I am the grinch.

It is true.

I would appreciate Christmas in America much more if all the money that was spent on lights and gift-giving between family members who certainly have no real need for the gifts being given, if all of that was instead spent on the ever-increasing homeless forced to withstand the elements without shelter and those truly in need.

#journal

A tiefling, seething

Never believing their scheming

Seeing through their lies to their meaning

Their institutions gleaming, seeming

Perfect but hiding the rot teeming

In the foundations, in the ceilings,

This teethling tiefling-

Fuck. I should be sleeping.

#poetry #writing

#Entra #AzureAD

I've been working with a company that uses When I Work for employee scheduling and time tracking. This week, they wanted to onboard the service to Entra ID so that users can have a seamless sign on experience through their Microsoft account and the IT admins can secure logins with Conditional Access and other features in the M365 platform.

In my experience, every time I setup SAML Single Sign-On with SaaS apps in Entra ID, the language to get the integration setup is all over the place. Entity IDs, ACS, Issuer URLs, Endpoint URLs, Consumer URLs, Authority URLs, OAuth token endpoints—it's very confusing and changes for each service.

For this project, we couldn't find a guide for onboarding WhenIWork to Entra ID for Single Sign-On, so I wanted to write these steps down for other admins who need it. Big thanks to Sam Guerra for figuring this out.

To make these changes, you'll need these permissions at the minimum:

• Entra ID – Application Administrator Role (or Global Administrator)
• WhenIWork – Admin Role

If you're running Windows, you will also need Local Admin permissions to install the OpenSSL package on your PC (more info below).

Setup the Enterprise Application in Entra ID

First, navigate to the Entra ID/Azure AD portal: https://azad.cmd.ms/

Search for and open up the “Enterprise Application” blade. Click the “New Application” button:

Click the “Create your own application” button. Add a descriptive title like “When I Work SSO”, “WhenIWork” or something similar, then click the “Create” button:

Update the SAML attributes

WhenIWork requires the Unique User Attribute in Entra ID to be set as “user.Mail” instead of the default “user.userPrincipalName”.

To change this, scroll down to section 2 “Attributes & Claims” and click the “Edit” button:

Click on the row “Unique User Identifier (Name ID)”:

Change the “Source attribute” dropdown and set it to “user.mail”:

Save all of the changes and return to the WhenIWork “Single sign-on” blade.

Add information from WhenIWork to Entra ID

When your Enterprise Application is setup, we will need to get some information from WhenIWork using an account with Admin permissions.

Open the following URL in a new tab https://appx.wheniwork.com/settings/saml and login, or open the WhenIWork admin console, login, and navigate to the Gear icon > General Settings at the top right of the page:

Then, select the “SAML SSO” option from the menu on the left:

In the other tab with Entra ID, navigate to the SSO blade located at Manage > Single sign-on and click the “SAML” option:

To make things easier, move the WhenIWork SAML window on the left side of the screen, and the Entra ID Enterprise Application page to the right.

Copy the following values from WhenIWork over to the Entra ID “Basic SAML Configuration” page and click the “Save” button when finished.

WhenIWork	Entra ID	Format
Entity ID	Identifier (Entity ID)	https://saml.wheniwork.com/<5 digit WhenIWork customer ID>
Consumer URL	Reply URL (Assertion Consumer Service URL)	https://app.wheniwork.com/rest/saml/auth/<5 digit WhenIWork customer ID>

Add information from Entra ID to WhenIWork

Now that you've added the information to Entra from WhenIWork, you will need to add some information in the other direction.

In Entra ID, navigate back to the Single sign-on blade and scroll down to the fourth section on the “SAML-based Sign-on” page. Copy the following values from Entra ID over into WhenIWork:

Entra ID	WhenIWork	Format
Login URL	Endpoint URL (SSO)	https://login.microsoftonline.com/**<36 character Entra Tenant ID>**/saml2
Microsoft Entra Identifier	Issuer URL (Entity ID)	https://sts.windows.net/**<36 character Entra Tenant ID>**/ (Be sure to include the / backslash at the end.)

Get the certificate fingerprint

Download the Certificate file. In the Entra ID tab, navigate to the “Single sign-on” blade of the Enterprise Application, scroll down to section 3 “SAML Certificates” and download the “Certificate (Base 64)” file in the .cer format.

Now, you'll need to get the Certificate Fingerprint (not the Thumbprint listed in Entra ID) from the .cer file. This is a bit of a pain and requires some manual intervention.

Here are the instructions for both Windows and MacOS to generate the fingerprint:

Windows

These steps were performed on Windows 11.

On a Windows PC, you will need to download and run an OpenSSL application to generate the fingerprint.

Open a new tab and download the Win64OpenSSLLight EXE file directly from this link: https://slproweb.com/download/Win64OpenSSLLight-340.exe

Alternatively, navigate to the product page and download the version you need: https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

Install the EXE file and open the app from the Start menu named “win64 OpenSSL Command Prompt:

Run the following command to generate the thumbprint, changing the -in location to where you downloaded the file:

openssl x509 -fingerprint -sha256 -in "C:\Users\TimDAnnecy\Downloads\When I Work.cer"

Copy the output to the clipboard:

Now, you need to remove the : colon characters from the Fingerprint string.

You can do this manually, or by pasting it into Notepad and using the Find & Replace tool (Ctrl + H) to “Replace all” and remove all colon characters. Once cleaned up, Copy the Fingerprint to the clipboard.

Now, you need to remove the : colon characters from the Fingerprint string.

You can do this manually, or by pasting it into Text Edit and using the Find & Replace tool (Ctrl + H) to “Replace all” and remove all colon characters. Once cleaned up, Copy the Fingerprint back to the clipboard.

MacOS

Note: These steps were performed on MacOS Sequoia 15.2 (24C98)

On a Mac, the OpenSSL app is pre-installed and you can generate the thumbprint with a single command.

Open the Terminal app and run the following command, changing the location to where you downloaded the file:

openssl x509 -fingerprint -sha256 -in /Users/tim/Downloads/When\ I\ Work.cer

Copy the Fingerprint output to the clipboard:

Now, you need to remove the : colon characters from the Fingerprint string.

You can do this manually, or by pasting it into TextEdit and using the Find & Replace tool (Command + F) to “Replace all” and remove all colon characters. Once cleaned up, Copy the Fingerprint back to the clipboard.

Paste the Fingerprint into WhenIWork

Once you have the Fingerprint copied to the clipboard, return to the WhenIWork SAML page and paste the value into the “Certificate Fingerprint (SAML)” field and click the “Save” button.

Test the integration

Now that the attributes have been added in WhenIWork and in Entra ID, test to make sure the configuration is working by clicking the “Test this application” button:

Click the “Test sign-in” button. If everything comes back successfully, you've configured the Entra ID side correctly.

