Pardons for seditionists, aggressive nationalism, civil servants targeted, the NARA purge starts, African push for reparations, and confronting the challenges which lie ahead
This newsletter comes about a month since my last one. While I'll focus on archives, libraries, history, LGBTQ+ people, animation, & more, I am beginning this newsletter by noting what's happening now
Hello everyone! With the new reactionary administration in the White House, there have been a flurry of articles, making it easy to get caught in the news deluge. The Associated Press asserted that the orange one completed most of his presidential promises on immigration by beginning mass immigrant deportation (with help from the U.S. military time and again), signing executive orders which: screen immigrants for "ideology," revoke visas for pro-Palestinian protesters, and bar refugees from Palestine. He also pardoned 1,500 reactionary and dangerous individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th (which scarily echoes the pardoning of thousands of Confederates after the U.S. Civil War by Andrew Johnson), withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization (despite the legal issues involved), terminated waivers which seek to limit sales of gas-powered cars, spurred more oil drilling, and began to release some classified records. All the while, there's been no meaningful action on taxes, healthcare, or ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, even as reactionary efforts on education and energy prices continue. Massive tariffs (25%) were threatened to be imposed on Canada and Mexico, along with a 10% tariff on China. The tariffs with Mexico ended after the Mexican government said they would place 10,000 soldiers at the border, making the border region that much more militarized than it already is. Something similar happened with Canada. Even so, the tariffs could be resurrected.
That is only the tip of the iceberg, however. Since my last newsletter, on January 21st, the orange one pardoned twenty-three disruptive anti-abortion protesters, and he may pre-pardon corrupt New York City mayor Eric Adams who is rolling in money from Turkish officials after the DOJ seems poised to drop the charges, despite the resignation of seven prosecutors. The orange one also signed into law the sweeping Lakan Riley Act (which gives ICE immense power to arrest and imprison undocumented immigrants), deported thousands upon thousands of undocumented immigrants (over 10,500 were deported between January 23 and February 5th), revoked security clearances of various former U.S. officials or protection for others (like Anthony Fauci), and caused more damage. All the while, the DOJ reassigned lawyers working on extradition, civil rights, environmental protection, cybercrime, and counterterrorism, to immigration enforcement, while any consent decrees with local police departments and civil rights cases were paused. Career officials were purged. All of this weakened the department's independence and morale.
In addition, there have been imperial threats to invade Greenland and the Panama Canal, and seize it for the U.S., take over Canada, or bomb parts of Mexico to "fight the cartels." These examples, and others, like the claim to take over Gaza Strip and occupy it, are projections of U.S. dominance. Undoubtedly, there will negative economic impacts from the tariffs and mass deportation, plus cutting away social programs (like Medicaid). There are further efforts to imprison migrants in Guantanamo Bay (where they will likely be tortured, despite claims to the contrary) and other U.S. facilities, like Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, to name one. Luckily, there have been legal challenges to these actions, across the board, which have been broadly successful so far, for the cases that have been heard. In terms of authoritarianism, the proposed bill to block piracy sites, introduced by a California Democrat, will certainly be used to block those sites reactionaries don’t like and become yet another reactionary tool. The same is the case for the voter suppression law named the SAVE Act which declares that voters must present documentation, in person, when "registering to vote or updating their voter registration information," preventing registration through mail, and create barriers for "people of color, low-income individuals and women" who don't have "the required documentation and face significant challenges in obtaining it."
Also, there have been efforts to further demonize and discriminate against people in the LGBTQ+ community (including clearing the way for a ban on trans people in the U.S. military), while attacking birthright citizenship itself (currently the executive order on this has been stopped), symbolic geographic changes for the "Gulf of Mexico" and "Denali". Much more disturbing has been the growing power of the Muskrat over the U.S. government (including his acolytes in the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) gaining access to "sensitive Treasury payment systems" and shutting down USAID without any congressional approval), which is clearly illegal. It violates the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, and other U.S. laws. The DOGE people are engaging in hacking as well, among committing other crimes. The focus on purging any reported diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility echoes what Woodrow Wilson did to the U.S. government, after he took office in 1913: he implemented segregation across the federal government, demoted Black civil servants, and fired others, and appointed White Southerners to lead agencies. His actions had long-ranging negative effects.
