20 Years? Holy Shit!
Twenty years ago today, I began blogging. This site's been attacked and hacked, but somehow I'm still doing this.
Apparently, it was twenty years ago today that I first decided to sit at a keyboard and type out a post for a weblog, or blog, after being targeted by fascists for my media activism, still in its infancy at the time. Years of microblogging would also follow, in a changing social media landscape I cover in-depth elsewhere on this site.
Where you are now is the result of bits and pieces of a site salvaged across the years. Some posts are a little broken, and I'm now in the process of fixing them as I finally grow up and take on site maintenance myself, and utilise different providers to the ones that were used in the past. Therefore, your patience is appreciated. Please do excuse the mess.
Yes, it's an online space that's as battered and bruised as I am. Actually, in fairness, it's probably suffered greater damage than me over time. Aside from fascists targeting it, there were other attacks it suffered. It began years ago, but it hasn't always been online in that time, and not every shred of content has been, or can ever be, recovered.
There was the time someone gave me their word they'd allow payments to come from my funds via their bank account (when I was technically homeless and didn't have one) for an agreed period of time, only to renege on the deal and abruptly pull the plug, taking my website entirely offline without notice. My longtime friend The Artist D got it back up and running for me.
There was the occasion when my entire site was wiped out; vanished; seemingly attacked. Again, it was The Artist D who got me back on track.
As you may have read elsewhere, my life's been fairly interesting, in the sense of travel, and upheaval, risks taken that never paid off, trust in people never warranted, and periods of time of homelessness and near bankruptcy. But I've always tried to recognise the privileges I do have. One of them was having friends such as The Artist D. And then of course there is my partner who has remained with me for a dozen years (I mean, my goodness, anyone who knew me twenty years ago wouldn't have grasped such a dedicated unbelievable union was possible for me!).
But there's also the people who visited my site, supported my media activism, and encouraged me to keep going. Hey, you: thanks!
I'm going to be much more active on this site that's had a nifty facelift; yes, complete revamp from the front and back (oh my!) You'll find posts about all kinds of issues and topics I'm keen to tackle as we endure Late Capitalism in what The Artist D calls "The Roaring Twenties." (Oh yes, the similarities between this and the last "Roaring Twenties" are quite uncanny, as I'll post about soon!)
I hope you'll enjoy. Consider subscribing!
You can help keep me online by going here.
And check out TheArtistD.com! (Thanks, D: How ever would I have got to this milestone without you?!)