Issues, advocacy, archives, libraries, history, animation, and corporate mergers
This "too long for email" newsletter focuses on articles about archives, libraries, history, genealogy, animation, LGBTQ people, and more!
Hello everyone! For this newsletter I’d like to highlight some new articles I’ve written recently. On July 26, I wrote about Black voice actors who bring fictional librarians to life. Then, on July 30, my article about Ashly Burch’s contribution to LGBTQ+ representation was published in The Geekiary. Recently, my list of recently published titles with libraries and librarians was published. A couple days ago, my series recommendation for Phineas and Ferb was published in The Geekiary, to note another example. With that, let me move on with the rest of my newsletter.
In terms of archives, the Issues & Advocacy SAA section had its annual meeting on August 1, which some praised as showcasing “important advocacy & justice work”. During the meeting, there was mention of the Archival Workers Collective, Collective Responsibility Labor Advocacy Toolkit, and report of New England Archivists contingent employment study task force, to name a few resources. “Legal and Ethical Considerations for Born-Digital Access” report by DLF Born-Digital Access Working Group, is related to this. Also similar is a thread by Becky Briggs Becker about training people to archive and preserve records as an archivist in higher education, and posts by Margot Note about archives and digital humanities, macro-appraisal, authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability.
There were additional posts about Getty opening access to 30,000 images of black diaspora in UK and US, how to search still photographs for World War II navy personalities, the DEA declaring that FOIA requests can no longer be submitted via email, caring for the Library of Congress’ comic book collection, a since-deleted post from ArchivesGig about lessons learned from COVID-19, and what to keep in mind when collections are moved off-site. The American Archivist Reviews Portal reviewed a novel by Eva Jurczyk entitled The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, had a review of Archive 81 by two archivists, and a review of The Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) database.
Also of interest are stories in Muckrock about FBI plans to to stop a bomb plot it “believed would be the deadliest ever on American soil” and suggestions for what to file public records requests for. I enjoyed reading the stories within July/August 2022 edition of Archival Outlook, the 2022 National Census of History Organizations, the Hawaii State Archives is processing over 20K glass plate negatives of life from 1880 to 1925, SGA Statement on the Protect Students First Act, and providing restricted access to mental health archives within government archives. There were stories about the Royal BC Museum and Sisters of St. Ann reaching a new agreement to facilitate the sharing of SSA records with Indigenous communities, mitigating risk and increasing transparency, securely and globally, balancing confidentiality, security, and access in Amnesty International digital archives, and defining what archiving means.
That brings me to stories about libraries. Samuel Snoek-Brown, husband of Jennifer Snoek-Brown, talked about the so-called Digital Dark Age. A controversial book plan was approved by a Bucks County, Pennsylvania school board. Also of note is the Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship Twitter account and Savannah Dawn’s Twitter thread about the unfair expectations hoisted upon libraries because they are feminized institutions. APM Research Lab noted that 130 million American adults have low literacy skills. OPB described some states that are changing the laws that govern community libraries. Lit Hub described the tasks of librarians. Margery Bayne explained how using public libraries supports authors. ABC News in Australia noted libraries that survive, and thrive, in the digital age. The Washington Post noted preservationists saying the Library of Congress makeover plan is “vandalism”.
Other library stories were as important. Some focused on library marketing, how libraries are more than books, how librarians are at the center of a so-called “culture war” in the U.S., and advice on starting a new job during grad school. The Library of Congress (LOC) had interviews with interns like Felipe Franchi Souza, a writer and editor named Heather Casey, and the law librarian of Congress Aslihan Bulut. There were other articles about a quest to find the first book printed in the Americas, teaching yourself to shelf, green books which are “literally poisonous”, a library job that may not happen, librarian-themed clothing collection, a few facts from the LOC’s Law Library, and things a librarian wished they knew before they started grad school. Other articles focused on subjects such as a librarian’s journey in academic publishing, 18 thoughts and questions about Wong from Jennifer Snoek-Brown after watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, research guides from LOC about Title IX, and reactionaries demanding the burning of pride books at a library.
There were other stories about libraries. This includes a focus on information literacy and the need for strong school library programs, interviews with Mark Horowitz and Lena Fleischmann of LOC, how to deal with disappointment in job searches, Montana Library Commission rejecting a logo as they claim it looks too much like the Pride flag, new vision for Library of Congress’ Main Reading Room, and defining digital literature. Then there’s Jennifer Snoek-Brown’s focus on library, archives, and reel librarian scenes in Marvel Cinematic Universe in posts here and here. Last but not least are panoramic rights-free photographs from the Library of Congress, Texas librarians facing harassment as they navigate book bans, reasoning for use of catalogs in rare book world, what LOC’s Preservation Research and Testing Division does on a daily basis, Drag Queen Storytime stirring up controversy as well as excitement among library patrons, and creators discussing the importance of libraries in promoting literacy.
