We celebrated a birthday!! While the first official post was July 14, 2015…we had our first unofficial post on Jun 26, 2015. We’re a year old! And what a year it’s been.
So, I bring you: THE STATE OF THE BLOG ADDRESS.
Short story; I like it here and I’m not going anywhere.
Long story; I’m totally disillusioned with blogging, media, and THE MEDIA, that I’m not really sure what the next step is.
I will never stop making art. It’s too much a part of who am I. It’s too pivotal in keeping me sane and healthy. I won’t ever stop writing. And I won’t stop blogging.
BUT.
I realized something over the year of running this blog. Blogging is a business. It’s business that I don’t like. I love writing. I love having readers and subscribers. But, I don’t want to post pictures of my crisp white Adidas on a white linoleum floor and talk about my juice cleanse and try to sell anyone a detox tea. I love talking you ya’ll about what movies I’m watching and songs I’m listening to and moves I’m making in life, but I don’t want to turn that into a paid webinar. I'm not going to talk about products that I'm getting paid to talk about, and plus, no one wants to pay me to talk about stuff. Believe me, I asked around. I love filming, but I refuse to sell my content to Buzzfeed and still not be able to pay my bills. I got my Masters degree in Media Studies in 2013, because I was really excited about the emerging technologies that should have delivered the media into the hands of the practitioners and allow them to really move and shake; but women of color have again been commodified and are being taken advantage of and it's no longer exciting to me, it's depressing. I don’t want to create “content”. I don’t want to produce a perfectly manicured version of my life for online consumption. I don’t wanna film challenge videos. I don't want to spend days trying to make the perfect viral Vine video. I want to log onto my Pinterest because it's fun and I want to pin things; not because I need to check my analytics; the same way I want to log onto Twitter to subtweet my ex, not stalk his new girlfriend. There's a healthy fun way to do it, and there's the whacked out other way that just makes me crazy. I'm not an Instagram model, I'm not a twitter thot, my Tumblr is neglected, I'm not a viable internet brand. I'm just a broad who lives in LA, sometimes has interesting thoughts and observations, and has a reliable internet connection. I'm not a business blogger.
I'm not saying I'm not into business or working hard, I am. Obvi. I put myself through grad school while working a full time job. I just don't like the business of blogging and feeling pressured to do something a certain way or in a way that I don't enjoy. I don't want to try and monetize, I don't want to sell products, I don't want free stuff, because I'm an "influencer". I just wanna write. Things have been, and will continue to be, very relaxed around here. I thought I was "inconsistent" because I was finding my feet as a "blogger". The truth is, I am not the "blogger" all of the books say I should be. I'm fine with that. I am still trying to find a way to film that feels good to me, I do want to use my Youtube channel more often, but...I'm not sure. I love spontaneity of Snapchat and I need to find a way to do that, but better for my vlogs.
So, like I said, I like my corner of the internet, just the way it is, And I'm sticking around. I hope you stick around too. This, like most of my life, is a learning process. Learn with me?