#laquan mcdonald

[ikuinatakashis]

Black Lives Matter pieces displayed at the mopop museum in Seattle

[pinolitas]

where's that pic of a woman not wanting to shake Rahm emmanuels hand

[dweemeister]

Best Documentary Short Film Nominees for the 97th Academy Awards (2025, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages – a personal tradition for myself and for this blog. This omnibus write-up is done in memory of two now-shuttered theaters that were very important to this tradition – the Nickelodeon Theatre of Santa Cruz, California (2012 and 2013) and the Regency South Coast Village of Santa Ana, California (2014-2020, 2022-2024). 

If you are an American or Canadian resident interested in supporting the short film filmmakers in theaters (and you should, as very few of those who work in short films are as affluent as your big-name directors and actors), check your local participating theaters here.

Now, here are the nominees for the Best Documentary Short Film at this year’s Oscars. The write-ups for the Animated and Live Action Short categories are coming soon. Non-American films predominantly in a language other than English are listed with their nation(s) of origin.

Instruments of a Beating Heart (2024, Japan)

It is the final weeks of first grade for a collection of Japanese schoolchildren. As is tradition, the outgoing first graders will play Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to welcome incoming first graders at an end-of-school year program. But before that performance, they have to go through auditions and several practice sessions. In Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s Instruments of a Beating Heart (from Japanese public broadcaster NHK and The New York Times), we concentrate on schoolgirl Ayame, who is overjoyed to learn that she will be playing cymbals after succeeding at her audition. But after a few mistakes during rehearsal that shows she has not been practicing, Ayame loses a bit of confidence after a teacher’s scolding (the teacher organizing the performances seems not to be a dedicated music instructor, but another teacher teaching the same grade). Yet Ayame, with the help of her fellow students and words of comfort from her homeroom teacher, perseveres from her bitter disappointment.

It would be easy to dismiss Instruments of a Beating Heart as the most inconsequential of this slate of nominees. The events within seem so much smaller than questions of criminal justice, forgiveness, feminism, and more. But to these outgoing first graders, the pressures of an audition, performing for incoming first graders, and learning to build one’s own confidence are deeply consequential. In addition to being an emotionally honest coming-of-age piece, Yamazaki’s film also shows the nature of Japanese schooling at the primary level. Though some Japanese might deny it, religion (Buddhism and Shintoism) and Confucian philosophy heavily influence their society (and many Asian societies) – which prioritizes collective efforts over individualism, deference to authority figures and elders. From the students cleaning their classrooms to the music teacher chastising Ayame (but not devaluing her as a person), we see the benefits and downsides to such a culture in a primary school context. The most focused of this year’s nominees also subtly reveals much concerning our personal values towards personal growth.

My rating: 9/10

Incident (2023)

In the summer of 2018, the city of Chicago was on edge during the trial of Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke (later convicted of murdering a 17-year-old black boy named Laquan McDonald). Amid that tension, experimental director Bill Morrison shows us – through inventively-spliced bodycam and surveillance camera footage – the fatal shooting of Harith “Snoop” Augustus by Chicago Police officer Dillan Haley on July 14, 2018 and the immediate aftermath. Morrison superimposes text on the screen to provide necessary identification and legal/political/situational context, with long stretches of silence punctuating the cruelty and tragedy of these moments. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of Incident (which qualified by winning Best Documentary Short at the 2024 Florida Film Festival and distributed by The New Yorker) is how we see the Chicago PD officers concoct a false narrative – that Augustus was reaching for his gun (he was attempting to present his concealed carry license) – almost immediately after Haley uses his firearm. Those moments contrast with the occasional glimpse of bodycam footage of local residents expressing their fury towards the police, laying bare their distrust.

As honorable as Morrison’s intentions are and how valuable this footage is, Incident feels more like courtroom evidence than as cinema (although the inclusion of moments of community outrage would be inadmissible). Despite its fascinating editing scheme, there is a distinct lack of editorializing that, for some, might be a novel development across the unfortunately growing corpus of police brutality documentaries. Incident’s total reliance on the bodycam and surveillance footage provides a glimpse into the events of that day. However, I personally am uncomfortable with publicizing a rating here because I am uneasy – eerily recalling my concerns about 2017’s A Night at the Garden – about this film’s lack of an authorial stamp beyond its editing. Morrison may claim that his film has an “inherent objectivity”, but that is impossible in cinema. Especially with a film that so completely depends on its editing.

