1. What is your name? Anneka. That's what I call myself, anyway. dutchess is a reference to the duchess in Alice in Wonderland, but spelled with a 't', as in bitch.
2. Tell us something about you, your background, and what you've been up to lately? I'm a teacher. I've taught middle school math and science for over 30 years. I burned out during the pandemic and quit my job at the end of the school year. Now I'm tutoring, puttering, taking care of my pug mixes, quilting, etc. I have time to do what I didn't, before.
3. How did you discover Everything, and how did you become a noder? I followed a link on thyme's webpage. I never saw slashdot or E1. By the time I got here, in early 2002, sensei was already gone. So much of the culture had already been set in motion--I felt like I was late to the party. Like, I didn't get Butterfinger McFlurry. I'm pretty sure I downvoted it. Fortunately, fuzzy and blue took me under her wing and wertperch gave editorial suggestions and encouragement, and made me feel at home. When something feels good you keep doing it.
4. What are your favorite writeups -- both your own and from other noders? Chras4's Choice Matters is the very first thing I C!'d. I showed wolfdaddy's frottage to a friend when I was trying to explain E2 to her; as much as I loved that w/u, it was probably the wrong one to start with.
Of my own work, I am partial to Your first writeup will be nuked: don't give up (because I was chided for noding about noding when I posted it, and then some time later it started getting chings) and Picking out a coffin, because it was an emotional experience, and because riverrun complemented me on it.
5. What are your favorite and least favorite memories from E2's history? My favorite is the headiness of finding a place to play and new friends to talk to, and a seemingly endless supply of interesting things to read. My least favorite is when dannye told me he had a brain tumor. I froze, and I was a coward. I managed to ask him if he had people around him, but other than that, I did nothing to lend comfort or support. That is my biggest regret.
6. What keeps you coming back? I don't come back all that much. I stopped in a few days before Christmas and found an unfinished book review in my scratch pad, so I finished it and posted it. We've had three snow days this week, so I have time, so I'm here. I'm noding what I know.
7. What do you hope for E2's future? That it will be for a new set of noders what it was for us in the early aughts. It's sad that there are so few other users in the catbox these days.
8. What does E2 mean to you? I think this says it well. Also:
In 2012 my w/u This week, Jen's got a new man, or, another take on some algebraic properties got cooled. A fellow noder sent me this query: Is this art or science? How is someone supposed to find this information under this title?
I thought about it a while, and then sent this reply:
I joined E2 in 2002, and wrote most of the 150 w/us I have posted on this site between then and 2004. I’ve posted once in the past five years. I happened to stop by recently and learned of Christine’s death. Saddened, I slept badly and had bad dreams and had to poke around in my desk until I found that great photo of her in the ivy. So the last couple of days I’ve been lurking around and reading old favorites and seeing what friends I can reconnect with. I’ve been reading the Everything2 Decaversary Interviews and trying to answer the questions for myself: what is E2? What is it to me?
So, your question whether my w/u is art or science, and how you’re supposed to find the information under that title is timely. Here’s what I think. E2 is a game. Maybe a kind of nerdy wordsmith’s game. It’s social and rewarding and a chance to earn points and make friends and maybe make your friends laugh. It’s an opportunity to vent, or rant, or connect, or show off.
If my primary purpose was to explain the algebraic properties, I could post on Wikipedia, or any number of math sites. Instead, I had an audience of friends in mind and I was writing about how I spend my days. I wouldn’t call it art OR science. I think it’s informative, and I do think I’m pretty good at explaining math to teenagers, and it’s not something I get to share often—but E2 seemed like a good place for it to live. Of course, if you searched under associative property or commutative property, or just commutative or associative, you’d see the link, so you might find it. But if you were on fire to learn more about these properties, is E2 really where you would go? Cheers, and sorry about the incredibly long answer. This stuff has been floating around in my head for days.
9. Who are your favorite noders? Which ones do you miss the most?
Everything is/was indeed a community, and it felt good to be a part of it. Many people made me feel welcome--ac_hyper, avalyn, cbustapeck, Chras4, dannye, eponymous, etouffee, footprints, fuzzy and blue, Gritchka, Jaubertmoniker, Jet-Poop, Liontamer, Liveforever, Lometa, momomom, Nocodeforparanoia, oakling, Oolong, Quizro, RainDropUp, RalphyK, Rancid_Pickle, riverrun, RubenAzarja, Segnbora-t, Schist, SharQ, Strawberryfrog, TheBooBooKitty, thyme, Tiefling, wertperch, witchiepoo, WolfDaddy, wordnerd--I liked the people, and I loved their words.
I miss Grundoon. I didn't really know her, but I knew Kevin, and I watched the courtship and read about the handfasting and cheered from afar. What makes E2 different than other places on the web is that it can break your heart if you let it.
10. Who would play you in the Everything2 movie? Jamie Lee Curtis. I should be so lucky.
11. Any questions that I didn't ask that I should've? Jeeze, I don't know. I'm answering decaversary questions a month shy of my 20-year anniversary here. I'm slow enough as it is.
Everything2 Decaversary Interviews
If you have questions or comments, please contact dutchess or Jet-Poop.