Earlier this month, the “25 Random Things About Me”-meme was so omnipresent on Facebook, even major papers like the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune discussed it. What, you haven’t heard of it? Wow. No wonder newspapers are going out of business! Well, here’s some background info from the grey lady, then:
…the latest digital fad — a chain-letter-cum-literary exercise called “25 Random Things About Me†— is threatening to consume what little remaining free time and privacy we have.
Here’s how it works: friends send you an e-mail message (or, on Facebook, “tag†you in a note posted to their profile) with 25 heartfelt observations about themselves — like “I named my son after a man I’ve never met†or “I once paid good money to see Whitesnake in concert†— along with instructions for you to follow suit. You are then expected to gin up your own clever list and foist it upon 25 people, including the friend who asked for it in the first place. [NYT]
The 25 things can be habits, goals, quirky facts– whatever. Everyone on Facebook seemed to be doing it, so much so that a backlash started. People used their status messages to denounce the meme and warn others from including them. Groups like “Stop Tagging Me in 25 Random Things Posts You Tards” were formed. But the lists weren’t really THAT bad. No one was forcing anyone to read them. Often, if you did, you’d end up learning fascinating things about the people whom you allegedly “know”.
That’s the thing about “25 Random Things About Me”: Once you stop being annoyed you realize that, at its best, it’s one of the more compelling — and, yes, even oddly inspiring — wastes of time to hit the Web in years. And let’s cut to the chase. Should we really be complaining about the inanity of this new trend? We’re a nation entertained by lolcats. [salon]
Word. Besides, it’s not like this is anything new:
“It’s a brainstorming exercise,†said Anne Trubek, an associate professor at Oberlin College who said she used to give nearly identical assignments 15 years ago to beginning writing students. “It’s used to get people to think about ideas without the pressure of developing a thesis or an argument.†[NYT]
Reading this made me realize that I should write such a list…
So these notes aren’t only informative and entertaining, but they also build community. In a real way, they’re the literature of democracy. [ChicagoTribune]
…but with a twist. I wanted to write about this blog. We have so many new readers, many of whom weren’t around for certain conversations or milestones. What better way to strengthen the bonds of this mutinous community than by telling you a little about how and why we’re here? I don’t think there’s anything else quite like SM out there…and that’s why it was easy to come up with 25 “random” things.
I probably could have come up with a few more (like…#26. Some Hindus think we are a pro-Muslim blog and some Muslims condemn us for being a hotbed of Hinduism. How we are both is beyond me), but this is enough for a Friday. Without further ado…
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1) Sepia Mutiny is a pun on the Sepoy Mutiny, India’s First War of Independence. It’s shocking how many people don’t make the connection. Even if you didn’t puzzle it out, it’s part of our FAQ!
2) Therefore Sepia Mutiny loosely translates to brown uprising or revolt. Still unclear? Remember sepia-tinted photographs? They’re brown. There you go.
3) It’s pronounced SEE-Pee-Uh. Not SEP-ee-uh. See. Like Free.
4) I’m the one who came up with the name. Painfully earnest emails were traded back and forth, with ballots, rankings, and passionate arguments for or against the 15 names we were considering, until I blurted out, “How ’bout Sepia Mutiny? Like brown mutiny. It’s weird and thus, no one else has it and it’s a pun. Also, it means we can stop voting and start blogging.” So, SM was lucky #16. (This one’s for you, rogue).
5) We were this close to being called “Indian Ink”, which would’ve decisively pre-empted all the annoying, anti-South Asian bullshit we’ve had to deal with over the years. I don’t think that name is as special, inclusive or original as what we decided upon. And I’d feel that way even if Vinod was the Mallu in the bunker who came up with SM. 😉
6) SM was Abhi’s vision. Abhi, Manish, Vinod and I were all aware of each other’s personal blogs. We had each blog-rolled the others, etc. In 2004, Manish and I had posted about two different incidents involving Republican campaigns, which deserved to be called out. Abhi realized it would be far more effective if these stories were in one place, because even though there was some overlap in our readership, our Desi peers were still missing out. And these issues were too important to go unnoticed, during an election year. (There you go, Rahul G.)
