Writing In & For Digital Environments

Hi, everybody! Today I would like to share an interview done to one of my closest friends at Dickinson, Amanda. She is from Brazil, so our countries are neighbors. Since we are here, we have shared a class, several meals, parties and workout time! We feel identified in different things, typical from our South American roots. We both miss hugs from our beloved ones and we kiss on the cheek every time we say ‘Hi!’ Amanda and I talk loud because we are teachers but I think it is also a Latin American characteristic. She is really nice and caring! I really going to miss her, but I am sure I will spend vacations under the Brazilian sun soon with her!

Carla: Hi, Amanda! Thank you very much for your time! Can you tell me a little it about yourself?

Amanda: Hi, Carli. Of course! My name is Amanda I am 23 years old and I am from Sao Paulo, the countryside of Sao Paulo

C: Why did you choose Dickinson?

A: It was my first option. I am in a Fulbright program and I have the possibility of choosing among 5 colleges, ranking them. So, Dickinson was my first option but it does not depend just on me. I was Dickinson first option. We can say that Fulbright looks for a match and that is why I am here.

C: What do you do here? Can you describe a typical day at Dickinson?

A: I am teaching Portuguese as a TA and I am also attending two classes as a student. Well, my week varies a lot. In the very beginning of the week, I have very busy days, but towards the end of the week is a little bit less stressful. On Mondays, I teach in a class and I attend the my two classes. I teach from 9:30 to 10:30, I go to one of my classes, History of American Education, that it is from 10:30 to 11:30 and then normally I have lunch. After that, I read some texts because I have the other class at 3, from 3 to 4:15. And that’s it! Then, after the last class, I go to the gym. I try to go to the gym everyday and coming back from the gym I stop by the caff to have dinner. I come back and that’s my day.

C: Do you like teaching your mother tongue? Can you share some characteristics of your class?

A: Yes! I love teaching my mother tongue! It is completely different because I started to teach Portuguese, but I used to teach just to natives. I have taught Portuguese for 2 years for foreigners, but here at Dickinson it is completely different. I feel that I am learning even more about my own language because my students ask me questions that I can not even imagine how to answer them! It is rewarding to see how much they are interested in your mother tongue, your culture and they know a lot about my country. I really did not imagine that they would know that much before coming.

My students love the language, they participate a lot during class and ask different things about the culture. They like comparing the way I speak with the way other people from different regions of Brazil speak. I feel Dickinson students are very dedicated when learning a foreign language. First of all, they have classes every day and this is something that make them go really fast with the language. Second, they are really committed with the homework, the essays, they also go to the writing center, they ask a lot of questions during classes and that’s great!

C: Have you felt overwhelmed or really tired being here?

A: Yes. I feel constantly tired, but I think it’s a mental thing. Actually, I don’t feel overwhelmed because I don’t have a lot of classes since Fulbright requires just to take two classes as a student. That is really good because I have 20 hours as a TA and I have to prepare material for different classes and it also depends on the professor. I am a TA on 2 classes taught by 2 Portuguese professors; they have completely different teaching styles. One of them works with the class book and I follow it for my activities. The other professor I can not use the book so I prepare my own material. That takes time, but I prefer doing my own activities because sometimes I don’t like the activities from the book. But, normally I try to workout, to relax and not feel overwhelmed. However, when I have essays or exams, I feel a little bit stressed.

C: Can you mention some feelings or emotions if you think about your Dickinson experience?

A: I can think about three different feelings throughout this first semester. In the very beginning, I was a little bit sad because I think the most difficult thing is to adapt. By the time you make friends and by the time you feel good because of the atmosphere everything gets better. The fact that Dickinson is a small college has helped a lot. You see familiar faces everywhere and that is the best thing that I have experienced in my life. I feel I made a great decision choosing Dickinson. I talk a lot with others Fulbright friends that are from Brazil and I see that the ones who are in bigger colleges don’t have the experience I am having. I have a really nice international group so we are most of the time together and it makes me feel comfortable and it makes me feel at home. So, I was sad and when I realized that I have friends, I feel very excited. I am very excited here. The third feeling is homesickness. I think it’s natural, but I just have good things to talk about my Dickinson experience. I see a progress in everything since that I got here.

