I’ve been an active member of the Rusty Lake community for a little over a year now, and every time I play, I’m stunned by just how much depth the creators are able to fit into their games, which usually only take anywhere from an hour to four hours to play. Particularly, I’m fascinated by the games’ takes on environmentalism and mental health, both of which are central elements of the games’ setting and story. I’ve spent hours writing and theorizing, and come to the conclusion that the series lends itself as an ecocentrist, the perspective that nature’s needs outweigh human ones.

In an effort to ensure that my year long trip down the Rusty Lake rabbit hole was not in vain, I wanted to explain my thoughts on the deeper message behind the game series. There are spoilers ahead.

There are multiple interconnected plotlines within the Rusty Lake universe, but the linchpin of the franchise is the story of Dale Vandermeer, a detective investigating a death within the Rusty Lake Mental Health and Fishing facility, which sits atop the titular Rusty Lake. The deceased, a woman named Laura Vanderboom, died under mysterious and possibly supernatural circumstances. While attempting to investigate, Dale encounters a handful of chilling characters, including half-human, half-animal hybrids Mr. Owl and Mr. Crow, a parrot named Harvey, and a human-shaped “corrupted soul” with no name and undefined intentions. Later installments of the game allow the player to take on different playable characters and explore different storylines, some of which take place several centuries in the past.

One of the central plot devices of the story is the Elixir, a concoction made by alchemist Caroline Eilander in Rusty Lake: Paradise that created the human animal hybrids Dale interacts with in his games. The Elixir, created through the magical powers of the Lake, works only when two parties drink it. One dies, and one becomes semi-immortal, taking on the form of a hybrid. 

In line with the games’ ecocentrist themes, the Elixir seems to represent human corruption and the exploitation of nature for selfish ends. Not only was the Elixir made by harvesting the power of the Lake, an act that mirrors humanity’s own misuse of natural resources, but is also almost exclusively used without one party’s consent. In one case, that party was a dog, who James Vanderboom drugged in Rusty Lake: Roots in order to attempt to become immortal himself. This backfired on him spectacularly, as the dog ended up becoming fully immortal. This was while James kicked the bucket.

The way this plot point plays out reads to me as Rusty Lake’s satirical critique of human hubris. Animals have been around long before humans, and they will continue to exist long after we die. This may also explain why James’ dog is the only character that becomes fully immortal after taking the Elixir. Both Mr. Owl and Mr. Crow, who were once humans, express the desire to retake it at some point in order to renew its effects.

This isn’t even to mention the fact that “corrupted souls” as seen in Dale’s games, are later shown to be the remains of people who drink the Elixir and die. To me, this feels as if the Lake has corrupted their souls as a physical manifestation of the human corruption that led to their deaths. In fact, natural manifestations of human greed seem to be a recurring motif within the games. The ultimate example, the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt, is used as a framing device in Rusty Lake: Paradise, which is also the game that introduces the Elixir.

The games’ ecocentric views also tie into its portrayal of mental health, which starts with Laura Vanderboom from the first games. Laura is shown to struggle with severe mental illness. She attempts to reconnect with nature at the Lake in order to regain some sense of normalcy, and the games frequently use nature based metaphors as an abstract representation of her depression. The game Rusty Lake: Seasons is entirely built around this concept, using seasons, as the name would imply, to represent Laura’s mental states and subsequent descent into depression. Laura is also often shown in pictures next to a cherry tree. This gains more significance in the game Underground Blossom, where Laura literally blossoms into a cherry tree. In this game, “blossoming” is used to represent a purification of the soul and Laura’s ascension from her mental turmoil. 

Laura’s story hints at the connection between the series’ views on nature and mental health. Laura comes to the Lake to mitigate her depression by engaging with nature, and the end to her story suggests that she ended up doing just that. Only by becoming a part of nature was Laura able to make peace with her trauma and escape her depression. 

Her story also marks a notable contrast between how the games treat engaging with nature in a mutually beneficial way versus doing it for one’s own gain. Laura never seeks to exploit the Lake in any way, just to engage with its aesthetic beauty in order to improve her mental state. James Vanderboom, however, seeks to misuse the Lake’s resources to gain immortality and ends up paying for it. Both within the Rusty Lake universe and in real life, there is a difference between enjoying an area’s ecosystem services and overexploitation.

There are so many other aspects of Rusty Lake that I wish I had time to discuss, but my space at the moment is limited. So, thank you for humoring me. I urge you to try these games for yourself, many of which are free to play. Feel free to come back with your own conclusions about the games and prove me wrong. As Mr. Crow would say: You know what to do.

The post The Environmentalist Message Behind “Rusty Lake” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

[Editor’s Note (3/3/25): The previous Editor’s Note said that we did not have access to the email sent from Maka Pilcher requesting Temple Hiatt to rescind her endorsement of Oliver Weilein. We have now gained access to this email through a Freedom of Information Act request. The entire contents of the email are included underneath the previous Editor’s Note in this article]

Will Clair: Alright, this is KRUI, and we are live here with Ross Nusser, City Council candidate.

