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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, though I use a different handle on X.

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 and I'm ethnically 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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My Work

In the movie The Pickup Artist , Molly Ringwald's character utters my all-time favorite movie line: I'm too truthful to be good. I have apparently always been socially insightful. I was probably the bratty child yelling "The emperor has no clothes" and getting away with being rude, crude and socially unacceptable because I was cute as a button. When you are four, people laugh uncomfortably and don't explain to you why they are laughing. Being four, you stupidly think you are a talented comedian and then you spend your twenties and thirties baffled as to why everyone routinely gives you the death glare and wants your head on a pike instead of appreciating your witty insight and sense of humor. Me being me, I didn't stop being honest. I just tried to find ways to express myself that were less likely to have people wanting my head on a pike. This is a large part of why I blog. I still find social stuff very interesting, I see a need in the world for hig
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Local News and Information Online

I recentely read an online article with local news. Nowhere in the article does it actually name the state and the name of the publication is generic enough it doesn't give clues as to the location. I poked around the site and found a county name somewhere, maybe in the same article, maybe in a different article. I googled the city name and the spelling is unusual such that it might be a unique city name though there are definitely other cities with names that sound the same. If this article were printed in a physical newspaper bought locally, using just the city name would be fine. You would know from context exactly which city was intended. But when an article is posted online, people can potentially trip across it from anywhere in the world. You are no longer talking to just locals and even if the city name is unique, not everyone will automatically know that. Don't assume your audience will go digging for more info like I did to try to figure out exactly where
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Fourteen Comments

Comments to date by me with more than 100 karma on HN. 1. 188 points I have an incurable condition and spent about 3.5 months bedridden before finally getting a proper diagnosis. My condition has a significant respiratory component. While bedridden, I hallucinated wordless conversations with the Grim Reaper... 2. 169 points Why is there not more focus on the police investigation. Why did they police decide not to press charges? If our police forces are failing to press charges against rapists, shouldn't that be a big priority to change? I'm a woman. I have been raped. I also have two adult sons. So, here are some issues as I see it:... 3. 165 points It was probably so successful precisely because it was seeing the world through the eyes of a 50 year old Japanese biker with the face people expect in influencers... 4. 155 points I've studied social/psychological stuff, spent a lot of years suicidal and spent a number of years homeless which was incred
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