Thank you, Nick Denton
Welcome back—
I’ve never opened a time capsule, because I was the kind of kid who would spend days collecting and archiving the perfect representations of contemporary American culture, researching a weatherproof container, convincing my friend’s dad to dig a hole in the backyard, ceremoniously bury the box, and then promptly forget about the whole endeavor. If the new owners of Amanda’s house ever take up hardcore gardening or try to lay a pet to rest, they’re going to unearth a whimsical, magical key to the late 80’s. I hope they have a working cassette player.
But now all of our backyards stay intact. As the media loves to warn us, the internet never forgets. Googling past screen-names yields a frighteningly accurate chronology of my life: Tori Amos fan sites, geocities, high school projects, fluxcapacity, university awards, my livejournal… So I may have forgotten tumblr, but tumblr did not forget me.
I stopped blogging two years ago when I ran out of steam and limited my my self-love, world commentary, and internet goodies. But scrolling through this little time capsule made me determined to re-embrace the madness.
How did all of this even happen? On a fateful day in February 2011, Gawker Media unveiled its new design, and there was a collective meltdown in my corner of the internet. The slow decline of quality content on Jezebel had led me to FuckNoJezebel and STFU Jezzies, which led me to Persephone Magazine. Like so many other lost souls, I fled to Persephone and found myself in a warm fuzzy place. When the mistress of STFU Jezzies retired the blog and created a personal blog, caitastrophejane, I realized I’d be spending plenty of time back on tumblr.
So, essentially, if Nick Denton were less of a jackass, I probably wouldn’t have found my way back. Now that I have, I can give my facebook friends a rest without resorting to tweeting. Obviously, brevity is not my strong suit. But rambling commentary is, so stay tuned.
