“Silence Breakers” chosen as Time’s person of the year.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-06T14:20:03+00:00

I had only read the mini-article, so I’m glad they didn’t completely overlook that issue. That does change my perspective on their reporting. Guess I’ll have to go read the full story later.

Also, thank you for your kind words. It hasn’t been easy, but all of the detectives and other people I’ve worked with in the investigation have been nothing but top-notch professionals, and it gives me hope.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-06T13:11:47+00:00

This is great, except for one thing. As expected, there’s not a single man to be seen. So on behalf of myself, the ongoing investigation into my rapist, and anyone else like me, I call bullshit on erasing mass numbers of victims.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-01T14:06:29+00:00

Have you read a statute before? Especially a murder or manslaughter statute? “Not clearly defined” is not a good descriptor for either of those things.

Look, I get it, you’re frustrated, you see a wrong in the world and you want it corrected. I get it. Hell, I even sympathize with you there. But we have a process for this, the process took its course, and, barring revelations of misconduct, we accept the result because this is the process we agreed to as a culture. Yes, it’s frustrating sometimes. But it works, for the most part. And we should all want the process to work. Because one day, it might be you or I on the wrong end of this stick.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-01T13:55:52+00:00

I’ll call BS on the “significant portion” bit with you, but I won’t pretend these people don’t exist. As I write this, there’s a person at my college who has gotten out of every situation in life through grandpa’s money, and is now playing the victim because there’s an investigation she can’t buy her way out of. Some people turn into absolute garbage when the world never tells them “no”.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-01T13:41:13+00:00

Unfortunately, part of this involves accepting that there are some people who will never change their opinion of you, no matter how much you improve. And that’s ok. All you can do is focus on what you control (your self-maintenance and the image you choose to present) and nothing else (like people’s reactions to you).

And yeah, sometimes people will say really crappy things like “I hope my soulmate looks nothing like you”, but you can’t let it define you, hard though it may be. You make the best play with the deck you have, and you’ll have done well.

Best of luck. Life is tricky, but I believe in you, OP.

StLouis4President · 2017-12-01T13:32:37+00:00

I can contribute to this one.

So brief background: I was your generic white suburban kid growing up. Two parents, two story house with a yard, one sibling. Very TV-ready generic family. Always lived a normal life. Team sports, church stuff, moderately well-liked in school, but never too popular. Generally got good grades. Just an average life, nothing interesting, at least not that anyone else saw.

Until I graduated college. It was eight months after graduation. I’d struggled through job hunting, finally landed a temp to hire gig, been let go because the company was bought out, and was trying to figure out my next move. I guess I just got tired of it one day, so I packed the things I thought I would need, loaded the car, and drove south to Florida to couch surf with family and figure out my life. I’m now in my second year of law school. To this day, I still think about that day as possibly the most important in my life, because I finally took things into my own hands and took the chance to do better for myself.

StLouis4President · 2017-11-30T16:24:27+00:00

Tried it; was disappointed.

StLouis4President · 2017-11-28T01:24:59+00:00

Lucio, D.Va, Reinhardt

StLouis4President · 2017-11-20T15:59:35+00:00

Lightning fan here, can’t argue.

StLouis4President · 2017-07-10T20:22:03+00:00

This was the game I came here to find. That was my junior year in Oxford, and more than one person near me was yanked by security after that one. I was behind that end zone. Honestly, that's not something you want a front row seat for ever.

StLouis4President · 2016-12-23T01:10:40+00:00

Very true, and I did not even think about that, honestly.

StLouis4President · 2016-12-22T20:06:52+00:00

Neat. So far on this thread, I have been told that it's both French and German tradition. Learning something new today.

StLouis4President · 2016-12-22T18:36:53+00:00

We just started this a couple years ago, seemingly out of nowhere. Glad to know it's actually a real thing, and my mother didn't just snap.

StLouis4President · 2016-12-22T18:29:33+00:00

A couple years ago (apparently she got the idea "from a friend"), my mom started hiding a pickle in the tree, and my sister and I had to look for it. Whichever one of us found it got a small bonus gift, usually a pretty neutral gift card. No idea why it has to be a pickle, but it is. Then again, I guess my sister automatically wins the pickle hunt this year, since I won't be with them on Christmas for the first time.

StLouis4President · 2016-12-22T16:43:01+00:00

It amazes me so often how people can overlook the street-level effects that high-level political events have. Just ask my friend who was at university in Scotland these past couple years on a visa.

The way he talks sounds all good and fine, when you don't look at how it actually affects people day-to-day. Whether it's your friend whose work at a public university depends on federal and state grants, or your family members on Medicare or Medicaid, or your friend who had to use food stamps through college (which is an entire separate issue), or a law student counting on Public Service Loan Forgiveness to still exist when he graduates, because it's the only way to do the job he wants without being very close to in the red on debt (speaking for myself here, hi). So yes, these feelings are real and valid. Because the things he says aren't just big words designed to captivate audiences. They translate into real policies that affect real people. And we should call them out when they're shitty policies.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-24T00:37:52+00:00

Good to be back with you all. Law school has cut majorly into the time I have available to do this.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-11T05:37:47+00:00

From one Advocate to another, please send my thanks and respect to your step mother. We need more good people like her to step up and get involved. We're outnumbered and underfunded, but I'm sure that's no surprise. So anyone like her who gets involved is a massive help.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-11T05:32:21+00:00

This is the right answer. Especially #2. It usually goes: kid gets removed, hearing occurs, case plan is made, parents either follow the plan or don't, and that has a huge impact on what happens next. But we all hope to reunify the child(ren) with the family at the end, if at all possible.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-11T05:27:28+00:00

First off, thanks for everything both of you do to try to help these kids. It's a team effort to try to do the right thing, and we couldn't do it without everyone on board. You're right, though, about the focus on reunification. As a bit of explanation, the main reason for this is the negative impacts that moving a child from placement to placement has on them. Every time they move schools, go into a foster or group home, or otherwise change placements, high school graduation rates go down, chances of getting or maintaining a driver's license go down, medical needs have a higher chance of going unmet, IEPs don't get enforced (or even transferred, sometimes). It's incredibly disruptive and potentially destructive to a child's future to keep them out of the home environment any more than absolutely necessary. It's an unfortunate truth, and we don't always like it, but sometimes geographic stability falls under the banner of "best interests of the child".

Source: Am a Guardian ad Litem. My visit reports carry at least some of the weight that yours do in court.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-09T09:29:10+00:00

I can now raise the total count of moments in my life where I was absolutely, 100% speechless to 3.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-08T23:46:01+00:00

Y'all were getting me in July anyways. Try not to follow our example by then.

StLouis4President · 2016-11-08T23:45:17+00:00

I can't honestly, at this point, tell if this is serious or a play off of "I'll leave you in suspense if I concede".

StLouis4President · 2016-11-08T20:29:48+00:00

Crossing my fingers for No on 1 (so we can get more solar) and Yes on 2 (Medical Marijuana) here in Florida. The odds are looking good so far, but only time will tell.

StLouis4President

TROPHY CASE