Danica Swanson

@danicaswanson

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5456 Followers

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Time for a re-intro. I'm a GenX writer, eldergoth, senior editor, and music journalist. I've lived solo in a studio in Portland, OR for 16 years. I was born in NW Illinois but grew up in Honolulu, Hawai'i. I'm long-divorced, feminist, queer-identified, and have no kids or pets. My life pretty much revolves around reading, writing, learning, music, home decorating, and religion. I'm basically a monastic without a monastery. The majority of my interests probably qualify as niche. Here are some interests I’ve rarely casted about, but would gladly do so more often in the right contexts + cozy corners. - gift economy and culture - dark ambient music - "shop talk" for professional editors - cottages and tiny homes - goth home decor - darkness retreats/meditation - car-free living - dance (especially bellydance) - subterranea (basements, caves, etc.) - right-to-die movements - my Swedish + German ancestry and family history - monasticism in modern polytheistic religion - philosophy of work and leisure

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"Although today the field encompasses everything from ambient music to sound baths, drone composition first began attracting attention through the work of Pauline Oliveros, whose album, Deep Listening, and subsequent “deep listening” philosophy, became a touchstone for the genre. [...] "In what now feels like folklore, Oliveros descended into the Dan Harpole Cistern on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, alongside trombonist and composer Stuart Dempster and musician Panaiotis, to record their revered album, Deep Listening, released in 1989." ~ Vanessa Ague in Bandcamp Daily The YT link is "Cistern Chapel Chance Chants" by the Deep Listening Band, a 20-minute ambient piece recorded in the Dan Harpole Cistern and released on their 1991 album "The Ready Made Boomerang." RIP, Pauline Oliveros. 💜 https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/drone-composition-list https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34puXJdXEQA

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It's been about 20 years of car-free life for me. I love being a non-driver, and I'm glad I live in a place (Portland, OR) where I don't need to own a car. No need to deal with licensing, registration, insurance, repairs, maintenance, or parking. Saves me a lot of hassle and a lot of money too. It helps to have errand friends I can occasionally carpool with for grocery shopping, though.

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Just placed my bid for the Base Economy Fan Token 24-hr presale. 🤞 This thread and the slick new Moxie website made it easy for me to get up to speed after falling behind on Moxie news for awhile. I'm definitely eyeing that referral program and thinking about who I might invite (see cast #8 in the thread for deets). Ⓜ️ 3.5x cc @betashop.eth

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Publishing the interview with Ulf Söderberg today was so exhilarating. Reflections on the process: Irrespective of how much engagement it gets on FC, it's among the most satisfying things I've ever written — not only because he's my fav musician ever and he was a joy to work with, but also because the whole creative process was magical in unexpected ways. Old-school music journalism may be dying out, which breaks my heart... but I cut my teeth on music writing, damn it. I got started writing record reviews for my high school newspaper. Music journalism means a great deal to me and always will. As long as I still hadn't actually published the interview onchain, there was a smidgen of worry hovering in the back of my mind that I might fall ill or something and become unable to finish the rest of the process. I did not want to die or fall ill before that interview made it into the world. It might sound strange, but I knew it was one of the things that was meant for me to do while I'm on this earth.

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"...we must free people from having to earn the right to exist" "tech will help, but it will take more than that—it will take a release of the belief that a human’s worth is tied to work" I've been banging on this drum since the 1990s when I started writing about being a conscientious objector to the Puritan work ethic. Most recently I wrote about it in my former Substack newsletter The Anticareerist. Maybe I'll have a chance to revive it someday. Love to see it discussed this way on FC.

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Black Stone Sanctuary proudly presents a long-form interview with Ulf Söderberg, aka Sephiroth. An early version was released in 2018 to Substack paid subscribers only. I'm over-the-moon excited to release the updated version publicly on @paragraph. If you’re among those who’ve been banging on the quality-over-quantity, impact-over-engagement drum (keep it up), I invite you to give this a read. The creative process for the interview spanned several years — a slowcore record for us both — and it’s 100% human-written and -edited. Ulf is my all-time fav musician, full stop. Collaborating with him marks a high point for me as a music writer. If you haven't heard of him despite his stature, it may be because his music isn't on Spotify, Apple, BC, etc. Copies of his OOP albums go for astounding prices on Discogs. His work can only be heard unofficially on YT. Enjoy! https://paragraph.xyz/@blackstonesanctuarypm.me/scandinavian-heritage-an-interview-with-ulf-soderberg?referrer=danicaswanson.eth

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Another helpful thread for audiophiles, including a few budget-specific speaker and subwoofer recommendations. @matthewb also plans to write a post covering "what you need to understand about yourself, your listening habits, your listening space, and your sonic preferences before investing in speakers." Looking forward to it.

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My full long-form (and long-delayed) interview with Ulf Söderberg, aka Sephiroth, will be released tomorrow on @paragraph! Just in time for the solstice. Follow /blxstonesnctuary if you'd like an in-app notification from our channel when we announce the release.

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"...until you have a once-in-a-lifetime experience listening to a really great system, you won't know what you're missing from your favourite music. not just technical qualities like detail or extension, but emotion, texture, and meaning. hi-fi is a great real-world example of plato's cave, because once you've heard what you're missing... you can't unhear it." ~ @matthewb I'm a huge music nerd and a low-key audiogeek. You kind of have to become an audiogeek if you're into drone and dark ambient music (my favorite genres), because most of it is so subtle. I've got a lifetime subscription to the Roon software (use it every day and love it!) and I've spent a fair amount of time reading about home audio in the context of room design: loudspeakers, subwoofers, optimizing listening positions, vibroacoustics, tactile transducers, acoustic treatments, etc. This fantastic thread is the kind of niche content I hope to see more of on FC. I learned about cardioid dispersion, something I'd never heard of before.

