Messyfilter

"I don’t have to be happy for at least another seven years. Think of how much I can accomplish..."

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:36:23 -0800

““I don’t have to be happy for at least another seven years. Think of how much I can accomplish in that time!””

- Overheard

Please support the Genderplayful Marketplace

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 09:25:17 -0800

Please support the Genderplayful Marketplace:

genderplayful:

A marketplace.
Where we sell clothes.
Clothes that actually fit.
In every sense of the word.

Want to see it happen?

Then please support the Genderplayful Marketplace. This is a plan for an online clothing marketplace that celebrates diversity in gender presentation and body types. Genderplayful is for anyone who can’t easily find what they’re looking for in a typical clothing store, with special support for androgynous, unisex, butch, dapper, femme, gender-bending, gender-transgressive, and gender-fanflippingtastic clothing solutions for all kinds of bodies.

Genderplayful cares about custom solutions, and the marketplace will host a lively community that finds and creates those solutions together. Vendors will include indie designers, crafters, clothing makers, tailors, and people selling things from their closets and local thrift stores. Community members will pool notes on what they’re excited about, and vendors will take cues from buyers on what to create more of. The goal is to create a culture-rich gorgeous Internet bazaar for the playful, the exquisite, and the just trying to get dressed in the morning.

About the Fundraiser

If Genderplayful can raise $5,000 in community funding by January 15, 2011, founder Sarah Dopp will commit to making the project a reality. Anything above that baseline number will go toward making the project happen faster and better. (Really, she needs more like $50,000, but she’d rather do it cheaply than wait to do it perfectly.) You can donate at genderplayful.tumblr.com. All financial backers will receive perks based on their contribution level.

Questions? Many are answered over here.

Curious about what others are saying? Check out the genderplayful.tumblr.com for the stream of letters and comments.

A Genderplayful Marketplace – Do you want it?

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 23:07:29 -0800

A Genderplayful Marketplace – Do you want it?:

jhameia:

I want to build an online marketplace for gender-variant clothing solutions.

Not a store where I sell to you, but a service like Etsy and Ebay where we sell to each other, in a focused, supportive community. And while we’re at it, we also trade all sorts of tips and inspirations on how best to look the way we want, gender-be-damned.

You know what I’m talking about. Tuxes for hips and breasts. Size 16 extra-wide high heels. Custom alterations, custom orders, custom tailoring. Hot unisex indie designer labels. Hand-made t-shirts. That awesome skirt from your closet that doesn’t fit you anymore. A good chest binder. That amazing jacket you found at a thrift store for $5 that you want to resell. And while we’re at it, let’s bring in styles from every subculture that celebrates androgyny, which is pretty much all of them.

Um, YEAH FUCK YEAH.

*GRIN* Thank you!

easy, but not obvious. (my new motto)

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:30:30 -0800

easy, but not obvious. (my new motto)

My mom’s been saying I live out loud. It comes out like a mix between love and justification,...

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:02:32 -0800

My mom’s been saying I live out loud. It comes out like a mix between love and justification, like it’s my life goal, and I always thought it was a cop-out of a perspective. Living out loud is like being a writer — in fact, it probably is being a writer — and the trouble with being a writer is that it only works if you have something worthwhile to write about. Living out loud is meaningless and narcissistic unless it’s paired with a more worthy cause.

But now I see it differently.

Sincere presence is challenge and cause enough.

"“Sarah Dopp taught me how to reach out and connect to people, and I watched her make her..."

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:11:00 -0800

“

“Sarah Dopp taught me how to reach out and connect to people, and I watched her make her dreams happen, and make other people’s dreams happen, at Genderfork. And when she noticed the way that she brought people together, and realized that she loved it, she took to helping other people do that very same thing. When she knows where she wants to go, she jumps, and she falls, and she believes in the net (the Net) that will catch her.

“I don’t believe in the net, though I haven’t told her so. I believe that when she falls, she flies.”

”

- Follows The Sun - Human Heliotrope

"I miss your promises. I miss the lottery, the “We Just Sold a Bridge!” sushi celebrations, the..."

