The internet momfluencer that sprung immediately to mind was Love Taza, who built the happy Mormons in a tiny NYC apartment brand and fled the city in spring 2020 right before lockdown and lost her sponsors. She then published a book that addressed none of it (granted, it was probably submitted before all that.)
Kathryn Jezer-Morton‘s dissertation is probably fascinating.
Did you or anyone here read the Woolf book? I can't get over it. I don't believe here. I know, I know. I mean she doesn't seem like a reliable narriator. 2/3rds of the way through the book I was yelling at it.
I read the book. I thought the part leading up to Hal's death and immediately after was raw and authentic, and I admire when people can write about that and just put it out there. The latter part of the book was ... I think she needed to maybe sit on that for a few years because "Now I get to reclaim my authenticity, vagina-first!" is kind of the takeaway she delivered and ... really, a few years on, she could be in a place to unpack why and how, after railing against marriage as a patriarchal trap and a way to erase female identity, she engages in a lot of activities that seem to reify the notion that she only exists in relation to other people.
I was wowed when I read the article featuring an excerpt of Rebecca Woolf's book. I was a keen follower of her blog way back. It isn't a subject that is written about practically at all by women, and if it is it's usually about how they were cheated on. It was a powerful, and in my case, slightly uncomfortable read. It really made me think. I would posit that we're going to read a lot more from women with the same point of view.
The more I think about this letter, the more I wonder what the letter writer is carefully writing around.
Going so far as to demand alternating holidays -- where their parents don't see their adult offspring and their grandchildren so the letter writer can have the consolation of the Most Sophisticated Yule Ever -- and trying to dress up basement exile as "Thanksgiving Camp" suggests this person has real issues with something around the extended family's expansion into a third generation. I'd like to know whether they're feeling backburnered because their own parents have Big Grandparent Energy, whether they're jealous somehow, whether they just don't deal well with change that's imposed on them, or what.
I don't know yet. I've seen good arguments for leaving (it's amplifying misinformation!) and for staying (flouncing out of a hostile spaces is a great way to abandon the people who are working hard to keep organizing and fighting misinformation!). Since I use Tweetdeck to display a collection of tightly-edited lists and I'm a huge believer in blocking or muting accounts that I find low value, my daily experience hasn't been changed much, so it's just a question of figuring out the moral calculus of ongoing participation in the site as a whole.
And what are the good alternatives or next step? I have not particularly warmed up to the Mastodon user experience. I have a Post account, so I guess I can try to create that habit.
I have Post and Mastodon accounts. I make limited use of Mastodon and I haven't done much with Post. I maintain a minimal presence on the Meta services and on Reddit. Twitter was like a second home for me for 15 years but I grew very concerned with the direction things were taking and I made the decision to leave. I honestly don't see the good parts of that kind of experience being replaced with another platform but I could be mistaken. I'll continue to keep an eye on Twitter and maybe I'll change my mind about it in the future but I don't like the things that I see happening there under new ownership.
I recognize that people are choosing to stay on Twitter and more power to them (yourself included) but it's no longer what I used to enjoy, except for the good people that I don't really have contact with anymore, which is the biggest loss for me but it's a consequence. Cheers.
The internet momfluencer that sprung immediately to mind was Love Taza, who built the happy Mormons in a tiny NYC apartment brand and fled the city in spring 2020 right before lockdown and lost her sponsors. She then published a book that addressed none of it (granted, it was probably submitted before all that.)
Kathryn Jezer-Morton‘s dissertation is probably fascinating.
Did you or anyone here read the Woolf book? I can't get over it. I don't believe here. I know, I know. I mean she doesn't seem like a reliable narriator. 2/3rds of the way through the book I was yelling at it.
I read the book. I thought the part leading up to Hal's death and immediately after was raw and authentic, and I admire when people can write about that and just put it out there. The latter part of the book was ... I think she needed to maybe sit on that for a few years because "Now I get to reclaim my authenticity, vagina-first!" is kind of the takeaway she delivered and ... really, a few years on, she could be in a place to unpack why and how, after railing against marriage as a patriarchal trap and a way to erase female identity, she engages in a lot of activities that seem to reify the notion that she only exists in relation to other people.
I was wowed when I read the article featuring an excerpt of Rebecca Woolf's book. I was a keen follower of her blog way back. It isn't a subject that is written about practically at all by women, and if it is it's usually about how they were cheated on. It was a powerful, and in my case, slightly uncomfortable read. It really made me think. I would posit that we're going to read a lot more from women with the same point of view.
Has it not occurred to these people to just… go on vacation without the rest of their family?
The more I think about this letter, the more I wonder what the letter writer is carefully writing around.
Going so far as to demand alternating holidays -- where their parents don't see their adult offspring and their grandchildren so the letter writer can have the consolation of the Most Sophisticated Yule Ever -- and trying to dress up basement exile as "Thanksgiving Camp" suggests this person has real issues with something around the extended family's expansion into a third generation. I'd like to know whether they're feeling backburnered because their own parents have Big Grandparent Energy, whether they're jealous somehow, whether they just don't deal well with change that's imposed on them, or what.
Hi Lisa. Out of curiosity do you intend to keep using Twitter long term?
I don't know yet. I've seen good arguments for leaving (it's amplifying misinformation!) and for staying (flouncing out of a hostile spaces is a great way to abandon the people who are working hard to keep organizing and fighting misinformation!). Since I use Tweetdeck to display a collection of tightly-edited lists and I'm a huge believer in blocking or muting accounts that I find low value, my daily experience hasn't been changed much, so it's just a question of figuring out the moral calculus of ongoing participation in the site as a whole.
And what are the good alternatives or next step? I have not particularly warmed up to the Mastodon user experience. I have a Post account, so I guess I can try to create that habit.
What about you? Where are you on this?
Thanks Lisa. I summarized my thinking on Twitter via the following post but the short answer is that I left Twitter in early November. https://howaboutthis.substack.com/p/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-tweets
I have Post and Mastodon accounts. I make limited use of Mastodon and I haven't done much with Post. I maintain a minimal presence on the Meta services and on Reddit. Twitter was like a second home for me for 15 years but I grew very concerned with the direction things were taking and I made the decision to leave. I honestly don't see the good parts of that kind of experience being replaced with another platform but I could be mistaken. I'll continue to keep an eye on Twitter and maybe I'll change my mind about it in the future but I don't like the things that I see happening there under new ownership.
I recognize that people are choosing to stay on Twitter and more power to them (yourself included) but it's no longer what I used to enjoy, except for the good people that I don't really have contact with anymore, which is the biggest loss for me but it's a consequence. Cheers.