I am on strike and I am starting a blog; the origins of ‘Boxer Briefs’
I write this amid not working my job as a reporter.
It’s a long story which you can read a little bit about here, but the gist of it is like many newsrooms across the country right now, mine was eviscerated by layoffs due to financial troubles. And like many of those newsrooms, both current and unemployed staff members are striking until management meets to negotiate alternatives to cuts.
The lore goes a little deeper than that, but basically I’m not working right now. I’m not doing much of anything, really, which is terrible (except playing Baldur’s Gate 3, which is awesome).
Now that I have some time, I am finally following through on what I wanted to do for most of 2023 when I was unemployed for eight months: to publicly yap about whatever my brain decides to cook up and, in the process, improve my writing.
While I was unemployed last year, I thought about starting a blog to shake off some rust before beginning my first full-time job as a reporter. Well I didn’t do that, and my editor can tell you that the first article I turned in reflects it.
I also have too many thoughts for them to just sit and stew in my mind. Not all of them are particularly valuable or insightful, of course, but I believe that the act of writing for the craft of it and simply sharing how one views the world has value per se.
If you’ve ever lived with me or been in my general vicinity while I had to ponder, you’d know that I pace. A lot. It just helps me work through my thoughts. And if those reflections are noteworthy, I’ll write them down in one of many notepads that litter my desk or the Notes app on my phone.
So instead of tweaking in my bedroom and leaving my ideas to rot in those lined pages, I figured I might as well turn them into something productive and share them. Perhaps I’ll learn new things in pursuit of a subject to write about, in whatever rabbit hole I find myself, and hopefully whoever comes across my writing can, too.
On Medium, I can toss my thoughts on a page, make it pretty, send it out and let the algorithm do its thing. Surely, if I’m to participate in the “marketplace of ideas” in this digital age, I’d rather not do it on Twitter (aka X), which isn’t exactly a paragon of civil, nuanced discourse. If arguing with strangers on the internet is your thing though, it’s perfect.
One thing to note — I am generally not an open book. In some ways, publicly sharing experiences like this is scary for me. It’s almost like taking some of my chicken-scratch journal entries and beholding them for the world to read.
On one hand, I might be ostracized for my opinions on pugs (kind of cute, but overall D-tier dogs). But on the other, I think it’ll be good for me to practice refined communication and expression.
Hopefully this blog doesn’t just end up being the ramblings of a 24-year-old, but I guess it’s okay if it does. Maybe some of my limited and humble experience can provide some insight and perspective on things I feel strongly about.
And then there’s Talon Love, the bastard I’m beginning this journey with, who is writing for many of the same reasons I am. Following a boxing session one night, we sat down at a favorite local Thai restaurant and, after some conversation about a dragon he saw in his dreams, decided to start a blog.
We came up with the name for it after about five minutes of spitballing a week later. “The Write Brothers” was a little too on-the-nose (although kind of hard, if you ask me). “Two Tone Talks” was a little too boring. “Boxer Briefs?” Goldilocks.
As of this post, we don’t really have a niche yet; we’re just trying to write. Maybe we’ll discuss the state of the economy and geopolitical crises in the Middle East one week. And in the next we’ll talk about fart frequencies.
Whatever we do, I get a feeling this Medium membership will prove to be some of the best five bucks a month I spend (besides, I don’t know, Spotify?).
How long will it take until Maison returns to the work he loves so dearly? Will he be able to keep blogging on his plate when he comes back? Will Guy Fieri ever stop rocking frosted tips (probably not)? Find out — on the next episode of Boxer Briefs.