C: How frequently do you communicate with your family and friends from Brazil? How?

A: I talk with my family every day. I talked to my parents every day, sometimes I talk with my Mom more than once because she calls me a lot! I have this plan that I can call them for free and then, sometimes with my brothers I talk via WhatsApp. With my boyfriend we vary; we can not really talk every day but we send text through WhatsApp and we use FaceTime. I use Facebook to talk with my friends, I don’t really call them, we just talked about random things through Facebook.

C: Have you experienced up and downs being here?

A: The worst ‘down’ was the adaptation period. The first month was complicated because in my classes I needed to adapt to each professor’s styles and approaches. That took like a month, then it was going well. The food was also a down because I was eating a lot of fries and that provoked me stomachaches! I was suffering with that! Now, I just avoid fries. The schedule was also hard to follow because I wasn’t used to eat at 12 and then to have dinner at 6, so right now I feel that I am adapted, I feel fine.

The up is definitely my relationship with all my friends here and my classes. I like them a lot, I like my choices!

C: What are your goals for the near future?

A: My main goal is to keep improving my English and to learn with the new courses that I am taking next semester. I am taking Spanish and Literature and I am very excited for that! They are really different classes if I compare them to the courses I took this semester, that is exciting and challenging!

Quick fire questions!

C: Favorite place in the world

A: My town

C: Favorite food

A: Lasagna

C: Favorite language: Portuguese!

A: Favorite app to communicate with others: WhatsApp

C: Thank you very much, Amanda!

A: De nada!

From left to right: Tyler, Dane, Ryan, Me, Pat

When I found out I had to conduct an interview for my blog, I knew right away I was going to interview my four best friends. The five of us literally do everything together. We are all on the same team, have more or less the same schedule and live together. To be perfectly honest, these guys are the reason why I go out and try to do something productive everyday. That sounded mad cliche but I guess its true.

Over the course of this semester, I have talked a lot about the competitions that go on within our team. Well, there is nobody I am more competitive with than these four guys. This competitiveness is what drives us to try and do different activities everyday.

This interview was conducted this past Sunday night after we had all been in the same room together for six hours. Tensions were high to say the least, however, I thought the three questions I asked were pretty simple and straightforward. I thought that three questions I asked would be done in no time. Yea I thought wrong. I quickly came to realize that ideas always work out better in your head. Well, here goes nothing…

Out of the five of us, who is the most competitive?

Ryan, Tyler, Pat: Daner.

I kid you not as soon as I said the first syllable of competitive, all three of them said Daner in unison. You see, Daner is one of those kids who always got picked on for being the short kid, he has what you call, Napoleonic Complex. However, we did give him a chance to defend himself.

Dane: Ok assholes, the only reason you all think I am the most competitive is because I can get in all your heads so easily. So if you consider that competitive than sure, I am the most competitive.

Besides lacrosse, what is your favorite activity? 

Ryan: Lifting.

Tyler: Probably running. I think running is the best way for me to stay in shape and lose some of these extra pounds I’m carrying.

Me: How’s losing the pounds coming along?

Tyler: Not good, on the weekends I eat like shit and drink too many beers. But hey, a man can dream right?

Pat: I was a pretty good basketball player in high school so I’d having to say playing pick up. Also, most of the guys on our team suck so it’s cool to dominate you guys.

Dane: (laughing while he answers) Squash. I love to play squash, especially against you Murph because you suck at it and I usually end up beating Tyler too.

In all seriousness, when lacrosse is over and we are (hopefully) graduated from school, how do you plan on staying active?

Ryan: I think I’ll always lift. Right now I lift for lacrosse but I also actually enjoy it, so I’ll keep on doing that.

Tyler: I have two dogs and love hiking up at my house in the Adirondacks so I’m hoping to spend as much time as possible doing that. I’ll also keep up on the running- even though it probably won’t slim me down at all.

