For a fuller view of my writing beyond my recent posts, dive in below and peruse as much or as little as you’d like. I write about a wide range of topics from WordPress to Surrogacy to Photography to Mental Health. Don’t follow me if you want to only hear about a certain topic as I write based on what comes up for me in that moment of time. As always, thanks for reading.
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How do you keep up with the Gutenberg project?
I get this question often and have written about this previously nearly four years ago when the site editor and phase 2 work was getting underway. Thanks in part to the immense amount of work the Sources of Truth are, I must keep up to date across many levels. What follows are the varying levels you can too, depending on the time you have and how much you really want to know. It goes from the highest level to the more atomic items. I don’t go completely granular as that feels excessive. Pathways for information WordPress.org Roadmap (highest level) The WordPress.org Roadmap with…
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two years on
Two years on and grandma is still gone. I burst into quick tears on my birthday listening to her voicemail where she sang to me happy birthday to me years ago (I’m so glad I didn’t pick up). Tonight, she kept me company thanks to old recordings of our conversations as I went on a walk, cooked, and ate dinner. I learned (again) that she loved breakfast for dinner, was protective of her dinner friends, and that her favorite decade was “when she married Bob” in her 20s. She told me all the details about one of her fellow residents…
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Sour options for at home treatment of salivary gland infections
Pardon the overly descriptive title — I’m trying to help anyone who was in my position over the last week get some relief and sometimes accurate titles are what’s needed. I am recovering from a salivary gland infection and, with my last dose of antibiotics today, I wanted to do a little deep dive on a weirder part of recovery: eating sour things to stimulate the salivary glands. While lightly embarrassing, here’s a photo of the mass on the side of my face from the infection (I wore a beanie to try to hide it a bit along with my…
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WordPress 6.5 Source of Truth
Building off of both the public 6.2 Source of Truth, 6.3 Source of Truth, and 6.4 Source of Truth, I’m offering up the next edition for WordPress 6.5, set to launch March 26th, 2024. Compared to prior times, I waited to share this version partially due to time off for my birthday and some hard decisions in the RC phase. As always, I’d recommend staying up to date on the dev notes as those are rolling out (tracking issue, Make Core tag) along with the eventual Field Guide. Feedback is welcomed for improvements for this version and for future versions as I consider how…
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knew it was good
I try not to lug my X100F camera around (I call it my “nice camera”) too often. Over the last month, I’ve mostly opted for a disposable camera or to resist the urge to constantly capture. I had an exception this week driving out to West Seattle with my partner for a walk along Alki beach on a sunny winter day, a lovely Italian meal in a converted log house, and a very random light art walk at Seattle’s Chinese Garden. There’s a hellish section before getting on the highway to cross the West Seattle bridge that I loathe. There’s…
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31
I went on my last short walk of the day a few nights ago, looked up at the sky, and really thought about where I was in the world in the far left corner of the US. It doesn’t feel like my birthday. The days are blending together right now and I feel very in my body in a way that only pain brings. My to-dos are the same each day with a list of ways I’m trying to heal, complete with multiple rounds of icing, hanging, walking, etc. I have two herniated discs in my lower back and it’s…
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cheers, ChatGPT
I’m trying my best to use AI where I can, when I can. Continually, I find it less helpful as a writing tool and wish I could almost teach it how to write like me but with less grammar and spelling errors. It’s been solid for brainstorming but quickly gets repetitive and less useful. The last few weeks though I’ve found two very different and excellent use cases: interpreting MRI results and making a cocktail with very random ingredients I have. I’m dealing with two herniated discs right now and got lost in the sea of disc bulge, disc herniation,…
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Elevators, Add New flow, and WordPress
A few years ago, I was drafting a post for work when I accidentally pressed some magical combination of keys causing the post to be immediately published. My full draft exposed for all to see, including funny lines about “Anne, finish this sentence” in bright red. Before I knew it, notifications and emails were sent and I was left cursing my screen. I’ve never forgotten it. Over the last year, I’ve talked with a wide range of folks about Phase 3 in WordPress: Collaboration. While I summarized some takeaways from a good chunk of those more structured conversations, I’ve been…
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personalized podcast