Try signing into WhenIWork by navigating to the app in the M365 Waffle menu:

Alternatively, navigate to the main WhenIWork homepage and click the “Login” link that the top right: https://wheniwork.com

On the login page, click the “Third Party Connect” button:

Choose “SAML”:

Type the company name, account ID, or subdomain and click the “Login” button.

Note: If you don't know the Account ID, you can get it by signing in with your Admin account (non-SSO sign in) and navigating to Gear icon > General Settings at the top right of the page. This information is in the Account ID field.

If SAML is configured correctly, you'll get the Entra ID sign in flow and can sign in using your Microsoft account.

Conclusion

Thanks again to Sam Guerra for figuring out the certificates in this flow.

And another good Friday draws to a close. I actually accomplished more than I expected today. And when I put head to pillow in a few minutes it will be with a satisfied smile on my face.

posted Friday, Dec 6, 2024 at ~8:25 PM #QNDEC2024

Prayers, etc.: * 04:00 – Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel * 06:00 – praying The Angelus * 06:10 – praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, followed by the Memorare. * 06:40 – Praying day 8 of 9, of a Novena to the Immaculate Conception. * 07:50 – Readings from today's Mass include – Epistle: Heb 13:7-17 and Gospel Matt 25:14-23 * 09:10 – Thought for today from Archbishop Lefebvre: The liturgy is a school of humility. You see it in the gestures, the inclinations, the genuflections, the great respect we have for God in the liturgy; by the incensing, the profound bows, and the respect we have for others. That ought to be habitual, to think that men have a soul which is made in the image of God and which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It can't be only in the liturgy that we respect the people around us. It needs to penetrate our whole life and help us acquire that humility with regard to other people. * 09:20 – praying to Atone for Rome's 2025 Jubilee Mascot. * 12:00 – praying The Angelus * 16:30 – prayerfully reading The Athanasian Creed, followed by today's Daily Meditation found in Benedictus Magazine. * 18:00 – praying The Angelus * 18:50 – praying the hour of Compline for tonight according to the Traditional Pre-Vatican II Divine Office, followed by Fr. Chad Ripperger's Prayer of Command to protect my family, my sons, my daughter and her family, my granddaughters and their families, my great grandchildren, and everyone for whom I have responsibility from any demonic activity. – And that followed by the Thursday Prayers of the Association of the Auxilium Christianorum.

Health Metrics: * bw= 217.60 lbs. * bp= 134/63 (75)

Diet: * 06:05 – toast & butter, 1 banana * 08:10 – snack on cheese * 09:00 – 1 pb&j sandwich * 09:45 – 1 ice cream sandwich * 11:45 – Mongolian Beef dinner plate, steamed rice * 14:20 – 1 Hershey's chocolate bar * 15:30 – 1 bean and cheese breakfast taco

Chores, etc.: * 05:00 – listen to local news talk radio * 05:45 – bank accounts activity monitored * 10:00 – leisure reading * 11:45 – watch old game shows on TV, eat lunch at home with Sylvia * 13:00 – w/o finances * 14:30 – follow news reports from various sources * 17:30 – listen to the pregame show for tonight's college basketball game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami (OH) Redhawks, and I'll stay on his radio show for the call of the game.

Chess: * 09:30 – moved in all pending CC games

posted Friday, 2024-12-06 ~20:15 #DLDEC2024

A closer look at the complicated history of the area surrounding the southernmost public train stop in the metro area, which became the home for a violent homeless tent camp in the 2010s, then a right-wing militia compound in the 2020s, then finally America’s newest national park in the 2030s

#jasonpettus #experimental #literary #mediamedia #project #storytelling #citybuilding #universebuilding #cityplanner #metafiction #fictitious #city #metropolis #usa #us #america #midwest #winnemac #sinclairlewis #ai #image #generator #harvester #harvestersouth #metro #homeless #displaced #unhoused #2010s #crisis #nimby #tentcamp #dangerous #lawless #violent #sexslaves #methattacks #altright #trump #fascist #militia #compound #training #attack #government #coup #failed #cityplanning #nationalpark #camping #hiking #cabins #farmtotable

(Right-click on any image and choose “open image in new tab” to see the full-sized version.)

The Progress storytelling project is supposed to be telling “the first 200 years of history” of this fictitious city; but the actual years themselves are 1845 to 2045, which I deliberately did so I could add a little science-fiction to my project. Of particular interest is right this moment in Progress’s history, because of course I’m basing 2024 events on the actual world all of us live in, but even just a few years later in 2028, it’s suddenly now the fictitious alternative world that Progress exists in (which I call the Progressverse), which means I have a chance to present a fictitious view of how the end of the Trump administration might go. But to tell the whole story of how things went down in the Progressverse, we need to go back to the 2010s, when Progress like every other big city in America suddenly had to deal with an explosive crisis in the number of homeless people (also sometimes called “displaced” and “unhoused,” but I’m just going to stick to one term here in this blog entry, with hopefully readers’ forgiveness). And like a lot of these cities, the middle class of Progress didn’t want to notice the exploding number of homeless in the metro area, nor what it represented, nor the monumental tasks that loomed ahead of the US of how to actually deal with it; so instead, they did everything they could to just make the problem disappear from public view, through cruel practices like installing spikes on public benches so that the homeless could not longer rest on them.

Eventually, some of these people drifted out with their belongings to the very farthest stop of the entire massive metropolitan public transit system, i.e. the “Metro;” this was to a lonely station called Harvester South, a good 25 miles away from the center of the Progress inner city. Harvester itself, of course, is the smallish town that services the widely spread community of farmers in this area (where the vast majority of the crops consumed in Progress city are grown), and there’s a station on the southern line for them specifically, conveniently located across the street from the Progress University Agricultural School (also known as the “South Campus”). Just a few miles further south from here, though, the transit authority decided to build a station just in case any development started up way down here, right next to where the vast Winnemac State Forest begins.

Like all the hundreds of stations in the city-subsidized Metro’s vast web, it costs only one dollar to get from the city’s center out to here in the middle of nowhere, a good 30 miles away from the city proper; so more and more homeless people found themselves grabbing their tent and their meager belongings and heading out to this place where no one else goes, because at least they’ll be away from prying police and hassling citizens, free at least to lay down and sleep when they need to. And this served the middle-class citizens of Progress just fine, because the homeless were now out of sight and therefore out of mind, and who cares what the condition of those people’s lives are as long as they don’t have to see them on their way to Starbucks every day? And thus did an ever-enlarging tent city begin emerging at the edge of Winnemac State Forest throughout the 2010s and into the ‘20s, eventually gaining the ominous name of “Camp Nightmare.”

