Me: *manages to ace German oral midterm without slipping into Japanese or any other languages for once*

Guy next to me: *has polyglot schizo meltdown and answers in German/French/Spanish word salad*

Me and our polyglot instructor:

Vote damnit.

Hello weekend, let’s study!

tattooedsocialist:

This election season, we saw millions of new voters register, including millions of Latinx voters. Muslims, black people, Native Americans, LGBT people, and so many women were elected to represent us. For the first time in our nation’s history, over 100 women were elected to the House of Representatives.

Last night was historic not just because of these facts, but also because we took back the House in spite of massive voter suppression efforts.
Our sham of a democracy forced us to wait in three to five-hour-long lines. Our sham of a democracy purged us from the voter rolls. Our sham of a democracy changed our votes from Beto to Ted. Our sham of a democracy “ran out” of paper ballots for voters. Our sham of a democracy demanded that Native Americans living on reservations present a home address or be disenfranchised.

This election season, rich, out-of-touch white men did everything they could to take away our voice.

But you cannot silence a movement.
To everyone who voted for harm reduction: thank you.
To those who were beaten, castrated, burned, and murdered so that people other than white men could vote: thank you.

I am so proud of us.
And now, we must keep fighting the good fight so that one day, we have a system that is truly by and for the people. 

The beginning of May before midterm elections signals the official start of primary season and the kickoff of fall campaigns. Because midterms are usually referendums on a president’s performance, the conventional view now is that Democrats are in deep trouble because Biden’s approval ratings are in the cellar.

But the conventional view doesn’t account for the Trump factor, which gives Democrats a fighting chance of keeping one or both chambers.

According to recent polls, Trump’s popularity continues to sink. He is liked by only 38 percent of Americans and disliked by 46 percent. (12 percent are neutral.) And Trump continues to slide: Among voters 45-64 years old – a group exit polls show Trump won 50% to 49% in 2020 – just 39 percent now view him favorably and 57 percent unfavorably. Among voters older than 65 – 52 percent of whom voted for him in 2000 to Biden’s 47 percent – only 44 percent now see him favorably and more than half (54%) view him unfavorably. Importantly, independents hold him in even lower regard. Just 26 percent view him favorably and 68 percent unfavorably.

Republican lawmakers had hoped and assumed that Trump would fade from the scene by the 2022 midterms, allowing them to engage in full-throttled attacks on Democrats.

But Trump hasn’t faded. In fact, his visibility is growing daily.

******

Btw, if you’d like my daily analyses, commentary, and drawings, please subscribe to my free newsletter: robertreich.substack.com

******

The media is framing the May Republican primaries as all about Trump. The Ohio primary was a giant proxy battle over him, in which Republican candidates outdid each other trying to sound just like Trump – railing against undocumented immigrants, coastal elites, “socialism,” and “wokeness,” and regurgitating the Big Lie.

Trump’s April 15 endorsement of JD Vance made the difference – as could his backing of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Mary 17 primary and Hershel Walker in Georgia’s May 24 primary. But whether Trump’s bets pay off in wins for these candidates is beside the point. Trump is making these races all about himself —and in so doing, casting the midterms as a referendum on his continuing power and influence.  

June’s televised hearings of the House January 6 committee will likely show how Trump and his White House orchestrated the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and rekindle memories of Trump’s threat to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless Ukrainian president Zelensky came up with dirt on Biden.

Here again, the real significance of these hearings won’t be seen in Trump’s approval ratings but in Trump’s heightened visibility in the months before the midterms – and its almost certain shift in voters’ preferences toward the Democrats.    

Also likely in June (according to leaked documents) is a decision by the Supreme Court to uphold Oklahoma’s near ban on abortion and reverse Roe v. Wade – courtesy of Trump’s three Court nominees whom Trump explicitly nominated in order to reverse Roe. 

The high court’s decision will green-light other Republican states to enact similar bans, and spur Republicans in Congress to push for national legislation to virtually bar abortions across the country. Republicans believe this would ignite their base, but it’s more likely to ignite a firestorm among the vast majority of Americans who believe abortion should be legal. Score another one for Trump.

There is also the distinct possibility of criminal trials over Trump’s business and electoral frauds (such as his brazen attempt to change the Georgia vote tally). Again, their significance for the midterms is less about whether Trump is found guilty than about their continuing reminders of his lawlessness.  

Meanwhile, America will be treated to more Trump rallies, interviews, and barnstorming to convince voters the 2020 election was stolen from him, along with his incessant demands that Republican candidates reiterate his Big Lie.

