About
Cassandra J. Disque was born in 1981. At the age of 13, Cassandra became chronically ill after developing double lung pneumonia. Improperly diagnosed and treated, she was unable to continue to attend school. By 1996 she had officially withdrawn; she received her GED in 1998 at the age of 17. Less than a year later she began a community based website, thecounterculture.com, which encompassed a web zine, an activism guide, journals, and graphic designs.
By 2000 thecounterculture.com had grown in size and popularity. At its peak in 2001, thecounterculture.com hosted and contained more than one hundred different web hosting participants and upward of 10,000 individual visitors per month. Server and site administration had become a full time job, and with Cassandra’s continuing health complications and mounting medical expenses, the bubble soon burst. thecounterculture.com called it quits in mid-2001 as Cassandra recovered from surgery.
Between 2002 and 2004, she concentrated mainly on her health and writing. She continued to maintain her online journals and several small web sites. In late 2002 she returned to hosting various sites via a leased server. The community aspect of the hosting was brought back via thecounterculture.org,where the participants financially contribute on a sliding scale in order to cover costs.
In the past few years, Cassandra’s health has stabilized well, not counting the reconstructive surgery on her left knee to repair repeat dislocations of the kneecap. She still sleeps almost ten full hours a day due to narcolepsy, but she is now able to hold down part-time employment and to pursue a degree.
Cassandra hopes to continue to write, photograph, model, and maintain thecounterculture.org web server through the years to come. She is currently working on her first book, Prophylactics, Psychiatrics, and Erratic Static: Stories From a Recovering Fuckup. She lives with her husband, Matt, and their four fuzzy-butted devil spawn.
