As a real estate transaction, $300,000 will get you a steadily decaying, four-story, igloo-shaped, urine-soaked structure built from plywood and urethane. An abandoned gas station, a huge gravel parking lot, a few shuttered cabins, and an outhouse are also included in the purchase of the 38 electricity-free acre plot nestled along a stunningly beautiful stretch of highway in middle-of-nowhere Alaska.
But that cash will also get you something more, something on which a price can't be placed. You'll become the caretaker of a dream. Leon Smith's dream. If you have the desire—and, to be honest, a whole lot more moolah for repairs—you can be the one who finally fulfills the dream Smith first contemplated nearly 50 years ago and devoted a third of his life to realizing only to fall short.
That dream is the "Igloo Lodge." Over the decades, the 80-foot-tall, 105-foot-wide structure—which from a distance appears to be a concrete, window-studded dome until you get close enough and see that its exoskeleton is foam insulation—has become a striking and strangely beloved presence in the Alaska landscape.
Smith wanted it to become a destination hotel—a lasting tribute to his abiding love of the 49th state, and a place visitors would remember as fondly as nearby Denali National Park. But now, in its graffiti-dappled decrepitude, it's become top-notch roadside Americana weirdness. People traveling the lonely George Parks Highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage drive by and simply gawk, sometimes stopping to take selfies or a leak before moving on.
"It really would be fun to fix it up and do something. But it takes money and I don't have it, so it's just sitting there deteriorating, pretty much," says Brad Fisher.
Fisher, 58, is the current custodian of Smith's dream. President of Fisher's Fuels, his family business in Wasilla, a three-hour drive south of the igloo, Fisher has owned the property since the mid-90s. Over the years he's kept the igloo standing, just barely, as a tribute to his old friend Smith and with the hope that perhaps someone more flush with cash than him can turn the quixotic dream into reality.
Fisher tried to sell it several years back but had no takers. He's now trying again.
"I guess the problem has been, [finishing the hotel] is something you'd have to do yourself, and so you'd have to live up there. And nobody lives up there," Fisher laughs. The town closest to the igloo is the microscopic Cantwell, which, Fisher says, has roughly 50 permanent residents. (It also happens to be where Sean Penn filmed scenes for 2007's Into the Wild, planting a replica of the old bus to depict Christopher McCandless's eventual tomb—something potential buyers may well be interested in.)
"Basically you'd have to work your tail off all summer long and then sit there all winter long and watch the snowflakes come down, and not too many people want to do that," Fisher says.
Leon Smith certainly did.
Born in tiny Tiff City, Missouri, in 1921, Smith lived a life of adventure. After fighting the Japanese at Guadalcanal during World War II, he captained a tugboat in California, before moving further north to work as a deep-sea fisherman and a lumberjack. He then made his way to Alaska's interior—paradise for a devoted outdoorsman such as himself—where, along with his wife, Elizabeth, he opened and ran a service station at milepost 188.5 along the Parks Highway, pumping gas for visitors to Denali.
In the late 60s Smith observed the dearth of proper hotels in his neck of the woods, which was fairly popular for hiking in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter. He wanted to make his nowhere somewhere; to leave his mark on the world. So he came up with the grand vision for his Igloo Lodge. It would have 58 guest rooms; a restaurant, bar, liquor store, gift shop on the ground floor; and a fourth-floor penthouse suite reserved for himself and his family. Smith cleared the land behind his gas pumps, and with extra cash from his modest business he purchased lumber, plywood and urethane foam and, all by himself, got to work.
Slowly.
Smith hoped for a grand opening of his Igloo Lodge in the summer of 1973.
He found himself in 1991 still building when a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune happened by and asked him about it. "Anytime I get together enough money I build another room," Smith said. When asked why he, then 70, had devoted decades of his life to building an igloo hotel in the middle of Alaska his answer was as direct as it was saucy. "You wouldn't put an igloo hotel in Kansas or Egypt, would you?"
Age wasn't the only thing hampering Smith's efforts. State building codes were too (among other things, he discovered he'd made the guest room windows too small). And so five years later, Smith, in failing health, decided to sell his gas station and still-unfinished igloo to help provide for his wife after his death. He reached out to Fisher, who had little interest, accordingly making Smith an admittedly paltry offer (he won't say how much), figuring it'd be easy to refuse.
Smith didn't, however, and in 1996 ownership of the Igloo Lodge changed hands. Smith passed away in 1999, and Fisher was determined to finish the job as a tribute to his good friend's legacy. Alas, money was tight, and by 2005 Fisher reluctantly closed the gas station and put the igloo on ice.
The Igloo Lodge subsequently became a place for shutterbugs and vandals. "Someone stole the staircase out of it, and it's amazing the amount of people who go in there to relieve themselves, it's frustrating," Fisher laments. A couple summers ago, state troopers had to run off a bunch of kids who nearly burned the igloo down shooting off fireworks inside, he says. "People are just terrorizing it," he sighs. The state has deemed it an "attractive nuisance" and has considered putting up an interpretive panel to "answer many questions [about the Igloo] that travelers currently have no way to discover."
The property is also teeming with grizzly bears, and it's not uncommon for bears to hang out inside the igloo's dark, rubble-filled interior, Fisher casually warns. "The brush around there is so thick, it's really risky—you could walk right into the back of a bear and not even know it."
In fact, one of the gnarliest grizzly attacks in Alaska history happened right in the area. In 1989, 32-year-old Don Coverston was hiking around the land he owned a half-mile from the Igloo when he was surprised by a bear that bit down on his head, lifted him into the air, and shook him. The bear dropped Coverston and attacked him again several more times.
"It hurts so bad. This is it. She's going to eat my brain out and leave me," Coverston recalled thinking at the time in Larry Kaniut's 1997 book Some Bears Kill. But after repeated attacks the grizzly lumbered off and the bloodied Coverston limped through the brush until he reached Parks Highway. A passing couple brought him to the Igloo gas station, whereupon he asked one of Smith's employees "whether his ears were still on." Coverston was helicoptered to a Fairbanks hospital and received 1,000 stitches during a surgery that lasted nine hours.
So, bears are an issue. So too is the fact that there's no electricity available at the igloo, although Fisher thinks solar panels might do the trick. He puts the various costs to complete Smith's dream hotel in excess of a million bucks beyond the $300,000 asking price.
"Hopefully there's someone out there who's interested and can see it through," Fisher says. He sporadically hears from relatives of Smith's about the property, "and not in a good way—they're mad at me because it's deteriorating and it's their memory of (Smith), but I can't afford to do anything with it. It's for sale, and, you know, if you don't want it to deteriorate, then buy it!"
And he hopes it happens. Seeing the thing come down would be like Smith dying all over again. Until he does Fisher will be here doing what little he can to try to stop his old friend's dream, and his igloo, from falling apart.
With everythingcalm at home, our baby president Donald Trump has embarked on a 12-day trip to Asia. According to the White House, "The President's travel will underscore his commitment to longstanding United States alliances and partnerships, and reaffirm United States leadership in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region," and Trump reportedly plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about North Korea, but I think I know the real reason he's taking this trip: He wants to look like a big boy.
With poll ratings in the dumps and some friends who might go to prison, Trump is obviously looking to signal American strength and project a strong image abroad, by which I mean for once not act like a total baby. Here's how it's gone so far:
After making a brief stop in Hawaii, where he was met by widespread protests, Trump landed in Japan on Sunday for some presidential business, which is known by insiders as "the big boy stuff." First on his agenda? Show everyone his big boy picture, which is known by outsiders as a "presidential portrait."
Do liddle babies have such nice pictures taken of them? I don't think so. Why not? Because babies don't even know what pictures are.
After Trump did so good showing everyone his big boy picture, he took the stage at Yokota Air Base to receive a present from the US Pacific Air Forces. Now, I'm not sure if you're aware of how presents work, but dumb babies don't get cool grownup bomber jackets. Only big boys do.
Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
I mean, that jacket wouldn't fit a baby, would it?
"We dominate the sky. We dominate the sea. We dominate the land and space," the big boy in his new big boy jacket informed the troops. He also reminded them of "a very, very special day—it's called Election Day."
But the fun did not stop at Yokota Air Base. Our half-grownup president then went to a luncheon with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—has a baby ever been invited to a luncheon before? Absolutely not!
This is where he got to give a big boy gift to his favorite grownup in all of Japan—a friendship hat, which is the boy version of a friendship bracelet.