My rating: Rating withheld (I feel uncomfortable rating this film)

I Am Ready, Warden (2024)

On the evening of July 19, 2004 in Corpus Christi, Texas, John Henry Ramirez, the subject of Smriti Mundhra’s I Am Ready, Warden for MTV Documentary Films and Paramount+, murdered convenience store worker Pablo Castro by stabbing him twenty-nine times. Ramirez fled to Mexico, started a family there, and was eventually arrested and extradited to the United States in 2008. Convicted of murder and receiving a life sentence, Ramirez had exhausted almost all his legal pathways to stave off his execution when we first encounter him in this film – six days away from his scheduled execution. Then-District Attorney of Nueces County, Mark Gonzalez, and Ramirez’s godmother, Jan Trujillo (who met him while teaching inmate Bible study) attempt to achieve a final stay or a commutation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Greg Abbott, but to no avail. While detailing Ramirez’s mindset in his final days, the film crucially alternates to the perspective of Aaron Castro, Pablo’s son, who struggles emotionally anytime his father’s killer makes any round of news.

Like Mundhra’s previously-nominated work (2019’s St. Louis Superman), Mundhra interrogates “systems that are designed to protect [her]”, as well as her fellow Americans. Securing remarkable permission from all parties involved, I Am Ready, Warden achieves a dignified balance – Ramirez claims some form of his humanity from the media, but his newfound religiosity and acceptance of responsibility in prison cannot excuse his actions (and he understands this); Aaron must find peace in balancing his desires for justice, acceptance, and ambivalence towards capital punishment. Through the wreckage that one horrible night wrought, the thesis of this film is evident. Whether or not the execution goes forth, Pablo Castro was still murdered and Aaron and his family will live with that terrible reality for the remainder of their days. Wisely, I Am Ready, Warden leaves open how much we can empathize with a man on death row and if he deserves anything resembling forgiveness in his final hours

My rating: 7.5/10

The Only Girl in the Orchestra (2023)

If one ever looks at older footage of classical music concerts, you will notice a distinct lack of women in the orchestra (okay, maybe there’s a woman harpist). At the New York Philharmonic, it was not until 1966 during Leonard Bernstein’s tenure as music director would the orchestra hire a full-time female musician. That musician: Orin O’Brien, double bassist (fellow instrumentalists, you would never have guessed double bass, right?). Her niece Molly O’Brien directs this profile, The Only Girl in the Orchestra, for Netflix. Born in 1935 to actors George O’Brien (1927’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) and Marguerite Churchill (1930’s The Big Trail), Orin turned eighty-seven during the shoot, and was just about to retire from the NY Phil – but she still gives private lessons and teaches double bass players at the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music. As the most topically scattered of the nominees, The Only Girl in the Orchestra briefly covers various topics surrounding Orin’s hiring to the NY Phil: how lonely it was to be the only woman in a professional orchestra, the sexism and unwanted attention from the press, the emotions of making music and how that changes over time, her love of teaching, how a retiring musician never truly steps away from music, and why Orin dislikes the spotlight.

Molly O’Brien’s film accomplishes its basic objectives: to show how Orin, now almost a nonagenarian, has aged so gracefully and has found, through music, a life that has left an imprint on others. Orin, as the reluctant subject, almost personifies her instrument – her very personality majorly assists a film lacking focus. As someone who played in school and private orchestras himself, the double bass is just one of those instruments that never receives its due. Rarely is it given the melody, and almost never do you hear bass solos. As Orin accepts about her chosen instrument: “[The double bass] is the floor under everybody that would collapse if it wasn��t secure.” Soloists and section leaders and conductors can only do so much; the rank-and-file musicians sitting rows deep into any orchestra shape its sound and soul as much as anyone.

