Welcoming 2024, pop culture, the ICJ's ruling on the Gaza war, human rights, streaming services stats, and beyond
This newsletter summarizes my recently published blogposts and articles, and describes news about archives, libraries, genealogy, history, LGBTQ+ people, animation, climate change, and more
Hello all! I thought I’d send a newsletter before the end of this month. As of late, I’ve been busy with recent posts on each of my respective WordPress blogs. For instance, since my last newsletter, I published posts on Packed with Packards! about the stories of Packard women, including those of “little fame.” On Milling ‘round Ireland I wrote about the story of my ancestor, Margaret “Maggie” E. Mills and Hattie Belle Mills. In addition, on Wading Through the Archival Stacks, I wrote about mayhem and secret documents in the Nimona webcomic and have a post noting what I will be publishing this year, along one about “archivy learning environments,” and another about Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and cloud computing. On Pop Culture Library Review, I have published many posts on different topics, apart from my 2023 overview post on Dec. 27. This includes the nature of library classification systems in fiction, the role of libraries and knowledge in the series Elena of Avalor, analyzing wicked stereotypical librarians in Ever After High, the power of volunteering in fictional libraries, and a commemorative post on Kaisa (the fan-favorite librarian) in Hilda (which recently concluded its last season), and heralding what is ahead for that blog this year.
Otherwise, for Pop Culture Maniacs I’ve written spoiler-filled reviews of Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season 4), the second part of the film Justice League x RWBY: Superheroes and Huntsmen, and a review of The Family Circumstances of the Imbalanced Witch. I also published "Burkely's Top Ten Animated TV Shows of 2023" and “Burkely's Top Twenty Anime TV Shows of 2023” on PCM as well, and a review of Supa Team 4 season 2, Kizuna no Allele season 2, and LGBTQ+ representation in animation in 2023. Additionally, I’d like to announce, in light of some blogs I’ve seen here, here, and here, that I’m posting content of this newsletter on historieshermann.wordpress.com. Currently, all the text of previous newsletters is on there, but when it imported the content, it didn’t add photos or videos, so that’s a work in progress to add those in, part by part. I have been thinking about, based on the fact, that Substack is not banning extremist content on the platform as “long as newsletter writers do not incite violence” (a weak stance), of moving to another platform. For now, I am staying here. Even so, I am considering other newsletter possibilities, like ConvertKit and TinyLetter (I’ve already dismissed Medium, Ghost, and many others, as they are based on janky subscription models, which I don’t want to get caught in). If worse comes to worse, I could publish this on WordPress instead. With that, let me get started with this newsletter.
Let me start with the subject of archives. When it comes to repatriation, 60 Minutes had a story about efforts to return stolen artifacts to Cambodia while museums ring their hands about “procedures,” while the Toho Archive accepted unclaimed film masters after the Tokyo Laboratory shut down. I also liked reading, since I conducted the interview, of Eira Tansey, about her “Green New Deal for Archives” proposal. My workplace not only recently published the Carter set (which I worked on earlier this year!) but a declassified obit for Henry Kissinger, and recent nuclear denials and declassifications. There were other posts about manuscripts from Tudor England, work of U.S. museums during World War II, continued deterioration in access to public records, the weak-willed and non-accessible approach by the National Archives to use A.I. to make records “accessible” rather than hiring more people, and a review of the Citizen Archivist program of the National Archives.
Otherwise, some wrote about exploring the Iowa Women’s Archives disability collections, the hidden world of preserving and collecting planets, building an archival accessing standard “with intentionality,” a post noting the lightsaber used by Jedi Archivist/Librarian Jocasta Nu, a hopeful post about renewed “respect for archivists” (back in September 2022), and records disposition for archives. Apart from this, there’s books like Moroccan Other-Archives: History and Citizenship after State Violence, posts on descriptive practices, archival storage room recommendations, and appraisal for digitization, and articles posing a radical empathetic “approach to working with disk images” or revisiting a “feminist ethics of care in archives.”
