Hello! Here you will find much of what I’ve written and published. My work for Inc. is better perused via my author page over there, so it’s not included below.
Articles and Essays
Listed in chronological order (starting with the most recent). Some older posts had to be removed from the tally because of linkrot.
I collaborated with Chris Messina on a conversation about sexuality and social norms called “NSFW?” Apt subtitle: “The challenges of being horny on main and fucking around in the uncanny valley of professionalism.”
“The Internet Won’t Kill Gun Control By Itself” for Palladium, examining the dynamics of cypherpunk gun advocacy.
I discussed financial discrimination in a CoinDesk op-ed, arguing that cryptocurrencies can prevent it.
“The Conversations that Cryptocurrency Kills” sums up cypherpunk politics for the avant-garde webzine Jacobite.
“Toward an Uncensored Internet” describes how decentralized technology can protect freedom. I wrote it for Prototype, which is part of Libertarianism.org, which is part of the Cato Institute.
I wrote “A Newcomer to the Fediverse” for Robek.World, an eclectic website that covers GnuSocial, among other topics.
For the experimental meta-cognitive blog Ribbonfarm, I wrote:
- “The Cyberpunk Sensibility”
- “The Antiheroine Unveiled”
- “Sanity on the Weird Timeline”
- “Arguing About How the World Should Burn”
I profiled Mynd, an Oakland-based property-management startup, for the February, 2017 issue of DSNews. Here’s a PDF of the feature, and you can peruse the full magazine issue on the DSNews website.
I’ve written quite a few analysis pieces for the newsroom of data startup Mattermark. You can read them all there, but here are several of my favorites:
- “Series C and Beyond: How Growth Investing Is Different”
- “How Women VCs Affect The Performance Of Firms And Startups”
- “Trend-Following Investors and Investor-Following Trends”
- “Where’s The Next PayPal Mafia?”
- “Bitcoin Goes Bananas” (not the actual title, but definitely the title my heart wants)
WinningWP is a site that helps its readers get the most out of WordPress. I wrote “NearlyFreeSpeech.NET – The Best Minimalist Web Hosting Service?” about — you guessed it — my favorite unconventional hosting service. I also compiled “What’s New in WordPress Version 4.7” for WinningWP.
Post Status is a club for web-dev professionals who focus on WordPress. I wrote “Static site generators versus WordPress” for the website.
“7 Cyberpunk Jobs that Aren’t Law Enforcement or Programming” on Neon Dystopia.
I gave a short talk called “Boundaries for Bots” at the Slack Developers’ Meetup in San Francisco.
Photos of a wrecked RV on Berkeleyside: “Driver in stalled RV escaped to safety before train hit”.
“Failures in Self-Publishing” on The Digital Reader.
An argument in favor of decriminalizing sex work on The Marshall Project.
“No Longer the Smartest Kid in the Room” for Small Answers.
For Bay Alarm Medical:
- “How We Can All Make The Physical Experience Of Old Age Easier”
- “Rethinking Old Age For The New Century”
- “Watching The Second-To-Last Transition”
For The Billfold: “Artisanal Dollars” and “Paying For Ink And Intimacy”.
“All in a Word” on the term “Third World” for Ethical Traveler.
“Capture The Audience And Keep Them Awake” on public speaking.
For Bustle, an up-and-coming women’s media site:
- “Cell Phones Are The Most Important Modern Accessory”
- “The Actual Catholic Schoolgirl Experience”
- “The High Style Standards For Women In Tech”
- “What Is Crazy Girl Chic And Why Does It Matter?”
- “Acne Never Ruined My Dating Life”
Click here to see the rest of what I wrote for Bustle.
For the Richmond Pulse, a local news outlet:
- “Local Business Review: Narasaki Automotive and Marine”
- “‘Goliath’ Takes a Beating in Richmond Despite Low Turnout” (contributor)
- “Seeing a Brighter Future, Through the Haze of Depression” (page 8)
- “White, Upper-Middle Class and Living in Richmond”
For Creeklife, an environmental crowdfunding website:
- “Production Follows Values”
- “Natural Americana with Zack Frank Photography”
- “Forest Friendship: Nature Photography & Natural Philosophy”
- “Help the Adorable Olinguito & Promote Biodiversity”
Review of Meet the Fokkens (2011) for Tits and Sass.
Public Speaking
(This section is not comprehensive and I forget to update it.)
I’ve given a couple of talks, at GitHub’s CodeConf in Los Angeles and Slack’s monthly developer meetup in San Francisco. I also hosted a Q&A with The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green at the annual SaaStr conference. I’ve appeared on four podcasts, The Paradox Project, The Menu Bar (twice), Unco, AppleInsider, and The Damn Woods.
Book-Type Things
- User-Friendly Urbanism
- How To Start Reading Again
- Style Therapy
- Product Communication Basics
- Instructions Unclear
Zines (Old)
All of my zines are free! Just shoot an email over (me@sonyaellenmann.com) and I will send you whatever you want. I’m running out of printed copies of some titles, but I can email you a PDF, which you can print yourself or read on the computer.
Here are the options:
- Semi Sonya is an angsty, silly perzine that came out on January 1st, 2015.
- Balm Digest used to be a low-budget literary magazine. “Poignant” was the keyword. All four issues can be downloaded from the public Google Drive folder where I archive free zines that I encounter online.
- SPURNED is a zine about unrequited love.
- Heaping Torso (a boob zine) is a zine about self-esteem and the male gaze. If you want to read it on Kindle, it costs $0.99.
- Emeryville Ethereal is a creepy-cute horror zine by Alex Irwin and myself, based out of Oakland and the title city. Issue #1 was published on 10/18/2014 and issue #2 was published on 1/3/2015.
As noted above, I also have a public Google Drive folder containing PDFs of free zines that I’ve come across during my internet travels.
Selected Essays (Old)
- “Femme Fairyland” (profile of Oakland designer Tawny Holt)
- “Parents & Teenagers Unaware Of Adolescent Sleep Deficits”
- “The YouTube Response” (political effects of web media)
Former Blogs (Old)
- Fashion Fragile (personal style)
- Yourself Cared (mental health)
- Dwelling Process (home and garden)