My rating: 7/10

Death by Numbers (2024)

When Samantha “Sam” Fuentes survived the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018 after incurring a gunshot wound to the leg and behind her right eye, she could not have imagined how the events of that day would stay with her for the remainder of her life. Similar to I Am Ready, Warden, Death by Numbers – directed by Kim A. Snyder and narrated in a diary-like style by Sam – reflects on the ramification of deadly violence, and how it chains the survivors to a maelstrom of trauma, anxiety, depression, and guilt. Though the legal proceedings for the murderer takes up much of the film and American gun violence receives a few mentions, Death by Numbers is primarily a personal account on how Sam has navigated her trauma. The film poignantly interweaves Sam’s two appearances at the murderer’s death sentencing trial (he plead guilty to murder and attempted murder, but the state of Florida had a separate trial for the nature of his sentence) with her writing and narration.

Though Death by Numbers has some questionable inclusions in its footage that feel manufactured (such as Sam watching an explosive scene from 1957’s 12 Angry Men in her hotel room the night before giving a statement on behalf of her class), it is the emotional power of her narration that carries the film. Note the juxtaposition of her unfiltered narration to her final statement in court – the latter brimming on the edges of hatred towards the murderer, but Sam wisely restrains herself, as hatred would play into the hands of her would-be killer. Of the three criminal justice-adjacent or -themed films in this year’s slate, Death by Numbers is the one that most completely grasps at the themes it wishes to explore.

My rating: 8.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

From previous years: 88th Academy Awards (2016) 89th (2017) 90th (2018) 91st (2019) 92nd (2020) 93rd (2021) 94th(2022) 95th (2023) 96th (2024)

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[dankusner]

“Incident” Shows How Officers React When a Police Killing Is Caught on Tape

The opening of Bill Morrison’s short film “Incident” is silent.

Security footage shows a section of a Chicago street on what looks to be an ordinary summer afternoon.

A few people walk down the sidewalk, a seagull flies past the camera, a police cruiser idles on the corner.

Suddenly the view changes and the sound comes on.

The effect is jarring, and the new scene is one that has become all too familiar: police officers have shot and killed a Black civilian.

Harith (Snoop) Augustus had left work at the barbershop down the street when he was shot by a Chicago police officer.

Morrison’s documentary captures the final moments of his life, and the actions and reactions of the police and neighbors who were there when it happened.

Using police body-cam footage to create a multifaceted record of the shooting, along with simple onscreen text to place the shooting in its local political context, the film is a powerful record of one man’s death and of the ongoing crisis of police violence.

The shooting in “Incident” is closely tied to an earlier, more famous police shooting in Chicago.

In 2014, Officer Jason Van Dyke killed seventeen-year-old Laquan McDonald.

A journalist sued to get access to body-cam footage, which unravelled Van Dyke’s claim that he had acted in self-defense.

A striking, troubling element of “Incident” comes when we see the police officers immediately begin to describe the shooting to one another—in an account that contradicts what we see on tape.

For Bill Morrison, this is at the crux of the film:

“With the public’s access to this footage established, a shift in police behavior happens. The cops are all performing now. They know that they’re on camera and that it’s going to be reviewed, and they are creating a narrative to vindicate their actions.”

After the film was completed, in December, 2023, the City of Chicago reached a new collective-bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police.

A provision of the contract, ratified by the Chicago City Council, allows officers to turn off body cameras during conversations that follow an incident, and to delete post-incident conversations that are recorded.

[hateugivestarrcarter]

This is a photo of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. He was shot in the back by a police officer 16 times. Although the officer was convicted, another officer tried to help cover up the murder.

[holistic-girlhood]

No Justice • No Peace

In Loving Memory Of:

George Floyd

Treyvon Martin

Breonna Taylor

Eric Garner

Michael Brown

Tamir Rice

Sandra Bland

Philando Castile

Alton Sterling

Freddie Gray

Laquan McDonald

Atatiana Jefferson

Elijah McClain

Botham Jean

Stephon Clark

Walter Scott

Rekia Boyd

John Crawford III

Sean Bell

Amadou Diallo

Rayshard Brooks

Trayvon Martin

Emmett Till

Ahmaud Arbery

James Byrd Jr.