The Muskrat and his lackeys are certainly targeting the Department of Education and NOAA, and will certainly come for NASA, NIH, USDA, and Smithsonian, among others, next, following actions to supposedly stop "fraud" in Medicare and Medicaid. The latter is just as dangerous as cuts elsewhere. Meanwhile, the DOJ is trying to purge the FBI of those involved in the January 6th cases, the State Department is being staffed by reactionary loyalists in the top echelons (as is DOJ), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being gutted. There are protests, lawsuits, and resistance from inside these agencies (and outside). The former has made those like Rubio angry. South Africa may be another target because of their racial equality efforts. The above-mentioned actions are happening hand-in-hand with efforts to split apart the entire civil service with "buy-out" offers (like with the CIA, NSA, and ODNI), forcing individuals to return to the office rather than working remotely, and striking down any programs they claim bring more diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This is coupled with a federal funding freeze, firing those individuals who aren't "loyal" enough, removing all the inspector generals, weakening the U.S. agency which holds people in prisons (Bureau of Prisons), and rescinding a LBJ executive order on affirmative action. This is all part of an effort to engage in psychological warfare against government employees.
All the while, the U.S. is pursuing a stronger pro-Israel, anti-China foreign policy, coupled with various conflicts of interest, as the orange one profits from his presidency. There have been purges of U.S. government websites with scientific data, especially from the CDC's website, and the EPA website, which will lead to more misinformation. That's just scratching the surface of this outward fascism by the current reactionary administration. There are efforts to fire thousands of probationary employees (i.e. those employed only 1-2 years), who number more than 200,000, with mass layoffs in the works. This reminds me of what China did from 1995 to 2002, which led to broader unemployment, with some saying those laid off numbered more than 45 million! This led to privatization. The same goal may be in mind for the orange one and others. After all, if they really do "delete entire agencies" as the Muskrat wants, there will even more layoffs going forward, despite legal challenges and the fact that DOGE has unclear data on the claimed "taxpayer savings" and has hypocritically doubled its own budget.
(The above is a short video linked within a recent briefing book by Rachel Santarsiero entitled "Disappearing Data: Trump Administration Removing Climate Information from Government Websites")
Moving on, I'd like to focus on archives. Alexander Karn wrote in The Progressive that "while NARA, as part of the federal government, strives to be nonpartisan, Trump aims to capture the archives for his own purposes. We are witnessing in real time the hijacking of history...with executive edicts and administrative 'overhaul.'" The latter is prescient considering it was reported, on February 6th, that Rubio had been the acting archivist of the United States since January 20th. Later reporting stated that the original reporting was faulty, but added that Shogan and the NARA management were working with the White House. NARA deputy director Jay Boskano said that while they had no requests from DOGE and that the latter was not looking to gain access to NARA systems, "there may be unique opportunities to work with DOGE to [better?] position the archives." How can working with DOGE be a good thing? Then it was reported that on the evening of February 7th that Colleen Shogan, the first woman appointed as archivist and who had only been in the position since May 17, 2023, had been removed from the position of Archivist of the United States. It was said that the decision was surprising, as Shogan didn't know it would happen so soon.
On her LinkedIn, she stated, plainly, "this evening, President Trump fired me. No cause or reason was cited. It has been an honor serving as the 11th Archivist of the United States. I have zero regrets - I absolutely did my best every day for the National Archives and the American people." With Pam Blondi as head of the DOJ, this could be a negative for NARA. The Society of American Archivists finally put out a statement on February 13th, after dragging their feet and not releasing any statement on any part of the reactionary policies since January 20th (in contrast to other professional groups like the American Library Association), said they were alarmed by the dismissal of Shogan, noted that they will continue to support NARA's mission to "preserve and provide access to the essential records of the federal government," and stated that they will "continue to monitor the situation at NARA and will actively work to support NARA workers and archivists across the United States." They called on those reading the press release to use "statistics and facts" to help support their claims about the value of archives.
