What were you doing 5 years ago today? What did you think you would be doing today?
And, because it reminds me of him…
Love and miss you, Buster, now and always. <3
Tag Archives: blog
Happy first birthday, GingerSass.
365 days ago my life changed forever.
I was feeling a bit down and I decided to go to the (now defunct) 2nd Annual Sex, Love, and Dating Conference at Rutgers. After all, it was 5 minutes away, and a lot of my friends were working the event.
I didn’t know what to expect, and my social anxiety prevented me from wanting to make new friends at the conference, so I decided to do what I had done when I was younger: pretend I was a news reporter and super important at an event.
I ended up creating GingerSass and live-blogging the conference. GingerSass had over 300 hits in its first 24 hours of existence. By the end of the week, GingerSass had a domain name, a Twitter account, and me solemnly swearing that I wouldn’t toss GingerSass to the side after a few weeks, like I have done with so many writing projects in the past.
One year later, GingerSass has grown into something I never could have dreamed of. A year ago, I thought GingerSass would just be something to make me feel like less of an awkward turtle at a conference. Now, GingerSass has over 745 Twitter followers, 170 fans on Facebook, and, on average, over 5,000 visitors per month. THAT’S CRAZY TALK.
GingerSass has given me a lot of opportunities this past year I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I attended the BlogHer conference in NYC. I met fellow bloggers and made some amazing friends. I became a National Runner Up to be the Verizon Ultimate Insider. I’ve booked a few appearances and made a bit of money as a poet (unheard of!). I’ve been mentioned on AfterEllen. I’ve interacted with celebrities whose alter-egos have questioned what a celesbian is and why I want to be one. (coughcoughCadyMcClaincough) I’ve also been sent fun things in the mail, including a book from Eden Riegel’s mom. (I’m still finishing it, Lenore! Sorry!) GingerSass is also found in the first few pages of “celesbian” search results on major search engines.
Besides the Z-list celesbianism I’ve managed to obtain, GingerSass has given me a lot personally. It’s helped me grow as both a person and a writer, and it’s helped me get through anxiety, stress, grieving, student teaching, excitement, a hurricane, love, and so much more. It’s helped me become more in tune with who I am, and who I want to be. GingerSass gave me the voice that I kept locked away for so long, and it has helped remind me that I am a strong, independent, incredibly awkward yet endearingly sassy ginger woman.
GingerSass has been one of the best things that has come into my life, and I am forever grateful for what it has evolved into. It wouldn’t be possible without all of you– THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
I’ll be announcing a giveaway at some point this week to commemorate one year of GingerSass. Until then, be sure to like GingerSass on Facebook, follow @THEGingerSass on Twitter, or subscribe to GingerSass using the “Subscribe” button on the side of this page.
Stay tuned for an update– with cake– later tonight! Thanks again for making this past year possible. I really couldn’t have done it without all of you. <3
Oh, and here’s a Hillary Scott (of Lady Antebellum fame) song I found that perfectly sums up how much my life has changed in the year that GingerSass has been around. Blogging and running GingerSass truly has been life-changing for me.
#23til23: The last day of this journey! (Sort of.)
I’m slacking in #23til23 posts because classes started this past week, and I’m lazy.
I also decided to extend my #23til23 journey to be the entire year of 23. This basically means I’ll be taking more chances, trying new things, and mis-categorizing everything as #23til23.
You’re welcome.
Anyways, to wrap up the #23til23 journey, on Friday morning I wrote a letter. It still needs to be edited– a lot– but I wrote a heartfelt letter to my extended family coming out as a blogger and a lesbian.
As I said in the letter, “I’m not sure what’s taken me so long to write you all this letter. Perhaps it’s my laziness, or perhaps, well, it really just is laziness. I’d rather be reading, shopping for new accessories, or baking chocolate chip cookies than writing you all a letter that really shouldn’t affect anything between us.”
