Job searching has been… bad. It’s not that I’m not getting responses, it’s that there are simply not journalism jobs out there. Layoffs and downsizing is everywhere. Almost as soon as I was let go I saw the writing on the wall. So. I started building something.
I can’t tell you much about what it is yet. But… be on the lookout for a larger announcement in February.
Right now, though, I have two small updates.
The first is that I was nominated and made the shortlist for the*gamehers Journalist of the Year. I accepted this nomination knowing that they have a less-than-stellar track record in regards to inclusivity and communication. They use inclusive language in their forms—women, femmes, and non-binary people. But they aren’t consistent. Sometimes they’ll say women and femmes (I consider myself neither of these things), or sometimes women and non-binary people. It’s not perfect, but within their communications at least, they maintain that the gameHERS remain dedicated to uplifiting voices of non-cisgender men in gaming spaces, which is, I think, still a worthwhile cause.
the*gamehers aren’t going to get more inclusive if I, a transgender, nonbinary, nonfemme identifying person turns down their nomination. And fuck it, I’ll take any accolades I can get.
Second, I thought about it a lot, and I spoke to a couple of my mentors at the Trans Journalist Associate, and I’m going to submit my OGL reporting for a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news/series coverage. A few people have pre-emptively donated to clickbaiter—thank you all so much—I’ll find a way to use those funds to support my submissions to the Pulitzer and other journalism contests that will open throughout the year.
To that extent, I’d like to ask that if you read or enjoyed my work during the OGL breaking news, you can support my bid for the Pulitzer by signing this letter of recommendation. Kienna Shaw was nice enough to draft this, and I hope you agree.
If you feel so inclined, feel free to share this request. I’m mostly using Twitter/X, but will likely share this elsewhere.
More from me later. Thanks, everyone.
Voted and signed; best of luck!