Kat Has A Blog

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You know the cringe-inducing feeling that you get when you hear the sound of your voice being played back to you? THAT would be the perfect way to describe exactly how it feels when someone starts reading your blog aloud to a room full of friends.

I’ve been outed.

It’s not like it was a secret, it’s just that only a few friends had noticed and spoken to me about this blog. I hid it in plain sight on my Instagram account.

This week, between freelance projects and a full-time job- work has only been punctuated by sleep and public transit. I have not had much of a life and very little time to do really anything worth documenting. So this week, I have decided to give a brief description of why I am even doing this shit. I’ve also dedicated a song from my playlist to my friends who mercilessly ridiculed me for having a blog. The song is by The Jim Carroll Band and it is called ‘People Who Died’ [aka to me].

This is why Kat has a blog:

The Archivist

Years ago, when I was a fine arts student specializing in installation/interactive art, our professors would regularly tell us to document everything. If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen. I think we remember/connect more with the memories that we document. I can testify to this as a middle child who only has about an 8th of the photographs that my siblings have. What childhood? This girl is making up for lost times.

The Player

I’ve listened to so many podcasts that I can’t remember who said this (should have documented). The sentiment was: when we are children we play and we don’t question it. For example, when you pretended to be a Doctor as a child, you were a Doctor. No question. I’m not proposing that we should all be attempting open-heart surgeries, that’s insanity. The idea this person on the podcast was trying to get across was that working in a creative field requires play and exploration that is devoid of second-guessing and the need to monetize. This blog is essentially a creative exercise that incorporates different forms of storytelling. This is my creative jungle-gym.

If my explanation sounds like gibberish (as I am sure it does) here is a much more concise version of what I am trying to say from Ira Glass (This American Life):

The Accountable Rebel

After being exposed, Chris asked me why I hadn’t made the blog more public (since it wasn’t a private blog). If I am honest, I started this blog years ago, dropping it and picking it up again. I am trying to turn this into a discipline and in order to do that I decided to add another element. You.

I also feel a little sick every time I go on Facebook. It’s not JUST because millions of people had their data stolen, aiding in the most heinous election of a President in the history of the United States of America. That sucks. It’s because every time I go on Facebook I am inundated with pictures of weddings, babies and engagements. It’s not that I don’t find that stuff interesting- actually no- I can’t lie about this- I do not find any of that stuff interesting. If you are my dear friend- your version of whatever I have formally listed is wonderful. For everyone else- your wedding is basic, your engagement ring is basic and your baby brings me no joy. Keep posting that stuff on Facebook. It’s all yours. I have found my own corner for things that are interesting to ME (ie. not weddings- they are just parties that we have to hear about forever).

I realize that I have just spewed a bunch of vitriol about people sharing their love on Social Media, and I would like to state for the record that I have absolutely no problem with people doing this. I just think that we are capable of falling in love with other things like art, music, places- ideas. This blog* is just a concentrated place for all of the things I love and find interesting.

Maybe you find this stuff interesting too. You are welcome here. Let’s talk about stuff.