october 16 gui
When people tell me they miss the "old internet," I ask them what they miss in particular, because, like, I'm an internet person, and I know what we lost because I was there, back in in the day, knee deep in the culture. I was messing around on bulletin board systems in like, 1991. Microserfs has been my favourite book since 1995. I eagerly awaited the existence of products and services and technologies I ended up using in the mid and late nineties because growing up I had such a clear (and, as it turns out, accurate) view of what the internet was going to be, look, and feel like. I read books and articles about the future, and then I watched as humans people built it. It was exhilarating. And it turns out that when a lot of people talk about the "old internet," they're not talking about that period. They're talking about, like, Facebook in 2009.
Don't get me wrong, I also think Facebook was better in 2009 than it is now, or than I think it is now —— I deleted my account a few years ago after wanting to delete it for like ten years before that. Ironically, though, I do enjoy Threads, specifically for the NBA and WNBA communities. On that tip, Daniel (whom I met on Threads in those communities) and I wrote a banger of a post over at our Substack hoops project and I would love if you read it. It starts as a discussion of an idiotic and sexist talking point stupid dudes proudly belch out in re: the WNBA but ends up exploring and examining things like toxic masculinity, male fragility, social media culture, self worth, and evangelical Christianity, and includes references to Audre Lorde, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Marvin the Martian.
🌲 gonna Dream
🌼 go vs.
🌱 touch Valkyries
🌳 grass 3:30pm EDT
🌷 now Saturday
Be good to yourself.
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