Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

It has been a long climb from the valley of the shadows of the person most likely to post their cereal choices on Facebook, but I made it! A ha!

I may have carpal tunnel syndrome from 8+ years of blogging, composing 30K tweets and hanging out with my 2600 best friends on Facebook, but I made it!

I’ve even come full circle from supporting Chelsa Wagner, to decidedly opposing Chelsa Wagner to receiving a phone call this morning from someone who said Chelsa Wagner recommended me. That’s political blogging at its finest. I may be unfit for politicking, but I’m still fit for politicking?

Anyway, lame attempts at humor aside, this morning I was happy to be included in a little feature by Pittsburgh’s own Pop City Media naming 16 Social Media Mavens to Follow.  Let me be perfectly clear – this is not a “best of” list or the results of a poll or deep analysis. The writer, Marty Levine, selected folks that he thought were interesting and represented a diverse set of voices. If you think he missed someone critical (of course he did), contact him and he’ll add to the list for the next edition. Don’t whine about it. It isn’t personal.  Trust me, after all these years, I can assure you that these things require a certain degree of self-promotion AND good content. And they aren’t fair. But how can 16 of anything be fair when there are more than 500 blogs alone in this region much less social media content creators?

My takeaway is that I can now legitimately add “Social Media Maven” to my LinkedIn profile. That’s good. Actually, I already did that. I can also pester Pop City to create a badge. Is it link bait? Of course. But it is cute, fun and one of the few things that I can have in common with the morphing blogosphere – lifestyle components.

I’m no purist. Purist bloggers don’t survive long. I have an agenda – to not be a second class citizen when I die. If that means writing product reviews and posting badges, fine. Because the deck is stacked against me as a queer woman with a disability. Ironically, I think it is when I explore those facets of my identity – being queer, being a cis gender female and living with a disability – that I generate the most interesting content. And that is what I need people to read.

And when I post photos of my cats (of course.)

So here’s to the interesting quirky side in all of us. Don’t be swayed from your truth when someone looks you in the eye and says “I would never hire you because ” because it always comes around full circle. If you see something that you want, go after it – don’t want for someone to bring it to you. Want to be named to Pittsburgh’s “40 Under 40” – ask someone to nominate you. Want to be on the Pop City list – email Marty. Want to keep blogging? Do it. Make it happen. There’s nothing wrong with ambition even if it is a little superficial. So is a mani/pedi and drinking craft beer and those damned Keurig things. So what? I’ll share the superficial details of my life if it helps create more equality for our family.

At the end of the day, you decide the rules because it is your agenda, your life. Everyone else is just reading along.