With that, I’m going to change gears and talk about history, and history-related articles. The National Japanese American Historical Society wrote about farm labor at Japanese concentration camps during WWII. The American Historical Association’s Perspectives of History newsmagazine had articles about the end of the “model minority” myth, the failure of denationalization, and comic books and queer history in Michigan. Others wrote about how historians can leverage history in video games (Sid Meier’s Civilization series is cited as an example), the Spanish slave ship Carlotta denounced by a shark, a new edition of What Shall I Wear?: The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion, a National Historic Landmark Theme Study on Labor History, a virtual window into deaf history, and Titanic lawsuits that followed the tragedy.
There were other stories about the history of the elimination of leaded gasoline, the British soldiers who marched to Concord on April 19, 1775, the gorgeous Jazz Age photography of Alfred Cheney Johnston, the orderly book of the 5th Continental Infantry regiment, and the roots of Cinco De Mayo, and the battle of Puebla. There were other articles on the value of historical documentaries, education in early modern Spain, mapping the land of fire and ice, a brief history of the elevated and subway lines within the city of New York, the drive for justice by Fred Korematsu, a two part history about the Chinese Exclusion Act (here and here), and how the Merchant Marines are an often overlooked branch of the military service.
Otherwise, some wrote about the history of fan art in the past and present, a landmark atlas of the Grand Canyon, a brief history of televised congressional hearings, an Asian Canadian gay activist whose theories on sexuality were decades ahead of their time, where gay men could dine in the 1960s South, what suffragists actually thought about abortion, Benjamin Franklin’s unconventional marriage to Deborah Read, and home entertainment of the 19th century: toy theaters.
Last but not least were the return of a sacred statue to Cameroon in Germany, the wonders of WPA Poster Collection, average jones solving crimes via classified, partisan politics and laws which shaped the first Congress, putting sketch comedy on record, why purple is the color of royalty, the oldest footage of a New Orleans Mardis Gras found, how the underground railroad brought thousands of enslaved Americans to Mexico, and arguing that the first foreign takeover of Ancient Egypt was an uprising rather than an invasion. Some also wrote about punk rock and the law, a farmer, financier, and surprising sharper who seed the Constitution in the U.S., a mile-high tsunami which killed the dinosaurs left behind towering megaripples, untold stories of U.S. history, the rise of the U.S. conservation movement, the women behind James Joyce’s Ulysses, the lost history of Yellowstone, the library of unexpected cocaine hair and wedding cake, and the story of the first casualty of the Civil War.
On a related note are stories about genealogy. Some talked about when ancestors make the news, courtship, voices from fleeting lives, and whether you are writing family history or notes. Others focused on 10 ways to find cousins, letters from enslaved people, a genealogist who helps Black families find their roots, finding ancestors in manor land seigneurial records, a new database of General Society of the War of 1812 membership applications, remembering the story of Elizabeth Packard, and a beginners guide to Irish surnames.
Otherwise there were articles about roots experts in the spotlight, tracing Irish ancestors, supposed “reasons” why you should join an (elitist) family history society, the Immigrant Ancestors Project of gathering and indexing 900,000 names, the rise and fall of BritainsDNA, information from the Irish agricultural census, and addressing the reality of microfilm from Family History Centers.
That brings me to articles about LGBTQ+ topics. The Geekiary, which I’ve written for off and on, criticized the cancellation of queer-led First Kill after one season. While there are LGBTQ+ stories on various platforms mentioned by Autostraddle (strangely only mentioning one animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks), corporate mergers put any progress in trouble. While this won’t be mentioned by the corporate-friendly LGBTQ+ non-profit, GLAAD, cancellations of various series (also see here, puts all shows on the platform (HBO Max) in jeopardy, and removal of films, especially animated series, with projected firing of much of the staff of HBO Max as a result of the final steps of the Warner Bros’-Discovery merger.
There is a possibility that current series like Harley Quinn and Young Justice will be cancelled, along with the ending of Summer Camp Island next year and the likely non-renewal of gen:LOCK. Upcoming series like Velma, My Adventures with Superman, and many others, like Victor & Valentino, Craig of the Creek, and DC Super Hero Girls may be axed as well. Hopefully the merger does not negatively impact Rooster Teeth, the home of RWBY, the only viable series produced by the company which is currently airing apart from RWBY: Ice Queendom. If even some of these series were cancelled, it would be a bad day for animation, a bad day indeed. What’s to say that series on Netflix are safe either? Dead End likely won’t be renewed either because that streaming service is at war with its animation department, despite its LGBTQ representation. The same may be the case for Arcane, Disenchantment, Inside Job, Chicago Party Aunt, The Dragon Prince, or Hilda to name a few.
