Shout Out To New Musers! #15

And Some Updates

Hello, hello Fellow Musers! It’s a Monday, personally not mine, Garfield the Cat, nor a lot of current Homo sapiens favorite fun day (allegedly). It’s also the final day in September, which means October will be here tomorrow (yay!) and that it’s also time for another edition of Musings of an Anthropology Student Shout Out to welcome new Fellow Musers!

*Also, apologies for sending this post out late-as I explain below, September has been an eventful month (much more eventful than it usually is for me)!*

Welcome To New Subscribers!

Mike
(Check out his Substack: Sir Henry’s Substack!)

Allegories And Inquiries
(Check out their Substack: Jared’s Substack!)

Savar

Laura

Thank y’all so much for subscribing to this corner of Substack! A hearty Huzzah to all of you!

Soooo about them updates:

1.) I’ve been writing, but I’ve also been unexpectedly busy. What do I mean by that? Welp, turns out the day that I released Musings #1, I did in fact have heat exhaustion. I was in denial at the time I wrote that note to y’all on the post, but by the end of that August evening, I had to acknowledge that I, indeed, had the heat exhaustion. And so, it took me about 5 days to feel better from it (during which I released the previous Shout Out post) and it took me about another week to fully recover from it (and release Nalia and Salem’s Trekkie-based post). The week after the weekend that I recovered, I had my first exam for the semester (it wasn’t worth alot of points and I didn’t do good on it anyways), and I have been trying to catch up on UberEats and getting on a schedule for myself so I can work, study, write, and attempt to become an ambiavert¹ and participate in activities with a group that I joined on campus. I also went to a wedding with my partner².

I tested out this schedule this past week, and found it to be somewhat successful. I also made it to where it can be tweaked where needed, but I think I’ll be able to stay on it and have more of a “balanced” life.

Maybe.

I’ll keep you updated on its success.

As for my Part 2 & 3 of We Fear What We Do Not Know articles, Part 2 is coming along slower than I would like, but it’s coming along. I’m feeling stuck, though, and could use your help. I’m attempting to trace the history of Social Media and so far I have found that the first “social media” was in the 1990’s. I would love to know if any of you, Fellow Musers, who were born before 1985 (I was born in 1987 for context), were on sites that were considered social media in the 90’s, and if you were active, which sites were you active on? Also, were you active on any forums in the 90’s and if so, which ones?

My social media activity didn’t officially start until around 2006/2007. So, for any Fellow Musers born in 1985 to let’s say 2005-ish, what do you remember about social media throughout the 1990’s through let’s say 2019? What was/were the first social media(s) that you signed up for? If you remember forums, were you part of any forums?

For anyone who has not ever had a social media page or joined a forum, what was the first social media and/or forum that you remember hearing about? What was the deciding factor in not joining social media(s) and/or forum(s)?

Why am I asking these questions, you ask? The truth is, I would very much like to research some of these socials and forums, and put that info in Part 2, but I don’t know where to start from. Which is why I need your help! I will also happily credit anyone who answers my questions! You can answer in the comments

you can DM me

and if you get this newsletter in your email, you can answer via this email!

*As a Fellow Reader of some substacks, I know sometimes it can be daunting answering questions that writers put out. But it would honestly be helpful (and fun to hear from you) to hear about your experiences with this subject. No pressure, though, if you don’t feel comfortable answering (okay, maybe some slight pressure, but not too much)*

2.) So what about future upcoming articles? I have good news on that front! I’m planning a Halloween-themed article (Salem also wants to do add in a part about why black cats are awesomesauce and not bad luck!), a Fall/Thanksgiving/Turkey-Ham Day themed article, and a Christmas/Winter Holidays themed article. In January, I will do an UnderGraduation³ post about my journey leading up to that special moment of walking The Stage and celebrating that milestone!

I’m also going to start work on my first few official Deep Dive posts too, and will hopefully have one or two out by January! I wanted to have a few released by now, but life said nope, so they are temporarily delayed. I will also be working on some Artist’s Corner posts too as I have been missing doing those as well! So while you may not hear from me too much, do know that I am writing and working on finding some semblance of life balance. I’m still also trying to catch up on Substack posts that I’ve missed. You can also catch me on Substack’s own social media part, Notes, as I am either re-stacking, hearting, and/or commenting in that space!

