In a stunning break with brand, we’re starting with a blockquote from somewhere else:
Sadly, the glorious run came to an end in somewhat dramatic fashion this weekend after Opals star Alice Kunek posted an image of herself in blackface, apparently “in support of” rapper Kanye West. No word from Mr West on how he feels about that ‘support’, but we’ll hazard a guess that an African-American musician would not be overly into the idea of reappropriating the aesthetic of a famously racist musical form.
After Kunek was called out by teammate Elizabeth Cambage, a furious reaction ensued. (Against Cambage.)
Sadly, it’s not all fun and games, and we’re about to talk about the prioritisation of certain voices in fandom and the white-washing of Maori people. Hooray! (Also discussion of transphobic tropes and transphobia, so please tread carefully.)
But I was serious about this. You read enough books in which people like you are disposable, or are dirt, or are silent, absent, or worthless, and it makes an impact on you. Because art makes the world, because it matters, because it makes us. Or breaks us.
While our factory provides excellent wages and working conditions, Chinese working conditions are generally more strict. This year, we used the money from one day of our holiday promotion to give our workers something very uncommon in China: a paid vacation.
The printer didn’t have any formal procedures for paid vacations, so we bought 100% of the factory’s capacity and paid them to produce nothing for a week, giving the people who make Cards Against Humanity an unexpected chance to visit family or do whatever they pleased.
We at No Award think it’s pretty cool that JKR has gone from reading and faving articles about racebending and PoC headcanons in HP to actually casting a woman of colour. And Dumezweni has been quite amazing in the few things Liz has seen her in.
An Unbelievable Story of Rape. A compelling long read about a serial rapist, and the particular case of one of his victims, a girl who had just left foster care, who was treated remarkably differently to the middle class women who were also attacked.
For its second number in 2016, Southerly will be producing an issue, co-edited by David Brooks and Andy Jackson, on Writing and Disability, and we are seeking contributions in all our usual fields – poetry, short fiction, essay, review, memoir, etc. Both physical and psychological disability will be considered – visible and invisible – and disability will be interpreted widely within these areas. The co-editors do not wish to limit contributions in any way. They do note, however, that the area of writing and disability is significantly under-theorised, especially in the Australian context, and hope that this publication might make some contribution in this area.
Of course, there can be a certain pleasure in getting something for nothing — and achieving that emotional state can be a goal that takes over the lives of some people (even very well-heeled ones). Take the case of a successful white-collar professional who began stealing wine from stores at the age of 50 after several deaths in his family. Like many wine connoisseurs, he was guided by Robert Parker’s wine reviews and aimed for bottles with a rating of at least 95. Then he set a goal of boosting $1,000-worth of wine in a week, and succeeded. Along the way, though, he was arrested several times and spent heavily for lawyers to avoid a felony conviction that might have cost him his professional license.
Ms Hoskin, who refused to comment to the media after the Court of Appeal judgment was handed down, tumbled down the steps outside court after the verdict, and had to be given first aid treatment for a suspected broken ankle.
She was helped into a taxi by members of the media, after refusing an ambulance.
On Wednesday morning, the court rejected the residents’ claims that the mosque would bring negative social effects to Bendigo. The judges said Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights protected freedom of religion, and said the mere practice of religious worship could not be considered to be an adverse “social effect”.
(If reading that has left you curious about the world of bean to bar chocolate, and you’re in Melbourne, turns out Haigh’s has been doing bean to bar since before these whippersnappers came along.)
(Chocolate fraud is also a great topic if you love reading investigative journalism, but aren’t in the mood for crime or, you know, anything where people are seriously hurt.)
We are pretty bad at this feature, but No Award is pretty bad at all of its features. Today at No Award: Indigenous Business, ie, a whole bunch of links and things.
Does YA fiction need to check its privilege? On class, and the lack of working class YA protagonists who aren’t leading a revolution. (Liz agrees strongly with this article, and sadly notes that some of the worst depictions of class are from OzYA.)
An Open Letter to JJ Abrams – Did you know that girls can be Star Wars fans? Apparently JJ didn’t. But what made this blog post particularly enjoyable was the author’s account of becoming a science fiction fan in Hong Kong.
Great piece at Overland on the shit going on against the CFMEU and Australia’s Unions: Black bans and blackmail, and why it’s important.