Pat: My older brother who lives in the city plays pretty serious basketball in a mens league. I’m hoping to do the same thing.

Dane: I’ve heard swimming is the best thing you can do to stay in shape after college, so I think I’ll give that a try. Besides that, I’m gonna keep playing squash with you because beating you will never get old.

So today I decided to follow in Jerry Seinfeld’s foot steps (kind of) and conduct and interview about nothing. I found my two friends, Howie Keenan and Andrew Morgan, and saw what was up with them. They’re two pretty basic dudes who like a lot of the same things I do. Guess that’s why we’re friends.

Me: So tell me about your day guys. Anything cool happen?

Andrew: I woke up, went straight to class. Came back took a sweet shower. Found out I got an A on my paper and then talked to my cousin on the phone for like 25-30 minutes. Then I went and got sushi and went to the library. And now I’m here talking to you. I kinda worked hard but I kinda didn’t. Kind of a clique Dickinson day.

Me: Nice, Howie what about you??

Howie: Well. I had four classes today, plus gym if you want to count that. I went home for lunch and had a leftover chicken cutlet.  I made dinner for Hanukkah which was pretty good. I also had an Italian sandwich from the quarry today which was also bomb. Now I’m here talking to you.

Me: What else did you make for Hanukkah dinner?

Howie: Well the meal was quite carb-heavy, lots of bread and matzah balls.  Chicken cutlets, potato pancakes (latkes). I sat down with my friend Kevin and we had a little Chanukkah dinner. It was quite lovely.

Andrew: did you just say Chanukkah??

Howie: yea thats how you say it.

Me (trying to get them back on track): OK. So Howie what’s your most redeeming quality?

Howie: (thinking…. for a while…) well its definitely my intellect. I think I’m pretty wise.

Andrew: pretty cocky you think your wise

Howie: Maybe. But fuck it. I’m wise.

Me: Andrew what about you? Are you good at anything?

Andrew: Yea I’m pretty swag at clash of clans. It consumes most of my day. Also kinda good at econ which I guess will be helpful.

Me: Do you guys work out?

Howie: oh yea all the time. Here’s the breakdown from today. Ran a mile at the 7.4 pace (not too fast not too slow, I get a nice little schvitz), so after that I did the stair master for a while, burned like 340 calories. I like the stair master it makes me feel tall which is cool. Listened to some sweet music too. I had to get a drink after that too i was pretty parched. Saw my friend who was complaining about gym class but I told her that it would be ok. Then I left the gym. My whole back was soaked and I had to go to class like that. I smelled like shit but fuck it.

Andrew: I don’t work out. I’m a bum.

Howie: I’m definitely the more athletic one

**Andrew nods, agrees**

At this point Andrew gets too distracted with his Clash of Clans game and Howie has to go to a meeting, so I decide to end the interview.

Unlike my previous posts, this one is a bit more serious and gives more background of some of the struggles and experiences my family has been through while immigrating to America and making this life for themselves and our family.

I decided to interview my mom to ask her a few questions about her immigration process and how it has shaped the person she is today. While interviewing her, I learned so much about her and how much she has sacrificed and had to push through to become the successful woman she is today. I am forever grateful for my parents’ hardships of coming to America and and inspired by them everyday.

I hope you enjoy this post and are inspired to ask your relatives similar questions to learn more about your families past.

What was your immigration process like?

“Well, first my parents and I left Ukraine and went to Vienna, Austria. Instead of staying in beautiful castles like everyone else,we were put in army barracks  because of the 6-day war. Then we lived in Belgium for a few months. After that we lived in Israel for 10 months and then Germany, where we were seeking political asylum. This entire process took 2 years; we left Ukraine in ’74 and got to America is ’76.

When we finally got to America, it was extremely difficult… Well actually, the entire process was difficult, scary, overwhelming and extremely unexpected. The process took a toll on the family for sure. I felt like I was robbed of a childhood. I had to mature quickly, man up, and face harsh reality at an extremely young age. I was constantly worried and never knew when I would eat next, where I would sleep next or if a bomb would explode at any moment. I remember when I lived in Israel, I wasn’t allowed to cut a loaf of bread or open an envelope because there were bombs in them sometimes.