Ross Nusser: Hello, and thanks for having me.

Will: let’s just get started here. You co-founded Urban Acres Real Estate and take part in your family business, Hans Jewelers. You also have worked with Successful Living and Housing Fellowship. What have you learned from these experiences and how they shaped your ability to serve on city council?

Ross: Yeah, so I love Urban Acres and I was one of the co-founders of Urban Acres Real Estate. It’s, sorry, I’m just distracted there. I love being one of the co-founders of Urban Acres Real Estate. As we founded it, we wanted it to be a cooperative of agents and so that’s really what we’ve done. We now have 60 some or so agents. All of the offices in our building are equal size and we just split expenses. We’re passionate about the community. My family’s business has been in downtown Iowa City for a very long time. I am not a part of that. My brother, luckily, took the horns on that and he’s running it. Then, yes, I have pretty extensive non-profit experience that has really helped shape me.

Will: That’s great. It’s a family business and you were born and raised in Iowa City. Has that helped you with campaigning at all?

Ross: No, it has not. It’s been one of those things that’s been interesting. It’s helped with campaigning in the sense that I know a lot of people from growing up, and it’s been a wonderful experience because I’ve been able to connect with people who I haven’t seen for years, or people who I just hadn’t had a chance to connect with on the level that I’ve been able to. So, I’ve really enjoyed getting out and being able to reconnect to some people from my past and to new people, and just love experiencing our wonderful community.

Amanda Moy: What do you think are the top three emergent issues you plan to address when on City Council?

Ross: Yeah, so the top three issues are my platform. It’s affordable housing, it’s mental health, and it’s behavioral health, which includes substance abuse treatment.

Amanda: Yeah, Oliver Weilein also states on his website that affordable housing is a top priority for him. How do you think the two of you differ in approach?

Ross: Yeah, so I have 15 years of real estate experience. So, that 15 years of real estate experience will help inform my housing approach. Also, during the 15 years of real estate experience, I’ve been involved with affordable housing and the nonprofit sector for 14 of those 15 years. I will use my past experiences and things that I’ve learned along my past to help inform how the city can be responsible and deploy money toward affordable housing initiatives. We have a lot of money that we have the ability to deploy.

In the city, we have around $15 million, which is not insignificant, and we have so many nonprofits. One is just right up the street from where we’re where we’re recording this right now or, or where this is being aired at Old Brick Housing Trust Fund at Johnson County. That’s an organization that gives forgivable loans, zero interest loans, and low interest loans to organizations who will commit to building affordable housing units. It’s empowering programs like these that we have in our community, with real people in our community with real strategies and real solutions that are really working right now.

Amman Hassan: So, to the question of non-enforcement, we’re obviously like a blue bubble in a sea of red and a red federal government. Oliver has made it very clear he doesn’t plan to cooperate with some of the orders given down from above, whether they’d be anti-trans, anti-drag laws, or cooperating with ICE. You have stated you have different intentions, particularly because with the threat of losing funding for other projects we have that might also benefit those minority groups, how do you plan to address cooperation or non-enforcement with the state or federal level?

Ross: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. This is something where I have been cherry-picked and mischaracterized on this. I’ll try and make it succinct and clear to avoid the cherry-picking and mischaracterizing. The Daily Iowan, I had reiterated this to them earlier, but they also decided to not put this in, is that our vulnerable populations are under significant threat right now, as you just stated. We need to fight smart. We have to. We have to fight smart. If we don’t do that, if we don’t fight smart, then we risk a misstep that could backfire, and it could totally further endanger our most vulnerable populations. So, we absolutely have to do something about it, but we can’t be brash about it. We have to fight smart.

Amanda: Do you have any comments on the results of the special election primary, especially given that you have raised a lot more funds for your campaign than Oliver has?

Ross: Yeah, so I’m not sure how many funds Oliver has raised for his campaign. That’s been ambiguous to me, but the results of the special election were not ambiguous to me. It shows, you know, first of all, two moved on, and so I was able to survive that and move on. It shows that I have to work, you know, nothing is going to be given to you. You have to get on the treadmill the next day, go to work, try and work hard, push out your message. At the end of the day, it’s up to the voters to choose. It’s not up to me. I want to run to serve this community. I got stomped in the primary, and that’s totally okay. I’m up to the challenge to work, and to get the community activated and in tune with this election.

Amman: At one of the more recent campaign events, you and your constituency mentioned historical preservation. That was one of your top priorities. I’ve often heard, you know, preserving historic buildings as like a dog whistle for nimbyism, preventing affordable housing from being built, infrastructure, stuff like that. How does Iowa City’s historical preservation commission fit into your vision for Iowa City, and what is that relationship with your plan for affordable housing and urban development?

Ross: Yeah, so the first thing is, I said that I was… Can you repeat the first part of that? Because that statement didn’t ring true to me.

Amman: One of your last campaign events you mentioned historical preservation was one of your campaign’s priorities.