While this statement is good, and better than the statement by the American Historical Association, it misses mentioning the other dangers to NARA, either from DOGE (as noted above), or the orange one’s “enemies list.” When I raised what I said above, on Bluesky in response to one user, Kate Bowers (I think), they told me to run for the SAA Council. Her response seemed relatively dismissive to my comment saying, in part, "SAA has been dragging their feet for too long. Unlike other groups, they haven't put out any statements, apart from this one, since January 20th. It's pretty shameful." That was a very moderate statement, honestly, so I don't know why they were so dismissive. People have every right to criticize the SAA, whether they are members, or not. I stand by my non-renewal of SAA membership. I didn't mention it in my comment on Bluesky, but I worry that the SAA is too close to management of public and corporate archives, like NARA, which hurts the organization as a whole.
A few days ago, Rolling Stone reported that the orange one asked advisers for a list of NARA staff "who he should purge," specifically including those involved "with the effort to get the Biden-era Justice Department to help recover classified material Trump hoarded at Mar-a-Lago after he left office the first time." It was said to include Deputy Archivist William Bosanko. A testimony he gave to the House Intelligence Committee in 2023 (see pages 6-7, 22-74) hints at his major role in the FBI search and clawing back the records from the orange one, so they may already be working off the list. This purge, as some at my organization called it, began with Shogan and continued with Deputy Archivist William Bosanko announcing his resignation on February 14th (effective on February 18th). Mother Jones said it paves "the way for Donald Trump to continue his takeover of the government's records and the agency that serves as custodian of the nation’s history," with reports that Bosanko was pushed out by Nixon Foundation president Jim Byron who told him "resign now or be fired next week." Possible replacements are either reactionary commentator Hugh Hewitt, who Byron considers a mentee, reactionary journalist John Solomon, or former senior intelligence director Ezra Cohen-Watnick. Mother Jones noted that "with the archivist appointment, he not only will be able to extract payback; he will be able to control the government agency that helps shape American history"!
CNN later reported that "in addition to Bosanko, five other senior officials are also expected to resign," according to unnamed source. This reminds me of the Rolling Stone article I quoted in my newsletter back in mid-December 2024, noting that the orange one wants to "gut the nonpartisan historical agency" because he believes that it is "full of anti-MAGA subversives" and wants to get rid of specific officials and have them "replaced with pliable loyalists," with some of his acolytes calling it "woke and broken." Prior to that I had said that "almost half of the [NARA] leadership are White men, and if you add in the White women, it means 73% of those in leadership positions for the National Archives are White!" So, the orange one is cracking down on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, in theory it wouldn't change much in the current leadership (see above). Changes in NARA leadership is very dangerous because the agency has many duties including:
administering fifteen Presidential Libraries and Museums, the National Archives museum in Washington, D.C., and fifteen records centers
governs federal records and information policy for the executive branch and makes available records of judicial and legislative branches
maintains the official documentation of passage of amendments to the U.S. Constitution by state legislatures (Archivist of the U.S. does this)
has the authority to declare when constitutional threshold for passage has been reached (Archivist of the U.S. does this)
publishes the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and United States Statutes at Large (NARA's Office of the Federal Register does this)
administers the Electoral College (NARA's Office of the Federal Register does this)
awards funds to governments, archives, colleges and universities, and other organizations to preserve and publish historical records (NARA's National Historical Publications and Records Commission does this)
reviews FOIA policies, procedures, and compliance of federal agencies
recommends changes to FOIA
resolves FOIA disputes between federal agencies and requesters
coordinates declassification practices across agencies (NARA's National Declassification Center does this)
monitors and sets policy for the U.S. government's security classification system (NARA's Information Security Oversight Office does this)
investigates thefts and recover records stolen from archive's collections (NARA's Office of the Chief Operating Officer does this)
Apart from that, there's the disturbing news that Sony will end recordable Blu-ray production in Japan, and over 8,000 web pages from "across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been removed" since January 20th, affecting sites of the CDC, the Census Bureau, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration, and others, especially when it comes to anything they consider about inclusion, diversity, or equity, or outside the gender "norm" (male-female) including "maternal mortality data...abortion and contraception data...reports on violence against Native American women...research studies on teens, including the mental health of girls and LGBTQ+ youth...guidelines from the National Academies on how to best collect data about gender and sexuality...[and] report on women in the workforce." Luckily, there's sites like End of Term Web Archive which "captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations." You can even search, on the End of Term Web Archive (sort of, but only before November), on the Wayback Machine, and see many January 6 related documents.
