Home Again.

Years ago, the initial iteration of cjayconrod.com housed Keeping Up With Conrod, my personal blog where I wrote whatever I wanted that couldn’t easily fit on twitter. However, times got tight and sustaining a website wasn’t at the top of my priorities. I moved my blog to tumblr and found some success there: wrote some rather personal thoughts and gained a few followers, however I found some sad truths about social media in the process and became uninterested in writing as much.

First, there’s a lot of noise. It’s really hard to remain focused on what you have to say when you’re inundated by so many images and thoughts that begin impacting your thoughts. “Is this what people want to see? Do people even care about what I have to say? Is this the audience for this?” Anyone who knows me knows I am really not a competitive person. I have a habit of letting people have things instead competing for them. I really believe whatever is for me will be mine regardless, but shared spaces often leave me uninterested in giving a lot of myself. Also, when I see a lot people discussing particular subjects, I feel like I have to weigh in. Sometimes, I don’t want to. Having lived through Ferguson, reliving it every time police assault and kill one of us is simply too much for me.

Secondly, I’m uncomfortable putting so much content on someone else’s platform with their use policies and restrictions. Watching content be policed on Facebook has left me feeling rather sick, particularly the removal of pro-black content while racist material remains untouched. Not only do I dislike these restrictions, I don’t enjoy the idea of someone else profiting financially from my content more than I do. I’d rather say what I want in a space that’s safe and controlled by me solely.

So, here we are. Again. If you’ve never followed me anywhere before, know that my longform writing is still rather brief. I believe in getting in and getting out — it doesn’t take long to make a point. I’ll probably bring some old posts from tumblr over as I have time and the desire to do so. Expect writing and video here. I’ll use whichever feels most appropriate at the time. Most importantly, expect me to be completely myself: thoughtful, insightful (according to y’all), and honest. Feel free to comment when you want. Know I’ll delete anything that isn’t respectful, but I welcome you into this space. Let’s see what comes of it.