Thanks for coming back to Episode 2 of Archivist’s Alley!
Got great responses to our first episode with Siobhan over at MARMIA. That was such a fun time. I have to say- I have the best unpaid job on this podcast- spending a little time with, hands down, the most exquisite human beings working in this field. I am so glad I am getting to introduce them to all of you listening. I am continuing to record episodes as I go and prepare more and more. SO MANY EXCITING GUESTS COMING UP!!
This week is Valentine’s Day so our guest is a friend and colleague whose work and ideas I feel INCREDIBLY PASSIONATE about and I hope that you do too. I get a little excited in here. I use some adulty language of the 4-letter variety, so be aware. But I’m about to use some of that now too so, to hell with it. We’re all grown ups.
Mr. Jarrett Drake is one badass mofo.
But he’s also one of the most incredibly qualified and mindblowingly REAL motherfuckers I know.
I don’t know anyone like him. Sometimes I wish I did because we could really use more Jarretts in the world but other times…His words and power are so great that he’s like the Highlander: there can be only one.
I suggest that you follow him on twitter: @jmddrake. His threads on labor, archives, the experiences of POC in archival and academic environs are GOLDEN. He also deconstructs football politics in a way that even people who aren’t football-ish (like me) can find illuminating.
His Medium page, medium.com/@jmddrake, is SO. DAMN. GOOD.
For our podcast discussion, I recommend you read these pieces, as we mention them:
https://medium.com/on-archivy/im-leaving-the-archival-profession-it-s-better-this-way-ed631c6d72fe
https://medium.com/on-archivy/archivists-without-archives-a-labor-day-reflection-e120038848e
Jarrett’s own bio is as follows:
Jarrett M. Drake is a PhD student in Social Anthropology at Harvard University and an advisory archivist for A People’s Archives of Police Violence in Cleveland. His lines of inquiry converge on issues of justice, state violence, accountability, and memory work. Prior to Harvard, Jarrett spent four years as the Digital Archivist at Princeton University. While there, he volunteered as an instructor in the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) Consortium through the Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative, teaching preparatory and introductory college composition. Jarrett is a graduate of Benjamin Banneker Achievement Center in Gary, Indiana
I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I loved doing it.