Ross: That’s not been one of my campaign priorities. My campaign priorities have been affordable housing, mental health and behavioral health initiatives. I happen to be passionate about affordable housing too just because I’m in real estate and I love real estate. So, affordable housing and historic preservation, they can go hand in hand. A great example of this, we just talked about it o thanks for bringing it up, Old Brick. Old Brick is an example of a building right up the street from here that kind of started the historic preservation in Iowa City. And Old Brick is what houses the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. So these historic buildings can absolutely be repurposed and Old Brick has a free breakfast program and has venues. It’s a wonderful repurpose and it allows us to maintain our history while still providing to vulnerable populations as well as the community as a whole.

Amanda: So your competitor, Oliver, has made the decision not to accept campaign donations and is instead encouraging people to donate to local causes and charities. Given that you are accepting donations, do you feel that you will feel an obligation to donors or that you will prioritize your donors causes more quid pro quo?

Ross: You know, it’s very bizarre. So, in campaigning we have to file these ethics reports, right? We just hit a filing period. And I saw prior to coming in here, it turns out that I have not been the only one who’s been raising money. I’ve not been the only one. The reporting period was done February 22nd. There are two people who reported. One was Oliver, and one was myself. Oliver has been accepting contributions since January 7th, so I think that me disclosing all of my interactions to the ethics committee appropriately is a sign of me wanting to follow the rules, me respecting the rules that we have in place, and certainly not hiding the contributions that I’ve gotten.

Amanda: Is it true that you have been critical of Oliver’s social media posts dating back to 2019?

Nusser: Yes, it’s irresponsible for me to see violence being propagated by a leader. As leaders, we influence culture, and it goes back to this argument where I so sincerely believe that Oliver is a nice person who wouldn’t so much as hurt a fly, but I don’t believe that the concept is understood that just because you might not hurt a fly doesn’t mean there isn’t an army of people right behind you eager to destroy that same fly.

Amanda: So to clarify, you do believe that publicly available information is fair to be brought forward so that voters can assess the character of a candidate.

Ross: Yes, I do.

Amanda: All right. Would you agree that one of the roles of City Council is to develop a strategic plan to outline the city’s vision, values and strategies?

Ross: Yeah.

Amanda: Would you also agree another important role is to determine how the city spends its money by adopting a budget?

Ross: Yes.

Amanda: Would you be willing to comment on how you accumulated almost $55,000 in unpaid property taxes?

Ross: Yeah, so not property taxes. This is, again, this is part of the misinformation is that I was contacted by multiple news sources that have received an anonymous tip, and it was a federal tax lien that has since been released. It goes back to 2018. So in 2018, I started my journey into recovery, and so I hit rock bottom and I went to treatment, and I knew that I needed to get my life back together. The thing about it, we need to destigmatize mental illness. It’s the shaming of the alcoholic, the shaming of the person who is depressed. This is just, it does not have a place in our society and we’re Iowa City. We love people, and we need to understand how to support people.

So yes, in 2018 I started my long journey in recovery, and I’m still not perfect. What that means though, what the journey in recovery means is that in 2018 I made a decision to stop drinking alcohol. You don’t get better overnight. It’s not something that happens. To think so or to proclaim so would just be false. It has taken years, and I still go into the rooms. It’s very important for me, and I love, I love my recovery journey, but you don’t start off and make the decision all of a sudden you’re better. That’s not how it works. So during 2018, that was a very difficult period of my life, and I’ve had other very difficult periods of my life too. I don’t shy away from it. I don’t want to relive it either. I don’t see any way how that has anything to do with the city budget.

Amanda: I would like to confirm you have agreed that important roles on City Council are to establish a budget and work on a strategic plan. Due to both this unpaid tax lien and-

Ross: Not unpaid.

Amanda: Due to the taxes you were sued by American Express on credit card debt due to these issues. A history of not establishing a plan to address the lack of these payments in a reasonable time frame, you know, if you couldn’t manage your finances on a personal level, why should you be trusted to manage finances on behalf of the city?

Ross: I mean, this is another point where it is unrealistic for someone to think of someone who’s going through substance use disorder that they’re going to have their life together. So, the assertion that I couldn’t manage my personal finances in 2018, I mean, that’s like saying, “How could an alcoholic not manage their life in the time that they were an alcoholic?” It’s not a fair question.

Amanda: So, say a tenant listed this as a reason for nonpayment of rent, would you evict them?

Ross: Oh, so I’d love to answer that because I’ve been in real estate for 15 years. How many evictions do you think I’ve done? I’ll just give you a guess.

Amanda: Maybe two.

Ross: Zero. Zero evictions. So, I don’t know how to evict a tenant.

Julia Wilson: Some tenants from around Iowa City have been receiving texts from their landlords encouraging them to vote for you. If the landlords believe that you best represent their interests, interests probably being profit, why should a tenant vote for you?

Ross: Well, why is the interest profit?

Julia: People are landlords, as their career, it’s to make money. That’s why people are landlords.

Ross: What’s the assertion behind that, can you rephrase that? I’m not understanding the layer.

