dream fortress

Hey, everyone, I feel really uncomfortable begging for help, but this is my only choice. I’ve ignored the problem for too long, and it’s getting really late now. 

I need help going to school, I’m living in poverty in one of the poorest cities in America and my mother is the only one who takes care of my family. I’ve already taken out a lot of loans, and I can’t take out any more.  I only have two years of school left, and me being able to graduate would make a huge difference in my life since I’ll be the first in my family to go to college. I’ll be able to not only help myself and my family, but I also plan on giving back to my community - mainly my high school - when I get a job out of college so that nobody will have to wager between their futures and having enough to have a roof over their heads and food on the table. 

I have seen a lot of things which have had a terrible impact on my wellbeing and mental health, and nobody should experience these things in their life. From seeing friends die before even graduating due to drugs or violence, or even seeing drug abuse - and the horrible things that come with it - up close. I’ve seen my father beat my mother to steal money to get his fix. My sister has been beaten up by bullies in school as well. I’ve also had to deal with almost being kicked out of my house and being constantly bullied throughout high school by my dad just because I was gay. There have been more things, but I already feel uncomfortable enough talking about some of these things that I haven’t told anybody. Despite all of these obstacles, though, I’ve managed to look on the bright side and work through them. I know that getting my degree will give me the opportunity to make in impact in my community, and they’ll also give me a chance to get away from the terrible things that I’ve been through. I want to ensure that nobody else will have to go through these adversities that are way too common in poverty stricken areas, which is why I plan to become philanthropically involved in my community when I get a good job. I’m begging for your help, any contribution will be greatly appreciated and if you can’t donate then even a reblog would mean the world to me! Please help me out, I really care about my studies, and I am a selfless individual. I just want to make myself and others happy.

Here’s a link to my fundraiser, there’s more information on there. Again, thank you so much!

Every student was only required to take notes for 3 out of 25 class sessions all semester. So if you were having a bad day, or sick, or couldn’t make it to class for any other reason, you would have 3 students’ notes to review without even having to ask for them. (I also set up video recording of every class so students could rewatch them if they needed to). 

Most students loved the wiki after they realized that it was less work and they could rely on it to make their life easier.  But a few students hated it, aggressively hated it. They complained endlessly that they didn’t think it was right that other people would benefit from their work and they refused to contribute their notes on days they were assigned. Even though they had the benefit of everyone else’s notes for 22 of the classes, they could not stand the idea of other people benefiting from their notes for 3 classes. They said it wasn’t fair because it meant “lazy” people got a free ride on their work.  Remember, this was an upper-level course, at a law school that cost over a $100k to attend. Most students studied a lot and several were already working difficult part-time jobs that they hoped would become full-time positions when they passed the bar.

I wish I could say that the students that didn’t want to work together and contribute to the wiki for everyone’s benefit failed the course or ultimately got worse jobs than the other students, but they didn’t. They did just as well as everyone else more or less. But those people were assholes and working with them was a daily lesson in the selfishness and stupidity of some people.  

Political deep integration continues apace. The Liberal government is in the process of passing an extraordinary piece of legislation, C-23, which effectively cedes Canadian sovereignty to U.S. border officials.

Under this Bill, expected to pass shortly, Canadians can be held for interrogation by U.S. border guards at airports, even if we decide we’ve had enough hostile questioning about our religion, political views, social media habits, or mode of dress, and decide to stay in Canada after all. If we try to get up and leave at that point, or decide we don’t want to answer more questions, we will be breaking Canadian law, and liable for arrest, conviction and imprisonment. Meanwhile, Canadian border officials in American airports will now have the right to prevent Canadian permanent residents from boarding an aircraft.

At a stroke, what we assumed were basic civic rights are being whisked away by the Trudeau government. American authorities will be able to detain Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, and the Liberals are making it a crime for us to refuse to co-operate. And just as American green-card holders are being harassed and blocked at U.S. airports, so Canada is now following suit against its own permanent residents, who – until now – had the unfettered right to enter Canada.

Pre-clearance has, of course, been a convenient way of entering the U.S. Better to be refused here than have to pay your way back from there. But this new law will apply, as noted, even to Canadians who change their minds about traveling to the U.S. after getting a taste of the Orange Era from a sneering American immigration official. It’s worth reiterating: you won’t just be able to walk away. You will remain under American authority, in Canada, and if you resist or refuse to answer an American interrogator’s questions, you can be prosecuted – by Canada.

This may seem to some like small potatoes. Most Canadians don’t fly to the U.S. Most who do are unlikely to be harassed at the border. But it is wrong, I think, to dismiss this move so easily. Giving Americans the right to detain Canadians on our own land, and subjecting the latter to prosecution if we fail to comply, is a significant break from the past. Does anyone believe that U.S. pressure will stop there and that more concessions won’t be made?