Malice Green

Yusef Hawkins

Jordan Davis

Renisha McBride

Alfred Wright

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

Tamir Rice

Charleston Nine

Oscar Grant

Henry Marrow

Marsha P. Johnson

Fannie Lou Hamer

Claude Neal

George Stinney Jr.

Willie Edwards Jr.

… and all the other countless victims of racial violence & police brutality.

[mszmaxbaby]

1. Sonya Massey - "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus."

2. George Floyd - "I can't breathe."

3. Eric Garner - "I can't breathe."

4. Michael Brown - "I don't have a gun. Stop shooting."

5. Philando Castile - "I wasn't reaching for it."

6. Breonna Taylor - "Why did you shoot me?"

7. Freddie Gray - "I need a doctor."

8. Tamir Rice - "It's not real."

9. Oscar Grant - "You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter!"

10. Laquan McDonald - No audible last words; shot while walking away.

11. Elijah McClain - "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I'm just different. I'm just different, that's all. I'm so sorry. I have no gun. I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting. Why are you attacking me?"

12. Alton Sterling - "What did I do?"

13. Walter Scott - "I’m just going home."

14. Botham Jean - "Why did you shoot me?"

15. Stephon Clark - "Grandma, call the police."

16. Atatiana Jefferson - "I’m here."

17. Sandra Bland - "Why am I being apprehended?"

18. Tony McDade - "I'm not armed."

19. Daniel Prude - "Give me your gun, I need it."

20. John Crawford III - "It's not real."

21. Manuel Ellis - "I can't breathe, sir."

22. Amadou Diallo - "Mom, I'm going to college."

23. Aiyana Stanley-Jones - No audible last words; shot while sleeping.

24. Terrence Crutcher - "I'm not doing anything."

25. Sean Bell - No audible last words; shot multiple times.

26. Jonathan Ferrell - No audible last words; shot while seeking help after a car crash.

27. Ezell Ford - "It's me, it’s me."

28. John Crawford III - "It's not real."

29. Renisha McBride - No audible last words; shot while seeking help after a car accident.

30. Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. - "Why are you doing this to me?"

31. Tamir Rice - "It's not real."

32. Eric Harris - "I'm losing my breath."

33. Jamar Clark - "Please don’t let me die."

34. Rayshard Brooks - "I don't want to hurt you."

35. Alfred Olango - "Please don’t shoot."

36. Shantel Davis - "What did I do?"

37. Kendra James - "Please don’t kill me."

38. Akai Gurley - No audible last words; shot in a dark stairwell.

39. Miriam Carey - No audible last words; shot in her car.

40. Timothy Russell - No audible last words; shot during a car chase.

41. Malissa Williams - No audible last words; shot during a car chase.

42. Jordan Edwards - No audible last words; shot while leaving a party.

43. Yvette Smith - "I'm coming out."

44. Jordan Davis - No audible last words; shot at a gas station.

45. Victor White III - No audible last words; died in police custody.

46. Dontre Hamilton - No audible last words; shot in a park.

47. Eric Reason - No audible last words; shot during a dispute.

48. Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. - No audible last words; shot in a mall.