Photo: Franck Robichon/Pool via Bloomberg/Getty Images
"Donald & Shinzo make alliance even greater," read the friendship hat. The besties also played a round of golf together, which is Trump's most favouritest big boy game.
Then they fed some fish. Some meanies said that Trump was bad and wrong for dumping in all his food at once but they were the ones who were wrong actually he was just doing what his best friend Abe did. So there!
The next day, Shinzo Abe threw Trump a big boy banquet, where the president made a toast. Even though Trump doesn't drink alcohol—he's a big boy after all, not a full-fledged grownup—he bravely raised a glass of big boy juice.
Photo: SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI/AFP/Getty Images
In his big boy speech, Trump reminisced about his former days as a baby. "I never ran, so I wasn't very experienced," Trump said on running for the presidency. "And after I had won, everybody was calling me from all over the world. I never knew we had so many countries."
The big boy is probably learning all kinds of stuff now!
According to the Associated Press, Trevor Graves was arrested late last month on federal charges connected to a sophisticated cheating scheme that allegedly involved installing malicious software on the university's computers and collecting the keystrokes of professors who used them. Graves, a former UI wrestler, is charged with installing what are known as keylogging devices on computers in university classrooms and labs, and using them to record everything professors typed, including their passwords.
Keylogger software intercepts the commands a keyboard sends to a computer, recording every time a user hits a key. The FBI believes harvesting the login credentials of his teachers allowed Graves to steal advanced copies of exams, as well as access university grading and email systems.
Graves allegedly changed his grades more than 90 times during a two-year period, and extended his services to at least five other students. According to the AP, he used the info he gathered from the keyloggers to get an unfair advantage in many of his classes, including business, engineering, and chemistry.
According to the Daily Iowan, the cheating scheme was busted in December 2016 when a professor noticed that a series of students' grades had been altered without her approval. The professor notified the university's IT department, which then alerted the cops after discovering that at least four different students had their grades changed and a handful of teachers' login information had been compromised.
The FBI then launched its own investigation, interviewing several students and pinpointing Graves as the culprit. Agents reportedly found keyloggers and thumb drives in Graves's apartment that contained copies of tests, as well as text messages between other classmates discussing the scheme. The University of Iowa says it's spent nearly $68,000 investigating the breach and strengthening its information security systems in response.
Graves's scheme is far from original, but it's something the FBI takes very seriously. Earlier this year, keyloggers were found planted across Carleton University in Canada and in January, a 21-year-old from Virginia pleaded guilty to designing a type of keylogging software that was used to spy on more than 16,000 people. Graves now faces two federal charges of computer hacking that could land him in prison for up to 20 years.
Related: Thomas Morton on the Books You Should and Shouldn't Read About College
An Abbotsford police officer has died of gunshot injuries after exchanging fire with a suspected car thief.
Police Chief Bob Rich told reporters the officer was a "hero" who died "protecting his community" at a press conference Monday afternoon.
Cops were responding to a report of a stolen vehicle at a mall parking around noon Monday, according to police. The 911 caller, who blocked the suspect from pulling out with his car, told police the man then opened fire with a shotgun.
When police attempted to arrest the suspect, the man allegedly fired at police. The officer, who has not been named, was immediately rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The suspect, who police say is an Alberta man in his sixties, fled the scene in the stolen vehicle but was arrested a few blocks away. The man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He has yet to be named or charged.
It's rare for police to die in the line of duty in British Columbia. According to Statistics Canada, only 10 cops have been killed on the job between 1961 and 2009 in BC.
BC's Independent Investigations Office, which investigates officer-involved incidents, is looking into the shooting.
If you asked most people to name a trans actor, they'd hopefully be able to name one, but they'd probably all name the same one. Laverne Cox.
Cox is a great actress and definitely one of the driving forces behind the success of Orange is the New Black, but she's one of only a few trans actors that have managed to reach that level of success. It took a while for even Cox to get there. She was 41 when the show premiered.
With a long history of cisgender actors playing transgendered characters (Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, Elle Fanning in 3 Generations, Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent) it doesn't seem like there are many opportunities for trans actors to succeed in film and television. And under the administration of President Trump, who's trying to ban transgender people from military service, representation should matter now more than ever.
So VICE spoke to trans actors, critics and talent managers to find what the state of trans representation is right now.
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Victoria Beltran Actress
VICE: How's your experience getting into the industry as a transwoman? Victoria Beltran: I never knew a way to get into the industry, because at time when I started none of this trans stuff was open, it was very hush hush, it was an underground thing. I never had any kind of direction, I just kind of had to do it on my own. I never thought of doing trans characters because there were no trans characters out there to do. So I was doing female parts and booking cisgender female roles. But it was always in the back of my mind that I'm trans and if it got out, how far could I ever get?
Do you feel comfortable now going into casting rooms, saying you're a transwoman? I still don't sometimes, if it's a female part. Me being trans is a part of me but I'm still female. Going into those audition rooms, I don't tell them unless its a trans part but I'm more than happy to say it and if they find out, they find out or they sense it, I own it. I've always owned it. But I was working on this law show once, I had booked the job. And when I was on the job they found out I was trans from one of the other actresses and they ended up just putting me in a waiting room, while they called a casting agent and booked another model to fill my part. But they still kept me on the set the whole day to say that I worked the eight hours. I actually knew the model who replaced me and when she was done she apologized to me. I didn't even know it was happening until she did that, they just kept me in a waiting room. A lot of things like that have happened to me but when people ask me, "Are you trans?" I've never denied it. I never felt like it was a big deal. I don't need to be ashamed, there isn't a reason to be ashamed. In audition rooms it was always like if they knew or didn't know, I didn't really care because I was there to give them an audition, a part, a character—my personal life is my personal life.
How did that experience affect the next time you walked into an audition? I'm such a thick-skinned girl. I've had worse experiences happen to me growing up trans, being in middle school as a trans person in the nineties. It affected me that day, but in the end I just kind of shook it off, and I worked so much after that. I have this fire inside me to keep going—I've had so many girlfriends who were trans who've passed, and I feel like they're on my shoulders every day when I go audition, like they're pushing me. It not easy, it's not an easy life, it's not an easy career to choose. And as an actor you feel that passion to keep on going, I feel like it's just people and society that have to catch up to us. We've been ahead of them, and we've been here.
So are there more trans roles coming in? I feel like sometimes the trans parts, a year ago at least, they were coming in really heavy but it seemed like they only wanted very visibly presenting trans people in the parts. But recently there's been more variety, one casting call asked for a transwoman that presents more as a woman. It feels like slowly they're progressing, as time goes they letting the girls just be themselves and they're going to see more girls coming out. I know this is all new for the casting directors. This was coming, it's evolution for people. The entertainment industry just has to catch up. There'll be a trans girl or boy to win an Oscar, it'll happen.
How have the trans roles that have been offered to you been? The writers do need help with what they're writing for us. Because I get the script and I'm like "Why would they do that?" Having us on board is going to help with the writing and the progression of the way people see us. Because the scripts that they're writing now I feel like they're solely based on surgery. Most of the auditions I get, the first two lines of the script are "I had a penis, I used to be a man."
Oh no. Or a lot of it's like "She walks into a room, clothes drop and she's standing with a prosthetic penis." In a recent audition, I had to say, "He thinks he has the authority of slapping my new clit." It's like everything has to be about the organ or the body and we're more than just a surgery. I hope a more trans writers come out and get into writing rooms, because every time we get the scripts our reaction is the same "Oh god, here we go again." Because even when they write us it's as the best friend and we're never just the best friend—we're the best friend that also has to walk in the room and be like "I'm a tranny."
How do you feel approaching writers and calling out a bad script? When I got these scripts I never wanted to do the audition, and my manager would be like "Go to the audition, do it and let them see how awkward it makes you feel because then you're showing them not to do this." There are auditions that you don't want to do, but if you want to work and get your name out there, you have to swallow your pride. I don't want to walk in and be the punchline, I want to be a lead and I want to be funny without it being about my anatomy. But to get to that place I have to do these parts. We all got to eat.
