Pop culture reviews, claimed archival "finds," Colleen Shogan's confirmation, libraries/librarians under attack, corporate pride, labor rights, and beyond!
Pop culture reviews, claimed archival "finds," Colleen Shogan's confirmation, libraries/librarians under attack, corporate pride, labor rights, and beyond!
This fourth newsletter of 2023 will focus on articles/posts about archives, libraries, genealogy, history, LGBTQ+ people, anime, animation, labor conditions, and more.
Hello everyone! I meant to publish this newsletter late last month, but it is being published early this month instead. My last three newsletters (on April 2, Feb. 25, and Jan. 14) have also been published on the Internet Archive here, here, and here. I wrote a guide to the SAA (Society of American Archivists) election this year, which has since ended, criticized mass document shredding in Kiff and examined the reality of record destruction, analyzed terrible records management in Tangled, told the story of my fifth cousin five times removed Sophia Packard (who was in a relationship with another woman), examined the interconnection of The Collector (in The Owl House), indigenous repatriation, and archival ethics; and highlighted a few declassified documents to describe China-Taliban relations and Chinese fears about Uighur guerillas. I also have written reviews for Pop Culture Maniacs on three series since April 2nd (Ippon Again!, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, RWBY, and Villainous) and one film: Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1. Apart from that, on my Pop Culture Library Review blog, I wrote posts on various topics, whether on Japanese voice actors who bring fictional librarians to life, examining student librarians in anime, analyzing fictional library institutions, noting fictional Arab and Muslim librarians, fictional librarians of Asian descent, and listing recently added titles of shows with libraries or librarians that I watched in March and in April. With that, let me get on with the rest of my newsletter.
Starting with archives, there was recently a “revelation” by Jonathan Eig, in a new book entitled King: A Life. He found that the famed criticism Martin Luther King Jr. made of Malcolm X was fabricated, as he came across an unedited transcript of the full interview that Alex Haley did of Martin Luther King Jr., which was “likely typed by a secretary straight from a recording,” at the Haley archives at Duke. He later shared this with other King scholars, with the changes jumping out to them as “a real fraud”, with scholar Peniel E. Joseph saying that this is not “really surprising or shocking, but it’s bad,” and added with this we have more clarification about how certain media wanted to pit them against each other and use Dr. King as a cudgel against Malcolm.” What is not mentioned is the role of archives. My guess is that that what Eig is talking about is a record within “Sound Recordings, 1960-1988 and undated” or “Radio TV Services records, circa 1937 - 2012” collections at Duke University Libraries. I asked Duke Archives about this on Twitter and will let you know if I hear back. I may write a letter to the editor criticizing the framing of the article as Eig “finding” the information, as it was only there because someone organized it for him.
Even more important is the confirmation of Colleen Shogan by a 52-45 vote, with Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins, while Kristin Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, and Tommy Tuberville did not vote. It is not clear why Tuberville, a person who favors legislators having stocks, introduced a measure which pushed for cryptocurrency in retirement accounts, has made racist remarks, complained the debt ceiling deal didn’t go “far enough”, was contacted by ‘Rump during the Capitol riot, supported objections to electoral votes for Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania, praised the overturning of Roe v. Wade, opposed same-sex marriage, co-sponsored bill banning trans soldiers, stated that he supports White nationalists in the military, is strongly anti-abortion, and anti-immigrant, voted the way he did.
