Click on the link here: Past Daily’s Fall Fundraiser
History is fragile – it’s up for interpretation and can be manipulated. The further we’re away from a life-changing event, the easier it is to change the way it’s presented, to re-write it in order to attempt to change an outcome. Or it gets buried – covered over by the glut of information of the present; distracting and obscuring truths, denying they ever existed.
And one of those ways is to simply destroy all evidence – wipe it clean – reduce revelations and events to ashes, calling them lies or perversions, saying no good can come from knowing; we’re better off not being reminded.
Some of this is done intentionally, but a lot is done by accident. Looking at history as a sort of useless object, taking up space, performing no function – condemning it all to a landfill, reducing it to embers – erasing it from memory.
People point to the infamous book-burnings during the early days of Nazi Germany, where books, music, art, anything deemed new or different was considered degenerate and therefore erased from public memory.
And on occasion, we in America have become guilty of something similar – burning comic books deemed bad for the nation’s youth – burning pornography deemed bad for the nation’s morals. Burning Beatles albums in the 1960s because they were deemed blasphemous for claiming to be more popular than Jesus. Book burning is still popular in some parts of the country – all with the desire to re-write history.
But to a lesser degree, how much is that different from a library closing its doors for good and tossing its books out? I’m not saying it’s done all the time – but there is a tendency to toss things out; destroy them either intentionally or accidentally – and when that happens, history is often the loser.
I bring up the subject of the wholesale dumping of and countering to the re-write of history because that’s what Past Daily has been based on. I began my archive as a 12 year old, rummaging through radio station dumpsters – pulling out pieces of history people thought had no value. Recordings deemed “just a lot of junk”. Trouble was, most of it represented our society at a specific point in time – who we were as a culture – what we thought and how we behaved – the things we used to do that we don’t do anymore – the people we once were and how we felt about things that we don’t feel the same about anymore. All those touchstones and significant moments.
So as years went by, and the collection grew out of all proportion, I began to wonder what I could do to make this mass of recordings a living, breathing part of history. It seemed just as pointless to leave everything in a dark room, gathering dust as it did sitting in a landfill.
But times have changed – the need for useful information has now become an imperative. The desire to re-write history has become all-pervasive, access to useful information is slowly becoming out of reach.
Past Daily got started as a desire and need to impart useful information and history to serve as a focal point to where we are today. Looking at episodes from our past and seeing how they ring similar. Learning about those people who fought for change and knowing who they were. Being exposed to new and different ideas – new music, new points of view – how they relate to who we are, how they influenced who we were.
That’s why I decided to start Past Daily. I wish I could say it’s a roomful of people, working on posts and digging up history to share – but no, it’s just me – doing all the writing, researching, digitizing, posting – all day, every day. Not that I’m complaining because I love doing what I do. But once a year, I do come with hat in hand, asking for your Tax-deductible contributions so I can pay all the bills, repair all the ancient and vintage equipment and continue preserving and restoring the thousands and thousands of hours of audio in every conceivable format, and make it available to you, whenever you want it.
And that’s why I’m doing this Fundraiser – asking your support and pledges to keep this project going and to make it available to everyone. I know we’re in strange times – a lot of people don’t have a lot to spend on much more than necessities – don’t worry about it. But there are a few of you who may not notice one less cup of coffee or one less movie this week, who could chip in a few bucks in order to keep history alive. And a lot of you have, so far. I am forever grateful to everyone who has contributed over the last few days – you have no idea what a difference it makes. I’m asking the ones who are on the fence or who have been putting it off to the last minute or are skittish about paying online. Don’t worry – you can contact me directly as we can work out something, no problem. But all I’m asking is that you consider chipping in what you can, so I can keep bringing you all this history – this long-thought-lost history for you to listen to, learn from and consider.
Please make your contributions, no matter what size, to the link here: (Past Daily’s Fall Fundraiser) or the link above – I will be grateful and I promise, I won’t keep bugging you too much longer.
But for now . . . .
