Hello, friends!
As you know, I love space. I’ve always loved space. Unfortunately, as a kid, that sometimes got me into trouble, because loving space…? That’s “nerd stuff.” For context, I grew up in 1980’s American suburbia. There were certain assumptions and expectations placed upon little boys in 1980’s American suburbia, and “nerd stuff” was only tolerated to a point.
Which brings me to the mission of this blog and my mission overall as a writer, because no matter how much I got bullied by other kids growing up (or how much I got bullied by certain adults), I never stopped loving space. And now I want to spread my love for space to others! I want others to see that space is beautiful and mysterious and strange. I want others to see that space can be terrifying while, simultaneously, offering us hope for the future of humanity.
But I also know that I won’t convince everyone, and that’s okay. I have a dear friend who doesn’t care much about space, no matter how much I wax poetic about black holes and quasars. But this dear friend once paid me the very best compliment I’ve ever received: “You make me want to go learn stuff.” I spend a lot of my free time reading and learning about space, for no other reason than because I love space. I want to believe that I’m setting a good example for others. So whatever you love, whatever you’re most passionate about (even if it’s not space), I hope you’ll go learn stuff about that thing.
At the very least, I hope my writing inspires people to stop feeling any shame about the things they love. A lot has changed since the 1980’s. A lot of “nerd stuff” is considered cool now; however, the pressure to conform to some arbitrary, nebulously-defined set of social norms? That still exists. That’s still real. So if nothing else, I hope my writing helps someone out there realize that it’s okay to say: “I love (fill in the blank).”
Today’s blog post is part of the Insecure Writers’ Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Kalpana, Kim Lajevardi, Rebecca Douglass, Jennifer Lane, and Cathrina Constantine. If you’re a writer and you want to learn more about this amazingly supportive group, click here.
And as always, friends, thank you for reading.