It was called this because that’s what it was; a place with no infrastructure, no utilities, no trash pickup and no law enforcement, yet a legitimate community where close to a thousand people were living by the early 2020s, the camp was a cesspool of filth and disease, where the strong preyed on the weak under a brutal system of warlord justice, with several competing gangs that were in a constant state of war over the drug trade that flowed through this space. Desperate women became voluntary sex slaves to fund their meth addictions, and you never knew when an unmedicated schizophrenic would fly into a psychotic rage at three in the morning and just start stabbing every random person within reach.

The camp became a notorious eyesore for the city, the elephant in the room that no one was willing to talk about, because the solution for fixing the situation seemed so out of reach as to be unachievable. Eventually these stories reached a man named Evan Wright, who lived in Winnemac’s other large metropolis, the more conservative Zenith over on the state’s far east coast (located in the exact spot where real-life Detroit is in our universe). A rising star in the Trump-embracing alt-right movement of the 2010s, Wright was alarmed by the stories he had heard about the tent camp, so decided to go undercover with a GoPro and shoot a week of footage for his extremely popular YouTube channel. The footage he captured shocked a nation, including a bloody gang war fought with broken bottles, a man who literally offered to sell Wright a sex slave on camera, and a violent schizophrenic who literally stabbed Wright in the leg while the camera was rolling.

Wright began gathering resources to provide humanitarian relief at Camp Nightmare, calling on the vast network of fellow quasi-fascist groups that now existed in the US to do the same, and soon these groups had established actual military-style temporary bunks for people to safely sleep, brought in fresh food and water every day, coordinated volunteer doctors to form a clinic at the space, and provided a rather thuggish form of law enforcement and crime prevention, driving out the gangs (through a suspicious amount of mysterious disappearances of key members) and declaring that no more drug use would be tolerated in what was increasingly started to get called not a “camp” but a “compound.” As one might expect, a grateful camp population was easily swayed to join Wright and his alt-right cohorts, and the entire compound started taking on an eerily coordinated look and feel, a campus that started with old military relief structures but that more and more started looking like an actual militia. On July 4th, 2024, Wright held a large and celebratory Independence Day event at the space, where he officially declared it now to have the new name of “Justice.” Four months later, Donald Trump was elected President.

Of course, we all now know what happened at the end of Trump’s presidency (here in the fictitious Progressverse, I mean), when on November 3rd, 2028, hundreds of small militias just like Wright’s, with the assistance of soldiers within the actual military who were friendly to the cause, launched a serious and coordinated attack on the US government within all 51 states simultaneously, with the aim of taking over power the day before the next Presidential election could declare a new leader for the country, a surprisingly sophisticated attack that had been code-named “Judgement Day.” What not a single person knew, though, neither the coup participants nor the people who opposed them, was that the US military was fully aware of and knew every single detail of the attack that had been planned. In fact, when even rumors had started surfacing months before, a special secret task force had been established within the government, containing such personnel as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the CIA, the head of the FBI, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and more; they were so secret that not even the President knew of their existence.

The entire reason for their existence was to take down the movement with maximum force and minimal time, having decided as a group beforehand that they would officially treat the alt-right militias as a legitimate threat to national security, at which point they were legally allowed to strip such people of their rights as US citizens and instead treat them as enemy combatants. Much philosophical discussion was had behind the scenes about the end of World War Two and the decimation of the Nazis in Germany; it was decided that for the sake of this country’s lasting peace, as many of the Judgement Day participants would be killed during the combat as possible, so that like WW2 there would be very few of these people left afterward to continue causing trouble. Armed with a complete and thorough list of all enlisted US soldiers who were planning on participating, at three in the morning the various branches of the military went about very quietly rounding these people up with no warning and immediately putting them in detention centers, where they were unable to get the word out to their civilian brothers-in-arms. A crucial part of this plan had been for such soldiers to quickly gain access to the nation’s various armories, so that the militias would have resources fully equal to the official Army’s; so by the time these militias all got to their designated rendezvous points with their limited militia-style weaponry and armor and realized the cavalry would not be arriving, it was already too late, and the fully armed (and now furious at this brazen attack on their country) soldiers slaughtered the Judgement Day participants in masse, almost 100,000 of them by the time the 24 hours of battling was over, far and away the worst massacre in US history and almost the world.

It would take the nation almost a year to recover from the events of that day, whether that was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff temporarily claiming martial law and therefore national authority while the military in conjunction with the FBI investigated whether Trump’s administration had been an official part of this attack; the delayed next election now going forward; the return of peaceful power the following January 6th after Trump’s expulsion (technically his third impeachment at that point, but this time Congress had no problems reaching the two-thirds super majority needed to kick him out); the slow repair and rebuilding that came from the violent events happening in the streets of every city in the US that day; and the eventual war-crime tribunals, in which it came out that some of Trump’s staff did indeed know about the coming coup attempt (but in his usual style, Trump himself facing no consequences, in that he had a fatal heart attack a month into the process).

Meanwhile, the city of Progress was given ownership again to the now abandoned space at the edge of Winnemac State Forest that had once been Justice, and Camp Nightmare before that, and Harvester South before that. And after quite a bit of debate and soul searching, the city decided to work with the state and the National Forest Service to get the entire area there declared the United States’ newest official national forest, half a million acres once all was said and done (or about one-quarter the size of the real-life Yellowstone National Park), devoted mostly to the pursuit of hardcore wilderness camping and hiking. As usual, the city named the place after a famous public intellectual, in this case early environmentalist John Muir; and the park’s main visitor center was built right in the middle of what used to be the Justice compound, purposely designed in a retro 1920s lodge style that had become trendily popular again at the start of the 2030s. A sophisticated structure, it contains a five-star “farm to table” restaurant that sources all its produce from the nearby Harvester, and rents family cabins located directly behind it, for those with kids who might want a taste of the outdoors but not want to go all the way out into the wilderness with a tent. In the fifteen years since (remember, in the Progressverse it’s the year 2045), it’s become a beloved part of the metro area, especially since anyone anywhere can continue to travel to the park for the low price of one dollar.

Beware of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! spoilers

I consider MyGO to be on the shortlist of the greatest anime of all time.

I know that's a very bold statement, but it really is a masterpiece on so many levels. So, to help quantify exactly what makes MyGO so special, I'll be chronicling my thoughts as I do a rewatch of the anime.

Episode 1

MyGO starts as it means to go on, hitting you with an extremely intense scene right from the beginning. We'll have a better opportunity to dive into the breakup of CRYCHIC later, but it's pretty incredible how the setup and execution of the opening scene make you feel for a group of characters we haven't actually met before and know basically nothing about.

Next, we're introduced to Anon, who will be our focus character for the majority of the anime. She's a prime example of not judging a book by its cover because I definitely didn't expect her to be playing the role of “gremlin” based on her character design. It quickly becomes apparent that she's a bit manipulative and very self-centered. Almost every action she takes is extremely calculated, with the end goal of increasing her own popularity.