Amman: Citizens are worried that there may be coercion involved with landlords asking their tenants or encouraging them to vote for you. I guess what we’re asking is were you aware that these landlords were communicating with them to make this encouragement, and can you address these concerns that there may be coercion or other elements involved?

Ross: I’m not aware of this at all. I can tell you that I’ve been in real estate for 15 years, and so I’ve been around a lot of real estate people. It probably doesn’t take a huge leap to think that if someone who is invested in real estate, that they might support the candidate who is also invested in real estate in the form of his career.

Julia: So if you had to choose values wise, who do you think you represent more, the landlords or the tenants?

Ross: If elected, I will represent all citizens of Iowa City.

Will: Looking at the city’s 2023-2028 strategic plan, outdoor spaces in the Iowa River are mentioned. Many people in the city are concerned about environmental pollution and the water quality of the city, especially given the fact that Iowa has the second highest and fastest rising cancer rate in the United States. Do you have any plans to address this?

Ross: Yeah, I can’t wait to be part of the conversation if I’m allowed. Since I’ve been a kid, I’ve grown up in Iowa City. Since I’ve been a kid, we’ve tried to revitalize our waterfront in a number of different ways, a number of different times. One time we tried to put sand and have a beach, but then the beach washed out. Another time, it was thought that maybe we could get some rapids going and have a small whitewater rapid course here. I’d love to see the Iowa River be a more prominent part of the community. I don’t know what that looks like. A lot of this ground around here is university owned, so I’m not sure exactly what the city can do, but I’d love to be part of the conversation.

Will: Would you possibly look into working with the university as a member of City Council?

Ross: Always the University of Iowa and Iowa City are two peas in a pod. You can’t have Iowa City without the university, and arguably you can’t have the university without Iowa City, or at least it’d be very hard.

Will: On your website, I also noticed that you had an endorsement from the director of the Community Inclusion Club. Could you talk about some of your time with them?

Ross: Yeah, Tom Braverman is who you’re referring to. I’ve known Tom my entire life, and he has been a wonderful para-educator and person in the community. I’ve really enjoyed just seeing him and the efforts that he’s made in the community and he’s really done a fantastic job.

Will: Would you also care to comment on your campaign manager provoking Oliver Weilein’s endorsers?

Ross: I don’t know. Who’s my campaign manager that you’re referring to and what provocation are you referring to?

Will: Let me find a name right here.

Ross: My campaign manager is my brother and my wife, so it’s one of those two that you’d be referring to.

Will: All right, well, we had a report that there was an alleged campaign manager reaching out to people who had endorsed Oliver and provoking them, Maka Pilcher.

Ross: Maka who is not my campaign manager. See this again, this is like the fifth piece of information that we’ve discussed in this short period of time that’s obviously false and based off of false pretense. I know Maka well. She has been helpful to me. She has been helpful to our campaign. She’s not my campaign manager and I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to.

Amanda: We just have received a tip that Maka has been emailing multiple people who have endorsed Oliver, asking that they rescind their endorsement and also CC’d the county attorney and the sheriff on those emails.

Ross: That’s interesting. I mean, again, these tips are so fantastical. It’s amazing to me how much and how blown up this is getting and being made. And so, I don’t know what to say because I’ve never heard of that before.

[Editor’s Note: The claim about emails from Maka Pilcher asking Temple Hiatt to rescind an endorsement for Oliver Weilein have not been outrightly confirmed by KRUI. Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel and Attorney Rachel Zimmerman were CC’d on the email. We filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Johnson County Sheriff’s department, but were told that it was, “More difficult to fulfill a request for specific terms.” We are still looking for the exact content of this email.]

Julia: We can move on then. So, people feeling that their voice isn’t heard is a big issue in politics. If elected, how do you plan to make yourself available to constituents?

Ross: Yeah, so as I’ve said, after March 4th, I’d like to make myself available to anyone who wants to meet. As a city council member, you’re the closest link to government that people have, so I will have a lot of time after March 4th to focus on things other than my campaign. The time prior to March 4th is reserved for my campaign, but it’s Iowa City and I have a flexible job. I’d be able to meet with whomever would like to meet with me.

Amman: Thank you for speaking to us. Are there any upcoming events you’d like to make the public aware about? Or any ways they can contact you?

Ross: Hawk the vote on the 28th here at 4:30 PM I believe is when I get started at the Iowa Memorial Union.

John Glab: I just wanted to ask, with not talking to people before March 4th wouldn’t it be important for them to know your policies so they know what decision to make when it comes to the vote on Tuesday?

Ross: So, it’s not that I’m not talking to people, I’m talking to as many people as I can and as many people who are on the fence or who are really wanting to know information about this election. What I’m not doing is I am not engaging with or talking to people who are very obviously a part of my opponent’s campaign. I need to spend my time getting votes from my people in Iowa City and it is totally okay to have your choice of political preference, but it is one of those things that I need to be filling my calendar with my constituents and with events that can help me be put in front of people to get more constituents.

Julia: Who are your people because earlier you said you want to represent every single citizen of Iowa City?

