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Bio

I'm a former military wife and homeschooling mom. In 2001, I was diagnosed with a mild variation of a deadly genetic disorder. Getting a proper diagnosis after a lifetime of being treated like a hypochondriac was very empowering and I've grown healthier in the years since.

I run various websites. I joined Hacker News in 2009 and changed my handle to DoreenMichele in 2017. I run thirty-some-odd reddits under the same handle.

I am an environmental studies major with a concentration in housing with:
  • AA in Humanities
  • Certificate in GIS from UC-Riverside
I was Director of Community Life, lead moderator and in charge of diversity for The TAG Project during a time when they were trying to become an officially incorporated non-profit, an effort they later abandoned.

I spent a few years as a divorced single mom processing accident claims at the insurance giant Aflac where I got to soak up the award-winning design work of their wholly owned subsidiary Communicorp.

I've been interviewed via phone or email a few times over the years and quoted in a few books and articles.

I have a multi-cultural background (German/Irish/Cherokee), so I never quite fit in anywhere.

In spite of being American, I have been car free for over a decade.

December 2023.

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Pivoting a Website

The website Aberdeen Art and Music began as an effort to consolidate three older websites into a single website for purposes of trying to create a local walking tour as a tourist asset for this small town. It later took on a new purpose and I was tasked with updating the site to preserve and enhance the existing purpose while making room for new functions. The older websites were static sites that each corresponded to a printed brochure. The brochures and corresponding original websites were logically categorized by type of art: Murals, Critters and Urban Art (mostly sculpture). But much of this art can be found in close proximity in the downtown area, so I wanted to consolidate that information and enhance it to serve as an economic development tool for this small town. The intent was to support a walking tour via smartphone and begin phasing out the printed brochures while still supporting the existing brochures that were still out there and had the old URLs on them. In s...

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L'Histoire

I'm basically a total fucking loser. I was one of the top three students of my graduating high school class, along with my Korean best friend who was number two and some guy who was number one. I had a raftload of impressive academic credentials for a high school student from the "backwater" state of Georgia, including State Alternate for the Governor's Honors program, a residential summer enrichment program for gifted students. That means in tenth grade, only two other people in the state of Georgia outperformed me (likely both were older than me) for applying to the program in a specific subject area and had one of them failed to be able to participate, I would have taken their place. I achieved that placement after somewhat flippantly choosing some subject or other (maybe journalism) as my area of interest because unlike most of the other gifted kids in my school, I didn't have some stand-out area of strength. I was someone doing well overall and it was essen...