A bunch of us printshop members got together tonight and scrubbed our new space before the presses etc. gets moved in!
@ScholarsLab Director ✨💻🏳️🌈 just+joyful critical tech+culture *SJ/experimental/DH+library futures+community *DIY scholcom=letterpress+zines+blog+code *Bookadjacent data+making 3 !s in a hoodie; abolitionist Dr! (ex-TT) 🏳️⚧️They/Them AmandaVisconti.com
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A bunch of us printshop members got together tonight and scrubbed our new space before the presses etc. gets moved in!
Undertesting/underreporting impacts this, but you can still use www.cdc.gov/nwss/index.h... to get a sense of COVID levels in most states (e.g. Virginia is "high" right now).
You took a (long) break from wearing a mask, right? You got away with it. But, guess what? There's a *lot* more Covid around again. And, access to vax is up in the air. Just put a (good) mask on again when you're out and about and you'll be much more protected as well as protecting others. ✨✨✨
Have fun! Something related to your dog (& his very stylish beard)? Record of small austerities/harms vs. pushback at your uni/fac senate work? Daily/as you have time, finding some small joy or hope w/some kind of colorcoding for how it made you feel?
This is an artifact that should go into the Smithsonian.
A few neat new things by @scholarslab.bsky.social's makerspace users I noticed while in this morning:
Apologies, I missed this until I came back to find the photos to share w/someone. I'm not sure—I'll ask if anyone remembers!
Lots of little Zine Bakery improvements today: links to subsets of zines by 2SLGBTQIA+, non-U.S., Palestinian authors; got info on some free zine reading options (shoutout to Cville's Beautiful Idea!) into one place; & some sorely needed additional emojis, rainbow gradients, & neon web design work
It was amazing ti visit the @scholarslab.bsky.social and get to know @literaturegeek.bsky.social, @walshbr.bsky.social and Dr Laura Miller! I will post soon the digital map of the piece so you can explore it and keep you updated about the dates for the free public talk! Super excited about it
In some states, as a trans man who passes for male, I'm legally banned from using a men's restroom but practically banned from using a women's. My choice is between breaking the law and being arrested for breaking it. Few Democrats are talking about how much trans people have lost, and how quickly.
Found @dwilliford.bsky.social's excellent resource “Queer Bibliography: An emerging critical field“ while finishing the zine. Some of the items he lists were already in the bib/zine, but I saw other items that are’t + his post also adds a useful state of the field read:
We're delighted to share we're now a member-run non-profit w/a new Cville location, + our new Insta (www.instagram.com/vabookarts/) & website (vabookarts.org)! Scroll to the bottom on the latter for listserv signup, to hear when we're ready to open & offer events, & ways you can help.
If you'd like me to make a zine for your area, send me a link for the rapid response network plus the hotline number.
Anyway, moral of the story is that you should all make zines and leave some at the laundromat.
2. I created this list and it's been viral. Some actions that are not protesting or voting. There's something for everyone on the list. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Offering 3 resources for people seeking ideas for what they might do in this moment: 1. We made a short workbook to help people narrow down or discover their areas of interest and focus. It's been downloaded thousands of times. Hope it's useful to you: millionexperiments.com/zines/making...
Places avail on general delivery sites eg Doordash might=way to see if open too? Enjoy & safe travels!
Some restaurants here=Mon as regular day off, but if not many are open given UVA is open. I'm sure Otto Eats & Roots are open, reliably good. If Pearl Island is open (reg hrs 12-6, nothing online re:holiday)=amazing, top choice. Milan's great if open.
FYI www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
I am growing pumpkins for the 1st time & enjoying seeing how they morph from this bulb (ovary) under the female flowers into a plasticy-smooth, but vaguely pumpkin-direction sphere
Thank you for this.
If you feel so inclined, I urge you to write to Hamilton’s board to speak out against their actions and call for change. Head to IG for IBé’s full story, and to show your support to her and all other Black printers speaking out against Hamilton. 9/🧵 #typophiles #printsky #letterpress
I broke my IG hiatus to speak out about the injustice Hamilton Wood Type Museum has done to IBé Crawley. I wanted to bring this over to bsky because this is now my primary platform, and the typography/print sky communities need to be made aware. 1/🧵 #typophiles #printsky #letterpress
Got to meet @sararribas.bsky.social in person+see her amazing data art! Coming soon: on display in @scholarslab.bsky.social w/tour app+free public artist's talk. The physical visualization=can see overlapping relationships much better than on a screen scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/work/string-...