Ross: My people are every single citizen of Iowa City. During this campaign, my people are people who are supportive of my campaign or wanting to learn more about my campaign in a way that is not totally defaming or derogatory toward myself.

Amanda: So when you say you want to fill your calendar with your constituents, are you referring to all of the people of Iowa City or are you selectively excluding people who have publicly endorsed Oliver but may be curious to talk to you as well?

Ross: No, if someone expresses a genuine curiosity and it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be underhanded or again, in this interview by everyone in this room, the five in this room, I’ve received multiple questions that have just been straight out false to some degree. My people are absolutely all of Iowa City, if anyone wants to meet with me who genuinely has not made up their mind or has a question, they can contact me. For people who are part of the other campaigns who have questions about my policies, it’s a reasonable thing for them to be concerned or wondering about my policies. As I’ve stated repeatedly, they can certainly email me, and we can certainly give an email response.

Will: Well, with those concerns, do you have any plans to address the rumors being spread about you?

Ross: No, rumors are rumors. I don’t need to fall into that category. It’s not a productive conversation. It does not advance the ideals of mental and behavioral health. The whole idea is that social media right now is such a toxic, toxic place, and we don’t need to model that toxicity and propagate it further. So on social media, we have a policy where if you’re throwing a comment out there that is derogatory, defaming, if it’s trying to paint a narrative that is other than true, then there’s no place for it right there. If I’m elected to public office, the rules totally change there. In public office, you want to be able to hear, you want to be able to provide an outlet, but right now, and throughout this campaign, there has been so many rumors, so much false information that I don’t want them to use my platform. Them being people who are not supportive of me, to use my platform to try and tear me down further with lies.

Amanda: Do you have any message for people who do support your campaign, people who do support and endorse you? Do you have a message for them, specifically to those who are making derogatory and insulting comments towards Oliver, especially on social media?

Ross: Yeah, so I mean, I think that I don’t know what comments you’re referring to. So, I can’t answer that specifically because it’s a very broad statement there. What I can say is that we need to tone it down, you guys. This is Iowa City. We love each other. Come on. Like this is something where, especially this race, it’s crazy how negative it has gotten. So, what I would just say to everyone is empathy goes a long way. Empathy, understanding, and at the end of the day, these are two people, myself included, who are trying to do a service to the community, and I think that that’s lost. Oliver’s work in this community is also very valuable. I mean, the whole fact that either of us is being demonized is not something that I’m about. I’m not about shoving people’s face in the dirt. I’m about building people up.

Amanda: In our interview with Oliver, he made a point purposefully to say that, you know, he used the term, you are not dumb, and he was very kind and supportive of you. Given that you’re saying this is Iowa City, we need to be empathetic towards each other, do you have a comment on the fact that you said there’s no place for Oliver’s kind of extremism in our local politics?

Ross: I don’t remember making that exact quote, but I do remember talking about the extremism of posts that he made. There’s no place for that in our politics. So, Oliver has made the decision based on honesty, wanting to have the perception of honesty by not taking these posts down. Again, to me, these posts are just so negative and so destructive, and I just wish he’d take them down. Unless he still wants to stand behind them and stand behind the violent and just negative vitriol that’s in there. I don’t personally think that’s productive. I don’t personally think that that’s what’s gonna get us into our solution. We have a very tough four years coming, and I don’t think we can fight negativity with anything other than positivity.

Amanda: I understand that your personal opinion may be not agreeing with Oliver’s old social media posts, the most commonly cited ones I’ve seen are his posts from 2019 to 2020. But given that you have also had your own struggles in the past, do you think it’s fair to keep talking about Oliver’s social media posts and political decisions from years ago?

Ross: So, it’s interesting that you are now drawing a comparison between my recovery journey and my sobriety to social media posts and a long pattern of that. In 2018 I started my journey of recovery and sobriety, and I’m still evolving that. It’s still very true to me. I still do things every day to reiterate and to help my recovery. Oliver’s done the same thing with the social media since 2019 or whenever the first post was. Consistently he has posted negative and violent photos as recently as December of this past year. That is just not compatible with what I think, and again if you don’t agree with me that’s okay. I’m not saying that Oliver is a bad guy for doing this. I’m saying that as a leader this is not something that should be in the place of leadership. This is not something that we should promote as a community. Violence is not something that we should tolerate as a community.

Amanda: To be fair, I was not trying to directly compare substance recovery and Oliver’s social media, I was more so pointing to the fact that people can grow and change. People can evolve since 2019.

Ross: Correct, but if you show that consistent pattern where it’s still coming, where those images still kept going through Twitter or whatever the source is, through the end of last year from 2019, that is evolving in a particular way. I mean, it’s evolving to keep that belief alive, to hold that belief true, to not disown that belief, just like I don’t disown my substance use. It’s very much a part of me. It’s very much a core. Regardless of how it was intended to come out, it did come out that way. This is part of destigmatizing mental illness. I really do appreciate the opportunity to talk about this, to talk about the struggles in recovery and in mental illness. I am not the only person out there who’s affected by substance use disorder or mental illness, and it doesn’t discriminate. It goes across all socioeconomic spectrums. This has been a good opportunity to show what this journey looks like in part, where it can lead you, and how it can inform your life and life choices.

