I have A Very Special Announcement for all of you.
If you follow me on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook, you already know it.
That’s right! On Monday, in honor of the AMC reboot, I’ll be hosting a #SassyAMC Twitter Party!
All My Children is coming back on April 29th, and I want to share the laughter, tears, and love with all of you.
While I know I can hardly wait to see the comeback episode, and I’ll probably watch it at as soon as it’s available online, I want to live-tweet/ watch the episode online with all of you, my loverly fans.
So join me and live-tweet the first episode with me at 8pm EST on Monday, April 29th! Who knows? Maybe there’ll be surprise appearances, prizes, and soapy fun!
You can watch AMC on http://www.hulu.com/all-my-children and itunes. (Hulu is free which is why I’m posting the link.)
Be sure to follow the #SassyAMC hashtag on Twitter or join the TwitGrid party by typing in “SassyAMC” as the party hashtag, me @THEGingerSass as the host, and your twitter username to get in on the fun!
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.
For those of you who didn’t know me in middle school, here’s a fun fact: I stood out like a sore thumb. I’m not just talking about the gawky stage I went through in early puberty. I’m talking about the undeniable love I had for the soap opera All My Children starting when I was 11 or 12.
I was home sick for a few days, and I found myself watching the soap I had made fun of my mom watching so many times before. I discovered the VCR setting (yes, VCR, something today’s 11 or 12 year olds don’t know about!) and recorded the soap every day, watching it by night as I did whatever homework I had. Once I discovered we had SoapNet, we became high-tech and no longer recorded AMC on the ol’ VHS tape. (I actually wore a few out!) I’ve always been an old soul, and I related to (well, understood) the soap more than the silly shows kids my own age were watching. I grew up watching the show. I even incorporated some small aspects of the story lines into my creative writing assignments in school. My secret ambition was to be a writer for All My Children.
I even dragged my family to the local mall for a special charity night so I could meet Aiden Turner, my first crush on the soap. I think I really was crushing on his British accent. (He was eventually replaced by Leven Rambin, Eden Riegel, Alicia Minshew, and Cady McClain.)
I think that mall security guard might be the first photographic evidence of a photobomb in my life. I was probably 13 or 14 here.
He also signed a headshot for me. I scanned it and taped it to my binder. I was convinced the usage of “With Love” was a marriage proposal. HA.
This, along with me receiving All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook as a Christmas or birthday gift in middle school, gave me A Reputation. I wouldn’t say people bullied me, but I certainly got a lot of people busting my chops and saying, “How’s Aiden?!” every chance they got. I never “got” people my own age.
My mom has my copy of this book now. This one is from Amazon. I read this book cover to cover because, as a story lover, writer, and book geek, I wanted to know EVERY LITTLE BIT of the history behind the All My Children I knew. This book gave me the history through 1995, about 6 or 7 years before I started watching. My mom– and this cool thing called dial-up internet– was able to fill in the pieces I didn’t know.
The point of this post (so far) is that the history of All My Children was (and is) very important to me. When it was announced that All My Children was being cancelled, even though I only watched about 2x a week at that point due to my class schedule, I was really devastated. I knew my mom was too so I got us tickets to “A Farewell to Pine Valley” as soon as I saw they would be visiting the State Theatre.
The men of Pine Valley– Walt, Vincent, Jacob, Darnell, Ryan, and Michael!
At one point Walt Willey was answering audience questions RIGHT NEXT TO US. Mom was a bit starstruck. I seized the moment, politely said, “Excuse me, would it be okay if I took an awkward photo of you with my mom?” Mom looked at me like I was crazy as he simultaneously said, “Sure!” I later photoshopped (aka used a fake version of Paint) myself into the photo. I smiley faced mom’s face out because I don’t like to exploit my family members on the internet, but she was smiling that huge. Seriously. He was such a sweetheart.
ANYWAY. Back to the point of my All My children lovefest.
After it was initially cancelled, there were talks of AMC being revived online. Then the talks died and the project was cancelled. The show was left with a major cliffhanger, and a lot of upset fans. (Don’t mess with soap fans, people. They’re crazy.)