So to be clear about the current schedule for October-December:
->October:
~~Musings #2: We Fear What We Do Not Know-Part 2
~~Halloween-themed article (featuring Salem <and Nalia>!)
~~Shout Out post

->November:
~~Musings #3: We Fear What We Do Not Know-Part 3
~~Fall/Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving/Turkey-Ham Day themed article
~~Shout Out post

->December:
~~Artist’s Corner post
~~Possible Deep Dive post
~~Winter Holiday/Christmas Themed article
~~Shout Out post

-January:
~~New Year/A Reflection of My Anthropology Journey (title pending)
~~Either a Deep Dive, Musings, or Artist’s Corner post
~~Shout Out post

I’d also like to take a moment to address an important topic that is currently going on in conversations:
Since we’re asking questions, you may be wondering if I will be doing a post about the upcoming U.S. election in November? The answer is nope, not this one, at least not until after it’s over and the U.S. Americans have had a chance to calm the fuck down about the results, including me. Will I ever write political posts? Possibly, but they will be very anthropological based if I do. Will I write any during Year 2 of this Substack? Definitely not Probably, maybe not. I want to write on politics and religion, but that will probably be a Year 3 and beyond thing. There’s too much shit going on with both currently, and you can easily find other Substack authors writing/podcasting about these things. While I may not be ready to write about those topics in length yet, if there are articles about said happenings that I find enlightening, I will be sure to post links to those articles/posts/authors, but I will not talk about the contents directly.

Why am I mentioning this? 1.) Anthropology can get very political at times. 2.) I don’t believe I’ve addressed it directly and due to things heating up, I felt the need to address this topic. 3.) Because some of my future article-essays will mention conflicts between countries from an anthropology perspective, and with the current happenings going on now, I feel that it is important to go ahead and put this disclaimer out. There may be some comparison about way back then and nowadays⁴, but I want to be clear that there will not be any specific article-essays written by me that will talk about specific current conflicts and/or political happenings any time soon.

I have my opinions about war and politics, and I’m sure you do too, Fellow Musers. One of these days I will happily have that discussion with you, but I’d like to wait a little longer to talk about it, if that’s okay with y’all? As I’ve mentioned before, anthropology can be/is quite political, but you’re not going to hear that side of anthropology from me in length for a bit. Okay, that’s enough paragraphs about that.

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One last thing and then you can move on to other reads

Last week, the

SmallStack

Library was launched! There have already been some Featured posts this week, which I have linked directly below⬇️in addition to the post about the Smallstack Library! Huzzah!

Library Listings (so far):

Launch Week is Here!

A link to the → Featured Posts ← if you want to check them out! And a link to the SmallStack page⬇️

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Once again, thank you so much to Mike, Allegories and Inquiries, Savar, and Laura for joining this smol-yet ever-growing Substack. Thank you, always, to you Fellow Musers who continue to stay subscribed here. Thank you for reading, liking/hearting, commenting, and restacking the work put out here. You’re all awesomesauce and I truly appreciate you!

Remember, subscribers to this Substack can start Threads in the Subscriber Only Chat-just remember to be nice to each other as Nalia will be watching and will let me know if I need to intervene😉I have also written the questions at the bottom of the page, after the lovely video of Nalia attempting to investigate the cup cabinet⁵ ^_^

Carpe Diem and many hearty Huzzahs!

~Kimber, Salem, and Nalia

A reminder of what the questions are, should you choose to answer them:

1.) Fellow Musers, who were born before 1985:
→If you were active on sites that were considered social media in the 90’s, which sites were you active on? Were you active on any forums in the 90’s and if so, which ones?

2.) Fellow Musers born in 1985 to 2005 (or are over the age of 18):
→What do you remember about social media throughout the 1990’s through let’s say 2019? What was/were the first social media(s) that you signed up for? If you remember forums, were you part of any forums?

3.) For anyone who has not ever had a social media page or joined a forum: →what was the first social media and/or forum that you remember hearing about? What was the deciding factor in not joining social media(s) and/or forum(s)?

*Again, you can respond to this email, answer in the comments, and/or DM me. If you could send me your response by October 7th, I’d appreciate it! I’d love to hear your answers. Should you answer, I will respond back and ask permission to put your answer in the post either same day or by the next day. To friends/partner/family, y’all can text me if you’d like to answer the question(s). If you agree to having your answer in the post, I will only use your first name. Thank you again!*

1. The in-between of an introvert and extrovert

2. To be clear: My partner and I were not the ones that got married

3. Like what I did there? Hehe

4. I seriously wish we could have an 'underline' option

5. All food items in the video have been successfully consumed-Oreo’s specifically have been replaced and consumed again! :D So has the bottled water-we don’t drink tap where I am >.<