like extensions of the human hand, heart

As many of you know, I spent the hottest month of the summer in White River Junction, Vermont. I was working in the Center for Cartoon Studies Schulz Library, housed in the same building as the Main Street Museum. I spent my days in the library and many of my nights in the warm, boozy embrace of inhabitants of the apartment above.

This building was central to my time there. It was mangled by Irene. Here are some pictures. Give them some money.

While you consider just how large of a donation you are going to give, here are some photos of A Museum of Early American Tools by Eric Sloane, a library discard from a WRJ school that I found at Left Bank Books in Hanover.

Q & A

Here I am, being interviewed by the great Jen Vaughn about librarianism, reading and writing about comics. I'd like to make clear that the several zine projects that I mentioned were definitely started, but never actually saw the light of day. This is probably a good thing. Drop your comments over there.

Unsurprisingly, doing this interview made me think about interviewing. I really enjoy a good print interview and would like to do more of them for try harder. Anyone you want to see here. Drop your suggestions here.

your indie cred

Making comics? Putting out zines? Good for you—everyone is waiting to see what you come up with. But as much as some of us might wish it was still the 1990s, I'm here to tell you that that kind of lovely, sloppy creation just doesn't cut it in these access-point-rich times!

Friday was my last day at the Schulz Library at the Center for Cartoon Studies. While there I worked on cataloging and arranging student work, as well as making a detailed collection list and finding aid for the library's 2000+ zine and non-student minicomic collection. There were a ton of surprises in the piles of stapled screeds, including a Jason Lutes mini, a Basil Wolverton greeting card, some early work from Eleanor Davis, a few issues of Al Hoff's Thriftscore and an issue of Waffle filled with post-punk hate that I remember picking up at the Borders on Walnut Street with my friend D.

Accessing a collection like CCS's is a great way to chart the progression of an artist's work. Seeing that progression can be very important for researchers and students. Librarians and archivists want to give people your stuff, so why not make it easy for us?

What I'm saying is:
& Pick the form of the name you want to use early and stick with it

& Put your name prominently on your work

& It's really wonderful that you've got an email address or a twitter handle, but this does not substitute for a last name

& Resist the apparently intoxicating urge to make your table of contents/masthead look like a wordsearch or drawing of a spider's nest. If you've got contributors/partners-in-crime, respect them with some clear characters.

& Date, issue number, and title are also important for placing work in a larger context. Consider yourself part of this context and put these details where we can find them.


Do these simple things and keep your work out of the dreaded "Unknown" bin. Don't worry, your indie cred won't suffer!

Some pictures of the zine and minicomics sorting done by librarian Caitlin McGurk, KM and me:

Dispatch from the Hotel Coolidge: 8

Ghoststeen was seen but never heard.

This final dispatch comes after I've already come back to New York, but I think it encapsulates the past month very well.

Dispatch from the Hotel Coolidge: 7

Inside, ok?

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Across the hall, the neighbors make a lot of noise.

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Breezy

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Cotton blankets. Don't need em!

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Common Room secrets

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I think they have different pollen in Vermont. Either that, or I somehow picked up a new, unhappy head last evening on the way back from buying groceries.

Dispatch from the Hotel Coolidge