Expressively publishing on the open web since 1996.
Entranced by Portland, Oregon since 2017.
I’m Jared, an award-winning essayist, Rubyist, and podcaster who’s been commenting on and building for the web since Mosaic was a thing. (Yup, it’s true! 😆)
In my spare time I travel around Portland 🌲 and the Pacific Northwest and shoot cinematic-yet-quirky vlogs. 📹 📺 In addition, I compose and produce 80s-flavored retro electronica. 🎹 🎶
This is my home base on the internet. I hope you enjoy browsing around! 📍
P.S. What am I doing now? That’s what the Now Page is for! ⏱
P.P.S. What’s my favorite (fill-in-the-blank)? Find out in About Me. 😃
It would seem I’m always but one step away from reaching for an endeavor to occupy my time with at any given moment. Besides what’s obviously available on this website…from Bridgetown, a Ruby-powered site generator, to Yarred, my musical alter-ego, there’s something for…well…somebody.
This isn’t actually an essay about Elon Musk. It’s about the fact that we keep trusting these people. And by “these people” I mean the people who look, talk, and behave like Elon Musk. Perhaps it’s time to bust the myth of the Silicon Valley-style boy genius once and for all, and instead look to egalitarian principles to ensure the health and safety of our digital future.
I regret a lot of things.
I regret spending so much time contributing content to corporate social media. I regret expending my limited creative and financial resources all in the service of Big Tech.
But you know what I don’t regret?
Publishing content on my own #website. Yes, right here. And in other places I inhabit on the internet. And even on sites that no longer exist, because thank you Wayback Machine.
It makes me think that, huh, perhaps I should spending more time publishing content in places I “own”. Even if my website is technically hosted on a service I don’t control, the content 100% belongs to me, and I can take it with me anywhere I want because Cool URIs don’t change.
Maybe the #openweb would be in better shape if more people valued personal domain names as much as they value other things in life. I’m coming to realize jaredwhite.com is one of the most prized possessions in life.
“ Let me set the stage for what Tangerine Dream has meant to me in my life.
As far as I am concerned, there is music I listen to and enjoy. And then there is Tangerine Dream. They occupy an entire region of my psyche alone. Just like classical music has its Beethoven, a figure who looms larger than life and redefined a whole new era of sound, electronic music has its Tangerine Dream.
Over on the website for my “alter ego” electronic music act Yarred, I’ve started posting every day (until the end of the year!) all about my favorite works by #synthmusic maestros Tangerine Dream. I elaborated a bit about my long-time obsession with this band on the first installment about the brilliant 1980 album Tangram.
I know TD may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have any interest whatsoever in electronic music, you should be at least familiar with their role in the rise of synthesizers in popular music. As I wrote in the linked article above:
“Talk to any electronic music legend of recent years and ask them what they think about Tangerine Dream. Go ahead. You many not have heard of TD, but I guarantee most of your heroes have.”
Blog: short for Web-log. A personalized record of content you post on the web.
Web: a shortening of World-Wide Web. A global network of hypertext documents all linking to each other.
So then, why is it rare to find anyone actually doing this with their blog? 🤔
There’s a term in IndieWeb circles called Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere (or POSSE). It sort of captures an aspect of that idea…basically you use your own blog to publish thoughts, link commentary, photos, videos, newsletters, etc., and then disseminate that content out to other services (YouTube, Twitter, mailing lists, your own RSS feed, etc.)
I tried POSSE in a previous incarnation of this site. I ended up not liking it. It doesn’t capture the workflows I instinctively prefer on a regular basis, nor how I wish the #openweb really functioned.
What I want to do is the exact opposite! IndieWeb also provides a term for this: Publish Elsewhere, Syndicate (to your) Own Site (or PESOS). They don’t recommend it, and the wiki page enumerates some of the reasons why. But I have come to realize I prefer PESOS for a lot of the content I produce, because it’s generally way easier and the UX is way better.
