Miss Popcornbrain

(Actually spent a good few months thinking I was genetically unlucky and researching ancient family curses with my grandma.) 

So today I don’t know what I was hoping for - nothing, really?

(I mean, that part of me that’s still twelve was probably expecting this sweet old woman to have a set of glitter stickers in her purse and just go ‘You know what, you’re right - I’ve been saving this one for you all these years, here you go’ but I’m a solidly rational person and I know that’s stupid.)

No, I thought we’d just laugh and it would be a good shared memory and that would be it. Instead, my teacher got flustered and a bit embarrassed and explained the game was rigged. It was never about learning French at all. She’d just noticed some kids couldn’t afford even basic stationery, so she’d buy a few half-fancy items every month with her own money just for them. She didn’t want them to feel different or left out. And obviously the way she used to walk around in the classroom, looking over our shoulders - it wasn’t to prevent cheating. It was because she was cheating herself, wanting to see which number a particular child needed to get a Minnie Mouse pencil case.

Guys - the world is fucked up, but so many people out there are just good and kind and humbly heroic it honestly gives me hope. 

- This kid’s gotta get his ego in check. - It’s his tone. Right?

#anz12kparty

I always had really really horrible growing pains as a kid.  Like, I clearly remember being curled up on the floor crying because it felt like some evil person had stuck a fork in my calf and was twisting it around like spaghetti.  Mom always had me take ibuprofen for it, and when that didn’t do anything, she just gave me more.

Now the stuff barely works on me, even when I take it for the things it actually fixes.

https://ripmedicaldebt.org/

RIP Medical Debt buys portfolios of medical debt (which are very cheap), and forgives them. They focus on debt held by people at the poverty line, where forgiveness can be a massive help for people.

Because medical debt is so cheap to purchase, donations to RIP Medical Debt go far beyond the dollar amount donated. 

are you fucking kidding what the fuck kind of nightmarish late stage capitalist dystopian hellscape is america

For you, it’s a shackle.

For some capitalist, it’s an investment.

Debt is bundled into portfolios and sold to people who then attempt to collect on the debt, therefore making their money back. Because debt is usually sold for less than what it’s worth (depending on the assumed difficulty of collecting it), debt can be very cheap to buy.

Medical debt is extremely cheap to buy. Medical debt portfolios are a very risky investment as far as debt portfolios go, because people are not likely to be able to pay it off.

This charity is exploiting that fact in order to forgive a lot of debt for very little money. It’s a bandage on a gushing mortal wound. Americans cannot survive with the way the system treats us, and charities like this shouldn’t need to exist.