Once in America, we were the only Caucasian family in the agency that adopted the project we were in. It was scary and we had to develop tough skin very quickly… and if we didn’t… we would be killed. The only way to survive was to toughen up, so we did. I had to study and work hard to get out of that environment; and I did. I learned English and went to school and my parents got jobs. Slowly we were able to get minimal basic pay and finally were able to move out of the neighborhood and assimilate with society.”

How has your view of America changed from when you were immigrating to now?

“Some things have become more difficult and some more simple. Speaking the language, assimilating, learning, and affording things enable me a certain freedom and I feel like I belong. But, material things complicate things. There was a sense of simplicity and wonder when I first came here and now, there is a sense of entitlement because I belong. Over the 40 years that I’ve been here, I can call it home. Struggle and achievement led me here. It’s who I am and where I belong. Before I would never imagine saying that “I’m American.” But now, I identify as an American along with Russian and Jewish. I have earned my place.”

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as being an expatriate?

“The English language and not having ancestors that came here to make a name for themselves/our family/money. It’s hard seeing my kids’ friends families have alumni at great schools, or have advantages of having a family history or name in America. From a discriminatory perspective, people still perceive me as not good enough because of being first generation.”

How do you balance your two cultures?

“Because the assimilation process has been slow and natural, I feel like I’ve always tried to balance them. For example, on Thanksgiving, we have turkey (American) but the table is full of Russians and food. It;s who we are. My DNA is a mix of everything : Jewish, American, Russian. The balance is automatic and comes naturally.”

My interview with my mom was really eye opening for me. She is not only a role model for me as a parent but also as a hard worker. Her story inspires me to never give up, and always to make her and my family proud after making sacrifices for me to live the life I have here in America. Thank you for everything that you have done and do for me, Vicky (sister) and our family!

sources:

http://tech.co/july-4-america-asian-entrepreneurs-2012-07

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130903100018-237838958-immigration-is-a-lifeblood-let-s-not-cut-it-off

So I talk a lot about my own opinions on what race is or why it’s relevant, and usually from the personal perspective of someone who lives in between worlds. Well, I’m going to keep that up in today’s entry, but the only thing I’ll tweak is whose perspective it is.

A little bit ago I interviewed some friends of mine who are also multiracial and had them answer some questions about how it factors into both the daily life and their lives as a whole. One of these friends is also a Dickinson student, but a couple years younger than me. The other is a good buddy from home and happens to the person who helped me to come up with #mixedkidproblems as  a twitter hashtag back in high school.

Both are guys whose outward appearance may not give away their ethnic recipes as much as others’ might.

Avi
White father and Black Mother, grew up in Pittsburgh, PA

What is your oldest memory of being aware of the racial divide in your family history?

 “I would have to say that my oldest memory(ies) of racial divide is the celebration of holidays, which normally only contain one side of either family.”

Do you identify with one ethnic/cultural background more than the other(s)?

“I identify even with both races, however there are instances where I choose/select a particular ethnicity in order to blend and empathize with others.”

What do strangers assume your race to be? 

“Most strangers would probably think I’m mixed. But I hardly ever get a correct answer of black and white. It’s always some other mixes.”

Have you ever felt prejudiced against?

 

“There are times that I have felt prejudiced against, but my reasoning/understanding doesn’t necessarily point towards race.”

I also mixed it up a bit (get it?) and threw in some miscellaneous questions as well…

What’s your favorite cuisine?

“Favorite cuisine is either Asian, Southern, or Mediterranean.”

Biggest fear in college?

“Biggest fear is graduating without a job.”

If someone was going to buy you a store gift card, which store would you prefer?

 “Store gift card to some food place that I can’t normally afford.”

