Getting Started…

I recently read Tressie McMillan Cottom’s book Thick and Other Essays. The book was rich in many ways with its discussion of beauty, race, and their inseparable overlap in today’s society. However, an outcome/realization I had from this book that might not have been as intended was this: I don’t write. Cottom discussed her hundreds of blog posts and publications, and I felt like I had none of that (likely because I didn’t lol). As someone who just finished their first year of grad school (zot zot), I had a lot of readings and writing assignments that I had to complete, and I’m not really talking about that stuff. I’m talking about things I write on my own. Maybe reflecting on a podcast I come across on Spotify, thinking about how a niche meme spoke to something I read from bell hooks, or writing down my general thoughts without wondering if a highly prestigious tenured professor will think I’m stupid for asking one too many questions, yeah, I don’t do that kind of writing often.

I’ve never thought about myself as someone who would ever have enough to say to start a blog, BUT I want to challenge myself. You know the feeling you get when you’re 1.5 pages into a 3 page reflection, and you’ve said all you have to say? Maybe you think for a few minutes about what meta revelation you could introduce. Maybe you jump on TikTok to analyze the monotony of mainstream media despite the truly “provocative” arguments made by the works of interest. No matter your method, by the end of it, you somehow manage to make it to 3 pages, that’s the vibe I want to give here. No matter if we feel like we have no ideas, no thoughts, no questions, the words somehow manage to come. It’s my goal to use this blog as an exercise. I want to engage with what’s happening in the world, my community, my newsfeed… I want to write.

We shall see! I’ll be back soon with things to say :)