Cat, you could write the directions for making heating soup on a stove, and it would be magical and poetic, and people everywhere would suddenly crave soup.
A hacker of hope you may be, but by Phoebus Apollo you are surely a hacker of words. And sentences, and paragraphs, and … I believe you took that third hit off the Hippocrene the last time you visited the Commonwealth, and all of us the better for it. There”s very little you could write that would not be interesting, if not illuminating, to a lot of people.
Hacker of Hope … I hope you know the work of Rebecca Solnit and maybe even follow her on Facebook? Her Paradise Built in Hell is one of the most hopeful things I’ve ever read.
You know, on further reflection, whatever class I'd give myself, yep. Definitely there are the hacking points already assigned.
I suppose I always just thought of them kind of as gamer-brain for me, like 'Ah, the obvious route is glitching, but if I creatively use game mechanics...who cares if the designer wouldn't approve? The game is overtuned, glitchy, and full of obvious cheaters exploiting the system to ruin it for the others'
But in the end, it does feel like different metaphor, same essential truth :)
Of COURSE I was glad to subscribe. Especially for crackerjack essays and the potential for Community. Thank you so much forn being Out Here fostering hope.
It has been one of my deepest regrets that I was utterly broke and unemployed when I heard about your omikuji project (on LJ, no less!).
Patreon is basically Omikuji without the wax seals. I wished I could have done it for free but it was so much work without something like Patreon or Substack to handle the backend...and no site could melt hundreds of wax seals every dang month...
It gives me so much hope that so many of us never lost each other from LJ. We may be quieter, with different usernames, but so many of us are still here.
Oh hey, we’re on the same continent! That almost never happens to me.
I just ate my own bodyweight in latkes and despite being after dark it’s somehow still too hot to be alive in the tropics, so I don’t have anything intelligent to add, but I really loved the essay, and I also love this post script. Growing up in rural Queensland, we didn’t really have internet access at home until... gosh, it’d have to be the 90s? I remember it being a Huge Deal when the local primary school started teaching kids about computers, and that would’ve been ‘96 or ‘97. But, though it was somewhat delayed, my experience of the internet was very much a bunch of zany little websites and forums, with absolutely no connection to each other, passed around by word of mouth... plus Neopets.
The essay was Relatable Content™️, is what I’m saying.
I have eaten so much Christmas dinner stuff I really need to do whatever the secular version of going to confession is. Don't hug a cassowary for me, but psychically, like...tell them I love them?
In light of your essay on the wonders of old world LJ, I just wanted to say hi. We used to chat there quite a lot, back in the early 2000s when you were living in Okinawa.
"I am a hacker of hope" I love this.
I'm so glad, I wasn't sure about that line!
Cat, you could write the directions for making heating soup on a stove, and it would be magical and poetic, and people everywhere would suddenly crave soup.
The "viral" post was a cracking great read, and the referral by the incomparable Cory Doctorow was enough to me.
I haven't upgraded to paid (yet) but will soon.
Please take your time, I'm still figuring out what people want to see under the paywall! thank you so much, Geoff.
A hacker of hope you may be, but by Phoebus Apollo you are surely a hacker of words. And sentences, and paragraphs, and … I believe you took that third hit off the Hippocrene the last time you visited the Commonwealth, and all of us the better for it. There”s very little you could write that would not be interesting, if not illuminating, to a lot of people.
What a beautiful first line that is. I blush and thank you.
Hacker of Hope … I hope you know the work of Rebecca Solnit and maybe even follow her on Facebook? Her Paradise Built in Hell is one of the most hopeful things I’ve ever read.
I don't but I'll look into it!
Agreed on Solnit - she is grittily observant as well as hopeful.
The hope line is beautiful, joining in the chorus of others. I don't know if Hacker is the class I'd assign to myself, but Hope-Aligned?
Been saying that one for years now, so it's lovely to see the same in the wild
These days, I think we all have to put a few points in our hacking stats, the straightforward official system doesn't really work out of the box ;)
You know, on further reflection, whatever class I'd give myself, yep. Definitely there are the hacking points already assigned.
I suppose I always just thought of them kind of as gamer-brain for me, like 'Ah, the obvious route is glitching, but if I creatively use game mechanics...who cares if the designer wouldn't approve? The game is overtuned, glitchy, and full of obvious cheaters exploiting the system to ruin it for the others'
But in the end, it does feel like different metaphor, same essential truth :)
Of COURSE I was glad to subscribe. Especially for crackerjack essays and the potential for Community. Thank you so much forn being Out Here fostering hope.
It has been one of my deepest regrets that I was utterly broke and unemployed when I heard about your omikuji project (on LJ, no less!).
Patreon is basically Omikuji without the wax seals. I wished I could have done it for free but it was so much work without something like Patreon or Substack to handle the backend...and no site could melt hundreds of wax seals every dang month...
I love this, Cat. I'm so happy for you, and for us. And for Substack! May our reach ever rise to meet your grasp.
Miss you so much, Claire.
Recommended by Cory Doctorow. High praise indeed.
Cheers.
It's always an honor to have Cory say one is even mostly right about a thing.
Thank you for this, Cat, and for remaining the awesome person and writer I’ve been following since LiveJournal. 🥰
It gives me so much hope that so many of us never lost each other from LJ. We may be quieter, with different usernames, but so many of us are still here.
Pleased to meet you.
SO HAPPY TO MEET YOU LEE!
Oh hey, we’re on the same continent! That almost never happens to me.
I just ate my own bodyweight in latkes and despite being after dark it’s somehow still too hot to be alive in the tropics, so I don’t have anything intelligent to add, but I really loved the essay, and I also love this post script. Growing up in rural Queensland, we didn’t really have internet access at home until... gosh, it’d have to be the 90s? I remember it being a Huge Deal when the local primary school started teaching kids about computers, and that would’ve been ‘96 or ‘97. But, though it was somewhat delayed, my experience of the internet was very much a bunch of zany little websites and forums, with absolutely no connection to each other, passed around by word of mouth... plus Neopets.
The essay was Relatable Content™️, is what I’m saying.
I have eaten so much Christmas dinner stuff I really need to do whatever the secular version of going to confession is. Don't hug a cassowary for me, but psychically, like...tell them I love them?
Hi Cat,
In light of your essay on the wonders of old world LJ, I just wanted to say hi. We used to chat there quite a lot, back in the early 2000s when you were living in Okinawa.
Dr Klig
Yep, hope. It's what keeps us breathing. More than food or oxygen.
Dreamwidth still exists! Some of us are still there!
I know! It never got to the level of LJ, but it's still going and valiant and I'm proud of its resiliency.
So nice to see you unhidden, Lee. ;)
Keelah Se'lai, my brother.
I was afraid it was flirting with cringe--so glad you liked it! It was heartfelt, as cringe often secretly is.