A Note About the Blog

I started my blog in 2008 while I was living in NYC. This was well before smartphones made Facebook ubiquitous and put a camera in everyone's pocket. My parents and many of my family members and friends weren't on Facebook anyway. So the blog was a great way to let them know what I was doing in New York. I always had my point-and-shoot camera with me, and I'd take photos and compose blog posts in my head while I rode the subway.

The first time I got political on the blog was 2008 and the election. I posted about voting in the historic election while living in NYC, and tried to capture my thoughts on the day after America elected Obama. However, my truly first political post came about a week later. I had discovered that some of my friends had to defend their vote that year to their families, so I wanted to note how I was glad that wasn't a problem for me. In that same post, I chose to comment on the highly contentious Prop 8 issue.

I didn't really get political again until 2012, another election year.

A lot has happened in four years. I am a different person. America feels like a different place. This blog will start having a few more political posts (not that anyone is really reading it anymore anyway). It just feels like such an important time right now. I don't really think my thoughts are going to change anyone's opinion, but I feel like it will be good for me personally to put those thoughts down.

A friend on Facebook today was complaining that it had become a place for political posts. She wondered why people couldn't just post photos of their kids or animals or whatever. I agree that Facebook has become political, and it does create a lot of division. But Facebook isn't going anywhere, and nowhere is it said that Facebook has to be used for purely nice, friendly, non-confrontational posts. It is a social network, and people can post whatever they want; if you're tired of it, either get off Facebook and interact with your friends in real life, or block everyone. People have always been political, and America has always been divided over issues, and Facebook exacerbates that.

So I am going to blog more and Facebook less. My life feels less exciting than when I was living in New York or going through grad school. I will try to keep this interesting and not entirely political. Stick it out with me.