There were some other LGBTQ-related stories. Mark Millian wrote about gender transition during grad school. Paul Gallant described a book about queer spaces. Sara Fraser explained LGBTQ vocabulary that “you need to know now”, defining words like asexual, bisexual, bisexual erasure, bottom surgery, cisgender, dead name, demisexual, femme, gender dysphoria, gender expression, gender-fluid, gender identity, gender non-conforming, heteronormativity, heterosexual, microaggression, misgender, non-binary, pansexual, polyamory, pronouns, queer, straight, straight-passing, straight privilege, top surgery, transgender, trans man, trans woman, an two-spirit. There were other reviews about asexual themes in Kimi no Sekai ni Koi wa Nai (Is Love the Answer?), and intersection of asexuality and disability. Others wrote about the experience of coming out as asexual, romantic binarism in scholarship, limerence vs. infatuation vs. crushes, the quest for better representation and queerbaiting, and the many differences between asexual and aromantic.
More than this were a bibliography of resources put together by LOC during Pride Month, asexuality in young adult fiction, defining the word “third gender”, Ashly Burch coming out as pansexual (and queer), unpacking the term polysexual, what an open relationship means, iconic pansexual/omnisexual characters in pop culture, and the best yuri manga to read. Other articles were on solo polyamory, the quintessential queerness of comics, Ashley Diamond and other trans women on life inside prison, and dismantling the stigma of non-monogamous relationships.
With that, I move onto animation. It will definitely be affected by the merger of HBO Max and Discovery+ with a streaming service which will launch sometime in Summer 2023. There are stories about the Disney film which features a gay teen romance (Strange World), the absurdity of Disney celebrating pride in Gravity Falls, the backlash from reactionaries to the lesbian kiss in Lightyear, and the third season of Harley Quinn. Others wrote about new weird and wonderful animated shows to check out, specifically noting Tuca and Bertie, Smiling Friends, Inside Job, Centaurworld; Love, Death, & Robots, and The Midnight Gospel.
In other news, Bob Roth, one of the creators of The Ghost and Molly McGee cleared up information about the beginning of the show’s second season, a new series by Dan Povenmire, one of the co-creators of Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law, entitled Hamster and Gretel, which premiered on August 12, and Netflix acquired an Australian animation studio named Animal Logic. Others wrote about the possible stories in the next part of Inside Job animated series, the possible silver lining of The Owl House cancellation is that it gives other studios the benefit of making shows for the “teen and adult animation niche”, the first look at Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, how Disney propaganda shaped life on the homefront during WWII, claims that the original RWBY series is better than Ice Queendom, the importance of Black characters, the diversity-focused studio, Smokescreen, and reactionaries in a tizzy over a trans man buying period pads in an episode of Baymax.
Other articles talked about Dead End: Paranormal Park, the great finale of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Netflix cancelling Q-Force after one season, a review of the film, Lightyear, explaining the pronouns change of Courtney in Dead End, the relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time: Distant Lands, and a retrospective of queer animated history’s progress. Last but not least were criticisms of copaganda in Cocomelon, queer representation in The Owl House, a new character design of Husk in Hazbin Hotel, the best LGBTQ fan theories of Disney characters, and the best LGBTQ animated TV shows. The latter talks about shows like Adventure Time, Craig of the Creek, Danger & Eggs, Harley Quinn, OK. K.O.: Let’s Be Heroes, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe, The Legend of Korra, and Twelve Forever, while the former includes LGBTQ headcannons/interpretations of characters such as Oaken and Elsa in Frozen, Isabela and Mirabel in Enchanto, Lefau in The Beauty and the Beast, Li Shang in Mulan, Ursula and Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, Jafar in Aladdin, and Merida in Brave Knight. There are also unconfirmed reports, from Lauren Faust, who developed DC Super Hero Girls, that the series was cancelled. Recently, there were articles hinting at the possible finale of the Harley Quinn animated series in a comic, supply of animation not meeting the demand, how it was ensured that Arcane would be different from the video game it was adapted from, and interviewing Dan Povenmire about his upcoming show (on August 12), Hamster & Gretel, featuring his daughter as voicing one of the protagonists.
