The Travel Vlog to Reality Show Pipeline

This is my own observation, and may or may not be in my own algorithm that I am seeing this, instead of being a wide spread pattern, but it’s strange enough that I’d like to talk about it.

The catalyst for this blog post, has been the extreme swerve in content on Philly and Keely’s vanlife channel since May 2026. I found this channel in November 2025, through a collaboration with The Endless Adventure, and have been watching it consistently until recent. I’ve been a viewer of TEA since 2018. Their content has ebbed and flowed with the pandemic, buying a house, and dealing with grief, yet has remained steadily them even if the format changes for a time to accomodate RV renovations. They are one of the rare ones to do this. Reddit sure has some TEA haters, but the snark is subdued compared to other channels, because in my opinion, their content style is not fueled by drama. They are not everyone’s cuppa and that is okay.

Another channel I used to watch from 2017-2022, Kara and Nate, do try to be everyone’s cup of tea, and it became less interesting to me as time when on, for the sheer uncanny vibes of the videos. It felt plastic. I got bored of the luxury trips and unsubscribed. The last exception to this I would say, is the Way Away, who I think are disqualified from this discussion due to personal reasons that they announced publicly in 2020, following their divorce. They no longer make videos together, yet I believe they would follow a similar trajectory to TEA if they had carried on their channel together.

K&N and TEA are rare outliers to the great scope of what I want to look at though – this trend I am seeing of travel couple channels, that were successful in the late 2010s to early 2020s, who are now bringing some strange energy to the party in the form of questionable video topics, and child endangerment.

To name a few, that have veered into a bizarre reality show space have been Flying the Nest, Kinging it, Samuel and Audrey, Eamon and Bec, Louis and Raya, Philly and Keely (the inspiration for the post) and The Travel Beans (apparently, by P&K’s admission, the reason why they hurredly sought out, having a baby). All of the channels listed above, aside from Samuel and Audrey, have dabbled in vanlife. All but Kinging It are married and have children. But all have shifted their channel focus from travel to family life, in the style of reality television or “lifestyle influencing” as it is rebranded today.

Have you ever watched Teen Mom 2? Or seen those spinoff shows for celebrities like ‘Newlyweds’ featuring Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson? Or the show Donnie Loves Jenny featuring Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy? It’s all about monetizing your life, your relationship, and your family for the drama. The more drama the better! The infamous Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, and Teen Mom 2 are great examples of these reality shows that try to monetize family life, and in doing so, lead kids to grow up with a camera in their face, without a break. They have been born into The Truman Show. Thumbnails seem to grow increasing exaggerated as these channels move towards these reality show videos, and drift away from real life. It’s an interesting phenomenon. These channels once had beautiful thumbnails pointing to the destination, now they manipulate you to click to make sure these strangers are okay. They play on the emotions of the viewers, even using their pregnancies or children as bait.

Why does this part fixate me so? Ruby Franke.

Ruby Franke was a lifestyle vlogger from Utah, that ran a Youtube channel called Eight Passengers who was convicted of aggravated child abuse and is now serving four consecutive sentences of between 1-15 years, determined by the State of Utah Board of Parole. For a deep dive into what happened, I highly recommend watching the Hulu docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke‘ for multiple perspectives, particularly the POV of her oldest daughter. Her story provides an excellent account of what living as a character in your parents’ lucrative income stream does to your relationship with your parents and sense of security.

Now do I believe, any of the travel couples I listed above are going to follow the path of Ruby Franke. No, but the chance is never zero. Already, Flying the Nest has changed their whole channel to center their children and have written childrens’ books featuring their own children. Birthday parties are peak content for them. In a similar but creepier vein, Eamon and Bec, demonstrate no sense of boundaries between life and content. They are endangering their daughter by sharing footage of her that is innappropriate for viewing for anyone. It is sick and wrong, yet they seem willing to cash in on their daughter, after the success of monetizing Bec’s cancer. It’s very disturbing.

