Author: Laurel L. Russwurm

is a self publishing novelist and photographer.

visual laurel 2022-08-02 02:45:57

makaeru:

Hey, friendly PSA from an Australian: please for the love of fuck do not buy UGG™ boots.

Ugg boots (generic term, not trademarked) are a traditional sheepskin slipper and are usually made by small family owned businesses using local artisans and Australian sheepskin. They are not a fashion item. They are the warmest and comfiest slippers you’ll own, and the sort of thing so daggy I’d get embarrassed if my parents wore them out further than the driveway.

Then Deckers, an American footwear brand, decided to step in and trademark the term ugg. There was a protracted legal battle, and they lost the trademark in Australia but kept it everywhere else in the world. This means that Australian bootmakers can only use the word “ugg” in Australian markets. You’d better believe Deckers are suing any small business that dares try to sell ugg boots outside Australia, for copyright infringement and some bullshit about “damaging their brand”.

On top of which, instead of high quality locally made boots where workers are getting paid fairly, they’ve outsourced production to China.

So fuck UGG™, fuck Deckers, and please support small businesses (if you can do so without getting them sued).

Among the stars…

I was so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle Nichols. She was definitely the coolest woman on #StarTrek (back in the days before you had to add TOS). She was someone you wanted to grow up to be.

Lt. Uhura was a strong role model, far more so than most of the other women portrayed on The Original Series.

Mr Roddenberry had tried to create a strong woman First Officer in his original concept, but that idea was too progressive even for the 1960s, so it was killed by the NBC brass.

I think Uhura was allowed to get away with being a strong woman precisely because she wasn’t one of the series’ three primary characters. She didn’t have to be a potential love interest for the Captain, (like Yeoman Rand) or the First Officer (like Nurse Chapel).

Instead, she was clearly her own woman, professional and competent. Being drop dead gorgeous, Lt. Uhura could even carry off that ridiculously sexist Star Trek uniform. But you didn’t have to see Mirror, Mirror to know nobody would dare put the moves on her without her permission.

Yet there was no doubt Lt. Uhura had a softer side when she cooed over a Tribble, or sang a song to cheer up Lt. Riley. And although she undoubtedly had a romantic life, it was nobody’s business but her own.

Much is made about “the first interracial kiss” in American prime time. Yet something I’ve never heard or read anyone talk about was the fact it was not a romantic kiss, or even voluntary.

Yet it wasn’t an ordinary case of a sexual harassment. Lt Uhura and Captain Kirk were forced to kiss by the kinetic power of a malevolent alien, and both actors played it that way. No doubt it was handled this way to get it past the network censors.

But for an older me, when I watched this episode again in reruns, what got my attention was the demonstration that sexual assault was more about power than sex.

When Nichelle Nichols came into the role of Lt Uhura, you’d never know she was a singer, not an actor. Her acting was flawless.

In the whole series, the only thing that came out of her mouth that didn’t ring true was the line from The City On The Edge of Forever, “Captain, I’m frightened.”

Not because Uhura wouldn’t have been afraid at a time anyone would have been, but because saying it aloud was totally out of character for the always professional Star Fleet officer. But even as a kid I recognized it as classic stereotyping and didn’t blame her for it.

Later as a young adult, working with my friend running the Canadian Trekkies Association and publishing two issues of our Canektion fanzine, I learned Nichelle Nichols didn’t just inspire women through her acting, in her later work she actively helped NASA recruit POC and women.

Nichelle Nichols was a real inspiration, even for little white girls like me growing up in the 1960s. She showed us women’s work could be whatever we wanted it to be.

She will be missed.

visual laurel 2022-08-01 12:14:54

Rest among the stars…

So sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle Nichols, definitely the coolest woman on #StarTrek (back before you had to add TOS).

Lt. Uhura was an inspiration to little white girls like me growing up in the 1960s. She was a strong role model, far more so than most of the other women portrayed on The Original Series.

Mr Roddenberry had tried to create a strong woman First Officer in his original concept, but that idea was too progressive even for the 1960s, so it was killed by the NBC brass.

I kind of think Uhura was allowed to get away with being a strong woman because she wasn’t one of the primary characters. She didn’t have to be a potential love interest like Yeoman Rand or Nurse Chapel. She was clearly her own woman, professional and competent. She was drop dead gorgeous and could carry off that ridiculously sexist uniform but you just knew nobody would dare put the moves on her without her permission. Yet there was no doubt she had her softer side as she cooed over a Tribble. And undoubtedly a romantic life that was nobody’s business but her own.

Much is made about the first interracial kiss in American prime time, which clearly was a biggie to get past the network censors. (It actually wasn’t the 1st, but pop culture.) Yet something I’ve never heard or read anyone talk about was that it was not a voluntary kiss, it was coerced. But it wasn’t an ordinary case of a ranking white male officer sexually assaulting another POC officer. Both Lt Uhura and Captain Kirk were forced by the kinetic power of a malevolent alien. Both were forced, and both actors played it that way. For an older me, seeing this again in reruns, it was more an eye opener about sexual assault being more about power than sex.

