From archives to the ALA, pop culture to Disney's pathetic stance, LGBTQ topics to animated series
In this week's "too long for email" newsletter, I'll be discussing the latest news about archives, libraries, genealogy, history, and more
Hello everyone! Last week, I published a post about Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony, a guest post for Reel Librarians on the witchy librarian in Hilda, and reviewed the first four episodes of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder for The Geekiary. I also wrote a recommendation of a cyberpunk drama named Tron: Uprising also for The Geekiary. With that, let me get to the rest of my newsletter.
There is lot of archives news for this newsletter. It includes a tweet on time for FOIA requests to be fulfilled, the budget of NARA having a 30 year flatline, and comments submitted by my colleagues at NSA on FOIA. In terms of recent archives-related elections, I voted for Ricardo Punzalan for SAA President, and other individuals for SAA Council like Joyce Gabiola, Lydia Tang, and Krystal Appiah. I also voted for, when it came to the nominating committee, Louis Jones, Carol V. Lowe, and Jessica C. Neal. Punzalan was also one of my professors in grad school as I took a class on appraisal which he taught, so it was great to vote for someone I know.
I enjoyed reading, recently, Mary S. Cade of the Black Film Archive outlined nine essential films directed by Black women to celebrate Women’s History Month, David Ferriero of NARA providing insights on NARA connecting with people from 2010 to 2022, noting popularity on Giphy, Wikipedia, growing digital copies and improved metadata description. Sam Cross released a podcast on horror audio fiction and archives. James E. David, a colleague at NSA, wrote about CIA U-2 Collection of Signals Intelligence, 1956-1960. Others noted the countdown to the 1950 U.S. Federal Census which will be publicly released on April 1. The University of Tennessee Knoxville School of Information Sciences College of Communication and Information noted the founding of a Nashville queer history digital archive.
Beyond this, the Mid-Atlantic Archivist magazine came out with articles on the history of Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC), special collections and archives news, the fact that archival principles can clash with “messy reality” of collections, caring for collections, new members, and more. SOLO, the newsletter of SAA’s Lone Arrangers Section was also released, with articles on establishing an archives, a large collection survey, preparing a large collection for research on a deadline, curating local history in a public library’s archives, among other stories. Otherwise, the UK’s National Archives noted changing definitions of what is considered a family, while archivistmemes made fun of those who misuse the word archive (there are far too many of those people), /r/archivists had posts on archiving a newspaper clipping and names for a 1950s/1950s thermal copy. The Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies had articles on addressing neoliberalism in the archival field and archival bodies as nomadic subjects. Additionally, the International Journal of Data Curation had articles on an institutional data archive, video game preservation in the UK, and revisiting the data lifecycle with big data curation
That brings me to libraries. Recently, I voted for an amendment to clarify electronic meetings before my ALA membership ends, for Emily Drabinski as ALA President, Peter Hepburn for ALA Treasurer, and I voted for over 30 people for Councilor-At-Large. If the ALA membership fee drops significantly and it seems worth my while, then I’ll rejoin the ALA, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon or ever. There were other topics such as current Oscar nominees who have played reel librarians, the contested terrain of neutrality and libraries, a librarian in Ilano County fired after not removing books, Idaho pushing a bill which would jail and fine librarians for certain books, and an open letter to LIS professors in Hack Library School.
There were an assortment of tweets about weeding books, approval rate of LCSH proposals, and that fact that the Library Investigator position at NYPL which performs investigations of “alleged criminal or other conduct” which mat negatively impact the library only needs a high school diploma and still pays more than a full-time NYPL librarian! Others tweeted on the eerily prescient Soylent Green film, the plagiarized blog debacle of Library of Congress (LOC), a full database of books challenged in schools by Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, the reel librarian cameo in French Dispatch, and how it isn’t hard to recruit, hire, and retain BIPOC people in a library. Additional tweets were about when to leave library environments which don’t change, the silence by ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom silent on who the censors are,
Beyond this were articles on the introduction of a library e-book bill in Connecticut, the necessity of leading on digital equity, critical pedagogy in libraries, software skills training for library professionals, digital curation in practice at Penn State University Libraries, and eight tips and tricks for managing library’s social media accounts. I recently came across a post on Michele T. Fenton’s Little Known Black Librarians Facts blog about African and African American Presidents of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). They are: Robert Wedgeworth (1991-1997), Kay Raseroka (2003-2005), and Ellen Tise (2009-2011) Beyond this, I enjoyed reading about the short story collection by Scottish author Ali Smith entitled Public Library and Other Stories which contains 12 stories “punctuated by reflections on libraries…their history, their importance and the recent spate of closures” according to the Wikipedia page on the collection. There were additional libraries in popular culture like the Doctor Who episode “Silence on the Library,” the Library of Trantor in which librarians index the “entirety of human knowledge” in Trantor, a location created by Isaac Asimov in one of his stories, and a fictional organization known as The Molesworth Institute which began in 1956 by Norman D. Stevens with the aim of furthering library comedy, according to the relevant Wikipedia page.