Do you think representation is improving? People come up to me and say, "It must be nice that Caitlyn Jenner is doing all this and you can finally be yourself." Because of Caitlyn Jenner I can be myself? I've been myself. There are still times I'm walking on the streets and I still have to hide that I'm a trans person, there are still situations where you have to be quiet and not say anything. There are still trans people being murdered, still trans people being harmed. That's why I don't mind going into those auditions and showing people how it affects me because I know this is needed otherwise things are never going to change. The way the Trump administration is and the military ban and everything, it's affected us. Now because the president says we shouldn't be part of society, people think they have to right to say it as well. The entertainment industry can help change that by giving us more opportunities, better parts that don't solely focus on our sexuality. It's really simple, people just have to take a risk and give us the opportunity.
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Danielle Solzman Film Critic
VICE: As a film critic how do you react to films that have cisgender actors playing trans roles? Danielle Solzman: If it was me I would have completely trashed the film just because of the casting. The Chicago International Film Festival recently selected a film with a cisgendered person playing a transgendered parent and I pretty much wrote that I was skipping that film, because of the casting.
How should audiences react to films that cast cis actors in trans parts? I vote with my wallet and I just don't see the film. They keep on casting cisgendered people in trans roles but the tide, I believe, is turning. The Casting Society of America did a major casting call for trans actors and within a matter of days, FX announced that they were casting five trans [actors] as series regulars on shows. It's not the first time trans actors have been cast as series regulars. In Canada, a little show called The Switch had five trans and non-binary actors but because it's not FX or one of these major networks, it didn't get much press.
What are your thoughts on Transparent and Jeffrey Tambor? I believe that Jill Soloway said knowing what they know now, they would have cast a trans person in the role. And Jeffrey Tambor's speech hit close to home when he said, after winning an Emmy for best actor that he wouldn't be terribly unhappy if he was the last cisgender actor to win for playing a transgender character.
Trans folk involved in the industry have created their own spaces, whether it's an actors' guild or on the internet. Can you talk about those? There are those spaces out there, they're very important it gives me and other trans actors the ability to network. But it's like "do I have to do everything myself?"
Why does representation matter? Representation is important for the one reason that we don't get that common stereotype that transwomen are just men in dresses, because we're not. And that's one of the things that hurts when you get Matt Bomer cast to play a transwoman. It'd be nice if there were more that 11 trans people on television. And it would definitely be nice if there were more films with trans characters played by trans actors that could find a larger audience. I only came out to myself two years ago and it would have been a lot sooner if we had trans representation in the media. In the late 90s when I was growing up, when I first started to have these feelings I thought it was a phase and that they'd go away, but they never went away. It was only when Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Transparent came out, all that awareness in 2015, was when everything made sense.
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Ann Thomas Talent Manager
VICE: Casting directors always say they can't find someone, as someone who manages trans talent what do you think about that? Ann Thomas: A lot of productions actually complain that they don't get any trans actors auditioning and I tell them, "Well you should have researched this and written the role differently." But they push back and then they end up changing the role from a transgender actor to a cis actor because they know they'll get exactly what they want. But that doesn't mean the actor will understand the role and understand what we go through. There's also the fact that there are very few actors that can guarantee distribution, which is key in getting a film sold. Theatres don't want to run a film if they think no one's going to come to see it and they get better attendance when they use name actors that have dedicated fan bases. So that's what happened in the case of Anything. They tried to get movie financed with a new trans actor they couldn't because they needed a name to sell the movie. After they signed Matt Bomer for the role, distribution signed for the role. If they didn't get Matt the movie would have never been made at all. That's the kind of thing people don't understand when they say we need to have trans actors play trans roles, there's way, way more to that. They don't understand the way the industry works. And writers will throw something superficial together and think they're doing us a favour and they're not.
How does the industry move on from casting cis actors in trans roles? They need to know which transgender actors are out there, but the problem is that the vast majority of transgender actors are not being represented by anyone. Most of the major agencies have very few trans people they represent, so the vast majority of us, even if we're good, don't have anyone to properly represent us.
Are you more optimistic about trans actors getting more representation? I think it'll probably take five years, maybe less. I'm hoping, until more major agencies start representing actors and the networks will have a slate of transgender actors to choose from. But there's aren't enough openings, there aren't enough major roles and most of the major actors who are trans are with major companies, and those companies don't give small productions opportunities.
Do you see more trans people getting into your line of work? There's about eight other companies that do talent management for trans people. But of all those other agencies, only two are run by trans people, the others are not. So what's kind of dubious to me is what their intent is, I know they want to help us but I don't know, I haven't been happy with what I've seen.
Delia Kropp Actress and Trans Advocate
VICE: You've been in and out of acting, how do you feel about trans representation in the projects that you've seen? Delia Kropp: I started to realize the kinds of stories being given to us were often exploitative, they were reductive. They were a cisgender person's idea of what a trans person is.
Yeah, lot's of bad scripts. How do productions fix that? The one sure way to test it is to just get transgender people involved. Get them involved, pay them and if you can get a creative in the room who is involved with the production and you'll be doing better. You'll be doing better by you cisgender audience, you'll be doing better by the play and of course you'll be doing better by trans folks. I am 61 years old and I'm not going to see the results of the changes that are happening now but I know that I've helped get conversations started.
Why is representation so important? Representation in the media, though it's getting more positive, still leans heavily into making us "them." We are a novelty, we are freaks. We are entertainment for that reason. For me the most helpful and the most radical representation we could have is just to have a character played by a transgender actor, and have their trans-ness not even be part of the plot. We just want representation. A place at the table, the same table, that's the whole point. But we're a long, long way from that.
Do you think things are getting better? Yes, definitely. They're improving but we still have a long, long way to go. I think it'll get better once we start getting more transgender writers. Right now, Transparent is really the only major engine for transgender stories that are written mostly by transgender writers. It's inevitable. I'm old, I remember the 1960s when black people were going through the same thing in the entertainment industry. Every single story that featured a prominent black character was written by a white person, and looking back you can tell. You have to kind of assume ownership after a while and for me that means assuming ownership of the writing and the directing. But things are definitely improving.
What does the industry need to start doing? Listening to us is a good start. But the ultimate thing is to let us tell our stories. In a 50 or 100 years when we're all equal and we're all living on an equal playing field, that won't be necessary, but right now it is because there's no way that a white cisgender person can possibly understand what life for us is like right now. And they can't tell our stories as well. That's ownership, that's us being at the table.
How do you feel about Caitlyn Jenner? Representation by a very famous person is a double-edged sword. Yeah, we start to become part of people's vocabularies, that's good. I don't deny her authenticity and I will never deny her transition but I do not want someone who's wealthy and Republican to model all of trans people for America. We have to steer away from the easy. Let's not get lazy, let's find authentic people who have taken a big risk with transitioning.
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Cess Jones Actor
VICE: How'd you get into acting, and how has it been as a trans actor? Cess Jones: My first role was on Orange is the New Black. My experience hasn't been horrible but it's definitely different. I'm a bit cautious in saying that I'm trans, it's just something where you don't know if you should put yourself out there like that. It's kinda sad that you have to hide behind that and you can't always say, "Hey! I'm a trans actor" and hope that doesn't bother or change the audition process. It's already a known thing that you're not going to get the callback sometimes if you say you're trans. It is what it is.
How do you feel when you see cisgendered actors cast in trans roles? Please, I mean it's horrible. A trans character should be played by a trans individual. We need the opportunity to just be out there. It's a sad situation but it's reality. We do have a couple of trans actors out there making waves but unfortunately the industry is just not putting too many roles out there for us.
Do you feel like anything is changing? Slightly, if it's a change, it's here and there. You see that one person that has that one role. But it's not across the board. The CSA (Casting Society of America) did put out the big casting call but I don't know how much came out of it, I don't really know what's happening behind that scenes. There definitely should be more platforms for us and I think if we did have that opportunity people would understand we're the same, we just want to be respected. That's basically it.
Why is proper representation so important? Especially for trans folks? It's important so that people can see us and understand us. I think many people have this misconception of who trans people are because we all come from different backgrounds and things aren't always clear cut. I can understand that, just going through my transition and my life. But it's beautiful when you see someone that looks like you making steps and strides in the film industry or in anything because it shows you that you can do that, you can attain that. So it's really important that we have that visibility so maybe some of the backlash and some of the hate can be understood and we have these conversations at the table. If understanding was across the board and people just gave us time we'd be able to flourish.
Photo by Tania Anderson
Kiley May Actress
VICE: You're relatively new to acting, how did it feel getting into it? Kiley May: Before getting into acting I had a lot of anxiety because I know just from being trans that there are a lot of barriers and obstacles to overcome. In the beginning I didn't feel that optimistic. But my opinion has changed, so far it's been great. Being trans so far has not been any kind of obstacle or burden, it's a non-issue which is amazing. It's great because I've been offered roles that were both trans and non-trans characters, and that's been really validating.