I did my first after learning from @snblickhan.bsky.social & was impressed with how not badly my 1st try turned out? Being able to use a variety of thread colors really makes patches look lovely, little weavings instead of my previous haphazard stitches & knows.
Thank you for sharing your dad's story 💜
+If you're near Charlottesville, the @scholarslab.bsky.social makerspace has a speedweve (tiny mending loom for holes in clothes etc) anyone can use for free! scholarslab.org/makerspace
Darn. Just saw a new speedweve business selling it for $40?! If you're interested in making clothes mending more fun, durable, & cool looking, another option is @snblickhan.bsky.social & my free zine + a vintage (or new!) speedweve tiny mending loom goes for ~$10 zinebakery.com/homemade-zin...
When I get access to our printshop Vandercook again, I can print you some if you'd like! (Let me know if you have any particular favorite text/quotes; I've also got some ideas saved up you might like)
2. Every few months, I publish a national risk assessment for transgender youth and adults when it comes to legal threats. In this latest assessment, many states that were previously "safe" for transgender youth have lost that status, and one for adults has as well.
People always real ready to give up others' rights they don't truly think are deserved (or rights they're privileged enough to not feel the loss of & get social gain for Nobly Dropping). What is w/people telling anyone they don't deserve human rights rather than using that time fighting for them?
💜🏳️⚧️
holy hell no this is not what we do. we build the world that is just for ALL OF US and we do not sacrifice people on the altar of pretend safety
1. My newest Anti-Trans Legal Risk Map is here. Risk has increased sharply for youth in many states as clinics shutter under Trump and state AGs refuse to enforce civil rights laws. For adults, some increases in risk. Nationwide risk remains extreme. Subscribe to support my journalism.
aka "dpent this afternoon besting the Dark Side" (assuming you were using Vader) or "wielding lasers for teaching purposes"
Was thinking of your recent photos yesterday when I was hanging more posters in our space! (It does not have as many rainbows as my DH 2025 poster but it definitely has more rainbows than the average DH center...) I so dig the student art you're sharing.
Imagine making this your priority right now. Or ever, but especially now.
Local folks, for more info & alerts when we open to the public & start holding events and workshops: scroll to bottom of vabookarts.org to sign up for the listserv. Hoping to show you how fun letterpress printing posters w/a Vandercook press is!
I'm excited to get to pay forward some of my intense practice time into teaching others, something I'd started to do more of when the program closed. I'm obviously biased, but so many folks at our packed Festival of the Book public print demo loved it, hadn't known shop existed, planned to come back
Lots to still plan eg when space will 1st open, but good renewed energy toward public accessibility, teaching, community events. Sad to leave rooms in the amazing Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, but across street from main city bus terminal, near downtown mall=decent public access
My local book arts/printshop was defunded this spring, but months of member work paid off at the last possible moment—keeping equipment, large type collection, & a new small home in Cville; & became a nonprofit under Richmond's Studio Two Three's sponsorship. Info signup at bottom of vabookarts.org
I think they might have been these? www.amazon.com/POQCCT-KN95-... For non-Amazon options, I know Wellbefore has them listed as "marble" kn95s, & Posh KF94s have a variety of tiedye shades
20 years ago today, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and became one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in U.S. history. Common Ground Relief came together to help rebuild. In 𝘈 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, Common Ground cofounder Malik Rahim talks about this work and the importance of #mutualaid:
”If all you do is nothing, and you all believe that there’s no reason to doing anything, you have already lost. For most people didn’t do anything. It was those with conscience, that came together, as strangers... to show what humanity is supposed to be.” —Malik Rahim
Thank you! I'm so looking forward to it
Thank you! It'd looked so unlikely I'm still not fully absorbing it, but very excited
(As always, by all visitors means all, not just UVA-affiliated)
Some things re:masking we're not allowed to ask nor fund at UVA despite the clear accessibility increase, but if you're visiting our lab+would like a mask just let lab staff know. I've been personally purchasing masks for sharing w/any visitors (headloop mint n95s, earloop color or tiedye kn95s).
I appreciate this page linking to a variety of specific masks, prioritizing low cost per mask & w/sections for mask try-on sample packs, black masks, color masks, kids', reusable masks, sized masks, & tests: linktr.ee/buymasks Let's keep each other safe & public spaces/events accessible this fall!
This week I ate something I'd grown from seed for the 1st time; we welcomed new student colleagues to the lab; I got to see prints of a new zine I made disappear off our public distro rack; & it's starting to sink in that our local printshop should reopen, after months of that looking impossible.
