derek

The suggested alternatives don't work though because they're superfluously suggestive. We have a few ways to fine-tune the story. I'm not sure there's an inarguable improvement but, to my taste, I see two.

"Well... You are what you eat!" She replied.

Pinocchio's gaze moved slowly toward the school.

1. It doesn't matter who the speaker is. If the reader is familiar with the original story and they assume correctly that's fine. We don't need the information for our delivery though. Dropping the reference makes for a cleaner read.
2. Ixnay the garnish. I considered "eager gaze" but that still felt clunky. Communicating the action in a way which mirrors the unspoken internal processing of the monstrous consideration itself leads to a more powerful realization for the reader. It now paints a scene instead of hinting how the reader should feel about it.

Part of my execution comes down to styling, and I'm particular, but packaging compact work for ease of digestion and letting the words rest as they fall leads the reader succinctly to our intended moment (which, as I understand it, is the purpose of the exercise).

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It's a mix of earth and blood magic. Life is wild.

Looking for Rock records amidst a trial pile?

This is true! Saying figs is wasps is silly in the same way that saying plants are dirt is silly. Like... Kind of? From a certain odd perspective, "sure", with caveats. It's a reductive understanding that's neither literally nor technically true but who am I? A botanist? No. I'm not.

I do know a lot happens between pollination and the fruit we might eat though and most fig varieties we grow for food or buy from stores aren't the kind pollinated by wasps anyway. I found a decent write up with more detail here: https://www.treehugger.com/are-figs-vegan-5203202

Dirt is the byproduct of life after its been on a planet for a while. Plants figured out how to recycle life and death's leftovers. Then mushrooms came along and filled the gaps in weird ways. Animals eat the plants and fungi. Other animals eat those animals. Siiiimbaaaa, right?

We typically don't think we're eating our ancestors when having a salad. We aren't beholden to the idea that we're eating wasps when munching figs either. Even in the odd case where we're eating those specific kinds of figs.

The despots wouldn't admit it but they only have power so long as they remain useful puppets for Oligarchs. Military industry is big business and the monied interests couldn't care less about national politics or allegiance.

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

¿Por qué no los dos?

Our health, in all aspects, is in our own hands.

Finding a psychiatrist, general practitioner, oncologist, etc, who understands this and is interested in having a professional working relationship with their patients is the key to receiving tangible medicinal and therapeutic benefit from their expertise. The dehumanization and indignity common in that process isn't talked about enough and we're right to call attention to it and demand better.

There's a whole separate conversation about the industry of healthcare hidden in the subtext here (and so much more so if you're in the United States) but the principal is the same regardless. Expert diagnosticians can provide immense value when given appropriate tools and the space to use them. Capitalization and Industrialization mandate standardization which leaves little room for complex problem solving and edge cases.

I'm not arguing this excuses the constant malpractice. It doesn't because it can't. It can provide a framework for understanding and fighting back against its normalization though and I've found that helpful. At least in conversation.

Another aspect of this that I don't think is reducible in the same way is our proclivity for taxonomic coherence. I think it's one of our species' better qualities and that we let it drive us to premature conclusions about the rightness of the models we construct. The DSM is no exception. An effort may be well intentioned and still fall into the same traps and hurdles that bias and ego litter about. I'm not an anthropologist or historian but I have a pet theory that this phenomenon is also the root of delusion and dogma. We're adept at self-deception en masse. Doubly so when protecting our perceived identities to avoid social shame.

If the school still exists, and you're interested in finding out, you could contact and ask for a copy of your school records. Any school(s) you transferred to afterward should have those records as well.

The record keeping is mostly guided by FERPA (like HIPPA for public schools). How long records are kept varies by State but most of them mandate 50+ years or longer. Those that don't also lack enforcement for destruction and people are lazy so... You'll usually find something even if it's not all the info you wanted.

They're obligated by law to provide the records you're entitled to within 45 days of the request.

You may not be that interested but I figured if you, or someone else reading this, are sufficiently interested then this info might be helpful.

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That's not a reasonable position. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, its interpretation, and the monied interests lobbying with millions of dollars to make billions selling firearms are endemic to the socio-political quagmire that is American politics.

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