49. Oscar Grant - "You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter!"

50. Clinton Allen - No audible last words; shot during an encounter.

51. Ronnell Foster - No audible last words; shot during a foot chase.

52. Tony Robinson - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

53. Charly Keunang - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

54. Samuel DuBose - "I didn’t even do nothing."

55. Quintonio LeGrier - "I’m sorry."

56. Bettie Jones - "I've been shot."

57. India Kager - No audible last words; shot in a car.

58. Keith Lamont Scott - "Don't shoot him. He has no weapon."

59. Jordan Baker - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

60. Christian Taylor - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

61. Michael Dean - No audible last words; shot during a traffic stop.

62. Rumain Brisbon - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

63. Gregory Gunn - No audible last words; shot during an encounter.

64. Yuvette Henderson - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

65. David Joseph - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

66. Calvin Reid - No audible last words; died in police custody.

67. Antonio Zambrano-Montes - No audible last words; shot during an encounter.

68. Zachary Hammond - "Why did you shoot me?"

69. Anthony Hill - No audible last words; shot while naked and unarmed.

70. Saheed Vassell - No audible last words; shot while holding a metal pipe.

71. Willie McCoy - No audible last words; shot while sleeping in a car.

72. Robert White - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

73. Micheal Lorenzo Dean - No audible last words; shot during a traffic stop.

74. Monique Tillman - "I didn’t do anything wrong."

75. Randy Evans - No audible last words; died in police custody.

76. Vernell Bing Jr. - No audible last words; shot during a car chase.

77. Cameron Massey - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

78. DeAndre Ballard - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

79. Maurice Gordon - "Can you let me out?"

80. Rayshard Brooks - "I don’t want to hurt you."

81. Pierre Loury - No audible last words; shot during a foot chase.

82. Deborah Danner - "I’m not feeling well."

83. Jason Harrison - "I’m sick."

84. Corey Jones - "Hold on, wait!"

85. Keith Childress - "Don't shoot."

86. Justine Damond - No audible last words; shot after calling 911.

87. Amilcar Perez-Lopez - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

88. Mario Woods - "I'm not going to shoot you."

89. William Chapman II - "Don’t shoot me."

90. Chad Robertson - No audible last words; shot while running away.

91. Charlie Willie Kunzelman - No audible last words; shot during a confrontation.

92. Terrence Sterling - No audible last words; shot during a traffic stop.

93. Sylville Smith - "Why are you harassing me?"

94. Bruce Kelley Jr. - No audible last words; shot during an altercation.

95. Korryn Gaines - No audible last words; shot during a standoff.

96. Maurice Granton Jr. - No audible last words; shot during a foot chase.

97. Paul O'Neal - No audible last words; shot during a car chase.

98. Antwon Rose II - "Why are they shooting?"

99. Patrick Harmon - "I’ll go with you."

100. Aaron Bailey - "Why did you shoot me?"

101. Miles Hall - "No! Don't do it!

102.Justin Horton Smith- Can’t breathe.;

[violetsystems]

You can have whatever opinion you want about radioactive fish or whatever. It’s a free country. Here in America at least. I just think it’s the worst level of imperialist fetishism to allow some guy who isn’t Japanese dictate the entire conversation of whether or not it is safe to eat something that affects people half way around the world from his backyard. He had no problems letting people drink lead in Chicago for years. Plenty of people in Korea aren’t crazy about the idea either. And they don’t drink water from the tap either. Historically speaking? Plenty of people in both China and Korea aren’t very trusting of Japan. It kind of goes both ways and that’s what is being taken advantage of by colonialists who should worry about the collapse of their own state of affairs back home. That’s populist politics for you. We get enough of them from our mayors ironically enough. Maybe that’s what we export to the rest of the world now. Asia in general is not really something white or maybe even other people of color even understand outside of a couple of movies and culturally appropriated sushi at the grocery store and that’s complicated. Just like Taiwan. And Laquan McDonald. (And Zionism amirite?) But why does some white guy have to get in the middle of it when he doesn’t even watch good anime! I bet you call everyone you think is attractive without their consent exotic. You know that guy! I managed him at an art school. Before the HR complaint at least. Talkembout some blurred lines. How about a hamburger instead buddy! What’s more Japanese than that! /facepalm

[himikochan]

okay apparently "Dream In Color" is ALSO owned by the same people?

I'm just going down a rabbit hole now, I guess?

I wanna start this off by saying, I don't think they're like... an evil company or anything. BUT I do think it's weird I was able to go on a hunt for how many smaller companies they own: if a former independent storefront (or storefront representing themselves as independent) is owned by a bigger company... I feel like that should be transparent to the consumer.

This is a post chronicling the connection of these different companies as well as what we kind of know about Jimmy Beans Wool.

Who is "Jimmy Beans Wool"?

so "'Jimmy' is me, Laura Zander, and together with my husband Doug, we opened Jimmy Beans Wool in 2002!"

"We're Jimmy Beans Wool and we're Reno, Nevada's Local Yarn Shop! Launched in 2002 by Laura and Doug Zander, JBW started with some coffee and a bit of yarn in Truckee, California. It's now grown into 3 businesses, a fun team of 35+ people, 20,000 square foot warehouse, and more!!"

