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We Opened the Microfilm Magazine Box!
(EDIT: aw, the whole thing's been digitized already on luminist.org: https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm (up til May 1960, as Astounding Science Fiction) and https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AN.htm (when it became Analog). Oh well, it was fun while it lasted! And I'm probably going to spend a lot of quality time with luminist.org, holy bananas!)
An old veteran and us and opened the mysterious dusty box! Inside was 28 consecutive reels of Astounding Science Fiction, v. 12 (Oct. '33) - v. 67 (Aug. '61). All looked untouched. Exciting! We are now trying to find out if we have these issues on paper buried somewhere in the Depths. If not, can it be digitized?
The film looked to be roughly 1.5 inches in diameter, so even if the big Boston public library refuses to let us use its reader, if necessary, I could possibly just unspool it on my lightbox and use a high-res camera to take pictures, then crop and PDFize. But what’s the odds that’ll be necessary?
I've really enjoyed making these silly library blog posts. We have been volunteering there for over a year now and it’s been really stabilizing. It’s strange to regularly spend time in an environment where I am doing useful community service but never get put on antifa watch lists, threatened with violence, accused of horrible things, or treated like a parasite. It’s made me realize how much of my job (my LIFE) is just managing other people’s intense emotional reactions, which rarely have anything to do with me personally, and how apparently this isn’t normal for most people. I guess I just kinda assume everyone has these problems, because most of my friends are trans/disabled.
At one time, a veteran librarian said she worried my work wasn’t appreciated enough, and when I reassured her no, no, I felt totally appreciated, people say thank you, she squinted at me and said, “do... people not thank you...?”
And this perplexed me, because of course people usually don’t thank me. Why should they? And then I realized it’s because I’ve spent way too much time in circles where everything must be not just political (“the personal is political so every bite you eat, every fantasy you have, should be treated with the same life-or-death weight of a highly contested election!”) but a matter of political life or death, 24/7, and no slowing down or mistakes can afford to be tolerated, ever. We can all dance AFTER the revolution, and the revolution is never over. (Obviously Trump II has galvanized this mindframe, but I was experiencing it during the Obama and Biden years too. It never seems to get better, only worse. One of those Eternal Noble Struggle things.) So of course people usually don’t thank me, because what is there to be thankful for in fascist hell?
For such ostensibly liberatory philosophies, it sure is joyless and puritan. To the point that cataloging sci-fi audiobooks in exchange for snacks, thank yous, and a quiet environment feels like a vacation. And it's just made me realize, with some horror: the movements ostensibly supposed to LIBERATE me have just taught me that I must be treated like shit, constantly... by them, and FOR THE GOOD OF US ALL. How fucked is that?
An old veteran and us and opened the mysterious dusty box! Inside was 28 consecutive reels of Astounding Science Fiction, v. 12 (Oct. '33) - v. 67 (Aug. '61). All looked untouched. Exciting! We are now trying to find out if we have these issues on paper buried somewhere in the Depths. If not, can it be digitized?
The film looked to be roughly 1.5 inches in diameter, so even if the big Boston public library refuses to let us use its reader, if necessary, I could possibly just unspool it on my lightbox and use a high-res camera to take pictures, then crop and PDFize. But what’s the odds that’ll be necessary?
I've really enjoyed making these silly library blog posts. We have been volunteering there for over a year now and it’s been really stabilizing. It’s strange to regularly spend time in an environment where I am doing useful community service but never get put on antifa watch lists, threatened with violence, accused of horrible things, or treated like a parasite. It’s made me realize how much of my job (my LIFE) is just managing other people’s intense emotional reactions, which rarely have anything to do with me personally, and how apparently this isn’t normal for most people. I guess I just kinda assume everyone has these problems, because most of my friends are trans/disabled.
At one time, a veteran librarian said she worried my work wasn’t appreciated enough, and when I reassured her no, no, I felt totally appreciated, people say thank you, she squinted at me and said, “do... people not thank you...?”
And this perplexed me, because of course people usually don’t thank me. Why should they? And then I realized it’s because I’ve spent way too much time in circles where everything must be not just political (“the personal is political so every bite you eat, every fantasy you have, should be treated with the same life-or-death weight of a highly contested election!”) but a matter of political life or death, 24/7, and no slowing down or mistakes can afford to be tolerated, ever. We can all dance AFTER the revolution, and the revolution is never over. (Obviously Trump II has galvanized this mindframe, but I was experiencing it during the Obama and Biden years too. It never seems to get better, only worse. One of those Eternal Noble Struggle things.) So of course people usually don’t thank me, because what is there to be thankful for in fascist hell?
For such ostensibly liberatory philosophies, it sure is joyless and puritan. To the point that cataloging sci-fi audiobooks in exchange for snacks, thank yous, and a quiet environment feels like a vacation. And it's just made me realize, with some horror: the movements ostensibly supposed to LIBERATE me have just taught me that I must be treated like shit, constantly... by them, and FOR THE GOOD OF US ALL. How fucked is that?
no subject
Man, our family didn’t even come from Rapture Christianity! None of us (well, except maybe Biff, but only because his old lady tried on every church who let her in the door)! No thank you!