Glab: What are your thoughts and feelings on the recent Iowa legislator bills that have been passed through subcommittees that strip civil rights away from trans people?

Ross: Yeah, it’s so disappointing for Iowa. I mean, Iowa, we used to be a leader in civil rights, and now we’re a leader in the backwards movements of civil rights. It’s abhorrent, it’s awful, and we have to, as a community, figure out ways to fight smart.

Glab: Also, do you see trans people as part of your constituents to vote for you, or where do you see them as?

Ross: Absolutely. 100% unequivocally, absolutely.

Glab: What have been some of like the things that they’ve expressed to you as you were campaigning in terms of like their wants and needs.

Ross: I’ve heard a lot of personal stories, and the personal stories, just again, bringing it back to recovery, that’s how we relate our journey. So, I’ve heard many personal stories that have intimately related their journey. I’m not at liberty to share those stories on the air. It wouldn’t be respectful for me, but I can tell you that I have a deep sense of empathy. They are so very much a vital part of our community, and I fully intend on protecting them as much as I can.

Glab: With these bills kind of seem more likely than not to go through, what are you going to do if you were elected to City Council to protect the trans members in our community?

Ross: We’re gonna look at them, we’re gonna analyze them, them being the bills, and we’re gonna fight smart. Like I said, we are going to be resourceful, we are going to be thoughtful, we are gonna look into the future, we are gonna look at possible implications, any sort of action that could happen that would either go against us or for us, and we will make the best possible decision at the time. We will make sure that we are fighting for the needs of our most marginalized communities.

Glab: I know you’re not on City Council yet and probably haven’t fully fleshed out ways to do that, but do you have any ideas of how you would do that, I guess looking from an outside-in perspective at the moment.

Ross: Yeah, I’ve not been on City Council as you put, but I have been on leadership roles, and I have had to be in places where tough decisions are needed to be talked about and consensus is needed to be gained. So, this position is one of seven council members. This is just this is something where I will collaborate with my council members. We will figure out how to best address it at the time. I think that it’s hard to do anything and hard to make commitments to anything. Also, part of it is giving away the playbook, right? Like we want to fight smart. We want to be people who can actually protect, actually make a difference.

Amman: Do you have any ideas of what you would do in the present for when these bills pass and what you would do in the future?

Ross: So these bills have not passed, I’m not on council, and so I’m not sure.

Glab: Do you have ideas of what you would do though?

Ross: Collaborate.

Amman: Could you elaborate.

Ross: Collaborate with my fellow counselors.

Will: In addressing these questions, you’ve used the term fight smart a lot. Could you define that a little bit more?

Ross: Yeah, fighting smart, not taking it as anything other than what it is, seeing what’s coming at us, reacting in a way that’s responsible, evaluating what exactly is coming at us, and then figuring out what exactly our solutions can be. What are our options here? There are some things that we can do, there are some things that we can’t do. There are some things that we can do that draw more attention to us, there are some things that we can’t do that also draw more attention to us. So, fighting smart means fighting smart, it means looking, it means thinking before acting.

Will: Is there anything you would like to say to your constituents? Or possible constituents?

Ross: Thank you for listening. Please vote on March 4th.

Amanda: Is there any question we did not ask that you would have liked to have been asked?

Ross: I’m not sure, I think that we’ve covered a lot of a lot of the rumor mill. We’ve not talked a whole lot about the issues, we’ve not talked a whole lot about affordable housing or behavioral health but that’s okay, it seems like the rumor mill is what’s going to be the focus here and that’s okay with me and again I will be here at the Iowa Memorial Union on Friday.

Glab: All right. so, our old news director, Case Fenner, just sent me a text that he saw from somebody. Of course, this is all alleged, but we want to get your side of this. They said in October of 2023, as they were delivering beer to George’s bar in downtown Iowa City, there was a parking dispute. It looks like they alleged that you yelled at them and like chased them down. What do you have to say about that?

Ross: This is, again, obviously very much part of the rumor mill. What? I mean, if you have more context, but you just got a text, you walked out of the room, said, I need to vet this, come back in the room, and then say that? No, I’m on air. You’re wanting me to read something that you just vetted and react to it. Is that the question that you’re asking me?

Glab: Well yeah, it’s a Reddit post.

Ross: Oh, that makes it so much more credible. Thank gosh, it’s a Reddit post.

Glab: I mean, this is going to be going around, so if you want to just read through it, just to get ahead of it.

Amman: Thank you for tuning in to KRUI 89.7 FM Special Election. Thank you for listening.

Note: We do not speak on behalf of the University of Iowa or the Board of Regents.

The post In Conversation with Ross Nusser appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Younger generations are—in typical fashion— turning to the internet, flooding social media platforms with memes of their responses to the virus. Tik Tok has been the main thoroughfare for these creations. The short videos include quintessential Gen Z and Millennial dark humor, ramblings about how the closures have affected travel plans, and even original songs. “It’s Corona Time,” a synthesizer-laden track with no other lyrics than it’s title has been the most popular audio on the app relating to COVID-19. Another frequently used piece is a cover of Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” with virus-connected lyrics in place of the original.

