Comitting to sharing other's blog posts on my blog to further encourage the blogging ourorborus

Photo unrelated, I just like having photos on my blog posts. His name is Mastodon, by the way

I've been using Bubbles a lot lately in lieu of garden-variety doomscrolling and it has been such a fucking boon; it's a sort of rss aggregator that's hooked up to a bunch of different blog platforms (Bear included); they can explain it better than I can but it means that instead of opening a bluesky or mastodon (note: I still regularly use Website League and you should too) and seeing microblog posts, I see links to full blog posts sorted by post date, or topic, or if you really want, popularity.

When Cohost was shutting down in late 2024 (DAYS SINCE COHOST MENTIONED ON THIS BLOG: 100 I THINK??) there was this renewed 'hey we should all blog!!' spirit and I went full sicko mode on it but I'm sad to say that most of the feeds I put into my RSS reader at that time are not really active anymore. I get why, blogging can be hard!

So Bubbles was a blessing in a few ways, most notably - more blogs to read and add to my own RSS feeds.

Junited is a simple concept; bloggers sharing other blogger's posts.

I think there's a part of me that still clings to the 'if I have someone else's work to share, I'll share it on social media rather than here' that I'm trying to break, and goddamn is this a good incentive.

SO

Here are some blog posts I've read recently that have resonated with me or that I've wanted to share but wasn't sure exactly what format with which to do so. Sometimes all you need is the right kick.

1. Michelle Miller's art journey - a super rad look into her year's worth of learning to draw (mildly nsfw with nude figure drawings)
2. Renkon's adventures with a new venus fly trap - I have tried so many times in my life to care for these plants and this blog post inspired me to give it a fresh go
3. Laura Michet's visit to an 'Earthship' in New Mexico' - Incredibly inspiring living; like Laura, I'd never heard of 'Earthships' before and this was fascinating
4. Obsidian Moonshine's 'The temporal friction of enjoying things' - Iro knocks it out of the park about experiencing a work as a fan 'after its time' and the way discussions of beloved works are often gatekept
5. No Escape's review of Mixtape - Kaile is one of my favorite media critics working today and god does this review nail everything I felt weird about when checking out the game Mixtape.
6. A collection of 1976 concert posters - This was my first experience with Hardly Baked 2's blog and I RSS'd so fast
7. A blog post about a 19th century wooden door - Instantly sold. I live in a house from the 1920's that's full of doors that look just like this and it brought me joy
8. Remembering the art of Peet Lum - It's always cool on bubbles when you're served a blog post of someone you know IRL; Doc Pop did a beautiful piece on a prolific San Francisco street artist who passed away almost 20 years ago and (as is his style) included lots of photos
9. The decline of the golden age of video games - Filip Hráček does a deep dive into the many "golden eras" of gaming. Great read
10. An in-depth essay on the song Aquatic Ambience from Donkey Kong Country - Filed under 'things you never knew you couldn't live without'

I'm limiting myself to ten for this first Junited post but I think regularly I want to get in the habit of "hey here's a cool blog post I read" with a few thoughts here instead of just linking it on bluesky or Webleague.

Anyway, thanks for reading; I'll be back tomorrow with more daily pokemon drawings.

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