Take it or Leave It!

In the US, there is no meaningful legal definition for educational/academic neglect in any of the 50 states or federally. What this means is that a child can be "homeschooled" and exclusively be taught how to cook and clean, reach the age of 18 being unable to read, write, or count, and this alone is not considered neglect. That 18yo, should they even have the knowledge that suing exists, has no legal grounds to sue their parents for denying them an education.

In over 40 US states, a convicted child abuser can homeschool their children. So someone who has done time for child abuse and somehow regains access to their child(ren) can decide upon returning home that they want to "homeschool" their kids. Those children are now locked in a home with their abuser where nobody can see them.

There are no welfare checks.

There are no routine assessments.

There aren't even databases — state or federal — keeping track of how many homeschooled kids there actually are.

Meaning a child can be locked in their home for their entire life with their convicted abuser, learn absolutely nothing, never go to the doctor, and so long as that child is fed, clothed, and the abuse isn't physical or sexual, that child has almost no chance of rescue and no legal ground to seek restitution if/when they escape.

The only way homeschooled children get rescued is if they're beaten, starved, or physically neglected and they're able to get the right person to see that. Otherwise? They have to wait until someone finds out they were murdered as a result of their parents "homeschooling".

And feral homeschool parents love to jump down my throat about this, and then get even more pissed when I tell them I'm a homeschool alumni.

Because I know it's not all homeschoolers. But even one is too many, and the lack of protections should scare everyone. If you're a good homeschool parent, nothing will change. If not, you deserve whatever comes your way as a result of adequate oversight.

stand-up man at his own wedding. because you know he would.

GO VOTE SORIEL IN THE M/F SHIP BRACKET!!!

My Summer Sketches are quick paintings, created mostly from photographs, memories, and impressions I collect along the way.This summer was a long journey for me. I traveled to Russia through Poland, and later spent some time in Turkey. Most importantly, I visited many of my relatives. My children saw their grandmother and grandfather, my sisters, their cousins, nieces and nephews. It was a beautiful, intense, very warm time, the kind of summer that leaves hundreds of little memories behind.

I was born in a tiny Russian town of about 10,000 people, surrounded by swamps, forests, fields, lakes, and villages.And when I say “village,” I don’t mean the kind of village I see around me now in Belgium. Some villages there are surrounded by kilometers of forest and fields and may have only a handful of houses sometimes just one or two families living close to each other. People help one another because, in a way, they really do live like one large family.

Life there is simple. You need a car because everything is far away. There are no perfectly trimmed lawns stretching from one garden to another. You step outside and there is a field. Then a forest. Then another field. Somewhere beyond it, a lake.

People love nature there, and somehow it feels as though nature loves them back.

There are countless lakes, marshes, quiet backwaters and ponds. And, of course, water lilies.Perhaps this is why there have always been so many water lilies in my paintings.Even when I was only beginning to paint seriously, I created a separate collection of water lilies on my website. Not because I admire Monet and want to repeat what he did ,although, of course, I admire him ,but because water lilies belong to my own memories. They were simply always around me.And they are something I miss deeply.There is a small pond near the street where I live now. Carp swim there, and water lilies grow on the surface. For almost ten years, my children and I have been walking there to feed the fish.We feed the carp, look at the lilies, listen to the water , and for a moment, life slows down.And suddenly I am somewhere between my life now and my childhood.Only the frogs are missing.Those loud summer frogs that used to croak everywhere around the ponds and marshes.

For a few minutes, there is this strange, comforting feeling that you have returned home. That the world is quiet. That you are safe. And that somehow, everything is going to be all right.I wish you the ability to find this feeling wherever life takes you ,a feeling of home, peace, and calm.

what the fuck

that thing is eldritch

acquired a dark mode version just to see what it’d look like. oh my god. this map is gorgeous