We no longer have the kind of public health infrastructure that allows you to be blasé about your and others’ health (if we ever did). Will you reconsider masking now?
You're very welcome!
Our "Queer Book History" zine has some Bluesky, classes, conferences, and organization suggestions for getting involved in the field: zinebakery.com/bakeshop-zin...
I still maintain my friendly Bluesky guide (tinyurl.com/DHbluesky) if you want to learn more or help incoming folks be aware of helpful settings like this. 3-step or incredibly detailed versions! Suggested starter packs to follow. Aimed at academics, GLAM, DH folks but broadly useful.
Stunning work!
#DHmakes <3s labor history+futures & new giant tapestries!:
Virginia is one of the states on this list
Thank you!
(Typeset quote in second photo uses text of part of a @katestarbird.bsky.social tweet on the urgency of fighting now for our scholarship & our students)
Thanks @drbibliomane.bsky.social & @transbookhistory.bsky.social (QT'd thread) for helping us put the Queer Book History zine in the present urgent rights context—if we do history work to remember+resurrrect human voices, we must also work to protect+resource folks now zinebakery.com/bakeshop-zin...
Same! Linked to Zine Librarian Code of Ethics in our @sharpnews.bsky.social "Queer Book History" zine—w/ @fobettarh.bsky.social's foundational work on vocational awe+library workers too—as important to doing queer book history work well with or as library+archive workers, zine authors+collectors.
Kilmer Abrego Garcia is being held in a private correctional facility (read: oubliette with occasional plumbing) run by CoreCivic in Farmville. If the existence of private prisons didn’t nauseate you before, consider such black boxes under authoritarian rule. www.corecivic.com
Sickening to remember writing a January 19th minizine worried about the degree local folks didn't understand "yes, Charlottesville, ICE is here too impacting you+your neighbors, not just far away" (bc of how blatantly unignorable to all ICE operations here quickly became)
Maybe that's an unpopular opinion around here, but apolitical pushback about cons, hype, bubbles, and so on will merely produce squabbles over how good AI is, to the point of utter nonsense like that up there. But it won't organize any real pushback, because that has to be political, too. 5/n
No, I didn't know there was one then! Will need to go in the future. I am going to Charlottesville's which is either Oct or Nov, I think
9. Michigan’s AG has shown one path forward: warning institutions that capitulation itself may be unlawful. If more AGs follow that lead, they could tip the balance, compelling schools and hospitals to resist rather than retreat, and ensuring that trans lives are not treated as bargaining chips.
1. Michigan's AG Dana Nessel has issued a threat to University of Michigan Health's capitulation to Trump after it banned trans care for youth. She calls their decision likely in violation of state nondiscrimination law, considers action against the hosptial. Subscribe to support our journalism.
Congratulations! That's great news
Please do! And feel free to print copies to share too. Thanks, I appreciate your sharing it! zinebakery.com/bakeshop-zin...
Queer Book History zine intro & table of contents! See also the full @sharpnews.bsky.social @bibliowingate.bsky.social LGBTQIA+ Book History Bibliography the zine builds on for a better intro to what queer book history is & why it matters now: bsky.app/profile/bibl...
Print as many as you like (for yr class/library/leave piles wherever?). Highlights fave research+teaching resources; teaching examples by @nicolekeller.bsky.social uses homosaurus.org (@kjrawson.bsky.social et al)+ www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net (@transgenderarchive.bsky.social);+@ryancordell.org
#ICYMI free "Queer Book History" zine is out! Built on the great new LGBTQIA+ Book History Bibliography (led by @bibliowingate.bsky.social), by me + Alex, @nicolekeller.bsky.social @caitcoker.bsky.social +rest of the LGBTQIA+ #BookHist Bib team. A free, printable 32-page research+teaching resource:+
Huge pockets are so amazing. These look great!
Since this all started, I’ve seen people, just regular people, be so, so brave: showing up on street corners to face down men with guns in order to protect their neighbors. I will never ever forgive the powerful people who have watched all this happen and told us we’re saying the wrong words.
Love this & everything yall are doing with your space!