Last but not least, were posts on integrity of museum digital file preservation files, what can be learned from 1918 influenza diaries, issues of archiving in a complex virtual world, information loss and fonts in legacy digital documents, safe storage for archival preservation, the value of archival labor, and lessons learned from researching a naval battle at the U.S. Naval War College. Also of note were concerns about document protection while archives try to cut costs, the reported “death” of information digitization, a metadata concept for “mixed digital content at a state archive,” the public use of organizational archives, and digital repatriation. Recently, a post on Librarians Build Communities mentioned a collection of resources to build “awareness of and skills related to building a community archive,” noting that for at least the last 50 years, archival scholars and archivists have illuminated a significant issue with the U.S. historical record: that the “experiences of marginalized and underrepresented communities” are routinely missing. The entire 173-page toolkit, put together by Tacoma Library’s Community Archives Center, includes relevant resources from those which have previously created community archives and other general resources.
This brings me to the second topic of this newsletter: libraries. There were posts about the U.K.’s only residential library (Gladstone), schools strapped for cash tapping into funding to ban books with advocates saying “the process of banning books across the nation...run up hefty costs, often in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars,” ALA support for Wi-Fi hotspots, a profile of ALA president Emily Drabinski (who has not, as of yet, posted anything about the Gaza Strip despite destruction of libraries and archives in Israel’s brutal bombing campaign), a book about how libraries have “incorporated religious symbols and rituals into their material structures,” the story of the Arkansas librarian fired over a refusal to enforce book bans, Vermont’s housing crisis “spilling into more public buildings” and the state’s librarians saying they need more support as a result, and a rare book librarian talking about his job.
Beyond this are articles on how books banning campaigns changed the education and lives of librarians, improving contract negotiations for library collections “through open records requests,” how platforms and publishers have “reshaped the way we read in the digital age,” the small-town library which became “a culture war battleground,” a Wyoming librarian fired for “refusing to remove LGBTQ+ books from the shelves,” University of Iowa librarians using medical imagining to reveal hidden book fragments, and dominant COVID-19 narratives and the “implications for information literacy education.” Otherwise, there were articles arguing that employing empathy encourages “connections between people and recognition of the experiences of racism for librarians of color, both overt and latent,” a review of the book about book banning by Emily Knox, and Anna’s Archive scraping WorldCat in order to help preserve all “books in the world” (but is the WorldCat data 100% accurate? I don’t believe so).
Last but not least, there are stories about parents in a swing suburban district fighting back against book banners, elevating the school library, the value of community colleges, Indigenous cartographic resources at the Library of Congress, how the pandemic impacted our approach to reading and interpretation of books, Kansas town threatening to kick out library when it refused to remove “divisive” books, real-life librarian perspectives about horror films, the municipal government structure of Puerto Rico, and a day in the life of a teacher librarian.
Otherwise, there were failed efforts to tie together funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other efforts, with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young saying that “if Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.” AP News described this letter as her stating that the U.S. is “propping up” Ukraine’s economy. While the exact letter never uses these words directly, it does claim that giving money to Israel and Ukraine will help the U.S. “defense industrial base,” and paints a dire picture to convince legislators to support the (unnecessary) funding. It does boggle the mind why this can’t be voted on separately, rather than a supplemental package, but perhaps they feel that it will pass more easily if it is done this way? In any case, a recent analysis in The Guardian noted that Congress members more supportive of Israel at the start of the Gaza war “received over $100,000 more on average from pro-Israel donors during their last election than those who most supported Palestine.”
