Hello friends. Welcome to Antagolist! I originally wrote “Welcome to my Newsletter”, as this medium is now called, but I’m not sure I’m into that word. Similarly, I wasn’t that much into a word blog. In fact, I hated it. I once ran into a sentence by Kelly Oxford, saying: “All of the good work I was reading and writing felt diminished by that idiotic word.”
I invest weeks, sometimes even months of research into the pieces I publish. Editing, finding adequate featured images, visuals and fonts for social media shareables take another couple of days. I wrote a frightening number of pieces with little or no sleep. I often feel my body shake from deprivation, trying to get those few last sentences out of me, like a half-dead person trying to scrawl across the finish line.
Forget about how many times I stayed in, missing out on life so I could construct and lay out a subject I’d write about in my head. Solitude is crucial in those moments of birthing an article; I couldn’t risk getting distracted by people talking to me, putting words in my head, and clustering my words.
The word Blog was not cutting it, given all the effort I was putting in. It was never reciprocal to the amount of mental, and physical pain that preceded a published piece.
A newsletter is much better.
Although, I don’t love it. It might grow on me. Give me time. In the meantime, I don’t want to call it anything but Antagolist.
Why am I here?
I have been writing about popular culture, society, identity, relationships, as well as politics when I get really angry at the world; I’m ready for the next level. I reached a point, self-confidence mostly, to tackle deeper, thought-provoking stories. Uncomfortable, and hopefully sometimes funny, stories.
Also, Substack feels nice. I get warm and fuzzy, being here. It feels friendly. Kind. Like a cup of hot chocolate will hand itself to me through the screen.
I can unpack here.
I want to hold myself accountable here at Antagolist. Join me for the joys, uncomfortable truths, satisfying lies, and everything in between.
Welcome!
I hope you’ll kick off your shoes, get comfortable, and stay awhile.
Excited!!