Somewhere along the line, also before the midterms, Elon Musk will allow Trump back on Twitter. The move would be bad for America, but it would remind voters of how whacky, racist, and dangerously incendiary Trump continues to be.

Oh, and don’t forget the antics of Trump’s many surrogates – Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Steven Bannon, Madison Cawthorn, and others – who mimic Trump’s bravado, bigotry, divisiveness, and disdain for the law. All are walking billboards for Trumpism’s heinous impact on American life.

All will push wavering voters toward Democrats in November.

I’m not suggesting Democrats seeking election or reelection should center their campaigns around Trump. To the contrary, Democrats need to show their continuing commitment to average working people. Between now and November, they should provide help with childcare, cut the costs of prescription drugs, and stop oil companies for price gouging, to take but three examples.

If they do this, they can count on Trump to remind Americans of the hatefulness and chaos he unleashed. The combination – Democrats scoring some additional victories for working people, and Trump being Trump – could well reverse conventional wisdom about midterms and keep Dems in control of Congress.

check out my ig: areumiso for posts like these✨✨

go vote, u lil’ bitch

Student, handing over exemption form: “Can you sign this so I can exempt your midterm?”

Teacher:*starts laughing uncontrollably*

My leg is feeling much better today. Thank you to those of you who reached out to wish me well. It’s bruised up and sensitive to the touch but it’s getting better every day. 

I think I did really well on my Shakespeare midterm. My professor let me take a picture of it (it was just an in-class close reading analysis) because the themes I discussed opened my mind up to a different way of looking at my Twelfth Night paper which is due next week. That means I had a chance to read it over again. There were definitely one or two areas I could have written more but considering I only had an hour and a half to hand write 4 pages, I would say it’s pretty decent. At least a high B, probably a low A. 

There’s an airshow near my house which is making studying difficult, mostly because the dogs are jumping all over me. I decided to take a break until the show ends at 3 pm (about two hours from now). My poor Australian Cattle Dog who never gets anxious looks like armageddon has struck. The cats could not care less. 

Next week I have two papers to work on, I need to read Much Ado About Nothing, post my notes for my Much Ado group project, and all the usual things. 

The issue that came up that I had to talk to my advisor about is *hopefully* now resolved. What I thought was simply a small issue for me personally wound up involving the Department Chair (who thankfully knows me well from a year of studying under her). I don’t believe this will get any bigger because I think the staff member responsible for the issue will be understanding. If not, the next 10 weeks could get interesting.

I think it’s a good time for a nap.

Bummed

It’s been raining hard here and the sidewalks outside the English department are not at all textured. So I fell. On my ass. Right before my Shakespeare midterm. My leg is super swollen and i just want to sleep but I have to prep for my Native American Lit midterm. Send positive vibes, y’all.

13-03-19

Yellow theme for the second week of march!

Also, today is my birthday and i only made an easy tasks to do. Next week will be the first wave of hell week. So, i really need to study seriously. Remember to stay hydrated nerds! We got this.

Even though usually I am a very disciplined student, I fucked up big this semester with my learning. And while I usually preach to stop studying the day before, I didn’t have the luxury this time to do so because I HADN’T EVEN OPEN MY BOOK. But somehow I managed to get more than 76% on all of the exams. So here is how I did it. 

1. Ask someone for help. In one of my previous posts, I said you have to be generous with your classmates and be willing to help. And this is why. One day, you’ll also need help and if you’re in good terms with everyone, you’ll increase your chances of getting that help. Ask them for tips the teacher might have given if you didn’t go to class, or if they can share their notes with you. Anything that can help you really. This is the fastest way to inform yourself about what might come in an exam. However, DO NOT MAKE THIS A HABIT. Everyone dislikes that one person who leeches off other’s hard work. But once every rare time is okay.  

2. Make a summary. Making a summary gives you the highlights of the material in a nutshell, which is exactly what you need in such a moment. You don’t need to read the entire book, cuz you’ll never finish that way. Most books nowadays already have a summary after each chapter. So you can use that as a guideline. However, I would recommend adding examples to these book summaries because they often lack one and having an example can totally make a difference in whether you understand and will remember. Also, if you have exam tips at hand and your teacher is to trust (because there’s always that one teacher who gives you false tips and fucks the entire class over) make a summary out of those tips, not only is this faster, it is likely to also be more precise. 

