Janet Jay’s Best Of

by Janet Jay
Janet Jay’s Best Of

I’ve written about so many things over the years: health! science! tech! politics! business! travel! music! film! adventure! Just out of college, I wrote and photographed my first major feature about rad rod car culture for the local alt-weekly while also stringing for the business section of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. I was also a famous advice columnist for a hot minute and was interviewed as a sexpert in Playboy!

For many years I wrote for each issue of the Carnegie Mellon Today magazine, profiling the amazing, often technically complex, things our alum and professors were developing. I have also written about technology in venues like MAKE Magazine and Popular Science, including a big first-person feature for the latter publication about my experience getting an implantable spinal cord stimulator. I work at the US Pain Foundation, and reguarly write and edit our quarterly INvisible Project magazine.

Screenshot of a tablod newspaper in Portuguese, header reading "mundo bizarro" (crazy world), and the headline "Iogurte veio da perseguida (Yogurt came from her vagina"  and a picture of blueberries
You know you’ve made it when print tabloids in countries you’ve never been to pick up the story! “Mundo Bizarro” = Crazy World. “Iogurte veio da perseguida” = “Yogurt came from her [slang word for] vagina.”

A few years ago I wrote a piece for VICE Motherboard about a funny experiment my friend did, and it blew up like nothing else I’ve ever written. It went viral worldwide and was written about in foreign tabloids, I was interviewed by international news programs, the story was discussed on day and nighttime TV, was even insulted by the governor of Wisconsin.

What else… I’ve gotten to cover the South by Southwest Film and Technology Fests and even starred in a video about how to enjoy the festival without a badge. I’ve interviewed artists I love and reviewed albums that I… didn’t. I wrote and photographed features about tubing the Guadalupe river, windsurfing in Corpus Christi, and loading up an RV and driving cross-country to experience Burning Man for the first time. Heck, I’ve written about everything from the development of cutting-edge AI to competitive cheerleading to the hacker group Anonymous to how to promote your band without making your friends want to punch you in the face (that was the actual hed!).

Here are some of my most beloved and most popular pieces. If you really enjoy any of them, please shoot me a line and let me know!

2018xray of Janet Jay's spinal implant

I became a cyborg to manage my chronic pain: Implanting a new generation of spinal stimulators.

 

Popular Science
2017photo of Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon—The Man, the Myth, the Asshole: Donald Trump’s top advisor is a loathsome human being

Defiant
2015yoghurt

How to Make Breakfast With Your Vagina
But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

VICE Motherboard
2008

Rat Rod Rumble

Metro Pulse