The Autostraddle Yearbook: A Decade Of Gay Work

what we talk about when we talk about formulaic titles

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Healthcare: The Autostraddle Roundtable
• NSFW Sunday Special: What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Lesbian Sex
• Call For Submissions: What We Talk About When We Talk About ART
• High Femme: What We Talk About When We Talk About Weed
• 21 Things We Talk About When We Talk About Marilyn Manson
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Flogging
• What We Comment About When We Comment About Commenting
  
• What We’re Gonna Talk About When We Talk About Hillary Clinton
  
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Virtual Reality
• Rebel Girls: What We’re Talking About When We Talk About Intersectionality
  

When I think about the one single moment that fully encompasses my love for, and belief in this website and the people who run it, it’s this:

We were in Riese’s Harlem apartment. “We”, I’m pretty sure, was me and the editors of the time: definitely Riese and Laneia, probably Sarah Palmer, too. Alex was maybe there, or maybe en route, or maybe she’d just left. It was June 2010.

I recall walking into Riese’s bedroom to discover that everyone was mad. [Other website] had just unveiled a new-look daily news column which had taken on the same format and schedule and everything of Autostraddle’s news column. It wasn’t the first time something we were doing was either ripped or coincidentally started later by somebody else, but they were well-established and funded and we were too small and too broke for anyone to accept it as flattery.

My stance was fuck ‘em, it was our thing, we should keep doing it. But Riese was adamant that we needed to change, so we did. Her instinct was right, per usual, because the next iteration of how we delivered news content was totally different and better than ever. That’s what Autostraddle does, and why it’s survived when others have not. It fights and perseveres through innovation and critical thought. I believe in Riese’s vision and talent more than I believe in most things, always have, and in Laneia’s creativity, and in the brilliance of every editor who has led us here. I’m just so proud of them all.

Crystal Silvester