mastodon
4.5.3
MAIN ACCOUNT: @brennan@social.lol
This account shares *only* my Medium articles.
Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer.
🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy
I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community
🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
the linkedin advice to write in all-lowercase and drop em dashes so you don't get flagged as AI is ridiculous. you aren't fooling anyone.
write weird shit. the oil-slick prophecy in the gasoline puddle. the one-legged magpie. the tangible, chewed, spat out, swallowed again.
the first thought is the best thought
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
Yesterday was International Women's Day. Today is the day after, which means the work continues.
I wrote an open letter to the men in my life and around the world. Emotional labour, the manosphere, male loneliness, femicide, MMIWG, what it means to show up.
I don't know what positive masculinity looks like. But I know what the first steps are.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/we-as-men-must-do-more-and-we-must-do-better-7e3346ea7afd
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
r/Calgary is totally fine if you link to the Calgary Herald, which is owned by American hedge fund Chatham Asset Management.
But you're not allowed to link to an independent publication run locally by a Calgarian.
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
got permanently banned from r/Calgary today
my article about the city's AI artist residency was the top post of the day/ 50k views, hundreds of comments from Calgarians who cared about it
then a mod deleted it because I wrote it myself. that's "spam" apparently.
https://brennan.day/r-calgary-deleted-the-top-post-of-the-day-because-i-wrote-it-myself/
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
My article was the top post in /r/Calgary today and was deleted without a reason given.
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
The Calgary Public Library is paying $8,000 for an AI Artist Residency while Canadian artists earn a median income 44% below the national average and compete for grants at a 16% acceptance rate.
This is happening in arts councils and libraries around the world. I wrote about why.
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
They hit their funding goal in ONE DAY and still cancelled the Kickstarter.
I have an update on the Build Awesome / 11ty situation. Plus a list of SSG alternatives that deserve your attention.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/build-awesomes-kickstarter-is-cancelled-bd71e1b0d700
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
Question for any independent authors in my network: How do you format your books?
I used Microsoft Word in the past (it had a lot of advanced layout features) but 1) I do all my writing in Markdown now and 2) they literally changed the software into AI for some reason.
If anybody has recommendations I'd really appreciate it. Ideally I'd like something that I could put my plain text docs into that would properly format into an accessible PDF with correct margins, bleed, etc.
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
A CEO took a tiny bite of a burger. The internet lost its mind.
In the same week: the US and Israel launched 2,000 strikes on Iran. A 17-page draft executive order to seize control of the midterms leaked. The Senate voted down a war powers resolution.
Wars require public passivity. Passivity is easy to manufacture when we're busy arguing about a sandwich.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/the-big-arch-distraction-while-the-world-is-burning-1cd7cc5d1e9b
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
Font Awesome just rebranded 11ty as "Build Awesome" after a successful $40k Kickstarter.
We've seen this movie before. Gatsby. Stackbit. NetlifyCMS. Every attempt to monetize the static-site generator space has failed for the same reason: the people who care about static sites already have a terminal and a text editor and don't want a subscription.
🔗 https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/the-end-of-eleventy-b5b38ce42337
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
I've written over 230 stories on Medium since I joined the site over ten years ago.
Where do you even begin with that much?
To help people get started with my work, I've decided to make a handy guide!
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/new-to-my-writing-start-here-5abf81b1d892
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
I wrote up the routine that's gotten me to nearly a post a day for four months straight.
Not a guide, more of a behind-the-scenes. Because you can never replicate someone's output by replicating their input. All you can do is choose joy.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/how-ive-posted-nearly-daily-for-4-months-f3bf5c0b9236
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
25% of web pages from the last decade are already gone. 66% of links are dead. Half of U.S. Supreme Court opinions contain broken citations.
Link rot isn't a future problem. It's happening right now.
I wrote about the Long Web and what it means to build for 2046, not just 2026.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/the-internet-in-2036-7e67e28be8f5
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
nearly a year after graduating, i finally finished the essay i started in my last semester of undergrad.
it's about Virginia Woolf, domains of one's own, Queer dance halls, the pandemic, and what it means to claim creative space when the room was never meant for you.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/a-room-of-ones-own-in-2026-in-6-parts-a044c41b4280
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
A friend read my blog and told me I was wrong. She was right.
I'd argued that good faith participation in community required genuine optimism about humanity. But that was screening for worldview, not for participation. And those aren't the same thing.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/whats-the-misanthrope-s-place-in-community-c6d43d0eb04b
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
Inspired by Manuel Moreale's "One a Month" Club, I'm ditching complex tiers for something simple: $2 CAD/month, one price, full access for everyone.
Inspired by traditional gift economies where communities supported their storytellers. Better to give a little to many than a lot to a few.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/introducing-toonie-club-e21c1900b47a
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
I wrote an open letter to Cory Doctorow regarding his defense of generative AI.
If you're championing open source principles while using Ollama, a venture-backed product built on llama.cpp with license violations and no upstream contributions, you're participating in the very enshittification you coined a term for.
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
Just wrote about being good neighbors on the IndieWeb 🏡
What do mycorrhizal networks, Indra's Net, and Mr. Rogers have in common?
I'm not naturally a people person, but I'm learning that the web—like a forest—thrives on intentional connections between independent sites.
Won't you be my neighbour?
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/wont-you-be-my-neighbour-845453204d78
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
MAIN ACCOUNT: @ brennan This account shares *only* my Medium articles. Calgary-based writer, poet & web developer. 🌿 Métis • Queer • advocating for: accessible web, IndieWeb, digital autonomy I write about: poetry craft, Indigenous literature, disability representation, tech criticism, analog practices, literary community 🔗 blog.brennanbrown.ca | berryhouse.ca
I wrote about a weird malware campaign and within days, half a dozen cybersecurity news outlets had repackaged my analysis. Now they outrank me on Google.
The original source: self-taught web developer hanging out in an IRC server.
The "expert" outlets: venture-backed threat intel companies and SEO farms.
This is either a great story about IndieWeb curiosity or a damning one about the state of netsec journalism.
https://blog.brennanbrown.ca/my-story-got-stolen-heres-my-response-e4b4f79cf15e