| science | 1,296 words
TAGS: personal essay, mental health, psychology, trauma, escapism, imagination, coping mechanisms
A personal tale living with maladaptive daydreaming--intense, immersive daydreams that replace rather than accompany real life. On Eli Somer's research, the difference between paracosms and maladaptive daydreaming, trauma connections, and how...
| religion | 1,065 words
TAGS: personal essay, Religious Studies, history, anthropology, Ancient Egypt, mythology, philosophy
On Friedrich Max Müller's theory of naturism and how early religion began with humanity's direct sensory perception of natural forces. From the terrifying awe of lightning and thunder to Ancient Egypt's animal deities that protected against...
| 1,725 words
TAGS: personal essay, philosophy, happiness, determinism, IndieWeb, Social Commentary
On the 50/10/40 split of happiness research, the Declaration of Independence's 'pursuit of happiness,' and an exchange with anonymous blogger Unstory about free will, determinism, and whether we can choose joy. A diptych of opposing worldviews...
| 1,525 words
TAGS: personal essay, free speech, Social Commentary, dialogue, philosophy, community, ethics
On the weight and responsibility of words in public discourse. Drawing from John Rawls's reasonable pluralism and Paulo Freire's philosophy that dialogue requires love, I argue for extending grace even to those we disagree with. A reflection on...
| science | 2,057 words
TAGS: science, atmospheric science, natural phenomena, folklore, wonder, scientific mystery
Yes, really. Exploring the magical world of transient luminous events in the upper atmosphere: sprites, elves, blue jets, trolls, pixies, ghosts, and gnomes. How scientists named these barely-witnessed electrical phenomena after folklore, and why...
| technical-tutorials | 2,164 words
TAGS: technical tutorial, writing, minimalism, terminal, Linux, digital minimalism, IndieWeb
On the KISS principle and Pascal's apology for long letters, the cultural shift away from minimalism, and the growing trend of writer decks. A technical guide to creating a distraction-free writing environment by removing the desktop environment...
| 79 words
TAGS: vegan, guest post, Calgary Vegan Society, social, plant-based
A guest post I wrote for The Sprout, the Calgary Vegan Society's blog, about navigating social eating situations as a vegan. From private vs. social eating to practical strategies for restaurants, family dinners, and travel, this guide covers how...
| indieweb | 2,932 words
TAGS: personal essay, IndieWeb, Social Commentary, free speech, community, platforms
After rescinding a recommendation for BlueDwarf, I explore the spectrum of harm across platforms from X to Substack, and argue that not all harm is equal. On free speech absolutism, cognitive dissonance in platform choices, and where we draw...
| writing-craft | 1,189 words
TAGS: personal essay, IndieWeb, blogging, writing, Social Commentary, community
On the shutdown of EchoFeed and the ephemeral nature of services, why I blog (legacy, existentialism, making a mark), participating in AuguStory, academic studies on blogging benefits, and the paradox of 'nobody cares' as both a source of freedom...
| indieweb | 1,424 words
TAGS: IndieWeb, social media, community, platforms, web culture, reviews
After deleting my corporate social media accounts, I've discovered four interesting indie platforms and online communities you might not have heard of: Special Fish, Ctrl + Shift + 3, web1.0 Hosting, and Pillowfort. A look at what makes each...
| culture | 1,961 words
TAGS: Music Review, personal essay, Mental Health, grief, family, suicide, Media Criticism
Ten years after its release, I revisit Sufjan Stevens' Carrie and Lowell, an album about his late mother's mental illness, abandonment, and grief, that's held up a clear, honest mirror to my own life. I trace how Stevens' songwriting about Carrie...
| 1,835 words
TAGS: personal essay, writing, creativity, IndieWeb, philosophy, self-reflection
Trying to figure out what 'the itch' is--my drive to create and contribute to the digital commons. A review of past projects, current interests in Indigenous data sovereignty and self-hosting, and the search for what comes next.
| personal-favourites, culture | 1,175 words
TAGS: personal essay, YouTube, Social Commentary, disability, community, advocacy
Special Books by Special Kids is the most important channel on YouTube. Chris Ulmer and Alyssa Porter's decade-long project interviewing neurodiverse individuals and people with disabilities has created a more inclusive world through radical...
| indieweb | 2,601 words
TAGS: IndieWeb, accessibility, mobile, web development, Social Commentary, UX design
Around 2 billion people access the internet exclusively via smartphones, yet the IndieWeb community largely neglects mobile-first design and phoneblogging UX. A casual survey of writers reveals three approaches to mobile publishing: no...
| indieweb | 1,115 words
TAGS: personal essay, IndieWeb, blogging, community, Social Commentary, web culture
Responding to Dan Q's post on blogging expectations, I argue that you don't need to blog at all to participate in the IndieWeb. Your website can be shrines, art, or anything else. A retrospective on the poisonous gamification and commodification...
| science | 2,350 words
TAGS: personal essay, Technology, Social Commentary, open source, IndieWeb, computing
The desktop computer is a miracle of human ingenuity, from the microscopic precision of Intel's Core Duo processor to the vast possibilities of offline and online computing. On the tragic decline of desktop towers, the IndieWeb and open-source...
| culture | 1,079 words
TAGS: personal essay, video games, Technology, Social Commentary, retro gaming
The video game industry is in a cynical, exploitative state with unfinished AAA releases, microtransactions, rising hardware costs, and studio closures. But there's an alternative I'd like to talk about: indie art games, the growing retro...
| personal-favourites, indieweb | 1,521 words
TAGS: personal essay, IndieWeb, web development, community, blogging, link culture
Responding to Coyote's critique of Bubbles.town and feed aggregators, I argue that the IndieWeb needs more interlinkers--bloggers who meaningfully synthesize and weave together the writing of others. On the garden/stream/campfire metaphors for...
| french | 919 words
TAGS: personal essay, Language Learning, Linguistics, IndieWeb, Technology, Social Commentary
Cet article de blogue est écrit en français. This blog post is written in French. Sur la traduction des termes de l'IndieWeb en français québécois, l'état actuel des ressources francophones (wiki IndieWeb, Vincent Breton, Radio-Canada), la...
| technical-tutorials | 1,731 words
TAGS: eleventy, javascript, technical, tutorial, IndieWeb, beeminder, digital garden
I decided to build brennan.click, a wiki-linked digital commonplace book in Eleventy, with auto-generated stubs created with eleventy-plugin-interlinker, pure-CSS hover transclusion and footnotes with no JavaScript, and a plain-text...