In the whole series, the only words that came out of her mouth that didn’t ring true was the line, “Captain, I’m frightened.” Not because she wouldn’t have been afraid at a time anyone would have been, but because it was totally out of character for this always professional Star Fleet officer. But even as a kid I didn’t blame her for it. She played it well, but I recognized it for what it was— a sop to the man.

Later as an older teen running the Canadian Trekkies Association and publishing two issues of our Canektion fanzine, I learned about Nichelle Nichols working more actively to not just inspire women through her acting, but actively helping NASA recruit POC and women.

Her family’s message on her website says:

“Her light, however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration.

“Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”

https://uhura.com

visual laurel 2022-08-01 10:41:48

iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid:

hey so we americans live in a gerrymandered hellscape but i literally cannot emphasize enough how important it’s going to be to vote anyway during these upcoming 2022 elections, and that goes quadruple if you live in pennsylvania

VOTE!

No matter how bad the voting system, the only way to get what you want is to vote for the candidate who will best represent you. Anyone who tells you your only choice is to vote strategically or tactically for a candidate who won’t is trying to get you to vote for what they want!

Don’t do it!

The best fix is voting system reform to some form of #ProportionalRepresentation, but that will never happen until people stop voting for the same old two party duopoly that benefits from the status quo.

These days they use opinion polls as propaganda— to convince voters their team will win no matter how you vote. The thing we should have learned from the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that anyone with enough money can have a pretty good idea of how many people will vote, making it easy to know who to ask to get the answers they need to convince you not to vote or to vote the way they want.

Voter suppression techniques help drive low voter turnout. The duopoly would rather you gave up in despair and didn’t vote at all if you aren’t going to vote for them.

Do it!

When more voters don’t vote than elect the government, the duopoly wins and citizens lose. There are people trying to make real change, all you have to do is figure out which of them will make the changes you want.

Then vote for what *you* want. If you can, volunteer for or donate to the candidate who will best represent you. And encourage your family and friends to vote for what they want— especially those you know don’t vote. But it is super important not to tell them how to vote, because that’s one of the main reasons people don’t vote.

Why waste your time voting if you can’t vote for what you want?

But being open about how we will vote won’t work for everyone, because Defenders of the Status Quo harass anyone who won’t keep their team in power. If that would be a problem for you, there is a democratic safeguard in place to protect your right to vote for what you want.

The secret ballot means they will never know how you voted, and you don’t have to tell them!

If all the people who get pressured into voting for what they don’t want, or who have given up on our broken democracy and so have stopped voting, if all the citizens eligible to vote now voted, and voted for what they really wanted, we would have very different election results. The clock is ticking.

So vote for what *you* want.

“It’s dusk, dearest. (In passing, isn’t ‘dusk’ a lovely word? I like it better than twilight. It…”

“It’s dusk, dearest. (In passing, isn’t ‘dusk’ a lovely word? I like it better than twilight. It sounds so velvety and shadowy and – and – dusky.) In daylight I belong to the world; in the night to sleep and eternity. But in the dusk I’m free from both and belong only to myself – and you.”

- L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars.

Canadian Politics


Over the past several years I’ve been more involved in Canadian politics because we are facing challenges we can no longer afford to ignore— from the existential threat of climate change to Canada’s human rights violations at home and abroad, festering social justice issues of colonization, systemic racism and the need to defund the police, our entrenched inequities, Victorian attitudes toward…

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Canadian Politics

Over the past several years I’ve been more involved in Canadian politics because we are facing challenges we can no longer afford to ignore— from the existential threat of climate change to Canada’s human rights violations at home and abroad, festering social justice issues of colonization, systemic racism and the need to defund the police, our entrenched inequities, Victorian attitudes toward work, economic inequities and presumed “worthiness” for survival, the rape culture spotlighted by the #metoo movement, the ever expanding incursions into our cultural freedom being made by the voracious “intellectual property” regime (which prompted my creation of this blog), and our government’s abject failure to put aside partisanship and deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent failure to even try to “build back better”— all of these things highlight our desperate need for real real change (not the phony real change Mr Trudeau promised in 2015) more than ever before.

The thing that sucked me into politics was my belief in democracy, and my realization that the reason everything has been getting worse throughout my entire adulthood because we don’t actually have the representative democracy they tell us we have.

When a lifetime of voting in every election without ever electing a representative almost made me give up hope of things ever getting better, I discovered it didn’t have to be this way. There is a means to transform this country into an actual Representative Democracy.

The way to upend the status quo so we can actually start fixing the things that are so badly wrong so we can work toward the future we need is by changing the way we elect our gover ments. Much to my surprise I discovered there have been Canadians trying to make this happen pretty much for all of Canadian History.

Andrew Ross McMaster, 1923 Liberal MP, Brome

Now is the time to stop trying. As Yoda would tell us, we must do.

And what we must do is implement Proportional Representation.

At this point I understand that I am only one person, and it’s time to realize I only have the time to write one blog. And this is it.

And right now my focus has to be on Proportional Representation.

“The present situation [First Past the Post Plurality voting] appears to me to be one which does not appeal to logical or righteous minds, it does not give us proper representation of the thought and the political sympathies of the people; therefore, we should strive to find out something that will.”
— Andrew Ross McMaster

https://www.lipad.ca/full/permalink/643321/