Welcome to my commonplace book — a place to record quotes, links, what I’m reading, hearing, and watching, and other miscellanea that accumulate to create a narrative. As Charley Locke writes in her New York Times piece, “if keeping a journal would be a way to look in the mirror and make an honest appraisal of myself, keeping a commonplace book is more like looking at myself out of the corner of my eye.”
Of course, this can also just be called a blog.
I’ve had two before — one in high school and another when I moved to Philadelphia sight unseen to start my service year with AmeriCorps. What I’d give to scroll through these commonplace books now.
Now, at 40 years old, I’m drawn again to make up for lost time and to reclaim a space on the Internet that isn’t feeding me ads and more of what I want to see. I want a place to collect thoughts and ideas without those thoughts and ideas being monetized or at risk as companies pivot, merge, or disappear.
Thanks for reading.