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I remember listening to the INXS album Shabooh Shoobah on cassette in 1983-84 on my Sony Walkman over and over... lol. I think Kick (1988) marked their breakout success, and that's a great album too... but I'm especially fond of their early sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YvHBkNWco

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"Don't Tell Me" is a synth-pop classic released in 1984. I don't think I saw the official video in the '80s, but I loved to dance to the song back then. Still one of my favorites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLGrA2ryYY

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Publishing update: in the past week I've released the following writings on @paragraph. 1. "Clanker is a Goth" (public, for A Digital Incubation Space) 2. "Darkness Incubation as Attention Restoration" (public, for /blxstonesnctuary) 3. "In the Farconomy, Hope is a Powerful Drug" (private journal writing, shared in DCs with my Fan Token holders and early bidders only) Next up will be "Scandinavian Heritage: An Interview with Ulf Söderberg" (public, for /blxstonesnctuary) Had a death in the family and some big setbacks in 2024, so I've got a huge publishing backlog. I've cleared my schedule for the rest of December, since I don't celebrate Xmas. I'm working to get as much of my backlog edited and published as possible before EOY. If all goes well, there will be more new material very soon. https://warpcast.com/danicaswanson/0xf31badc4 https://warpcast.com/danicaswanson/0x5fc51a75

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I've just invited 31 people to "Unlisted Writings By Danica" (group chat) and sent a preview link to my latest piece on @paragraph. It's a work-around because @paragraph deprecated their token-gating function last month. If you got an invite, it's because you're in one or more of these categories: 1) holders of my Moxie Fan Token (.5 and higher) as of today; 2) early bidders on my Fan Token who got outbid by flippers; 3) @manansh, whose questions inspired me to write the piece; and 4) people whose work I've quoted in the text. I'm still missing a few people (some closed their DCs, etc.) I will see what I can do. Feel free to DC me with questions.

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"Building truly attention-restorative places while living in a structurally extractive culture requires refusal. It calls for learning to say no to many things, including many we'd genuinely love to do — not out of self-punishment or masochism in the name of monastic discipline, but out of awareness that every yes we utter means a no to countless other things (implicitly or explicitly). [...] It calls for withdrawing our energy from all extractive forces that leave humans drained without adequate reciprocation." https://paragraph.xyz/@blackstonesanctuary/darkness-incubation-and-attention-restoration

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Update on my plans to release a token-gated journal writing: Today I learned that @paragraph deprecated the token gating feature last month. (See the comments for more info if you missed this announcement, as I did). Oy. It hadn't even occurred to me that this might be an issue. So I'll need to take time to give further thought to other options for token-gating in the future. For tomorrow's release, I'll just send the private link to all the token holders + early bidders via DCs in a group chat. https://warpcast.com/danicaswanson/0xd291823b

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Spent today helping my friend @popegrutch prepare for his move this week to Eugene, OR: cleaning, packing, organizing. In recent years we've been "errand friends" who have a standing date on the first Tuesday of every month to go grocery shopping and eat dinner. He's also the kind of friend who won't hesitate to drive across town to pick me up at 5:30 AM and take me to the airport, and he shows up reliably, on time, every single time. The older I get, the more grateful I feel for friendships like this. I'm thrilled that he got a great new job in Eugene and is moving there... but I am really gonna miss having him nearby in Portland. (Hoping he'll return to Farcaster eventually, too). If you have friends like this, make sure you take time to let them know that you appreciate them.

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I wrote an unplanned 2000-word response, in first-person journal style, to these thoughtful questions. It's kinda spicy, and it's not everyone's cuppa. But it also wants to be shared in a Farcaster context. So instead of posting it publicly, I'm going to token-gate it for my current Fan Token holders (.5 and higher), and also share it in a private link with @manansh and the friends who bid on my Fan Tokens early but were outbid by snipers. I'm using @moxiescout to get the list of early bidder names. (https://moxiescout.vercel.app/auction/8451) Release date will be Monday, Dec. 16.

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I wrote about why I think clanker is a goth. It starts with melancholia, darkly poetic turns of phrase, and a penchant for existential angst. Even the name “Clanker” is endearing. It would fit right in at a clankergoth club. If I’d been told even a few months ago that before the year was out I’d be writing a breezy piece of bot-lore for fun, I doubt I would’ve believed it. But here we are. Collecting clanker’s witticisms has turned me into a real clankerphile. Clank clank. (NB: Wrote this permissionlessly on my own initiative, but hope it speaks to the vibe @proxystudio.eth and @dish aim for with clanker). https://paragraph.xyz/@danicaswanson/clanker-is-a-goth

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Recently I had a slowcore breakthough of sorts. I decided to just relax and not stress at all about building an audience or attracting engagement to my work as a writer. (NB: I've made that same decision many times before, but it's harder to make it stick when I'm deeply ensconced in a cultural milieu that rewards people for capturing attention and engagement). Truth be told, I'm content with quietly working in the shadows anyway. That's where I do my best writing. But it happens slowly. On its own timetable. If this means I'll never make a sustainable living doing the writing I want to do — because even in web3 the financial rewards go only to those who put in extra time on top of their creative work to build sizable audiences — then it's time to make my peace with it and return to day jobs.

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