Apart from this, there were stories about how the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism (and incorrectly equating it with anti-Zionism), with the Squad not standing with Rashida Tlaib (only Thomas Massie voted against it, while Tlaib voted “Present”), how the character Sabra is an “unchecked mouthpiece…to spout out pro-Zionist talking points” and is “pure propaganda,” a strong statement on the Gaza war by Librarians with Palestine, the BDS movement describing genocide enablers and others listing all the companies to boycott, a pledge by Artists for Palestine, the faulty nature of the short-lived Gaza ceasefire, people annoyed at Greta Thunberg for standing with Palestine (see here, here, here, and here for context), and a volunteer removed from AO3 (Archive of Our Own) for showing support for Palestine (for using the Palestinian freedom/liberation slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free”), with the AO3 alternative named Squidge World.
Related to the last two paragraphs, I’d like to focus on the recent case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), with public hearings on January 11th and 12th, against Israel, charging violation of the Genocide Convention during the present invasion (and brutal bombing) of Gaza. This included various provisional measures of protection (ending military operations, preventing genocide, desist from killing babies, prevent displacement, desist from genocide incitement, prevent destruction of evidence, subject ongoing reports, and refrain from aggravation. Specifically, South Africa had a detailed 84-page report laying out the case that Israel has committed genocide. It is something that law schools should study and argue, perhaps using the case as an example, as Israel has acted so negatively to this case, absurdly saying South Africa is aligned with Hamas (nothing could be further from the truth).
Recently, there was a ruling by the ICJ on South Africa’s provisional measures, on January 26. Although the ICJ did not vote for a ceasefire, they did vote for (see pages 8-9 of this ICJ press release) Israel to take all measures to prevent commission of genocidal actions in Gaza, including “killing members of the group…causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group…deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction…[and] imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,” to take all measures to punish and prevent “direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip,” to take immediate and effective measures to “enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” to take effective measures to “prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts” of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and to submit a report to the Court “on all measures taken to give effect to this Order within one month as from the date of this Order.”
Most of these votes were 16-1 or 15-2. The former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak, voted against four of the six provisional measures, which also included an additional note calling for immediate release of hostages and recognizing the present catastrophe in Gaza, while Julia Sebutinde voted against all six! As I see it, the ICJ clearly could have done more, but this ruling is a victory for South Africa and Palestinians.
There were further descriptions on pages 10-13, the annex of the aforementioned press release. While Barak’s opinion was a slavish defense of Israeli’s brutal bombing, even Sebutinde, a Ugandan judge who believed that the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians is “essentially and historically a political one” and did not believe genocide was being committed in Gaza, called for implementation of all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, and peaceful co-existence of Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
More interesting was the statement by Chinese permanent judge Xue Hanqin, formerly the ICJ Vice-President (between February 2018 and February 2021), who said that “the people of Palestine…are not yet able to exercise their right to self-determination,” and expressed “deep concern” over the Gaza humanitarian situation, saying that “very existence of the Palestinian people in Gaza is at stake,” and that international community has a common interest in protection of Palestinian people.
Additionally, Dalveer Bhandari, a permanent judge from India, condemned the invasion by Hamas and other Palestinian paramilitary groups, but said that Israeli’s military campaign led to “a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” that the court must take into account existing evidence, the “widespread destruction in Gaza and loss of life that the population of Gaza has thus far endured,” and said that widespread nature of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza is capable of supporting a plausibility finding. Last but not least, Georg Nolte, a permanent judge from Germany, said that the provisional measures “rest primarily on the plausible claim by South Africa that certain statements by Israeli State officials…give rise to a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights of Palestinians under the Genocide Convention.”
Unsurprisingly, reactionary Prime Minister (and friend of the former traitorous president) Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the ruling, but what the Foreign Affairs Minister of the State of Palestine, Riyad al-Maliki, said was more accurate: that the ICJ “ruled in favour of humanity and international law.” If you dig into this further, it is clear that primarily European (Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, U.K., and Italy) and otherwise Western (Australia and U.S.), joined by governments in Guatemala and Paraguay, opposed South Africa’s case, even as many of these countries joined the case of The Gambia against Myanmar for committing the genocide against the Rohingya!
In contrast, governments across what was once called the “Third World” (now termed “developing countries”) support South Africa’s case, like Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Djibouti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine (state of), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, along with some organizations (Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and Non-Aligned Movement).
