Let Me Have My Box, Thanks

are we drawing the connection between worker safety and consumer safety & public health yet?

source on prison labor in the food system: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/01/29/prisoners-in-the-us-are-part-of-a-hidden-workforce-linked-to-hundreds-of-popular-food-brands/

labor safety issues from 2025: https://ohsonline.com/articles/2025/11/25/osha-cites-taylor-farms-after-worker-dies-during-sanitation-process.aspx

from 2013: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/business/taylor-farms-big-food-supplier-grapples-with-frequent-recalls.html

they have plants from colorado to new jersey to florida to california. more than 12-13 years that i could easily find of there being issues with labor and safety for workers and consumers, and a significant portion of that time they were directly using prison labor.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

don't stay stuck in your despair, be the real you!

but I often wonder how much that same trend hurts femmes. like if I were femme and constantly saw women calling people "masc" for wearing pants or hats or a loose t-shirt... idk I would feel really hurt by that. like do these women really think that a femme stops being a femme every time she's not wearing a dress?? it just feels so demeaning to me. like people think femme is an outfit. like someone ceases to be femme when they're wearing comfy pajamas or are just naked.

idk I know that a lot of butch/femme stuff does involve aesthetic signifiers, but the reduction of it to just outfits feels so commercial and disrespectful.

and I'm not even like trying to call back to US lesbian bar culture half a century ago, I'm talking right now today. how butchness and femmeness exist as identities in 2024.