That’s why having workers’ representatives monitoring safety matters. Last month, when a concrete slab crushed two men to death on an East Perth worksite, it transpired that the CFMEU had been refused entry to the site sixteen times.
No Award reminds everyone that the voices of women (and genderqueer people) are frequently silenced by the medical fraternity and endometriosis is a real thing suffered by Friends of No Award: My Doctors Said My Crippling Menstrual Pain Was “Fine”.
As Parkhill noted in a response to Kilbride’s piece on Facebook, the core issue was not simply that the piece was ‘garbage’, but that it passed the editorial process at all. ‘Perhaps worse than the article’s content is the fact that [New Matilda] have exposed a very young and inexperienced writer’s ill-formed thoughts to a large audience,’ Parkhill said. ‘This article was by no means ready to go live, and I’m sure in the fullness of time its author won’t thank [New Matilda] for the opportunity or “exposure” but will regret the fact that [they] were willing to publish such asinine crap to which his name will be forever attached.’
Seven News reported on Wednesday that police know the man, believed to be a former university student, responsible and found a second pig’s head in his home.
But he reportedly won’t be charged because technically no laws had been broken.
IT’S CALLED RACIAL VILIFICATION GET IT TOGETHER WA COPPERS COME ON.
“When I came on this trip, there were a lot of things I hadn’t done at home,” said Rose, 32, from Western Australia.
“There was a bucket list and I always said that if I came to Colombia I would try cocaine.
“In Australia, it is a rich man’s drug and sells for about $300 a gram. Here we have had it for as cheap as $US5. People give it away because it is so accessible.”
I love food. So I went to a talk at the Wheeler Centre called ‘Culinary Geography’ with panelists George Calombaris, Elizabeth Chong and Rosa Mitchell, with host Larissa Dubecki.
Joining me today is Cindy, one half of awesome vego Melbourne blog Where’s the Beef. Please walk with us for some food and culture feelpinions.
HELLO FRIENDS. Tomorrow Victoria gets a public holiday for AFL Grand Final Eve, in a move that I cannot even. As if it’s not bad enough that we get a public holiday for a horse race, we now have to have one for sportsball.
[Liz feels compelled to note here that Stephanie never works on Fridays anyway, and a bonus public holiday in the long, break-free wasteland between the Queen’s Birthday and Cup Day is a gift to us five-day-a-week peons.]
Anyway, Stephanie is a lifelong Sydney Swans supporter, and never has she been more passionate than this year, when deadset legend Adam Goodes has been subject to the gross racism that infests our sport. So in celebration of the end of the season, have some links and commentary and feels.
Mr Raff said body corporate and property owners were footing bills of between $800-$1000 for the installation of cameras down drains in unit housing to determine who is responsible for clogging drains, should the problem arise.
Cameras to look at who is flushing wet wipes! We hope the cameras are in the drains, not in the bathrooms.
Netball: The sport America invented, then lost. Liz has a lot of complicated feelings about netball, mostly because it was compulsory for girls at her primary school, and the teachers just assumed everyone knew the rules. Plus, she was tall (yes, really!) and much better at basketball. However, netball as a cultural artifact is really interesting!
(MONA is not a great place to visit if you are asexual, have triggers relating to graphic depictions of rape, or have issues around cruelty to animals. I mention this because it didn’t come up in any of my pre-trip reading, and I personally would have liked some warning. Also, I can’t figure out why people were upset about the blunt knife in this piece, when the real issue is that the bowl is too shallow and the fish are hanging out in their own excrement.)
On the upside, I have yet to produce a museum review as terrible as this one.
Huw Parkinson of the ABC has found his calling: Australian politics and pop culture mash-ups. The only aspect of this Bronwyn-Bishop-as-Lucille-Bluth clip is that Tony Abbott isn’t Gob.
On a related note, Friend of No Award Ash has drawn our attention to a highlight of Bishop’s Wikipedia page:
Bishop was educated at Roseville Public School, completing her primary education in 1954. Bishop undertook a five-year LL.B. program at the University of Sydney. However, she was deemed ineligible to continue after failing a number of subjects multiple times. Bishop failed a total of 11 subjects over six years. In her first year in 1960, she failed all four core subjects. In 1964, she failed four subjects again and repeated them in 1965, in which she failed three again. The policy of the University of Sydney at the time was that a student was required to show cause why they should be allowed to repeat a subject for a third time, and Bishop was deemed ineligible to continue.
