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Jan. 1st, 2018 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* That time my family saved the library during the Red Scare, and a little bit of forgotten queer history:
I love the whole bad ass protesting ancestors thing.
My Grandparents and Great Aunts saved the local library from one of those state level McCarthy Committees.
Picture for a moment my two gender non conforming, possibly lesbian or trans Great Aunts. (They were sisters and had separate rooms. No proof exists one way or another as to what exactly was going on with them individually or together. Their ambiguous queerness matters for the story). Aunt C was a teacher at the Pennsylvania. Aunt R had both the degenerative genetic anomalies that are killing me slowly as well. She basically kept house and looked after the animals. They were these gloriously tough, witty, non-conformists whom I adored as a small child and who adored me. They were the first people ever to get afghan hounds to jump in show competition, a thing which was believed to be impossible at the time. Rather than verbally brag, they just decorated their house with photos of their afghan hounds impossibly show jumping. Ha!
So the Aunts were friends with the nice lesbian couple running the local library. They had basically built the thing themselves with fund raisers, lobbying, and book drives and through stubbornness and force of will in a rural (at the time) area, in the midst of the Great Depression, these wonderful lesbians made a public library. These women had been openly been involved with both Unions and socialism, and library, while small had an unusually large diversity of political opinion represented on it’s shelves. One can see why the Aunts were fond of them. The Aunts both being great readers, and Aunt C having managed to earn a Master’s degree while being obviously gender non conforming and working class during the Great depression, they were very keen on having a lending library in their little bit of nearly nowhere.
Their brother, my grandfather had married a girl from Germantown and after the War they moved back from DC where he’d been based as a member of Naval Intelligence. They were building up the area that had mostly been farms after the war and their were good loans for war veterans, so they settled in a brand new development near Granddad’s family home where the Aunts lived. My Grandparents were great readers too and also quite fond of the public library existing in their bit of no longer quite nowhere but still half farms neck of the woods instead of having to drive an hourish to the next nearest one the long way around Philly. So ex-Navy officer with a spotless if classified record.
The local branch of the McCarthy committee took one look at the two “prematurely anti-fascist” union organizing pinko lesbian librarians and must have creamed themselves. An easy target, they must have thought.
Ha!
So these two wonderful lesbians and my tough ambiguously queer great Aunts and all of their friends organized to fight back, and when the hearings happened their were super respectable church ladies led by my Grammy standing their in support with her three fine red blooded American children, and there was my grandad in his Officer’s uniform with medals to stand as character witness and to testify as to the importance of the Public Library for the education of his freshly scrubbed offspring over there in their Sunday best. The whole community stood firm and glared down the Committee.
Later, when they built a proper branch to superseded the re-purposed farm house the library had been in, they named it after one of the lesbian founders.
Somehow, I feel like now is a good time to tell true stories about things like this. We will need to remember what collective action can do, and that sometimes the side of decency and enlightenment wins.
* I wish the Mummers would just frigging tape the parade and post it online, so I can watch it at a West Coast decent hour instead of staying up all not and only being awake for a section of the comics. Fancies are my favorite damnit, and I haven't seen that part of the parade since my late Mother stopped tapping them on VCR for me.
At my second college, I used to gather friends for viewing parties when the tapes came, and even though they had never been to Phiily let alone heard of Mummers, they used to watch fascinated as I explained points of historical, anthropological, etc. interest. Look, I know all the ways this parade is a hot mess and all the ways that it is often problematic, but it's also a weird it of living history that changes and evolves with Philly culture.
Okay, the Ghostbusters Wench brigade was worth staying up for. Seriously, Slimer parasol for the win!
If you are reading this while it's still on, here: http://phl17.com/live/
* Interesting Ocean's 8 discussion: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/169186842752/kaylapocalypse-tachypneic-benepla-i-think
* Coding characters Autistic vs. Actual representation: http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/169091494680/so-im-on-chapter-8-of-into-the-drowning-deep-and#notes
* Littlefinger's Finances: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/169092210012/hi-turtle-paced-youve-mentioned-littlefinger
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/
* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate
* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0
* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey
* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.
* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386
* Resistance links for the tax cuts for the rich: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/166977878817/fullhalalalchemist-the-gop-is-aiming-for-a-65vc
* Scripts for resisting the Tax Bill: https://laughingacademy.tumblr.com/post/168175070608/the-tax-bill-just-passed-the-senate-heres-what
* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.
* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/
* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
I love the whole bad ass protesting ancestors thing.
My Grandparents and Great Aunts saved the local library from one of those state level McCarthy Committees.
Picture for a moment my two gender non conforming, possibly lesbian or trans Great Aunts. (They were sisters and had separate rooms. No proof exists one way or another as to what exactly was going on with them individually or together. Their ambiguous queerness matters for the story). Aunt C was a teacher at the Pennsylvania. Aunt R had both the degenerative genetic anomalies that are killing me slowly as well. She basically kept house and looked after the animals. They were these gloriously tough, witty, non-conformists whom I adored as a small child and who adored me. They were the first people ever to get afghan hounds to jump in show competition, a thing which was believed to be impossible at the time. Rather than verbally brag, they just decorated their house with photos of their afghan hounds impossibly show jumping. Ha!
So the Aunts were friends with the nice lesbian couple running the local library. They had basically built the thing themselves with fund raisers, lobbying, and book drives and through stubbornness and force of will in a rural (at the time) area, in the midst of the Great Depression, these wonderful lesbians made a public library. These women had been openly been involved with both Unions and socialism, and library, while small had an unusually large diversity of political opinion represented on it’s shelves. One can see why the Aunts were fond of them. The Aunts both being great readers, and Aunt C having managed to earn a Master’s degree while being obviously gender non conforming and working class during the Great depression, they were very keen on having a lending library in their little bit of nearly nowhere.
Their brother, my grandfather had married a girl from Germantown and after the War they moved back from DC where he’d been based as a member of Naval Intelligence. They were building up the area that had mostly been farms after the war and their were good loans for war veterans, so they settled in a brand new development near Granddad’s family home where the Aunts lived. My Grandparents were great readers too and also quite fond of the public library existing in their bit of no longer quite nowhere but still half farms neck of the woods instead of having to drive an hourish to the next nearest one the long way around Philly. So ex-Navy officer with a spotless if classified record.
The local branch of the McCarthy committee took one look at the two “prematurely anti-fascist” union organizing pinko lesbian librarians and must have creamed themselves. An easy target, they must have thought.
Ha!
So these two wonderful lesbians and my tough ambiguously queer great Aunts and all of their friends organized to fight back, and when the hearings happened their were super respectable church ladies led by my Grammy standing their in support with her three fine red blooded American children, and there was my grandad in his Officer’s uniform with medals to stand as character witness and to testify as to the importance of the Public Library for the education of his freshly scrubbed offspring over there in their Sunday best. The whole community stood firm and glared down the Committee.
Later, when they built a proper branch to superseded the re-purposed farm house the library had been in, they named it after one of the lesbian founders.
Somehow, I feel like now is a good time to tell true stories about things like this. We will need to remember what collective action can do, and that sometimes the side of decency and enlightenment wins.
* I wish the Mummers would just frigging tape the parade and post it online, so I can watch it at a West Coast decent hour instead of staying up all not and only being awake for a section of the comics. Fancies are my favorite damnit, and I haven't seen that part of the parade since my late Mother stopped tapping them on VCR for me.
At my second college, I used to gather friends for viewing parties when the tapes came, and even though they had never been to Phiily let alone heard of Mummers, they used to watch fascinated as I explained points of historical, anthropological, etc. interest. Look, I know all the ways this parade is a hot mess and all the ways that it is often problematic, but it's also a weird it of living history that changes and evolves with Philly culture.
Okay, the Ghostbusters Wench brigade was worth staying up for. Seriously, Slimer parasol for the win!
If you are reading this while it's still on, here: http://phl17.com/live/
* Interesting Ocean's 8 discussion: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/169186842752/kaylapocalypse-tachypneic-benepla-i-think
* Coding characters Autistic vs. Actual representation: http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/169091494680/so-im-on-chapter-8-of-into-the-drowning-deep-and#notes
* Littlefinger's Finances: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/169092210012/hi-turtle-paced-youve-mentioned-littlefinger
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/
* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate
* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0
* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey
* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.
* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386
* Resistance links for the tax cuts for the rich: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/166977878817/fullhalalalchemist-the-gop-is-aiming-for-a-65vc
* Scripts for resisting the Tax Bill: https://laughingacademy.tumblr.com/post/168175070608/the-tax-bill-just-passed-the-senate-heres-what
* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.
* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/
* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com