Dear friends, family, and fellow travelers,
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope the first six weeks of 2019 has treated you passably well. I realized back in January that -- political horrors aside (to the extent they can ever be "aside") -- our life contains a lot of continuity right now and that this stability actually feels good. Routine feels good. This year, I will celebrate my twelfth year in Boston, my twelfth year at the MHS, my tenth year with Hanna, my eighth year out of graduate school, eighth year of writing fanfiction, my sixth year of marriage, fourth year running the Twelvetide Drabbles challenge, third year spending Memorial Day weekend with friends in Minnesota, third year at Arlington St. Church, and my second year of coordinating Persistent Stitches. All of these touchstones in my life feel in basic alignment with my values and well-being, and I am grateful for that in these troubled times.
Image: Diary entries for February 13th through February 16th, 1919 from George Hyland's dairy. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Last Thursday afternoon, at home convalescing from a particularly bad migraine -- the one in twenty-five that throws my inner ear off and leaves me motion sick sitting at a desk which is entirely unfair -- I set myself the soothing task of transcribing the February 1919 diary entries of a middle-aged Massachusetts laborer named George Hyland. Hyland's diary -- held at the Massachusetts Historical Society -- records Hyland's work, errands, social visits, and the weather. Hyland uses a significant portion of his diary each day recording temperature, wind, cloud cover, percipitation, and other meterological observations. Since 2014, I have selected one diary per year from the MHS collections, written exactly a century previous, to serialize. Hyland's is the first working class diary I have tackled, and it's been particularly notable how he documents his work (and payments for that work). I have also learned -- thanks to his mention of the practice -- what it means to "box" a compass!
Image: Bright pink pinback button reading "4th Annual Christopher Street Gay Pride Day / Stonewall Inn '73". Collection of The History Project.
In January, I was given my own key to The History Project queer community archive here in Boston. I wasn't expecting that to feel any particular way, since part of working (even volunteering) somewhere usually entails responsibilities like opening or locking up spaces. But I felt a bit weepy nonetheless. I had just finished my queer history column for Library Journal (forthcoming in April) and that bibliographic project reminded me how important it can be to make connections with others -- past as well as present -- who know intimately what it is to move through the world with a body and desires that don't line up with heteronormative expectations. "A trip to the library in search of [ourselves]," I wrote in my introduction to the bibliography, "is a recurring rite of passage in stories queer people tell about [our] lives." Even if you never talk directly about being queer in a room full of others who share that identity, there's something profoundly meaningful about knowing that they, too carry that particular kind of knowledge in their bones.
Image: A line drawing of a woman juggling a baby, frying pan, and suffrage newspaper.
Several years ago, now, a former MHS research fellow and historian of women's suffrage activism -- Dr. Allison Lange -- came to the Society with a proposal to curate a suffrage exhibition for the MHS in honor of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. Massachusetts ratified the 19th amendment in June 1919 and so this April our exhibition -- titled Can She Do It? Massachusetts Debates a Woman's Right to Vote -- opens to the public! It's been a pleasure to be part of this journey from early conception to final design ... and a couple of my photos from the 2017 Women's March in Boston may even find their way into the epilogue case.
Image: Teazle and Christopher asleep on the finished quilt on our bed, tails over their noses.
As I promised (threatened?) in January, I've continued the drabble-a-day routine beyond our Twelvetide Drabbles challenge and written over thirty 100-word chapters thus far in a serialized continuation of my femslash Venom fic "Scollay Under." My goal is to continue "Held in the Dark" through to the next Twelvetide Drabble challenge ... we'll see if the prompts generator I picked can keep me going with fresh writing prompts for that many days!
I've also headed into another year of reading nonfiction (mostly for review) and romance (entirely for pleasure). In nonfiction, I've read the excellent Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings, the worthwhile (though dense and hefty!) Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy by Luke Bretherton, and the two-volume Gale/Cengage Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History which is a much-needed intervention in a very Western-centric field. In romance, I've devoured the paranormal PsyCop series (which gets bonus points for being set in the Midwest!), re-read the Hexworld series (which gets bonus points for historically-appropriate and cheerfully used sex toys!), and thoroughly enjoyed the first two Port Lewis Witches stories (which get bonus points for a trans main character whose trans-ness is not a source of narrative drama). And have I recommended A Lady's Desire by Lily Maxton yet? An utterly delightful f/f historical.
Image: A winter garden of bright red sticks in the snow outside Gordon Chapel, New Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston. Photograph taken on Valentine's Day 2019.
And finally, in case you missed it, you have two weeks left to donate $30 through Persistent Stitches for any current listing and claim an additional custom-made Open Hands embroidery by me at no additional cost! Help us work toward our goal of $500 raised by the end of February ($192 left to go!) and $6,000 by the end of this year.
