Queer – Page 2 – Archivist's Alley:

S4.3: Stephany Kim: Filmmakers of Color, Daily Activism and Pushing Boundaries to Work For a Better Future

I could fill this page and 50 more with words of praise for Stephany Kim.

I miss our lunches at Musso & Frank’s. I miss our laughs and inside baseball talks about archiving, Hollywood and Korean culture.
I never thought she would come on the podcast but finally it happened and more importantly, she came on to discuss the current situation in the US with the protests and #BlackLivesMatter and systemic oppression.
This episode is a little longer than normal (please forgive us) but I think you’ll agree that we had a lot of ground to cover.

I also want to point out that since the time of our recording, three more Black men have been lynched. 5 Black men hung from trees in just a little over a week. The police want to call them suicides.
No Black person looks at a tree and thinks: yeah, that’s how I’m gonna off myself. Just like how all the white folks used to kill my ancestors way back when.
NOT A SINGLE BLACK PERSON IN EVER.
While people protest for BLM, there are calculated publicly visible murders being carried out. Yeah.

And less and less white people are paying attention to the people who are protesting because they have the added distraction of having the US opening up again for business which (inevitably) will only lead to a lot more COVID cases.

That said…Stephany and I had an amazing conversation about what education had missed in the way of POC in film, our varied local experiences of the recent BLM protests, Karen Eruptions and what the archives world is(n’t) doing.
Check it out!
And don’t miss the bio below as well as the mad amounts of links!

Stephany Kim is a Coordinator, Restoration and Preservation at The Walt Disney Studios. She received a BA in Film Studies from Smith College and a MA in English (Media Preservation) from the University of Rochester. Her film-related interests are in the history of silent film intertitles and modern day approaches to intertitle recreation, preservation of home movies and family histories of people of color in the United States, and the celebrity image and its relation to parasocial interactions during the silent film era.

Her free time is usually dedicated to Polaroid portraitures, staring at pie designs (one of her favorite Instagram accounts is @crumbcrush), and daydreaming about fluffy animals and carne asada tacos. She is overly invested in THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF even though she doesn’t bake.
Stephany was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and is unapologetic for her Valley Girl accent and usage of Valspeak.

View this post on Instagram

We need to 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩 oil and gas for clean energy. We need to 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩 infinite consumption for local community solutions focused on sharing, reusing and repairing. We need to 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩 hyper individualism for communities of care. We need to 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩 the destruction of nature to living in harmony with natural systems. We need to 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩 big money in politics for a government run by the people, for the people. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 – this window of opportunity may be the last one we get to leap from the unsustainable path we were on – towards total ecological collapse brought on by the #ClimateCrisis – to a new one. Pollution, #ClimateChange and the destruction of our remaining natural zones has brought the world to a breaking point. Going back to normal is unthinkable. . ✊It's now or never. #WeAreTheChange . . 🎨via @danijelakrhapurssey, ✍️@sonyareneetaylor #greenoeace #actonclimate #climateemergency #neweconomy #wasteless #buyless #zerowaste #zerowastelifestyle #zerowastecollective #sustainability

A post shared by Greenpeace International 🌍 (@greenpeace) on May 16, 2020 at 2:00am PDT

Links and references from the ‘cast

The racist history of tipping: https://afropunk.com/2018/04/the-racist-history-of-tipping/

Black crime fiction writers

Chester Himes: https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2017/fall/chester-himes-lonely-crusader-african-american-fiction-writer/

Walter Mosley: http://www.waltermosley.com/

Iceberg Slim: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/books/review-street-poison-the-biography-of-iceberg-slim-studies-the-life-of-a-pimp.html

Barbara Neely: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814603243/remembering-barbara-neely-a-pioneer-in-crime-fiction

Here’s a full list of Black-owned bookstores to support right now:

HTTPS://WWW.TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM/LEISURE/ARTS-AND-CULTURE/G32782756/BLACK-OWNED-BOOKSTORES/

Some ways you can show up for Black Trans Folks: http://www.tgijp.org/from-words-to-action-showing-up-for-black-trans-women.html

A collection of Black-led Queer and Trans orgs to support: https://www.bustle.com/p/32-black-led-queer-trans-organizations-to-support-22959025

And finally…for those wondering about James Wong Howe…
there actually are a few books about him! Check ’em out here:

James Wong Howe, Cinematographer
by Todd Rainsberger

James Wong Howe The Camera Eye: A Career Interview
by Alain Silver

S4.2: Sydney Perkins: Of Kaiju, “Right People” and How Little COVID-19 Has Changed Life as an Archivist

******** UPDATE TO BLOG *********
Since this was recorded, my guest made some wonderful positive discoveries about herself and moved forward on them. Unfortunately, that made some of the information in this recording no longer valid and rather painful.
A statement from my guest:

“I do not go by the name used in this episode or later ones anymore, and even at the time I was privately aware of the distress that name was causing me. It is completely unacceptable to ever refer to me by that name or record it in any context anymore. Also my pronouns are she/they now.”

I have thusly changed all blog information (including photo) to match her truth, and you will only find the aforementioned references within the recordings. We both felt (as archivists) that it would be a shame to completely delete the podcast but it is my responsibility to support and platform my guests and not do them harm.

I believe that changing information based on these critical life issues need to be attended to, now and always. I hope others do the same.