Being a skater there are so many people that inspire me. However the one that inspires me the most is my former coach, Melissa or better known on my team Mel bell. I met Melissa when I joined team reflections, she was the assistant coach to Amy, head coach of team reflections. My first impression of her was that she looked fun and relaxed but had a seriousness about her, she was approachable. If I had some trouble with a move in the team’s program I could go to her for help. A couple months after joining the team I approached Melissa about starting individual lessons with her on the side of team practices and my primary lesson with my current coach Amy.

I started to do one lesson every other week with her and instantly noticed a difference in my skating overall. Having her as my synchro coach as well as an individual coach meant that she knew what I needed to work on for the team and for my personal tests. The best part of having her as an individual coach is she would demonstrate what you are working on and she would do it with you if you got confused. Having her as the assistant coach with synchro meant she could jump right in the middle and skate with us during practices. This was a huge help a lot of the time because it would give us the feeling of what we needed to do.

Now before Melissa became a coach she had to start somewhere, right?

At age 2 Melissa’s father, a former hockey player, took her to the rink with him all the time. She was hooked, and has been skating for about 31 years now and still counting.
In these 31 years of skating she has done so many amazing things with her skating carrier. It all started with a simple synchro clinic her moms friend suggested because her daughter skated synchro.
“I tried the clinic and fell in love!”
After that it only got better, she continued to skate synchro for 14 years took a 12 year break and returned to synchro by coaching. In those 14 years of skating synchro she eventually joined the Haydenetts. The Haydenetts have been the number one team representing the U.S.A for three years. The first time Melissa watched the Haydenetts in 1991 she knew she wanted to be apart of the team. “I set a goal right there and then that someday I would be captain of the Haydenetts” she set a goal and never gave up. Later on she achieved her goal and joined the Haydenetts being on the team for 3 years and became team captain.

“Being a Haydenette was an amazing experience. I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to represent our country doing something we loved. It required a tremendous amount of dedication; we spent hours on and off the ice training each week and we missed many days of school and social events because of our training and competition schedules. It was totally worth it though!! Looking back on my time, I’m thrilled that I was apart of a team that has helped advance the sport in the US so much.

There’s a saying – ‘Once a Haydenette, always a Haydenette.’ The team really believes in that and there is a great respect for the history of the team and sport among past and current Haydenetts. My favorite memory of the Haydenetts was stepping on the ice for our short program at the very first World Championships, held in Minneapolis, MN. The whole arena was on there feet chanting U-S-A and waving flags. It was incredible. I felt so honored and proud to be on the ice at that moment.”

Having had Melissa as a role model for skating has changed my thoughts on how to go about it. I started with “It’s just fun and games” to “I’m going to do everything I can to be the best I can be.”  I think back to my time having Melissa as my coach and my favorite memory was from my first season on the team. We went to Colonials, which is in Lowell, Massachusetts. This was our second competition of the season. We were the last team to skate and had just gotten off the ice from a clean skate. We went to the locker room to change, then went to go find a seat. About twenty minutes had passed after we stepped of the ice and we were still walking to our seats. We heard that they were announcing the results so we stopped immediately and looked to the ice to see the results displayed. There it was, on the board, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Second place! We all started screaming and crying. This was my first competition with Melissa and I will remember it forever.

One of my favorite parts, there were many, of my trip to Greece was the food. It was unreal. We were also fortunate enough to go at a time when everything there, including food and housing, was relatively cheap because of the Greek economy. We were also able to drink because there is virtually no drinking age, which made us feel very grown up.

I think the hardest part of being in Greece was budgeting our money. We wanted to eat everything and do everything, but that isn’t realistic when you are on a budget. But at the same time, you don’t want to miss out on any experiences because you were trying to save money.

Since there were a million amazing foods, I thought I would rank my top three, since it would be impossible for me to write about all of them.

1. Feta Cheese

I love cheese, all kinds, but nothing compared to the fresh feta in Greece. They put it on everything; toast, sandwiches, salads, fish, steak, deserts, literally anything you could think of. It also did not taste anything like the kind you buy in the grocery store here in America. It was rich and had so much flavor, I wish I could have brought some back with me. (That squid was stuff with feta).

