GingerSass

adding ginger to your sass

GingerSass - adding ginger to your sass

Tag Archives: BlogHer

Happy first birthday, GingerSass.

365 days ago my life changed forever.

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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.

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.

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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!

NaBloPoMo 2012– November 29th: Blogger Lovin’

Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tell us about three new blogs you found this year.

Okay, so I only got back on the blogging bandwagon in March, and I suck at following blogs. Going to BlogHer changed this for me, and it’s helped me be less terrified of RSS feed, following blogs, and feeling like I have blogging homework. It’s really hard for me to select only three blogs, but I’ll share the 3 latest blogs to show up in my inbox.

1. Life With Roozle

Life With Roozle is a wonderful blog run by Casey, who is pretty damn awesome. The blog chronicles her adventures with her ADORABLE daughter Roozle, her wife, MCB, and life in general. This is a totally sappy thing for me to say, but she’s living the life I want to live one day. I don’t think I’ve ever even told her this, but her blog gives me hope for my future, and that one day I’ll live a life filled with my own little family and love.  Plus, Roozle makes awesome plates of food.

2. The Brokins

So I discovered Jasmine and her blog AFTER BlogHer12. I’m really glad I did because she’s pretty awesome, hilarious, and probably my best Arkansas-ian friend ever. (Try to ignore the fact that she’s the only person I know in Arkansas.) I’m really looking forward to seeing her at BlogHer13 this summer, and I really look forward to her posts.

3. Up Popped A Fox

Vikki is hilarious. Most of her posts are slightly, dare I say it, random, but they always make me laugh. We met at BlogHer12. I introduced myself to her after she was tweeting about Laurie‘s boobs during a session Laurie was leading. She said she sometimes forgets other people can see her tweets, we made awkward small talk, and then I left to go get a 9,000th cup of coffee. (True story.) (Well, minus the 9,000 cups of coffee.) The bottomline is Vikki rocks, and you should check out her blog.

I’d list all the other blogs I love but, frankly, I’m exhausted. I need to sleep, as I have to get up in a few hours. You all rock.

NaBloPoMo 2012: November 7th– hot girls, booze, and bacon

Today’s prompt reads

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Talk about the last compliment you received.

Hehe. Well, normally this would be one of my students saying “Miss! Miss! I love your nails/shoes/hair/outfit/etc!” in order to sweet talk their way towards a better grade. (Or, occasionally actually complimenting my style. I’m definitely one of the “younger” teachers which means, by the weird laws of high school mentality, I’m cool. In high school. Which BLOWS MY MIND.) However, since my school has been closed since Hurricane Sandy, I haven’t seen my lovely students in almost 2 weeks. Wah.

The last compliment I received was last night via Twitter. I was in a weird mood awaiting the campaign results, and as a friend complained that he wanted bacon, I realized that I actually had a pack of bacon that had a use by date of November 7th. aka today. Oops. Sooo I decided to cook the entire thing off. In my apartment. While watching the Election results. This resulted in the creation of a #Bacon2012 hashtag, and me sending out a lot of overly-tired, pumpkin beer induced bacon tweets.

I’ve never been so proud of so many people I don’t know. #Bacon2012 for the win!

I also ended up responding to a tweet from the lovely DeadCowGirl  saying that she was cooking. She posted a link to a recipe for braised beef shanks, and I tweeted back that I may show up on her doorstep, begging for her cooking with gifts of bacon & booze. Her response? My last compliment, NaBloPoMo!

So there you have it, folks. I’m a hot chick, and even hotter when I show up on peoples’ doorsteps with gifts of booze and bacon.

I love the women I’ve met through BlogHer. Seriously.

I just finished reading Jenny Larson (The Bloggess)’s book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), and there is an entire chapter devoted to her making friends with girls (bloggers) for the first time. At one point, she says, “…I discovered blogging and found other people online who were misanthropic misfits like me” (Lawson, 169-170).* This perfectly sums up how I feel about the women I met at BlogHer12. While I may seem like I’m able to speak coherently to you folks, I’m letting you in on a painful secret: as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become extremely awkward in social situations. I prefer the safety of texting while standing against the wall at parties, and at the BlogHer Conference in August, although I had the time of my life, I didn’t know how to react when meeting people (take a look at my top ten moments!) or when Big Name Bloggers knew my name.

The women I have met through blogging have helped me gain a voice, and they’ve been the girl friends I never knew I wanted. I’m not afraid to be silly, non-sensical, redunkulous, and me with them. We’re all “misanthropic misfits,” and it means so much to me to have these blogging friends.

So, thank you, DeadCowGirl, for being the inspiration for this NaBloPoMo post and calling me a hot chick.

 

*Yes. I did just cite a quote in MLA format on my blog.

NaBloPoMo 2012: November 1st

I have this tendency to get involved with blogging or life challenges, and I almost always get caught up in life and completely forget about whatever goal I’m trying to accomplish.

A few years ago, I participated in National Poetry Month where you write a poem a day for the entire month of April. I almost didn’t make it out alive.

This time around, I’m participating in NaBloPoMo 2012, otherwise known as National Blog Posting Month 2012. Basically, I have to write a blog every day and add it to the Blog Roll on BlogHer.  I know things have been crazy and I’ve kind of stunk at blogging regularly since student teaching began, but I’m hoping participating in NaBloPoMo will motivate me to get back in the game. Additionally, on weekdays, BlogHer has writing prompts already created and waiting so I can plan ahead and get all of my posts in.

I’m really excited about this, and I hope you are too. Soooo join in on the madness, and enjoy my adventures in NaBloPoMo.

Thursday, November 1, 2012 Prompt:
Tell us your favourite quotation and why.

I hate being asked to choose my favorite anything. My “favorites” constantly change, but this is even more true with quotations. Instead of choosing just one, because I simply cannot, I’ll share 2 that have stood with me for a very long time.

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”
-Albus Dumbledore

“But why different, and how different?”
-Lily Briscoe

Both of these quotations are from literary characters.

The first one, spoken by Albus Dumbledore, and written by J.K. Rowling, expresses the power of words, word choice, and language. There is a certain power associated with language, and the sage character of Albus Dumbledore captures this sentiment perfectly. Words have more power than anything else in the universe, and it’s so incredibly important to remember this.

The second quote, spoken by Lily Briscoe, and written by Virginia Woolf, was something that resognated with me when I was 16 and read my first Virginia Woolf novel (To The Lighthouse) in 11th grade. I was coming to terms with my sexuality at the time, and that book changed my life. Lily Briscoe WAS me, and her crush on Mrs. Ramsay echoed the admiration and awe I felt towards the strong, out women I interacted with on a daily basis. To this day, I will occasionally ask myself the same question Lily asked herself– “But why different, and how different?” I never want to be another person blending in with everyone else, especially as I move forward and grow as a person, a writer, an individual, and an educator. I yearn to be different and stand out, and, hopefully with my words, I am able to do so.

What’s your favorite quotation? Why?