A Fresh Coat of Paint

I was due for a change. For quite a while, I’ve been looking at how I can simplify many different aspects of my life. Since I’ve moved back out on my own, I’m really leaning into peace. I’m enjoying the quiet more, taking advantage of its benefits.

My website has been a point of contention with me for the last few months. It started as a bridge from corporate social media, especially Twitter. It was a way to ween myself off of that while also displaying an alternative to that life. Many of the posts on my website at that point (and even recently) were short form micro posts, which is exactly what Twitter is, but with 100% less Elon.

But, there’s been a few issue with that approach for me recently. One, I think it looks a bit cluttered and fragmented. I feel like these post belong on their own and not amongst longer titled posts. I feel like those longer posts get lost, which is why I didn’t include the shorter posts on my homepage. Secondly, I’ve begun thinking of short post as fleeting thoughts, and I frankly don’t see why I would want to keep a running archive of those online. In contrast, my Mastodon profile deletes posts after two weeks, which is much more preferable to me. I don’t need to know what I was thinking three years ago (to the point I never really cared to look) and neither does anybody else. If you were to look at my Twitter profile in 2010, it was mostly me bitching about Dwight Howard, which now that he’s going to the basketball hall of fame makes me look like an asshole in retrospect. Why log this shit?

I want to focus more on long form writing. Putting short essays (or occasionally long ones) on a website is therapy to me. I recently sent a longer piece to a couple friends venting out some internal personal struggles I’d been dealing with. It wasn’t enough for me to just write it out and analyze it after the fact. It was the actual sharing that felt good. It’s that chance of connection, of being heard that means something to me. Now, I don’t post on here to clout chase in any way. But, I have received the occasional email about something I wrote and it felt good to know it landed with someone. Even more occasionally, a short conversation happens. If I even land with one person, that’s incredible. But, mostly, it’s cathartic to just post.

Posting it here is more serene than anything social media can offer. I’m an advocate of slowing life down. Social media seems to overwhelm my brain in ways I’m uncomfortable with at times and posting here does none of that to me. Further, I write in the wonderful app iA Writer, which provides a blank canvas for me to apply words to. No timelines or any other distractions. It’s great.

I’ve now moved my site to Ghost, via the service Magic Pages. I moved away from Micro.blog because of reasons listed above, the encouragement to write short form posts to a blog isn’t where my head is currently. Magic Pages is also cheaper, at $6/mo, compared to $10/mo at Micro.blog. I would still recommend the service to people, but, it’s just not for me anymore.

I’ve also been a huge fan of Ghost websites. They always feel more like a publication to me, which trips the trigger of the former print design student in me. I love typography and clean layouts and Ghost provides all of that and more.

I’m slowly going through my old writings and publishing them here, so this site will fill in over time between that and any new content I write. I’ve decided to try to membership option on here (it’s free) just for controlled commenting, but replying to my posts on socials works as well. Just don’t be surprised if I’m slower on the Meta-owned properties. I may… I stress, may… go with a paid tier on here, but it would most likely be as a way for people to show love with $5. No pressure to do this at all or to make payments recurring. But, anyone is welcome to have a discussion here.

All of that said, welcome to the new place. I hope you like coming here.