I, too, loved Google Reader! When it was shut down, I switched to Feedly, although I haven't checked it in...years? I no longer have the kind of job where I can read endlessly through posts over lunch or in the morning. I no scroll endlessly through work slack trying to keep up.
The connection between the Google Reader Blogs of yore and the new email newsletters is new to me - it fosters storytelling and connection far more than today's "content creator" blog/sites do.
I recently started writing a travel blog - yes a blog - again. It's a mix of travel prep/planning and hopefully the funny stories from my trips. Everyone I follow focuses on "content creation" instead of meandering travel writing that I love to follow. So I'm trying to do that.
Thank you for interviewing LaTonya Yvette! I'm going to subscribe to her!
This quote hit me hard: "But I am also like many city people in that I not only want physical access to the city, but emotional access. This is something hard to explain unless you mostly grew up in the city and are a brown or Black person. I thankfully found a place near a bunch of friends — a place where I know that LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter are formative to the people. I am weary though, of people I do not know — of a random guy or woman crossing with us in the village, and words that I have to explain to my children later."
I'm white and middle class and only lived in Baltimore City for 5 1/2 years of my (almost) 34 year life but I relate to this. My husband and I moved back to my suburban hometown two years ago so that my family could help us with our daughter, and it has been really hard for me to be surrounded by racists and homophobes. I have found a really great Unitarian Universalist church here and like minded people, but it's hard to otherwise be around the majority of people here who openly parrot Fox News talking points. Staying emotionally connected to diverse people and places in the city has been so important on so many levels for me.
I can only begin to imagine how much harder these experiences are for LaTonya and other brown and black folks and LGBTQ folks. I'm able to "blend in" in a way that they never will be able to do. The hateful words and attitudes I encounter are about others, not about me, so there's a degree of separation. I'm in the process of buying the house I'm renting and do not have to worry about the discrimination that these folks face in the buying process and will face as homeowners.
My hope in moving back here is to help paint the town blue as an ally...and there has been slow progress...the county had its first Pride festival in 2019 and multiple BLM protests since George Floyd's murder (and 2 vigils on the first anniversary of his death), which is something that would have been unheard of five years ago.
"The people I know who’ve owned a home all come from money, whether they're honest about it or hiding it." This is an interesting statement. I am from Brooklyn - Flatlands, to be exact. There are many homeowners here, immigrant families, 1st or 2nd gen. Perhaps multigenerational families do not "count" in this statement? I can assure you that working class and middle class people - people who work for the city or in trades, no degree - own homes here. Just maybe not in the hip, gentrified areas.
I too was sad about the demise of Google Reader but I use Feedly now to read all my blogs and it's wonderful.
I came here to say the same thing! You can still read feeds there are several wonderful clients out there.
yes, also cosigning this.
I, too, loved Google Reader! When it was shut down, I switched to Feedly, although I haven't checked it in...years? I no longer have the kind of job where I can read endlessly through posts over lunch or in the morning. I no scroll endlessly through work slack trying to keep up.
The connection between the Google Reader Blogs of yore and the new email newsletters is new to me - it fosters storytelling and connection far more than today's "content creator" blog/sites do.
I recently started writing a travel blog - yes a blog - again. It's a mix of travel prep/planning and hopefully the funny stories from my trips. Everyone I follow focuses on "content creation" instead of meandering travel writing that I love to follow. So I'm trying to do that.
Thank you for interviewing LaTonya Yvette! I'm going to subscribe to her!
This quote hit me hard: "But I am also like many city people in that I not only want physical access to the city, but emotional access. This is something hard to explain unless you mostly grew up in the city and are a brown or Black person. I thankfully found a place near a bunch of friends — a place where I know that LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter are formative to the people. I am weary though, of people I do not know — of a random guy or woman crossing with us in the village, and words that I have to explain to my children later."
I'm white and middle class and only lived in Baltimore City for 5 1/2 years of my (almost) 34 year life but I relate to this. My husband and I moved back to my suburban hometown two years ago so that my family could help us with our daughter, and it has been really hard for me to be surrounded by racists and homophobes. I have found a really great Unitarian Universalist church here and like minded people, but it's hard to otherwise be around the majority of people here who openly parrot Fox News talking points. Staying emotionally connected to diverse people and places in the city has been so important on so many levels for me.
I can only begin to imagine how much harder these experiences are for LaTonya and other brown and black folks and LGBTQ folks. I'm able to "blend in" in a way that they never will be able to do. The hateful words and attitudes I encounter are about others, not about me, so there's a degree of separation. I'm in the process of buying the house I'm renting and do not have to worry about the discrimination that these folks face in the buying process and will face as homeowners.
My hope in moving back here is to help paint the town blue as an ally...and there has been slow progress...the county had its first Pride festival in 2019 and multiple BLM protests since George Floyd's murder (and 2 vigils on the first anniversary of his death), which is something that would have been unheard of five years ago.
"The people I know who’ve owned a home all come from money, whether they're honest about it or hiding it." This is an interesting statement. I am from Brooklyn - Flatlands, to be exact. There are many homeowners here, immigrant families, 1st or 2nd gen. Perhaps multigenerational families do not "count" in this statement? I can assure you that working class and middle class people - people who work for the city or in trades, no degree - own homes here. Just maybe not in the hip, gentrified areas.