I saw a brief blurb about a recent NYT article on voice notes and laughed immediately: Elaine Swann, an etiquette expert who teaches classes for adults as well as children, said that voice notes should not be used for lengthy monologues, but only in cases in which “tone is necessary, but a conversation is not” — an apology, for instance. “Exercise self-control,” she said. “Don’t barge into someone’s life with a long-winded voice note.” More detailed messages, Ms. Swann said, should be saved for a phone call, when both parties can actively engage. I immediately texted a pal I notoriously…
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Overlapping problems
Since I’m no longer running the FSE Outreach Program and it’s moving to better days in a new evolution, I sometimes find myself with swirling thoughts and no solid avenue to share. A post on Make Core would be too serious yet keeping it to myself feels unhelpful. All of this is to say, here are some “on my mind” style thoughts as we get deeper into site editing and begin to enter phase 3 mainly in the form of some overlapping problems to address. Each will need their own solutions to match their nuances, but I’m sharing to advocate…
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the symbols of AI
In college, I took a memorable “Symbols and Consciousness” class with Professor James Peacock, a fascinating and brilliant man. He’d stumble into class ready to have a true dialogue rather than sit back and lecture. Symbols inherently raise consciousness and we talked about how symbols show up in society, from team colors to political affiliations. The result is that I’ve never looked at icons the same way and, in my day to day work, run into debates around icons regularly, sometimes in a big way most recently with the Font Library feature or in smaller UI moments. All of this…
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endings
Some books I can only read slowly, each chapter so loaded with insights I want to sit with that I can’t rush through them, despite any inclinations I might have. Soul Mates is one of those, even as it has a noticeable touch of homophobia (fair warning). In the last chapter I read, the following quotes have been left to rumble in my head. In particular, the idea of fate having a place in endings and the feeling of when your soul is asking more from you in a relationship, including in ending your own or facing endings. “The ending…
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don’t have time
I seem to have an internal clock that has me always feeling late or behind. It must be genetic. My dad and I often sat in the car waiting for my mom and brother to get ready growing up. The engine was on, my dad was ready to back up at a moment’s notice, and they were nowhere to be found. When I started to get to know my birthmom, I noticed too how we both showed up early, somewhere in the 5-10 minute range depending. For me, sometimes I’d get there hours early, nervous about driving up from San…
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Celebrating the very first LGBTQ+Press Empowerment Grant
I learned WordPress because someone else took the time to teach me. Lots of “someones” actually and that continues to this day as I join release squads, branch into new areas of the project, and find the years adding up. My learning mainly happened when I was being paid, which is a privilege not available to everyone. I want to pay it forward every day I work on this project. How can I ease barriers? Inspiration struck and I’m excited to announce the very first LGBTQ+Press Empowerment Grant that aims to bring more LGBTQ+ folks into the WordPress project with…
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exactly
Sometimes typing on a computer feels so good and so properly expressive that it feels as if I’m playing a beautiful song on the piano. Each word, each sentence building and crescendoing to communicate exactly what I want.
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fill
At the start of the last week, I felt like a damaged plane looking for a safe spot for a landing with only so much fuel left to figure out what to do. I landed very safely and with lots of support after a brutal week. I slept hard. I napped because I could. I cancelled trips (and found out about a new work one). I slowly worked out. I went on long walks in nature with loved ones. I moved things around on my to do list to future dates, only focusing on what absolutely needed to be done.…
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contrast
It’s felt like a year of contrast: Staying put in Seattle yet leaving and exploring. Friendship heartbreak and falling in love steadily. Slowing down yet so, so much anxiety. A year of strong habits and chosen newness, like tea time. I traveled to Spain (twice), Greece, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, and very briefly Austria for a hike. I finally made it to Montana and hiked through fall colors nestled against big mountains with a wonderful human by my side. I camped outside next to that same person, awake all night and so happy to be there. I met my mom’s Danish…
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What parts of WordPress would you like to explore more if you could?
Learning from the experience with FSE Outreach Program, I’m using WordPress Playground to setup easy feature demos and am seeking input for areas folks want to explore.