7) The fabulous five founders are the four I named above, plus that enigma wrapped in a riddle and dipped in chocolate, Ennis. Ennis was one of my favorite readers and an old friend of Manish and Vinod’s, so he was a natural addition.
8) After “Indian Ink”, “blogwalla” and “Amar Akbar Anthony” were tied for second place in the great name race.
9) The first post on this blog is an impromptu limerick I wrote on July 30, 2004, when Manish asked each of us to publish our own test posts to make sure our logins worked, etc. I never expected it to live longer than a few hours. It means the world to me that he/we didn’t remove it.
10) Our first “real” or official post was published a week later, on August 7, by Manish. It consists of just one sentence. Obviously, much has changed. We were figuring ourselves out as we went along. 🙂
11) As far as I can tell, our first meetup was hosted by Vinod on July 7, 2005 in NYC.
11a) Yes, people have hooked up at meetups. I’ve accidentally walked in on it.
11b) Cheee, cheee you dirty monkeys!
12) SM does not endorse anyone. We are not a partisan blog. We are not all Democrats and it’s annoying when people assume we are and then get mad at us for being our diverse, independent selves.
13) As far as I know, we’ve had meetups in Manhattan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Philadelphia and London (thanks, rudie_c!). If any of that is wrong, I know I’ll get corrected, asap.
14) Trolls have showed up to meetups twice, both in DC. Once, they actually joined us, but refused to introduce themselves or otherwise provide any identifying info, saying that if he did, we’d probably throw him out/beat him up. He just sat there and listened while the rest of us had a rollicking conversation. Awkward. The other time, the troll apparently sat nearby, with a friend and scoped us out– we had no idea they were at Amma. I know this because this troll later made peace with me (strange, but true…it’s happened three times), and they told me about it.
15) We have never had ads and I hope we never will. I love NPR for a reason. I hate blinking things, gyrating cartoons, pop-ups, pop-unders and everything else which assaults my eyes online. I want SM to be an oasis from that crap. Besides, can you just imagine the text ads on the side? “Bharatmatrimony.com, DesiZingles.com, Shaadi.com”…uh, do you really want to see that shit? I don’t.
16) One of the reasons I’m against ads is because I don’t want us to ever feel constrained by or otherwise affected by them. We don’t shill, I hope we never will.
17) When we need money for server costs, we just ask you. You’ve always given us more than we needed, in a matter of days, if not hours. We are so grateful for your support. Everything else is done by volunteers, i.e. site maintenance, design, and yes, blogging and moderating.
18) If you’re sick of me mentioning that, you might be one of the ingrates who complains about something you don’t pay for, which others create as a labor of love. One of the more depressing aspects of this project is the level of entitlement some display with regards to it. We do our best and we still get complaints for not covering X, not moderating Y, not having a better Z, etc. Sigh. This is not our day job. We are not a newspaper or a for-profit organization.
19) Believe it or not, we don’t ban THAT many people. Nor do we ban or delete you if we dislike you personally, you’ve insulted our writing, dared to disagree with us, etc. It’s unfortunate that some choose to level such petty, inaccurate accusations.
19a) If your shit got deleted, either you violated our commenting policy, were off-topic or you were an asshole (or all of the above).
19b) If you got banned, you probably called Vinod “Uncle Tom”. Don’t do that. Not because he’s a mutineer, but because he’s human. It’s nasty, uncalled for and offensive. If you can’t disagree with someone without resorting to that slur, do us all a favor and don’t comment.
20) The post with the most comments of all time is called, “Whoa, is Dating White not Right?”. I stopped counting somewhere around 1,500 mostly because my computer refuses to even load the page. Those 1,500ish comments were added over a mere four days, btw. I wrote an obituary post for “WIDWNR” and even that got 300 comments! You guys love to discuss interracial dating!
