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 I feel quite blessed, and while it's cliche and a little hollow to only offer thanks because it's a holiday here in the US, I have nevertheless written a short list of (geeky) things I'm thankful for today:

1. I'm thankful for my work as a technology writer. I get to spend my days reading, writing, and thinking about Internet technologies and about how they will change our lives, our society. I get to play with cool tech tools, and I get to talk to amazing entrepreneurs. I'm thankful for the writers I work with at ReadWriteWeb as well as for the other journalists in the field -- the intelligent ones (Mathew Ingram, Tim Carmody, Alexis Madrigal) who inspire me to write better and smarter, as well as the dumbasses who post shit that makes the rest of us look incredibly insightful and witty. And I'm thankful for all the people who actually read what I write.

2. I'm thankful that Internet technologies are making educational content available online for free. I'm thankful for all the educators and organizations who work to provide open educational resources and to create learning opportunities for everyone -- Khan Academy, MIT's Opencourseware, and every single educator who blogs and tweets. I'm thankful that education is part of the "national dialogue," but I'm even more thankful for the folks who are working to make sure that the loudest voices in the conversation aren't those with the deepest pockets.

3. I'm thankful for the Interwebz, but particularly for the rabble-rousers and rogue elements that work to keep the Web wild and free. I'm thankful for the makers, the hackers, the DIY-punks and the pirates.

4. I'm thankful for Twitter. (So please, Twitter, don't fuck it up.)

5. I'm thankful to have a good relationship with my kid. I'm thankful I've trained him well enough about technology that he's skeptical of Facebook privacy and that he didn't need to buy the Beatles catalog via iTunes. I'm thankful he'll be graduating from high school this spring and wants to pursue a career that's either "outside or in the kitchen" and not sitting at a desk all day.

6. I'm thankful for my boyfriend, who encourages me to write, who likes to travel, who realizes the importance of good beer, who'll geek out with me and not roll his eyes (too much) when I ask for explanations of technical shit, and who generally puts up with my mania.

Audrey Watters


Published

Audrey Watters

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