Goal Setting
On content, "grinding", and symmetry.
When starting a new project, especially a writing project, there are a lot of questions you have to ask yourself, both philosophical and practical. Here’s what this Squarespace tutorial suggests for starting out a newsletter…
1. Set your newsletter goals
a. Outline what you hope to accomplish with your newsletter.
b. Define what newsletter success looks like to you.
c. Determine any quantitative results you’d like to see.
d. Develop your newsletter’s content strategy.
e. Choose a consistent newsletter send schedule.
2. Plan out your content strategy
3. Choose a send schedule
4. Grow your subscriber base
When I think about why I’d like to start a newsletter, a few reasons pop into mind, some more wholesome than others. First of all, I need people to like me and find my work valuable so that I’m not just a useless waste of resource (bad brain, bad!!) Also, I love writing and sharing my perspective with the world; I genuinely think my voice is valuable and can make a difference. Lastly, it’s a project that fills a gap in my current means of curating a public-facing identity; I have far too many thoughts in my brain that need to be let out. I’d love to talk about teaching, chemical engineering, food, music, art, philosophy, and lots more, but these topics aren’t conducive to the clock app.
Oh, right, I don’t have to self-censor here! TikTok, I’m talking about TikTok.
If you’re here from my TikTok page, hello and welcome!! I started making videos about a year ago and have somehow accrued more than 73,000 people (!!) who enjoy my style and perspective. I was first inspired by YouTube video essays, and so far I’ve been pretty successful at making “micro-essays”, videos under or around 3 minutes in length where I talk about gender, science, politics, and media from an intersectional, transfeminist, abolitionist perspective. At least that’s what I’m telling people (shh, pay no mind to the thirst traps).
But there are things I can’t do on TikTok, or just things I just don’t want to. Everything is algorithmically-driven on the app, so I dread the idea of (for example) making one single food-related video that somehow blows up, suddenly leaving me with an “audience” that expects more food videos (or, more likely, making one food video and it getting <100 views). There are also things I can’t say on the app due to censorship, or things that I want to say that require an amount of care and nuance that I can’t provide in video form. For the most part, I use TikTok because it’s where the people are; I’ve accrued just under 2,500 Twitter followers in the past four years, meanwhile I’ve gained almost 75k followers in a single year of TikTok. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
I do have a podcast, Rule 63 (which I swear I’m working on) that I use for long-form content as well. But due to my annoying obsession with ✨Quality✨, these take a lot of work to plan, script, and record, never mind interviewing guest experts (which requires the further time commitment of scheduling/hosting a pre-meeting, writing interview questions with my co-producer Danny, scheduling/hosting the proper recording session, and extracting the best soundbites for the episode). Also, sometimes I don’t have enough to say about a given topic to fill a 30+ minute audio piece, either because my thoughts aren’t fully formed or because I just think something is neat and I want to share it with someone.
[Image Description: Marge Simpson “I just think they’re neat” meme where the potato is labeled “stuff I found online that relates to STEM and social justice in novel/unexpected ways”.]
Which is where this newsletter comes in! Where TikTok videos are good for short-form content, don’t take too much time, and can grow my audience most effectively, and podcasts are good for deeper, long-form discussions with my existing audience but take a huge amount of work, newsletters lie in a Goldilocks-zone of moderate effort, sufficient nuance, and even some potential to expand my circle of influence (who knows, maybe in a years’ time I’ll be better known for my writing than my videos? Please share this newsletter if you like it, by the way!!)
“But Anna, aren’t you already doing too much?” you ask. Maybe so. I’ve spent a lot of time this summer re-evaluating my approach to making content, and I think I have a solid plan. My hope is that with my new job as a Lecturer at UMass Amherst, I can establish a new work-life balance that allows me to teach people (in the classroom and out) and keep myself mentally sharp. Having the foresight of watching YouTubers burn out for years, my content philosophy has always been to only Make Stuff when it serves me. If I’m in a bad mood, or stressed, or time-crunched in any way, I simply Do Not Make Stuff. You get new art when I’m ready to release it, because that’s what’s going to make the best quality art.
[Image Description: Tweet by @TheRadioLioness, “I pray for a soft life. I pray for ease, I want relaxation, I do not want to spend living just on the hustle, I don’t want to just grind, grinding wears you out to brittle nothingness, I don’t want to work my life away. I pray for enjoyment. My life will be a practice in joy.”]
As an engineer and an artist, I’m obsessed this quote; I worked in a metal shop for a few years, and in a very literal sense, grinding indeed gives you a dull edge. Science, engineering, manufacturing, all these things typically associated with cold, robotic, industrious, capitalistic efficiency can lend themselves to poetic metaphors from time to time. As one example, I’ve long used the chemistry concept of activation energy as a colloquial shorthand for “doing something hard so you can live easier later”, a sentiment applicable to having hard conversations with loved ones or numerous other scenarios.
Behold, the symmetry!!
[Image Description: A diagram for Gibbs free energy for an exothermic reaction (left) and a diagram for why doing a hard thing can make your life easier (right).]
All my favorite media involves weaving together seemingly-disparate concepts into a cohesive whole, showing that everything in this universe is wonderfully and beautifully inter-connected. That’s the perspective I can contribute, the perspective that I’d like to share with the world, be them my students or my online audience. So that’s why I’m here.
Join me on a journey of engineering, art, activism, and beauty. Every week or so, I’ll be writing short perspective pieces like the one above, plus sharing the things I’ve been reading, watching, or listening to. If this project gains a high enough readership (let’s say 100 subscribers??), I might even add a monetization option where I offer my spiciest takes (on trans politics, dating, academia, and more).
Currently Reading
As part of my sabbatical from street activism, I’m reading up on the grassroots movement that sprang up in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Sarah Schulman’s new book “Let The Record Show: A Political History of Act Up New York, 1987-1993” is a fantastic look into what a real protest movement looks like. In general, Sarah and her collaborators have been great at constructing an oral history of the Act Up movement.
Watch History
Speaking of oral history, Lily Alexandre’s new video essay, “Why Is Queer Discourse So Toxic” is phenomenal. Lily is one of my top 10 favorite video essayists because she never misses. Here, she puts everything I’ve been thinking about for months into words: platforms profit off our division, and finding IRL queer community (challenging as it may be to some) leads to the best interpersonal and political outcomes.
Bops, Vibes, & Jams
MUNA’s new self-titled album has been on repeat for me lately. Favorite tracks: “What I Want”, “Kind Of Girl”, and the B-side “Solid”.
Doechii is only growing more powerful with time and I’m here for it! I’m loving all her new singles, especially “Persuasive”.
Left At London’s “Transgender Street Legend, Vol. 3”. Need I say more?
Quick Actions
Much digital ink has been spilled about period trackers and how they could be used by the state to track who has had an abortion. This great piece by some lawyers, engineering professors, and privacy researchers goes more into the real threat, which I highly recommend. But what if we could make it so that none of this was a problem? The “My Body, My Data Act”, proposed by two Democratic senators, would limit the ability of corporations to sell your private health data to the state. This website by the EFF lets you contact your representatives directly to signal your support for this bill!
Tangents
Two simple explainers on batteries for those who want to learn how they work!
If you know me, you know I’m a fan of trolley problem memes. This online game adds some interactivity to the philosophical classic. See if you can beat my kill count of 51! (I’ll let you decide for yourself what “beat” means.)
That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on this new journey!
In solidarity,
-Anna