(yes, this is an allusion to Judy Blume’s classic, Are You There G!d, it’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume)
Dear universe,
I’ve lost count of how many people sent me screenshots and instagram links to this post today. Needless to say, I’m delighted!!! Know that we’re in good company in this cozy corner of the internet.
Image description: Screenshot from adrienne maree brown’s Instagram. On the left, there is a closeup picture of a hand holding a mug. The mug is printed, “It’s not like love and spreadsheets don’t go together.” — adrienne maree brown. 2022 Prize Jury. The right shows image descriptions from Instagram and comments. The most relevant text is an explanation of this post, “the ursula le guin prize jury experience was a delight and they made me this very special mug (purple heart emoji) which feels like a snapshot of working with me.”
It’s not every day that liberation culture jammers share about spreadsheets in a positive light, so I wanted to take this moment to celebrate and elevate this!
When I started this blog 6 years and 200+ posts ago, my dream was to shout from the rooftops that SPREADSHEETS ARE COOL!
I’ll admit, it felt a little lonely at first; yet now there are hundreds of us making meaning out of connection through data stewardship, past, present, and future.
Spreadsheets are a huge source of joy and possibility for me and my communities. They are the tool where I most often hear the exclamation, “WOW, magic!”
So, it’s no surprise that adrienne maree brown, who I super admire for her leadership on pleasure, strategy, spirituality, and sustainability (in every sense of the word) would take up the mantle of loving on spreadsheets. She’s been an inspiration for the blog for many years, and I wrote about her influence on me here.
Maybe, just maybe, one of you knows adrienne maree brown IRL, and perhaps you might even share this post with her and let her know how exciting it was to see someone like her say what she said on Instagram. From nerdy data/operations/system folks everywhere, we are cheering!
Learn more about what I’m up to:
- Writing an administrative history of the American civil rights movement
- Democratizing access to Salesforce flow skillbuilding
- Democratizing access to mail merge templates for nonprofits
- Open source project for creating diverse test datasets
- Super special mini freelance projects 😉
Omg I love it. I want that mug!!
hi it’s me. from my spreadsheet joy to yours, a toast. amb
OMG! ^^ Swoon!