Introducing Those Creatures Jumped The Barricades

Back in the game.

It's been a while since I've written anything publicly. By that I mean written something with the intention of others to read it. The last piece I wrote for an outlet was in December of 2022. By then I had already lost my grip on some things and couldn't balance my new full-time gig with freelancing. Stress management is not my specialty!

Prior to all of this I was on full-time as a staff writer for an alt-weekly. Then hell busted open in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was laid off like many others as the journalism landscape got put through the shredder. I thought they would have turned the shredder off by now but it seems there's some kind of an infinite power source for that thing. Anyway.

I was able to stay on as a freelancer covering music (thank you to my old editor), but my confidence took a huuuuge hit. I also became way more anxious than I had ever been before. It didn't doesn't help that the government was is trying to dismantle anything good we once knew. I also had to start working a new job that pretty much only made the depression worse. It was the perfect recipe for bad times. So we moved across the country–back closer to family. A get-better-quick-scheme. All you needed was a U-Haul truck. A foolproof plan lol.

Joking aside, I do feel I'm in a better place now. Nothing is ever perfect. And who can be in times like these? Like MJ Lenderman says, when it gets dark we've all got work to do.

The only thing I've ever been sure of wanting to do was write. So I continued to do so in private because writing is one of the only ways to let my brain breathe. Now that I'm coming through the other side of my shitty time warp I've realized I miss having someone to write for. It's seriously a privilege to have people read your work. If you're lucky you can even make a living off of it! Now I'm not trying to get rich here but if this becomes a sustainable thing that can provide some income then hell yeah man. If I make no money then at the very least this can be my own personal little internet journal and I won't go insane. Also hell yeah man.

I'm going to use this place to write essays on a wide-range of topics. There will be commentary on world happenings. Flash fiction and poetry. Interviews with cool bands. Photography. I may ramble on about the Portland Trail Blazers and why they are going to win the NBA championship. If not this year then the next one. For $5 a month you can read the weird shit that fills my head.

This is Those Creatures Jumped The Barricades.