How to Be Not Otherwise

by Jessica Brookman in ,

FACT: You can have any lifestyle you want if you can bear the cost of what it takes to get there.

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How to Quit Everything

by Jessica Brookman in ,

FACT: What you do with your life matters. The world needs you to quit everything that doesn't make sense until you are somewhere that you don't want to leave. 

This is a story about why I am retiring from social media. Kinda.

 It is also a story about hedge funds, blogging, and being an unreasonable bastard (even if you're a woman, especially if you're a woman). Also, Bobcat Goldthwait makes an appearance. 

There's a chance I may be black-bagged for writing this. Here we go! 

xo. Jessa.

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Fucking Internet Content, Man.

by Jessica Brookman in

Let's talk about the integrity of your work.

But first, I need to talk about fashion. Just for a sec!  This post is not about fashion. I promise. It's about writing and the internet and copycats and being a bastard.

Here is some David Bowie to make reading about fashion more bearable. You are welcome. Please bear with me. 

David Bowie - Oh You Pretty Things - 72

Last month, Suzy Menkes @ The New York Times called fashion blogging a circus over the course of the F/W2013 shows. It's funny, because fashion IS a circus in many ways with or without bloggers.  But even when applied across industries, this type of complaint feels to me more like the old guard hanging onto the particular method they used to get where they are (nepotism and blowjobs? jk?) rather than a substantive complaint against skilled bloggers. 

What's that? The internet is full of shitty content? Yes, it's true! There ARE a lot of boring blogs rehashing the same tired shit. But there are some true innovators as well. Since the internet is more crowded than ever, standing out is not an accident. Growing and leveraging an audience is proof of either exceptional content or exceptional biz/marketing. And, in exemplary cases, it's proof of both. That's commendable. 

So, respect the game, you publishing fascists. Change or die.

But there also seems to be some vitriole bubbling up in the blogosphere over the....uh....State of Blogging itself. You know, how bloggers are making money, how new internet people are just showing up (and snatching up all the jobs! grrr!) and how-shitty-content-is-ruining-it-for-everyone-oh-my-god. 

Since you're reading this slice of the web, you should know that I made a choice not to run advertising (at all) or branded content (unless i have creative control) on this site.  So, unlike many bloggers (er...sorry, people who write on the internet?), I'm not really swiping for a piece of the same marketing-spend pie. I'm just here for the free access to your brains. (Say hi, by the way, you fucking weirdos). 

So why do you give a fuck about good content? 

Well, we give a fuck because the fate of monetized content matters. We give a fuck because digital is eating print. And TV. We give a fuck, as internet folk,  because the web still offers unparalleled access to content that may not have been represented without being born in independent channels. We give a fuck because the internet has created inroads to more established industries (like fashion, film, television, publishing) where there were few for independents before.

Or, we give a fuck because this is America (goddammit!) and many of us would be disgruntled post office employees with Ivy League degrees without the internet. But, um, I digress. Good ideas are worth fighting for. Fresh content is worth protecting. That's why watching the internet fill-up with repackaged versions of the same shit ideas is aggravating. That's why it makes my internal organs bleed to watch the internet turn into a sponsored-by cesspool. But, imitation is human nature. And the internet is a magnifying glass on the petri dish of human dysfunction. So how to rise above? 

Since the web is full of dull copies. Be brilliant. 

Keep the integrity in your work and make it really fucking good. No matter what nonsense is going on around you. Instead of reading a bunch of bad blogs and getting your digital panties in a bunch, focus on what you love and put it into the world. Keep evolving. Be a bastard about it. Fuck the rest.​ 

Maybe, I just don't understand the fuss. But, I'm not really a blogger. I just write. Writing is hard to fake. (btw, Suzy, I'm just standing on the outside of the circus tent...watching all you freaks and taking notes so I can tell a story later. OK?!) Anyway, what I've got is a way with words, images, and music. Other than that, I can barely remember which day of the week it is, let alone when to post things here. 

For me, trying become something I am not seems less time-efficient and more painful than trying to become one of the gnarliest, most vivid storytellers in the history of LA....or, you know, some better city to which I will inevitably move when Los Angeles is swallowed back into Hades. 

So, Internet, that's how I'm spending my time these days. What are you doing?

xoxo, Jessa. ​