Lima's Curie Story!!!!

Truth be told, I've always been known for "having a way" with words but was never quite recognized by literary peers or institutions. In fact the first story I wrote was deemed plagiarism!! :O This was in 5th grade. My teachers decided that my outbursts in class were because I was bored (phew, thanks white privilege :?) and that I should enter the schools writing contest instead of paying attention in class. Apparently I really wanted to see the second coming of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and the photo that was given as a prompt led me to the idea of travel. Unfortunately I don't have the piece now so I couldn't tell you how closely it resembled what we now know as FAN FICTION and how much was me just recycling the original film. Also, there was a "Return To Oz" but I didn't know...It even had Fairuza Balk one of my favorite celebrity persons! But my story was nothing scary like RTO it was just about All the characters meeting up again and traveling together in a boat. Hey. I was not well read with my rural education lets just get that clear.

In college I even was told over and over that my sentence structure was terrible and my grammar was obscene. My use of cliches?? Practically a compulsive response. It took me going all the way to Boston to finally understand that I could make my own metaphors. The world and everything in it had been described this way so often that they lost meaning anyway. I wrote a song about it called "Clichettiquette"

Of course I stuck with wildstyle poetry and writing lyrics even though I know I'm a storyteller at heart. When I came to steemit I figured it would be that. Poetry and blogging silliness. An outlet. I might get some coins. Facebook is making me insane and no one reads my poetry there but some like it so it doesn't suck. I got off to a rocky start. I was chatting and making posts but didn't really know what i was doing. Being silly. Then I found a writing contest by the amazing @playfulfoodie and figured it was time to do what I felt was in me. Tell a story.

I didn't win the contest but it was soooo incredibly long and detailed and creative I guess that I had somehow garnered the attention of some WEIRD guy named Hendrik De Grote ! Thanks Hendrik! lol. This marked a long standing tradition of not winning contests or the approval of anyone but still somehow getting approved by something called "Curie"

While I haven't gained loyal readers from curie I then began to follow this other weirder guy named @carlgnash and discovered that I could actually become a curator if I just kept sending him awesome posts!! I did for a while. I couldn't always keep up with it.. @teamgirlpowa can be SO much work. Yall have no idea. Most of the time, truthfully, I was sending in posts from my members in teamgirlpowa and I was learning how to get a "winner" and trying to tell people to work on their posts and write more detail , write longer... pick unique subjects... etc... it may sound like "scammy" and of course others thought it was "oppressive" that I wanted them to do more. But I really think it helped me and others to keep striving for the best quality content. The system isn't perfect. A lot of stuff I submitted was too religious or too pollitical or just not enough to compete with the other posts being submitted. However I finally did get in.

The day that I became a curie curator I really felt like a lot of things were going up. It has given me respect and resources to help a lot of amazing women grow and feel supported. I can't even name all of the amazing women and posts that I have been able to support because of Curie. Don't get me wrong the 10 steem was nice. In fact I'm missing now that I am partially exiled for having a low curation score. But the truth is I AM HERE FOR that feeling i get when someone messages me saying "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED ON MY PAGE!" and I know that my submission was accepted and that this person is going to keep going on steemit. They will keep using their voice knowing that they have value.

I said it in our curators lounge in the new Curie Discord group: Curie doesn't just give us steem.

They give us hope.

Curie is not just one person. Its all of the developers and reviewers and top curators and regular curators and even all of the creators that give something beautiful to steemit.

Now, you may be asking yourself, okay Lima thats great but why do we care?

Well if you didn't know about it. This happened:
https://steemit.com/witness-update/@curie/witness-update-acknowledgement-of-error-and-changes-to-curie-witness-operation-structure-april-2nd-2018

:'(

I can't tell you how gutted I was to find out that not only was I out (temporarily?) for having a low Curation Score but also the place where I could send many people for stable yet meager income and intellectual support was taking a BIG hit in the cash flow dept.

I don't want to discourage or diminish the work of other Witnessess but I can whole-heartedly say that this is a witness that fully gives to the community. Every post has at least two people who are supported by it, the author and the curator. Let me tell this again BTW for those who never understood: CURATION FOR CURIE IS HARD AF
I love my fellow curators but those mfkers have stolen many posts out from underneath me. lol. We dig, we read and check for "spinning" and check the rest of the account and then do it all again. Also what I do is encourage talented people to write more and dig deeper cuz i want to give them monies! And you know what happens? People get mad. They try and try and get frustrated that I don't think its curie worthy or they just keep sending me posts and forget I'm human.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT?!?! I wouldn't trade it. Its not an easy job but when that person FINALLY gets a curie after trying over and over its so good. Literally the money means next to nothing to me. Although I like it and it was a huge bummer when my account took a major dip in the last months, I still love curie for the HOPE and the support. However small we continue with the mission.

I know there are many other witnessess doing cool things but Curie is literally giving people HOPE and LIFE on this platform. I think carl has a graphic to prove it but I dont need one. I've seen it and lived the true power of a curation group that pays its curators. In fact I think this should be the model for EVERY WHALE and EVERY SUCCESSFUL WITNESS But, hey, thats just me. I'm an idealist that imagines this platform could change the world. Crazy Wanderings Feminist Dreamer Lima. A Mess In Prose.

But don't take my word for it.

Check out #mycuriestory

Right now curators are taking a cut down to 5 steem. Might be a small amount to some but to those working on this everyday it means a lot. That means some people who rely on this money for a living will be getting a big pay cut. Please, if you have a curie story or know someone who might or have some witness votes to give please consider to write, support, and vote for a model that could truly be successful for steemit. If more witnessess and whales were curating this way, rather than, say-- bidbots... we might not even have messes like with @grumpycat to begin. It starts with you. Will you vote for a positive approach to quality curation on steemit ?

write , support, and vote for @curie

Thanks as always,

@Limabeing AKA Capn GirlPowa AKA EveryonesFavoriteGrumpyBitchyWhinyFEminist

"And I know that I'm still fucked up
But aren't we all, my love?
Darling, our scars make us who we are, are
So when the winds are howling strong
And you think you can't go on, hold tight, sweetheart

You'll find a rainbow, rainbow, baby
Trust me, I know life is scary
But just put those colors on, girl
Come and play along with me tonight"
~Kesha, Rainbow