In persistence,
Anna
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope the first six weeks of 2019 has treated you passably well. I realized back in January that -- political horrors aside (to the extent they can ever be "aside") -- our life contains a lot of continuity right now and that this stability actually feels good. Routine feels good. This year, I will celebrate my twelfth year in Boston, my twelfth year at the MHS, my tenth year with Hanna, my eighth year out of graduate school, eighth year of writing fanfiction, my sixth year of marriage, fourth year running the Twelvetide Drabbles challenge, third year spending Memorial Day weekend with friends in Minnesota, third year at Arlington St. Church, and my second year of coordinating Persistent Stitches. All of these touchstones in my life feel in basic alignment with my values and well-being, and I am grateful for that in these troubled times.
Image: Diary entries for February 13th through February 16th, 1919 from George Hyland's dairy. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.Last Thursday afternoon, at home convalescing from a particularly bad migraine -- the one in twenty-five that throws my inner ear off and leaves me motion sick sitting at a desk which is entirely unfair -- I set myself the soothing task of transcribing the February 1919 diary entries of a middle-aged Massachusetts laborer named George Hyland. Hyland's diary -- held at the Massachusetts Historical Society -- records Hyland's work, errands, social visits, and the weather. Hyland uses a significant portion of his diary each day recording temperature, wind, cloud cover, percipitation, and other meterological observations. Since 2014, I have selected one diary per year from the MHS collections, written exactly a century previous, to serialize. Hyland's is the first working class diary I have tackled, and it's been particularly notable how he documents his work (and payments for that work). I have also learned -- thanks to his mention of the practice -- what it means to "box" a compass!
Image: Bright pink pinback button reading "4th Annual Christopher Street Gay Pride Day / Stonewall Inn '73". Collection of The History Project.In January, I was given my own key to The History Project queer community archive here in Boston. I wasn't expecting that to feel any particular way, since part of working (even volunteering) somewhere usually entails responsibilities like opening or locking up spaces. But I felt a bit weepy nonetheless. I had just finished my queer history column for Library Journal (forthcoming in April) and that bibliographic project reminded me how important it can be to make connections with others -- past as well as present -- who know intimately what it is to move through the world with a body and desires that don't line up with heteronormative expectations. "A trip to the library in search of [ourselves]," I wrote in my introduction to the bibliography, "is a recurring rite of passage in stories queer people tell about [our] lives." Even if you never talk directly about being queer in a room full of others who share that identity, there's something profoundly meaningful about knowing that they, too carry that particular kind of knowledge in their bones.
Image: A line drawing of a woman juggling a baby, frying pan, and suffrage newspaper.Several years ago, now, a former MHS research fellow and historian of women's suffrage activism -- Dr. Allison Lange -- came to the Society with a proposal to curate a suffrage exhibition for the MHS in honor of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. Massachusetts ratified the 19th amendment in June 1919 and so this April our exhibition -- titled Can She Do It? Massachusetts Debates a Woman's Right to Vote -- opens to the public! It's been a pleasure to be part of this journey from early conception to final design ... and a couple of my photos from the 2017 Women's March in Boston may even find their way into the epilogue case.
Image: A brown, orchre, and green patchwork quilt on the longarm quilting machine ready to stitch.
Image: Teazle and Christopher asleep on the finished quilt on our bed, tails over their noses.As I promised (threatened?) in January, I've continued the drabble-a-day routine beyond our Twelvetide Drabbles challenge and written over thirty 100-word chapters thus far in a serialized continuation of my femslash Venom fic "Scollay Under." My goal is to continue "Held in the Dark" through to the next Twelvetide Drabble challenge ... we'll see if the prompts generator I picked can keep me going with fresh writing prompts for that many days!
I've also headed into another year of reading nonfiction (mostly for review) and romance (entirely for pleasure). In nonfiction, I've read the excellent Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings, the worthwhile (though dense and hefty!) Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy by Luke Bretherton, and the two-volume Gale/Cengage Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History which is a much-needed intervention in a very Western-centric field. In romance, I've devoured the paranormal PsyCop series (which gets bonus points for being set in the Midwest!), re-read the Hexworld series (which gets bonus points for historically-appropriate and cheerfully used sex toys!), and thoroughly enjoyed the first two Port Lewis Witches stories (which get bonus points for a trans main character whose trans-ness is not a source of narrative drama). And have I recommended A Lady's Desire by Lily Maxton yet? An utterly delightful f/f historical.
Image: A winter garden of bright red sticks in the snow outside Gordon Chapel, New Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston. Photograph taken on Valentine's Day 2019.And finally, in case you missed it, you have two weeks left to donate $30 through Persistent Stitches for any current listing and claim an additional custom-made Open Hands embroidery by me at no additional cost! Help us work toward our goal of $500 raised by the end of February ($192 left to go!) and $6,000 by the end of this year.
In persistence,
Anna