An Annual Letter
On December 3rd, 2009, I sat down to my first white, blank, blog page. In the seven years since I have published thousands of pieces from myself and dear friends. This journey began as a therapeutic one; a simple way to express myself in the wake of a relationship that had just ended. What began as a selfish aim, soon morphed into one man's attempt to provide a voice to those who see things differently, as well as those who needed to know they are not alone in this world. By far, this has been the most rewarding pursuit of this entire exercise.
We weren't done yet... Seven years later, countless friends have joined me on this journey. In that time, the blog moved from Blogger to Squarespace giving us a unique URL. We've decided to analyze the world through quotes, photography, poetry, travel, music, cinema, books, and drinks, as well as original pieces. We also launched a shop selling poetry books and a podcast based on this blog. Finally, we've launched several social media channels allowing us to reach a larger audience. We did all this with a simple hope. Let's dedicate this blog to examining life through the lens of life, love, society, and everything in between. This aim may seem simple, but I assure you it keeps us searching. As I reflect on the last seven years, I am proud of this little corner of the internet. We don't have millions of visitors. What we write very rarely goes viral. We don't chase shares or likes. Honestly, if one person trips across what we pursue and it moves them, then we are beyond ecstatic. I didn't begin writing and ask others to join me knowing this wouldn't be something I would do forever. Very early in this process, I decided I loved this and would do it as long as possible. It hasn't always been easy. I have had fits of jealousy and envy. I have coveted the attention received by others. I wanted the likes, comments, and attention because no one writes in a vacuum. We write to share. A couple of years ago I decided to squash those desires. I write because I love it and can't think of anything I would rather be doing with my free time. I write because I believe I have something valuable to add to a global conversation. I write because I am moved to do so.
As we move forward, my promise to you that faithfully read this blog and those who visit on occasion is simple. I will always try to be fair, curious, and focused on exploration. I promise to continue inviting unique voices and searching for new avenues of expression. Above all else, I will not focus on the viral potential of our posts. Instead, we will focus on good content viewed through many different lenses. From there, everything will take care of itself. As we pursue this goal, I want to thank you for reading, commenting, and discussing. The hope was always to start a dialogue and thanks to you, we have achieved that over and over again. From the bottom of my heart, you doing so means the world to me. You make this guy pretty happy. When one pursues a hobby, I don't think they can ask for much more than that.
Be good to each other,
-Nathan