If excluding the organizations, this means that governments representing almost 1.4 billion people support South Africa, while government representing about 694 million people (almost half of that population, about 335 million, represents the U.S.) oppose South Africa and support Israel, by extension, using most recent numbers. As such, over two times the number of people live in countries whose governments support South Africa’s case. They are joined by many movements, parties, and unions.
With that, we come to the next section of this newsletter, about genealogy and family history. This begins with researching Irish passengers who immigrated to other countries, Irish genealogy questions, enslaved people, and Irish naming conventions and baptism traditions. Other articles focused on the book by Kate Moore on Elizabeth Packard, celebrating Irish connections, Irish orphan girls in a workhouse, finding out if your ancestor is among some 19th century silhouettes in a newly digitized collection, missing ancestors, top tips for researching Ukrainian and Russian resources on genealogy indexers, and examining Black genealogy at the appointment-only Kenan Research Center.
Also of note are those pointing out that genealogy gives a sense of completion, small stories that shed light on “the relationship between industrialization, work and mental health,” the power of stories, genealogy probate records and Irish ancestry, Upper Midwest Jewish ancestry archives, old newspapers, databases for California ancestors, and knowing the names of your grandparents. Otherwise, some wrote about fatherhood, an America Civil War history and genealogy print collection, busting the Ellis Island myth, researching and writing a family history, a genealogy tip (funeral invitations in newspapers), complicated stances that ancestors took during the American revolution, and researching Irish death and burial records.
Last but not least were articles on digital scrapbooking, creating alternative narratives “about individuals and family burial space,” the best way to combine a love for genealogy and travel together, stories of genealogy in intercountry adoptive families, MyHeritage (an Israeli company based in Or Yehuda, a town in Tel Aviv) promoting A.I. with claims it “transform genealogy” (undoubtedly a lie), stories from those who regretted their DNA tests, and criticism of Find a Grave (also see here and here), an online memorial site which SHOULD change its name. It is different from BillionGraves, which isn’t owned by Ancestry.
This brings me to the topic of history. When it comes to this topic, I think about a call for a Virginia state commission to “study state universities’ history of uprooting Black communities,” how stone walls became a signature landform of New England, a history of garbage, exhibitions of Early American photography on display, how the Ghost Army of World War II used art to deceive the Nazis, George II’s implicit sanction of the American revolution, Black Wall Street’s second destruction, the history of codebreakers, translators, and interpreters during the Pacific theater of World War II, Mexican archaeologists reburying an Aztec tunnel of their project lost funding, and why Europeans evolved to become lactose intolerant.
Otherwise, there were an essay about how historiography of nursing is “centered on whiteness” specifically around a White female nurse named Florence Nightingale (which resulted in online harassment by some individuals against the authors), the 80-year mystery of the U.S. Navy’s ghost blimp, the archives of John Money, gamete personhood in the wake of Dobbs decision, a book saying that early modern scholars should be paying “closer attention to the sex lives of the early moderns,” and honoring Elizabeth Freeman, who “argued against slavery in a Massachusetts legal case.” Just as important were articles about the the contradictions in the Age of Enlightenment, why birds and dinosaurs went extinct after the asteroid hit Earth, U.S. Customs seizing a 3,000-year-old Egyptian artifact in Tennessee, and descendants of a Black blacksmith still trying to reunite the family divided by transatlantic slavery.
There were further articles about abolitionist history, archaeologists uncovering a 2,400-year-old fruit baskets from a now-underwater Egyptian city, petition of Hawaiian women in September 1897 against annexation, the incredible story of Del and Phyllis (two lesbian women who founded the first lesbian organization in the U.S., Daughters of Bilitis), history of the Adirondack chair, when authorities dunked outspoken women in water, the woman behind Roe v. Wade (Norman McCorvey), three forgotten and overlooked trials of queer people in the early modern period, the FBI keeping files on the Monkees, and the “incredibly modern” idea that women aren’t interested in sex (from Eleanor Janega, author of The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society).