How do you feel about the state of trans representation in the media? I'm Indigenous, I identify as a two-spirited person so I always felt that there were two layers of oppression that I've experienced, but I try not to let it define me. I find that transgender representation and Indigenous representation are very similar experiences. I see lots of transgender roles taken by cisgender actors and a lot of Indigenous roles played by white or non-Indigenous actors and it can be disheartening and discouraging. But also the way we're portrayed can be really problematic and offensive. Just downright awful. It's a little better now but in the 90s there was Ace Ventura and Silence of the Lambs, and more recently The Hangover 2. The punchline in that movie is that the characters don't realize they're attracted to transwomen at this strip club and when they find out they freak out. We're mocked and our bodies are made into the joke or the plot twist. If it's not a negative representation it's usually focused just on transitioning or coming out.
Why is proper representation so important? There are consequences or risks when trans people are misrepresented. If an audience had no knowledge of the trans experience and they watched a movie like Silence of the Lambs and they see the trans character as a serial killer, it creates that idea of trans people for them—that we're killers or addicts or sex workers, troubled characters. People are learning from these representations so there has to be more care and sensitivity because it affects day to day interactions with people.
Are you optimistic that things are going to improve in the future? Yeah, I feel like in the past five years we've experienced this paradigm shift. People are becoming more open minded and socially aware.. I think back to living on the reserve 15 years ago, I didn't see trans people on television and if I did, it was a problematic representation. But there's been this movement, almost a transgender renaissance, and it's really exciting to see lots of trans characters being created and trans actors being given roles. It's very validating.
When people look back at Donald Trump's first year as president, they're likely to be perplexed by his actions on climate change. They will see an administration that put climate deniers in senior government positions during a year of record-breaking natural disasters, did everything it could to save a dying coal industry as jobs in renewables exploded, and exited from an international climate treaty that both environmental activists and Fortune 100 companies supported. And this is all despite the release of a government report that there is "no convincing alternative explanation" for climate change other than human activity—more evidence, if you needed it, that this is a problem that urgently needs attention.
"People would look back and think, 'Boy, that was certainly an aggressive effort to go directly in reverse'" of the direction we should be heading, Todd Stern, the United States special envoy for climate change under Barack Obama, told me. No matter how you interpret it, Stern said, 2017 is a "pretty bad" year for federal US climate policy.
Future observers will be even more perplexed when they look at what China was doing during the same time period. The top geopolitical rival to the US announced $361 billion in spending on renewables, moved to shutter hundreds of coal plants, mulled a ban on gas and diesel-powered vehicles, and officially stated its intention to be a global climate leader. "The policy direction is very clear," said Li Shuo, the Beijing-based climate policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia. "[Low-carbon technology] is an area where through policy support [China] can really get an upper hand economically."
Trump has said he is putting "America First" with his actions on climate change. But in reality he is willingly surrendering vast political and economic power to China. "It's hard for me to identify a strategy in much of what this administration does," Joseph Aldy, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard and a former Obama administration official, told me. Yet the contrast between China and the US on climate change could not be clearer. "One of the countries has a leadership that's operating in the 21st century and the other is operating in the 20th," Aldy argued.
This only recently became the case. During the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, China blocked US efforts to create a globally binding treaty, arguing that it would unfairly restrict China's economic growth. But China was struggling with horrific air pollution. It was also investing billions in low-carbon technology. Stern began meeting in secret with negotiators in China and "we found a way to work together," he said. Those discussions resulted in a historic joint promise from the US and China in 2014 to strengthen "bilateral cooperation on climate change."
That may sound like diplomatic jargon. But this unlikely alliance between the US and China was a massive step forward in the global fight against climate change. It made possible the international climate treaty that was negotiated in Paris in 2015. After Trump won the US election and vowed to exit from the Paris treaty, observers wondered if China would also pull out. But any doubts were dispelled in early 2017 when China's President Xi Jinping said that "the Paris agreement is a milestone in the history of climate governance. We must ensure this endeavor is not derailed."
China backed that up with a promise to invest $361 billion in renewable energy sources by 2020. Its National Energy Administration predicted this would create over 13 million jobs. China is also investing in clean energy outside its borders, spending $32 billion in 2016 alone, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. China now owns the biggest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and five of the six biggest solar module builders. "It really sees this as a new and emerging sector," explained Li, and its goal is to "gain an upper hand globally."
Trump's pick to lead the EPA is doing everything he can to help China achieve its goal. Scott Pruitt has said that the US should be withdrawing support for renewable energy. "I would do away with these incentives that we give to the wind industry," he recently argued. Pruitt has close ties to lobby groups like the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, as well as the oil companies supporting them. He's argued on CNBC that human activities aren't "a primary contributor to the global warming that we see." And one of his top policy goals is to end "the war on coal."
Trump released an executive order in March that claimed to do just that. It directed agencies and departments to repeal or revise climate change regulations introduced by Obama. "We are lifting job-killing restrictions on the production of oil, natural gas, clean coal, and shale energy," Trump said at the time. The president declined to mention that coal jobs have been declining since 2012 because of economic forces outside of his control, or that the solar industry now employs more people than coal or gas. But Trump isn't interested in the future. He wants to hearken back to "a period in the past when coal was a much larger fraction of our energy economy," Aldy said.
China is going the other direction. In February it announced plans to close down 500 outdated coal mines. Coal is still by far the largest source of electricity in China, supplying 62 percent of the country's energy. But China's coal consumption has dropped for the past three years due in part to the rapid rise of wind and solar. "I think it is safe to say we have reached the peak point of coal," Li argued. "It's going to be a declining trajectory." Many international observers agree. And if this trend persists, China could meet its 2030 Paris climate targets a decade early.
Not that climate hawks should be embracing China as a savior just yet. The country is strengthening trading relationships across Asia, Africa, and Europe under a $900 billion strategy called the "Belt and Road Action Plan." And some of the investments it's making in other countries are terrible for the environment, such as $15 billion for new coal power plants in Pakistan. "That's a real worry," Stern noted. "It's not going to help the world if fossil fuel development is financed by China outside their borders."
The broader economic trend lines are clear though. Over two-thirds of new energy installations across the planet last year came from renewables, according to the International Energy Agency. China announced in September it plans to ban gasoline-powered cars. The Paris treaty is as much about building the industries of the future as it is about cutting carbon emissions. That's why "90 plus percent of Fortune 100 companies" support US involvement, Stern argued. "Every industry: finance, heavy industry, tech, retail—you name it. There was hardly anyone opposed to staying in the Paris agreement."
Trump's decision to exit Paris in June was a giant middle finger to the rest of the world, but it didn't actually accomplish that much. The US is still technically in the treaty until 2020. The carbon reductions it promised were already voluntary. And even with Pruitt's current efforts to repeal the Clean Power Plan, US emissions are at a 24-year-low. They are expected to keep declining over the next decade thanks to the rise of renewables and strong climate policies in states like California. The real impact of Trump's withdrawal is to surrender negotiating power to countries like China. "It's not clear what if any influence the US can have," Aldy explained.
This is not exactly an ideal situation for China. "A lot of people are dismayed," Li explained. "We need the US on board, this a question larger than any one country." But the absence of US leadership on climate creates a power vacuum China is now looking to fill. "There is an increasing realization in China that we need to foster this diplomatic opportunity," Li said. During a week-long Communist Party meeting in October, President Xi said that China is taking a "driving seat" in the fight against climate change and this will help the country "become a leading global power."
This is encouraging news for the world. We have only a few short years to implement policies capable of avoiding the deadliest impacts of climate change. But Trump's surrender to China on climate change is also a surrender of democratic values. President Xi is now the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. "He seems determined to tighten control over Chinese society, not least by enhancing the state's powers of surveillance," explained a recent story on Xi in The Economist. "The world does not want an isolationist United States or a dictatorship in China. Alas, it may get both."
Trump's actions are reversible. The US economy is shifting away from fossil fuels. States and cities are stepping forward. Emissions are declining. If Americans elect a Congress or president in the next four years that cares about unscrewing the climate, all these trends could feasibly be accelerated. It's possible that people in the future will look back at the Trump era as a momentary aberration: "'Well, that was crazy but at least it didn't last long,'" said Stern.