Poking around their website, they sell yarn, crafting accessories, classes, and host fiber arts related events both online and in their physical store. According to this reddit post from about a month ago, which I cannot verify besides saying that as of January 15th 2025 they do not have Juniper Moon Farms yarn, their yarn selection has decreased since a website update in the recent past.

A point in favor of the company, their website links to both an "inclusivity" and "Diversity" statement on their Instagram account. The older one is from February 2019 (backtracking dates on instagram is hard because it goes by weeks) but my best estimate is that it was in response to the shooting of Laquan McDonald. I have attached a link to the Inclusivity statement here and the Diversity statement here. The Diversity statement backtracks to about late June/Early July 2019 when Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, 2020 election shenanigans brewing, and the sentencing of the guy who killed people in Charlottesville- unclear which of these events seems to have prompted them to make another statement emphasizing their stance.

Both statements pledge a commitment to "doing better" and preach the importance of uplifting BIPOC and other underrepresented groups and the comments section of the older post are WILD with people very angry that Jimmy Beans Wool is "Woke" now. While neither post makes measurable commitments (i.e. we will make sure X% of our patterns are from bipoc designers, or we will donate X amount to 'insert relevant charity here'), it's worth saying they did these before the George Floyd Protests (starting May 2020) when most companies started to make these kinds of statements. So they get a small kudos for that.

Other Yarn Companies They Own: Sorted By How Clearly They Own Them

"The Maddytosh Group currently distributes Madelinetosh, Jamieson’s of Shetland and Dream in Color. . . . In 2023, Madelinetosh and Shibui Knits agreed to allow Madelinetosh to relaunch Shibui yarns and patterns as Tosh products. " from Jimmy Beans Wool January 8, 2024 press release.

"In the fall of 2019, MadTosh joined the Jimmy Beans Wool family led by visionaries Laura and Doug Zander, longtime superfans of the brand." From the MadelineTosh website.

"Hello from Laura Zander! Laura, owner of Maddytosh Group, is thrilled to have worked with Veronica and Nancy closely as they passed the beautifully colored reigns of Dream in Color over to her." From the Dream In Color website

The website for "Simply Shetland" which is the US distributor of "Jamieson's of Shetland" makes no reference to their ownership by Jimmy Beans Wool, and Jimmy Beans Wool doesn't mention they own "Simply Shetland", they merely say they distribute "Jamieson's of Shetland". However, the Simply Shetland Instagram post on their team from around December 2022 lists "Laura is our fearless leader and relentless advocate for yarn folks (like you 💓)." Interestingly, only the brand director Gudrun Johnston is tagged on the post. Laura's own instagram only mentions her connection to "Jimmy Beans Wool & Mad|Tosh" in her bio.

"[Jimmy Beans Wool] also launched Yarn Citizen, a sustainable brand that produces yarns from luxury and upcycled fibers at affordable prices." from a Voyage Dallas interview with Laura Zander. Curiously, the Yarn Citizen website merely says "Laura was touring fair trade mills across the region and admiring the female artisans as they sifted through mounds of recently sheared fiber." and doesn't mention their connection to the Jimmy Beans Wool group. Yarn Citizen is, however, a featured brand (it's on the upper right corner) on their website along with della Q and MadelineTosh which they openly own.

Bizarrely, the Shibui Knits website has changed their front banner and most of the links from the drop down menu to being MadelineTosh branded... but the "About" page still lists all the information of the former crew, doesn't mention Laura or Jimmy Beans Wool, and has a bunch of broken links. It appears that no yarns are being sold as "Shibui Knits" anymore, and they're all sold as MadelineTosh lines, as stated in the link earlier on this topic.

What did we learn?

Again, I don't really have a beef with this retailer, but it's kind of shocking that the "family" of yarn products isn't more widely advertised. I feel like the main reason I go to my local yarn store is to have access to yarns that can't really be produced on this kind of large scale: and to be fair, I'm also not of the mind that every skein of yarn at the store needs to be a precious hand dyed hanks.

