In high school many of our guy friends were really into the local music scene, and for us back then, the genre was pop-punk, or emo-punk, music influenced by Saves The Day, The Ataris, Taking Back Sunday, and Blink182. So we spent a lot of evenings at weird little venues to watch other local bands play, and some nights, cheering our friends on as they took stage.
Anticipating one of their shows was exciting. The guys would go crazy making flyers and passing them out at school, hanging them on bulletin boards around town, and leaving stacks of them at skate shops and the entrances to these small music venues. These flyers were actually one of my favorite parts of the show. I loved the creative punk lettering, the old school clip-art used, and the crude attempts at making it all come together in word or paint.
At shows I was always happy to take other bands' flyers, and usually made my way over to the front entrance to peruse the upcoming shows and flyer selection. One night, I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon, not a stack of flyers, but a pile of home-made magazine looking things. I picked one up and thumbed through it completely delighted. Someone had designed their own magazine! This someone had written their own articles, drawn their own illustrations, and lettered their own headline! This someone had made copies of all these pages at a copy store somewhere, folded them all, and stapled them down the middle like an actual magazine... and was now distributing them! For free!
I thought it was genius.
Come to find out, this lovely home-made magazine was called a 'zine' (sounds like spleen), and people in the punk scene were making them everywhere. I loved it. I have always loved the idea of creating something interactive to share with others on a community scale, like a comic strip or radio station. Not necessarily because I wanted to be showy or famous, I just liked the connection it might bring. I wrote a paper in high school about how everyone should be required to watch the ten o'clock news every night, along with the 10:30 seinfeld episode. That way everyone would have a reference point to begin a conversation the following day. I just like the idea of creating and connecting with people. The same feeling when I know everyone is reading the same book. I like the community feel.
Which is why I have always been a complete sucker for the online diary and blogging world. I think it's the most wonderful thing. Back in 2003 we all started little diaries in diaryland dot com.... and that era is still one of my favorite internet eras. Everyone posting, leaving funny messages on message boards, learning how to code in HTML, and sharing thoughts and jokes for everyone.
Today my facebook page is inundated with buzzfeed articles and articles that are quickly produced, and written with the only goal of getting you to click over, and then share the article on your own facebook page. I don't consider myself to be an expert writer by any means, but these quickly produced and quickly forgotten articles are slowly dulling my brain.
I fell in love with blogs, and my friends' blogs, because they didn't have an agenda. They weren't trying to sell me anything or get more page views, they were merely sharing something. Just like the girl that gave away the homemade zine at the punk shows... it was something she made and wanted to share. My favorite blogs, my long time favorites, that I have read for years and years without being annoyed, are ones that aren't trying to get a page view out of me (and their entire post shows up in my RSS feed reader), and you can tell they are posting because they simply love to post. These blogs make up a happy online community.
That's what I want this blog to be about.
I want it to be like that zine being distributed for free at a punk show. I don't want to worry about keeping the lazy internet reader interested, by constructing short paragraphs and bullet point lists... just so I can sell you something at the bottom of the article. Nope, here at Girls Pearls and Powder, we are keeping it old school, and hopefully you'll be able to feel how genuine we are and want to keep on reading.
This blog is a guide for the Proper Mountain Woman. A woman who loves the outdoors, conquers her own mountains, is interested in interesting things, and delights in being a proper lady. I love blogs that share interesting articles, links to other blogs, music they are listening to, products they use, along with positive thoughts and stories. And that's pretty much what this blog will be doing. I am a lover of the mountains, snowboarding, and always have the goal of becoming a better person and a more proper lady.... so expect some posts about those things as well.
I'm excited to announce this blog will also feature an etiquette column called Ask Amanda Jane, I love studying etiquette (I know, it doesn't show) and have a stack of etiquette books here on the table beside me... so when my best friend, Amanda, asked if she could start an etiquette column... I was stoked! She's one of the best writers I know, and my number one go-to for advice. Some of the best counsel and wisdom I have received, for big or small life questions, have come from her. Her phone calls always make me happy. So, I hope you enjoy the new etiquette column as much as I do, and decide to write your own etiquette questions in. It's going to be awesome.
Anyways, here's to old fashioned blogging and digital home-made zines! May we continue to share and feel connected!
Love,
Whitney
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