2. Gyro

A gyro is made of meat that is cooked on a vertical rotisserie, served in a pita with tzatziki sauce and tomatoes and onions, and occasionally french fries. First of all the pita’s served in Greece are a million times better than pitas here, and the tzatziki sauce was amazing. It was slightly sweet but tangy, and mixed amazingly well with the meat. It was also really cool to see how the meat was cooked.

3. Baklava

Baklava is actually a turkish desert, but was served at almost every restaurant and cafe in Greece. It is made with layers of pastry held together by chopped nuts with syrup and honey. It is one of the sweetest and richest deserts I have ever had. Our favorite little cafe also had a few variations, put together in different ways with slightly different flavorings and nuts. I think we ate this almost every night for desert.

Thinking back on all of the amazing food we ate, I am so glad we didn’t hold back and tried everything. Food and drinks are such a large part of culture that you can not fully enjoy traveling unless you fully enjoy all of the food they have to offer.I highly suggest to anyone traveling, to try every food you have the opportunity to, because you never know what you might discover!

Jeff Weiss is a writer by definition. By vocation. His work is a product of passion when he has time, and a work of dedication when he doesn’t. He doesn’t claim to be an expert, but he does have experience. He was a staff writer at a business blog. He worked for free for the now-defunct Stylus magazine. He writes a weekly column for LA Weekly, and his articles have appeared in publications such as the Washington Post, Noisey, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone. He has a podcast with rapper MC Nocando. He runs his own music blog, Passion of the Weiss, which has grown to have about twenty-five contributors. But please, God, do not call him a music writer. The only thing worse would be to call him a hip-hop writer. He enjoys writing about music, but focusing on one subject isn’t interesting to him, “fuck specialization…I want to write about everything…it’s not just music and it’s not just rap. I didn’t work hard enough to learn how to be a writer…just to fucking write about rap music.” Life is too big to write about one thing, he says.

I interviewed Jeff over the phone while I drove through upstate New York. He claimed he was tired; he didn’t get enough sleep the night before, but his intense responses to my questions were anything but tired. During our conversation we talked in a winding way about what makes a writer. Weiss is careful not to sound like he knows everything. He knows that his answers aren’t for everyone, but his fifteen-or-so years as a writer lend him credibility. Luckily he doesn’t attempt to qualify his argument with “I mean that’s just what I think,” the classic Millennial strategy of not taking responsibility. He believes what he says is true without sounding pedantic. His views on writing wrenched me out of my comfortable position as an excited liberal arts student with the whole world before me.

He tells me that writers (really, artists in general, although he doesn’t like that word) are a little quirky; “if you don’t have a drug or drinking problem you’re going to want one. Because it’s humbling. Writing is a humbling pursuit, and that’s one of the cool things about it. On a day to day basis you wake up, and the greatest writers can’t write anything.” If that doesn’t already deter you from wanting to be a writer, then consider his other advice, “Whenever I talk to younger writers I’m like, ‘honestly, what’s the most important thing I could tell you about a career in writing is to be prepared to sacrifice. I don’t know what it is. Everybody has to sacrifice something different.” In another conversation this past summer Jeff told me he’s had to sacrifice a lot; sleep, financial stability at times, relationships, and small bits of sanity. At one point he offers me some advice; don’t be a writer. When I told him that I would probably ignore that advice he seemed please, “if you listen to anyone that tells you not to do it, you shouldn’t be a writer.” I sheepishly took some minor pride in that.

It’s not all doomsday. Jeff isn’t trying to ruin writing for every excited young Buzzfeed contributor out there. He’s starkly realistic, which is refreshing. Frequent visits to campus by over-eager alumni touting their industries need some mitigation. Our conversation was a much-needed smack to the face. Like most worthwhile pursuits, writing is a struggle which takes up time and energy. That’s what makes it worthwhile.

