To understand just how chilling this book ban is, you have to understand the place that the Naval Academy holds in the American higher education landscape. As a selective four-year college, it’s the highest-ranked among the three US military academies. According to US News & World Report, the Naval Academy is ranked #4 in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, just behind Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore. It ranks higher, for example, than well-known prestigious liberal arts colleges such as Bowdoin, Pomona, Wellesley, and Carleton.
Robert P. Jones in Religon Dispatches. My Book on The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Was One of Hundreds Just Banned by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Jones links to a static PDF hosted by The New York Times showing the whole list of banned titles.
I was not a good student. I'm old now, and look back with profound gratitude for my encounter with books in school.
My college education was prior to computerized search. Today my online searches still bring up books, book chapters and excerpts. But for study the physical books are still important and not the least for their indexes. Often to understand texts I needed to find out about topics the author of the text presumed familiarity with. A process of puzzle piecing is essential to for understanding. Academic books are built for the process. Banning books is corrosive to understanding.
The regime's assaults on institutions of learning, science and knowledge undermine the all of humanity.
I would love it if the little kid from Honor Code (NCIS 3x07) guest starred as a twenty-something year old recruit, but I doubt the writers would do it. There's not that much storyline consistency these days 😂
But still, he was such a little Gibbs. And specifically he said that some day he would put all the bad guys in jail like the ones that hurt his dad. For the hard-core fans that would be excellent payoff
Started watching “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” in order to prep for “Ashoka” last week. WHY AIN’T CHA’LL TELL ME THE JEDI (AS A GROUP) ARE KINDA TRIFLING?! Like, we’re expected to believe in this honorable Jedi Code, but then, when you break it down, it makes no sense! “Go to other planets and save people from being punked and create and ensure alliances, but don’t make meaningful connections if it’s not for political gain.” It’s crazy to me! In addition, I’m biased because I’m really only invested in the first two trilogies and the main character arc that I latched on to was that of Anakin Skywalker. Seeing his descent from beloved Jedi Master, friend, mentor, husband, and soon-to-be-father to being one of the WORST Sith Lords to ever do it was so SAAAAADDDD!!!!! All he wanted to do was protect the people he loved and he felt that he couldn’t do that as a Jedi because of said contradictory honor code. Then, apparently because the Force is extremely neutral, once a Jedi takes a life (even if necessary because WAR), their connection to the Force becomes tainted and eventually dark. I understand that the Jedi want to maintain moral high ground, but wouldn’t that mean the Dark Side would have to have a conscience? From what I’ve seen thus far, the Jedi don’t unalive captured Sith, but if the shoe was on the other foot, the same Sith would torture and possibly unalive captured Jedi if they were in the way of a goal (most of the time, they are).
P.S. Still waiting for somebody to off this filthy so-and-so right here ⬇️🤦🏾♀️🙄😒👊🏾💥:
Challenges for athletes who identify as LGBTQ are emerging from the shadows at Brigham Young University, where any same-sex romantic behavior is an honor code violation
This report shows there is a big problem at the Provo campus.
The first slide about sexual assaults, the likelihood is that 17% is too low. I know some choose not to report the assault due to the possibility for being punished by BYU for being in a same-sex relationship or engaging in same-sex romantic behavior. The perpetrator may even try to blackmail the victim by threatening to report them for dating or holding hands or whatever if the victim reports the perpetrator.
The second slide says only 1/4 of BYU students haven’t personally witnessed or experienced derogatory comments about LGBTQ+ people. Think about what this says about the culture on campus that so many people feel free to make such comments.
The third slide shows how much more negatively LGBTQ+ students experience and relate to BYU compared to ‘straight’ students. 50% of LGBTQ+ students don’t feel like they’re a part of BYU, 25% don’t feel safe when they’re on BYU’s campus.
I got the final verdict today. I was hoping that speaking to the dean would give me a chance of convincing them to let me keep my purple hair. No such luck. She’s going to talk to the financial aid office and see if they can get me an emergency grant since I’m so worried about paying for- well- everything. I showed her my current hair (since I had it covered to follow the regulations) and she was super complimentary of it. She seemed very empathetic, though she was of course required to uphold university regulations. I believe she will be a good administrative ally for my campaign against the Dress and Grooming standards. She also calmed my fears of being expelled for expressing my opinions or submitting my papers about the standards, so I will likely be expanding those works and sending it to everyone I feel applicable before I graduate rather than after, in hopes of having at least a little bit of time as my authentic self on campus. I will therefore continue to collect stories and format a petition in order to support further my arguments.