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:14:30 -0700

“

I miss your promises. I miss the lottery, the “We Just Sold a Bridge!” sushi celebrations, the what-if games, the scheming, the adventures. I miss how casual you were when you announced you were taking me out of school for the seventh grade to travel the country. And I miss how hard you fought for it when the rest of us told you: No way. I miss your self-made cliché one-liners: Know your environment, respect your environment, but don’t fear it. I miss watching new doors open just because you knocked on them. I miss your ego, your pride, your disregard for assumptions and expectations, your frankness, your vision, the laws you constructed for the people in your world, your kingdom. You named me princess for a reason, and I always hated that name, but sometimes I do miss our castle.

I think you’d be proud of me. I’m smart like you. I find the holes in the rules and exploit them to my advantage, like you did. I love lots of people, like you did. I learn new technology and I use it, like you did. I make up my own titles and I tell people how I’m valuable, just like you used to. And whenever I’m not sure about where I am, I stop what I’m doing and go on an adventure. Just like that. Just like you.

”

- Dopp Juice » Blog Archive » El Dia de Los Muertos

Dear net, We still have that deal where after I leap, you appear, right? Just wanted to make sure....

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:18:38 -0700

Dear net,

We still have that deal where after I leap, you appear, right? Just wanted to make sure. I might need to take you up on that soon.

Hey, if you ever wanted to try switching the order up so that you go first… No? Okay, sure, yeah, we can do it the traditional way. That’s cool.

Thanks again, Sarah

wandering through craigslist

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:15:00 -0700

i want a big house with high ceilings and lots of sunlight.

a large common room with magnetic whiteboards on the walls and desks and comfy chairs and computers.

a big kitchen. a big wooden dining room table. a big garden. a dishwasher.

bedrooms everywhere. outdoor cottages.

a tv room. a big porch. a hot tub.

a big body of water nearby. the ocean? a lake?

a house full of people. techies. artists. queers. activists. sex positives. quirkyalones. brilliants. independent world-changing dreamers with overactive work ethics and a long-term hot romance with the internet.

close enough to everything but far enough away.

our own little collective destination.

how’s next year sound?

The person who showed me how to write to live just emailed me after a dozen years of us being lost from each other

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:56:15 -0700

i wrote back the story of how she changed everything, plus…

Yes, please.

Sarah

my head fell off my body and i’m looking for it in a sink full of dishes and an empty...

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 10:52:36 -0700

my head fell off
my body and i’m
looking for it in
a sink full of
dishes and an empty
suitcase but it’s not
there.

i have to drive i have my reasons, dear it’s cold outside i hate the seasons here i suffer...

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:05:00 -0700

i have to drive
i have my reasons, dear
it’s cold outside
i hate the seasons here

i suffer mornings most of all
i feel so powerless and small
by 10 o’clock i’m back in bed
fighting the jury in my head

we learn to drive
it’s only natural, dear
we drive all night
we haven’t slept in years

- Amanda Palmer, Have to Drive

How badly I want to drive for five days on a highway that looks forever like Nebraska just to talk to the windshield and find out what I’m coming home to.

They say don’t go alone.

They don’t understand that’s the point.

I am on a horse. MOO!

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:03:29 -0700

I am on a horse. MOO!

Those kids are disco dancing. They’re tired of rock...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:17:00 -0700

Those kids are disco dancing.
They’re tired of rock ‘n roll.
Don’t bother telling them that drum machine ain’t got no soul.

We can’t rewind, yeah we’ve gone too far.
The Internet killed the video star.

Friending vs Following

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:30:18 -0700

Friend: I'm guessing you have this same problem: a lot of people feel a lot closer to me than I feel to them.

Me: Yeah, I get that from blogging. But I also have the reverse problem. I can have great, intimate conversations with a person just once or twice a year, and consider them one of my closest friends because of it... but then they look at me like I have three heads when I say something about it... like, "What do you mean? We never see each other."

Secrets that are True in my head

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:07:53 -0700

I want to find more people who believe these things.

“God,” “The Universe,” and “The Internet” can often be used interchangeably, and hold similar conceptual roles. (Interconnectedness, ask and ye shall receive, endless opportunity, love love love, bigger than anything and adjusting to take care of us, praying = twittering, and so on.)
Everything is a game.
There is no such thing as Not Doing Work.
We write our own job descriptions, even when it looks like we don’t.
Pain is exciting, because it usually means growth and change.
People are fascinating and wonderful. Even the ones who piss us off.
The hardest thing is that there are too many possibilities.