With that, I move to the topic of climate change and environmentalism. Mother Jones had articles about benefits of setting our own wildfires, the COP-28 climate summit host also running Abu Dhabi’s State Oil Company, how land theft worsens “the climate crisis for Indigenous people,” how underground sounds can “help us save the world’s largest trees,” why protecting forests is “way better than planting trees,” how big environmental groups ended up on the “wrong side of California’s housing crisis,” success of bans on single-use plastic bags, and oil firms targeting rural companies for lithium mining.
Others wrote about rare OSHA investigations of small dairy farms, officials approving $8 Million for “housing for immigrant dairy workers in Wisconsin, bacteria to blame for elephant deaths in Zimbabwe, a network of sensors showing how industry “is still polluting Cicero’s air,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) calling for “USD 7.9 billion to support its operations and help create a system that realizes migration’s promise as a force for good throughout the world” including “USD 2.7 billion for work on solutions to displacement including reducing the risks and impacts of climate change,” and using fantasy about climate change to confront reality, and possible harm to fishing industry from climate change.
There were even more articles on climate change’s impact (with rising temperatures) on sea life, grim realities of “Western climate change discourse on Africa,” climate change increasing homeowner’s insurance costs in California, threats of climate change against Venice, Italy, climate change looming as a “decisive factor” in the U.S. presidential race, climate change denial is increasing in young people as “misinformation tactics have shifted,” and researchers saying that a historic and devastating “drought in the Amazon was caused by climate change.”
With this, I’m moving to a totally different topic: LGBTQ+ people. This includes an article about tomboys in popular fiction, a category of speculative fiction TV series with LGBTQ+ characters and/or themes, a page on gender-neutral titles, a listing of the most LGBTQ+-friendly cites in the U.S. (notably, San Francisco, Hartford CT, Las Vegas NV, Portland OR, and Denver CO are the top 5, while Baltimore is #14), and the U.N. Human Rights Committee noting it is “deeply concerned” about anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in the U.S. After some digging, I finally found the original report, which mentions this on page 6, in the sub-heading “Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity”, including the following:
While noting the various legislative and policy initiatives adopted at the federal level, the Committee is concerned at the increase in the number of state laws that severely restrict the rights of persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, such as laws that ban and, in some instances, criminalize gender-affirming health care for transgender persons; forbid transgender individuals from using restrooms or from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity; and limit discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity issues in schools. It is also concerned at reports of the discriminatory treatment that persons continue to face on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, in particular with regard to access to housing, employment and treatment in correctional facilities, as well as reports of social stigmatization, harassment and violence…The State party [U.S.] should adopt all measures necessary to ensure that state laws that discriminate against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity are repealed and that comprehensive legislative initiatives prohibiting discrimination on those grounds, such as the Equality Act…it should intensify its efforts to combat violence and discrimination against persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, including with regard to access to housing, health and employment and in correctional facilities.
It can either be downloaded here, or read as a HTML document here (easier if you don’t want to download it. There are also sections about accountability for past human rights violations (including secret rendition, interrogation and detention by the CIA), hate crimes and hate speech, racial profiling, racial priorities in the criminal “justice” system, discrimination on the basis of nationality, gender equality, violence against women, murdered and missing Indigenous girls and women, maternal mortality, death penalty, killings using armed drones, gun violence, excessive use of force by police, climate change, criminalization of homelessness, lack of legislation specifically prohibiting torture, solitary confinement, life imprisonment without parole, detainees at GITMO, zero-tolerance policy against children of migrants, treatment of immigrants, right to privacy, freedom of expression (criticizes anti-BDS laws), freedom of assembly, limits on voting rights, and limited Indigenous rights.