My hair has to be a natural colour by next week. Luckily my parents are willing to pay for dye. I want to go black to stay as close as possible to my current look, but I’m worried about ruining any chance of dying it back to purple (after leaving this campus) without having to grow all of it back out (since that would take a very long time). I don’t think any other colour will cover the current shade sufficiently, though.
Hopefully I’m able to figure out another way to maintain my mental health without this coping mechanism. Please pray for my emotional safety as I deal with this entire situation.
This is the end of an era. Over two years of being comfortable in my proper colour, and it is ended by a singular petty report. The Wraith you knew is no longer.
Someday We Might Look Back On This And Decide That Saving Private Ryan Was The One Decent Thing We Were Able To Pull Out Of This Whole Godawful, Sh*Tty Mess.
These are the two codes that were established ever since Rosewood Asylum became Rosewood Preparatory School. The honor code is how they live in their society at Rosewood and the fight code is how they settle disputes there too.
HONOR CODE:
-No lying (when you make a deal, you keep your word)
-No cowardice (no bullies and no running away from a fight)
- If you're single, make your own group or find a group that is willing to take you in (Unless you're at the top of the social hierarchy, there's no way you can survive on your own)
-If you're in a group, you have to do absolutely anything to ensure the survival of your group (It will give you loyalty points and establish that if you got their back, they got yours and a chance to rise up in your established group)
- If you can help out the younger kids there too (sticking up for other people is greatly approved there if you're in the right position to do so. This will establish relationships to get them to do your bidding, such as retrieving information for you. Not only that, but your influence could help create better and stronger survivors of Rosewood)
-Respect territory and belongings (people at Rosewood don't generally attack unless they have a bone to pick with you or if you start shit first. This could be avoided by avoiding territories such as places where they normally hang out or their grade floors. As for belongings, leave them. Even if they're lying on the ground. It will avoid you being the suspect.)
- For teachers, GET GOOD GRADES AND BE AS POLITE AND RESPECTFUL AS YOU CAN. (Teacher's pets get away with a lot more shit and are privy to any gossip. After all, nobody ever suspects the quiet, good kid. Even if you don't get good grades, teachers look more upon you if you are polite and show respect. And this will help you not be recommended to be cut off for being the weakest link, usually by death from Horatio)
So basically, don't lie, don't steal, and don't be a coward. Protect and stick up for those you can, and when other adults are around, be on your best behavior.
FIGHT CODE:
- Fighting is the way of life at Rosewood. It's a way to settle disputes and a way to rise up in the social hierarchy.
- The person who challenges the other person to a fight gets to set the rules, what kind of fight, and the terms of the fight. Then the other person gets to set their terms and negotiate until they agree.
- DO NOT START FIGHTS INSIDE THE SCHOOL (it's mostly an unwritten rule, but it's considered rude, disrespectful, disgraceful, and unclassy to those just trying to get to class)
-Especially Libraries. Those are off-limits and sacred and neutral ground to the people of Rosewood. (Libraries are used as a place to negotiate truces and make alliances. If you fight in a library at Rosewood, you were treated just as bad as the liars and cowards)
-Always fight outside of the school. The general place to fight is the courtyard. (it's big and spacious, and people can gather around to watch without getting hurt)
- The whole point of a fight at Rosewood is to make them concede, walk away or knock them out, not kill them (The kids at Rosewood all know and grew up with each other. So they know each other's strengths and weaknesses. It's more or less a fair fight. And although shit happens, it's actually the rarest causes of death at Rosewood)
- NEVER FIGHT ANYONE YOUNGER THAN YOU. THAT'S CONSIDERED BEING A COWARD BECAUSE YOU'RE BEATING PEOPLE WHO ARE SMALLER THAN YOU. (You must fight others in your same grade bracket. Ex. 1-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12)
-You either win by knocking them out or making them walk away or making them say that they give up. (If you win, you get respect and honor points in your grade, and you can rise up in your rank in the caste that you're in, and the loser has to abide by your terms. If you lose, then you have to abide by the winner's terms)
-Must be a fair fight. Nobody likes a cheater (if you two agree that it's a fistfight, you can't bring any weapons to one-up your opponent. It's highly looked down on at Rosewood)
-although if they Break the terms of the fight then everything else is off the table. Fight dirty and fight cheap it has now become a fight for survival.
That's it for now. These are the social mechanisms that govern Rosewood's society. If you have any questions about the specifics, please feel free to ask me in my inbox!