All the while, video evidence of crimes on January 6 is being deleted. On a more positive note, there were interviews with Densho archivist Caitlin Oiye Coon and National Park Service archivist Nadia Westenburg, and reviews of the Civil War correspondence of Ohio University, and lessons learned from email archives at 92NY Unterberg Poetry Center, to name a few. Beyond this, I’ve written about, for my blog, Wading Through the Cultural Stacks, about:
Old wrestling videotapes, determination of Andy, and gaining access to knowledge in Invincible Fight Girl
Old television broadcasts, radios, classified missions, and record manipulation in The Incredibles franchise
Spies, telepaths, assassins, classified records, secret missions, and other archivy themes in Spy x Family
With that, I am switching gears to focus on libraries. This begins with noting my recent posts on Pop Culture Library Review since January 21st. I have posted about many topics. Firstly, I noted my recently added titles for January, which included episodes of Honey Lemon Soda, Hug! Pretty Cure, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms, issues of Do You Like Tomboys and The Dark Mermaid, which are both webcomics, and a variety of other entries. Secondly I posted about lending libraries for Nissa, witchy librarian Kaisa, and nowhere space in Hilda, and, last but not least, childrearing, adopted children, manga-reading, and strict nurses in Spy x Family. With that, I'd like to note a recently published report by the Library of Congress's Law Library on "protective services provided for government officials in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom."
There were other articles noting publishers (Penguin Random House), a library (The Donnelly Library) and others (two students) suing over Idaho's law which restricts youth access to supposedly "harmful" books. The law was also criticized by the Idaho Library Association. Other articles focused on St. Louis County Library pulling back on paying for Libby (owned by private company OverDrive Inc.) and Hoopla (owned by the limited liability company Midwest Tape) because it is too costly, false copyright threats to public domain books, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights "rescinding all past guidance issued against the removal of books and will no longer employ a coordinator to investigate instances of unlawful book removals," a victory for the book banners, and a Connecticut man stealing thousands of dollars worth of library books. Notably, OverDrive also owns Kanopy and Sora, with OverDrive itself owned by the global private equity and investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).
Otherwise, there were articles on Barnes and Noble opening sixty new brick-and-mortar stores, libraries dealing with crappy A.I.-generated books, A.I.-generated research taking over Google Scholar resulting in the world being flooded by fake studies, the artificial aging lab of the Library of Congress, the firing of the library director of Montgomery County in Texas because she wasn't, apparently, doing enough to ban books, the copyright office saying that A.I. prompting doesn't deserve copyright protection, and a huge rise in science fiction and fantasy sales. The latter is driven, according to The Guardian, by the blossoming popularity of a subgenre which blends romance and fantasy named romantasy (or romantic fantasy), a favorite of those in TikTok's BookTok community.
With that, I am changing gears once more, this time to focus, briefly, on the topic of genealogy. A few days ago, I published a post about my ancestor, Ella Maye Rhodes, who experienced punching, cruelty, and murder threats, in my ongoing push to focus on more female ancestors, which has been successful. At the same time, the Genealogy journal had articles on varied topics, whether gender as a "determining factor in the family history and development" of a certain family, genealogy of the Roberts settlement "explored through Black feminist autoethnography," the intersection of ethnicity, race, hybridity, and kinship in "genetic genealogy television advertising" (i.e. from 23andMe and AncestryDNA), and the "oral tradition to documented genealogy."