But Trump is stalling global climate action when it badly needs to be sped up. And as 195 countries meet in November for an annual United Nations climate conference in Bonn, Germany, it's still not guaranteed that China can mitigate the damage. "You run the risk of people looking back and thinking what madness gripped… this country and why did so many people go along with it?" Stern said.
Geoff Dembicki is the author of Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change. Follow him on Twitter.
What do we think society is? A relationship between people, perhaps, especially one characterised by a mutual interest in each other's well-being. Less abstractly, something manifested in institutions such as schools, hospitals, churches – the things that enable people, in general, to live lives that matter to them. It's the thing that – in favour of individuals and their families – Margaret Thatcher tried to deny.
But this is not necessarily what society is. Society isn't a relationship, mediated through institutions. Society is a thing – a living thing. Specifically, society as we know it is a vast sea monster. The English Civil War-era political theorist Thomas Hobbes called this monster the Leviathan. Tentacled, oozing, always hungry – the Leviathan holds us together not out of any higher, finer sentiments, but simply because it needs to extract value from us in order to grow. If we are to believe Hobbes, then in the earliest years of humanity our leaders signed a contract with this Leviathan, binding our wills to it in exchange for security – a sort of primal protection racket. And since then we have remained its servants: half-choked, sick things unable to realise our true nature beyond the monster's grasp.
We received a stark reminder of this fact earlier this week, when the leaked Paradise Papers exposed everyone from the Queen to Bono to the cast of Mrs Brown's Boys as being complicit in a vast international offshore tax scam. Just like the Panama Papers leak in 2016, the Paradise Papers provide hard evidence for the hypothesis that it is not only completely normal, but even actively expected, for the most prosperous members of society to take steps to hide their money away from the public good, in order to be able to invest more of it in schemes that enrich them, precisely at our expense.
The Queen's investment portfolio can provide us with a striking illustration of the sort of trick that is being pulled here. Admittedly, the Queen herself is too constitutionally neutral to be allowed to do anything as profound as invest money on her own behalf. But the Duchy of Lancaster, which exists as a sort of personal investment fund for the monarch, has been found to have holdings of more than £10 million in the tax havens of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Funds from which the Crown's money draws interest have put money into businesses such as the "rent-to-own" retailer BrightHouse, which sells consumer goods via such nakedly exploitative credit arrangements that they've been fined for it by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Essentially, then, our tax money has been going to the Crown in the form of the Sovereign Grant (recently increased, ostensibly to fund repairs to Buckingham Palace), which has then been siphoning it off to some of its old imperial holdings, from where it has been used to make our beloved Queen still more money by investing in firms which prey on the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
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When we encounter something like the Paradise Papers, our first reaction is probably to be outraged by it, as if what is going on here is a miscarriage of justice – an abuse of a system of tax and investment that, if only it were administered properly, would indeed serve the interests of society in general, "little people" like us included. Seen this way, the offenders listed in the Paradise Papers represent a corruption of the norm.
But this would be naïve. Once we recognise that society is a sea monster, an organism that lustily extracts value from us in order to grow, we can see the real problem with what the Paradise Papers expose. The system portrayed by the Paradise Papers is not a failing one; it is a system functioning exactly as it is supposed to.
Marx talks about surplus-value being extracted by capitalists from our labour, who then invest this value in order to help them exploit us even more: our labour comes to stand over us as an alien power. Perhaps this is why so many people are convinced that the Queen is, in truth, some sort of extraterrestrial lizard. The super-rich are nothing if not the monster's agents, and the more effectively they can weaponise the fruits of our own labour against us, the better they will be doing their jobs.
This explains the difficulty of trying to confront something like this. The Duchy of Lancaster, for example, became Crown property in 1399 – and although the surpluses have increased markedly with the advent of neoliberalism, it served pretty much the same function then. This poison is ancient, and it runs deep.
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Let's face it: we all know how a news event like this goes. As with the earlier Panama Papers leaks, a few extra regulations will be put on the statute book, a few suckers they're out to get anyway will take a financial hit (Michael Ashcroft, buddy, you should never have told everyone the Prime Minister stuck his dick in a dead pig's head), and then the whole enterprise will pick up again as normal until the next big leak. Already the forces of "fairness" and "balance" have been deployed, trying their best to make it look as if the super-rich conspiring to swindle humanity is little more than a difference of opinion.
In his Evening Standard editorial, George Osborne has urged us not to let this scandal undermine our faith in the fundamental worth of our financial and legal institutions. In Parliament yesterday, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride, who was speaking in place of the Chancellor for some reason, insisted that the government believes in "a fair tax system where everyone plays by the rules", and that in this context "there are many good reasons why, for perfectly honest and decent purposes", individuals may choose to put their money in offshore trusts.
To really confront this, we would need to free ourselves from the tentacled grip of this thing we call society. We would need to clean from ourselves its festering ooze, come together, united, to slay the monster for good.
Perhaps in such a moment, society in its true sense would be able to emerge.
Acid attacks are on the increase in the UK, but the majority of targets here are men.
In Bangladesh, it is women and girls who are most likely to be victims of acid violence. In this short film, VICE journalist Zing Tsjeng speaks to Bangladeshi survivors and fashion designer Bibi Russell, who are coming together to put on a ActionAid UK fashion show in London to raise awareness of the issue.
One of the models, Sonali, was only a baby when acid was thrown over her and her family. Fifteen years later, Sonali is joining other acid attack victims to stride down the Survivors' Runway in a show that seeks to celebrate the fighting spirit of these women.
Most of us don't live in an area replete with venomous snakes and other fearsome beasts—but even a family of squirrels can push you to the brink if you're suddenly forced to live with them in your walls. Which is why many of us would rather outsource the eviction of unwanted animal visitors to the professionals.
As a wildlife control technician and franchisee of Critter Control of Toronto, Terry Thorsell's involved every day with wildlife removal—primarily bats, birds, squirrels, raccoons, rats, and skunks—from people's homes.
"I absolutely love wildlife, I love to be outside," says Thorsell. "Every job is unique—there's a puzzle you have to solve. These animals are very intelligent. They've broken into somebody's home and they don't want to leave. So you have to outsmart them sometimes." Thorsell works alongside his son, Brandon, who also handles cleanup and repairs in the aftermath of the furry invaders.
VICE talked to them about raccoons stealing milk out of baby's cribs, getting bitten by potentially rabid animals, and the time an animal infestation turned into a crime scene.
Terry Thorsell | Courtesy of Terry Thorsell.
VICE: How do you prep for a job? What equipment do you bring in? Terry Thorsell: Each one is unique. I did a job a couple of years ago where a modelling agency called. They said they had an alligator in their lobby. I thought: This is Toronto. We don't have alligators. Well, they did. What had happened was, they had a girl working as an intern who had come in on a Friday. They had a big six-foot aquarium that had very little water in it, and she figured the alligator needed more water. So, she filled it up and went away for the weekend. The alligator swam out of the aquarium and was walking around the lobby. We walked in with control sticks and nooses, noosed the animal and put it back in the aquarium.
Do you wear gloves? You're definitely well protected. If you're going into somebody's home and a raccoon comes down a chimney, or breaks into the living area—you have kevlar gloves on. If you were to be bitten, you hope it doesn't penetrate your skin. A small percentage of raccoons do have rabies.
Have you ever been bitten? I have, yes [laughs]. It bothers me because it shouldn't have happened. We all get bit one time or another for different reasons—my reason was, I got a little lax. I had a raccoon in a trap in a lady's backyard. She persisted on talking to me and my attention was not at the animal in the cage. I put my hand in and it bit me. So, keep your eye on the prize.
What was your most extreme case? We were called to a property management complex. They had a bad odour. Generally speaking, bad odours in the spring and summer are caused by birds in the vents; the kitchen vent or the bathroom vent. They soil the nesting and once that nesting starts to move a bit, it creates an odour. We went to unit #8, didn't find any evidence of nests or birds. We went to unit #9, checked the kitchen, that's fine. Go to open up the bathroom—the door was shut and the lights were off—and there's a dead man in the bathroom; about 300 lbs, floating in the bathtub. That was the odour. As bad as that was, now it turns into a crime scene. Everyone's getting fingerprinted, they want to know what time you got there. That was the craziest encounter.
Courtesy of Terry Thorsell.
