Personal Queer Archives + Mining The Archives A Workshop with Kimberly Drew at USC

Hey y’all! 2020 is here and one of my intentions is to WRITE MORE and document things more #onhere. I’ve had this site for a while and I’ve only averaged a post about 1-2 times a year. Pitiful..lol

Anyways, new year, new me amirite?

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older (I’ll be 42 this year) or if it’s because of so many deaths lately that have hit close to home but I’ve really been thinking about the legacy that I’ll leave behind once I’ve transitioned into the ancestor realm. I think about how the story of legacy building for me feels a little complicated as someone who is currently not married and doesn’t have children and isn’t close to my bio family. Who will tell my stories, who will the stories of my life living as a free xicana fat femme matter to?

I listen to an amazing podcast (I listen to many, but that’s another post for another time) called /Queer and a few months ago, I was listening to the episode Visible Queerness: Queer Kinship & Chosen Family (which was amazing, you should go take a listen) and took the time to check out the multimedia gallery for the episode (HERE) and was just in awe of the beautiful pictures full of queer joy that accompanied the post. As I took the time to process the feelings, later that day I had a sadness wash over me. How much more impact would those pictures have had on me if they would have been of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)? The joy those pics brought me stayed in my soul and so did a little bit of emptiness. I’ve spoken to friends and online a bunch about leaving a legacy. It’s on my mind daily. I’m motivated by the words of Kim Katrin “We must leave evidence that we were here and we were loved” and use those words as a call to action to get my ass in GEAR. When I was setting my 2020 intentions, I put organizing my archive and figuring out what to do with it near the top of my list. Imagine my surprise when USC Visions and Voices announced a workshop WITH Kimberly Drew (aka museummammy) at the ONE Archives!!! I knew I had to be there. The workshop was billed for USC students and faculty only, however I sent an email to the organizers to see if they would allow me to attend as a community member (because in 2020 we’re not letting ourselves get in our way and we’re letting other people tell us no rather than us tell us no!) and they emailed me inviting me to the workshop (yay!).

in the workshop, we were able to go through some pre-selected items and it was such an amazing thing to be able to see these objects up close. As someone who just came out of a huge de-cluttering spree of my space, I understand that there’s such a thing line/space between hoarding and the importance of items being preserved for archival purposes. I believe it’s truly the intention. I learned lots at the workshop on how quotidian things can also tell so much of our stories after we’re no longer here. There was a collection where there was a box of things that wouldn’t necessarily be coded as “queer” by the outside world but if you knew, you knew. It gave me a cool peek into some of the things I should be saving for my own archive. It was such a nice morning filed with items from queer folks who are mostly no longer here. I’m thankful for their foresight in thinking of gifting the items from their life to the archive. Seeing these items up close really allowed me to face the reality that our lives matter. Kimberly mentioned at the workshop that she’s always excited and looking for “archives of the unremarkable” and that made me think of how the lives of those of us that aren’t '“queer famous” will be remembered and how it really is important to get items into the archives that depict our quotidian yet full and beautiful lives. Legacy building. We matter and some queer bb in the future will be able to connect with the life we lived and/or see it as a possibility model for their own future.

I’m excited to report that at the workshop, I met an archivist who offered some support in helping me get my archive together/organized. Looking forward to adding more fat femmes of color to the mix! If you’re queer, what is the legacy you’re hoping to leave behind? What actions are you taking now to ensure that legacy is preserved?

Check out some pics below from my time at ONE for the workshop. ONE Archives is open to the public, however it isn’t a lending institution. Check out more info on visiting the archive HERE.