Other than all of this, and back to LGBTQ+ topics, I’d like to mention articles on the history of polyamory, the dark side of body positivity, how the U.K. is one of the worst places in Europe for trans people, journalist Eva Reign sharing her “reflections from her visit to a trans-run ranch and shooting range,” a criticism of how RuPaul's Drag Race “visibilizes queerness and the police state,” and an article noting that while Everything Everywhere All At Once focuses on queerness and alternative universes, it “still props up the nuclear family and agents of the state—even as the constructs fail the Wangs.” An interesting and thoughtful analysis of the film. There were, at the same time, articles on organizations fighting against anti-trans legislation, growing up queer in Appalachia, and going beyond monogamy.
This leads to the world of anime, where there are many stories to report. Anime News Network had articles on the animesque Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the best and worst anime of fall 2023 (I have to agree with what they say about The 100 Girlfriends, Power of Hope: Precure Full Bloom, My New Boss Is Goofy, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, 16bit Sensation: Another Layer, and Tearmoon Empire), how Ikebukuro is on the rise and “Akiba on the decline with otaku's next generation” (Konoha Akisato of 16Bit Sensation would NOT like to hear that), and most anticipated anime of Winter 2024 (I am also looking forward to Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!, Metallic Rouge, and Pon No Michi, and A Sign of Affection looks interesting). And I’m glad to see that The 100 Girlfriends got a second season and that the Spy x Family movie is coming to theaters in North America this year (I plan on seeing it if I can).
There were also some thoughtful articles from Anime Feminist on how genre conventions are challenges and the “gentle story of recovery” in My New Boss is Goofy (hopefully it gets a season 2), the themes of disability, stardust, and empathy in Shy (it was recently renewed for a second season), the mixed feminism in Princess Nine, manga and anime in the 1980s and 1990s which involved youth revolt, the lack of good poly anime an manga, and overlooked comedic anime. For the latter, the only ones I had heard of were Asobi Asobase, Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu, Uchitama?! Have you Seen my Tama?, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, but not the others (ClassicaLoid, Anime-Gataris, Meiji Tokyo Renka, Outburst Dreamer Boys, APPARE-RANMAN!, and Gal & Dino). There was also a review of anime rap battles, with one reviewer saying that “anime depictions of rap are so tame compared to the use of more thoughtless images of blackface, guns, and drug imagery.” I have to agree with that assessment.
Otherwise, there were lists of the best LGBTQ+ anime, best romance anime, best yuri anime (see here, here, and here), and ten LGBTQ+ anime that portray diversity. Of those, I’ve watched most of them (such as Bloom Into You, Stars Align, Skip and Loafer, My Dress Up Darling; Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions; Your Lie in April, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Ouran High School Host Club, Nana, Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, Fruits Basket, Toradora, Maria Watches Over Us, Happy Sugar Life, Lycoris Recoil, Adachi to Shimamura, YuruYuri, Sakura Trick, Sweet Blue Flowers, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Strawberry Panic, Kase-San, Little Witch Academia, Konohana Kitan, Whispered Words, Candy Boy, Yurikuma Arashi, Simoun, Flip Flappers, and Sasaki and Miyano) but not some others (such as Yuri on Ice, Given, Princess Knight, Re:Life, Nisekoi, Rose of Versailles, Plastic Memories, My Little Monster, Lovely Complex, Assault Lily: Bouquet, Kakegurui, Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic, The Girl in Twilight, The Stranger By The Shore, No. 6, Wixoss, Doukyuusei -Classmate-, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard, and Banana Fish). There are many more stories, like the delay of the Whisper Me a Love Song anime adaptation (to April of this year), but they will be in the next newsletter.
