Frivolous and Substantial ASAP
There was a moment this past weekend that I felt good and inspired to post something here. It was about my outfit and maybe a little bit about something completely material and frivolous. But this moment was fleeting — a blink of an eye really — between the nonstop, back-to-back decisions that have been effecting family and friends who are hardworking and kind aspiring-American citizens, going to work in the wee hours of the morning while most white collar employees are still sleeping to go clean an office building in silence to make ends meet. I blinked my moment of self indulgence away to the sight of thousands of people at airports everywhere protesting a hasty executive order that was not thought through, harmful, and worst of all, presented in defense of Americans everywhere. I then remembered just a week ago when over a million women and men (and kids) marched all weekend to represent women's rights, climate change, poverty, and racial injustice.
How do you blog in a time when it feels so incredibly superficial to talk clothes and style? Real issues are at stake and no amount of designer shoes in your closet or on your feet will spare you from the reality of the American situation.
I click on my reader of blogs and sites I follow and I'm surprised how many of them are turning a blind eye to what's going on. It's business as usual in many parts of the internet with not even a single word to reflect that what Emma Stone nervously misstated in her SAG awards speech this weekend as "tricky times" in America.
I'm not looking to stir up anything with this, but merely stating that if there's nothing here on my site lately it's because my mind is somewhere else (and maybe yours is too!) and that maybe the people still blogging about outfits on a budget or upcoming Valentine's Day wish lists are less useful right now as they are tone deaf.
You know what I want to see? I want to click on someone's blog that has to get up every day and go to work to pay the bills and make a living despite the incredibly troubling political climate. If blogging is meant to be authentic, slice-of-life then most people fail. Some blogs are fantasy, escapism of sorts, so fine. I'm not a monster, I can get behind that concept. But I do want to click on an escapism site that tones down the optimistic language and keeps it a little more close to reality by nodding at least in some way that most of the country is outraged.
I know some people in the country are rightfully pleased with the decisions their chosen politician is making, but to be a blogger right now in the U.S. and not even acknowledge the vast discontent that majority of the country is in is just dishonest.
When the American weekend is more about demonstrating your right to free speech and protest peacefully than it is brunch, shopping, and perfectly coordinated colored backdrops, then that should be a signal to everyone with a blog to be more authentic.
I invite "influencers" to be more thoughtful about their content ASAP. Stop assuming that people that enjoy fashion and appreciate design are also incapable of understanding more complex larger issues at play right now. Now more than ever, you can be both frivolous and substantial.
It's not longer as easy to ignore issues and tune them out in favor of pretty pictures, quotes, and affiliate links. Be more than perfect pictures and selling people things and omg fashion week. The temperature of the United States has definitely changed and I'd be willing to bet the majority of readers are expecting more as well.