ending 2022 with gratitude, looking toward 2023 with purpose

david wolfpaw

Issue # 🤷

16 Dec 2022

Reading time:

7 mins

You may have noticed that the past few newsletters that I’ve sent have been separated by more than a week, including this one where I took a holiday break.

I’ve been working on building out a better process for making newsletters, to streamline it a bit and still make time to keep them interesting. Creating things is hard!

My mind has moved a lot lately to creating. I have realized that there is a not terrible chance that people will actually help fund me to do the fun creative things that I want to do for a living. I’ve thought about this for a decade now, and am planning on making 2023 the year where it happens.

I want to talk about the weird internet! I want to build things and help educate and share with others! I want to make art that means something to me and inspires and brings joy to others.

I’m incredibly thankful that people already like what I do online, and that spaces exist to share and grow with one another. I keep putting off some of these projects, because as I said, creating is hard. Still, it brings some meaning to my life, and my goal for 2023 is to bring it to others as well.

Separate of all of this, I had a lovely set of holidays with friends, family and partners. I have been feeling extra mushy lately, and while my mood shifts constantly and I am far more fatigued than I’d like to be, I try to retain gratitude for those around me. My friends and partners are amazing, and while writing this I’m feeling tremendous love for them.

I look forward to seeing you all in the new year, and want to be there for you as much as you are for me. Stay awesome, and keep spreading love 🥰

A group portrait (left to right) of Devvy, Teagan, Mattie, Styxx, BowieBarks (that's me!), LuciFur, Shooshy, and Selindae. The portrait is drawn fursonas, on a green bubble background. — A group portrait (left to right) of Devvy, Teagan, Mattie, Styxx, BowieBarks (that’s me!), LuciFur, Shooshy, and Selindae. Created by the wonderful Reaux.

📚

How to Replace the Sky – Matt Huynh, The Verge

A great example of the medium shaping the message. A comic about AI in art, using some examples of how it affects the artist and their message.

The Dragon Maker – Amy Clare Fontaine, Zooscape

A story about art and commerce, in a web zine that I’ve never heard of

Are two thirds of young people “cyber-deviants”? A dive into a dodgy study. – stavvers

A better response to a Guardian scare piece about “risky online behavior” among young people, and how poorly the data is gathered and skewed.

Victoria 3 Players Think Communism Is Too OP – Sisi Jiang, Kotaku

Or maybe it actually is 😈

Tiny Snippets of Code That Changed The World – Clive Thompson

I definitely want to read this book. What I take away from this article is what I am thinking when I say, “value people over code”: it’s not the complexity of the code that matters, but the simplicity of the idea that it conveys.

A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate – James Temple, MIT Technology Review

Oh good, this isn’t literally the plot of multiple dystopic sci-fi stories at all.

📽

The Gay Actor Who Brought Batman to Life: Remembering Kevin Conroy

I never knew about Kevin Conroy’s life until after his death. The voice of Batman was a real hero.

The Gay Body Image Crisis

It’s easy to say love your body the way it is, and hard to actually do it. Especially in a world that is acculturated to not love it either.

Horns – Animated Short Film

Cute furry animations always get me

No Contact

Same as the above, this time an animation from a friend who has been doing some cool artistic things this year

How Belgium Nearly Invented The Internet

Ideas sometimes just need the technology to come along

The Internet Changed Me

Same James, same. Maybe not quite as much or in the same way as you, but I think that I can relate.

Why It’s So Hard To Imagine Life After Capitalism

Remember, it is possible, and that future can be closer than we think.

Why You Don’t Actually Own Anything Under Capitalism

Pair with the previous video, and why all of the renting and streaming and leasing is bad for us.

🎧

S9 E11. HOPE – Flash Forward

The end of an eight year run. I love Flash Forward. I will miss it.

Why is Kanye West Trying to Bring Milo Back? w/ Robert Evans – Internet Hate Machine

Pair this with Bridget Todd’s other discussion about the nothingness of the “Twitter Files”.

What Is Mastodon, and Could It Replace Twitter? – 2 Girls 1 Podcast

Yall know that I’ve been on Mastodon for close to six years now. I don’t want it to replace Twitter. I just want to have a nice place where folks can meet and hang out and do all of the positive social media things. I know that it’s not perfect, but it’s been the best for me so far.

Also, I appreciate the shoutout that was given to me and my partners on the holiday episode. More polycule love please!

How Viruses Have Shaped Our World with Joseph Osmundson – Factually! with Adam Conover

Not just the current, obvious one, either

for we knew what it meant. [ambient]

Their new single, BLOOM, is out this morning and available on Bandcamp, along with the rest of their wonderful discography.

If you made it this far, why not share this newsletter with a friend? Or share with me some of the things that you found that you liked this week. Either way, I’m thrilled!