In pursuit of answers

 Merry Monday folks!

Hope the weekend treated everyone well and that folks are staying safe. Operations continue to rumble along at Rusty Towers, and folks seem to be coping with the new recording arrangements. We recorded the first batch of post-lockdown Rusty Quill Gaming episodes this past Saturday, and by all accounts it went well, so hopefully the home recordings won’t require too much additional clean-up from the editors.

It is also my great pleasure to announce another new appointment at Rusty Towers. Please join me in welcoming Tai Lawson, our new Head of Finance! Tai brings with him a wealth of experience from across the financial services industry, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

With regards to RQGaming, we’d just like to reiterate our content warning for the next set of episodes as the team deal with the debrief from their latest mission. Conversations take place that have potentially uncomfortable parallels with current events, and we do suggest that listener discretion is advised. As a note, these episodes were recorded in February before the present extent and severity of things were apparent.

To that end, we have decided to insert something rather lighter into the schedule, to be broadcast after RQG157. This three-part special will feature a returning guest and… well, let’s save some surprises for closer to the time, shall we? ;-)

This past weekend also saw the triumphant return of Mike to the airwaves on RQ Streams! After many delays and moving woes, he is finally installed in his new place, with a working Internet connection. Thank you to everyone who stopped by over the weekend for all the kind words and amazing generosity – it is very much appreciated. Now that he’s back up and running, we’re going to be pushing ahead with the changes to the streaming schedule, and I look forward to announcing those very soon.

It’s been a few weeks since we implemented some Patreon changes, and they seem to be working out well. Whilst, of course, it is still early days, the production pipeline seems to be going steady at our end, and we hope that the new operations are working for you all as well. Given the amazing support you all have been showing us here, we’re now working on some new milestones that I’m hoping to be able to announce next week. As ever, if you have any comments or feedback regarding our offering here on Patreon, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Now, as we have said before, Rusty Quill is not an apolitical organisation – particularly when it comes to LGBTQIA+ issues. And if you’re in the UK, you probably saw last week that Liz Truss, the Minister for Women and Equalities, held a meeting where she stated a number of intentions relating to ‘protecting single-sex spaces’ (a common banner point amongst transphobes) and restricting or banning access to trans healthcare services for under-18s. These are alarming statements, to say the least, and if followed through have the potential to seriously harm or even prove fatal, particularly in a section of society who is already at risk of higher incidences of negative mental health and inadequate access to appropriate healthcare.

Here at Rusty Towers, we worry about what this means for the trans members of our crew and community, and will definitely be keeping an eye on the situation. We asked Michelle O’Toole, one of our editors and producer/host of the What the Trans?! podcast, for a more in-depth assessment of the situation, which you can find attached to this newsletter.  

As for what you can do to help, we strongly urge as many people as possible to sign this petition and share this article as widely as possible. The attached document also lists a number of useful organisations to follow and respond to their calls for action. Thank you so much in advance for any support you can offer! 

And, here's what you can expect from us this week (all shows release at 4pm UK time, unless otherwise stated):

Tue 28th April
RQG153 – The Getting-to-Know-You Box* (Patreon)

Wed 29th April
MAG165 – Revolutions (Patreon)
RQG153 – The Getting-to-Know-You Box* (Public)
RQ Streams - Anil plays... Flower (5pm) 

Thu 30th April
STL046 – Gonk and Grandiosity (Patreon)
MAG165 - Revolutions (Public)

Fri 1st May
Citizen Bonus – Rusty Bits #1 [Declassified]
Knight/Noble Bonus – TMA Season 4 Bonus Q&A, Part 2
STL046 – Gonk and Grandiosity (Public)

Sat 2nd May
RQ Streams – Mike plays… Tharsis (3pm)

Sun 3rd May
RQ Streams - Sandbox Sunday: Trivi-Anil Pursuit – RQ Edition
 

(* Provisional title)

Have a great week all!

Anil
Community Manager