Another #DigitalHumanities Center dream realized: our 1st interactive sound installation. It's a maze of book-like sculptures that come to life w a collaged chorus of voices thinking aloud about the experience of reading and interacting with artists’ books. 🤩 #DHmakes
i did literally nothing to bring this together except lend them an essay that i already wrote, but i'm totally geeking out about this zine. just go look at the collection of art in the first couple of pages, i'm so enthralled right now, i love it. i desperately want to buy a physical copy.
dear everyone MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T how many times must we cover this yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter GO AFTER THAT
The full year's Zines Now! events (all free+public), & displays+mobile carts, can be found at guides.lib.virginia.edu/blogs/artsli...
Support the awesome UVA @scholarslab.bsky.social ! I am so grateful for all the help they gave me with research and course planning back when 3D printing was brand new, and it's still helping me today. There's so much cool stuff available there! Check it out!
In addition to our @josefbeery.bsky.social & Jess Walters workshops this fall, don't miss @margaretgalvan.bsky.social's 9/18 keynote lecture at UVA's Campbell 160: "There Truly Was a Queer Zine Explosion: How Cartoonists Made Zines & Built Community in the 1990s" art.as.virginia.edu/there-truly-...
Part of @uvalibrary.bsky.social's "Zines Now!" year: 2 free+public workshops this fall: come letterpress print colorful zine covers w/@josefbeery.bsky.social cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/14968895 & learn w/Jess Walters how to make zines for advocacy/change cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15124934
Coffee+Code continues biweekly—fresh housemade coffee, armchairs, friendly practice-focused talks sharing how someone's using code or tech tools to approach some specific question. Speakers include SLab+Library folks, & special guests @heatherfro.bsky.social & @mebrett.bsky.social:
Our popular GIS+mapping workshop series is back for fall! Come for any or all of these 1hr sessions: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/blog/gis-wor... These are in-person-only due to software; laptops provided; open to all including local non-UVA folks.
So glad it arrived safely! (Am still figuring out how to pack prints well.) Thanks @halperta.bsky.social for good words that stay with me.
Some encouragement in my office by @halperta.bsky.social printed by @literaturegeek.bsky.social, much needed and felt today
I'm really proud of the work of @bibliowingate.bsky.social and the Queer Book History and Bibliography (of which I was a member). This is an invaluable resource. And @literaturegeek.bsky.social's zine is amazing. Everyone should print copies and leave them around their local libraries!
I guess I’d be more upset about this if more people I knew were actually keeping up to date with their vaccines or taking covid seriously. Regardless, this would be really bad. The admin is calling it a rumor now but it looks like they’re floating a trial balloon with a press leak.
I'm saving for a real home press (miss Vandercooky printing so much). If you seek fall event zoom speakers, I'm available: DH! +: zines as urgent right now? build+improve ctrs/programs/research community? critical humanities makerspacing? Bonus=goes toward filling yr feed w/joyful print pics again 😎
"Interesting digital humanities data sources": I blogged about 18 datasets for DHy teaching, research, & tool-learning I've bookmarked, & why they might be useful—plus some relevant tools, events, & resources re:data at risk:
I documented my opinionated Slack setup to help new students and collaborators in the Scholars' Lab get situated this term. TL; DR - no sounds, no bouncing, only DMs. Make the thing work for you in the way that you want it to function. walshbr.com/blog/my-opin...
The July/August issue of #ReviewsInDH is now live! Jennifer Guiliano & I are happy to share "Latinx Oral Histories," edited by the brilliant Elena Foulis and Jennifer Lozano. Great projects, big and small, illuminating the collective impact of #DigitalHumanities reviewsindh.pubpub.org/v6-n7-8
Digital humanities folks: the #DataSittersClub really wants to hear your feelings about AI for our next book. We've got a short, easy survey with a box at the end where you can vent as much as you want. Please share around to DH-adjacent librarians, students, developers, all welcome!
Earlier this month I asked folks to let us know about the book labs at their institutions—You can still contribute info about yours here: forms.gle/HMZ8be5nmVnq... As folks are contributing, this page will allow you get info about booklabs around the world: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... #dhmakes
Love this!
Zine Alert: @literaturegeek.bsky.social has curated and designed such a beautiful, important resource to supplement @sharpnews.bsky.social's LGBTQIA+ Book History Bibliography!
Thank you to them & to you for the excellent teaching write up!
("Types" is probably an obvious pun on letterpress type, but "sorts" is also: it's a word for the little pieces of moveable type, e.g. 1 letter is on 1 sort)
(Also using "Letterpress for All!" so, uh, people know what the series is about.) Journal deadline means I should actually have these ready to share this fall? The other 2 zines I'm doing for the issue are on finding or buying your 1st type & a press (prioritizing community sharing, low cost)