Of Fluff and Nonsense
Today I got to see behind the curtains of one of my long-held daydreams, a real-life newsroom. My photography course allowed me the opportunity to participate in an internship with the local newspaper as a news photographer. and it is my (professional for a week) opinion, Mondays are slow news days. Very, slow news days. . . Hard to be an intern when the professional photographers barely have enough to fill their own shifts. Thankfully, tomorrow looks like it will pick up.
Newspapers are the historians of the community, recording details of the local life that many will have forgotten, waiting in archives to be rediscovered. Newspapers also used to be gatekeepers of worth. The information they disseminated had to fit a strict set of criteria for it to become part of the public discussion.
This is still the case (for newspapers of quality at least), but with so much social media, listicles and fluff pieces flooding the attention of the masses, newspapers have taken a massive hit. It was somewhat devastating to see an entire floor of a local newspaper just abandoned and empty, scattered paper on the floor, a once staffed library in disarray.
I understand why people enjoy the fluff, its light, its distracting, it even can make us feel like we are learning something even if it’s something we will never put into practice. It can help us feel like we are progressing, becoming better people, when ultimately its junk food for our mind, short bursts of engagement, with no real substance or long-term benefits.
I am chronic for this myself. I will start my day by going through the google curated feed on my phone and open articles I find intriguing into a new tab on my phone with the intention of reading it later. My big issue is that even when I do get time to go back through the tabs, there will still be ones I put off reading until I have time to read in depth or time to implement, time I never seem to have.
I am also aware by describing this phenomenon to you, you may realise this blog also constitutes as fluff and you may stop reading it.
Society has turned its attention to entertainment and turned away from content that is good for the soul. that is because the stuff that is good for the soul is usually uncomfortable, hard to read and takes effort. But it is only in the uncomfortable that we grow. We can only learn how far our understanding will reach if we stretch it. As for the purpose of this blog, I will only know exactly how far my creativity can go if I am willing to push it. Now I struggle to simply maintain it. I had a couple of rather dark days last week which killed my momentum. It’s been too long since I cooked (too long since we had groceries in the house!), I know the word count on my novel seems like a joke now, and I’m starting to get repetitive with the crafted things.
I wonder where I would be at if I didn’t spend so long saving links I will barely look at or reading articles I will never implement. Distracting myself with the fluff so I don’t have to look at the hard work ahead. After the last month of interruptions and trips away, the numbers aren’t what I would like them to be and so I am trying not to look. Even though knowing where I am at will help me get back on track.
One thing I did notice today though, I enjoyed having office hours. . .How weird is that? Knowing when to turn up, when to go home and that there was nothing fluffy to distract me in between apart from what was being produced for the newspaper itself. I have zero ability to implement that kind of work only quarantine in my own house as my work space is my play space, but I think I like it enough that I’d want to. It’s so difficult to discipline oneself when you can simply switch tabs or turn around to find anything else more fun than your work, but work is rewarding when you can do it. Even coming home after today and being able to make something towards the creative goals felt great. The more one works (at fulfilling work at least) the more one wants to work. Just one of the little things I have forgotten as a perpetual student. I’m looking forward to the end of next week (this week is my internship, next week is another week away) when I can establish a more normalised routine again. Last minute creative dashes before posting on this blog are not cutting it.
THE RUNDOWN
Art – (12/100)
Writing – Novel: 1,139 Blog: 16,604 /50k
Cooking – (19/285)
Music – (9/100)
Photography – May have forgotten that the challenge exists. . . Or at least that’s the conclusion one could reach based on my participation as of late. School is happening along though.
Craft – Two new earrings (15/100)