What was the worst infestation you've seen? Rats. It was an area of downtown Toronto in the back of a restaurant. It was a normal size backyard, but it looked like whack-a-mole at the CNE. I lost count after 150 rats within 5-10 minutes. Generally speaking, we come in there with a series of rat traps. I don't like to use poison on rodents because the poison can go on to non-target animals like squirrels and chipmunks. We go in there with a series of snap-traps and remove them that way. It took us 10-14 days before we had it under control. It was insane. If I had never seen it, I would have never believed what I'm telling you. What's the trickiest animal to get rid of? It all depends on seasons. You get into the spring, a raccoon mother with pups—even squirrels for that matter—when they're ready to give birth, they'll take the little ones and make a nest inside walls; between the floors, in very secure crevices within the home structure. You can't even get at them without cutting the wall.
Easiest to remove? My favourite is squirrels. Squirrels are very active pretty much twelve months out of the year. They will go to a trap, they will leave through a one-way door. I designed and invented a 1-way door a number of years ago—basically a funnel trap. The animal would go out and the door would shut behind them. It wasn't too long before the raccoons actually figured out how to open the door and get back in. They're highly intelligent.
What other impressive things have you seen raccoons do? I've seen them hang by one paw, encircle underneath the soffit like a circus act, and swing in. I've seen a 30lb raccoon get into a 4"x4" hole. Raccoons have no collarbones, so if they can get their head in, the body will follow.
What was the strangest call you received? This lady called me in the middle of the night. She heard animal noises on her baby monitor. The raccoons had built a nest on top of the fireplace damper. Once the little ones got a little bit bigger and weighed more—six little ones weigh 5-7 lbs and the mother weighs 30 lbs—the damper gave away. The little raccoon went up the stairs and jumped into the crib with the baby and started drinking milk out of the baby's bottle. The mother heard this on the baby monitor and called us immediately.
Are there any animals that you'd rather not deal with? Obviously the skunk. You never know when they will spray. You know their telltale signs when they're about to warn you: they'll tap their paw aggressively on the ground, or they'll give you a couple of fake turnarounds before they really let loose. But sometimes they'll be so startled, they just let you have it. When the skunk does spray, it air bursts. It's actually an oil secretion which multiplies with the moisture. Once it gets on you—even if you don't get directly sprayed—the odour is on your clothes, it gets into the truck, it stays with you for days. Try to avoid having a skunk spray you.
What do you need to do this job well? You can't be afraid of heights—most of the work is up ladders and repair work is done in some extreme situations. You have to have good people skills; listen and understand people's concerns. Even if you've heard it a hundred times that day, it is unique to them. You've got to be compassionate for the animals and your customers. Often they haven't slept for days, they're scared. I've spent many nights with women in tears because a bat came into their living room and freaked them out for the entire night. They do not want me to leave.
There is at least one person out there, however, who isn't onboard with Big Shaq's newfound celebrity. On Monday's episode of Desus & Mero, the hosts broke down how OG Shaq—Shaquille O'Neal—responded to the track by firing off a few fiery verses himself. Now the two Shaqs are embroiled in a full-on flame war, since O'Neal apparently doesn't get the joke.
You can watch Monday night's Desus & Merofor free online now, and be sure to catch new episodes weeknights at 11 PM on VICELAND.
More than 10,000 people worldwide claim they're the victims of a vast organized surveillance effort designed to ruin their lives, a phenomenon known as "gang stalking." For those who believe they're constantly being watched—by the government, a secret society, or some other group—everyday activities like taking a walk or driving on the highway can become a nightmare.
On this episode of HYSTERIA, VICE meets up with a handful of Americans who claim their lives have been derailed by gang stalking to understand what serious consequences it presents. Then we hear from Dr. Josh Bazell, one of many physicians who believes the victims of gang stalking are having dangerous delusions.
Everything you need to know about the world this morning, curated by VICE.
US News
Weinstein Hired Private Investigators to Track Accusers, Report Says Harvey Weinstein allegedly tapped private security contractors to gather intelligence on women who said he sexually harassed or assaulted them, as well as on journalists investigating their allegations. According to seven individuals involved in the operation and a trove of documents, he engaged in an all-out spy war to suppress reports about his conduct ultimately published in the New York Times and New Yorker. One operative he hired apparently used a fake identity to befriend and extract information from Rose McGowan, perhaps Weinstein's most outspoken rape accuser.—The New Yorker
Air Force Gaffe Helped Clear Path for Texas Massacre The gunman who killed 26 people and wounded at least 20 others at a rural Texas church Sunday should have been legally prevented from purchasing weapons. Former airman Devin P. Kelley had been convicted of domestic violence after battering his wife and and stepson, an offense the Air Force neglected to enter into a federal database. Doing so could have prevented him from legally acquiring guns used in Sunday's attack.—VICE News
US Now Alone in Spurning Paris Climate Accord Syria announced Tuesday it would join the Paris accord on climate change, making the US the only country refusing to take part. President Trump announced he would withdraw from the accord over the summer, calling it "an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries." The roughly 200 countries on board have agreed to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.—The New York Times
International News
Saudi Arabia Calls Out Iran for 'Direct Military Aggression' The country's newly aggressive crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has accused Tehran of arming rebels in Yemen with missiles, reportedly telling the UK's foreign secretary Boris Johnson the move "may be considered an act of war." Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, flatly denied supplying the rebels with weapons and accused Saudi Arabia of "regional bullying."—BBC
North Korea Situation 'Will All Work Out,' Trump Says At a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, President Trump said he felt optimistic about diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions between South Korea, its neighbor to the north, and the US. "Ultimately, it will all work out," he said, adding that "we're making a lot of progress." Previously, Trump had threatened to hit North Korea with "fire and fury" if it didn't deescalate its nuclear program.—The New York Times
ISIS Attackers Storm Kabul TV Station, Killing Two Two people died and at least 20 others were injured when militants attacked a TV station in Kabul, Afghanistan. A suicide bomber set off his explosive vest at the station, killing a security guard, and another attacker rushed the compound, killing a woman working there. ISIS claimed the attack, which took place at one of Afghanistan's most popular TV stations, Shamshad—an outlet that, like others in the region, occasionally airs anti-ISIS PSAs.—The Washington Post
Everything Else
ACLU Says Taylor Swift Tried to Suppress Free Speech Taylor Swift's legal team asked a music blog to take down a piece arguing Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" spoke to the alt-right and comparing her to Hitler, arguing the post was defamatory. The American Civil Liberties Union has since stepped in, insisting Swift's threats to the blog are "a completely unsupported attempt to suppress constitutionally protected speech."—Noisey
Disney Said to Be Looking to Acquire Most of 21st Century Fox For the past several weeks, 21st Century Fox, which owns a small stake in VICE Media, has been considering selling a majority of itself to Disney, hoping to narrow its focus to news and sports, according to sources familiar with the potential deal. The agreement, which is still up in the air, would equip Disney with more resources to make original movies and TV as it moves to create its own direct-to-consumer streaming platforms.—CNBC
Diddy Was Joking About Changing His Name After announcing he would refuse to respond to anything other than "Brother Love," Diddy hopped on Instagram to announce the move was just a stunt. "Today I've come to the conclusion that you cannot play around with the internet," he said. "I was only joking, OK? I didn't change my name."—Billboard
Make sure to check out the latest episode of VICE's daily podcast. Today, we delve into the Texas church shooting and the Paradise Papers.
As soon as the missing person posters started circulating for Vancouver DJ Zachary McLean Webb, the city's party scene braced for bad news.
Webb was one of seven Vancouver men named in a list of alleged sexual abusers that was widely circulated on social media last month. Was his disappearance related? Friends and observers could only speculate, as he failed to show up for work a full day before the list was posted. As a wave of #metoo posts picked up momentum, so did fears of suicide. Four days after he was first accused of rape on Facebook, Webb's family confirmed his death.
Media reports have painted the incident as a cautionary tale of "hashtag activism" gone off the rails, a "definitely defamatory" campaign that may have dealt out more pain than justice. "There is a controversy surrounding my son's death, and yes, that makes it harder," Zach's mom wrote in a recent Facebook post that mentions an ongoing police investigation. "Take care with your words, your posts, your shares. We are not judge, jury and executioner."
Meanwhile, the women who outed their alleged rapists have been called bullies and murderers, and have been threatened with legal action. Webb's friends have even made comparisons to the Amanda Todd case, where a teen committed suicide after being bullied and blackmailed. But if you ask many women working in the nightlife industry, "the list" has sparked a reckoning that badly needed to happen. It made something insidious and invisible now impossible to ignore.