As Anon meets Sakiko for the first time, we learn basically nothing about the girl partially responsible for kicking off all the drama in this anime. Get used to that feeling; it doesn't improve.

“Haneoka's Weirdo Girl” leaves quite an impression in her debut. We'll have an opportunity to go more in-depth on her later, so I'll once again leave things there for now. Experienced Bandori fans might recognize the notebooks and posters in Tomori's clubroom as belonging to a certain other character who was the president of the astronomy club before graduating. I guess that club just has a tendency to attract the more eccentric students.

Moving on to Tsukinomori, we're reintroduced to two more characters of CRYCHIC fame: Mutsumi, the second party in the drama instigation, and Soyo, who is in the key visual, so you can guess that she's going to be important. Soyo quickly drops into the “motherly girl” role. It's immediately made very apparent that she still cares quite a bit for Saki and Mutsumi, even after their roles in tearing down CRYCHIC not long ago.

Finally, we're introduced to the final member of CRYCHIC, as well as a quick cameo of RiNG and one Kasumi Toyama. Get used to these kinds of cameos as well, because we'll be getting a healthy dose of those.

Tomori and Anon clearly have some kind of connection, despite Anon's original intentions for reaching out to her. That said, the differences in their views on the purpose of the band not only break down the relationship a bit, but also end up getting Anon on Taki's bad side. There's clearly a lot going on between the former members of CRYCHIC that we don't know about yet. It shows how good of a focus character Anon is, as she's one of two main characters who were unaffiliated with CRYCHIC, meaning she'll be learning the details of what happened alongside the audience.

So, now that we've been baited, it's on to episode two to start filling in some of the gaps.

Episode 2

After a quick recap of what happened last time, we get more interaction between Soyo and Mutsumi. While her heart seems to be in the right place, Soyo's interest in Saki definitely seems to be a bit overbearing.

Things between Anon and Tomori are a bit awkward after the events of the last episode, but Anon seems to know exactly what to say to get Tomori to perk back up, and she slowly seems to be getting the hang of dealing with Haneoka's Weirdo Girl. Whether that's because she actually cares for Tomori or because she's still trying to butter her up, I'll leave up to your interpretation.

Anon's new friends decide to bring her along to their planned practice session at RiNG, which, conveniently, is exactly the spot where Taki and Anon got into it at the end of the last episode. Anon and Soyo are quickly introduced, and, upon learning that Soyo is a rich girl, the gears start turning in Anon's head.

Rana makes her first entrance, and the anime spends a lot of time and effort making sure she's memorable. It's a shame that this is about all the development she's going to get over the course of the entire anime.

With that distraction out of the way, Anon lets it slip that she and Tomori are acquainted, and if Soyo wasn't interested in Anon before, she certainly is now. The anime doesn't make it at all subtle that Soyo is up to something here, skillfully dodging all of Anon's questions while throwing some of her own back at her. She does agree to join Anon's band, and Anon doesn't seem to suspect a thing. She might be good at manipulating others, but Anon's defense for being manipulated seems to be quite low.

Meanwhile, Mutsumi proactively reaches out to Saki by showing up outside Haneoka. Saki has some harsh words for her friend, but ultimately seems to be understanding by the end. Between Soyo and Saki's treatment of Mutsumi, it seems like she doesn't have a lot of backbone, feeling obligated to follow the wishes of her friends, even when those wishes seem to contradict each other.

Anon and Soyo meet up to talk band strategy, and while Anon still seems to think she's in charge, it's obvious Soyo is the one truly in charge here. She quickly volunteers Taki for the role of drummer, refuses to directly confirm Anon's claim to the role of vocalist, and implies that she plans to also bring Tomori onboard. What Soyo is up to still remains a mystery, but her goals don't seem as altruistic to us as they might to Anon at this point.

Anon's role as the audience surrogate is taken advantage of again as we're given a peek into the life of CRYCHIC, getting to watch a cellphone video of one of their practices.

Meanwhile, Tomori, clearly put off earlier by the revelation that Anon was okay with starting a band without her, decides to try and partake in some club activities at the local planetarium. Soyo calls Tomori out to meet with Anon, and the ensuing conversation shows that Anon really does care for Tomori beyond just being a body for her band and poses a question that will force Tomori to acknowledge her actual feelings.

“Don't you actually want to be in a band?”

Episode 3

Episode 3 is a full-episode flashback from the point of view of Tomori. Right from the start, Tomori's inner monologue hits us with a line that sums up her character remarkably well:

“I've always been a little off.”

Bandori has had characters that are “a little off” before (i.e., O-Tae and Hina), and it's done a good job of exploring and deconstructing their off-ness, but Tomori does it far better than it's been done before. That simple sentence encapsulates the theme of the episode (and possibly even the entire season) so simply yet effectively. Tomori is strange, and she knows it, and she wants nothing more than to just be normal.

This episode hits me especially hard because I can relate to what Tomori feels. I understand what it's like to be aware that you're a bit odd compared to other people and not knowing why. I understand having to deal with interacting with your peers, knowing that they know what you know. Perhaps being able to relate to those feelings is part of why MyGO hits me as hard as it does.

“I made friends like everyone else, but somehow I still feel like I'm alone.”

“I want to be a human.”

On top of building a ton of characterization for Tomori, the episode also fills in many of the missing gaps of the mystery of CRYCHIC. We get to see the first meeting of Saki and Tomori. We get to see the band come together and the way its members bond with each other. We get to see the emotions that come of a successful first performance. We get to see as Tomori finds a place she feels she truly belongs.

And we get to see as that place is cruelly ripped away from her.

We're brought full-circle back to the opening scene of episode 1, this time from the point of view of Tomori. There are still a few missing pieces, particularly surrounding Saki, but we, the audience, now have a clearer picture of what happened with CRYCHIC to leave its member so broken.

Remember “Haruhikage”. In case the anime didn't already make it painfully obvious, it will be important later.

Episode 4

Back in the present day, we continue Anon and Tomori's heart-to-heart, where Tomori reveals that she feels responsible for the breakup of CRYCHIC. You'll recall that there was one negative comment about Tomori's singing, and apparently she's taken that to heart. Soyo finally reveals herself and steps in, but the reunion between Soyo and Tomori is cut short as Tomori runs away. If you were paying attention during the last episode, it's pretty clear that whatever drove Saki to quit the band was entirely unrelated to Tomori, even if it isn't clear exactly what it was, but Tomori has no way of knowing that.

With Tomori gone, Soyo and Anon have a private moment together. Anon, leakier than a War Thunder forum user, lets slip that Saki is currently attending Haneoka. Soyo is clearly blindsided by that information, but it's obvious that she's quickly formulating some plan or another. In case it wasn't obvious, this will have consequences for both Saki and Soyo later.

