Studio

So after sending me this ask anon I decided to do some investigation as I actually had no idea, and I came across some pretty interesting information.

There's a memorial page for Louise set up by a Peter Collins enthusiast, Andrew Holt, who was also really close with Louise. On the page he confirms that Louise was cremated, along with some photos of her with Peter and a rose. I don't know what happened with her ashes though.

Interestingly, though Peter Collins has a tombstone, as it turns out from research by Andrew Holt, Peter was also cremated.

The church where Peter's tomb stone is also has a window dedicated to him

See the flag at the top and the writing at the bottom says 'IN MEMORY OF PETER JOHN COLLINS 1931-1958, GOD GAVE HIM COURAGE AND A CHEERFUL HEART'

I've found all the information from the site I'll link below, it also includes a photo of Louise with the photos she was cremated with. You only see her hands but just so you are aware incase seeing a past on person body makes you uncomfortable.

rookie alain & veteran ayrton

in new zealand, our evil government are trying to legislate definitions of women and men, in ways that are legally incoherent but clearly trying to pave the way for more horrifically transphobic legislation. we have an election in a few months but our main opposition party, and all our mainstream news media, are so spineless and cooked that there's a good chance the ghouls will win reelection.

it took 2 whole months for local terf group 'speak up for women' to get 2,000 signatures on the petition that led to this new bill in our parliament.

it's taken five days for this pro-trans 'they don't speak for us' petition to get 17,000 signatures.

this is a show of support that is really heartening for a lot of trans people in our corner of the world.

cis/ish women, if you're from here but haven't signed yet, please do. and if you're not from here and you know any new zealanders, could you send them this petition? a full fifth of our population lives overseas, and there's a good chance they don't follow the news.

I've pulled together a LOT of links to help you do just that.

Even formal petitions made regarding matters Parliament is already considering will be ignored. If you want to do something useful to stop this particular flavour of bullshit, your best bet is to make a submission to the Select Committee currently considering this bill. You can, and I encourage you to, do so here:

Here's an explanation from Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, the Human Rights Commission, on why this bill is unnecessary and harmful, to help you:

Here's guidelines from Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa:

Here's some help from Qtopia, including a really good step by step of how to make a submission:

Here's some from Rights Aotearoa:

The request is so urgent my boss needs it by the end of the work week. Which, y'know, is 5 PM on a Friday. So I have four hours to do it.

It's a forwarded request. Somebody contacted a member of the donation team asking for help, "I need a map from the Vietnam War to use for a presentation." It's somebody she's trying to coax into giving a five figure donation to the museum.

The request was asked to the donation team member, who then emailed my boss, who then emailed and called me urgently.

This map required:

North and South Vietnam in it

All four areas that South Vietnam was divided into for military purposes ('Corps') clearly delineated

Four cities, all of them horrifically misspelled, and only identifiable because I know what battle the requester is asking about (it’s in III Corps on the border with Cambodia) (the requester danced around the battle but I’m knowledgeable enough to identify it)

Has Laos and Cambodia in it

Has the Ho Chi Minh Trail in it

So. I was mad about the 'you have literally four hours to find a map with a lot of requirements.'

I was then mad at myself about finding a copyright free map from Texas Tech University within half an hour, proving her right for asking me to do it.

Then, after I found a map that perfectly met the requirements, I was equally amazed, baffled, and horrified when I read further into the forwarded email chain.

The donation team team member they were speaking to used AI to generate a map.

The above put half of North Vietnam in South Vietnam, made the Ho Chi Minh Trail a country, made 60% of Cambodia part of South Vietnam, put the DMZ extremely high up in North Vietnam, completely disconnected the southern tip of Vietnam, misplaced all of the Corps zones, etc etc

At the very last second the donation team member had a moment of divine clarity, remembering there's three historians on payroll to ask for this kind of thing from. So she contacted my boss while saying, "I had fun with this, but I decided I should check for accuracy before I send it to the donor! I need a fact check by the end of the day, then I send it"

My boss, while not the most knowledgeable on the Vietnam War, does know her geography. She took one look, and knew it was so off she called me to tell me how urgent it is that I look at the email and respond