This leads into a discussion on history. Surely, there were articles about Belize retiring Queen Elizabeth on dollar bills, outcry from Indigenous tribes after Florida company tried to give artifacts away, how many enslaved Black people landed in the U.S. (about half a million), and the history of why Americans "are obsessed with poor posture" (a critical review of a recent book by Beth Linker entitled Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America). What interested me most was an article in Reuters entitled "African leaders to push for slavery reparations despite resistance," declaring that there is a push by African leaders at the African Union for slavery and colonial reparations, but it will be "stonewalled by former colonial powers," noting that the orange one rejected it and "many of Europe's leaders have opposed even talking about it." The article went onto say:
…At the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, leaders plan to shape a "unified vision" of what reparations may look like…The debate on reparations needs to address the legacy of colonialism and slavery today…The continent's debt crisis can be traced back to African nations being saddled with heavy debts upon independence…Much of the debate around reparations, particularly in former colonial powers such as Britain and Portugal, has focused on financial payments…The AU said in a statement that reparations for Africa could entail land restitution in countries where land was taken from indigenous populations to the return of cultural artefacts…But 30 years since the AU's forerunner, the Organisation of African Unity, issued a declaration demanding reparations, there has been little progress…"My greatest concern is that there will just be a conversation at this (AU) summit but the resolutions will not be implemented," [Zimbabwean lawyer and reparations expert, Alfred] Mavedzenge said.
There were later articles in Xinhua, a Chinese state media site, and UNECA. The first of these articles quoted the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Claver Gatete (the video of what he said is shown above) as saying that the transatlantic slave trade and colonial exploitation "robbed Africa of its people, resources, and dignity, and left behind inequalities that persist in global financial systems, trade structures, and governance institutions till this day," adding that the continent's economic disparities and the suffering from climate change makes it is crucial that that it be "addressed as part of the continent's conversation on reparative justice," with a change in global financial architecture, debt restructuring, an African-led credit rating agency, an "African Continental Free Trade Area, and the prioritization of value addition within the continent." The theme for the AU this year will be "Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations." The post on UNECA was similar in its content. This discussion makes me think of the classic book, by Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. It is good that these conversations are getting to this level, even though it will be hard to get progress in Western countries. Those in the latter need to support African efforts, without any doubt in my mind, while remaining critical.
There were further articles on topics like: feminism and its malcontents in Canadian universities, mapping in the Islamic tradition, a reading of the 1970s economic crisis as an elite revolt "rather than proof of the New Deal order’s unsustainability," finding the civil code in French-speaking jurisdictions, a patchwork of plantations in Puerto Rico, and a short history of the first Indigenous women lawyers and judges in the U.S.
I'd like to talk next about climate change, environmentalism, and the challenges ahead. This includes articles noting that the environmental justice movement will continue despite the recent executive orders, the beginning of the assault on Alaskan wildlands. Actions like the latter have undoubtedly bolstered climate denial groups like the Heartland Institute. At the same time, some have said that we have entered the pyrocene, i.e. an era of uncontrolled burning, noted that rising temperatures could lead to more mental health issues, highlighted the importance of speaking out against carbon pollution, and stated that climate change is outpacing tree migration (i.e. "forests are not regenerating fast enough to keep pace with climate change, wildfire, insects and disease.")
This leads to issues related to Gaza and Palestine. For one, the orange one has set the stage for ethnic cleansing, while private military contractors from the U.S., like UG Solutions, are going into Gaza to staff a checkpoint. Secondly, with the resignation of Nawaf Salam to become Lebanon’s President, the new head of the ICJ is a Christian Zionist named Julia Sebutinde, which "threatens to undermine the campaign for legal accountability" and can undermine the South African case in a "more substantive way than before." If that isn't bad enough, the weak Biden sanctions placed on West Bank settlers were removed, and Israel banned UNRWA, making clear they want Palestinians to die.
What remains ahead for Palestinians is unclear. There's a limited future of ceasefire, even as some countries come together to form the Hague Group, "dedicated to ensuring that international law is enforced against Israel." Perhaps Democrats voted against ICC (International Criminal Court) sanctions, but the orange man imposed them anyway, through an executive order, even as Joe Biden has been described as an accomplice to murder of thousands of Palestinians, and Google reportedly working "directly with Israel’s military on AI tools" as The Verge reported in late January.