This episode places a lot of focus on the relationship between Saki and Soyo. Saki learns from Anon that Soyo has been recruited for Anon's new band, which clearly affects her a lot. Soyo shows up unannounced at Haneoka, and Saki wants nothing to do with her. It's clear that, despite Saki's best efforts, she will not be able to avoid a confrontation with CRYCHIC in general and Soyo in particular. For the moment, however, Soyo lets Saki get away.

Anon, as it turns out, is more clever than we might give her credit for. She manages to orchestrate a meeting between Tomori, Soyo, and Taki to try and force them to work out their issues. We shouldn't give her too much credit, as it's clear Anon doesn't really have a plan beyond “get them all in the same room”, and it seems like her main intention is still to force them to become members of her new band, but at least she does seem to care about them a little bit.

With everyone gathered together, Soyo takes control of the meeting, playing counselor to try and convince Tomori that the breakup wasn't her fault. Soyo does manage to get through to Tomori, despite Anon's best efforts to interfere.

“We'll do this, for our whole life.”

Anon is less than enthusiastic about committing her whole life to a band, and manages to talk Tomori down to “until their first live gig”. Rana is eavesdropping and appears to be very interested in the new fellowship that is forming. In case it wasn't obvious, this will have consequences for everyone later.

Regardless, Anon is pleased that she was able to form a band with Tomori as the mascot, although she is less pleased when all the attention goes to Tomori instead of herself. Truly, there is no curing this gremlin.

Elsewhere, we are introduced to Umiri, who clearly has a very complicated relationship with Taki. Trust me when I tell you that they're friends; they just have an odd way of showing it.

The first meeting of the new band does not go according to Soyo's plans, with Anon and Tomori strangely on the same wavelength about reducing Tomori's role to elevate Anon's. Notably, Soyo informs Anon of the kanji reading for Taki's name, which Anon notes can also be read as “Rikki”. In case it wasn't obvious, this will have consequences for Taki later. Or immediately. Nothing quite like an annoying nickname between frenemies.

Regardless of the chaos, it seems like Tomori feels like she's finally found a new place to belong.

While trying to figure out what to play, Taki immediately suggests Haruhikage, the one song that all of them (save Anon) definitely know how to perform. Soyo has clear reservations, trying to talk Taki out of it.

Remember when I said that Rana's eavesdropping would have consequences later? It's later. Rana crashes the practice and immediately gears up to participate. Exactly what Rana has in mind will have to wait until the next episode.

Notably, this episode has an after-credit sequence where we're introduced to Uika Misumi. Not a lot of note happens in this scene, but in case your subtitles moved too fast for you to see, you'll want to keep in mind that she and Saki know each other well enough for Saki to be listed under a nickname on Uika's phone.

Episode 5

We continue right where we left off: with everyone extremely confused about why Rana is here. Rana is able to pick up how to play Haruhikage perfectly just from looking at the music for a few seconds. While unrealistic, it does establish just how skilled of a guitarist Rana is.

Rana is introduced as “RiNG's stray cat” and immediately invites herself to join the band, taking a special interest in Tomori.

Anon feels threatened by the idea of Rana joining the band; in case you couldn't tell from the last episode, Anon can't actually play guitar. Everything Anon does is motivated by ego, so someone who is actually a guitarist joining the band is a huge problem for her. While Anon runs home to panic, Rana takes that as a sign that the practice is over and wanders off herself. “RiNG's stray cat” indeed.

We get a scene of Anon trying to practice guitar, then getting bored and watching a video by a social media influencer named Nyamu. While not really relevant to MyGO's story, once you get to episode 13, you'll want to keep her in the back of your mind.

The pressure on Anon only continues to mount as the new band is pegged to fill in for a group that cancelled last minute. Their first live show is on the calendar, and Anon would like to do whatever it takes to buy herself more time. Fortunately for her, she's handed a gift from Tomori.

Remember when Anon talked Tomori down to “until our first live gig”? Tomori takes everything extremely seriously, and I'm sure the trauma from CRYCHIC ending after a single performance doesn't help either. In Tomori's eyes, the band will end after their first performance.

In the aftermath, Soyo and Taki have a private conversation, with Taki revealing her wish to play a live show. Soyo is clearly annoyed that Taki didn't convey her feelings to Tomori. With the context of Saki's actions, it's pretty clear to see why Soyo would be bothered by this kind of behavior.

Taki does relay her feelings to Tomori. While Anon tries once again to interfere, Taki calls her out for hiding behind Tomori as an excuse to push her own selfish agendas and accuses her of running away at the first sign of resistance. Taki's harsh words push Anon over the edge, and she actually does run away, only to run into some of her old classmates who expected her to be studying abroad. Fortunately for Anon, Tomori shows up to extract her from the awkward situation.

We get a flashback of what exactly happened during Anon's stint as a transfer student in the UK. You'll have to ignore the awful attempts at English. The point is, at the first sign of resistance, she gave up and fled back to Japan, exactly the way Taki was accusing her of running away from the band.

Anon is an interesting take on the gremlin archetype. While normally the personality is the effect of some past trauma, in Anon's case it's the cause. She commits to things that she isn't actually capable of and then gives up at the first sign of trouble. While she was seemingly able to get away with it up until middle school, the UK trip and the band seem to be too far over the line for her to be able to recover from.

Fortunately, Anon has a fiercely loyal Tomori by her side to help encourage her to keep moving forward and not run away from this challenge. It's enough to break Anon out of her slump and convince her to dedicate effort toward the band.

If you're paying close attention to the spoken dialogue, you'll hear a lot of focus around the word “maigo”, meaning “lost child” or “lost person”. The significance of this is obvious if you can read the title of the show, but we won't get there for a while, so hold that thought.

Episode 6

With Anon back on board with the band, the question of what song to play comes up again, and Taki's answer is once again “Haruhikage”. Soyo once again balks at the idea. Fortunately, Tomori once again has a gift. This time, it's lyrics. Taki, who is learning composition, decides she'll turn the lyrics into a song. Interestingly, it seems like Taki is solely dedicated to Tomori specifically rather than the band as a whole.

We get another short scene between Soyo and Mutsumi. This one is interesting because Mutsumi finally shows a little backbone, refusing to accompany Soyo to visit Saki. Mutsumi has been a bit of a double agent to this point, and it seems like she's finally decided which side of this rift she's really loyal to. Ultimately, Soyo's attempt to visit Saki fails when Tomori and Anon show up and prevent Soyo from waiting outside the Haneoka gates any longer.

Meanwhile, Taki has finished the composition of the new song, which is met with Tomori's approval. As they are getting ready to try it out, Rana crashes the practice session again.

