This week Paperclipping Roundtable completes its 50th episode. Congratulations!
I learned about Paperclipping Roundtable last spring. I purposely avoided the scrapbooking-related blogs and websites for the most part while I was in the midst of analyzing my data and writing up my results for my dissertation. I was at the point in my dissertation that I wanted and needed to focus on my data and get the thing done. Occasionally, I had to visit the blogosphere to make sure that what I was referring to was correct (spelling of names of scrapbooking celebrities or the exact name of an approach to scrapbooking).
Anyway, I stumbled upon Scrapbook Update in the process and began subscribing to their RSS feed because it is scrapbooking industry focused rather than scrapbooking hobby focused (more nitty gritty details I needed for my dissertation). I believe this is where I learned about Paperclipping Roundtable and listened to one episode that was brought to my attention that was related to particular topic in my dissertation. I began subscribing to Paperclipping Roundtable in ITunes. I did not actually listen to anymore Paperclipping Roundtable episodes until November. Yes, last month.
I began listening to the podcasts in my office (I am a college instructor in my 9-5 job). I finally synced my IPod so that I could easily listen to the back episodes and have been devouring them since.
In every episode, I learn something new. There is something for beginning scrapbookers and more advanced scrapbookers. There is something for conventional scrapbookers and digital scrapbookers. Go to Itunes search for Paperclipping Rountable and begin subscribing and listening to the podcast.
What I love most about this show is that it really validates my research and professional life. When I share with people what my dissertation was about, I often get strange looks. Some have been quite rude about. After they have read a portion of it they give me a backhanded compliment: “oh, that is not what I thought it was going to be about at all.” Am I supposed to thank you for your feedback? Please. Anyway, during every episode, I am sitting here thinking, “exactly, I wrote about that topic in Chapter such and such when I talked about time or when I talked about how scrapbooking fits in family life.” Scrapbooking is more than just paper and pictures or pixels and pictures. It is a form of storytelling. It connects to so many aspects of our social life. And the hosts and guests realize this and celebrate this. I feel like I could write them a “listener’s letter” or comment on every one of their podcasts because I wrote pages in my dissertation on many of the topics they discuss in my dissertation.
I should really stop rambling. My point is that if you enjoy my blog, you will most likely enjoy listening to Paperclipping Roundtable. Also, a great big congratulations to reaching 50 episodes to Paperclipping Roundtable.
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