Then there’s the 1986 educational television series, Tomes & Talismans, which consisted of 20-minute episodes presented in a story, with each episode reviewing specific library research concepts. What’s hilarious is that even though they are in the future, they STILL use the Dewey Decimal System, not something, I don’t know, better? I had to laugh a lot when watching this episode, complete with card catalogs used to find what they are looking for, passable acting, but with a message about the importance of information, call numbers, and the need to preserve that information. All the episodes can be watched free of charge on the Internet Archive:
That brings me to history. Some wrote about a Black female peace activist named Charlotta Bass and the Cold War Peace Movement, researching World War I virtually, a document that piques your interest, why the history of the vast Early American matters today, the Jazz Age, divine providence and deism in the Declaration of Independence, a long forgotten photography trove cataloging triumphs and tragedies of life in the Deep South. Other stories focused on divers uncovering a second century military ship in a submerged Egyptian city, archaeologists uncovering a piggy bank hoard in the Isle of Man, and the Olympics hosted by Indigenous Alaskans.
Interconnected to that is genealogy. There were an assortment of articles about this, ranging from Black family history to avoiding brick walls, Billion Graves aiding genealogy buffs in Midwest, using internet tools to do genealogy research, and a few articles in Genealogy journal. These articles were a genealogical reading of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, and aided by archival research, and paternal DNA, haunting and genealogy. There was a wonderful illustration about 23&Me and how it doesn’t know what makes a Palestinian.
With that, I'm going to change gears here. There has been widespread opposition to Disney’s refusal, through the words of CEO Bob Chapek, to make a statement about the anti-LGBTQ bill and openly oppose it, from animators like Benjamin Siemon, The Owl House creator Dana Terrace, Andi Mack star Lilan Bowden, character technical designer Cameron Black, voice actor Brock Powell, writer Drew Z. Greenberg, writer/illustrator Molly Ostertag (the wife of ND Stevenson), The Ghost and Molly McGee director Samantha C. King, filmmaker Abigail Disney, and many others. Disney is continuing to face backlash from LGBTQ creators, animators, and others, especially those who work at Disney. There were reports that a same-sex kiss in the Nimona film, which was cancelled when Disney gobbled up Blue Sky Studios and shut it down, received pushback from executives, and a kiss added into another Disney film on Buzz Lightyear which is set to come out this year, due to staff pushback.
Apart from that, there were articles on asexuality. This included those on bisexuality and pansexuality as identity pathways in forming asexuality, the many slippery meanings of love, exploring one’s aromantic identity, a series on voices of aspec, another name for the a spectrum, a term that encompasses the aromantic and asexual spectra, asexual rights, and being a panromantic asexual. There were other articles on approaching and demystifying polyamory, the various types of polyamory, the queer experience and the use of labels, kitchen table polyamory, the differences between polysexual and pansexual, and non-monogamy myths.
That brings me to animation. There were various articles about queer characters in Craig of the Creek, Turning Red (coded, not direct), and The Mitchells vs. The Machines, even though the latter was so subtle in its representation that it had very little value. I know that film has been praised as some groundbreaking film, but I gotta say that really is total poppycock because anime films have gone far beyond that and the protagonist, Katie, is barely shown as queer at all. As FandomWire put it, anime is ahead of Western animation with more than enough episodes to watch, gives hybrid storylines for all age groups, fills in for every genre, fills in for every genre, and unmatched character development. In other news, there were reviews of the Blu-ray of Adventure Time: Distant Lands and the Proud Family reboot/revival, along with those who listed five women-centric shows on Netflix (including one of my favorites, Inside Job), mentions of the sadly shelved Magical Girl Friendship Squad, which had potential but SYFY never cared to renew it, in Today and Essence. There were also articles on new character photos for the Hazbin Hotel series, the pilot of which premiered on YouTube back in October 2019, and will likely be on a streaming service, mature animated series coming to Netflix this year and beyond, like Season 2 of Arcane, part 2 of Inside Job, part 2 of Chicago Party Aunt. There is an intriguing show about Elvis Presley as a spy (Agent King), along with others which look somewhat interesting like Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Entergalactic, Magic: The Gathering, and many others. I liked to see the shows coming to HBO Max like Victor and Valentino and at some point, Part B of Young Justice’s Season 4.