Remember when I said that Rana's eavesdropping would have consequences later? It's time for second later.

Taki is unimpressed with Rana's presence until she starts playing. Rana's improvisation is impressive enough that Taki feels the need to cancel practice and write a second guitar into the composition. Unfortunately, Taki fails to consider that, like a cat, Rana comes and goes as she pleases. Taki runs herself ragged changing the arrangement, and the pressure placed on Anon causes tensions to snap, with Taki feeling she needs to live up to the standard set by Saki. When Taki doesn't show up for practice, Anon and Tomori show up at Hanasakigawa to try and cheer her up in their own way. Once again, we get a peek at just how much Anon cares for her friends, even if there's probably still a selfish motive hidden in there somewhere.

Meanwhile, Saki has finally accepted that she has to face Soyo sooner or later, and commits to meeting her after their live gig.

Episode 7

The time has come for the band's first live show. Experienced Bandori fans may notice and appreciate the CHiSPA in the opening shot.

Rana's carefree nature shines through again as she interrupts the soundcheck before running off. Unlike some other music anime, MyGO makes sure we're completely aware that the girls' aren't really on the same page, nor are they really prepared for their debut performance.

To truly drive the point home, we get a few false starts from Anon before Bandori finally returns to its normal formula and gives us the “flawless debut performance” trope, with Tomori getting a little push from Saki in the audience.

Saki is here, by the way, making good on her decision to meet with Soyo after the performance.

Remember when I said that Rana's eavesdropping would have consequences later? I think you know the drill by now.

Tomori is touched by the response her performance gets from the audience and gives a heartfelt speech, backed up by Rana going rogue and playing the intro to Haruhikage.

There's a lot to speculate about with this scene. What could have happened if they hadn't played Haruhikage that evening? How would the rest of the anime have been different if that one thing never happened?

Regardless of the “what ifs”, there's no taking it back. Saki is overwhelmed and abandons the idea of meeting with Soyo. Soyo is heartbroken at her chance to understand what happened to CRYCHIC slip away, and we get to see a completely different side of her. Not the gentle and motherly Soyo we've seen so far, but a girl consumed with outrage at her band doing the one thing she tried to prevent them from doing.

It's interesting; not a lot happens in this episode, but the events that do happen are some of the most important and powerful in the entire season.

Episode 8

Picking up right where we left off, Soyo reveals to the rest of the band that Saki was in the audience and rebukes them for making her feel bad by playing Haruhikage. While Taki and Anon are a little surprised to learn that Saki was there, neither of them really care one way or the other about how Haruhikage affected her. It's very interesting to note that Soyo really is the only one with any interest in reconnecting with Saki. More on that later.

The next morning, we get the tiniest sliver of character development for Anon: she's not as perturbed by her classmates praising Tomori's performance the night before more than hers. She and Tomori discuss Soyo's outburst the night before and decide to try and meet with Saki. Here, we get an even tinier sliver of character development for Saki: she's closed herself off from her classmates so much that they don't even know her first name. It's not much, but it is a meaningful bit of development, so we'll take what we can get.

We get a quick taste of exactly how much Saki means to Tomori and how much Tomori regrets performing Haruhikage. Tomori was in a dark place, feeling excluded and alone, just wanting to be seen as a person, when Saki reached out to her and gave her a place to belong. Regardless of the events of the breakup, Tomori still respects and cares for Saki a lot, so hurting her by playing Haruhikage clearly hurts Tomori a lot.

We get to see a meeting between Saki and Uika. This gives us a flashback of the two as children, and we get a tiny bit more insight on what Saki was like as a little girl. Beyond that, this scene is mostly just foreshadowing for episode 13, so just leave it in the back of your mind for now.

Soyo, meanwhile, has lost her mind, shutting out her band, staying home from school, and trying everything she can to get in contact with Saki and apologize. Eventually, she realizes that she won't be able to find Saki without help, and she decides to return to school to deploy her ultimate weapon: Mutsumi.

If the shift in Soyo's personality wasn't apparent before, it certainly is now. The gentle and motherly chats Soyo has had with Mutsumi are gone, replaced with a brutal and ruthless side that comes as a complete shock, even if you had already suspected that there was more to Soyo than meets the eye. Soyo places the blame for CRYCHIC's breakup and the debacle at the debut show. I'm sure Mutsumi's previous refusal to help Soyo didn't encourage Soyo to be more gentle; apparently, Mutsumi decided to grow a backbone at exactly the wrong time.

While Soyo is bullying Mutsumi into submission, Rana finally actually shows up to practice, but Tomori is conflicted between wanting to continue the band while not wanting to leave Soyo behind. Rana's interest in Tomori is quickly evaporated thanks to Tomori's indecision. I guess this is a good time to really dive deep into Rana.

I desperately want to like Rana. I have a bit of a weakness for white-haired anime girls, and I really like her personality. She has a very interesting backstory, especially if you're a Bandori veteran (we'll get to that later). The problem is that she isn't written very well. She shows up, causes chaos, and then bails, never taking responsibility for her actions. It's one thing when the characters are responsible for their own problems, but it's another thing entirely when an outside influence comes in and ruins things for them. It seems unfair for the only person to get away with no consequences to be the one primarily responsible.

Speaking of taking responsibility for their actions, Mutsumi gets to take responsibility for the part she played in the breakup of CRYCHIC. Whatever rebellion she developed against Soyo's manipulation has evaporated now that Soyo has switched tactics, and she leads Soyo to meet with Saki. She at least has the decency to give Saki a brief heads-up beforehand.

Everything that Soyo has done so far has been setting up for this moment. There's a lot to unpack with this meeting, but most of it makes more sense in the context of later episodes, so I'll hold off for now. Soyo desperately apologizes to Saki and pours her heart out, begging her to join the recreated CRYCHIC. Saki coldly blows her off, ruthlessly shutting down all of Soyo's advances before hitting her with the finishing blow:

“You only ever think about yourself, don't you?”

On the surface, Saki's words seem overly harsh. Everything Soyo's done so far has been for the sake of CRYCHIC and its members. How could trying to find closure for Tomori and the others be considered selfish?

Once again, more on that later.

Episode 9

We start things off with a flashback of Soyo's backstory. It's extremely heavily implied that her mother is divorced, but she worked hard to provide Soyo with a lavish lifestyle. Whether that lifestyle was meant for herself or for her daughter, I'll leave to your interpretation. What I will tell you is that Soyo's mother cares a lot for her daughter, and I think she would be willing to do whatever it would take to make sure Soyo could have a comfortable life.

With that said, Soyo's mother's work kept her out of the house a lot, and she doesn't seem like the responsible type, forcing Soyo to grow up quickly to be able to take care of things.

Soyo also doesn't seem to have much of her own identity. She allows her mother to decide which school to go to, and she allows her classmates to decide what club to join. She conforms to the wishes of others rather than forging her own path.

