On Twitter, we can wield a small measure of power, avenge wrongs, punish villains, exalt the pure of heart. Online spaces offer the hopeful fiction of a tangible cause and effect - an injustice answered by an immediate consequence.
Increasingly, I’ve felt that online engagement is fueled by the hopelessness many people feel when we consider the state of the world and the challenges we deal with in our day-to-day lives. I’ve felt this way for a while, but I’m loath to admit it. Something fundamental has changed since then. I got to share opinions, join in on memes, celebrate people’s personal joys, process the news with others and partake in the collective effervescence of watching awards shows with thousands of strangers. I followed and met other emerging writers, many of whom remain my truest friends. Online is where I found a community beyond my graduate school peers. I lived in a town of around 4,000 people, with few Black people or other people of color, not many queer people and not many writers. When I joined Twitter 14 years ago, I was living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, attending graduate school.