21) SepiaDestiny.com is an inside joke– three years ago, one of you asked if we’d start a dating site. That’s the name of it.
22) The other names we considered: Desirati, Dishoom Dishoom, XDesi, BrownAmerica, Desispiracy, PanDesi, Tamarind, Desinfect, Desified, Shotgun Rishta, Desintegrate, Blogging While Brown.
23) Pardesi Gori is the name of an infamous troll who always gets banned but keeps coming back for more. She switches handles (“Mistress of Spices” was another, I think) but we can always figure out who she is by her consistent “tells”. She’s very critical of India, she mentions she’s White but doesn’t date white guys, she tries to out-Brown brown people, etc. If someone accuses you of being her, it’s just because they’re still traumatized by her antics. Forgive them.
24) Razib was not our first commenter (that was someone anonymous), but he has been here the longest. He left his first comment when we were just three days old. 🙂
25) There is no real structure to SM. Never has been. No meetings, no deadlines, no story assignments, nothing. We just write about what moves us, if we can add something to the issue and if we have time. We each moderate our own posts for the most part, so sometimes this means that we’ll be tempted to write about something juicy, but if we can’t devote the resources to managing a chaotic comment thread…we might pass.
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What about you? If you did the “25 Things” meme and want to share your “top 3” in the comments below, feel free. Or leave us a link to where we can find your list, online. I’d love to know which one of you has made out with a famous rapper. Oh wait, that I already know. 😉
First 😀
so which blogs are part of the “sepiasphere”? (i.e., those blogs which spun off from SM like ultrabrown?)
for the record, i’ve learned a lot from this weblog.
also, i tried to convince you to do a demographic survey of this weblog. abhi said he’s permanently veto it when i brought the idea up, but perhaps he might reconsider? i use limesurvey (http://www.limesurvey.org), which has export capabilities so you can process in R. i just did a one and have an N of 500+ readers (for my two gene expression weblogs), so i know that ~5% of my readers are south asian, of whom 70% are atheists & agnostics & 60% have graduate degrees.
I enjoyed this list. Congratulations on approaching five years. Tempus fugit.
Regarding the FB phenom, I loved this recent article titled Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies. Not that I care, but I’m curious: is FB now or soon destined to be hopelessly “uncool” to the under 25 crowd?
As for my list, instead of my first three, I’ll share some from the middle, if anyone really cares: 8) I won a full scholarship to an art college in New York City but quit midway through my fourth semester. It was a good decision at the time, but sometimes I regret it. 9) I’ve moved from New Jersey to California and lived and traveled in West Africa, but I consider myself to be someone who really doesn’t like taking risks and going out of my comfort zone. 10) I toyed with the nom de blog “pardesi gora” when first crashing in on the mutiny. [This ‘thing’ is fictitious. I promise.]
1) I love gurba time because even the rude boys get into it all the way!
2) one of my hero’s and the strongest person I know is my faiba. She has tons of illnesses, fulfilling her obligations as a mother, daughter, wife, friend, sister aunt the best she can, fostering a child with learning difficulties, doing a masters the same time as planning her sons wedding and week long event, always doing it with a smile and joke. Plus taking time to teach me the necessary dishes that have been passed on from generation to generation. mmm goor wali bhakri, Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggggh hh
3) I found this site through the wizardry writings of anna J and attended what I think is the first international SM meet up in London hosted by Vinod. Did you guys know you were going to have such a worldly influence?
I get the ‘Sepia’ part, but I’ve never understood what the ‘mutiny’ part is all about. What are we rebelling against?
1) I had the greatest celeb crushes ever on Aishwarya Rai, and have an autographed pencil-sketch of her. 2) I love dark chocolate. 3) I am an INFP.
wasn’t me.
Anna: With all due respect to guys like Razib and some others, I have been on SM for as much time if not longer! No? Anyway, Congratulations and wish you and the gang many many more years to come. Keep on the good work. Yes I am back from India !