At the end of the day, Soyo feels isolated from others, simply looking for a place to belong.

Sound familiar?

Tomori and Soyo are very similar. While they come from very different backgrounds, they both suffer from feeling isolated, they both became extremely reliant on CRYCHIC for support, and they were both more deeply affected by its disbandment than any of the others. However, unlike Tomori, who was eventually able to move on, CRYCHIC was Soyo's entire identity. Ultimately, CRYCHIC ended up being just another way for Soyo to conform to the wishes of other people.

“Without all of you, I would be...”

Back in the present day, Tomori, Taki, and Anon are left to deal with the loss of both Rana and Soyo. Tomori's unhealed wounds from CRYCHIC's breakup are ripped right back open. In attempting to recreate CRYCHIC, Soyo has only succeeded in repeating its mistakes and perpetuating the cycle. Taki, however, is determined to make sure that doesn't happen, and the quest to track down Soyo begins.

Taki finally confronts Soyo, who formally quits the band in not as many words and admits her plan to reform CRYCHIC, including her desire to abandon Anon and Rana once the opportunity arose. Let's dive back into Saki's words from the last episode with the context of everything that's happened to this point.

“You only ever think about yourself, don't you?”

Soyo didn't take Anon super seriously until Tomori was mentioned. She immediately nominated Taki for the drummer role, and she had already previously admitted to Mutsumi her plan to invite her and Saki to join the band once the time came.

Soyo worked extremely hard to bring all the members of CRYCHIC back together, but, as Saki said in the last episode, no one asked her to do that. Everyone else was ready to move on, and Soyo was the only one who truly wanted to bring CRYCHIC back together. Maybe Soyo really did think that she was doing it for the good of everyone, but in reality, deep down, she was really doing it all for herself.

To try and revive the place that she felt she truly belonged.

It doesn't justify the scheming or the manipulation, but it is a pretty understandable motivation.

Taki tries to bring in Umiri as a replacement bassist, but Tomori refuses to perform without Soyo, and Taki is forced to reveal to Tomori and Anon the conversation that she had with Soyo. Anon in particular is hit very hard. It shouldn't be surprising that someone with as big of an ego as Anon does would be devastated to find out that she was simply being used as a pawn in someone else's game, and that the chess master was more than willing to sacrifice her once the opportunity arrived.

With Rana, Soyo, and Anon all out of the picture, the band's breakup is all but assured, and Tomori's world is falling apart all over again.

Episode 10

Mutsumi is hard to read.

A bit of an abrupt way to start this episode, but hear me out. From the very first scene in the anime, it's been a bit hard to tell exactly what Mutsumi is thinking. Did she legitimately not have fun playing in CRYCHIC, was she coached to say that by Saki, or was she just playing along for the sake of her friend? As the anime continues, we have to wonder why she keeps hanging out with Soyo, why she suddenly decides to grow a spine and refuse to take Soyo to Saki's house, and why she eventually goes back on her decision and brings Soyo to Saki anyway.

All that said, it's actually pretty clear what Mutsumi is thinking as this episode begins. She feels bad for what happened between Soyo and Saki in episode 8, and she truly does want to reconnect with her friend.

Meanwhile, Tomori is going through a lot. Everything she's been through over the past two years has been brutal, so it's not surprising that she isn't taking the breakup very well. If you recall from episode 3, Tomori's “lyrics” weren't really meant to be lyrics, merely private journal entries. That old habit has returned as she tries to work through her feelings about the breakup of the band. Even without a band to write lyrics for, Tomori clearly feels a need to express herself by putting words on a page. Interestingly, Tomori may be the only character in this show to have some kind of healthy outlet for her bottled-up emotions.

Tomori and Uika meet, and while Uika seems to recognize Tomori, Tomori does not recognize Uika. Their brief exchange ends with Tomori realizing that she still wants to sing, despite everything that has happened so far. And, without anyone to perform with her, she decides to perform on her own.

Tomori's spoken word performance is enough to rekindle Rana's interest, and she invites herself on stage to accompany Tomori on the guitar. There's a lot to unpack with Tomori's lyrics, but the main takeaway is that it's a cry for help aimed at Taki, Anon, and Soyo, delivered in the only way she knows how: through singing.

And it works. Rana has to strong-arm Taki into joining on the drums, but Taki does choose to sit down and play on her own. Afterward, the two have a private chat, where Taki admits to her own kind of selfishness.

“I thought I did everything for you, yet I never thought about your feelings.”

Every action that Taki has taken in this show has been for Tomori's sake. From picking a fight with Anon in episode 1, to her decision to join the band, to bringing Umiri in as a replacement for Soyo. Everything has been for the sole purpose of helping Tomori, but she's never considered what Tomori actually wants. All of her efforts, while well-meaning, were pretty misguided.

Mutsumi interrupts the heart-to-heart and delivers the news about Soyo's current mental condition. You can see the moment where Tomori's goal shifts: she is determined to save Soyo and bring her back to the band.

The first step in that mission is to bring back Anon, who is still hurt from being used and discarded by Soyo the way she was. Despite that, Tomori's feelings manage to get through to her.

“Let's be lost, together.”

Anon has changed a lot over the course of the anime. Even if she probably won't ever get over her selfish tendencies, the part of her that actually cares about the feelings of others has grown. She takes it upon herself to confront Soyo. Soyo seems dismissive, asking Anon to go away, but she clearly does want to talk, as she intentionally waits for Anon to catch up at several points during the walk. Anon manages to get Soyo to show up to Tomori's next performance.

The final revision of Utakotoba is powerful and spells out everything Tomori has been feeling. She still feels responsible for the breakups of CRYCHIC and the new band, despite neither of them being her fault. Despite being pushed to the brink of despair, Tomori refuses to give in. It's a song with the sole purpose of getting the attention of her friends and making sure her feelings reach them.

“If it's allowed, then I don't want to give up!”

“The words I couldn't say... are still words I want to reach you!”

It feels good to have an episode gut punch you with positive emotions for a change.

Episode 11

The ending of the last episode was great, but we do still have two episodes to fill, and it wouldn't be realistic to have everything resolve itself so neatly. With that said, this episode is primarily cleaning up the loose ends that the last episode left behind.

Most of this cleanup is caused by a reservation to perform at RiNG that Tomori forgot she made. The girls are left to once again panic over writing a new song. Throughout the process, we get to see the new vibe of the newly recreated Lost Band, as Anon proposes they call themselves.

Soyo, naturally, changes the most due to the massive shift in her personality. She does really care for the other girls, but she also just as clearly wants to make sure they don't realize it. I'm sure she really wants to open up to them and accept them, but chooses not to out of fear of being hurt the way she was by Saki.

