A Brave New Blog
How better to usher in a brand-new year than with a brand (and brave) new blog…
Dear UnMaker, welcome to this new blog, The UnMaker. Before we get into the WHY this blog exists, and the WHAT, please indulge me as I take a small trip down memory lane.
Finding Connection at the Dawn of the Internet
Image Source: IBM
I can still remember the time I got my first computer. It was an IBM, and a huge beige brick that stood under my desk, while the even larger beige monitor took up a sizeable chunk of space on my desk. I felt like I was invincible. I could now connect to the Internet when I wanted (albeit to speeds that topped 35Kbps).
Looking back, it’s hard to believe that my mother would let me spend countless hours communicating with strangers in the O.G. chatting platforms such as mIRC and ICQ (uh-oh). Yet, not only did I have unsupervised carte blanche as a pre-teen to browse away, I full-heartedly embraced one of the most important things the Internet offered at the time: connection. It was a time when my email address was more whimsical than practical (I still have it), and a time when I would spend untold hours writing to others across the world, about everything, and anything. I had a need for connection.
A History of Blogs
Not surprisingly, this drive to connect with others through words naturally evolved into creating a web blog, or just a blog, as we know it today. I can’t remember the year when I launched my very first website, I just vaguely remember that it relied heavily on Flash, and that it was written in HTML. Enter Blogger, ran by Google on blogspot.com, and coding was not necessary to run my first blog, Veronica’s India. It was a weekly blog that chronicled my 4-month solo trek through India in 2010. Shortly after, I launched, “Veronica’s Universe,” a blog where my younger (more naïve) self, indulged in deconstructing what she thought were some big and pressing thought-provoking ideas.
Veronica’s India blog banner
Veronica’s Universe blog banner
Then came 10,000 Hours of Writing, this time built on WordPress, and featuring my very own domain. It was exciting times. This website/online business card and blog, documented my novel-writing endeavor as I scrutinized the ups and downs of writing a book—all while putting in my 10,000 hours to become an expert writer (nod to Malcolm Gladwell). While the book in question, was never completed (a novel about the existential-crises that sometimes accompanies turning 30), I did indeed put in my share of writing over the years. Let it be generating meaningful written content on behalf of companies and start-ups, or microblogging on Instagram, or finishing the first out of three books in my middle grade fantasy trilogy (BTW: looking for a publisher), I kept on writing, and honed my writing and editing skills throughout the years.
Blogging in the Now and Here
Which leads us to this moment, right now. As we’re beginning a new year, I thought it exciting—if not a tad dramatic—to start my new year with a brand (and brave) new blog. Why?
In my latest installment of blog and website launches, I’ve launched this latest website (this time using Squarespace—back to no coding), that’s about something that means a lot to me… unmaking boxes.
Like I mentioned on the Story Page, throughout my life, time and time again, so many have tried to pigeonhole me into categories that would allow them to understand me. They tried to put me in a box. Oh, the dreaded box!
I’ll never forget that time when I moved to Orlando, Florida, from Montreal, the day after I took my final university class, to join my mother who was living there at the time. I took on a non-creative corporate job, because according to my mom, it didn’t matter what job I had—I needed the health insurance. The first week on the job, I was asked by my very kind and polite coworkers how I came to speak the way I spoke. What they were really asking was, “Hey, how come you don’t sound like our other black colleagues?” I could see it in their eyes, how they couldn’t consolidate how they thought I should sound like, with how I actually sounded like (my neutral Canadian accent could not be easily placed). Short digression: before the days of social media, it always amused me to see the look of surprise on someone’s face who saw me in person for the first time—after a phone conversation—and how they assumed I would look different.
For a long time, I thought it was okay to be labeled, and categorized, and stay in my lane. But it never felt right. I, like everyone else, contained multitudes, and I couldn’t just slap on a label on myself, and be what that label indicated. I understood that I needed to deprogram myself in thinking that one can only be one way based on a set of arbitrary, pre-determined criteria.
Creating Your Own Adventure
I fundamentally believe, that there is no box, nor should there be a box. However, I am aware that we cannot stop others from creating boxes, which makes it easier for them to make sense of the world. We can, however, stop ourselves from identifying with those boxes imposed by others, and the ones created by ourselves. Just as important, we can stop putting others in boxes.
I created this movement, so that we can better develop the tools and know-how that will allow us to unmake boxes. I know that it won’t be easy. #ImplicitBias. But trying is better than not trying. My mission is to create and support stories and projects that incite curiosity, communication, compassion, connection, and creativity. And for me, it all starts with unmaking them boxes.
We have the beautiful and wonderful opportunity to create our own adventure—an adventure that is uniquely ours, and can take us to the furthest places our imaginations can concoct.
What say you? Are you ready to unmake boxes and create your own adventure?
I know I am!
Stay tuned, for fresh (and brave) new content coming to you every couple of weeks. Don’t miss a beat, and subscribe to the newsletter, which will feature updates as well as fun curiosity boosters.
See you outside the box!
Sincerely,
Head UnMaker, Veronica Louis