I realized this past week that I was turning 23, and one of my biggest fears of 23 was not being true to myself as I graduate grad school, enter the working world, and become a truly legitimate adult. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty open about my sexuality and my blog. I just haven’t found the need to tell my extended family about them because they’re just as much a part of me as my hair color or my height. I don’t write my family letters telling them, “Oh, by the way, I have red hair and my driver’s license says I’m 5’10″.” They just doesn’t seem like necessary facts to state or make a big deal about, which is how I feel about my sexual identity and blogging life.
I am who I am, and minuscule details shouldn’t matter to those who care about me.
After I look over the letter again, edit it a bit, and probably consider not telling my extended family about my blog (sorry if you’re reading this in the distant future after I’ve decided to share it with you!) I’ll probably send it out in an email.
I can only imagine the subject– “I’m a flaming homo,” “I’m coming out,” or “I’m slightly famous on the internet because I’m a celesbian” will probably suffice.
To be honest, this whole coming out thing is kind of weird to me because I’ve actually forgotten that I’m not out to the whole freaking planet. I don’t care about what my extended family thinks, and while I’ll be sad if they don’t accept me, I’m at a place in my life where I’m extremely satisfied with what life has handed me. I’ll be graduating with my M.Ed this year. I had a life-changing student teaching experience. I’m writing and reading poetry again. I am in a healthy, loving relationship. I have the best friends that a girl could ask for. I have a lot going for me, and I’ve never been happier.
So, bring it, extended fam. I’m a flaming homo, and I am a blogger. Welcome to my life.
New year, new layout, new beginnings!
Today I was going to go on a #23til23 adventure to a local botanical garden and hang out in the bamboo forest, writing poetry while I pretended to meditate. Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat and a cold so I ended up sleeping and medicating instead of writing and meditating.
Somehow, in between doses of tea, soup, tylenol, and cold medicine, I (probably in a state of delusional being) decided to completely redo the layout and feel of my site. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, and I finally decided to just take the leap. (I also thought the revamp Casey did at LifeWithRoozle was really awesome and I had a bit of pretty-blog envy.)
The result? Well, you’re looking at it. With a few tweets of feedback from my friend Dana of The Dragyn’s Lair I settle on the orange highlights. Bada bing, bada boom, and GingerSass is now looking fresher and sassier than ever! It’s a really great way to start off the new year, and a really great part of my #23til23 journey!
Much to my surprise, the new layout allows my blog to show up a lot nicer on smartphones and other mobile devices.
What do you think of the new layout?
2012: A Year in Review
Tonight is the last Friday night of 2012, exactly one week after the world was supposed to end. A lot has happened in 2012, and I decided to highlight everything significant that happened to me this year, month by month.
It’s been one heck of a year at GingerSass.
January
Not much happened in January. I turned 22, which was actually a better birthday than my 21st. My friend convinced the bartender at a local bar that I should be given a free bottle of champagne because my 21st coincided with a blizzard and I didn’t get to celebrate. I received a stuffed unicorn and zebra print seat covers from my parents. I, once again, pleaded to Ellen as to why we should celebrate our birthday together and she ignored me. Ya know, the usual.
February
I made it onto PostSecret for the first time. Whitney Houston died and I was devastated so I wrote a poem. Ryan Murphy pissed me off so I wrote him an angry tumblr post turned into a letter, which he never responded to.
March
March was a very important month for me– I STARTED GINGERSASS! (All of the posts posted before March 25th were transferred from my tumblr site.) Fun fact– GingerSass was started because I was pretending to be an investigative reporter at the Sex, Love, and Dating Conference. Also, Adrienne Rich died, which devastated me. A lot.
April
April freaking rocked. Highlights of the month include:
-volunteering with NOH8 and later being featured on their website
-meeting Frank Warren at my first PostSecret event
- saw an opera and a concert in one week
-my Poefy (poetry-wifey) was fantabulous in The Vagina Monologues and I wrote about it
May
May was a good month for me. Obama came out in support of gay marriage. I won an award. I graduated college. Life was pretty awesome to me in May.