With all due respect to guys like Razib and some others
Speaking of old commenters, whatever happened to ‘gc’? That guy was a prolific commenter! I also wonder about JaiSingh , MD and some other people. Did they just go away or did they change their IDs? Btw, is KXB the same KXB from 2004 onwards or is he a new one? That old KXB used to be a Bengali American dude.
PAfD: When you said “Old Commenters”, I am sure you did not mean old like an aged person. All you need to participate in SM board discussions is a “Young Heart” – right? I wonder what happened to KenyanDesi, Cinnamon Rani, Chickpea and yet one more east Africa born girl (wife of El Capitan) who participated in Washington DC meetup?
6 · suede said
Many, many things. Not all of us felt comfortable with/identified with communities like ISA/SASA or bought in to the “Desi = North Indian” or “Desi = bhangra parties and Bollywood” bit. I’ve attended plenty of “Indian” cultural shows or events which focused on garba, bhangra, and not much else. That was fun, as a South Indian.
Discrimination (including within our community), stereotypes (ditto), bad brown fiction, the indifference of our peers. Being invisible, especially to the mainstream media who ignored or didn’t do a great job with those two original stories:
Also, not having a South Asian voice at the 2004 Democratic convention. That’s part of what inspired Abhi to form this. We were revolting against plenty of things.
Hi
Sorry for my ignorance, but what does “Uncle Tom” mean?
2 · razib said
Well…only one of us has left, so isn’t that the only one? 😉 Maybe some of the group blogs started by our commenters?
5 · rudie_c said
Oooh, I’ll add that to the list in #13. Thanks! And no, I don’t think we did! 🙂
10 · Yo Dad said
Yo Dad, in many ways, you are the original mutineer. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I’m glad you’re back from India! 😀
12 · Pagal_Aadmi_for_debauchery said
Not sure where gc is, but I think JaiSingh is over at Pickled Politics, across the pond. MD still comments occasionally. Yes, I think it’s the same KXB.
13 · Yo Dad said
I think he means commenters from our early days. 🙂 And I think you’re referring to Msichana. Gosh, you’re right, none of them has commented lately. Our readership is ever evolving.
Of old commentors, I miss PunjabiBoy most. I’ve kept a list of what I thought were “best SM comments ever” (no, none of mine), and one of his was number one.
I liked Pardesi Gori. Thought she added an interesting perspective. To each their own, I suppose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_tom
in reference to “uncle tom”, it is surprising the term is used as a pejorative. stowe’s inspiration for ‘uncle tom’ was reverend josiah henson who escaped via the underground railroad to canada. for those of you who live in and around detroit you might consider a trip to ‘uncle tom’s cabin’. it is an interesting experience – and the historical society has done a good job.
I want to know if any famous people read Sepia Mutiny. I have images of Jhumpa Lahiri logging on when she has writers block. She stands at the window and stares into the distance, looking elegant. She makes a cup of coffee and sighs, elegantly. Then daintily and stylishly, she sits down at her desk and stares at the blank page. She sighs, once again, elegantly, a stately, restrained sigh. Then she logs on to Sepia Mutiny and spends an hour reading the comments about the latest Indian dude on American Idol.
I hope it’s true.
11 · Pagal_Aadmi_for_debauchery said
LOL. this is so like craigslist. [no,… i dont trawl those pages. have seen the free metro daily publishes pieces of those]. i can see this now “you were wearing burgundy paul frank shirt with jeans on flight to mumbai. i was wearing beige kurta with orange pants. we tlked about blogs and bloggers. are you the vun? ASLEEP in MUMBAI & NY. Al Mujahid for hookery”
Anna/all: long time reader, 3rd time commenter. Have there been instances where, in your opinion, this blog has directly helped the case/cause of a South Asian in need? i.e In cases where a South Asian has been victimized.
