It was a bad idea for WordPress to ever give me a blog.
It all started in my first online journalism class a little over a year and a half ago; new journalism concentration, new teacher and new type of media. My teacher assigned each member of the class to create his or her own blog. He advised us to be as direct as possible in focus and location.
It’s true that most successful blogs are focused and concise. The best business is one directed at an untapped niche market, because there is little competition. To be ambiguous is to go against legendary giants that already have a following unwilling to add another page to their daily routine. Everyone has a fashion blog, but only one person has a fashion blog about vintage clothing in southern New Jersey (shameless plug).
Some people knew right away what they wanted to write about that semester; Greek life at Rowan University, relationships, beer in south Jersey. I had no idea, not because I didn’t have any ideas on what to write about. Rather, I had too many to fit into one blog.
My friend Garrett once said to me:
“You march to a tune of your own drum and when there are no drums, you just start banging on sh*t.”
I couldn’t think of a more appropriate quote about myself. I’m interested in almost everything and will try anything at least once. When I try something I give it everything at first. I report on it. I research it. I attempt to master it and know everything about it. It doesn’t always work out (example: snowboarding), but it makes for a real fun life.
So choosing only one topic to write about twice a week was not enough. I wanted to write about everything. So three blogs, a twitter account, and one facebook page later, I decided that the best possible solution is to have one blog where I write about all the things I’m interested in at the moment.
I can’t tell you all the things that will be on this blog, but I can promise a few things. Expect to read about travel, fashion, food and art. Expect it to be focused in souther New Jersey and Philadelphia, for now. Expect honest, unbiased reporting from a trained journalist, but commentary as well. Expect storytelling in various ways, but don’t always expect it to be good. This blog is, as all of life is, a learning experience that entails a lot of bad but hopefully some good eventually.
So follow, stop by sporadically, comment, pitch ideas or just ignore. If there are no drummers around, I’ll make my own tune to march to.
- The first fish I ever caught. I talked it to death, then cried all night over its death.
