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Daily Archive for December 4th, 2007
The Future of Feministing!
As Feministing approaches its fourth year anniversary (April 2008!), the gals and I have been giving a lot of thought to the future of the site and what we’d like to accomplish.
I know we’ve alluded before to big changes on the site, and we were waiting for the right moment when we had everything together, to announce them. So here’s the deal, dear readers.
We’re doing a redesign–hopefully to be completed by the new year–that will change Feministing from a blog to a community site where readers and commenters can create their own profiles, blogs, and more. It’s going to bad ass. Here’s just a sampling of stuff that Feministing readers will be able to do when the upgrade is complete:
Create personalized profile pages with (if you’d like)personal info like a photo, interests, your location; a list of all of your comments; a list of posts, forums, and comments that you recommend;
Create your own blog housed on Feministing (if you’re unfamiliar with diaries, check out sites like DailyKos and MyDD) that other readers and commenters will have access to;
Rate posts and comments that you like, and see Feministing posts and diaries that are highly recommended by other users.
And so much more.
We’re really excited about this, because it means that we’ll be community-building, not just blogging. Now, anyone can sign up to create their own diary–but as part of our ongoing effort to bridge online and “real life” activism, we’re also going to be inviting certain women’s organizations to start diaries that we’ll highlight on Feministing. We’re hoping that this will not only help to shine a light on the important work that women are doing across the country, but that it will also get these organizations more involved in online work. But most importantly, we want to do this upgrade so that we can open up Feministing to everyone who wants to get involved. Whether it’s writing a blog, advocating for an organization, or just reading–we want Feministing to be a one-stop online activism shop.
Here’s where you come in. Part of the reason we started taking more ads was so we could afford this upgrade and, in the future, start to pay our writers and tech folk (who do this all for free). We’ve estimated that the upgrade (software and pay for techies) is going to cost us around 5k–no small amount. So were asking for your help. If you come to Feministing and enjoy our content, please, consider making a donation. We want to create the best site that we can for our readers, but we can’t do it alone. If you can’t make a donation, consider sending our call for cash out to feminist friends.
All of us here hope you’re as excited as we are about the upcoming changes to Feministing. We’ll be answering questions in comments about the upgrade–so feel free to ask away.
Thanks, as always, for all of your support. It’s the readers and commenters of Feministing that inspired this move, and we wouldn’t be anywhere without you. Kisses.
Posted by Jessica at 03:33 PM | in Feministing | Comments (47) | TrackBacks (0) Share this post:
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G and I ran as we usually do. We ran about 4 miles, in the falling snow, over the plowed drifts, getting more of a workout than I planned. Guinness, of course, sailed over the plowed piles as if they were not even there. I wish you could see it. She tucks her ears back, like she does when she is work mode, and sails over the piles just like you would imagine a cartoon dog would. It’s wonderful. I was slow today, but I enjoyed my run so very much. I love snow, I love winter, I love running in winter, and I love my dog. Pure life. Pura vida. La vie comme il faut. Sigh.
I ran my 2 miler on the treadmill today. It was uneventful and I had a slight case of shin splints (I just could not seem to get the incline just right). Regardless, I am feeling much better today, no more running nose, no congestion, no aches or pains. I was even in the mood to put up some Christmas decorations around the house after I came home from work. The Christmas tree is up without any lights or ornaments and the cat just absolutely loves it! I’m trying to figure out how to keep the cat from climbing onto the Christmas tree - I think I am going to lose this battle…. Anyway, why am I not freaking out about this marathon yet?
Sorry this took so long… With family and travel and my car getting hit in the parking ramp while I was gone, time sort of slipped away from me. Not good, I know.
I’ve thought and thought about what I should write. You all know how crazy I am about words. Specifically about finding the perfect word for any given moment. Bonus points if it’s a P word… And I haven’t been able to find the right words for this yet. The overwhelming sense of discovery, pride and pain, emotion and thought that made up the 5 hours 2 minutes and 24 seconds of that race are something that mean more to me than I can describe. Words are failing me when I want to use them the most.
So I’m going to live with this for a while before I try to tell it. And there are many highlights that I want to share too. But most of all I want to say thank you. For your support, advice, love and listening. You were so much a part of everything. I swear there were moments that I could feel you with me, urging me on. I hope I’m not being overly dramatic about all this…
Maybe I do have the perfect word after all: Profound. Bonus points!