So the question then becomes: how do I post all this content elsewhere, then transparently pull in links and import content back to my own #website? Of course on a technical level, it means I’ll be writing lots of Ruby plugins for Bridgetown, the software I use to build my website. But I’m always musing on workflows that can be easily applied to the industry of blogging as a whole. I haven’t seen much evidence anyone’s truly cracked this nut. Also admittedly, dragging your own content in kicking and screaming from third-party silos is often less than straightforward (hence the notion of POSSE), because they have a vested interest not to let you feature your own content on your own website. (YouTube remains sort of a weird outlier here because they make it easy to embed videos anywhere, and youtube-dl is certainly a thing.)
Still, I’m motivated to figure this stuff out. I’ll let you know how it goes! ☺️
Look, I get it. You already subscribe to too many newsletters. So much to keep up with. But guess what? I only send out a newsletter once a week. And if you‘re feeling curious, peruse the Creator Class archive. You might find something that resonates with you! It’s a great way to stay current with what I’m publishing, and newsletter recipients always get some extra insight just for them. So what are you waiting for? Let’s roll!
A weekly show where we discuss the business, the art, the ethics of content creation on the open web. Hosted by Jared White.
You won’t want to miss this episode wherein I pull back the curtain into major new developments for the future of this show, follow up on my 2019 social media predictions and compare with how current events are playing out, share specific thoughts on how to think about Mastodon instances and the health of the network, and challenge the veracity of the claim that Americans are growing more and more lonely. It’s an action-packed episode, so let’s get started!
Gazing Eastward from World Trade Center
#portland #oregonexplored #iPhonePro
I love the fall colors on the trees and the leaves, along with the fresh smell of rain on the pavement. 🍂🌧️
#portland #oregonexplored #iPhonePro
Lotus Flower at Tanner Springs
#portland #oregonexplored #iPhonePro
So the children thought it would be fun to be interviewed about their YouTube & gaming aspirations…but then they turned the tables on ME! Mayhem ensues, and then…well, I have no idea what THAT was at the end…
You know that giant lake near Seattle? No, I'm not talking about Lake Washington. I'm talking about Lake Sammamish! Yeah, that other one further to the right on the map. Turns out it's pretty awesome!
This year I want to make a bold statement with what I do and how I live—only this time not as a desperate attempt to appease a deity, but as a way of expressing the core values that make me Me.
There was a time not long ago when my life was in a major upheaval. Signs of online success were slim to none. I wasn’t sure if anyone out there would really care if I were suddenly Thanos-snapped out of existence. Yet the valuable lesson I came to learn during that dreadful time was how to become intrinsically motivated, the significance of value creation, and the trick of cultivating T-shaped skills.
It's taken a global pandemic for many of us to realize something profound about the web. It isn't just a technology which helps the world go around. Today, on a certain level, is IS the world.
This may sound like the craziest thing you’ve ever heard, but I watched a TV show called Portlandia and then I moved to Portland. No joke.
This is your chance. This is your time.
A critical examination of the Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel and what it means for America's culture war.
I needed to take some time off work to think, to dream. Instead I listened to the advice of family and friends and charged into a new business opportunity. Was it successful? Was it an utter disaster? Read my story to find out.
Self-reflection may be good for the soul, but not when the issue is forced by a constant barrage of the opinions of others.
When we have difficulties helping our children learn new skills or cope with the tumult of everyday life, it's tempting to want to blame ourselves. But we can choose to see the learning opportunity inherent in every emotional moment.
Living daily as if everything around you is representative of constant warfare is a recipe for emotional and mental disaster. Trust me, I've been there.
If you think as I did a couple years ago, you probably assume that people who struggle with depression must be sad a lot and just need to be cheered up or adopt a more positive attitude. Well, as I came to discover, that notion is dead wrong.
Presenting two brilliant examples of the classic wit, spiritual depth, and surprisingly fresh language found in millennia-old Celtic verse
When you become a dad, it's much harder to stay stuck on self. Your kids won't let you.