*******************

I’m thrilled to pieces to welcome my beloved friend and colleague Sydney Perkins to Archivist’s Alley. More importantly, she is my first REAL GUEST from my new home base here in Paju, South Korea!
I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I liked having it.
She is a really special person to me in all kinds of ways and beyond talented. She is funny, charming and delightful. I wish you could all meet her in person. When I say on the podcast that I respect her and wish that I was as talented as she is, I am not even lying. She’s impressive. We should all be so lucky to be as engaged, passionate and gifted in our chosen line of work as my darling pal Sydney is.
As usual, profile and bio below, plus a few frames of the super cool font presentation we talk about on the ‘cast!!!

QUICK NOTE:
As I’ve been here and as things have been getting weirder and more worrisome all over the world, I decided that, as an archivist, archival activist and advocate for change (especially in terms of platforming invisible voices via my podcast) I wanted to cover how COVID-19 is hitting (or not hitting) the people in our community. So if you are reading this and you are a media specialist, historian, information professional of any kind and identify as POC, LGBTQI, differently abled, woman-identifying, or any other marginalized group that my privileged white ass may have not covered (and for which I deeply apologize), please hit me up here archivistsalley@gmail.com

Sydney Perkins is an enthusiastic film arqueervist who loves handling and researching film and thinking of creative approaches to restoration. Currently she is unemployed and probably working on a shitpost for Archivist Memes.

One of the brilliant intertitles that Sydney created

Another *one of the brilliant intertitles that Sydney created*

Dr. T.J. Tallie: Queered Power Structures, Polygamist Archive Studies and How to Survive the Non-Stop Fiesta of Sadness

If I could shout it from every karaoke bar and academic institution that has ever existed, I would take up ALL THE SPACE yelling and singing about how much my dear friend (and glorious glamour queen) Dr. T.J. Tallie rules.
He has taught me so many things about how to be a better person, historian, activist and friend.

THE GREATEST THING IS THAT AS OF THIS LAST WEEK, THE BOOK THAT WE TALK ABOUT ON THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE FOR SALE AND YOU SHOULD ALL BUY ONE!!!!!!!!

The link is right here and it is available on Barnes & Noble and all kinds of online book sellers as well as the one I linked to.
This is what it looks like:

However, my convo with T.J. will be the second to last podcast that I do from the US. I will do one more and then….well, you’ll hear in the next podcast!!

Just check out this truly amazing and fun conversation with one of the greatest young professional minds/academics/historians and Missy Elliot Karaoke Singers of our time. ALSO- NO ONE LOOKS BETTER IN A CAPE OR VICTORIAN COLLAR THAN DR. TALLIE. This is just fact. Trust me on it.

As usual, bio and links under the podcast…

BIO:

T.J. Tallie is an Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History at the University of San Diego. His work focuses on questions of gender, race, colonialism, indigeneity, Africa, and sexuality. He is the author of Queering Colonial Natal: Indigeneity and the Violence of Belonging in Southern Africa. He is from Los Angeles originally and is a sassy unicorn of knowledge and justice.

Links:

https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article/3/4/437/9940/Punks-Bulldaggers-and-Welfare-Queens-The-Radical

Chris Bourg: Open Scholarship, Advocacy from the Inside & Code Switching

I’m incredibly excited to welcome Dr. Chris Bourg to Archivist’s Alley. I have been wanting to have her on my show since I started the show and to be honest, as I was editing the show, I realized that I was kinda having her as on which rarely happens! But it makes sense. I really admire her and her work so much so I do apologize if I am a little nonsensical or rambly in this episode but bear with me- I was just very excited about having Chris on.

The usual things apply- bio and links below the podcast and you should definitely follow her social media account and check out her website and writings. Highly recommend. So…enjoy!

Twitter @mchris4duke
Blog: Feral Librarian

Bio:
Chris Bourg is the Director of Libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she also has oversight of the MIT Press. She is also the founding director of the Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship (CREOS). Prior to assuming her role at MIT, Chris worked for 12 years in the Stanford University Libraries, most recently as the Associate University Librarian for Public Services. Before Stanford, she spent 10 years as an active duty U.S. Army officer, including three years on the faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Chris has extensive experience promoting open scholarship. She is currently co-chair of the MIT Ad Hoc Task Force on Open Access to MIT’s Research, and is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Roundtable on Aligning Incentive for Open Science. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of SocArXiv, an open access platform for social science research; a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers Committee to Visit the University Library, and chair of the Management Board of the MIT Press. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), and is past chair of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion of the Association of Research Libraries. In 2016, Chris co-chaired the MIT Ad Hoc Task Force on the Future of Libraries, which produced a bold vision for research libraries in a computational age.

Chris has written and spoken extensively on equitable and open scholarship, the future of research libraries, diversity and inclusion in higher education, and the role libraries play in advancing social justice and democracy. She received her BA from Duke University, her MA from the University of Maryland, and her MA and PhD in sociology from Stanford.

Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez: the Minority Majority, Community Involvement & Our Plea to Stop Being a Jerk!

I am so glad that I am able to come back to the Podcast-waves with this episode.

Some things are a *little* out of date since we recorded this episode waaaaaaaaay back in April but most everything is still incredibly relevant and very very real.

I am so thrilled to have been able to have Elvia on this show. What she is doing in Irvine is so important and her drive to make sure that the future is a better place is so clear. I am incredibly impressed by this University archive and they are quite lucky to have Elvia. She is an incredible person who respects and values the voices that ask to be heard.

This is the rarest thing. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed having this conversation. ELVIA IS AWESOME!!!!!

As usual, bio is below the podcast link!

Elvia is the Assistant University Archivist at UC Irvine where she is responsible for providing physical and intellectual access to University Archives and Faculty Papers. She was previously the Processing Archivist for Latin American Collections at Princeton University. She earned her Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS) at the University of Pittsburgh, and holds a Bachelor’s of Art in art history from UCLA.