So far, I’m energized by the variety of resources that can be found, and the creativity that must be implemented when working within the parameters of “free” resources, though as we’ve discussed how that term is debatable in this context. I spend a lot of time trying to educate myself via the internet, so this feels like a natural part of my personal process.

However, it remains a challenge for me not to consider the resources I’m seeking as “workarounds” (ie: reviews, interviews, etc.) somehow less valuable or effective than the original material they might be discussing—which honestly seems part of my indoctrinated academic perception. I’m finding a lot of great things/people/resources that I didn’t know about, since pieces of queer media are often in dialogue with each other, but now I’m wondering if I’m including things because I want to, or primarily because they’re free and that’s what I can find. I’m not sure if it matters. I also feel like I’m hoarding anything that catches my interest, which I guess is a fine starting point. I’m just trying to anticipate what the curation of these resources will look like.

There’s so much content constantly being produced, especially on blogs. I think some of the more recent issues and discussions warrant space in an introductory course, perhaps even more than older resources considered “canon.” But the free stipulation also skews my search into much younger histories or much older ones, since they seem to be the most likely digitized/archived resources. Again, does that matter? Is that a problem? So far, my search has led to more questions than answers.

-NYPL-NYC Trans Oral History Project-

http://oralhistory.nypl.org/neighborhoods/trans-history

-HathiTrust Digital Library-

https://www.hathitrust.org/

-The Establishment-

https://theestablishment.co/

-Internet Archive-

https://archive.org/

Q&A with Dee Rees on “Pariah”