Sanders and Gillibrand may have abstained from voting due to their support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (see here and here). As Bloomberg Law described, Shogan faced criticism for saying she’d “decline to publish the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution if she took the role,” stating in a February hearing that the archivist’s job is to “publish constitutional amendments once they’ve been properly ratified,” not be a decider. The ERA Coalition criticized this position back in September (when she re-stated in another hearing), although David Ferriero had taken the same stance. Despite my disagreement with Shogan on this topic, I still believe that her confirmation is a net positive. I previously wrote, in my last newsletter, about Shogan, noting “her confirmation hearings are currently in process, with some reactionary people questioning her social media posts or classified documents, while she pledged to address a backlog which stood in the way of veterans getting benefits”. Before that, I said in November 2022 the following:
…Shogan, for her part, said she was committed to more transparency, opening Civil Rights cold cases (an issue supported by Jon Osoff)….[she stated that] she was nonpartisan and nonpolitical, and noted commitments to transparency, efficiency, and so-called “public private partnerships”. She said reducing the backlog of requests for veteran records as the “most important discrete problem” facing her if she is confirmed as the archivist…Shogan stated that “the Archivist serves in the capacity, in a nonpartisan, apolitical capacity.” She also noted that NARA will need to “find creative ways to become more efficient, to capitalize upon public-private partnerships, and to engage previously underserved communities in meaningful ways”. This is in line with what David Ferriero has done when he served as archivist from November 2009 to April 2022.
Shogan assumed the position on May 17th, and said her first priority is addressing the backlog of veterans records. Personally, I don’t believe there will be some massive sea change at NARA as a result, but it is a net positive, as stated earlier.
Otherwise, there have been articles about how preservation matters more than ever in the age of streaming (I can’t agree more), the Society of American Archivists urging consideration and respect for proper records management in government (in light of recent mishandling of classified documents), and an intriguing post about The Owl House by Sam Cross. She focuses on The Collector and reported Archivists in the show’s final season, going a completely different direction than I went. Some of my favorite parts are when she noted that the show’s archivists are in line with the show’s “larger narrative about categorization and institutional power,”,and how diaries are historical records which historians are archivists are familiar with. Diaries, along with personal correspondence and journals, are often the “only means of understanding a historical figure's thoughts or gaining insight into the daily lives of groups often left out of the historical record” but they may be inaccurate. When reading this, I am reminded of emotional imprint of letters, memory, obsolescence, trauma, and remembrance within Violet Evergarden, Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll, and Violet Evergarden: The Movie. Posts about all of these will be on my Wading Through the Archival Stacks blog early next year (the posts have been scheduled).
Otherwise, I reminded of reviews by Cross on archivists/archivy themes in The Last Letter from Your Lover, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and YouTube videos which are accidentally archival. There are additional articles on digitization workflows when it comes to documents, how use of web sources fosters collaboration for archives, National Archives plans outlining a commitment to lower “greenhouse gas emissions and become better stewards of the environment”, digital image processing of historical maps at the Library of Congress (LOC), Louisiana Sheriffs violating public records laws, a judge ordering Washington State private special education school to turn over records, new Pentagon rules keeping many military court records secret; the work of the LOC Preservation Services Division (PSD), which is responsible for a “huge portion” of the digitization of millions of pages of books, newspapers, and microfilm frames each year, and public versus private status of records (and archives).
There are a lot of articles about libraries to share this week, whether on North Dakota considering a ban on library books deemed “sexually explicit”, negative impact of Ron DeSantis on Florida education, U.S. homeless crisis turning librarians into de facto social workers, LOC’s Cultural Heritage Analytical Reference Material (CHARM) collection, Manatee County researchers covering up classroom books because they fear persecution, exploring trauma-informed librarianship, ethical acquisitions in academic libraries, school librarians vilified as “arm of Satan” in book banning efforts, suspension of digital library in Orange County due to complaints from parents about “offensive” books, students and parents fighting to save NYC’s imperiled school libraries, backlash to Vermont University proposal to make their library all-digital, and exploration of innovative community libraries of Korea.
There are further articles about publishers wanting to end how libraries lend books online, an interview with Seongryeol (Ryan) Park (foreign law intern at LOC), more fun with call numbers on the new ‘Shelved’ TV show, adventures in cataloging, work of women of color in libraries, libraries continuing to have a vital role even in the digital age, why we need librarians (for information literacy), firing of Erie librarian after objecting to cancellation of “programs on racism and LGBTQ+ youth”, stories of impact and connection in relation to Black librarianship, New York City’s first Black librarian (Catherine Latimer), libraries facing attacks but not like "Freedom Libraries" of 1964, public libraries becoming a political background, strain of censorship on public libraries, University of Washington librarians going on strike for the day, Michigan residents voting to defund public library over its LGBTQ books, and examination of sex, sexuality, and queerness in Library of Congress Classification.