…Bishop first worked as an articled clerk and played an acting role as a barrister in the 1960s Australian television program Divorce Court.
Finally, Liz had one ongoing problem in Tasmania: the underwire of her bra kept popping out and trying to stab her. But Google has provided a solution! (No, it’s not “don’t wear bras without underwires”. They don’t exist in my size, and aside from the occasional stabbing, I prefer the support that comes with a bit of metal in one’s undergarments.)
This link has “borrowed” content and gender essentialism, but it also has more useful illustrations than the original source: How To Repair An Underwire Bra, featuring cheap corn/bunion pads.
Two West Coast supporters were evicted for racist behaviour and Goodes was continually booed throughout the match, prompting teammate Lewis Jetta to do an Aboriginal war dance after scoring a goal as a show of support for Goodes.
One of the ejected spectators yelled that Goodes should, “go back to the zoo.”
Former Brisbane Roar goalkeeper Griffin McMaster has weighed into the Adam Goodes racism controversy by suggesting the dual Brownlow medallist and former Australian of the Year should be deported.
I cry laughing every time I read this quote. Adam Goodes is an Indigenous Australian AFL player who was Australian of the Year. He is literally – like – there is no way to be more Australian in this country.
“Adam Goodes calls Australia Day invasion day,” McMaster wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
“Deport him.
“If you don’t like it leave.”
AN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN AFL PLAYER WHO WAS AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR.
I
CANNOT
I’m probably actually going to be sick I’m so angry.
I’d be happy to see every Indigenous player from now on perform the war dance every time they kick a goal. That would rub it in all our white faces until we truly got the message that you are part of this culture on your own terms and not on the terms that white society deems to be acceptable.
Finally, in other non-racist news, Andrew Bolt has been busy posting clips of Martin Luther King speeches. He’s running a campaign against the ‘race war’ in the AFL, a war conducted, not by the booing fans, but by Adam Goodes, who seems to be singlehandedly oppressing all of Australia’s white football followers.
Yes, that’s right. You see, MLK had a dream that white children would, one day, be able to say whatever they damn well want – and that non-white people would sit there and take it.
Happily, here in Australia, that noble vision seems on the verge of coming true.
This weekend saw rallies by Reclaim Australia (racists) and protests/opposing rallies from #noroomforracism. And just in case you’re wondering where Victorian coppers stand:
Here’s a photo of a member of the Victorian Police pepper spraying an anti-fascist marcher.
Here’s a photo of a member of the Victorian Police giving a high five to a totally racist fucker at a pro-racism rally.
Here’s a photo of a medic who was pepper sprayed by a member of the Victorian Police. (This action was allegedly with no warning)
Here’s how the Victorian Police chose to defend some actions:
The image of a policeman engaging in a hand gesture with a demonstrator yesterday represents a split second action in a dynamic environment.
We very much hope that this response is merely the work of VicPol’s PR department’s work experience kid, and that Monday morning involved a lot of senior people going, “Okay, we need to find out who high-fived the fascist, who gave the order to pepper spray peaceful protesters and medics, and which dickhead was running the Twitter account yesterday afternoon.”
We have hope, but not necessarily optimism.
So anyway basically everything is terrible. Statistically, we’re probably friends with or related to people who support some of this shit, and we’re pretty angry right now.
The Reclaim Australia supporters marched through Elizabeth Mall, singing Waltzing Matilda and the national anthem.
As they reached Hobart Fountain, anti-racist protesters were waiting, singing the theme song from television show Neighbours.
What.
This is all depressingly reminiscent of the 1930s, when lots of countries (including the UK, US and, yes, Australia) saw little bubbles of Fascism rise to the surface. Luckily, Fascism didn’t take hold in Australia … partially because it was seen as being a bit, you know, foreign. IRONY.
But the other reason it never became mainstream was because the average Australian punters were too busy pointing and laughing to say more than, “Yeah, nuh” to the guys shrieking about international Jewish conspiracies and blaming minorities instead of capitalism for unemployment and poverty.
Liz feels, therefore, that more anti-fascism protests should involve group singalongs of Aussie soap themes. Reclaim Australia doesn’t deserve the dignity of a serious response.
I love food. So I went to a talk at the Wheeler Centre called ‘Culinary Geography’ with panelists George Calombaris, Elizabeth Chong and Rosa Mitchell, with host Larissa Dubecki.
no-award.net 