NOW, as released a few months ago as the best news ever, All My Children has been revived and will be on Hulu starting April 29th. Understandably, some of the core actors and actresses are unable to return to the show. A lot of the AMC vets are, but a lot aren’t. The reboot of AMC is starting 5 years from the point of where the soap left off, which means, in soap years, the kid characters have aged 8-15 years and the “adult” characters haven’t aged one bit. The reboot also appears to be focusing on the storylines of the “kids,” who are now high school and college aged.
Lots of “fans” are pissed and badmouthing the lovely actors and actresses who play these “kids,” which, frankly, is pissing me off. I’ve avoiding getting involved in the online Twitter wars and badmouthing of actors and actresses because A) it’s stupid and B) I’m just super happy AMC is getting a reboot!
One of my favorite actresses, CadyMcClain, who “liked” my blog on Facebook and helped me come out to my Mom as a blogger, also happens to be a fabulously opinionated woman and blogger. (She’s hysterical. Seriously. Look her up.) She wrote about the ridiculousness of the “fans” going nuts over the “kids,” and I seriously love her for it. It was really awesome to get an “insider’s point of view.”
My favorite part about her blog? She calls out the fans on agism, which made me love her even more.
Okay, really for real, the last thing: I could write a whole ‘nother blog on this point, but let’s just touch on AGISM, shall we? When I was young, I was told I better make it while I was young because there would be nothing for me over 40. Now, thanks to the hard work of a LOT of FABULOUS women, that has totally changed and THANK GOD. But is it me, or does it seem like we are all looking at the kids and giving them a really hard time? The Millennials in particular. Maybe they remind us we ain’t getting any younger, but personally I find them an awesome generation. That’s why I write for policymic.com! I think this generation has so much to share and teach us. I love their VOICE, their liberation, their street savvy, their art. I say BRING IT!
I definitely encourage all of you to check out Cady’s post “Let’s Talk About the Kids (of All My Children).” It’s a great read. If you’re looking forward to the reboot as much as I am, suck it up and embrace the change. We could have been left wondering “Who did JR shoot?” for the rest of our lives.
Oh, and check out this song by the new “Miranda Montgomery,” Denyse Tontz. Cady mentioned it on her blog and now I can’t get it out of my head.
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.
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:
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.
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!
So, I did the impossible the other day. I came out as a blogger to my family. Or, rather, I was outed as a blogger.
Now, let me explain to you that, before the outing, I had been religiously looking up ways to tell my family that I’m a blogger. Through my hours of googling I discovered that there aren’t really any articles or posts on how to tell your family you’re a blogger.
The most relatable quote from her email was “There’s no good reason I haven’t told you about it before…” That pretty much sums up my blogging life in regards to who I’ve shared GingerSass with.
A few days ago, my mom was looking for something in my room while I was at class, and she noticed a box next to my bed. My business cards were poking out of it, and curiosity got the best of her. She paid GingerSass a visit, and when I got home, there was a list of questions waiting.
It actually was exactly like the first time I came out, except she hadn’t found letters about a girl, and I wasn’t being outed as a lesbian. My mom was also really excited and proud of GingerSass. (It took her a bit to come around to me being lesbian!)
I told Mom all about GingerSass, my fan base, how GingerSass came to be, and told her about raising funds to go to BlogHer ’12.
After all was said and done, there only seemed to be one thing that mattered to Mom. She couldn’t believe that Cady McClain’s alter-ego, Suzy F*cking Homemaker, liked the GingerSass Facebook page and gave me some advice.
“DIXIE is a fan of yours?! As in Cady McClain?! WOW!! I’m so proud of you!!!”
The moral of my coming out as a blogger lesson is if Cady McClain “likes” your Facebook fanpage, Mom will be happy with your celesbian blogger endeavors.
Oh, and for those of you wondering, Dad is proud of it as well, Broface asked me a few questions and said, in true brother fashion, that “Gingers Ass” was cool, and my sis said it was “cool” that I had a site.
I’m still waiting for the dog’s verdict.
My Mooshkie Man would rather cuddle with his over-sized flamingo toy than tell me if he likes GingerSass.