Additional articles focused on related subjects. This included the FBI and ARF helping with “Little Free Library” (they aren’t libraries, but subpar book-dumping grounds primarily for well-off White people) explosion investigations, making the most of your MLIS, examining how much book sale data is confidential, the power of zines, retaining collections which are high need but have “low demand”, book banners weaponizing legitimate resources, and a presentation by Myrna Morales and Stacie Williams on moving toward transformative leadership, naming and identifying epistemic supremacy. Others talked about reactions/thoughts/questions while watching Sandman TV series, bike libraries increasing access to bikes across the U.S., being an MLIS/MLS student with no library work experience, how research libraries “ensure trustworthiness in times of need”, and information on Michele T. Fenton’s Little Known Black Librarians Facts blog about Hallie Beachem Brooks, The Howard Branch of the Chattanooga Public Library, Annette Hoage Phinazee, and Andrew Venable Jr., to name a few. There were illustrations about libraries as well, whether in Sophie LaBelle’s Serious Trans Vibes (called Assigned Male elsewhere), or in The Nib.
I’m switching gears and talking about the subject of genealogy. Most pertinent is my newest social media account, on Mastadon, on genealysis.social. I just created it on May 9th, and my username on there is historyhermann. I have another for my work as an archivist on glammur.us at burkelythearchivist. Otherwise, there were posts about a professor claiming she is Indigenous when she admitted she is actually White (the equivalent of the Cherokee Princesses lie again), Beloit College presenting Mrs. Packard (about my ancestor Elizabeth P.W. Packard) as its final production of 2023, and the Slavery Remembrance Program “tracing lives, families of Africans, Native Americans who were enslaved by Harvard leaders, labored on campus”. There are, on a somewhat related note, articles in Genealogy magazine about studies of critical settler family history, writing about family history, motivations of multiracial people to assert their ancestries, primacy of family genealogy to “situate burial, spectrality, and ancestrality”, negotiating marital separation in “the Cavendish-Talbot Family c.1575–90,” and the complexity of family history in “the context of colonial pasts in British India,” a contribution to understanding women’s history; memories, family secrets, and “the mental health archive,” to name a few.
There were other articles providing a “basic introductory survival guide” to FamilySearch Catalog, or on finding ancestors in Heir & Devisee Papers 1797-1854, Irish migration to Derry Canada, ships and steerage experienced by Irish people, tracing a British seamen in the Royal Navy before 1853, comparing historic newspaper websites, a review of John Mancini’s Immigrant Secrets, researching enslaved ancestors, and a post about an ancestor with an alias. Otherwise, there was a Family Tree magazine claiming to highlight “must-see” genealogy TV (even though most of the shows are trash), along with more helpful ones like asking whether brick walls even exist in genealogy at all (also see here), places to uncover the burial of an enslaved or emancipated ancestor, the reported value of the genealogical proof standard (which can only be fulfilled if someone has enough privilege to do so), nine kinds of ancestor death records to look for, value of Black cemeteries, and top ten tips to finding your ancestors. On an interesting note, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its sequel, Atlantis: Milo’s Return, has a character named Mrs. Packard or Wilhelmina Bertha Packard. As a “elderly, sarcastic, chain-smoking radio operator.” She is nothing like my Packard ancestors, although it would be fascinating to find someone like her one day.
This brings me to new History.gov hub for NARA, hidden history of women in the industrial revolution, Arlington Cemetery removing its racist Confederate monument, highlighting those afraid of Black Cleopatra, Coke-a-Cola money and public relations of higher education divestment from apartheid, the first Asian-American screenwriter (Onoto Watanna), siege of Wounded Knee was a beginning of renewed Indigenous resistance, how the K-9 was a “product of a new America” rather than a relic of the Old South (as civil rights activists stated) since police dogs had been used in Baltimore since the 1950s, and increasingly by the 1960s, with many police departments stilling have such units which “continue to hurt people,” and America’s failure with desegregation. Others focused on Cleopatra’s daughter and other important figures of the multicultural Roman Empire, pundits needing a refresher in people’s history, Ford Administration efforts to silence Frank Church, U.S. government censoring the photos of Japanese concentration camps taken by Dorothea Lange, determining why Harry Truman supported Israel despite private anti-Semitic rhetoric, and how a little-known anti-Vietnam protest still reverberates.
