A vewy quiet place at MSU

With apologies to Elmer Fudd, if you’re looking for peace and a vewy, vewy quiet place to get away from the hubbub of modern life (and wascally wabbits), I gotta good tip for you.

I just spend two wonderful days squirrelled away in the special sections reading room of Michigan State U Library in East Lansing. The only sound was AC and dehumidifiers.*

I was invited there by Ed Barton, the curator of the Changing Men’s Collection, the largest collection of materials documenting the contemporary men’s movement. (MSU also has the world’s largest collection of comic books. Gotta come up with a reason to check them out!)

I was researching my book on Rich Tosi, a co-founder of the Mankind Project. Rich and fellow MKP co-founder Bill Kauth donated their papers to the collection, which was meticulously organized by Ed. I took about 300 pictures of pages! (Felt like a 60s era secret agent taking pix of docs.)

Now, I just have to read them all. Yipes!

Thanks Ed for the great work and the hospitality. Anyone interested in researching the men’s movement owes you a massive thanks! It’s an amazing resource.

*I blew away my sincerity on my way home–hell, it’s a 4.5 journey–listening to Sonic Youth’s Goo and a compilation of the first three Wire albums called On Returning. (What an amazing freaking band.)