REBRAND! Welcome to Annatations*

Happy Sunday, dear readers! After three years of writing weekly essays under “That Anna Marie Newsletter”, a reference to my social media handles and main brand name, I’ve decided to update the name of this project.

Welcome to Annatations*, a weekly essay series about gender, technology, culture, and engineering a better future.

This week, I thought I would write a bit about some of the changes I’ve made.

Why Rebrand?

“That Anna Marie Newsletter” was a placeholder name for when I eventually thought of something better. And then I just never changed it to anything! It’s a name that’s poor for SEO and doesn’t actually tell you anything about the contents of the newsletter. You also have to know who “Anna Marie” is (and care about her) to be interested in the contents within it, which most of our species does not. Finally, I didn’t have a real logo or visual aesthetic outside of my headshot and Substack default fonts and colors.

I wanted something that is inescapably me (Anna Marie) but also expresses an idea. Which is how I came up with Annatations*.

About The Name

Annatations* is a name that gets across what I’m doing here: I’m giving notes, providing context, giving explanations backed up by references and citations. Annotations are added to research papers and non-fiction books to give readers more background on a certain subject, which aligns well with the cultural commentary and criticism that I do in my writing.

As an instructor, my job is to lovingly shepherd my students into a better understanding of the world. That’s exactly what I’m doing here: giving you corrections, getting you (my readers) closer to an accurate version of the truth about gender, technology, politics, and any subject that I feel qualified enough to write about.

About The Logo

In the logo, the word “Annatations” is written in an italicized version of Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, a font designed by the Braille Institute of America to be as accessible as possible. This drives home a major theme in my work, which is disability justice and engineering an internet that works for everybody. (Ideally, this whole newsletter would be in that font, but while I’m still on Substack that isn’t yet possible.)

The asterisk is connected to the name, as it denotes a citation, reference, or some other annotation. It’s also a loose reference to the way some academics discuss the wide umbrella of trans identities (writing “trans*”), which is fitting because I am an academic.

Most importantly, the underline is a reference to the red underline that appears when you misspell something in a text editor. It’s yet another reference to the “corrections” I’m making to popular narratives, while also a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that the word “Annotations” is misspelled. Queer and trans people are often seen as anomalies, errors, mistakes, glitches in the system. With this deliberate misspelling—we may even call it a re-spelling—I choose to embrace this derogatory term and flip it on its head. Like the many words from many cultures that are not present in English dictionaries and thus get highlighted as spelling errors when using these tools (phones and computers, which are often tools of surveillance and domination), queer and trans people are not mistakes, we are simply missing from popular narratives. The Powers That Be wrote history books defining gender and sexuality in such a way that we are not present in them, claiming their own legitimacy with their fancy titles and big words, then used this perceived legitimacy to call us freaks.

It’s no mistake that whenever someone discusses my essays, they must engage in this re-spelling, thereby making their own computer complete the logo on their screen when the red underline inevitably appears. Perhaps, in this small way, these tools of domination (computers) can be tools of liberation. When typing out Annatations* (for example, when you share these posts with all your friends), I encourage you not to right-click the name and select “Add To Dictionary”, as we’re often compelled to do, to find and erase all the “errors” in our work. Remember that there are things in this universe that are hard to explain, especially with the limited scope of Western science. No dictionary can ever be truly complete, no one perspective can capture the infinite diversity of experiences, so why bother? Embrace your anomalous self, be the glitch in the system that takes the whole thing down.

Lastly, of course, the underline and asterisk are the colors of the trans flag; #F5A9B8 and #5BCEFA, respectively.

Will Anything Else Change?

Nothing about the newsletter experience will change—there will still be posts on Sundays with alternating biweekly Digest and biweekly Paywalled Post. That said, my days on this platform are numbered; I want the flexibility to change this publication however I like, and I don’t want to be beholden to Substack or any platform. Eventually, I intend to self-host Annatations* on its own site so that I can make even more changes, such as using Atkinson Hyperlegible and charging a fair price for the paid editions (Substack won’t allow me to go any lower than $5/month). When this change comes, you won’t have to do anything at all except continue checking your email! You will also be notified several times when it does happen.

That’s all for now! Enjoy your usual Digest below. Happy learning! <3

Currently Reading

• I’ve just finished reading Out Doing Science: LGBTQ STEM Professionals and Inclusion in Neoliberal Times, a book that seems made for me specifically. Among other things, it provides a history of activism for inclusion in STEM as well as a robust framework for how queer inclusion in STEM is rationalized. Expect a review of sorts in the near future!
• The new edition of socialist feminist magazine Lux is out now! So far, my favorite essay is this one on sex and surveillance. No wonder we’re all on edge about other people’s sexualities: we’re all performing all the time and it’s exhausting!
• Torey Akers has a new piece on the musical BOOP! and the death of culture. What starts out seeming like a comedic hit piece a la the infamous Guy Fieri restaurant review turns into an extremely salient piece about the state of our culture.
• Julia Serano has a new explainer on transvestigation in which she claims that, which disturbing, this is not a particularly unique phenomenon. We’re all transvestigating everyone, all the time! She calls it “ungendering”, though, and you can read or watch the essay here.

Watch History

• pagemelt is a book reviewer who occasionally posts video essays. Their new project on Filterworld, a book that I ostensibly should like but is tainted by bad cultural criticism, is an excellent one. I would even consider its ideas to be core to the Anna Marie Mindset.
• Speaking of how technology shapes our politics, Stephanie Sterling’s new piece on algo-speak is worth the listen.
• A cozy, informative video on the history of corn.

Bops, Vibes, & Jams

• The new Clipse album Let God Sort Em Out is excellent, especially for those who prefer old-school hip-hop.
• Jay Som is back with a new single, heralding a new album this Fall! Consider me hyped!

And now, your weekly Koko.

That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.

In solidarity,

-Anna