gonna indulge in some end-of-year self promo because I deserve it and professionally, this was a really big year for me! my role at Them has been expanding, and while that's come with a lot more stress and some things I need to address in the coming year, it's given me more opportunities to do work I'm proud of and start planning for my future as well. I also really appreciate the reception y'all have given my writing here!! the enthusiasm is incredibly gratifiying and I hope you'll keep reading for a long time to come -- one of my intentions for 2024 is to get more consistent with my roundups, so look for that in the nebulous future.
anyway smash that readmore for my personal highlights! 
- it's very funny to me that I was already writing about how George Santos should resign in January
- I felt like I kept running into stories this year that seemed positive but had a vein of poison under the surface. the first was Big Freedia getting in bed with NFT grifters to open a luxury hotel, which is apparently still happening if Big Freedia Means Business is to be believed. I don't think most other queer news sites dug into this!
- thankfully, 2023 was also the year my editors decided queer wrestling counts as news! Sonya Deville got engaged, The Acclaimed won the AEW tag titles, and Gabbi Tuft wants to get back in a WWE ring which is a signing that could legitimately coax me back to the fed.
- I covered two breaches by the furry hacker group SiegedSec this year, one on anti-trans state governments and the other targeting a nuclear research lab. as delightful as their antics are for The Culture, I continue to wonder about the usefulness of doxxing random people in the interest of hacktivism -- but SiegedSec will be the first to tell you they're not a bunch of white hats anyway. we'll see what they get up to in 2024!
- looking back, I'm pretty proud of how we covered the anniversary of Matthew Shepard's murder. the potential complicating role of drugs has loomed over the case since the beginning, but LGBTQ+ groups have rejected it outright as a conspiracy because conservatives want to blame the whole thing on meth alone. we might never know the full story and that's okay.
- we published donation information for 100 LGBTQ+ organizations across the U.S., which was an absolute bear to research, and called on readers to donate directly to Palestinian aid groups in October. I like to think resources like these make a difference in some small way.
- Favorite interviews of the year: Amy Schneider, Kelley Robinson, and Jadzia Axelrod
- All my followers have probably seen my TGForum piece and my NPR interview about it, which was incredible! But I was also extremely honored this year when Imara Jones asked me to be a guest on her TDOV Twitter space about disinformation (probably the last time I will do anything much of note on that platform!). It was a great conversation, and part of me still can't believe she wanted to hear from me! I don't think there's a public recording sadly, but I'm looking forward to possibly doing more radio and podcast stuff in the future.
thanks again for reading and supporting tgirl journalism this year!! I'll be back with more yummy news soon 