Further history topics include problematic memorializing of presidents, a 1868 speech from an expelled Black Georgia legislator, when truly stolen elections changed “the course of American history,” the real crisis of work, preserving the public history of the Fort Pillow Massacre, the history of the Colfax Massacre as the “largest single attack on Black people's democratic rights,” the death penalty marching on unabated despite popular opposition, examining the movement against the Iraq War, the “human rights legacy” of Jimmy Carter, and FBI release of Bill Russell’s file. Otherwise, there were articles on who is to blame for lousy transit systems, U.S. Colored Troops killed in Olustee Florida still owed a “proper burial”, confronting the “roots of American-style fascism in one family's history”, the problem with not treating former Presidents like ordinary citizens, the enslaved ancestors of Robert E. Lee, and when a leading evangelist held a revival to thwart labor.
There were articles on how the John Birch Society “radicalized the American Right,” how attacks on justices are nothing new, how to get Americans to “embrace constitutional amendments again,” the brutal sex trade and U.S. military presence in South Korea, history of the debt ceiling, how William Casey delayed the release of Iran hostages to help Reagan, authors calling for a rethink of motherhood and birth, lessons of the welfare rights movement, Carolyn Woods Eisenberg “on Nixon's war deceptions,” and how Biden's deployment of troops to “the border is historical norm, not [an] exception.” There were further posts on unclear legislative response to proposed reparations in California, the first South Asians in British North America, how buried footage helped Chicago police “get away with killing 10 labor activists in 1937,” and the first campgrounds “took the city to the wilderness.”
Apart from the focus on history are articles on environmentalism and climate. In These Times noted the pollution cleanup from abandoned oil wells, while there were article excerpts in History News Network on toxic sludge in the Great Lakes, and how meat and masculinity are a “new Culture War front.” The latter makes me think of papers I wrote in college about meat production, the ethics of moral vegetarianism, and many other related topics, as I had only recently become a vegetarian at that point. Otherwise, there were newsletters digging into methods of getting the wealthy to change their behavior in an effort to help the planet (even if such an approach seems foolhardy), and environmental justice and bodily autonomy. Also of note are articles on a call for climate policy to “return to land reform” and criticizing An Inconvenient Truth for showing “missing opportunities” to act on climate change.
Just as important are articles on the blog Environment, Law, and History about Charles Dickens, Kafka, and environmental law; scholarship trends in international environmental law, merchants of doubt, climate change leveraging legacy, postmodernism and environmental policy, the traditional “founders” and climate change, past and future of “public utility”, and stone age environmental law. On the other hand, The Nib has illustrations on COVID-19 and climate change, climate response, and untold “benefits” of climate change. There were interesting articles about how fishing fleets contribute significantly to microplastic pollution, sound causing serious damage to seagrass and other structures in the ocean, the problem of using the term “invasive species”, and the reasons why the healthiest forests are on Indigenous land across the world. The worst news this week, on this topic, was the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA to weaken the Clean Water Act, allowing polluters to build in additional wetlands, turning back decades of established law.
I’d like to move to a different topic: LGBTQ+ people. There were posts on Target’s removal of such merchandise, after selling it for years, despite some saying that the company protects its employees, which seems to be giving into terrorists. As Erin Reed stated, actions by Bud Light and Target show hypocrisy of “corporate pride”, writing the following, which rings true:
Bud Light and Target came under far-right fire for including LGBTQ+ people in products and advertising. The speed at which they caved shows why LGBTQ+ people have warned about corporate pride…It actively damages the community by feeding a narrative that suggests LGBTQ+ individuals are not worth protecting…The campaign against LGBTQ+ inclusion in stores is not grassroots, but rather a calculated move by the same far-right influencers responsible for the early anti-trans bills this year…What followed was mass harassment and violent threats to LGBTQ+ advocates and store employees…The speed in which some companies are caving to anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment shows the danger in entrusting Pride events to the care of corporations, who have no meaningful skin in the game and who are willing to pull support at moment’s notice...Instead of hastily retreating in the face of even a fraction of the hatred endured daily by the LGBTQ+ community from these same individuals, these corporations need to show resilient support.
