#cable access

Sometimes you're digging through an old box and run across a photo of @neil-gaiman from SDCC 1995.

This is especially curious since I wasn't at SDCC in 1995, and have never met Neil Gaiman. I believe this picture was taken by the manager of the comic shop where I worked at the time, and that he'd interviewed Neil for a segment on the comics-themed cable access show he hosted.

Which then reminded me that cable access was a thing once upon a time, and was the functional equivalent of YouTube in the 1990s. Which is to say, you *could* just set up shop if you wanted to, and mostly no one would actually watch your show except for very stoned people who had nothing better to do at 2 AM. But then sometimes well-known authors would grant you a few minutes for an interview because why the heck not, earnestness is to be rewarded from time to time.

#TBT: The AIDS Memorial Quilt Comes to Milwaukee

Originally the brainchild of activist Cleve Jones, the AIDS Memorial Quilt started with one panel in memory of a loved one lost to AIDS, Marvin Feldman. Other activists and friends began to add their own panels, and in June of 1987, Jones and company formally organized the NAMES Project. The Quilt made its debut at the the October 11, 1987 National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Washington, D.C. where it was displayed on the National Mall. Completed, it was larger than a football field and contained  8,288 panels.

The AIDS epidemic impacted tens of thousands of people nation-wide, so it’s only natural that the AIDS Memorial Quilt made a visit to Milwaukee in 1991.The above footage comes from Milwaukee’s Local Access LGBT television program, Tri-Cable Tonight.You can watch the full video here. Don’t stop there, though! 

1994.