Browsing Tag

social media

Hipstercrite Life, Thirty-something, Writing

My blog died & then it came back & I thought I should write a post

Last week I realized my site was gone.
Kaput.
Sent to the graveyard of neglected blogs.

I contacted my hosting company, Bluehost, who said, “Sorry you missed a payment and your blog is gone-gone. Like, we totally put it on a row boat, set it on fire, and pushed it out to sea.”

Upon hearing that my blog was dead, a calmness washed over me.

I wasn’t angry or sad–I was mostly stunned.

I’ve had this blog for at least 12 years (I’m too lazy to see when I started it) and losing it felt like a little piece of me drifting into the ether. It is the digital record of my early days as a single, emotionally loud twenty-something assistant living in Los Angeles who moved to Austin to become a writer. It chronicles my slow evolution from working three part-time jobs seven days a week to becoming a working professional to meeting my partner (who I’ve now been with for 8 1/2 years) to writing a movie with him to becoming a full-time writer. The blog is also my repository of pop culture ramblings, (more…)

September 16, 2019 by
Hipstercrite Life, Thirty-something

The Secret to Enjoying the Internet: Pretending to be Your Cat

I love my cat.

I love my cat in the way that most childless 30-something women do: whole-heartedly, unconditionally and a little creepily.

When I look at my cat, FatFace, a former feral with three teeth and mouth herpes, my heart bursts with pure joy. There are no cats cuter than my cat, I whisper to myself. Every pose she makes is pukingly cute and therefore must be photographed and shared online. In attempt not to overload my friends who look at me with great sadness in their eyes, I decided to create an Instagram account for FatFace from FatFace.

But her account was also born out of the bloody aftermath of the 2016 election. Tired of participating in and watching poop slinging from both the left and right and everyone in between, I decided that losing myself in the blissfully ignorant personality of my apolitical cat was a better place to be than the hell we humans had created for ourselves. The more I masqueraded as my cat and the less I added to social media (more…)

May 31, 2018 by
Hipstercrite Life

Why social media silence on Paris doesn’t equal apathy.

I wrote a piece over on my Medium channel regarding social media and the Paris attacks.

I wanted to bring it over here as well.

In light of the tragedy in Paris, as I stared wide-eyed at the news trickling in, I wrote this on my Facebook and Twitter pages:

“When one doesn’t post on social media about tragic events, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care. They might choose to reflect or mourn in private.”

Adding to the worldwide conversation felt trivial, needless. Writing the standard “My thoughts are with Paris” or “ Hold your loved ones closer tonight” felt like understatements. Changing my photo to the French flag felt meaningless. There is nothing I can offer to my social media community at this time, nor do they need to confirm how sad and frustrated I am. They feel the same way.

(I am not judging those who choose to express their grief this way; for me, it just doesn’t feel right.)

However, a concern that pops up- a concern that one shouldn’t be entertaining (more…)

November 16, 2015 by
Writing

Why you should have a blog

Hipstercrite

LinkedIn recently notified me that I was celebrating a work anniversary: Hipstercrite is six years old.

In truth, this blog is seven years of age; it was conceived from a volatile relationship between me and Los Angeles. Eight people read the site then. It was called PlasticLA, and I mostly wrote passive profiles on the men who dumped me (I’ll never forget that one asshole who thought he was James Joyce).

Six and half years ago is when I left my career in Los Angeles and moved to Austin to work on my writing. My first year in Austin I worked two jobs and a total of 60-70 hours a week, but I made sure to chronicle my adventures of being a stranger in a welcoming city. Everything about Austin inspired me; the local community helped revive my creativity, which had laid dormant for the five years I was in the City of Angels.

And I guess I’ve never stopped writing on this damn thing. Some months I’ve written multiple times a week; some months I’ve written only once a week (like (more…)

May 4, 2015 by