A4U: Talk To Strangers
An afternote about my recent "Peoplewatcher" article, and some personal plans
Hiya, a somewhat normal Angel 4 You! post this week. As you may have noticed with last weeks post, I have decided that I may start making A4U include not just blog focused posts and also things such-as poetry, flash-fic, and more :) I want to expand my writing— which means really pushing myself outside of the already strained comfort zone I’ve had. This time 3 years ago now was when I finally plunged back into writing with a bit more confidence, encouraged by a few friends and a professor of mine.
With that being said, I wanted to note I’ve started working on my first zine that I’m incredibly excited about! This will be about why You should make a website!! This will be a tester of a zine + include a QR code/link to a page on daedrms.neocities.org (which just hit 100k unique viewers!) on basic web skills I’ve learned while developing, and will get a digital release here & on my website. I do plan to do a series of zines also called “Talk To Strangers”, inspired by some feelings I had after completing Peoplewatcher.
Now, the main thing for this post, my feelings about Peoplewatcher & Talk To Stragners:
Part of what has changed my peoplewatching is the intentionality I have with connecting with people when the opportunity presents itself. As the world around us changes & we are ever forced into being incredibly individual, there’s an outcry from many (Especially gen-z) for various aspects of community— but one note is the fact that we don’t talk to strangers. I know for a fact until I moved I wasn’t as sociable with strangers, but I’ve always been a chatterbox. I know for myself personally sometimes it’s hard to just strike up conversation for a variety of reasons. As I’ve said, one of my goals for this year was to make a zine, but I hadn’t been able to decide what I wanted to do, the writers block mixed perfectly with decision paralysis— but with my writers block gone (for now), I’ve been looking for new things to write about. I went to a handful of bookstores with a few friends earlier this week, and one had the primary intention of independent publishers (and zines). It gave me tons of ideas, but mainly that the sequel to Peoplewatcher I wanted to be more than just a substack article. I wanted it to be my personal little notes on why I love talking to strangers, silly situations I’ve navigated, and maybe even advice from experiences. I’m really excited to start this project, and I’m already overwhelmed with ideas, can’t wait to share it with y’all oh-so-soon!
From your soon to be digital-gone-physical angel,
Nora