adventures in elementary polychromatism

questionofthedayasks: What social media platforms have you quit? Why? (question submitted by fucktheg0ds)

My answer: I'm going to restrict myself to platforms on which I participated actively for more than a few months, because I've definitely dabbled in some and then dropped them when they seemed Not For Me.

• MySpace: I left this one when my friends abandoned it for Facebook, which was around 2008? I used it mostly to find new bands/artists, and I miss that. Bandcamp doesn't quiet fit that purpose as well.
• Livejournal: Most of my friends stopped posting there around 2009-2010, but I stuck around until the last server moved to Russia. Though I'd always been too shy to post much in communities, I loved Livejournal and I miss it. Dreamwidth is, of course, similar, but I'm not a fannish person, so although there are a bunch of communities of interest to me here, most are inactive or never even got started. LE  SIGH.
• Tumblr: I used Tumblr on and off between 2013 and 2018, but finally deleted this month because Jeffrey did and he was pretty much the only person I actually communicated with through that platform. I never really had problems with the bots on there because I never had many followers, probably, but I wasn't pleased with the Female Presenting Nipples nonsense and the constant shadowbanning and harassment of sex workers. Also the mobile app was seemingly designed by kobolds.
• Mastodon: I tried Mastodon in 2017, but gave up after the instance I used exploded in a firestorm of petty drama and ridiculousness and was then deleted.
• Facebook: I hated Facebook from the start and deleted recently after the latest algorithm changes meant that all I saw on my feed, no matter what, was the same four posts from a page I followed. Not any of my friends, just this one page.
• Xanga:  I  almost forgot about this one, but I  had a Xanga account in 2003-4? One of my friends convinced me to try it, but it was really unintuitive and frustrating, so I didn't stick with it or post consistently. 

questionoftheday asks: What is the most interesting coincidence or series of coincidences that you've experienced? Do you think it was a coincidence, or did you see it as something more?

My answer: I almost never think of anything as coincidental. Call it magical, mystical thinking, but I always think things are connected. Anyway, one of the most fortuitous set of coincidences I've ever experienced was probably getting my alternative ed. teaching job. I moved to Arizona and took a job at a horrible, awful charter school because it was hard to find anything for a first-year teacher from out of state. I quit very soon after the year started because I couldn't be part of the unethical, insane things that were happening. I got a call from the alt. ed. principal who'd randomly pulled my name from the substitute pool and wanted to know if I might be interested in long-term subbing for their English slot, which had just been spontaneously vacated. I was waiting on the state to clear my English cert from Illinois, which their principal did not know, as it wasn't listed in my documents yet. I played phone tag with him for about two weeks until finally going in for an informal interview. I ended up taking the sub job, getting converted to staff and having a radically transformative experience teaching there. I had to quit when the landslide onset of physical disability struck, but I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to spend two years learning and working with those students and staff.