A eulogy for Skelly

You may have noticed that this website has a brand new logo, courtesy of my friend Leta—a true Renaissance human and one of the best people I know. Isn’t it perfect?

As excited as I am to put the logo on literally everything, I want to take a moment to eulogize this site’s former mascot: a stock photo that I lovingly called Skelly.

The moment I saw Skelly in the Unsplash stock images, I knew he was perfect to convey the sentiment, My Parents Are Dead: What Now? Skelly has steadfastly stood by me since 2023—not only on this website, but also on the slides for my very first public speaking engagements, social media posts, and more. And people really seemed to like him!

Except for this one woman, who really didn’t, and who made her sentiments abundantly clear. But that’s another story.

I knew, however, that Skelly couldn’t stay with me forever—especially when I turned this into a business. A stock image that anyone can use for free does not a good logo make. I’ve seen Skelly pop up on random concert posters and Instagram memes. As much as I loved him, he could never be mine.

And so I reluctantly retired him. I’ll be forever grateful for his presence in my life, and I hope I continue to see him from time to time in random online content. Thank you, Skelly, for gracing my work with your perpetually dismayed presence. It made all the difference.