Writing is human, which is what makes it so hard and so intriguing. To Jeff, writing is a practice in empathy. He says the best part about his job as a journalist is that he gets to meet people that bring with them a lot of different perspectives, “I have to try to get along with them, you know, and I have to try to learn from them and figure them out. That’s the most valuable thing as a writer, as a human being, is kind of…have empathy, or understanding.” For Jeff, good writing is a solid connection, breaking the surface tension. Tom Clancy writes about action; what you see. Ernest Hemingway writes about what happens in the absence of action, and makes it much more interesting.

I tend to think my writing is good. I’m narcissistic about what I write. Probably in an attempt to feel better about my narcissism I asked Jeff if you need to have an ego to be a good writer:

“I would say that you have to have a healthy streak of delusion. Because when you first start out you’re always bad. You know what I mean? You have to be like, ‘no one can tell me I’m bad. I’m fucking the greatest ever.’ I mean a lot of people give up. You can’t give up. If you want to be a writer, it’s like anything, sports….that was probably the most valuable pursuit I could have. Be competitive. Every writer is competitive, every writer is different, you know? But I would say that you have to have a healthy streak of delusion. Delusion can empower you because you have to know…you have to know who to listen to and who not to. Some people have good ideas. You gotta trust your instincts.” It’s not to say that you won’t get knocked down a peg or two, you will. Writing is a practice in delusion-in-moderation.

Young writers hone their craft in academic settings that don’t allow for delusion. Ironically, professors and teachers often provide some sort of outside source of delusion. Grading isn’t critique, it’s strategic reinforcement. What Jeff is saying is different. You need delusion from the self, and you need to believe you’re good. Eventually outside forces, friends, editors, the Internet, will knock you down, and you’re left to either quit or continue the delusion with a heightened level of self-reflection. Maybe I’m putting words in Jeff’s mouth. Maybe I’m delusional.

I asked Jeff what he thinks of online writing. For most aspiring young writers, the online realm provides the best chance to break into serious writing. For Jeff, it can be a personal hell; “If you want to be a good writer, don’t read anything on the internet. Read dead people.” We talked about Buzzfeed, the Odyssey. The journalistic Sarlacc pits of the internet. He didn’t even seem to want to discuss them. To Jeff, good writing is hard to find online. I felt a bit guilty at this point. Aside from the book I keep on my nightstand, almost everything I read is online.

He also recognizes the benefits of writing online. It’s hard to find good writing online,“but it also makes the good stuff sometimes more uncompromised.” Your writing can’t be skewered by editors with agendas that don’t match yours.  You have untethered opportunity, “online made it so you don’t need to have your dad know someone…You could just start a blog and say fuck it…You can go around editors sometimes…It’s empowering. It is democratizing.” While online writing is generally bad, the ability to self-publish had made writing a more egalitarian practice. The quality just needs to catch up.

Jeff does laud Grantland for its model of bringing in a handful of good writers and allowing them to write about whatever they choose. If you want to find good online writing, head there (that’s a cruel joke…Grantland closed down earlier this year).

Jeff admits that his own writing was once bad. He tells me that he once wrote a novel, prior to 2005. He doesn’t mention much more, but from the tone of his voice I could tell he wasn’t about to send me a copy. He tells me he’s also written hundreds of poems, which he says are equally as bad. Although he started his blog in 2005, he claims his writing didn’t even start getting good until 2008 or 2009, years into a career as a journalist and a writer. When I ask if he feels he could teach writing, he evokes a quote from a dead author, “As much as a golf pro can correct the flaws in your swing, you know? And that’s sort of how you can do writing or editing. You can’t make someone a good writer, it’s all internal, but you kind of have to push them in the right direction. Hopefully they do the rest of the work. It’s hard.” What really makes your writing good, he says, is reading a lot and writing a lot. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. But to be a good writer you’ll have to put in 10,000 hours of reading and writing. That’s two and a quarter years. Start now.

