lex·i(e)·con

January 27, 2025

Lexicon – it’s a word I think about a lot. Mostly because it resembles my name and relates to words, which I’ve made my career’s work. But it’s not a common word, so let’s define it.

lexicon: /ˈleksəˌkän,ˈleksəkən/

noun: the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.

So with that established, what is ‘lexiecon?’ It’s the vocabulary of a Lexie.

*This is a Lexie with her PJs and coffee. As photographed by a 3-year-old son.*

Welcome to my site. Against my truest instincts as a planner, I’m jumping into this with a only rough idea of a site structure in a phone note, and a discounted payment toward a small piece of the internet that’s mine and mine alone.

There’s a lot of reasons I’m doing this, and I’ll probably dive into them more later. As a writer by trade, I’ve always toyed with the idea of a blog or a website. I’ve tried a Blogger.com site, an anonymous Medium for a bit, a Substack that never made it off the ground …. But god forbid I actually do the embarrassing thing of LAUNCHING anything PUBLICLY, I’ve kept all of these to myself. (The terror of someone spotting an undetected typo or grammatical misstep was to intense).

But this time, it just feels different. I’m increasingly aware of the data that I funnel through my phone every day. I’m frustratingly grossed out by the people that control social media. And it’s just started to sink in that when a product is free ….. I am the product. And am I okay with that? I’m not sure. There’s a lot of good about social media, but it’s not all rose-colored Instagram filters.

Now, there’s not an inherent evil in using social media, leveraging data, selling products, or any of the things we hardly even notice anymore because they’re just facts of digital life. But alongside all this was the realization that social media was hurting me. It was wasting my time. Stealing my happiness. Stifling my creativity. Bombarding me with atrocious news when I wasn’t ready for it.

And all for what. I’ve got a long way to go in righting my relationship with the online world, but another thing that’s really started to sink in is that I don’t want my obituary to say ‘sent a lot of funny reels.’ … I want to create more than I consume and have space to think and learn and read WITHOUT an algorithm telling me what’s most important.

But I still want an online home. I want a place to share things.

What kinds of things? Time will tell as I start to build out the site. I’d like to upload the HTML export of my Instagram so I can delete that account but keep the content (Google tells me it’s possible). Maybe there’s a tab for the kind of snark I’d share on Twitter (yes, Twitter). Maybe a book club (for one) tab, and another for more serious news pieces that I want to share my comments on. A good old-fashioned blog for big updates. A photo gallery. Something involving an RSS feed? (Lots of Googling needed here). AND ANYTHING ELSE I WANT.

Also, oxford commas. On this website, I use oxford commas.

I’m excited. And nervous. Will this go anywhere? Accomplish anything?

I think the goal for now is to truly build myself a little corner of the internet that I enjoy. And maybe the people I love occasionally appreciate it too.

And now, let’s close this out with the classic millennial anthem that perfectly fit for a newly launched website.