Because 3D-printing with Easy Cheese isn’t as easy as you might think. 

And so we turn our attention to Santa Barbara City College, where creatively-inclined students have been “exploring issues and practices of… interactive and chance-derived work.” Specifically, 

Students harnessed complicated architectural designs and intricate woodworking to create an artistic teepee, which they set up on one of the quad’s grassy knolls earlier this month. As the student newspaper reports, the four art students who built the teepee saw it as “a place of positive vibes and community engagement.”

See? Positive vibes.

Assembled from “upcycled and reclaimed material from an old farm house,” and “lined with pillows and rugs,” the students’ vibe-enhancing structure “provides a comfy, squishy environment” for music and conversation. Also included in the experience is “a shelf of blank books for people to express themselves in written word.” Engorged with positivity, the students posted an invitation for others to partake in their creation: 

Join us to support the opening day of an amazing art event and large scale installation… The piece harks back to ways of the past in American history while juxtaposing current counter culture with futuristic elements that bring it to life.  

It even glows in the dark. 

We want to provide you with an experience out of the mundane – right here on campus! Celebrate our labour of love with live music, refreshments and a trading post! That’s right, bring something to trade and become part of the installation.

Oh, come on. Who could resist so much switched-on grooviness? Surely what followed was a day of vibrant self-expression and communal hugging?

Alas, no. 

Via ac1, a little something from the Independent: 

“Oh but, it’s racist to ban someone on the basis of their skin colour, and sexist to ban them on their gender,” cry the assembly chorus of confused souls trying to turn the language of progress into a weapon to further entrench the establishment. It’s not. You’re at university, go and ask a humanities professor. Learn something. 

The anonymous author, described only as a “British journalist,” imagines that “people don’t give a toss about their student unions” because they’re “too stunted by white men.” White men who should therefore be “banned” from student politics, forever, in favour of “powerful women and minority ethnic people.” Actually, I suspect the chief repellent is the fact that student union politics attracts so many people who are eerily like the author of the above article. But hey, don’t listen to me, ask a humanities professor. 

And then radically repeat whatever you’ve been told. 

Upwards, baby. (h/t, wtp) // Bladder stone. // Bears in the wood. // Board-less skateboard of note. // Endlessly useful tiny drill. // An incompetent dog. // Robot dog funerals. // Scanning big cats. // An over-stressed CD. // “Corned beef sandwiches fall apart easily, especially in zero gravity.” // Signs of the apocalypse, #602. // Portraits. // Plexiglas Pontiac, 1939. // Super-powered post-punks. // Passing the salt may prove tricky. // Eight-year-olds versus Vivaldi. // What is this thing called? // How to make miniature cheeseburgers. // In tampon-related news. // And finally, Sister Rosetta Tharpe does her thang, 1964.

An agony of sorts, spotted by Julia and several others during the National Union of Students’ currently ongoing Women’s Conference:

No, you mustn’t laugh, says the Independent’s Andrew Griffin. Because clapping in support can break a woman in half:

And what could possibly be funny about a room full of “mindful” feminists doing jazz hands every few minutes?

Evidence is triggering too, apparently. And so it goes in the bin:

Says the “struggling postgraduate” and NUS Women’s Officer whose interests include cats, “trade unions” and “being mentally ill.”

After quite a bit of sniggering, chiefly from other women, the fearless warriors, our architects of tomorrow, withdrew from public view to a more private Twitter account. What with all that heteronormative persecution. You see, strong feminist women need a “self-care room” and “safe spaces” where heathens who find this level of preciousness amusing are just a traumatic memory. Shielded from the horrors of raised eyebrows and any hint of incredulity, the ladies continued to address the great issues of the day.

And so in the official Women’s Conference document we find such things as this:

The appropriation of Black women by white gay men is prevalent within the LGBT scene and community. This may be manifested in the emulation of the mannerisms, language (particularly AAVE- African American Vernacular English) and phrases that can be attributed to Black women. White gay men may often assert that they are “strong black women” or have an “inner black woman.” White gay men are the dominant demographic within the LGBT community, and they benefit from both white privilege and male privilege.

And therefore,

This type of appropriation is unacceptable and must be addressed. Low numbers of Black LGBT women delegates attend NUS LGBT conference. This can be attributed to many factors, one of which may be the prevalent appropriation by white gay men, which may mean that delegates do not feel comfortable or safe attending conference.

You see, if a black woman has something better to do with her time – better than doing jazz hands whenever a feminist speaks – this is almost certainly the fault of white gay men. All of whom are doing ghetto fabulous finger-snaps and referring to themselves, continually, as “strong black women.”

Oh look. Buttons.