Good Morning. This is what I'm having for breakfast.

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:28:53 -0700

A small glass of orange juice from bed while I watch a yummy man get dressed.

A cup of coffee — with a sesame seed floating in it and little soymilk that’s two weeks old — made from a coffee pot that was in pieces this morning. I had to fish the plastic filter cup out of the trashcan. It was disposed of by my non-coffee-pot-operating lover who cleaned up my place while I was gone.

An everything bagel (or at least sesame and poppy seed) split and toasted, one side with cream cheese and one side with peanut butter because I ran out of cream cheese.

Some water.

A saturated gmail inbox that hasn’t been dealt with in 8 days.

Some Steve Earl on Pandora.

A pile of notes from a week of travel, none of which fully answer the question of what’s next.

A mix of comfort and emptiness still lingering from that night of sleep. It felt so good to be in my own bed. Those soft sheets. And his big warm arms were there that make me melt. But I felt so lost in my dreams. I mean really — I think I dreamed about being lost. That sense of focus, urgency, and determination I usually come home with wasn’t there, and I’m digging for it. But really, I’m just a craving for a road trip so I can keep going. I spent a week out there, but I was sick for most of it, so my work isn’t done yet. I have so much more to figure out.

A half-formed question on the back of my tongue about how I can ask the world for a new person to be close to who already shares my secrets.

An effort to contribute to this context-evolving audience-unfocused expression platform. Livejournal turned Twitter turned Public Blog turned Melissa’s Inbox turned Tumblr turned Long Winding Highways turned Twitter turned Melissa’s Inbox turned Detached One-Night Stands turned Livejournal turned Paper Notebook turned Tumblr. C’mon, Tumblr. I believe in you. Let’s talk about the mundane things that no one will want to read. Like what I had for breakfast.

Walkabout: New Hampshire foliage, followed by three days running...

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:53:00 -0700

Walkabout: New Hampshire foliage, followed by three days running around Massachusetts, finding friends.

Traveled: Tuesday to Tuesday, which somehow saved me $200 against any other day of the week. Flew Virgin America (push a button, get a cookie). Also rented a car, because hell, I saved $200, and driving is the best part of anything.

Reorganized: a bunch of project plans, including the whole What I Want to Be When I Grow Up Or At Least For the Next Two Years… thing. Social media pal reminded me that my self-written job description doesn’t have to include the things I don’t want to do. Obvious advice. Massive revelation.

Saw: lots of fambly, parent’s new lake house, the Berkshires, Northampton, Boston, a good friend of my partner’s, my first girlfriend (who’s not so much a girl anymore), my assistant, none of my New Hampshire friends (sorry guys), and a social media marketing colleague (who took me to The Social Network).

Thought: I avoid many people and projects because I’m prone to total immersion, and that sometimes overwhelms me. Or is hard to extract myself from.

Also thought: I need a cross-country road trip. Maybe next month.

Back to Messyfilter

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:20:00 -0700

Me: I have to start writing an article a week, and my writing muscles are way rusty.

Emma: You need a place where you can write about whatever you want, for an audience, but where you're not focused on the audience.

Me: That used to be livejournal. Now it's Melissa's inbox.

Emma: That's great. But Melissa doesn't count.

"A note from Kevin Marks: I liked this bit in Cory(Doctorow)’s Makers book: “Here’s..."

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:28:07 -0800

“

A note from Kevin Marks: I liked this bit in Cory(Doctorow)’s Makers book:

“Here’s what being a career activist means: you are on the road most of the time. When you get on the road, you meet people, have intense experiences with them—like going to war or touring with a band. You fall in love a thousand times. And then you leave all those people behind. You get off a plane, turn some strangers into best friends, get on a plane and forget them until you come back into town, and then you take it all back up again.

“If you want to survive this, you’ve got to love that. You’ve got to get off a plane, meet people, fall in love with them, treasure every moment, and know that moments are all you have. Then you get on a plane again and you love them forever. Otherwise, every new meeting is sour because you know how soon it will end. It’s like starting to say your summer-camp goodbyes before you’ve even unpacked your duffel-bag. You’ve got to embrace—or at least forget—that every gig will end in a day or two.”

”

- Cory Doctorow on being a Career Activist - pistachio’s posterous