Damn it looks sooooo satisfying when kitties gnaw on their nails when they groom themselves, I want to be a cat

I DO NOT want to do this as a human btw ew

I think YouTube would be the toughest for me to quit as well. But I use it almost exclusively for music; I listen to a lot of underground/independent artists and its just so easy to find everything I want, and their algorithm works decently well so that I can discover or rediscover artists. Being able to use the app on my TV is another attractive part of it too. I admit I havent spent too much time in newpipe or any of the other alternatives; it would probably get easier if I made myself use it and ease in but I just don't!

This is very helpful because there are a lot of pieces that you bring up that I was not bringing into focus when thinking about this...But as I was writing my thoughts, of course more and more questions started to come up that made me realize that this IS more complex than I thought. I think the conditions in the work here in the US is probably quite different from yours but similar. I'm gonna reread and give a more thoughtful response a bit later

I think when I focus on working in private practice, I have a particular idea of the working conditions of the social workers compared to those that do not or cannot do that. I didn't quite flesh out what those differences are. I think I also got lost in the sauce trying to classify the workers that there are other things I neglected or just straight up forgot about while thinking about this, combined with my personal experience and struggle in the profession. Glad you reoriented me, though.

I keep trying to figure out how to clarify my thoughts in response to you, but I can't even figure out where to start because as I type things out, I keep bringing myself back to the definition you pointed out and I think disentangling some of these things would be needed before even trying to classify the workers. So I'm just gonna ramble on here and if you have any thoughts on it I think it could be really helpful in reframing the question for me.

For the rest, this is explicitly from the perspective of the US, where requirements for the profession can be quite different than that of other countries as you can guess lol.

The working conditions for social (service) workers can be radically different. In private practice, working conditions and wages are significantly improved, and the type of work, which is typically therapy, is much more focused on the individual and coping in a capitalist society. In general, positions that do not require licensure are those much more focused on case management, where one is focused moreso on trying to change the material conditions for the individual but even this is not black and white because these same workers can do crisis work, for example...But those workers are often supervised by someone who is licensed where it's not required of case management. And supervision in this sense is not quite the same as how we would think of it in other contexts.

Referencing StillNoLeftLeft again, the work has largely functioned as an arm of the state in order to quell revolutionary potential in people by providing them with their basic needs, as well as diverting efforts of potential workers away from revolutionary activity towards a watered down version of this. But then come nonprofits. Part of the purpose of diverting jobs towards nonprofits and away from the public sector was to weaken unions. But in this, there has been the potential for freedom of work and the mission of the agency where I believe social (service) workers can and have pushed back against this mechanism. There are a subset of workers whose personal goal is to no longer have a job because the conditions under which social work is "needed" will no longer exist. An example of an agency trying to approach this issue from a broader sense than meeting peoples basic needs are trying to work alongside the homeless community and build political consciousness in that population. As you can imagine, the state tries to wrangle in and/or crush agencies that do not seek to maintain and replicate current conditions, but I feel like more and more groups with that outlook have popped up.

So, I don't yet know how to parse all of this out because I feel like there are a lot of contradictions and that it's quite complex. I don't know if these are not the variables that I should be focusing on and that I'm too zoomed in but if you read all that and have thoughts, again I'd love to hear em

Damn I hella forgot about Manilla Road, fuck yeah! Old metal is fucking sick

Here ya go!

What was it?

I would say there is a little bit more to clean, but ive seen many that have "splash guards". Mine also has a cleaning setting that will wash the splash guard but its not gonna get the guard squeaky clean. Mine attaches to the seat, and also flips up for cleaning do you can wipe beneath it. I can send you a link to the one I got it you'd like, I was nervous about that too but I am so glad I got one

I'm the same way, its HARD. I notice that I can only stick to reading and really try to absorb it if its required reading, like for class or something. I recently joined a study group thata comrade kinda forced me into joining and I read 100+ pages in one day lol. So maybe finding a group like that would help! If not in person I think cowbee runs a study group here

I feel like that goes without saying, but that example just really illustrates how fucked it is. I'm sure being white contributed to my not being separated. I remember the social worker being a black lady, but a broken system is a broken system

Yeah, I think you got it right with Reagan really fucking with them. I worked at a place with a lot of people who were supposedly "progressive", "counter culture" etc etc and when I unionized it came out just how many gen x people were suuuuper anti union, or "I'm pro union just not here". It took the most work to try to flip them, I was really shocked but then I figured they were exposed to the most propaganda and witnessed how dismal unions were at their worst

My person and I spent 7 hours working in our yard today. In pain but very proud to have totally transformed it! We let shit get super super overgrown last year so most of the lawn was 1-3ft tall and there was so much blackberry that we had to dig out. So we weed whacked the tall grass, raked, mowed. Weed whack, rake, mow. Again and again and AGAIN. We got rid of nearly all of the blackberry from the root too which is so satisfying!!! I rented a tree popper to get most of the roots and it made me feel invincible, highly recommend if you need to get rid of blackberries in your yard. Moist-ish soil is best

Aaaaaa I hope I actually go out to touch grass and enjoy the yard this summer after all of this. Running through sprinklers and Modelo time will be lit

Oof yeah okay I know what post youre talking about. I don't wanna open up another struggle sesh here, but yeah I can see how that would feel really destabilizing if you all of a sudden saw something like that. Especially if being ND might play a part, it can be really confronting to just see some random post about your behavior all of a sudden if you have no idea that you might be doing something wrong/inappropriate or otherwise might need some reflecting. That being said, I hope that even if some of the feedback was hard to hear, that you can sit with what was constructive and reflect on it. And I hope you can take care and try not to spiral either, that can be easy to do

I think something like 65% of foster children end up homeless as adults if not more. I agree, it is totally fucked. Child Protective Services as well. I couldve been taken away from my mom when I was young... I lived a very traumatic childhood but who knows what the hell couldve happened to me if I was placed in foster care

You wrote out my thoughts exactly

Big agree on Idaho, and somewhat on the gen x'ers. Ive really been wanting to camp and explore Idaho because it seems really pretty, but it makes me pretty damn nervous. I'm white even, but dress alternative or whatever so I feel like there might be some kinda singling out outside of Boise, maybe.

I think some of this generational stuff depends on where you land, kinda feel like there are 2/3 different grouoings in each category. but ive noticed that a lot of gen x'ers I know seem to have turned from apolitical to reactionary. My parents are early gen X and they all of a sudden decided to become trump supporters, they've been separated for years too so they developed independently. Lame since many gen xers grew up with Rage Against the Machine and/or System of a Down. Some late gen x/early millenials can be chill though but seem to fall into this trap as well.(I am a mid millenial if it matters)

Thank you for not thinking we are cringe

I think it's the last 1/3 of the gen-z'ers that seem to think millenials are super cringe. My gen z friends that are in their late 20s are dope.

Yeah, that would be a nightmare for me! If I'm being problematic/outta pocket/have a bad take I would like for someone to engage me on it but things seem to have been getting real personal real fast. Seems thats part of the culture here, at least according to some people who have been around a long time. I still really love this place tho