While music like “It’s Corona Time” was created purely for entertainment, its seemingly nonsensical fun helps to spread information about the virus. As reported by the Guardian, Tik Tok is working with the World Health Organization to provide trusted information to its users. In a time of uncertainty, accurate information is our most vital asset.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the number of confirmed cases in the US has recently surpassed 1,000. Since the virus was first diagnosed in December of last year in Wuhan, China, the number of cases has risen exponentially in various countries around the world. The vast majority of cases result in mild flu-like symptoms and not life threatening, even more for people that have a healthy system which they can accomplish with supplements like the maeng da kratom for sale which could make you feel healthier and more active.

Universities across the country, the UI included, have transitioned to online education to aid in preventing further spread of the disease. Many public events have been postponed or cancelled for the same reason. Mission Creek, the annual spring arts and music festival in Iowa City, recently announced in an online statement it would postpone the festival from its original April 1-4 timeline.

Live music is getting harder and harder to come by as social distancing efforts continue. Yet in a time where paranoia runs rampant, music is one of the most powerful ways we can cope. Music can lift our spirits, make us forget our present as we get lost in an intricate melody, stir us into a dance frenzy. Music is a way to distract ourselves from the horrors of reality—like COVID-19—a form of therapy.

Music therapy isn’t just listening to music to feel better (although that can certainly be a therapeutic experience). According to musictherapy.org, it is a practice “in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals.”

Listening to any combination of notes has a distinct psychological effect on the brain. It spurs something within us, a feeling, a release. No matter what the song is, music results in an emotional reaction. It’s what makes us love or hate a song. It’s what makes music, music.

As we continue to grapple with the unknowns of COVID-19, music is a free and necessary medication. Our world is a tense place currently and expressions of creativity like music provide with a means of mental escape.

Enjoy a playlist to ease your mind here.

The post “It’s Corona Time,” and Music Might Help Get You Through It appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Movements‘ new album “Feel Something” is a deeply raw and personal album that quite literally makes me feel something. For this only being their debut full-length, I’m pretty impressed. Their EP “Outgrown Things” has lived in my car and traveled through many states with me, which has proven itself to be an EP perfect for a rainy day and a long drive. “Feel Something” is a step up from “Outgrown Things” but not too far off from it in terms of lyrical content and instrumentation.

Movements have set themselves apart from other acts in the genre. While from the outside they may just seem like another emo alt-rock band, their discography proves differently. “Outgrown Things” really showcased a lot more of the post-hardcore, screamy side of them, while “Feel Something” is a lot more toned down, with a spacey, ambient vibe.

I’m really glad that lead singer Patrick Miranda sprinkled in some spoken-word parts into the new album, because that was one of the driving forces for me in their EP, and what really set them apart for me.

The album starts off with “Full Circle,” a more upbeat sounding song that discusses the speakers’ depression (Sidenote: you’ll come to find out that Movements have upbeat sounding instrumentation with depressing lyrical content, kind of similar to Moose Blood.)

This track has one of the most memorable chorus’, with the lyrics “It comes in waves and I’m pulled below / It’s not subjective, it’s clinical / Drown myself in the undertow of all my imbalanced chemicals.” The outro is spoken in the classic Movements-style spoken word, something I was pleased to hear.

“Third Degree” is next, a song about desperately loving somebody so much. This person is their “third degree,” which I interpret as a lover that has caused them a severe amount of pain (as third degree burns are the most severe of burns) that they can’t stop coming back to. This is an alright track, but it’s not my favorite off the record.

Up next is “Colorblind.” This was the first single released, and I believe it’s a good representation of what this album entails. We see some more spoken screams in here, which is reminiscent of “Outgrown Things.” In terms of lyrical content, it takes a complete 180 degree turn from “Third Degree.”

Miranda uses his own colorblindness as a metaphor for love — there’s some colors that he can’t see, as there are types of love that he doesn’t see. He knows that these people he’s seeing are great people, but he’s incapable of loving them. “Is there something wrong with me? / This doubt is deafening / ‘Cause you were gold but I’m colorblind.”

“Daylily” is next, and presumably the fan favorite. At the beginning of the song, it offers the softer side of Miranda’s vocals, a nice touch paired with the perpetual melodic guitars. The instruments all crash together in the chorus, along with heavier vocals from Miranda. The entirety of this song just sweeps you off your feet and drift away.

“Deadly Dull” closes out the first half of the album, and man, this song hits you right in the gut with its outstanding lyricism and instrumentation. The speaker tells a story about watching a loved one suffer through dementia and Alzheimer’s, a subject not really discussed too much in the music world, if your family member is suffering from this, discuss the hospital vs assisting at home for their safety and preference.

I’ve never personally gone through this situation, but when I heard this live back at Warped Tour this summer, there was no holding back. The lyrics mixed with Miranda’s delivery really reels you in and gets you feeling what the speaker is feeling, and it’s incredibly heartbreaking.