I finally felt like posting a comment. I’ve been lurking around the blog since summer 2005 i believe when I had time to kill @ my internship. I hardly comment because 1) either i don’t have an intelligent AND PC .. or 2) i am too lazy or .. 3) I am usually too late and someone’s already made that point. Several blogs have come and gone in my Google Reader feed .. but SP has always been around ..
Keep it going … and ..
Can we have a meet up in BOSTON for crying out loud ?? lol ..
19b) If you got banned, you probably called Vinod “Uncle Tomâ€. Don’t do that. Not because he’s a mutineer, but because he’s human. It’s nasty, uncalled for and offensive. If you can’t disagree with someone without resorting to that slur, do us all a favor and don’t comment
I agree with the above sentiment. However, as a self styled SM Historian, I must note that the term ‘Uncle Tom’ at one point was freely used in SM discussions and I remember hurling that term in some discussions a few times in that era, though I now regret using that term.
LOL. this is so like craigslist. [no,… i dont trawl those pages. have seen the free metro daily publishes pieces of those]. i can see this now “you were wearing burgundy paul frank shirt with jeans on flight to mumbai. i was wearing beige kurta with orange pants. we tlked about blogs and bloggers. are you the vun? ASLEEP in MUMBAI & NY. Al Mujahid for hookery”
This is Craiglist before Craiglist biyatch!
Aww this is a awesome list and I’m glad to have been around reading SM a long time now myself and have had the pleasure of meeting some of you macacas 🙂
My favorite poster has always been Anna (if I went back and counted yours were the posts I commented on most because they were always fun and slice of life) I was very partial to Manish and missed him terribly after he left.
You know the whole 25 things meme was annoying at first and then I started reading my friends lists and found such wonderous and interesting things about them.
3 random things about me:
Nice post Anna. As with all 25 random thangs posts, there’s some new nuggets of information in here 🙂 Here is three things about Sepia and me… 1. I am a longtime lurker, was introduced to it by a blogger friend. 2. I need my daily fix of Sepia Mutiny. I like the truly wide range of topics from gossip to literature, never know what the next posting is going to be about. 3. My biggest excitement is when I post something on the news tab and someone says it is “mutinous”. 🙂
3 random things
ve literally ran into anna one fine morning in d.c. [she really s cute in person in spite of the cell phone attached to her ear]. ve didnt say anything but ve smiled inside.
ve’ve been banned on sm a couple of times. [ve live on the hedge].
aloo parathas are the best.
I’ve become very angry after reading some of the posts on this site simply because I disagreed with them. I’ve also gotten an incredible education on my South Asian heritage. You guys inspired me to keep blogging and to keep reflecting on who I am. That’s kind of a crazy/ lame thing to say to a bunch of people you’ve never met in person or you read online but you have influenced me so much. gosh I’m tearing up believe it or not, when I went to India in 2006 as my grandfather was on his deathbed, I thought a lot about writing and how I would reflect on everything that was happening in my life. I thought about Anna’s posts about her family and began to write a bit in my own journal about my time in India. So what is my rambling comment trying to say? I think you guys gave me, at the time a sniveling little 18 year old college student, an opportunity to rediscover who I was and to be proud of that fact. My family has also noticed a change in who I am. They see someone who has researched the history of Indian-Americans in the United States and wants to preserve that history and heritage for future generations to know.
Man.. that made no sense. But thank you for being awesome, you have impacted my life more than you will realize… or I will be articulate enough to explain.
a)Never been a blog/internet addict but chanced to come across SM and became one ever since at the expense of
physical activity.
b)Been a “frog in the well”, but post 9/11 politics and SM has made me more enlightened about the world around. c)SM gives me a chance to hone my skills on being a contrarian. Hope it will help me become an international lawyer
someday 🙂 d)And not to mention the freedom to excercise linguistic and literary fantasies behind the anonymity of the web…
I thought I was a true SM fan but I know very little of the background you’ve discussed here. SM is great and you must now organise a Bombay meet.