Remember when I mentioned Rana's interesting backstory? Here, we learn that her grandmother was the owner of SPACE (Bandori S1 viewers will be very familiar with that place). When SPACE closed down, Rana felt she lost the place where she belonged. It turns out that the “stray cat” aesthetic isn't the only way that Rana fits the theme of being lost.

Beyond that, I don't have a lot more to say. The characters do a fantastic job analyzing themselves and each other, so I think I'll let their dialogue speak for itself.

Episode 12

Remember “maigo”? Anon manages to shift it to “my go”, and Tomori makes the spontaneous decision to introduce the band onstage as “MyGO”. At last, I can stop beating around the bush and call them that.

Naturally, as the finale, this episode is loaded with cameos from the other major characters in the Bandori franchise. Enjoy.

I didn't mention it in episode 7, but MyGO has a tendency to play the full versions of the songs rather than shortened versions, the way most other music anime do. In this case, the song that they all performed together was “Mayoi Uta”, which also happens to be the title track of their first single.

In any case, there's once again not a lot more to add. This episode is primarily to give a couple final big musical numbers and end things on a high note.

The high note is cut down a bit, as Mutsumi's character arc reaches its climax. She leaves a bag of cucumbers for the members of MyGO (in case, like me, you weren't paying quite enough attention to notice, Mutsumi has been taking care of cucumbers during her and Soyo's conversations throughout the anime). Soyo chases after Mutsumi for the sole purpose of rejecting the gift.

Soyo is a bit harsh to Mutsumi here, and, while I won't say she deserves the treatment, I will say that Soyo wasn't entirely wrong in her assessment that CRYCHIC's breakup was Mutsumi's fault. Soyo is wrong to say that it is solely Mutsumi's fault, but Mutsumi played an extremely major role with her one simple sentence.

“I've never had fun playing in this band, not even once.”

The remainder of this episode is simply foreshadowing for episode 13. And speaking of episode 13...

Episode 13

I don't really want to talk about episode 13.

It's not that it's bad; it's just that it's less an episode of MyGO and more a Bandori OVA. It's also easily the weakest episode of the season, and doesn't bode particularly well for the upcoming Ave Mujica anime (although the trailers I've seen do give me a new spark of hope). Just keep your expectations in check when watching this. It does give a final sliver of development into the mystery of Sakiko, so you'll probably want to watch it just for that.

Todo esto empezó con un vídeo, o al menos fue la primera vez que yo me encontré con este concepto, pero ahora se ha convertido en un movimiento que va tomando fuerza.

En resumen, el nihilismo optimista es darse cuenta que nada en la vida tiene un significado predefinido, pero que eso no es malo, sino que es genial. Es tener un lienzo en blanco, pero no estar triste porque no muestra nada sino feliz por las posibilidades.

Si no existe un “sentido de la vida”, entonces tú puedes decidir que tu sentido es ayudar a otros, o crear arte, o explorar el mundo. Si no existen reglas preestablecidas sobre cómo debes vivir, entonces eres libre de diseñar tu propio camino. Si nada importa “por defecto”, entonces todo puede importar si tú decides que es importante.

Uno es quien le da sentido a la vida.

First Day of School 

• Be inviting (smile)
• Seating Chart 
• Introduce yourself
• Teach rules and procedures
• Ask for participation 
• Review Class Syllabus 

Welcome to the first day of school! You have anxiety, which is a normal feeling for all of us. You’re not alone! This is a great day to welcome students with a smile. Moments of awkwardness will present itself, but this is to be expected because we are meeting all new people. After all the students are in your class, direct students to assigned seats. I don’t advocate for allowing them to sit where they want, because many of them will seek their friends or sit in the back of the room. I alphabetize names to make life easier; however, if you have students with IEPs, place them in the best seat. Following student seating, introduce yourself and your interests. I like to create a presentation because it’s easier to show images of important items (homework/classwork bins) in the classroom. Also, explain your subject or class. Explain to students about your plans and projects for the year. Tell them about the cooler stuff you hope to accomplish with them. You should then teach students how and what to do when entering the class. These are the following procedures to consider: entering the class, Do Now Assignments, raising hand, bathroom policies, completing and submitting work, talking policy, class rules, positive reinforcement, consequences, homework policies, online behavior or classes, and general class expectations. Because there is a lot of information to cover, turn it into a game at the midpoint to gauge their understanding of your policies. At the end of the lesson, create 5-7 questions about your class for students to answer. From now on, stick to your class procedures. Teach and reteach them for students to become fully independent of prompting and for these policies to become second nature. It will get easier in time.

thoughts at noon on monday 9/11/2023 ................................................................................................................................

I sit alone in a corner of the school courtyard, headphones on, pretending to work.

The chickadees are playing in a nearby willow tree (I didn't know they even stuck around through the heat, since I've only ever seen them in the winter),

and every so often, the sudden flapping of pigeon wings catches my attention through the music.

I complimented someone's sweater today, secretly hoping that they would burst into an exclamation about how we should be friends and go thrifting together and sit together in the cafeteria. But that's not how it works.

I'm doing this for myself, always.

I just need to get good grades and get out of here.

The sun is beaming on my laptop and I'm worried it will get too hot and blow up.

As it blankets my arms too, I pray it gives them some color.

I spent too long today studying my skin like a map and noticing all the little red dots and stretch marks, not enjoying the character they give.

A bee came near me and I did not react.

A roly-poly that was running in circles a minute ago has now snapped out of it.

I'm starting to feel better about my DIY haircut from last month.

i always had a feeling something was there— not like a tumor, more like a devilish little bird, who refrains from my reach— something so invisible yet so nauseatingly glaring red, strobing at times like that annoying light on those fire alarms that alert, “fire! fire!” and you run.

sometimes i think we're friends. yet when i, in and out of sleep, turn to embrace this Thing, i am reminded of how sinister it can be, and perhaps my shame comes from the people instead, but how could i not want to catch it, and gnaw at its bones the way it has mine?

when i ask them if it's there, they scurry off like a scolded dog. this shame, it's contagious. and this Fucking Bird is like a pair of shoes that somehow gets less broken in over time. when i address it, it echoes back. it mocks me, asks me if i would even know who i am without it. what a cruel thing, and no matter how hard i've tried, i can never change my answer.

— “alone, alone in a crowded room”

in the pellucid shallows i consider calm but make many so uneasy, since the tiny fish are just so there, and threaten to bite your toes, i find: a small amount of clay, a bottle cap, melodies from a long past fourth of july, fragments of old zebra mussel shells, sunshine, all the way down

— “one of the little lakes”

The national mood in America right now.

Poster available from Garage.Ganzeer.

Fancy pre-framed options also available for the champagne socialists in your life.

#work #journal

So good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CvfpFF-isM

#IBelongToTheZoo #MusicVideo #OPM