#Hezstory

[hez]

Hez has returned!

I started my original tumblr in 2007. As a record of the late 2000s blogosphere, I'm realizing it's turned out to be kind of an amazing document. I'm amazed I never deactivated it, even during the few years I took a break.

It was quite a trip going through my archives to tidy up the place. LOTS TO DELETE... but lots worth keeping, too.

Adorably, I insisted back then that I didn't care what anyone thought, but as I've matured, I've realized that while punching down makes my glasses slip off my nose, punching up doesn't, so I've removed some content that felt in retrospect like nothing more than dogpiling on strangers and my fellow internet people just doing their own things. Edgelords must have their edgeladies, and I played that part with aplomb. There were things back then that I simply did not need to speak on, so I've trimmed out the gristly bits and tried to leave the meatiest parts wherever possible.

Snarkblogging had a very acidic flavour back in the early 2000s - oh how I loved the feel of it in my mouth, almost as much as all the booze I used to drink - and the addition of cringey internet "lolspeak" means some of my archive really won't be to everyone's taste. When I say my content requires a "language advisory," I am also talking about outdated expressions and slang. Bloggers said things and used words back then that can sound like real clangers today. I'm grateful to have grown, but it's also been important to be able to sit in the discomfort of who I once was. 16 years ago feels like an eternity when it comes to where I am now... but at times it feels like yesterday.

So if my posts weren't hurtful or offensive to anyone*, I've tried to them stand, snark and all. It was a different time. I've given myself grace for the mistakes and fuckups of that era - I sometimes feel like I was Patient Zero for parasocial relationships with the early members of the "Bloggerati" - because I can see now how much I was struggling with behind the scenes.

I'm doing my best to tag old posts (especially with the tag "Link Still Works") and I'll be reblogging old hits and misses, in between posting new content.

*If you find something that genuinely offends you, I'd be grateful if you'd just bring it to my attention privately and I'll take care of it.