OT but re the 25 Things list… I was turned off it after stumbling across a list by perhaps the most narcissistic, venomous Facebooker I’ve ever encountered. Sample entry: 8. Yes ok i’m somewhat of a snob and i’ll admit it. I think i’m better than u because i went to a private school and a private university. Deal with it.
judging from your comments, you probably have excellent taste 🙂 maybe a time will come to share that list.
Thanks for bringing us newbies up to speed. I think sometimes people think I’m PG just ‘cuz I have Gori in my name. When will people learn – racial profiling doesn’t work?! (I’ve actually had her troll my blog, though, so I understand.) I wish I could read that WIDWNR post…
revisiting #28, i see that it could be creepy lurkerish, but it isnt.
21 · KundiKarruppan said
I don’t know if this fits your description, but this blog directly helped two South Asian Americans who were fighting cancer, by publicizing the desperate need for marrow donors of Desi descent, and exhorting people to go to bone marrow drives held all over the country. A lot of people (I know a few) stopped being apathetic about joining the national database after reading SM, and realizing how dire the need for us to step up is.
1) I read SM and Indiamike for the outsider perspective on India. Both cover the spectrum from am-I-Desi to wannabe-Desi, but from different angles. I now try to keep away from ABDs and foreigners interested in India, and would like my kids to grow up in India.
2) I like the SM feature that allows you to have any handle you want. I will stop commenting if it becomes a generic “anonymous”, or a fixed handle is required.
3) I look forward to Anna’s book. Really.
CR@35: My question was in the context of helping Desis fight discrimination and like scenarios. But the instances you point out are truly inspiring and heart warming – turbans off to all the mutineers!
i started reading this blog, may be sometime in 2005, after seeing many indian bloggers having a link to this blog. I don’t comment as often, but it is a welcome distraction on my hectic work days.. keep up the good work, guys!
In no particular order:
check this out. sepia mutiny appears the most in 2007. also india is the number 1 country where people search for the term.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22sepia+mutiny%22
I love you Anna!
So, who was SpoorLam?
8 · degenerate portmanteau said
i believe you…rob and rahul mentioned once how the 3 of you never got caught.
I started reading SM when I fell in love with a desi boy. That was quite a while ago, and now we have a baby of our own (dating white worked out, in other words).
I don’t comment much because I’m not witty at all, but I love reading comments of those who are. Sepia Mutiny is one of four of five blogs I regularly read… I always learn something, and it’s fun.
I found Razib’s blogs through you, and I’d be grateful even if that had been the only benefit of having happened upon SM.
So, who was SpoorLam?
Moornam himself!
44 · Pagal_Aadmi_for_debauchery said
i’ve considered that possibity too, PAfD. What better way to raise your own profile than creating your own antagonist? And then, your own creation spawns copycats, like the current not-quite-ready-for-primetime moronnam.
brilliant.
i don’t care how fit and hadsome he is, but this manju guy’s an idiot
Spanju, very insightful comment!
I love this post – reminded me of why I love this space and why I think this space is revolutionary. Here’s my three (plus bonus)…
1) I got introduced to SM after a friendster date gone blogging awry. Discovering the Mutiny was the best outcome to a ‘bad’ date ever. 😉
2) I know more about cyberstalker public policy and talked to more lawyers about rights as a blogger than I really care to. Blogging in this space is no joke and there are serious risks we take to do it.
3) I have met many people through the Mutiny (commenters, lurkers, and masthead bloggers) and some of my best friends I discovered through this world. I have no shame in introducing people at parties by saying, “We met through blogging.”
Bonus) For the second LA Meetup, I created a Sepia Mutiny soundtrack compilation CD that I created for everyone that attended. Songs were selected by Mutineers and is one of my favorite playlists on my ipod to date.
This “Spamju” guy sounds promising.
What about the North Dakota bunker. You didnt touch on that.
BTW….great site. Early reader and come back for more every day. Dont comment as often as I used to.