With that, I’m moving onto articles about various articles about anime which are worth sharing in this newsletter. Anime Feminist had various feminist-friendly recommendations, including A Place Further than the Universe, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, Maria the Virgin Witch, Michiko & Hatchin, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, The Rose of Versailles, The Story of Saiunkoku, The Twelve Kingdoms, and Miss Hokusai. There are various family-friendly recommendations like Kiki’s Delivery Service, Den-noh Coil, Magic Knight Rayearth, MY love STORY!!, and Spirited Away, along with others I’ve watched partially or fully, such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Little Witch Academia, Sailor Moon, and Princess Tutu. There were other reviews of Libra of Nil Admirari, The 8th Son, Hidden Dungeon, Tsuki ga Kirei, and Moriarty the Patriot, to name a few series.
Then there is an article in Anime Feminist recommending anime series such as Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Healer Girl, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie. Others focused on the ten best husbandos in 2010s anime, a retrospective on Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, the best short anime series, the bizarreness of the Sailor Moon universe, how Sailor Moon revolutionized the magical girl genre, ranking the most irresponsible anime characters, comparing the anime and manga of Blue Period, and ranking the most relatable anime characters. There were other articles on sports anime, ranking the best shonen anime costumes, and the saddest josei anime, the best lesbian anime to watch for fans of yuri anime, and the best yaoi anime you can watch right now. There were other articles on amazing old isekai (different/other world) anime, must-watch iyashikei (healing type) anime, LGBTQ anime series to watch, the best original anime on Netflix, the ranking of the healthiest couples in magical girl anime, chronicling 100 years of yuri manga and anime, and a manga for Adachi and Shimamura (an anime series in 2010) focusing on the real life of queer people in Japan.
There are many other stories I’d like to talk about in this newsletter. For one, it was announced that Disney platforms surpassed, for the first time, Netflix, in total streaming subscribers worldwide. Secondly, there’s the resounding victory in Kansas for reproductive rights. Thirdly, is the story of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s racist busing migrants to Washington, D.C. in a political stunt. Fourthly is are Democratic Governors Association running ads boosting fascist Republicans supposedly in an effort to “discredit” them, but actually causing them to win their races.
Beyond that are stories in Smithsonian magazine about water cremation, how climate change may affect our ability to get a good night’s sleep, the DNA of hundreds of insect species in your tea, suffocating corals, and how pearls are made. Others wrote about how Monkeypox is incorrectly portrayed as a “gay disease” even though it isn’t, as it is affecting children and queer people, with an inevitable explosion among the general population if it isn’t controlled. It can spread to “anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact” as even noted by the CDC. There were other articles about the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is illegal, queer lives following their own temporal logic, the lack of adult romances with fat, disabled, trans, and queer characters, the legal limbo of being a parent before becoming an adult, the case for turning off your Zoom camera, the push for more cops by Biden, and Keke Palmer (who voices a character in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder) making a vital point about colorism after being compared to Zendaya.
Last but not least were stories on topics such as the possibility of international cooperation without domination, the problems with letting states regulate morality in the wake of the Dobbs decision, Marjorie Taylor Greene complaining that she is a “Christian nationalist” rather than a Nazi after “she is a Nazi” trended on Twitter, an animal rights activist discussing vegan life, Black voters, the cult structure of the so-called American “anti”, whether your smartphone is ruining your memory and the rise of digital amnesia, what we have learned about online learning, the great publishing resignation, and professors leaving academia for one reason or another. I was also interested to read the abolition reading list, how animation production workers are fighting for unionization, and the faulty supposed “three roles of fandom”.
That brings me to illustrations in The Nib. Some were about the worst household creatures, police not doing anything to stop the Robb Elementary school shooting, the U.S. dollar and Euro equal for the first time in decades, majority of Americans not wanting Biden nor the former president to run in 2024, magical items for freelancers, the Democratic cyropod and making fun of Democrats who thinking voting is the answer to all problems, the problems with strict originalism, theocracy, CDC mistruths, reproductive rights, the issue with accountability of those that promoted the Big Lie, Harriet Tubman’s daring Civil War raid, the problems with mowing your lawn, a parody of “school safety” measures, the huge plunge in value of Bitcoin and in so-called “cryptocurrency”, letter from a Stone Mountain jail, faulty safety measures against COVID-19 in prisons, and prisoners claimed as a “solution” to the so-called (and non-existent) labor shortage.
There were additional illustrations from The Nib about habits of slightly less effective people, Michigan Supreme Court invalidating indictments in Flint water crisis, the ghost of judge Antonin Scalia, moments of clarity and non-clarity, “concerns” of Susan Collins, and history of conflict in Palestine.
That’s all for this newsletter. Until next time!
- Burkely