Get in loser, we’re going Jumpstacking
Oh, Jump's in this? *disappointed frown*
Six years ago, I did something really stupid. I started tweeting.
With the handle @JodiesJumpsuit—a reference to the pretty and practical pink jumpsuit worn by Jodie from TVO kids’ show Today’s Special—something extraordinary happened: I made a few good tweets.
Six years later, I’ve been quoted in the Toronto Star, published by the CBC, built a successful movie series called Throwback Cinema, appeared on the Toronto Mike'd podcast, and received a shout-out from Cam Gordon, the head of communications at Twitter Canada, who called me “sharp, quick-witted, sassy… but not too sassy.”
Cam used me as an example of a Normal Person on Twitter, which I believe is the highest compliment that anyone can receive on the internet.
Consumed by the ensuing egomania, I’ve started this newsletter to share the funny, smart, and curious stuff that gets lost in the churning morass of Twitter, along with content that can use a few extra characters.
Just think of it as the smoke break with your work wife: a mixture of utility and amusement that gets you through the rest of the afternoon with your mood intact. Won’t you join me? Well, you’re already here.
An empty case of the Mondays
Last weekend, I read about the evolving and complicated concept of the weekend itself, and learned two things: that people used to invoke the completely-made-up “Saint Monday” as an excuse to blow off work, and that Benjamin Franklin was a bit of a brown noser:
Benjamin Franklin rather prissily bragged that as a young man he got promoted simply by showing up on Mondays for his job in a London printing house: “My constant attendance (I never making a St. Monday) recommended me to the master.”
(The Jumpstack will honour St. Monday by publishing on Tuesdays.)
Reality can bite you on Twitter
One of the easiest ways to rile up the tweeting rabble is to make a condescending blanket statement about the differences between one generation and another:
The true joy comes not from the likes or retweets, or even the #NotAllBoomers making their case, but watching all of the Gen Xers queue up to complain:
Gen X, have you ever considered not living up to the stereotype? (I expect to get at least one strongly-worded reply over this, which ends with an email signature that tells me what type of phone it was sent from.)
I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so scared!
Toronto is awash in Raptors hype and nostalgia as the team awaits their first NBA Finals, with everything from the original list of names (in another timeline, we’re cheering for the Toronto John Candys) to the revelation that one person has been wearing the Raptors mascot costume since the very beginning. As thirtysomethings dig out their old purple jerseys to wear to the office, and fondly discuss all the times the team almost got this far before, I’m remembering this Nike ad for our first-ever draft pick, and shortest Rookie of the Year award winner, Damon Stoudamire:
(Twenty years before Marcus Stroman, he brought his proto-HDMH to Toronto kids.)
Toronto: Geminis our strength?
I’m sending out this newsletter on the 65th birthday of our 65th mayor, which was also the birthday of his predecessor, our most (in)famous mayor of all. Barring some sort of disaster or upheaval, Toronto will have endured a dozen years of governance by two men born on the same day, who both personify the concept of the mutable star sign they were born under. Two wildly different personalities united by a sole purpose: fear of taxes.
And considering that I only joined Twitter to rant about Toronto’s political woes under Mayor Rob Ford, it’s an auspicious day to begin The Jumpstack.
But wait, you ask, what’s Premier Doug Ford’s sign? That’s easy: DoFo is a Scorpio.
That’s it! Reply if you’ve got feedback, and we’ll do another smoke break in one week.