Apart from this, some wrote on social media about polyamory and queer identity, and how a majority of gender affirming care bans are not “coming from grassroots movements in states but rather external pressure from lobbying orgs like the Alliance Defending Freedom” Otherwise, there were articles on declining LGBTQ+ representation in TV (summarizing this GLAAD report), the joy of queer friendship, Twitter removing its 2018 ban on deadnaming and misgendering trans people, the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ Asians in the U.S., the queer origins of The Little Mermaid, the shameful “echoes of the 1950s Lavender Scare” at the present, TikTok tracking “users who watched LGBTQ+ videos,” and Tennesseans fighting back against the ban on drug shows in the state.
There were other articles of interest on Jedi: Survivor having “a canonically queer major character” (but it you would not “know from playing it), rightful argument that due to the transphobia from J.K. Rowling it is “up to the fans to leave the Wizarding World behind,” the 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies (according to Them) to “Stream on Prime Video” (of these, I’ve only seen I Am Not Your Negro and But I’m A Cheerleader), report on gay and bisexual representation in the 118th Congress, a pansexual filmmaker showing stories with neurodivergent and neurotypical actors, the harm of the “you just haven’t met the right person yet” comment for aspec (asexual spectrum) people, the paid agreements GLAAD signed paid agreements with streaming platforms to “review their content at the development stage” with Fabrice Houdart suggesting that there be “transparency on the contracts between GLAAD and streaming services”, need for good governance and oversight in LGBTQ+ organizations, and Pope Francis saying homosexuality is not a crime.
To change gears again, I’d like to talk about stories in the world of anime. There were either of fanart of Bocchi from Bocchi the Rock!, the danger of making a teenage protagonist “too likable or relatable in their "immature" phase” (in relation to what happened to one of the protagonists of Love Live! Superstar!!), queerness in Sailor Moon (see here, here, here, and here), and organizing Love Live! characters by hairstyles. Others posted on various other topics such as kissing of the two female protagonists in Sakura Trick, first look of yuri TV anime Hoshikuzu Telepath, an official Yohane anime logo in English, announcement of original Girls Band Cry anime, and a love confession of sorts in Kizuna no Allele. Also of note were recommendation of various series with yuri themes (MagiRevo, RWBY, Harley Quinn, even though the latter two are NOT anime in the slightest), optimism toward BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!, Crunchyroll acquiring I'm in Love With the Villainess anime (premiering in October), premiere of Bocchi the Rock! compilation film for spring 2024, and YuruYuri. Furthermore, on social media some argued that Sailor Moon is bisexual (see here, here, and here) based on her interactions with male and female characters during the run of the series (and in Sailor Moon Crystal), something which also made its way into posts on Medium (see here and here) and CBR.
Apart from yuri manga (and anime) recommendations and listing of what was said to be the top yuri anime couples in 2022, Anime Feminist had articles on femme rebellion in Japanese lolita fashion, the joyful affirmation of plus-sized leads in yuri, how Kiki’s Delivery Service is an empowering coming-of-age tale of self-discovery, the subversion of moe by Higurashi and the birth of modern yandere, Akiba Maid War and the “rare representation of disabled joy,” and the history of magical boys in PreCure, to name a few. Others wrote on the greatest shonen friendships between girls, answering why yuri is popular right now (the simple answer is that “yuri has always had the potential to appeal to many different kinds of people…and cultural momentum is on its side”), a review of My Love Story with YamadaKun at LV999, anime recommendations for Winter 2023 (of these I’ve only seen Ippon Again!, MagiRevo, but not the others), and anime fans praising trans representation in Skip and Loafer.
