightly disappointed.
I’m some kid you meet on the road just beside the gym. At this point you are questioning why you keep going.
I ask you a bunch of questions and help you out and even give you a special Pokémon. Then I ask you if you’ve been to the gym and talk about the gym leader. When you say no I push you in the gym.
You battle rock types and you are wondering if you’re even prepared to fight the gym leader. When you finally get to the leaders room, I’m there.
I strike up a friendly conversation and ask you what you think of the gym. I then say “Thanks, I made this myself. It’s still growing. So if you come back I can give you the badge then but it hasn’t come in the mail yet.”
At this point you probably don’t even want to be there anymore. I hand you a small pin that is in the shape of the badge but it’s definitely homemade and cheep. “It’s an I.O.U” I say.
You leave wondering if leaving home at 10 to battle all of these strange people was really worth it.
In the next town you decide to speak to the citizens first instead of heading straight for the gym unprepared. They live here, you tell yourself, they must know about this gym and how it works. A pleasant old lady informs you the gym leader is dearly fond of psychic types and is not known to stray like previous trainers. You believe her. Why would an old lady lie to you?
After stocking your team with dark types you take the gym head on. Battling your way through psychic trainers with ease, you finally arrive to a large room. There I stand. The battle commences and you defeat my first two Pokemon, Hypno and Alakazam, with ease. You laugh to yourself, after the hardships of the previous gyms this is like child’s play. I send out my third Pokemon, a beedrill. Dark is weak to Bug. “Something bugging you buddy?” I say with a wink as I decimate your team. You leave without a badge.
Fuck this region.
By the time you reach the next town, you’re wondering if this Gym challenge was even worth this. Maybe it would have been better to do Competitions. But you continue trudging along.
Supposedly the Gym Leader uses fighting types. She’s a body builder who wrangles Krookodile in her free time. You don’t know what to expect, so you bring a few psychic and flying types, and then make the rest of your team fairly diverse type-wise just in case.
You’re able to battle your way through the trainers and work your way through the Rock Smash puzzle with little difficulty. You meet me in a small room with wrestling mats on the floor and dumbells next to the walls. I’m working out on the opposite side of the room. I set down the weights as you approach. “I take it you are here to battle me.”
You nod. I flex. “Very well. If you want to receive my badge, you’re going to have to fight me for it. Literally.”
You decide maybe you just weren’t cut out for the trainer life.
“The Gym Leader just does her own thing, pretty much. She couldn’t pick just one type or theme, she just uses Pokémon she finds cute.”
Oh, yeah, I’m one of those. You-can-win-with-any-Pokémon-just-use-what-you-like. Whatever, that one multi-types douche from Kanto was pretty predictable, typical species, no tricky type combinations. ‘Cute’, huh? You switch in a few Steel and Poison Pokémon, expecting a couple Fairies. You remember that one Pachirisu story and bring a Ground type, just in case.
My Gym has zero trainers, but it’s full of bright colors and cheery pastels, cushions and stuffed Pokémon toys lying around on the plush carpet — and not in the creepy abandoned-kid’s-room way, just genuinely cute and playful. Feel-good. I greet you with a pleasant smile and offer you candy.
Ok, your expectations have been punched in the face every time so far, but you’ve actually got my personality pinned down, and there is absolutely no threat in it. You relax, and actually feel confident for once.
“I’m not particularly good, let’s just have fun!” I tell you cheerfully.
I am literally begging anyone who hasn’t signed to sign and circulate this petition. Chelsea Manning is a woman being held in a men’s prison enduring cruel and unusual punishment. This is the farthest Chelsea Manning has gotten amongst the number of campaigns out there right now. Please sign, please circulate and please remember Chelsea Manning. There is no better time than now to campaign for her release.
kids, when you’re choosing your college schedule, you’ll hear a voice saying “just take the 8AM class. it won’t be that bad. you’ve done it for this long” that’s the devil talking
I have fought criminal masterminds, insane idealists, mad men who would unravel the fabric of reality and the puppet-king of evil men, but in all my battles… I have never seen something as unforgivable…
