I’ve seldom given much thought about the significance/influence/importance of blogs in recent years. When I was younger, I was much into the creation and curation of web spaces in which one could let their creativity roam free through the aesthetic choices made for the space, content development (whether written, photographed, or both), and the overall sharing a piece of one’s own minds with complete strangers and, sometimes, friends. However, this type of activity is one left in the past, as it shaped the early-to-mid years of my adolescence and, not surprisingly, contributed to the ever-growing teen angst of the times that was displayed in webpages decorated with pastels, bookworm quotes, and the shared desire of escape (looking at you, Tumblr). As influential that might’ve been for 13 to 16-year-old me, those are not the blogs I’ll be pondering on today, but on the ones I’ve been introduced to throughout recent years.
Puerto Rican journalist Andrea González Ramírez started the blog/project Los Que Se Fueron in 2016. The website includes numerous blog posts, each being an interview she conducted with Puerto Ricans in the diaspora, with the goal of knowing, and showing, what it means “to be a young Puerto Rican living in the U.S.” (“About LQSF”). Her blog(posts) trace bits of the interviewees’ personal anecdotes, decisions on moving out of the archipelago, and longings to return. I consider her blog significant and influential because, as a young Puerto Rican in the diaspora myself, it provides a sense of comfort, empathy, and understanding. The stories/interviews shown in the posts can be relatable at times, but at the same time some of them feel alien to me because our reasons for moving, our feelings on returning, the whole of the experience, etc. differ. González Ramírez’s blog accentuates the “sacrifices, resilience, heartbreaks, loss, love and hope among young Puerto Ricans in the diaspora” (“About LQSF”), each with its own flair and takeaway. I find it influential because, like she put it in her About page, there’s one thing in common—the collective image of “always be[ing] seen as LOS QUE SE FUERON, the ones who left” (emphasis in original). In this short sentence, González Ramírez underscores the common link between these different stories which resonate with feelings of many other young (and old) Puerto Ricans outside of our homeland. Creating such a blog, for me, is influential and important because it amplifies voices often left unheard and acknowledges the experiences and anecdotes of people who have been displaced, forced with the decision of leaving what they consider home. It is a way to also construct an online community of people and find ways in which we can build relations/link among each other from a distance.
Another blog that I consider influential and significant is Taller Electric Marronage, a project started by Dr. Yomaira Figueroa (MSU) and Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson (Johns Hopkins). In this blog, they invite their team of writers/contributors/editors (dubbed Electricians) to share their research, connections between the academic and the personal, through blog posts/submissions; a practice that has extended to writers and academics outside of the team as well. The blog, and the overarching project/taller, focuses on theory and praxis of Black Feminism and kinship, and “Inspired by the petit marronage of our ancestors[,] we steal away on this electric platform, share our journeys + offer what we find along the way” (“About”). Through the submissions/entries on the blog, writers, thinkers, creatives, and academics come together through their writing on topics that relate to their subjectivity, interests, practices, and experiences. Much like González Ramírez’s blog, I find that Taller Electric Marronage’s also strives to create a community with links through both the similarities and, perhaps even the differences, that each contributor and audience member (re: reader) share. This blog is also significant because it brings to the fore the important work Black, Brown, Cuir/Queer people engage in and produce; thus, highlighting and acknowledging the material and knowledge they hold. I think it’s a valuable contribution to an (non)academic, creative, and exploratory channels. The blog allows for junior academics to sink their feet in peer-reviewed publishing and for creatives to reach audiences that go beyond their respective set of followers through their personal platforms. It is a significant and influential space for learning, growing, teaching, and building bridges among individuals and community.
Lastly, there is my favorite project and blog—Hasta ‘Bajo Project (HBP for short). HBP was founded by two Caribbean women Patricia M. Velázquez and Ashley Oliva Mayor, with backgrounds in history and culture, who’s mission revolves on creating and preserving an archive of the Puerto Rican urban music genre reggaetón. Moreover, they seek to educate and expose the genre’s value and importance in Puerto Rican culture (“Sobre el Proyecto”, translation my own). As one of the ways to expose and educate on reggaetón’s history, cultural and social value, the website runs a blog in which members of the team (now comprised of 7 women non-binary folx), as well as outside contributors, share essays/articles/posts that center on the genre, its artists, songs, performances, critique, etc. Through this blog, people are encouraged to learn more about reggaetón as part of Puerto Rican culture and begin a deconstruction of the stereotypical image that’s been created, which labels the genre as hypermasculine, sexist, violent, and misogynist. I consider the blog influential because it reaches both (non)academic masses, showing the importance of the genre to the larger narrative of Puerto Rican, and Caribbean, history, culture, and politics. Like Taller Electric Marronage’s, I see HBP as another way to create links between academics, writers, creatives, and other audiences that may reach the blog through the shared interest of reggaetón. As a student whose interests revolve around the sociopolitical implications of art, music, and performance, this blog (and overall project) is extremely important and valuable for me; something I think it is much needed both inside and outside the spaces of the academy.
I’m not sure if I quite connected/linked these blogs like intended, but it did help me reflect on the importance of these, and why is it that I consider them to be valuable and perused. It’s interesting to consider how these sites and styles of writing can influence different people, either by igniting a desire to write and contribute, to learn more about the topics discussed/shown, and/or to slowly bring people together through a share of common interests, experiences, and appreciation.