🥸1D fans & Margot Robbie Deepfakes🥸
A wee note from me, my angels!
We're working on something really special with KidsCan to help support kiwi kids, as times are getting increasingly tough for them in Aotearoa. We'd really love it if instead of becoming a ✨SYSCA supporter✨ today, you could use that money to help feed a Kiwi kid for a week - there's more info below.
💘I love you! 💘
Good morning my angels! You're getting this edition a little earlier than usual because Rubes and I are attending an Umu Kohukohu Whetū to honour Matariki this morning!
For those from outside of Aotearoa, Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars that rises in mid-winter and for many Māori, marks the start of the new year - this year is the first year that it's also being recognised as a national holiday.
I'll write more about this tomorrow, but the ceremony is being led by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and involves offering food to the Matariki star cluster (shown by the rising of the steam into the sky), to celebrate the new year.
In the meantime, if you want to know more, here you go!
Also, Niall went to watch Harry perform and it's everything:
✨Help us support Kiwi kids ✨
What Black One Direction Fans Reveal About Activism
Yesterday was a big day for elections
New episode of our Love Island debrief!
Deepfakes of Margot Robbie are going viral
Fina bars transgender swimmers from women's elite events if they went through male puberty
What's your favourite season?
✨Help us support Kiwi kids ✨
This is probably one of the most important partnerships we’ve ever done here at SYSCA, and one that we’re incredibly proud to be working on!! We’ve teamed up with KidsCan - an Aotearoa-based charity dedicated to helping Kiwi kids affected by poverty - to see how our community can help to support kids who are currently going without.
None of you will be surprised to learn that right now, New Zealand is facing a cost of living crisis. In the last 12 months:
rent has increased by 4%
petrol has increased by 32%, and
food has increased by 6%
While everyone is feeling the pinch, no one is feeling it more than our tamariki who are without food, warm clothing, and the health products they need.
Here’s what one early childhood teacher says about it:
“At the moment, food is a real struggle. So, for us to have KidsCan food and be able to supply anything extra to our families means heaps to them, because they can't purchase the items that are really expensive, like vegetables, fruit, all of those essentials that you need. They just can't afford it.”
This is where we all come in! KidsCan have just launched an urgent $15 for 15% appeal, where with a $15 donation we can provide a child with breakfast and morning tea for a whole week.
15% of kids in Aotearoa don’t always know where their next meal is coming from, so if we just give up one bought lunch (or a couple of oat milk flat whites) we can help provide a child with food for a whole week!
KidsCan currently feeds 44,000 kids per day, but so many more need help (and you don’t even have to be living in New Zealand to give your support) - let’s see how our community can help them!!
Help feed a Kiwi kid here!!
What Black One Direction Fans Reveal About Activism
Damn, everywhere I look I’m seeing excerpts from Kaitlyn TIffany’s new book about fandom (I AM WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, DON’T YOU WORRY, YOU'LL GET A REVIEW) and every lil snippet I read gets better and better. Over the weekend I read an excerpt from it, published in WIRED, which looks at how complicated it can be to be in a fandom that at times, doesn’t feel like it’s supporting you (or it doesn't feel like your fave supports you.) I actually don’t even want to paraphrase this piece, because it’s best read in its entirety - so please, go and read it here!!
Some elections happened:
It seems it was a big day for elections yesterday!
In Colombia:
For the first time EVER Colombia has a leftist president. Gustavo Petro was once a rebel, then a longtime senator, and is now the country's next president, according to preliminary election results.
In the Philippines:
First 'Bongbong' (the son of an extremely problo dictator) won the Philippine election (with help from TikTok), and now the eldest daughter of another problo leader - outgoing Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte - has been sworn in as vice-president. This seems really chill and fine.
In France:
Macron, just two months after he was re-elected as president, has lost control of the French National Assembly. If French politics is something you're curious about/ interested in, here's what went down!
New episode of our Love Island debrief!
A Love Island Debrief: The Ekin-Su Show - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
Luce and Liv debrief episode 6-12 of Love Island!
Deepfakes of Margot Robbie are going viral
Let me first remind you of what a Deepfake is in our incredibly helpful video about it here:
TLDW (Too Long, Didn’t Watch; A deepfake is a super realistic fake video.
Second of all, I hate the title of this article from Futurist about a new TikTok account dedicated to Deepfake videos of Margot Robbie - ‘Amazing Deepfakes of Margot Robbie Are Almost Indistinguishable From Reality’. The word 'amazing' carries with it positive connotations, and this... is not a positive thing. In this instance it seems harmless enough - a TikTok account of “Margot Robbie” doing TikTok trends - but even one google search of ‘Margot Robbie deepfakes’ brings up pages of deepfake porn images/ videos of her before you get to the ‘harmless’ videos. In pretty much no circumstance is it all good to impersonate someone online, and just because we have the tech to do it, doesn’t mean we should - even if your despo to go viral on TikTok.
FINA bars transgender swimmers from women's elite events if they went through male puberty
Swimming's world governing body, FINA, has just voted to “stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.”
As part of the announcement, they said they will “aim to establish an 'open' category at competitions for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their birth sex.” (Aim to?)
This new policy was passed with 71% of the vote, and the document makes clear that “male-to-female transgender athletes are still eligible to compete in the women's category "provided they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 [which marks the start of physical development], or before age 12, whichever is later".
Sorry for all the quoting - I feel like it’s important that you hear this story from the officials!!
There is a LOT more information on how the decision was made, and what the initial response has been here.
What is your favourite season?
32% of you say summer
38% of you say autumn
8% of you say winter
22% of you say spring
A pre-final thought, thought
Help to feed a Kiwi kid for a week, for only $15! (Our partnership with KidsCan)
Tove Lo Is the Alt Pop Queen (of Having Her Name Mispronounced) (Vulture)
Our Love Island Debrief (Ep 6-12) (Culture Vulture)