VICE spoke to six women who recently named their alleged abusers online, and many more people associated with Vancouver's after hours party culture. Together, their accounts suggest some disturbing patterns of behaviour that extend well beyond one person or incident—powerful older men giving out drinks, drugs, and club gigs, which allowed them to systematically take advantage of young, sometimes teenaged, girls.
Photo by Geoff Webb
A nightlife photographer VICE spoke to was 16 when one popular DJ hired her to take club photos. He was nearly twice her age at the time, and frequently hosted after-parties at his house. "Being that young, feeling like these older guys wanted to have us around and be part of that scene was super cool," she told VICE. "There was just a lot of alcohol and drug use."
On two occasions she says the DJ allegedly forced himself on her sexually, and for years afterward she felt guilt for not speaking up or fighting back. "Maybe at 16 I wanted to make out or something," she told VICE. "I had never had a boyfriend, I didn't know what love or consent were. I never really said no or tried to fight him off—I was just very disconnected from it."
The photographer told VICE she didn't have the words or emotional support to process what had happened to her, and she also didn't want to lose her position in the scene. "Ten years ago it was very different, there wasn't the same awareness there is now," she said. "At the time our friends thought the only kind of rape was the kind where a guy in a hoodie breaks into your house—the Law & Order kind."
She continued working his party each week, and for a while neither of them brought up the incident. "After it happened the first time, he didn't act any differently. He made me feel like nothing bad had happened," she said.
But some months later, almost the same thing allegedly happened again. The second time the photographer says she was passed out. "I remember just waking up to it happening," she told VICE. "From what I do remember of it, he was very strong and very rough."
Facebook posts by multiple women viewed by VICE make similar allegations against the same DJ.
Now 27, the photographer says she did not come forward about the alleged rape for attention, social status, career advancement, or to get back at someone she disliked. When she joined in with her own #metoo post last month, she says she did it to back up the stories of other women who were being attacked for daring to name their abusers. Her story echoed another widely-read post that alleged the same man assaulted another woman when she was 17 and passed out.
"I just want people to know that women aren't lying. I don't want to relive it every second of every day. It's hard even to remember because I was so young, there were substances involved, and you tend to disassociate when bad stuff happens."
A lawyer representing the DJ told VICE he has not been charged with any crime and "denies the serious wrongdoing of which he has been accused."
The photographer acknowledges some whispers have followed the disclosures. The assumption that women like her simply regret their own decisions, and are looking for a way to blame others, is exactly the kind of sentiment she and others are trying to fight. The conversation around what qualifies as meaningful consent is still shifting, and she hopes men will take a more active role in questioning and confronting other men.
On first glance, Webb's death has blown up this sensitive conversation. Emotions are running extra high, and men on the DJ circuit VICE spoke to say they're feeling nervous about saying anything wrong.
But if you ask the women who allege they were hurt by Webb, they say his death doesn't change a thing. Police, private confrontation and other avenues for recourse failed them, which is why they sought safety and accountability in numbers.
Two of the women VICE spoke to described sexual assaults by Webb. Both requested anonymity for fear of backlash and legal action.
One woman said she made an anonymous police report about Webb in June. She suspects she was drugged two years ago at a small post-club gathering, and was allegedly groped by Webb and another man while she could barely move. "I never asked for sex, I didn't consent at all," she told VICE.
A lawyer representing the second man said her client "has never been the subject of charges related to any such allegations."
Webb's accuser said it took years to tell anybody about what happened. Now that her experience has been shared publicly, she feels "a weight off her shoulders" seeing so many more women encouraged to come forward.
"If the cops aren't going to do anything, unfortunately this is the avenue you have to take," Erica Lapadat-Janzen, local artist and former roommate of Webb, told VICE. "The time for being silent is over."
Some of the city's longtime nightlife fixtures have been notably quiet, though privately they told VICE there's a need for new talent, new parties, and more women calling shots.
But the women VICE spoke to say there's more work to be done. The accusers who have felt safe coming forward are established photographers, musicians and artists—most of them white. For each woman who has named an abuser, there are other non-binary, trans, women of colour who were too vulnerable to come forward, Lapadat-Janzen told VICE.
Women say the outpouring of support is starting to outweigh the doubters. Just about everyone in the industry has been horrified by the scale and scope of the allegations, and insiders are now taking a hard look at the compromising power relationships between drunk young women and the men who have run the scene for a decade or more.
There's talk of a femme and non-binary run festival later this month, a direct callout to the "boys club" the women say enabled serial predators, and caused undue harm.
"I do feel sad and horrible for Zach's family and friends," one woman told VICE. "But sexual assault survivors have much higher chance of experiencing suicidal thoughts, or even following through with suicide, compared to those who rape."
"The Amanda Todd case, I think that comparison is super unfair. These are our stories and experiences," she said. "I can't understand how coming forward with the truth is bullying."
Actor Ed Westwick has responded to allegations that he raped actress Kristina Cohen at his apartment three years ago.
In a Facebook post published on Monday, Cohen says she was dating a man she identifies only as "the producer" at the time. The man was friends with the Gossip Girl actor, she wrote, and had taken Cohen to his home. "I wanted to leave when Ed suggested 'we should all fuck'," she alleges, adding that the producer "didn't want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving", before "Ed suggested [she] nap in the guest bedroom".
Cohen says Westwick then woke her up, with "his fingers entering my body".
"I told him to stop, but he was strong," she wrote. "I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn't speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me."
"The producer put the blame on me, telling me I was an active participant. Telling me that I can't say anything because Ed will have people come after me, destroy me, and that I could forget about an acting career. Saying there's no way I can go around saying Ed 'raped' me and that I don't want to be 'that girl'."
Today, Westwick responded to the allegations with a brief statement on Twitter, saying: "I do not know this woman. I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape."
Cohen's statement comes amid ongoing allegations of sexual assault in the entertainment industry, with multiple women alleging they have been harassed or assaulted by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein; a number of men alleging they have been harassed or assaulted by Kevin Spacey; and "hundreds" of women accusing director James Toback of sexual harassment or assault.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who will come up with the dumbest weed laws of them all?
Up until very recently, Ontario was the clear frontrunner with its LCBO-controlled dispensary system, including a woefully inadequate 40 shops by next summer, and ban on public consumption. But New Brunswick is now a serious contender. The province has proposed requiring people to lock up their weed while at home to keep it out of the hands of minors.
This would mean that cannabis consumers would quite literally need to store their weed in a locked room or a lockbox of some kind. The same way the federal government requires firearms be stored.
"For people here in New Brunswick who have guns in their houses, it's locked. It's their responsibility. This will be the same thing," said New Brunswick Justice and Public Safety Minister Denis Landry, according to Global News.
Yes, he is equating deadly guns with weed, a fairly benign psychoactive plant. I'm not even convinced a kid who stumbled across dried bud would know what to do with it. A teenager, sure, but you don't see people locking away their alcohol, cigarettes, or prescription drugs—all of which are much more harmful.
And how would this law be enforced? Are police going to have the right to search the home of any cannabis user in order to ensure they are storing their weed properly? Sounds like a pretty clear civil liberties violation.
We're still waiting on several provinces, including BC and Alberta, to announce their rollout plans for legalization. Let's hope they don't look to Ontario and New Brunswick for advice.
We wanted the Music Issue to feel diverse in the artists, genres, and stories we featured. We wanted to give a platform to up-and-coming artists, and we wanted to discuss how advancements in technology are changing the way we consume and think about music. But flipping through the completed issue, we have a surprising amount of archival content, too, all handled with a sense of preciousness and admiration, the kind reserved for anything that evokes strong feelings of nostalgia. These pieces feel like odes to simpler times, and perhaps focusing on them was a subconscious way of dealing with a future that feels especially tumultuous.
And don't forget: You can get the magazine (100-plus glossy pages) delivered to your doorstep by subscribing. Or why not check out the VICE Magazine Podcast? It's your definitive weekly guide to enlightening information, and each episode brings in-depth interviews, sonically rich cultural insights, and a rare glimpse into how we make the issue. You can subscribe on iTunes, Acast, and Google Play.
Back in July, 70-year-old Chisako Kakehi shocked prosecutors in Japan when she admitted to killing her husband, the last in a long string of men who died after becoming romantically involved with her. On Tuesday, she was sentenced to death by hanging for the crime, along with the murders of two other lovers and the attempted murder of a fourth, the Washington Post reports.
