First substack, you're welcome
After all, I have a postgraduate in journalism, working with words is my jobs
Oversharing again?
Hello there,
Not going to lie, I feel like going back to my blogging days 10 years ago… I used to write weekly on my blogspot sharing everything from my random thoughts to my favourite of the month and just everything relating to fashion. Blogging was a safe space to me where I got to share with a corner of the internet things I was into. Back then, it was mostly about fashion… I haven’t updated my blog since December 7th 2019! It was a birthday post celebrating my quarter-century, feeling weird about hitting 25 years old as I was nearing the end of my bachelor’s degree and hoping to head to Brussels for my master’s. I had promised to “be back from time to time, here and there, to share some thought or what not”. I didn’t follow through. Honestly can’t tell you why I completely left blogging behind, but truthfully, about 3 months after that milestone birthday, Covid hit, the country was forced to halt, and daily life had to happen isolated at home.
I remember franticly coordinating my bachelor’s thesis with my classmates via Zoom, spending hours gathering each other’s essays, discussing it and editing it. The thesis was a group project, and we all had to move back to our hometowns and couldn’t see in person because of then regulations. We had to present our thesis to the whole class online and pass our exams online too. It was something, I can tell you because the logistics of passing exams at home is not fun, especially when you live with your family. But I did it and got my degree. I had never imagined having to finish my bachelor’s back home and not being able to have a proper end-of-bachelor’s degree ceremony. My bachelor’s was mailed to me at home with a congratulation letter from our president expressing how saddened he was to not have the luxury to hand us over our diplomas. But I did it. Then I got accepted for my master’s abroad, August 2020, I moved to Brussels to start a new chapter in my academic journey. A very proud moment because I had dreamed to move abroad to finish my studies and I did it. I had the greenlight from my master’s president that classes would happen in-person and go back to normal. Well, he was very hopeful, like many of us, 2 weeks after classes in-person, the university was forced to move all lectures online. I spent my first-year of master’s degree all via zoom and being very limited in my movement because, again, Covid regulations. At that time I was living in a 5-people flat share, we all got fed up with having to stay home most of the time and let’s be honest, to see each other every damn day! Oh, and I didn’t mention, but I was doing a master’s in journalism and that was a very practical master’s, because journalism is an on-the-ground field and since our professors were all very hopeful to have in-person classes, included workshops, they weren’t very prepared and well-organised for remote trainings, so it was, well, a real mess and a stress!
Second year allowed for in-person classes but still limited and in clusters. It was a very weird feeling because during our first year we were put in groups of 4 and only had rare in-person contact with our attributed group therefore apart from the 3 other students we knew quite well after a full academic year working together, we had very few friendships with the 40ish other students because we mainly communicated all together via Messenger on uni and workshops related topics. So you can guess how awkward it was to be back in-person and barely knowing each other, right? Mind you, we were never the full class, because, yeah, Covid regulations were still on just slightly relaxed for universities. And of course, it was the second and last year of the master’s meaning, master’s thesis was consuming most of my time, especially that I was travelling between the Belgium, Switzerland, France and the UK as I opted for a practical thesis. I loved it, but it was a lot of stress between contacted the people, setting the interviews (which were video interviews as my thesis was made for social media) and getting all the travels arrangements met (itinerary, tickets, accommodations). On top of all that, I had to manage all the expenses with my own money, so I had to coordinate with my student job place, so I was gathering enough money for this project.
Anyway, all in all, I left blogging behind because life was getting hectic with a global pandemic, theses and life overall. I was so distanced from it, I was writing so much already because of academic and work obligations, writing didn’t feel much as a hobby, and it didn’t spark joy any more. Yet 5 years later, the world is sinking deeper into some sick f*ck darkness, I started reading Substack articles of writers that bring me hope in those bleak times and I decided to give it a go myself, because after all, I still love writing, and I have more things I want to share that I hope can bring hope to other people.
What do I want to share, then?
Many things.
But mostly about societal issues to bring more critical thinking for a broader understanding about social phenomenon. So subject will vary from fashion (sustainable fashion which I am very keen of and love to think critically about), politics, I am putting it in italic because the term is very broad and touches on so many aspects of our lives and society and a bit of pop culture but not the drooling over celebs but again, critically analysing the pop culture world (and believe me, there’s a lot to say about it!).
All in all, I want to build a community of critically-minded individuals
Community is everything to me, without community there is no society. Community is the backbone of this world, the reason we keep pushing through and hoping for the better, times are bleak right now, and we need each other more than ever, we need to organise, we need to build together. Critical thinking is such a crucial element of our specie, and pushing each other to use that skill is how we build better and stronger with everyone one in the community brings intricate and complex features to a subject to see it in its wider spectrum.
When to expect a piece?
Whenever I have time to write.
I am starting a new position soon, so real life will catch up to me every so often, I will make space for this new endeavour, but like my blogging days, I don’t want to promise something and not fulfil it. It’s not very fun to be honest, not only to you, readers, but for myself too, because I will grow frustrated. And truthfully, I need to get back to it slowly, but I will write, and I hope you will enjoy. Because I am starting this Substack will not have a paywall… for now, later as I will grow this community, some pieces will face a paywall because I love sharing my labour but being compensated a bit for it, especially in this economy is very welcome, but we are not there yet, so enjoy the free for all, free everything content, just for transparency, I’d rather just give you all a heads-up, hope you understand :)
Love always,
Ruth Noemi