What Has Blogging Done For Me Lately?

I have a lot of thoughts. My mind is constantly running and racing. I started interacting with blogs back in 2008. I realized that blogging allowed me to focus my thoughts and interests and discuss them eloquently. Growing up I loved to read and write but never felt comfortable writing in my own voice. When I speak I often speak in tangents. Writing and blogging allows me to better organize my thoughts to relay my message with humor and heart.

One of my life goals is to write a book. Blogging has always felt like the gateway to that. I want to write more personal essays in my free time. I used to write for fun and I lost that somewhere along the way. I subscribe to The New Yorker and I usually just read the personal essays and short fiction sections. I like to immerse myself in something I'd eventually like to do.

I want to commit to keeping this blog as a fresh start on my reintroduction to Blogger and blogging. This feels like a new beginning in my life as I complete college and move forward into 2020.

Do You Speak English

Memoji

I've been thinking a lot about Memojis and the identities we portray through our social profiles online. The person we show to others versus the person we look at in the mirror.

A few weeks ago I was working on a brand new project where I would have been the face of a non-profit that specialized in artists developing their new work. While creating the brand for this project I changed my social media icons to my Memoji. The likeness is very accurate. But, I suppose part of this was for a little online anonymity while working on something new. It was a relief to not have to worry about using "the perfect" photo of myself. Which is what made me think about the pressure we put on ourselves to represent ourselves on the internet, or represent who we think we should be.

I have since changed back to photos of me, in real life.

TheDJF 2.0

I had a Blogger for some time back between 2008 and 2009 when I was on the national tours of Hairspray and Mamma Mia! Now, I'm finally finishing up my college degree this semester and am being introduced to Blogger through my Social Media course. Funny how life comes in cycles.

I am graduating from Pace University this December (2019). I began my college career at Pace in the fall on 2006. While at Pace I was studying Musical Theater and left school twice to go on different national tours. Working professionally is incredible, but completing my degree was put on pause multiple times. This year I decided to actively complete my degree. I was originally supposed to graduate in the spring of 2010. I didn't want 10 years from that original date to arrive and still not have graduated.

I'm interested to see how Blogger has changed since I was a user all those years ago. I was a Tumblr user from around 2009-2013 and then again from 2015-present, though my usage is much different than it was when I joined. Here's to my return to blogging!