Netflix's engagement numbers released in mid-December, either as a result of the subpar agreement with SAG-AFTRA or in response to the said agreement, revealed that between January to June 2023, about 17 million hours, collectively, of the five seasons of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power were viewed, while the first season of Skip and Loafer got over 2.3 million hours viewed. For the former, this translates to about 367,170 viewers, since the entire series is approximately 46 hrs and 30 minutes long. For the latter, the total runtime would be 264 minutes assuming that each of the 12 episodes is about 22 minutes long, resulting in about 8,700 viewers. Nimona received, according to the report, about 1.8 million hours viewed, or a total of about 18,180 viewers for a film that is 99 minutes long. Since Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, and Castlevania: Nocturne, all of which have LGBTQ+ characters, were released after the report ended, it remains to be seen how many viewed those series, if Netflix decides to release another report next year on viewership from July to December of this year. If so, that would be just as revealing as this report, which was released as a spreadsheet rather than a PDF, which makes it a bit inaccessible.
There are many additional stories about animation. For one, there was the announcement of the Eyes of Wakanda animated series at Marvel stories, reported but unconfirmed removal of Gen:LOCK from Crunchyroll, people grumbling about why people in fandoms “run to the cast and creators to confirm each and every headcanon” (not realizing that confirmation is important for authenticity of characters), completion of Indie Animation "How To" Panel series, the faultiness of supporting anything slapped with the “indie” label, to not be impatient with indie productions, and the release of the Godspeed pilot.
It was great to see articles on queer characters and themes in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, animation workers unionizing at Warner Bros. Discovery, snapshots from Animation Magazine’s 2023 World Animation Summit, and the relation of The Owl House and Little Witch Academia. This was accompanied by articles on the worst parents in cartoons, the best tsundere characters, the 10 best references in The Owl House, “hidden” Disney gems which aren’t The Princess and the Frog, and how fandoms need to realize that queer representation “isn’t a competition.” There were unfortunate stories like the terrible work conditions on Across the Spider Verse as well.
Last but not least are those articles which don’t easily fit into any other categories in this newsletter. This includes articles on the power of the wealthy in the United States, whether the Internet is actually broken, efforts to foster racial healing on college campuses, how Nnedi Okorafor (best known for coining the word “Africanfuturism”) doesn’t want her work put in a box, and what can be done about infant mortality. At the same time, there were articles about Maryland winning the bid for the FBI headquarters to move to Greenbelt (from the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, D.C.), despite resistance from Virginian politicians. I haven’t seen any articles talking about the FBI’s inherent nature in squashing dissent, especially from those who are deemed “radical” or “revolutionary,” and opposing the bid on those grounds, and continual acts of surveillance of Americans time and again. I’m not sure for the FBI’s reasoning for wanting to move their headquarters, but perhaps they want to publicly move away from the Hoover legacy (which hangs over to them) to be closer to government contractors and agencies.
Also of note are articles arguing to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (this was recommended by the U.N. Human Rights Committee report I noted earlier, rethinking the so-called “Luddites,” the antitrust lawsuit against Google, Wikipedia surviving through the “age of A.I.,” what TV gets wrong about having a father in prison, and an abolition reading list. There were further polls noting skepticism of capitalism from Black Americans, favorable views of federal agencies by Americans, and positive views of Jews, Protestants, and Catholics.
Apart from all of this were stories on Indigenous storytelling, a study of the dialogue in Frankenstein, prosecutors and police used “new junk science” to decide people who called 911 for help were liars, evaluating charity before you donate, why barns are painted red, studios suing technology companies for movie piracy, the sub-genre of witch horror, and instructor postponing class on Whiteness after receiving unfortunate threats.
At the end of this newsletter is a section about The Nib and illustration. This includes those on absurd mask wearing policy in one prison, originalist philosophy, how the government’s response to “pandemic inequality erupted in violence in Cali, Colombia,” how Columbine has become the “spectacle the shooters wanted” over twenty years after the horrific mass shooting, the magic of a rice cooker, homophobic whooped-up tensions by the Lavender Scare in the mid-20th century, history of the word “boycott,” and the surgeon who defied Victorian gender norms. Others talked about issues like getting out the vote, return of the selective “free speech warrior,” the carceral solution, and the problem with Western definition of civilization being applied to extraterrestrials across the universe.
With that, this newsletter comes to a close. Until the next newsletter.
- Burkely