There are a lot of articles about anime, some of which I’ll not in this newsletter. For instance, as would be expected, CBR had a rash of articles on isekai anime (also see here and here), anime that are like soap operas, and characters with brown eyes. Additionally, Crunchyroll released an announcement of the Spring 2022 lineup on the streaming service which includes Spy X Family (an upcoming series) and season 3 of Ascendance of a Bookworm (with a librarian protagonist named Myne), and others which look intriguing like Estab Life: Great Escape, A Couple of Cuckoos (has some library scenes), and Don’t Hurt Me, My Healer! Nick Creamer wrote on CR and recommended a number of Funimation anime to now watch on CR, including Adachi and Shimamura and Cowboy Behop. Anime News Network noted that the Moriarty the Patriot OVA began streaming earlier this month and Sentai Filmworks licensed The Executioner and Her Way of Life anime which will premiered in April 1. Epic Stream noted the top LGBTQ anime of all time including some I’ve seen like Antique Bakery, Bloom Into You, Flip Flappers, Sasameki Noto (Whispered Words) and Wandering Son and ones I haven’t seen like Junjou Romantica, Gravitation, No. 6, and Yuri on Ice. I enjoyed their list of best yuri anime to watch in 2022, like my favorites Blue Drop, Whispered Words, The Hunter of the Witch (El Cazador de la Bruja), If My Favorite Pop Idol Make it to the Budokan, I Would Die, Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne, Yuru Yuri, Bloom Into You, Sweet Blue Flowers, Maria Watches Over Us, Strawberry Panic, Revolutionary Girl Utena. I’d love to watch Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, NTR: Netsuzou Trap, and Happy Sugar Life some day. Book Riot told the story about the evolution of the magical girl genre.
That brings me to other topics covered in this newsletter which don’t fit anywhere else. This includes articles on what Google Search hides from you, alternatives to Goodreads (like this one), the environmental impact of cloud computing, Biden administration altering rules for sharing intelligence with Ukraine, a secret surveillance program by the DHS collecting American’s money transfer data, the legacy of anthropologist Zelia Nuttall, how the Pacific Islander relationship to reggae needs to be evaluated within context of global anti-Blackness, defining quiet young adult books, and the best satire books.
Others criticized those books which included only urls and no other information in a print book, which is sad, how decolonization is about changing the terms of conversation in order to “change the colonial order of things” not to give historically excluded people a seat at the same table. There were other articles on narcissism of queer influencer activists, historical fictions of the 20s, open educational resources and the rhetorical paradox in the neoliberal university, considering practical verifiability and open referencing in Wikipedia, on the space/time of information literacy, higher education, and the global knowledge economy, a case for a critical information ethics, parallels between the United States' then-proposed Muslim registry and apartheid South Africa's Population Registration Act, and a company possibly censoring reports of Ukrainian Nazis on Twitter.
That brings me to The Nib. There were illustrations on carbon offsets, wanting a second opinion, struggling with U.S. exhausting funds for a fourth COVID test, misinformation about COVID and vaccines, access to sky in poorer countries, absurd beliefs about LGBTQ people, reactionary beliefs on COVID and Black Lives Matter, the capitalistic nature of IKEA, and twisting views on Putin and Ukraine. There were others on topics such as survival of the fittest, rising gas prices causing problems for people, interest in NFTs and Metaverse falling fast, a supposed growth industry, military aid is said to be more important than COVID assistance, disenfranchising trans people, how climate change and real estate developers are eating away at Puerto Rico’s coastline, stereotypes of Asian parents, favorite nature spots, Senate passing sweeping bipartisan bill overhauling the U.S. Postal Service, and how the U.S. uses nuclear weapons. There were illustrations on producing more oil and gas than ever, thinking locally, the last Okinawan dugongs, war hawks on the Ukrainian conflict, the history of In Vitro Fertilization, poorer communities having far less access to nature than wealthier White ones, COVID hospitalizations down while nurse shortages stretch hospitals, debunking conspiracy theorists, and gay superheroes.
Providing some context to the conflict in Ukraine are illustrations like similarities between the right wing and Russia, and those who say there are no easy answers are Ukraine, although I’m sure I completely agree with the latter. Apart from that, as some economists have even noted, the conflict in Ukraine will hurt ordinary Russians, and ordinary Ukrainians. Any military conflict begun by the U.S. or other Western countries against Russia, through a proposed no-fly-zone which is claimed to “stop” Russian bombing should be avoided at all costs. It could mean nuclear annihilation and our deaths in the blink of an eye. At the very least it would mean an escalation of the war resulting in deaths of those inside Russia from bombs dropped by Western countries in order to enforce the no-fly-zone, more death and destruction. The same goes for any measures imposed upon Russia which would cause ordinary people hardship like sanctions. Diplomatic means (which the U.S. has rejected) should be pushed instead of aggressive military moves or funneling weapons and money to Ukraine, which will lead to more death on top of the horrifying situation which is already unfolding in the country, as neo-Nazis and fascists are throughout the country and the Russian military advance continues. Both sides can make concessions, and the U.S. and Western countries being hawkish isn’t helping, as it is making matters worse.
That’s all for this week. Hope you all have a good week ahead!
- Burkely
I am a member of the Molesworth Institute and had that framed in my office for many years.