Long Time, No See

So it's been quite a while since I've added a blog post. Honestly, I haven't written anything new since April. This little business and website has been one of my favorite getaways from my full time job and everything else, but then the pandemic hit. I just didn't want to write about it. But not writing about it seemed pretty tone deaf, so I guess I took the easy way out and just didn't write anything at all.  

I felt pretty much the same about Instagram. After George Floyd's death and the rise of Black Lives Matter, not saying something was almost just as bad as saying something negative. I posted for a week or so about some of my favorite Black-owned businesses, smaller homegrown shops like my own, and tried to show some support. 

But then in my Instagram feed I started noticing all of these other businesses like mine just return to business as usual without acknowledging what was going on around them. So many of these businesses had a huge following and could have really tried to raise some awareness and support for BLM and/or coronavirus-related issues, but all I saw were posts about new sweatshirts in the shop or how hard it was for these white privileged girls to buckle their kids in their car seats that morning.  It felt fake and out of touch.

So I kept up with Instagram for a while and it just made me angry. I quit. I logged out of my account and other than checking a couple of messages here and there, I haven't done a whole lot with it. 

We're at a strange place right now in the world. I know everyone is tired of thinking about coronavirus. I am, too. If I hear "when things get back to normal" one more time I'll just lose it. Things aren't going to go back to normal. The world has changed. And as far as racial equality, we need to keep quiet and listen. And lift up their voices whenever we can. 

So what does this have to do with napkins? I'm not entirely sure myself. I felt like I should explain my absence from social media and the website. It felt inauthentic to just jump back in like nothing happened. But I'm listening. I'm learning. And I'm ready to give it another go. 

Carly