3. Learn what’s likely going to give you the most points first. Most of my exams are a combination of multiple choice questions and cases. Most of the times, the case is about 50-70% of the total points. So if your professor gives you tips for cases, learn those first! Understand every aspect of it and nail it! After all, multiple choice questions are more about understanding what you read and are easier to answer than the open-ended questions in which you have to give an argumentation. So starting off by the subjects who will give you the most points increases the chances of saving your ass. 

4. Test it out. THIS will truly give you an accurate view of whether or not you’re actually understanding and remembering what you’re learning. When I finish learning a chapter, I rest for some minutes, then look for a test online and take it. This gives me an overview of the aspects I do remember and which ones not and see if I can give a clear explanation. Always take this test written. Don’t say it out loud, because often when I do it, I have the tendency to half-ass my answers. And when I write it, I also have a documentation of my answer and can always go back and see if I can make some tweaks to it. 

5. For the love of god, take a nap. I don’t care if you’re planning to pull an all-nighter and survive on caffeine and Red Bull. Take a proper nap. Of course, you’re likely not to have the luxury of sleeping 8 hours, but a nap is the closest you can get and can totally help your brain strengthen those connections and feel more relaxed and at ease to take the test.

So that is what I did to survive this last fucking stressful but that’s my own fault semester. I really hope it helps you too and I want to know what you guys do when you have to learn for an exam the same day. Let’s all help each other!  

Written by studywithshiro

p-erks-of-beingme:

playlists for your mid-semester uni breakdown

you’re pulling an all nighter or you’re up early to study and you’re feeling those 4am feels

do you even really need this degree cri

uni is nothing like you imagined. are you really going to be this lonely forever? is this how life really is? is this adulthood????

do homework have a one man rave at midnight

group project gone wrong part 1 you’re the only one pulling your weight and you’re responsible for submitting the assignment >:)

group project gone wrong part 2 why tf does uni have so many group projects

random burst of motivation that lasts for 3 secs where you believe you. can. actually. do. this.

everyone feels this edgy in uni right? right????

myb i shld just skip all my classes and not turn in my assignments bc who cares i am an adult™

existential crisis when you realize your adolescence is over and the years really do start coming and never stop welp

✨ sharp shiny objects ✨

myb i shld book an appointment w/ a counsellor (unironic)

thinking of how much everything has changed since hs and all those broken empty promises

need. to. scream.

this sadness is getting hard to romanticize

it’s normal to start crying at random moments right? right????

If you consider yourself a progressive in any capacity, it is your moral obligation to counter fascism in any way you can.

It’s absolutely disgraceful that we live in a time where voting for milquetoast liberals is legitimate anti-fascist action. But it is.

MAGA not the fringe. That is the Republican Party. White supremacy and anti-queer bigotry is the norm now. It IS the mainstream. The anti-trans rhetoric they engage in is deliberate. They call queer people pedophiles and groomers because they want you to die. They want you to be affectively dehumanized so they can strip everything from you. They call abortion murder because they want women to be helpless. They called George Floyd a thug and a druggie, because needless suffering by POC cannot be sympathized with.

The buffalo shooter was not a lone wolf and he was not an isolated incident. The shit in his manifesto is shit spewed on Fox News.

Fascism should be in your every day vocabulary. That is what binds the GOP platform. Do not delude yourself into believing that it can’t happen here. It can, it IS, and now is the time to ACT.

IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, REGISTER. REGISTER RIGHT NOW. REGISTER AS A DEMOCRAT SO YOU CAN VOTE IN PRIMARIES.

VOTE FOR CANDIDATES THAT ARE PRO CHOICE, PRO UNION, PRO EQUALITY.

Don’t be lazy if you live in a blue state, and don’t be discouraged if you live in the red. California used to be a Republican stronghold, and every election cycle, Texas, Georgia, and Alabama get a little bluer. Never get complacent, never be hopeless. Inaction is pro-fascist, always.

Good luck America.

Autumn Studying Challenge

27th October - Trick or treat?

Treat!

Midterms officially turned in… Now I just have to get everything else on my to do list done (yikes)

☕ Wednesday coffee adventures

Tried another little cafe in the city walls (not pictured)–the mocha was really good but no food bc they didn’t really have anything :(

Autumn Studying Challenge

26th October - Spooky mood or cozy mood?

Cozy–I’m not really into like scary things or Halloween

Still have to (finally) record my midterm presentation bc it’s due tomorrow… And the other ones due the day after (help)