Lastly, in terms of international events, there is the troubling news in Syria. The newly appointed president (who was not elected by the way), Ahmed al-Sharaa declared that he'll form an "inclusive transitional government" and form a small legislative body to replace the parliament, who he was abolished. Even worse, the constitution was invalidated, and al-Sharaa declared that "the process of drafting a new constitution and holding elections may take up to four years," according to NBC News. Some reported that the victory of the so-called rebels (really religious terrorists), raises issues with the future security, reconstruction, dynamics, and governance of Syria. In fact, Just Security even said that their rule "does not yet translate into a secure or stable environment due to geopolitical and economic stressors" and noted that recent developments have included increasing presence of Turkey, Israel's invasion into southern Syria, and possible "greater U.S. involvement." This is not good for Syrians, despite claims that "banned books" are returning to shelves in Syria, with a strong likelihood that a fundamentalist religious government will remain. At the same time, there were articles noting the struggles Cuba is enduring, with some wondering whether the Cuban revolution would survive 2025 or not.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ people, it is far too easy to focus on the negatives these days, with everything that is going on, whether the Idaho House passing a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, which mandated that all states respect same-sex marriages, the orange one's anti-trans executive orders, National Park Service removing the word "transgender" from the Stonewall Monument Website, Google removing Pride Month from its calendar app, and a sex offender embedding himself in queer media for over a decade.
More positively, some wrote on the "history of deriving political meaning from Abraham Lincoln's sexuality," Sarah McBride saying she "wants the LGBTQ+ rights movement to fight smarter, not harder," whether the documentary The Celluoid Closet still rings true today, examining why people with autism are "more likely to identify as asexual," and looking at what new queer cinema is, i.e. queer films in the 1990s like The Watermelon Woman in 1996, and what led to it.
The best news is not companies which have resisted the scaleback of diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives (which has led to threatened boycott against those falling in line and even one, Target, being removed as a sponsor of a pride event), or fans pushing for a hot lesbian sex scene in Arcane, but couples marrying one another as a landmark same-sex marriage law takes effect in Thailand! NPR reports that Thailand's parliament passed the historic same-sex marriage bill in June of last year, "joining Taiwan as the only countries in Asia to recognize marriage equality," even as cultural prejudices exist. It joins Cyprus which allows civil unions, three countries which have limited cohabitation rights (Israel, India, and Nepal), thirty-nine with no recognition of same-sex unions, and six countries banning it (Armenia, Cambodia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Russia), while same-sex activity is legal in the West Bank but has unclear legality in Gaza. Japan may be next in legalizing same-sex marriage, since the ban on same-sex marriage was invalidated by the Tokyo High Court last year.
More than what is mentioned above, data shows that viewership of The Acolyte on Disney+ was strong, but only that it "dropped off" at a certain point, which is used as a justification to cancel the series, which is still messed up. Some, of course, blame the series, in typical fashion, for causing issues for the franchise going forward. That is clearly not fair. All the while, Leslye Headland, the lesbian screenwriter who created The Acolyte (which had queerness at its core) is about to close her Broadway debut play, "Cult of Love," a project she jumped into after finishing edits on The Acolyte.
Moving to anime, Okazu had an update on recent yuri news, noting that Seven Seas put out seven yuri licenses, specifically for The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate, A Yuri Manga That Starts With Getting Rejected in a Dream, I Won’t Let Mistress Suck My Blood, and My Goddess is Precious Today, Too. Also the release of I Married My Female Friend Volume 4 was mentioned, as was the pre-order of Not So Shoujo Love Story Volume 1, and the pre-order of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All Volume 2.
Erica Friedman, in that post, called for people to visit YouTube to see a crossover mini-anime of Sorairo Utility and Birdie Wing, among other aspects. I also liked the mini-anime, as it shows Eve and Aoi fitting easily with the three protagonists of Sorairo Utility, Minami Aoba, Haruka Akane, and Ayaka Hoshimi, which is no surprise because a recent scene from an episode echoes Birdie Wing. The series, as it currently exists, is shown in the below two clips:
Apart from this, Anime Feminist had articles on: reading Violet Evergarden as "an autistic woman" (seems fair), an alternative and queer retrospective to Kamikaze Girls, three-episode checklist (praises Sorairo Utility, From Bureaucrat to Villainess, and Flower and Asura, but remains critical), while there were articles about a content purge on Hulu of anime, the Bluebird project of Love Live! (not sure what that will be yet), and Tonari Animation shutdown.