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try
One day after I made us coffee, I asked her: “What’s the secret to being successful in your 90s?” “Just try, dear. So many people are old at 60. They just want to sit all day. You won’t make it to 90 like that. You have to try.” “Try what?” “Try walking,” she said. “Try gardening. Try cooking. Trying doesn’t require a lot of trying. Just try a little. Like, with this coffee you’ve made us. I know you tried.” From At 93, Teaching Me About Possibility I am at the age where it’s clear to me those who have…
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joyful flow state
I love a simple problem. They feel like a gift to quickly solve. With my work focused on a twenty years old open source project, I’m finding new ways to think about and work on longer term ideas. Some problems that remain and that arise are exceedingly hard to solve as a result. There might be a reason no one has figured out a solution in a decade. It reminds me about some reading I’ve done on the impact of offering 20 year grants to address a problem rather than four 5 year grants. For big, intractable problems giving the…
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kindness continues
Walking into Tulie Bakery in Salt Lake City this past week, I didn’t expect to see him but had hoped I would. I heard his voice first, which is apt considering our masked relationship. The barista who had seen me on more bad days than good stood behind the counter laughing with another barista. I felt myself get shy thinking about how important his friendship was and tried to hide slightly, walking over to stare intensely at their cookies. As he passed me my drink, he said the same thing he often did, “Take a sip and let me know…
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tiny art
I saw signs for a museum of miniature art in Brussels and stopped in my tracks wondering if I was having some sort of fever dream from the flu’s grip on me. I love tiny things more than is reasonable. Growing up, I started a tiny collection of mini antique books for the sole purpose that they were small and fragile. The deep appreciation feels like some sort of minimalism offshoot in my soul. After taking a photo of an ad for the museum, I tucked it away in hopes of dragging my mom there only to stumble on it…
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forming
I’m in Europe once more, traveling to all new places: Málaga, Spain; Brussels, Belgium; Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s a slow, abundant trip with ample time to rest, explore, and catch up with loved ones from afar. Málaga left me both with such a high about work and a horrible bout of the flu. Since 2019, I’ve had a few different in person meetups with Automattic but they all have felt like an emptying experience where, by the end, I am at my end. This was markedly different. Despite us being nearly 9x the size of when I started at the company,…
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WordPress 6.4 Source of Truth
Building off of both the public 6.2 Source of Truth and 6.3 Source of Truth, I’m offering up the next edition for WordPress 6.4, set to launch November 7th, 2023. This is an early look — come back on October 24th, 2023 if you want a confirmed finalized version. I like to share early and often both to find areas of improvement, get feedback, and put power in the hands of those involved in helping get the wider WordPress community up to speed on what’s coming. In particular, I’d recommend staying up to date on the dev notes as those will soon be coming out…
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cannot run
I was digging through some old journal entries looking for how I felt in a particular life event when I stumbled on something I could have written today: “I think we all need a place to regroup. A place we have been before. I place we can return to. I think we need multiple places like that. I think the purpose of them is to help us get to the next place we are going. Too much. Am I too much? I’m having a hard time figuring out what I am. I love people. Deeply. But I feel very anti…
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true moment
I went to Glacier National Park finally and for the first time. I’ve traveled to far away places to see glorious mountains and Glacier has long been on my list as a more approachable place to venture to. I went with my very own Montana tour guide (my girlfriend) and snapped the photos you see below mainly for the WordPress.org photo directory where I do my best to upload photos from my adventures for all to use. You can see some of the ones below listed on my profile there — I hope you re-use them! This is just a…
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holes
I expected this piece of gnarled wood to be something I’d simply practice on. When I picked it up from the pile of leftover wood confused why it was there, the instructor, without saying anything, simply pointed to the top where holes were clearly visible. I kept it anyways thinking about tiny spoons I might be able to make from the leftovers of this leftover. I brought it out on a hike recently and started from that exact top section to make a “spootula” (a spoon that doubles as a spatula or vice versa depending on your preference). My cousin…
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could have
On a recent trip to North Carolina, I dug through the remnants of red cedar 2x4s from a wood carving instructor who has been a much needed guide in my own carving journey. “Have at it” were his exact words when I asked if I could go through his leftover collection. It felt like Christmas day as I got my hands on each piece, wondering what I could make from it and excited by the possibility. It sharpened my understanding of what makes a good piece of wood in the process and reminded me of the importance of seeing the…
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Automattic: 9 Year Anniversary
Two weeks ago, I went to the 2023 WordPress Community Summit to discuss important topics for the WordPress community, connect with folks from around the world, and get my fill of possible new ideas/approaches/problems to explore. I love gnarly, complex problems and WordPress has its fair share to sort through with a robust community to guide it forward into the future. Nine years on at Automattic, I continue to find myself stunned that I’ve landed smack dab in the middle of where I’ve longed to be: community creating technology and technology creating community, both online and offline. I only hope…
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let’s go back
Sometimes you arrive somewhere and already know you’ll return. Wolf bar campground felt like that—like I could see the future memories already in the process of being made and layered one on top of the other.
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