There were articles on whether Haruka and Michiru, in Sailor Moon (first appearing in Sailor Moon S), were viewed as lesbians in 1990s Japan, a post on The Lies We All Tell, queer magic of Studio Ghibli and “her ‘fight’ for representation”, spring 2023 anime picks (I’ve only seen Yuri is My Job!, Birdie Wing, Kizuna no Allele, World Dai Star, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Otaku Elf, Alice Gear Aegis Expansion, and Tokyo Mew Mew New, and one episode of The Witch from Mercury), neurodiversity in anime (specifically Violet Evergarden and Kageyama Tobio), the best anime couples, and Japan's Self-Defense Force Band performing “Uma Musume songs at Tokyo racecourse.”
With that, I’m pivoting to animation. There were calls to release “everything as physical media” (related to a scene in a recent episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee) the fact that Rose Quartz’s death in Steven Universe was “at least partly suicide,” Pixar films that were passion projects by Asian directors (Turning Red and Elemental), plus-size/fat characters in Steven Universe, top indie projects you should look forward to (from Indie Animation Network), and Ian Jones-Quartey noting that Steven Universe was greenlight in early 2013 and in full production by 2013. I also learned about possible airing of Nimona on “independent chains or venues play select Netflix movies” and Showcase and/or Curzon in the U.K., and upcoming animated films. Others on social media posts criticizing Nimona for not having Nimona as a fat character, the success of Indie Animation Day, arguing that there is always a “small but loud section of viewers who dont know what theyre talking about”, cast of Hailey’s On It! (and criticism of White people for voicing POC characters), possible release of Primos in June, the loss of “production assets (design, boards, animatics etc)” of episodes 4-12 of Onyx Equinox because of “how they archived it” (Sofia Alexander later recommended backing up “all your stuff and don’t count on anyone else to do it”), the terrible explanation for the “credits fuck-up” by Max, hope that characters in the Totally Spies! are gay, and Olan Rogers getting the license to write a Final Space graphic novel which can be pre-ordered.
Other animation-related news of note includes June 30 release date of Nimona (on Netflix), Disney removal of series from Disney+ and Hulu (luckily Little Demon is the only animated series on the list, to my knowledge), the merger of Hulu and Disney+ later this year, which will undoubtedly affect the animation landscape, Ashley Nichols on developing Far Fetched, review of A Piece of Cake (a short yuri animated film), interview with Avi Roque of The Owl House (which recently ended), and the complicated LGBTQ+ history of Disney. Some wrote on 15 queer cartoons to watch for fans of The Owl House (of these, I’ve watched The Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, Danger & Eggs, the new She-Ra, Adventure Time, Kipo, OK K.O.!, Magical Girl Friendship Squad, The Dragon Prince, Dead End: Paranormal Park, The Legend of Vox Machina, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Harley Quinn, and Arcane, but not Pinecone & Pony), the set-up for a possible season 2 of Moon Girl at the end of season 1, removal of various animated series from HBO Max (before it became Max) by the end of this month, and thoughts on indie animation from Jocelyn Saravia (part one, part two, and part three).
There were additional articles on a new Amazon animated series by Ramy Youssef “including Alia Shawkat, Mandy Moore, [and] Chris Redd” entitled #1 Happy Family USA which is about a Muslim-American family that “must learn how to code-switch as they navigate the early 2000s: a time of fear, war, and the rapid expansion of the boy-band industrial complex,” cartoon industry misconceptions you may be getting wrong, The Owl House marking “the end of an era for Disney Channel” (in the words of Jade King), yuri talk about Bumblebee/Bumbleby (part 1 and part 2), insights from Bertrand Todesco about building a career as an in-demand character designer in Hollywood, animation studios which are approved under SAG-AFTRA, and the time that Hayao Miyazaki (director of films such as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo, The Wind Rises, and this year, How Do You Live?) did not show up for his Oscar as a protest against the Iraq War (and other news).