Though she's only been convicted of three murders, the "black widow," as she's known in Japan, has been romantically connected to at least ten men who have later died, according to the Japan Times. Kakehi has allegedly been duping wealthy men in their 70s and 80s into drinking cyanide for years, pawning the poison off on them as a "health cocktail." Prosecutors say she made sure she would receive massive payouts from her victims' life insurance plans before killing them—a plot they called a "heinous crime driven by greed for money." She's reportedly inherited roughly $8.8 million in the last ten years.
Kakehi was arrested after an autopsy report revealed that her fourth husband, 75-year-old Isao Kakehi, died from ingesting a fatal dose of cyanide just a month after the two were married. After admitting to that 2013 murder—a crime she said she carried out because he was stingy with his money—the 70-year-old appeared to mock the threat of a death sentence, according to the Japan Times.
"I killed my husband," Kakehi reportedly said. "I have no intention of hiding the guilt. I will laugh it off and die if I am sentenced to death tomorrow."
Days after making the confession, Kakehi retracted it, claiming she had no memory of what she said. Her lawyers have insisted she has dementia, and vowed to appeal Tuesday's verdict. But the presiding judge, Ayako Nakagawa, said Kakehi was fully aware of the killings.
"The cases were well prepared in advance. They were cunning and malicious," Nakagawa said, according to BBC. "I have no choice but to impose the ultimate penalty."
Japan has one of the world's lowest homicide rates, making the black widow's killing spree a particularly large scandal. As Kakehi captivates headlines in the country, authorities are still piecing together an investigation into a local man who's been accused of killing nine people after police found severed heads and women's bodies in his apartment.
The fate of Netflix's one-time flagship show, House of Cards, has been up in the air in the wake of the growing number of sexual assault claims against Kevin Spacey. Production on the show's final season is currently paused and, as of last Friday, Spacey was off the show. In a statement, the streaming giant announced that it "will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey."
Writers are likely racing to rewrite the final season to account for a Frank Underwood-free universe right now, but one brilliant fan has come up with a workaround—just replace Kevin Spacey with King of Queens star Kevin James and call it good.
The man with the plan, Robbie Pyma, came up with the solution last week and quickly threw together a Change.org petition aptly titled "Keep Netflix's House of Cards running with Kevin James replacing Kevin Spacey."
"Losing a great show is hard, no matter the circumstances," Pyma writes in the petition description. "However with hardship comes the opportunity for a great show to become one of the greatest television shows of all time. I think Kevin James can elevate House of Cards to a globally adored franchise like Game of Thrones and make the entire world focus on one of the most important Netflix Original series there is."
The world apparently agrees with him, because the petition has pulled in more than 30,000 signatures over the past five days. If it hits 35,000, a letter will be delivered to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, begging him to let the guy from Hitch take his turn as an Underwood.
There are gay bars and parties, queer book clubs and beer busts, and then there are events that make the rest of gay culture look quaint: things like circuit parties and gay cruises, gatherings where thousands assemble to forsake sleep and health for days on end and really let themselves go.
Often, these kinds of events transcend straight society; on an all-gay cruise, for example, patrons may feel a certain kind of freedom they wouldn't on shore, far from the social mores and pressures of heteronormative culture. It's that kind of freedom—and the more troubling elements of gay culture it reveals, too—that's highlighted by the documentary Dream Boat, which saw its US theatrical release on Friday.
Dream Boat follows five diverse gay men as they embark on a massive, unnamed gay cruise. The men hail from places both progressive (like Philippe, a disabled Frenchman who lost the ability to walk to a meningitis infection in his youth) and not (like Dipankar, a young man from India who speaks heart-wrenchingly about his hopes to find a lover and escape the intolerance of Indian society).
Over seven days and nights, they attend massive dance parties on deck in painstakingly-curated outfits, get drunk, betray existential angst and depression, find friendship, and have surprisingly little sex. They question the limits and paths of their lives back home and face a number of prescient anxieties in gay culture at large: HIV stigma, body dysmorphia, coming out, discomfort with femininity. It's a film ruled by dissonance: On one hand, the accepting, otherworldly nature of a nearly wholly-gay gathering, and on the other, the kinds of internalized discrimination that gay culture brings.
I spoke with Tristan Ferland Milewski, Dream Boat's director, about what drove him to make a documentary about a gay cruise, the marathon filmmaking process on board the ship, and what larger questions his film brings up about modern gay culture.
VICE: What were you trying to capture, emotionally and narratively, going into the trip? Milewski: I think it's always interesting to dive into a microcosm like this. It has its own codes and rules, but it always mirrors society at large in a way. I think in a way, a cruise like this represents a universal quest—we all want to live and love as we are. And as you see in the film, it's not so easy sometimes.
As long as the world is how it is, people will still need places where they can be themselves without fear and discrimination, and this is a boat, a place, where they can do that. But then again, of course, there might be new norms and new kinds of discrimination. It's an interesting tension to examine.
For example, within our community, what do we do about our emphasis on masculinity? How do we treat ourselves as gay men? The question for everybody is, who do we want to be as gay men? So it's a bit about identity also. The film gets at these existential questions of life—and in the end, for all the protagonists, there was also a kind of catharsis. The film has very sad moments, but there's also an empowerment in the end.
What were some of those existential questions and tensions? The quest for love and freedom, but then of course, the things we take from society and internalize—self-discrimination.
There's the performance of masculinity; I think many gay men have this experience, that their masculinity is questioned through being gay, and maybe you're denied your masculinity in a way you internalize. But of course, gender itself is performance. Which comes up quite nicely in the boat's Ladies' Night [a party on the trip where patrons dress in drag], which is the busiest, most joyful and free night of the trip.
I thought it was important to show the other side of gay culture, too, to show really deep love. There are two amazing couples in the film that really went through a lot. It was important to show them and not just paint this tragic image of being gay. It's all about raising questions: where are we today, and who do we want to be? What potential do we have to turn gay culture into something empowering and positive?
What surprised you during the trip? I always find it incredible when you have these crazy parties, and you see the sun rising, and you see day and night, time and space melt together. And you can imagine that over seven days and nights of the cruise, going 24 hours a day, there's no sleep. Because you can't coordinate with anybody and say "Okay, let's meet tomorrow at 11." First of all, nobody knows what 11 o'clock is or where anybody is. You had to be constantly connected; we had two camera units and we had to stay connected to the protagonists we were following. It was a big revelation to me about how little sleep you can survive on.
What attracted you to the gay cruise in the first place? I think it's a bit like this family—the dream of a family, with the ups and downs that it has. The first time I'd been on this cruise in particular was the year before, but of course I'd been to that kind of event before. But I think that me, being privileged, coming from a place like Berlin, where you have this vast LGBTQIA world with lots of events, everything, and you can choose and see whatever you like. I think in other places there's not such a variety.
Many of the cruisers travelled far to get to the event, and to have this feeling and connection and freedom. It has a certain magic. But it also has downsides. It's a boat of dreams and a boat of disillusionment. And of course, there's this intensity—you go to your limit in so many ways, and your time there is so limited. There's big expectations, the pressure is high, and it's a completely exceptional situation, you're out of your daily life and only mingling with gay guys. Suddenly, these existential questions come up: where am I in my life now? How free am I in my real life? How are my relationships? How is my life going? And depending on the expectations you bring to the boat, you can fly or you can fall. It's very intense.
It was the summer before sixth grade when Dad moved out. It was a surprise to no one that my sister, Susan, would go with him—she was a real teenager now—and Larry and I would stay home with Mom. The two of them would move to Seattle and get an apartment, and we would visit with him on weekends. That was the idea anyway. The primary upside to my parents' divorce was that Susan would be out of my hair, and I'd get the bedroom and its dresser drawers all to myself. With her gone, I was the oldest in the house—that included my mother, who was as absent from our lives as Dad and Susan.
For the first time in her life, our mother was free to experience her revolution from within. Even though she had to work, it was obvious that she enjoyed it much more than she'd enjoyed staying home with us and playing the role of housewife. Now she was free to reinvent herself once more. She promptly got a job at the General Phone Company (chief rival of Dad's employer, Pacific Bell) and got really politically active in AA. In short order, she'd become the delegate for the entire state of Washington. This meant she had to speak at many conferences, and she left my brother and me alone during long weekends, to our great pleasure.
