Two and a half years have passed since I last shared my writing here. Where have I been, you may wonder (do I still have readers, I wonder)? The absurb amount of “should”‘s have plagued me during this absence:
“You should try Substack.”
“You should use Patreon.”
“You should submit proposals to conferences.”
“You should submit abstracts to publications.”
Should, should, should. What about what *I* want to do? Also, why should everything be about monetization? While I own the label of “elder Millennial” — and will absolutely lose my filter if you dare use that “geriatric” term instead of “elder” — I despise this hustle culture. You can hustle while I find peace. The goal has always been to build a life that doesn’t feel like I’m constantly working; I remember in 2009 coining the phrase “Operation Summer Vacation” for a reason. Ah, and this is why I also own the Xennial label because I miss the days when we weren’t always plugged into the Matrix — when the Internet had no memory. These days, I often wonder how dark my digital shadow appears (of course, I also see the growth that came with those days).
The “should”‘s lead me back to the concept of “Other People’s Dreams,” another obnoxious issue that seems to follow me. When I see overlap, I love collaborating; nothing fills my heart quite like intellectual conversations and using my skills to help others thrive. However, my interests… well, let’s just say I relate well to my neurodivergent students for a good reason! At any given point in time, I have several research projects bubbling within my mind, and I tend to play Alice chasing the White Rabbit far too frequently for my own damn good. But — and hear me out on this — how can a person not become so engrossed in myriad points of departure when common themes begin to emerge, connecting the ideas into one surprisingly sumptuous package?! (Spoiler alert: finding myself stranded in Appalachia actually resulted in a serendipitous search for connections among the various ethnic groups that created both me and this region.)
Will I adhere to a more disciplined writing approach? Will I allow the “should”‘s to overtake my creative flow? Time will tell. Even if I am simply screaming into the void of the World Wide Web, I miss this outlet. Perhaps no one is here, having all left for social media apps and instant gratification in convenient 15 second blocks — but they say to dance like no one is watching for a reason, huh?
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