The latter sentence is a nice segue into my next topic: workers, unions, labor rights, and the like. Scalawag wrote about the “unsightliness of labor at the Blanton's 'Day Jobs'”, while the WGA had an ongoing hub for the writer’s strike which has been going on since May 2nd (it is the largest interruption to production of films and television in the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic and the largest labor stoppage since the 2007-2008 writers’ strike). There were further articles on power, and betrayal, of “cross-ethnic solidarity in the 1903 Oxnard Beet Strike,” H-2A’s systemic issues resulting in “catastrophic violations” (which is hurting migrant workers), rally in College Park by student worker groups to raise the minimum wage and the right to unionize, University of Michigan administration busting unions and politicians trashing higher education, the fact that wins at Starbucks and Amazon shouldn’t “obscure the hard road independent unions face,” and a post from People’s CDC about worker safety. Apart from the mass walkout against unethical fees at a major science journal, there are reports that only a third of U.S. workers can work-from-home, ERA Coalition pushing for action on pregnant worker fairness, and Ukrainian laws stripping worker’s collective bargaining rights. Ukraine has never been a leftist paradise as some seem to claim it is, as some have praised reported “advances” in LGBTQ+ rights and the like. I also saw websites about solidarity for freelance writers and guidelines for who can join the National Writers Union. I may join the latter, but I haven’t completely decided at this point.
With that, I move to the final part of this newsletter before the section noting illustrations in The Nib. In this section, I’ll be bringing in topics which don’t go neatly into any other section of this newsletter. For one, there were those calling for people to watch Nimona and Otaku Elf, highlighting a Bocchi the Rock spinoff manga, criticizing Deadpool 3 for filming during the writer’s strike, and condemning BuzzFeed for declaring that AI will develop “diverse” content for them. Secondly, there were stories on how Mary Wollstonecraft's diagnosis of the prejudices holding back girls’ education remains relevant, what a lack of premium grocery stores says about disinvestment in Black neighborhoods, the movement to “stop dollar stores from suffocating Black communities,” and how Pew Research Center will “report on generations moving forward.” Thirdly, were reports of growing negative views of Russia, and more favorable views of Ukraine and NATO, among Americans, but “50% of Americans wanted to focus on domestic troubles” rather than international issues, along with positive views of childhood vaccines, important value in family time “than other aspects of life”, and younger workers expressing lower levels of job satisfaction than older people. Articles focused on West Virginia Governor’s coal empire again “sued by the federal government”, publicly funded but privately run schools in New York State are being “allowed to punish and discriminate against students by calling in emergency services,” and the conscription system of South Korea.
Further articles focused on topics such as improving the usability of organizational data systems, three approaches to “documenting database migrations”; preservation, insight and growth “through literary modernizations,” the invasion of privacy caused by home security cameras, the meaninglessness of Myers Briggs personality test, and the Webb telescope detecting carbon dioxide on a planet outside the solar system. Just as important to note are articles on protecting yourself against email fraud, how social isolation can have a negative impact on the incarcerated (and those re-entering society), economic espionage laws in selected countries, the rise of Booktok, performing Whiteness (as noted by April Hathcock), a systematic method for “identifying references to academic research in grey literature,” and the working conditions (and state) of academic labor.
This brings me to the final part of this newsletter. Some drew fanart of Totally Spies!, made Love Live! memes, and noted yuri manga to be released this month. More than that were the illustrations in The Nib, which will be, sadly, ending in August. There were great illustrations about colorful history of Sunday funnies, red Earth used in the graves of one family for unknown reasons, treating gun violence as a public health issue in order to prevent it, the mysteries of the deep sea, unionization of strippers (of all people to unionize), the mothers of Mother’s Day, transgender discrimination and government transparency, and the continuing pattern of democratic regression.
Other illustrations focused on topics such as the faultiness of everything being “fully automated,” labor rights, people being scared of the world around them, argument that U.S. efforts to lead Sudan to democracy led to war, a message from your local police department, the Black radical you’ve never heard of, and the daring raid of Harriet Tubman, to name some of the many illustrations out there.
That’s it for this newsletter. Until next month, or maybe later this month. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
- Burkely