June
June was an interesting month. I started it out writing about suicide after finding out that the partner of my friend who had committed suicide also committed suicide. I wrote a bunch of 10 Minute Musings for a grad class and reconnected with myself. I came out to my family as a blogger, with the support of Cady McClain, aka Dixie from All My Children. I even inspired her alter-ego, Suzy F*cking Homemaker, to create an internet meme. Suzy also encouraged me to write a post on why I want to be a celesbian…so I did. I also booked and performed my first paid poetry gig, which was pretty darn awesome.
July
July started off with a roadtrip to Massachusetts with Poefy to the wedding of Taylor and Mike. I basked in the glory of cheeseball goodness. (This post is still one of my most-visited posts, btw.) I fell in love with my job over the summer. I also figured out What Obama Taught Me. I indulged in Restaurant Week. Then I got serious about my blog, invested in an actually site host, got free magnets, and was overwhelmed by the idea of going to BlogHer. I also posted about teacher dress codes, which is also one of my most-visited posts of all time.
August
August started off with me going to BlogHer’12 and MY LIFE CHANGING FOREVER. I made so many blogging friends through BlogHer, and I’m going to (eventually) categorize them on her so you can so who I’m reading. I also won a happy hour party in August and celebrated with wings and food at a local bar with my friends. Woohoo! To top August off, I started my new job, got an apartment to go along with it, and ruminated on why Res Life will always be a part of me.
September
September was an emotional, crazy month. I had an awesome first week of September. I was a national runner up to be the next Verizon Ultimate Insider, mentioned on AfterEllen, and yogurt was on sale. I made it through the one year deathaversary of my friend’s suicide, and I participated in yet another walk for dead people. September was emotional, tough, and trying, but I got through it.
October
October started off with me reflecting on how much I love my car. I also met Jack Hanna, which was a childhood dream come true. I had a kickass lesson on bullying on National Coming Out Day and fell even more in love with teaching. I went to the Dodge Poetry Festival for the first time as an educator, and I helped my students fall in love with poetry. I met Geena Davis and she told me, “You’re changing the world to be a place I want to be in. Keep up the good work.” I saw Melissa Etheridge in concert. I survived Hurricane Sandy, was really upset that Sandy canceled Halloween, and was upset by the whole Sandy experience.
November
November feels like such a long time ago. I participated in NaBloPoMo for the first time and wrote about how I’m a Jersey girl, how Sandy domesticated me, and what Obama’s win meant to me. I also talked about bacon, ghosts, and just how important it was that I found my voice again by going to poetry open mics. I cut my hair, took silly webcam pics, and thought about my future. I ended my first NaBloPoMo experience by being grateful for stickers, and really having peace in knowing that I’m on the right track for what I want to do with my life.
December
December flew by. I think the biggest thing that happened to me this month, right before my student teaching internship ended, was that I realized why I want to teach. I arranged for an assembly for my Creative Writing students, and it really changed my relationship with them forever. It taught one student to not be afraid to be who she is, and this, in return, encouraged me to come out to her. She then wrote me a note and made me cry. Then the Newtown, Connecticut shooting happened and it hit really close to home, as it was the first school shooting that has happened since I began student teaching. My students asked me if I would take a bullet for them, and I was able to respond honestly and say yes. Student teaching ended, and I managed to make it to the parking lot after school before crying. I got creeped out by the whole Elf on a Shelf phenomenon, but secretly loved my creepy little elf.
2012 was a year of growth. I rediscovered my writing identity, and GingerSass became a very large part of who I am. I’m grateful for the opportunities blogging has given me this past year, and I cannot wait to see what 2013 holds.
Happy New Year, folks! What are you looking forward to in 2013?
PS I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attend or not, but if you’ll be at home this NYE, consider joining in on #Tweetin13. There are prizes, fun people, and it’s hosted by two of my favorite ladies. Get on it!