We start the second half of the album off with “Fever Dream,” a completely acoustic track with a haunting melody. Honestly, the only special thing about this song is the reference to the title of the record which we briefly hear in the second verse. I think that they could have gone in a different direction with this song and gotten something better, but that doesn’t mean that I totally disregard this track overall — I think you just need to be in a certain mood to really appreciate it.

“Suffer Through” is a track that is powerful just like “Full Circle,” with a memorable chorus that pulls me out of my head and into the track. The lyrical content deals with more mental health issues, like a lot of tracks before. The outro is a little long, but I dig it. The softer spoken word feels more vulnerable and conversational.

We jump right into “Deep Red” with a gritty, kick-ass bass guitar opening. This is another song where we see the “feel something” lyric come up, which I like. The chorus sticks with me, something that I hope they play live just because of the bass and chorus. It’s that good.

“Under The Gun” is gritty and aggressive (both vocally and instrumentally), mixing the best elements of post-hardcore and emo genres together. It’s a killer track that I can definitely see being played live.

Second to last, we have “Submerge.” It’s ominous, however I find myself in a lull with this one. For me, it just kind of lacks that emotional punch that the rest of the album has, but by no means is it a bad track. It’s another one of those that I have to be in the mood to listen to, which I didn’t really feel with anything on “Outgrown Things.”

The album closes out with “The Grey,” which brings everything together and makes everything come full circle (ha, get it?). It’s as if Movements took all of the best qualities of this album and tied it into one song. This song is so expressive of all the feelings described on this album, and the spoken word outro really drives this song home for me. I’m super excited to get this record on vinyl so that I can hear this outro followed by that scratchy noise when a record is over.

Overall, I’d give this album an 8/10. This band will really be going places now, and I think you should take the chance to see them live if the opportunity falls in your hands — they put on a hell of a show that you won’t ever want to miss. I can’t wait to see some of these new songs live, whenever that will be.

The post Album Review: “Feel Something” by Movements appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month’s artist creates politically-conscious clothing that challenges anti-black attitudes, police brutality, and neurotypical assumptions. This Haitian-American designer has created a menswear label called Pyer Moss and worked with Erykah Badu to direct fashion shows that support the Black Lives Matter movement and issues of mental health.

Featured on Forbes’ 2015 30 under 30 list, Kerby Jean-Raymond founded his menswear label in 2013 and gained fame in the past six months with recent artworks that reflect the current political climate.

I’ve never been very interested in fashion and clothing, because I think the industry encourages eurocentric beauty standards and caters to the interests of upper class white people, ignoring the issues of others.

However, this designer tests my ideas.

Last season, Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Spring 2016 collection focused on police brutality with references to the death of Eric Garner and other black people who died at the hands of police. Sounds of gunshots accompanied the models as they solemnly walked down the runway, their clothes splattered with red paint. Some of the apparel shown included netting materials and tight collars, which Jean-Raymond meant to convey the immediate, physical, and dangerous limitations and “entrapments that hold the black body.”

However, even before the models entered the runway, audience members watched a ten-minute video which showed the graphic and tragic footage of the deaths of Walter Scott, Eric Garner, and violence against the numerous teens brutalized by aggressive cops at a pool party in Texas this summer.

Jean-Raymond emphasized that if people were going to label him as a black designer, as so many other people of color are labeled in their own respective careers, he was going to control the narrative and present black issues in his own way.

Forcing audience members to contextualize the circumstances facing the black community does not allow for a separation between trendy clothes and blackness in America. Cultural appropriation of black hair styles, black vernacular English, and black music has encouraged and propagated such a separation. This artist decolonizes our minds by making wearable political assertions that do not leave room for this ignorance.

Recently, a Black Lives Matter activist named MarShan McCarrel II took his life at age 23. Before he died, he made a Facebook post which said, “My demons won today. I’m sorry.” Jean-Raymond incorporated this tragedy into his Fall 2016 collection, along with the larger issues of mental health, specifically, depression.

With clothing that includes lists that resemble possible side effects from drugs, to buttons which portrayed vices people fall back on to alleviate depression, audience members were reminded of the intent of this show with each model that walked the runway.

Collaborating with Erykah Badu on this show allowed Jean-Raymond to manipulate music in ways that helped affirm black people living with mental illnesses and black art, too. Using a genre named by Badu herself called tropera (a mix of trap music and opera), the show combined music from classic black spirituals and current popular music, promoting black music and art.

Kerby Jean-Raymond presents narratives about black people, untainted by the dominant white perspectives that minimalize and erase issues affecting communities of color. He uses his platform in an industry which largely ignores political issues and mental health. Jean-Raymond decolonizes our minds through his political, influential clothing and the composition of his shows.

I’ve never followed news from the fashion world before, but I’m eager to see the politically conscious art that Kerby Jean-Raymond creates in the future.

Follow Kerby Jean-Raymond on Instagram and check out his label website!

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” comes from writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Designs appeared first on KRUI Radio.