I call this one the Rara of Liberty. Cheers to you, my friends.
I’m honored to have won TheIndieChick’s Badass Blogger Award in the Best Lifestyle Blog category. I put up my badge, explained to Dave how winning a blogger award absolves me from dish-washing duty for at least a week, and then…
I had to search-engine “Lifestyle Blog” to find out what exactly a Lifestyle Blog is.
Apparently, it’s a blog about living life from the perspective of a subculture! How apt. That’s precisely what this blog is about! I just happen to have a bevy of sub cultures.
In the midst of my searching, I read dozens of articles about how lifestyle blogging is a sector largely dominated by Caucasian, middle-class mothers or homemakers. This particularly fluid article from Bitch Media says it well:
“One may get the impression that the Stepford Wives have swapped their pastel sun hats and starched blouses for sewing-machine tattoos and Rachel Comey shoes. The pastels; soft-focus and color-saturated photo filters; optimistic, sunny tone; and tendency to address readers as “sweeties,” “darlings,” and other diminutives characterize many of the most visible lifestyle blogs. Coupled with the focus on domesticity and the home, bloggers start to resemble a contemporary, superwoman version of a stereotypical 1950s housewife. These women don’t just maintain squeaky-clean, camera-ready homes and adorable families, they also run independent businesses, wear perfect outfits, rock exquisitely styled hair—and find the time to blog about it.” (Full article: http://bitchmagazine.org/article/better-homes-bloggers)
I admit it. I read blogs that are perfectly summed up by that paragraph. They’re brilliant and beautiful, but certainly not what you’ll find here.
I don’t have flawless creamy white skin. I don’t know who Rachel Comey is. I’ve read Stepford Wives several dozen times, but only seen the movies once. I know next to nothing about photography so my pictures are well, about the things in the picture, not style. I’m not a housewife. Heck, I’ve never even done my own laundry. I don’t have kids. I don’t want kids. And though sometimes I’m feeling mushy and call you wonderful people “friends”, I can’t say “darling” without breaking into a rendition of Clementine. My girly cat, Perdita, has eaten most of the fur off her tail. My other cat can’t take a picture without wincing. My husband likes pictures of himself where he looks like a thug or a muppet. My home is… well… let’s go with, “not picture-perfect”. I can’t piece together the perfect flower arrangement, or even keep a flower alive. And I’m an old-school geek– as in, from the generation who doesn’t return your tech calls, doesn’t own a hairbrush, and doesn’t doubt the existence of aliens or chupacabras.
In other words, I’m the exact opposite of most lifestyle bloggers who dominate the industry.
I didn’t realize it until I did some searching, and now I am doubly honored to have been voted in for this award. I’m a small piece of pie, and you guys love me anyway.
Just because I don’t call you a darling, doesn’t mean you aren’t one. Love to you. *blows kisses*
As you can see from the pictures above, all this searching has made me decide to change one thing about my blog.
There will be more pictures of me.
I don’t have a specific reason. It was just a passing thought– an image, really– of a fictional geeky girl in some middle or high school somewhere.
Maybe she has brown skin, messy hair, and an aptitude for math. Maybe she doesn’t want kids. Maybe she likes working. Maybe she’s really good at what she does. Maybe she wants to marry someone of a different race who doesn’t have a job that gets a W2. Maybe she wants to live in a really small house, and laugh so much that she has laugh-wrinkles by the time she’s 20.
I have no complaints. Even a small piece of pie is delicious.
She deserves to see that there are people like that out there, right?
She deserves to see that, small piece of pie that we are, we’re just as present as the large piece of pie.
Loud, and proud.
Brown, and hopeless in the kitchen.
Strange, and incapable of wise fashion decisions.
Employed, and fascinated with dinosaurs.
I’m not going to suddenly develop photographic or floral arranging skills, though, so you kids are going to have to get those kicks elsewhere.
If you ever want to build a computer from scratch or code a fortune-telling machine, though, come on over. I’m your girl.
Thanks to you, and your kind votes, I feel like I’ve made a positive step. I am an inch closer to the type of future I want and the type of blog that I want to own. I feel like I’ve added an element to the “Why” of my blog, one that perhaps only I care about– but one that exists now nonetheless.
It’s beautiful here on my path, one step further along than I was last week. I am so grateful that no matter how far along this road I seem to walk, or how far off-track I meander, you’re right here beside me.
Truly, truly, from the bottom of my heart– thank you for your readership and your support.
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Woot.
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