For this episode of Why We Collect, we talk with poet and Fungus Books and Records co-owner Ed Steck about two of his collections, books and horror films. He describes how an early interest in horror films drew him into a wider and wilder world of collecting the uncanny, the rare, and the strange.

“The first film that I got sucked into was George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead,” says Steck, “because I grew up in Irwin, Pennsylvania and Monroeville Mall was 10-15-20 minutes down the road. I remember watching Dawn of the Dead and [thinking], ‘that is the mall I go to.’ I was blown away that this other world could exist right where my mom and grandma took me to J.C. Penney’s or Kaufmann’s or whatever.”

We also talk about how collecting feeds into research for his poetry practice. We talk about inspirations for his new book A Place Beyond Shame, which is “a long-form poetic exploration of autobiographical trauma,” published by Wonder Publishing. Then we discuss the current books on his writing desk, which are feeding into a new writing project about UFOs.

The episode ends with Ed reading an excerpt from A Place Beyond Shame that revolves around the Westinghouse Atom Smasher, a now-toppled Van de Graaff generator that saw 21 years of use as part of Westinghouse’s work with “non-weapons applications of nuclear technology.” Read this fascinating article from the Smithsonian for more details on how the atom smasher operated in its heyday.

Catch up with Ed at Fungus Books and Records in the Wilkinsburg neighborhood, just outside of Pittsburgh. And check out Ed’s work from publishers Wonder Publishing and Ugly Duckling Presse.

For this episode of Why We Collect, we talk with anthropologist Lauren Herckis about the concept of “meaningful archives.”

“In anthropology, in archeology, in archives, recognizing that interplay between the objects and the people and the stories and the power structures and the cultural fabric is at the heart of making meaning and making meaningful archives.”

We also talk about stuff. Things. You know, objects like the crown jewels, toothbrushes, and magic beans. Lauren shows us how the meaning of stuff changes based on context, and how meaning shifts depending on the values shared by a population at a given time.

On Why We Collect, we often speak to collectors about why they seek out and keep what they collect, but Lauren gives us some perspective for why all of us—the whole of past and present civilizations—value the objects that we make and preserve.

Lauren is part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Simon Initiative, University Libraries, and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute in the School of Computer Science. She studies how people use technology, how technology shapes culture, and how culture shapes technology.

Find out more about Lauren’s work on her website: https://lauher29.dreamhosters.com

For this episode of Why We Collect, we talk with theatre director Adil Mansoor about Amm(i)gone, a new theater piece that goes on tour this month!

The play’s tagline is “Amm(i)gone, an adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, is an apology to and from a mother,” and the work incorporates recorded interviews with Mansoor’s mother along with selected family photographs and ephemera. We talk about these conversations and these objects—how the interviews were conducted, why certain objects were chosen. But we talk about so much more. The deepness of the work allows us to dig into a lot of juicy topics: making theater about the joyful feeling of making theater, power dynamics between interviewee and interviewer, editing (or not editing) oral history, talking about art with people you love, and the difficulties of making theater about one’s family. “We’re literally talking about the things we don’t talk about. That’s what the show is about,” says Mansoor. “The show is about how difficult it is to talk.”

Since many listeners might be listening to this episode before they catch a performance, here’s more info about the play.

“Creator and performer Adil Mansoor explores queerness, the afterlife, and obligation using canonical texts, teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations between him and his mother. Since discovering his queerness, Mansoor’s mother has turned towards her faith in an attempt to save her son in the afterlife. In an effort towards healing, Mansoor has invited his mother to join him as dramaturg and co-conspirator. In reading, discussing, and translating various adaptations of the source play, together they mine Greek tragedy, Islamic traditions, and their own memories to create an original performance locating love across faith.”

Hope you enjoy this thoughtful and fun conversation!

Bonus: We’ve introduced a lightning round of questions at the end of the episode. Favorite sandwich? Toilet paper up or down?