memory digital
scans of ephemera, memorabilia, and other curiosities
for years, i’ve been accustomed to using my phone to scan and photograph artifacts. now that i actually have a scanner, i’ve been examining what it feels like to document other collectibles besides my physical media assortment. through exploring
’ very cool audio-visual. journal, i recently learned that there’s a name for this artistic language: scanography.i’m excited to play around with this medium and utilize it in future collectible reviews. for now, here are a few more things i collected, in no particular order.
It’s Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ third studio album made such an impact on me during my adolescence. so much so that i’ve purchased the sticker featuring the album’s cover twice from Wax N’ Facts. the simplicity of a cracked egg propelled into the air is so poetic to me. i originally had the sticker on my personal laptop before that device burned out. i returned to the local record store to buy another one for my primary journal at the time. i labeled this notebook “the fascinated” because i would jot notes and reflections about various obsessions and passions.
i don’t revisit my old journals too often, but after skimming this one, i noticed that my 20-year-old self left some messages for me to decode.
What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me?
among my vinyl record collection, there aren’t many photographic album sleeves like the one pictured below. and i don’t even have the music to accompany this item, as i’ve had a stack of empty record covers saved in my personal archive for years. sometimes i would hang these covers on my walls; most recently, i repurposed them into artwork. i salvaged this Chaka Khan sleeve from the stack because everything about it is a vibe to me: the hair, the smile, the sequined dress, the pose, and the black-and-white photography.
the letter “Q”
i visited a friend in Colorado many years ago, and we went to various cities around the state, including Boulder, Aspen, and Denver. before my flight home, we stopped at an oddities shop in downtown Denver. taxidermy abounded, but i set my sights on a random selection of marquee sign letters. as a typography nerd with an ampersand tattoo, this letter “Q” stood out to me the most.
The Lovers
paid patrons of things i collected are familiar with my tarot/oracle deck collection, as i do monthly collective readings for this intimate group via the deep cuts series. one of my favorite decks is Motherpeace, a round deck with heavy feminist themes and imagery. even though these cards can be tougher to shuffle, i like that the deck breaks the mold in more ways than one. cards are also a repeating motif in my life: i have a Queen of Hearts tattoo on my forearm, as this card corresponds with my birthdate in cardology.1
i like the colorful symbolism on the Lovers card. among many attributes, its appearance prompts reflection on the relationships we have with others (as well as how we relate to ourselves).
Evil Urges
another album to make a serious impact on my adolescent self was Evil Urges by My Morning Jacket. i’m currently inclined to believe that “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2” was the catalyst for this discovery; longtime readers may recall that i LOVE long songs and this one clocks in at over eight minutes. released in 2008, Evil Urges celebrated its anniversary on June 10th. the image below is from the album booklet.
concert stubs
i’ve been to a lot of live shows, more than i can even recount. i don’t have ticket stubs for all of them, so i cherish the ones i’ve kept. one of the perks of working in college radio was the amount of shows you could possibly attend for free. whenever artists came to town and we hosted a station giveaway, there was often an opportunity for DJs to receive comp tickets at will call.
it pays to have diverse taste because some artists you LOVE would not be on other folks’ radar AT ALL. i also can’t tell you how many times i’ve gone to shows mainly for the opening act. below, you’ll see a handful of my paid and comp ticket stubs, spanning from 2014-2017.
answers to questions that nobody asked:
yes, i saw Ms. Lauryn Hill for FREE with my girls on Valentine’s Day.
no, she was not that late.
yes, i cried when she performed “The Sweetest Thing” because i frequently used the song as my bump music while live on air.
other notable memories: Tyler, the Creator at The Tabernacle was my brother’s first concert, and i was honored to take him since i lived downtown for school (i still have the donut-print bandana i got from the merch table). Miguel’s Wildheart tour stop in ATL was at the same venue on my 21st birthday! matter of fact, i just realized that the majority of the shows featured below were either at The Tabernacle or Center Stage Theater.
butterfly medicine
many years ago, i briefly wrote about a butterfly medicine meditation i did, courtesy of
. i still think about this experience to this day! insect medicine has been calling to me even more as of late (a tiger bee fly landed on me a day before this publication).last year, in the midst of a transformation, i noticed a set of clipped butterfly wings near the garden of my old dwelling. although death is part of the cycle of life, it saddened me that this winged creature likely met its fate being crushed under a poorly placed garden hose. i also noticed another butterfly hovering over the area, as if to honor a fallen soldier. i delicately collected the wings and wrote the following poem about the experience.
fallen wings transcend the earth
i stepped outside to be kissed by the sun
a yellow butterfly fluttered straight towards me
as if i was a checkpoint on its path to the sky
i swept up dead and crunchy brown leaves, so odd for the summer
i picked up a tangled green hose and made a chilling discovery
another yellow butterfly with all its wings detached
the grief of the first butterfly called out to me
i picked up the wings and preserved them
i set them upon an altar to honor this creature’s ascent to heaven
— sdh 8.25.24
DIY
i’m a DIY girlie, through and through. i enjoy altering my clothes and accessories to be more personalized, and i like many of my garments a little grungy, deconstructed, and worn in (remind me to do a denim jacket “pins & patches” tour at some point). although i no longer have the pictured pair of blue glitter boots, i remember how much fun they were to make. my first pair of Doc Martens were knee-high silver glitter boots that i wore with EVERYTHING in high school. these blue boots—a size too big with the glitter perpetually falling off—were a bit of an homage to those beloved Docs. i’ve been getting back into my DIY bag, and it feels good.
the playing card tattoo, done by ATL’s very own Debbi Snax, was remixed with a Black queen to be more culturally relatable. i also have a circle tattoo on my other forearm.