This brings me to articles about Western animation. Surely there were posts on Common Side Effects creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely talking about their animated series, Steven Universe vinyl collection growing with movie soundtrack and Rebecca Sugar album, Disney pushing back the release of Elio by one week so it doesn't compete directly with DreamWorks hit How to Train Your Dragon, and Emily Brundige introducing her "big-hearted animated heroine" in Goldie, with Emily previously working on Hilda. More pertinent was a post by Lucy Hall, noting that indie animation started in the early 2000s on Newgrounds and YouTube, with the latter giving advertising "revenue to creators, allowing them to put more time into their passion projects" but imposing a guideline on how long something had to be to get that revenue, which changed with series like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano and her company Spindlehorse. Other series followed, including Murder Drones, The Amazing Digital Circus, Lackadaisy, and Ramshackle. Hall asserted that Medrano was responsible for the latter, and said thanks to indie animation, creators aren't "afraid of not getting their ideas picked up."
While I feel that Hall is overstating the influence of Medrano, while recognizing her influence in the indie animation space, with her two shows interconnected, with people who worked on the pilot later going to work on: Ramshackle pilot (Sera Fisher, Zi Chen, and Jane Walker), Far-Fetched pilot-in-progress (Sara Fisher, Ashley Nichols, Dave Capdevielle, Kressent Rhodes, and Kennedy Phillips), Lackadaisy pilot (Ashley Nichols, Dave Capdevielle, and Kressent Rhodes), Ollie & Scoops (Ashley Nichols, Zach Paulus, Circe Bogart, Lorenzo Estrada, and June VanOtterdyk), Monkey Wrench (Circe Bogart and Kressent Rhodes), Port by the Sea pilot (Kressent Rhodes), or The Amazing Digital Circus (Gooseworx).
More than that, X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo declared that the statements made by Disney and Marvel about him were wrong, but its hard to know which one is correct, meaning the truth may be sometime between both. ComicBook said this month will, apart from the release of Common Side Effects, includes many live-action series. Others said that Avatar: The Last Airbender made them an anime fan, reviewed Memoir of a Snail, and noted that an animated series based on a horror comic entitled Nights, developed by Wyatt Kennedy and Luigi Formisano, is in development.
This brings me to the final part of this newsletter, which covers articles and posts not directly relating to other sections. Firstly, a geographer Innisfree McKinnon explained what goes on the map, noting that in the U.S., place names "are standardized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names…part of the U.S. Geological Survey," like changing the names of Denali and Gulf of Mexico. She later adds usually it takes a lot of paperwork to change a place name, and notes that while the Board on Geographic Names "could change the name to Gulf of America on official U.S. maps…there is no international board in charge of place names…[and] there is no official way for the U.S. to make other countries change the name." Interesting to know that.
Secondly, some noted Carl Sagan predicting the decline of America in 1995, with people unable to know the truth and slide into darkness and superstition, a new military strategy of French neocolonialism in Africa, a DEA officer who 3D printed cocaine gets 17 years in prison (this case seems more widespread than this and seems like he is getting the okay from higher-ups), and Ethel Cain doubling down on using the hashtag #KillMoreCEOs and saying her views stem from personal experience with corporate power (particularly healthcare companies). She warned that if all ordinary Americans realize they have a common enemy in powerful corporations then "all hell is gonna break loose." Cain has music falling into ambient, indie rock, and contemporary folk, is an autistic and bisexual trans woman, and is relatively outspoken.
Otherwise, some wrote on Dubai ceaseless building boom "putting strains on its residents," the orange one’s so-called "saving" of TikTok as a power-grab which subverts freedom of speech, need to organize the professional-managerial class rather than "mourn[ing] it," how Americans see men and masculinity, why eligible voters did not vote in 2024 presidential elections, some saying it is time to boycott the U.S., and the psywar glossary. Ken Klipperstein, who is usually good, but had some questionable recent posts critical of protests against Musk, noted how support for the ban on TikTok came from Israel, according to congressional insiders, which says a lot about it.
Lastly, there were illustrations from ND Stevenson (i.e. Nate), the wife of Molly Ostertag, about Oscar Wilde and remembering the past (including both of them visiting Oscar Wilde's grave), and the last three illustrated parts of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem" here, here, and here.
That's all for this newsletter. Until next time!
- Burkely