But when I do pay a little bit more for yarn from an independent dyer, it's because I want to support a community of artists- even if they're not local to me. I realize that MadelineTosh and Dream In Color are still hand dyed yarns, but if I'm paying NEARLY $40 for a special project.... I kind of want that $40 to go to a smaller company where that means something.

Post Script

I forgot the Wayback Machine exists so:

-As of this screen capture on November 7, 2024, it looked like they used to carry about 130 brands. Currently, it looks like they carry about 42 yarn brands. Interestingly, their "featured" brands are all their own BESIDES "Urth Yarns" which is owned by Emre Koc according to this 2023 article in Women Create.

-On this screen capture from September 26, 2024, ("we recently launched . . . Yarn Citizen") Laura mentions that they do own Yarn Citizen, which I don't think they explicitly do on the current website besides being a featured brand.

at the risk of sounding like a bingus I'm disappointed to learn that madelinetosh yarns is owned by a fairly large company (it's under the umbrella of Jimmy Beans Wool): neither company seems like they're particularly nefarious but like... I ponied up more money for their yarn because I thought they were like.... a small business...

[winged-fool]

I'm super fired up about Rahm Emanuel's nomination as ambassador to Japan and here's why you should be too:

Emanuel is a close friend of Biden's and is only getting this nomination as a result of their friendship. He has already been denied other positions within the Administration

He lacks any foreign policy experience which is a huge slap in the face to one of closest (and imo most important) ally. Furthermore he simply lacks the cultural sensitivies to work with Japan

But most importantly:

He covered up the murder of Laquan McDonald by a cop. He was 17 years old and there was dash cam footage showing the cop shoot him 16 times in the back. Emanuel saw this footage and sat on it in order to salvage his reelection chances

Rahm Emanuel does not deserve to be elevated to this position. Please if you live in a blue state (and especially if you're in Massachusetts or Oregon), call your senators and tell them you oppose his nomination.

I called mine already and it was super easy. If you want a script this is roughly what I said:

Hi my name is [Name] and I'm a constituent of [Senator's Name]. I'm calling to express my opposition to President Biden's nomination of Rahm Emanuel as ambassador to Japan.

They took down my information including name, phone number, and address. I told them that I work in US-Japan relations and was concerned that he would not be a good representative of the US to Japan. You can tell them it's about Laquan McDonald but I don't think you have to give a reason if you don't want to.

There are many Democratic senators who don't support his nomination but don't want to go against Biden. Put pressure on them and tell them to say no to Emanuel.

[pinolitas]

I knew Rahm Emanuel became ambassador to Japan and then I immediately forgot that information... that's the guy who covered up the murder of Laquan Mcdonald because he was up for reelection for mayor

[africanamericanreports]

The NAACP on Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to file federal civil rights charges against the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.

[gautiersylvain]

rahm emanuel - former mayor of chicago, former chief of staff to obama, and former us representative from illinois’ 5th district - has been nominated by the biden administration to serve as the us ambassador to japan.

while mayor of chicago, emanuel grew to be extremely unpopular for a number of reasons (including overseeing the largest school closure in chicago’s history [1] and making plans with elon musk to build a “hyperloop” [2]) but is most infamous for his handling of the murder of laquan mcdonald in October 2014.

as a warning, there is footage of mcdonald’s murder at the hands of chicago police online so please take care of yourself if you look for more information. the police officers who shot and killed mcdonald lied about what happened and emanuel attempted to help them cover it up but refusing to release the dashcam footage from the patrol car. it was only due to immense pressure from witnesses, activists, journalists, and mcdonald’s family that emanuel was forced to release the footage over a year later and it became obvious that the police involved in the shooting had lied. from a 2015 article [3] by the washington post editorial board:

all of this is to say - laquan mcdonald’s life mattered. rahm emanuel is not fit to serve as the us ambassador to japan. if you live in the us, contact your senators and tell them to vote NO on emanuel’s confirmation. you can use this website to find out who your senators are as well as their contact information.

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

It was bad enough the officer was only sentenced to 6 years but now he is apparently being released without even serving half his full sentence.

[brwn3y3dgirl]

Say Their Names Kadir Nelson, 2020