The truth about writing is that it won’t be good if you aren’t writing about what interests you. It could be well-written. It could be enjoyable. But it won’t be good writing. I asked Jeff how he chooses what to write about, ““use your own…narcissism to make it about you. For me it’s more about trying to write something that I’m proud of. I’m trying to do stuff that makes me want to remember why I was a writer. Which is stuff that has more imagination, creativity, and less linear ‘this is a review, this is a think piece.’” It was what he said after, however, that struck me the most, “You have to love writing first.” Most people think writing is a vehicle for illustrating your interests. For Jeff, writing is a vehicle for writing; an interest in itself.

I liked this sentiment because it flies in the face of conventional online journalism, where sites like the Odyssey take in young writers and tell them to, “Share, share share! After all, what’s the point of writing if your work is not read? Right? Right!” Write because it interests you. Write because it’s therapeutic. Write because words sound awesome together in your head. Share it if you like, but don’t write for the pure sake of sharing. I, like Jeff, have hundreds of poems spread throughout various notebooks, homework assignments, and Google documents. Even if I don’t show them to people, they exist as practice and pleasure. That is just as important as writing for others.
Passion of the Weiss’ tagline reads, “Even when I was wrong, I got my point across,” which seems to tie everything together. You don’t necessarily have to be right, you just have to be honest. Certainly don’t go making up facts, but don’t worry if you make mistakes. Writing is a learning process. Just work on getting your point across.

Since I LOVE telling stories so much I decided to as the one person I spend probably the most time with what is her favorite story to tell. My roommate is my best friend and we

GIF via Giphy

know waaaayyyyyy too much about each other, but it’s actually great.

 
So I have personally heard this story I’m about to share directly from the people who are involved but I like my roommates telling of it so much better.

Me: So what is your favorite story to tell?

Roommate: The story about my parents and the pictures.

Me: okay so tell me.

Roommate: “Okay, ummmmm, let’s see, while my parents were dating they had a very tremulous relationship. They would break up for a while and get back together and break up for a while and get back together and it was super annoying. And during one of the break-up periods my dad supposedly dated this woman. My mom knew about it this because she was friends with his brothers and they were like all rooting for them.

My mother could never prove that he was with someone else because he would deny it every time and his family didn’t know so she didn’t have any answers their, but she was like 99% sure. So when they get married, move in together and my mother is pregnant with me and she finds, she’s like cleaning our brand-new house and she finds this box of pictures, like a shoebox of pictures from my dad. And in this shoebox are various pictures of him and my mom, and him and his family but then she finds at least a dozen pictures of him and this woman that my mother knew he dated.

Let’s say her name is……Caligula…that’s a boy’s name…. Connie! She’s not important anymore, but the point is my mom sees there photos and is like “I fucking got him! These are pictures of him with Connie like he’s kissing her cheek and shit like that, these are couples photos!” So what she did was she put them around the mirror of the front entryway so as soon as my dad walked in after work he would see the pictures and my mom would stop him in his tracks. It’s like an “I told you so moment” like “I knew it the whole time, you can’t deny it fuck you, love you, bitch” something like that I don’t know.

So my mom puts them around the mirror and then she has to pee or something because she is pregnant with me and she’s like a…..melon…basically. She hears my dad come in and she’s pregnant so she like waddles downs the stairs but not fast enough because when she gets there my dad is chewing.

GIF via Giphy

My mother is like “Where are the pictures?” and he swallows and goes “What pictures?” He ate them. HE ATE THEM, HE ATE THE PICTURES, he ate the fucking pictures.

And my mother was like “you fucking ate them” and he denied it for years until finally this summer we wore him down and he laughed about it and he was like “yeah…..”

And more recently, at Thanksgiving my dad said, “When I walked in I was like oh god she’s got me, I’m losing! And the only thought I had was “well, you could eat them” and then I did, yeah I got really sick after that.” He ate them, it’s nuts. It’s the funniest story that I know yadda yadda yadda.”

Though he makes some larger-than-life statements, I think young, passionate voices like that of Vince Staples bring an edgy and necessary slice of commentary to the discussion of prejudiced institutions at home.

His words don’t cover all the details, so don’t watch this thinking they do. (aka how you should watch the news)

Instead, take this song as one [loud] voice of many with something to say.