j0sh and the immaculate mailing list - burying the lede & media lists
welcome to the immaculate mailing list
i’ve been reflecting on the conceptual difference between “sharing my offline-life online” and “being online is a significant and real part of my life”, or, the difference between using ‘irl’ and ‘afk’ (‘in real life’ vs ‘away from keyboard’ (afk was coined to explicitly deny any chasm between ‘online’ and ‘real life’, arguing that online is real life, and if something occurs offline, you’re merely ‘away from keyboard’). i don’t think there’s any real distinction between online and offline life. (do you? i’d love to hear your perspective if so!). maybe different sides of one’s personality are more readily accessed in different spheres, but a person is still making those choices and working with whatever consequences come their way, good and bad. plenty of people live most, if not all of their life, offline, but plenty of people do the same online. certainly most people are someplace in the middle, likely moving closer to one end, and then sliding back the other way, several times a week. this is all to say, i think online is real life, and i value the connections that can be made, and community that can be built, but- it’s too big. there’s too much there! it’s too easy to find info that someone never intended to be shared past their immediate social circles. the lengths i have to go to to keep information i share ‘private enough’ for my comfort level makes it easier to just not do anything online at all (this newsletter/my own tiny webpage are about as close as it gets for me, but i’m still pretty cautious about what i say). and it bums me out! it didn’t have to be this way! we could have different systems that allow us more control, where our data wouldn’t be harvested for profit! it’s been on my mind a lot recently because kat and i are gonna have a kid (!! the lede, thusly buried), so i’ve been thinking about what kind of boundaries to enact regarding their presence online. should be a fun thing to figure out, no
that thing i mentioned just before
exciting! nervous! exuberant! it is very cool and a kinda scary, but i believe we’re up to it. i get more excited every day. i’m proud of the work that kat and i have done, both intra and inter personally to be in a position where we feel like we can take this on. and, of course, we wouldn’t have done this without knowing we have the support systems that we do. if you’re someone who subscribes to this, i’m grateful that you are around (afk or online!). i’ll be calling each and every one of you with my 4am questions.
other bit of personal news
i have a new job! i’m sad to leave the students of last year, but i’m looking forward to my new role as an interpreter with CPS. i’ll be working at a school with a few dozen d/Deaf and hard of hearing students, and a team of six other interpreters. i’ll have a union (ctu), and for the first time in my life, a salary and benefits (very grateful for because, ya know, a kid on the way). kat also has a new job, as a remote education guide for high school self directed learners. both jobs came through at a pretty clutch time for us, and i feel pretty lucky!
reading list
articles
- why i think students should cheat - cevin soling
- the biggest potential water disaster in the united states - david owen
- ‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country - kk ottesen
- ‘Never ask permission’: How two trans women ran a legendary underground surgical clinic in a rural tractor barn - io dodds
- every good bird does fine - ian rose
- anyone can get monkeypox. here’s scientific research on how to avoid it. - kim crawley
books
- the breakdown of nations - leopold kohr
- like a mother - angela garbes
- the mushroom at the end of the world - anna lowenhaupt tsing
- the ministry for the future - kim stanley robinson
albums
- satisfaction is the death of desire - hatebreed
- mingus ah um - charles mingus
- forfolks - jeff parker
- you’ll cowards don’t even smoke crack - viper
- smetana: má vlast - bedřich smetana
- makthaverskan II - makthaverskan
- shiloh: lost for words - john glacier
okay, i’m wrapping up
#freepalestine