No news is good news, or so people say when they are trying to convince themselves that not knowing and everything being ok is congruent. For the last few years, though, with the “flood the zone” tactics of the American right and the European populist political yahoos, it’s almost like all news is no news, which is decidedly not good news. We are so bombarded with information on a regular basis, it’s no wonder that Gen Z are going analog. I’m going analog soon too. Kind of.
Opening paragraphs are difficult, did you know? Finding a hook, hoping it’s good enough that you keep reading. Trying to surprise you with the turns I take. Wanting to be interesting, unpredictable, good at this. Every week.
This newsletter might be the only way some of you have any inkling about what’s happening in my world. You might not be following me in my other internet endeavours. Sometimes I don’t know if you are out there at all. In any case, this week we announced that we are closing We Are Open Co-op on our 10th birthday, May 1st 2026.
- We Are Closing > https://blog.weareopen.coop/we-are-closing/
I am one of the four founding members of WAO, and I’ve put my work through that vehicle for quite a long time. To tell you the truth, I’ve had a lot of time to get used to this idea because we went back and forth on it several times.
I am still not used to it. To be honest I am both celebrating and grieving. WAO is part of me. My identity has always been wrapped up in my work. While I’ve heard this is “unhealthy”, I don’t much understand people who don’t identify with what they spend most of their time doing.
The longest amount of time I did not work was between when I stopped working at Mozilla and started working at Greenpeace. There was a month between the “I’m leaving Mozilla” post and the “I’m at an event with Greenpeace” post, which happens to be the quintessential Open is an Attitude. So starting May 1st, I’m taking a sabbatical. It’s a bit of a forcing function for myself. I’ve never had a sabbatical.
- Time for Change > https://www.laurahilliger.com/participation/time-for-change/
- Open is an Attitude > https://www.laurahilliger.com/leadership/open-is-an-attitude/
Maybe I need help
I didn’t think about much this week other than going public about the co-op closing. So thanks for reading this short FBT, and also how have you been?