in 2013 i grew a significant following after entering the javascript conference talk circuit as the "art and code" girl at the basketball company who also wrote tech satire which scared a generation of web developers into reading more critically and commenting more kindly (if at all). i never really loved twitter as a platform, but i loved a lot of people who worked on it and it was fun to goof around on, just like medium.com was fun to fool and get yelled at by web developers who could not fathom a woman being wrong online on purpose. it's been almost 10 years since i entered the scene and would you believe that everywhere is less fun and everyone is more dumb!
the places we grew our careers and social circles on have all been damaged beyond repair by men who, despite having billions of dollars, look like they have the suds and the emotional intelligence of a paper straw 5 minutes after it has entered my iced latte. they're surrounded by yes-men with less-money who are about half as smart as the character i played in my early satire days. i truly hope they all find the immortality they seek, and also that they then get trapped in quicksand, respectfully.
now that i have laid my credentials out on the table, it's about time i start talking about growing one's web presence. a coworker was telling me today how they were hoping to create more developer content and share it on social media and mentioned twitter. this lead to me going on this whole spiel about how we should work to remove "twitter" from the words in our strategies for connecting to communities and growing our personal (and professional) networks. i think our focus should be on content and messaging; how and where we post is like how we plate or package our meals in that it can be done in many ways - but i typically don't come up with recipes with packaging only in mind.
it sucks, but we're all going to have to shift gears and learn some tough, but important, lessons about the social media we contribute to - not just consume. i beg of my peers to consider portability of their following (ie. have a mailing list and a blog), consider the risk of a platform you use cutting off access for seemingly no good reason, dramatically shifting goal posts or whatever elon "krang but with an exo-skeleton of a 2016 boomer meme facebook group in physical form" musk is doing with twitter.
anyway, i need to find a new service to move my mailing list to because revue shuts down tomorrow. man i love this industry and the earthworms with asses on both ends that get to call the shots in it.
xoxo jenn
i've been using the butterfly clips i bought last week to pull back my bangs when i work out. it works so much better than a headband, which often creased and ruined my wavy fringe.
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i was in target earlier this week looking for a couple of things for my home. i know that target has a reputation for being full of really annoying women, and it’s true – i am really annoying women. the reality, though, is that behind every actually annoying woman in target is an even more annoying college-age son who she’s trying to match the energy of so they get get the hell going without her taking on herself whatever adventure he is on. i salute the moms actually trying to get their crusty sons through life without falling into the ✱ndrew t✱te pipeline! 🫡
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remember when i brought back blogging, single-handedly, in 2020? then i got depressed lol?
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welcome to my blog. i know it's been over a month since i've lived, laughed and blogged, but this project i'm about to talk about has been taking up my free time and i think you'll find it worth my absence. if you don't find that this is the case, then keep that to yourself 💜
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there's this beautiful store in san francisco called case for making that a dear friend recommended i visit the last time i was out there (5 years ago, i think!). i bought some beautiful neon half pans from them and they've been a favorite online shop of mine since...
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i took an afternoon off of work last week to make up for working on an office holiday – typical for hot, smart babes whose job it is to support their users. with a new set of candlescience fragrance oils delivered, i ate a chewable (legal) and tried to see how many candles i could make before it hit.
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andy and i picked some red onions over the weekend and i feel like we instantly leveled up as both tax-payers *and* adults with kitchens.
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when i blogged last week that i'd finally order the aquatic seat that i've been thinking about for 8 years, i held up my end of the one-sided bargain and followed through. it was $59.99 when i ordered, and it arrived 3 days later.
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we're two weeks shy of my 8 year anniversary of moving to jersey city - hard to believe that around this time i was packing my montclair home. as a then-shopper of amazon, the e-commerce website, i was looking for things i'd need for the new place and was recommnend a toilet seat with an acquatic scene. it was blue resin, transparent, perfect, and had fish and sand in it. also it was $80 – you can probably buy an actual parrot on amazon these days for under $80!
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