Getting back to the start of this discussion – Philly and Keely. They have amassed followers quickly, since coming to the US to travel the states in an RV. P&K focused on National Parks and the western vistas, the hits that put the butts in the seats. On the heels of reaching 100k followers, there was a sharp turn to family vlogging with raw, in my opinion oversharing that turned me off. I seem to be in the minority though, because from what I saw in the comments towards the end of my subscription to their channel, was pure parasocial gold. Their fans are not fans, they are stans, as delusional and voracious as K-pop stans who will fight to the death to get noticed by their idols. It’s bizarre! I’ve never seen such a quick change to a channel’s vibe as I observed with P&K. E&B’s change to family vlogging was a slow burn and was harder to see the change at first, but with P&K, like the Travel Beans, chaos is the currency.

Why does this concern me? Because social media has created accessibility to overshare and gather fame unlike we have seen before. We are no longer in the days of celebrities being the only ones who could cash in on their relationships and kids for more money and more fame. Everyone can, the floodgates are open. I’m not bothered or concerned about consenting adults cashing in on their life and sharing on the internet. I overshare all the time about my life and would like WordPress to pay out someday.

What is different to me is the lack of protection and consent of the children. I think we should be talking about how pervasive this has become in our present day, and speak up for the children who are at risk of being pedophile fodder and their parents paycheck. Child Labor Laws are ignored by society when labor is done for a camera held by your parent. I don’t think that is good for humanity, and I think a lot of kids and families are going to be hurt because of family vlogging. I believe we don’t see the problems because these videos seem relatable, but they could easily be programming for MTV, TLC, Bravo, or VH1. We scoff at the reality stars plastered on those channels, exposing their lives for a buck, and we judge harshly this trashy television. But what if it is just a couple and their van? I think we have blinders on because they are “normal” people just sharing their lives with us, so we feel kinship with them. This bias, from parasocial situations, normalizes this kind of content.

Travel sells. Vanlife sells. But drama sells more. Pregnancy put the butts in the seats, and dollars in your pockets, quickly. We all know the phenomenon. It’s why Trad Wife influencers bring home the bacon. It’s subtle, parasocial, propaganda. This is the reason that the works of fiction, Yesteryear and Tradwife, have been at the center of book discourse in 2026. It is a hot topic for debate.

Is this trend just a fluke? I don’t know. I hope so. I miss the more wholesome days of travel vlogging. I am not saying that people are not allowed to change up their content or life. That is their life and their right to do so. What I am saying is that I don’t like this trend, and I don’t want people on the internet to use their children as a way to grow the channel or bring them engagement. Children deserve privacy. Even before they are born, they deserve to be treated with respect and privacy. Having a family and walking away from the camera is an admirable choice here that puts your health, and your family first – I’m talking to you, Philly and Keely! It’s not too late to change course.

I would like to thank Ashley Viola and Tiffany Ferg, for educating me and so many others about the dangers of para-social relationships and family vlogging. I would recommend checking out their channels for a deeper dive on these topics.

July 13, 2026

Tyra Banks, Gap Happy Stripe, and Project Runway 22

This post is a little bit of a mash up, I guess the connecting thread is Zac Posen, or maturity? I’m not sure. I’ve been mulling over two topics that have been in my head this week. The first is the premiere of Project Runway Season 22, the second, being a knitting “controversy” that I believe is not a controversy at all. So, maybe, the connection is drama fatigue?

The Television Evolution from the 1990’s to the 2020’s

Social media is bad for us, we can agree on that. It compresses nuance, and that is exactly what is happening here. But, in the case of television and the fashion industry, it seems to be brain chemistry altering, to borrow an internet term, and the effects are getting strange. This is far from a comprehensive history, just a quick snippet for context.

Television has gone through several iterations in my lifetime – from the rise of cable, to the golden age of reality TV in the 2000’s, to streaming. In 2005, YouTube transformed who could occupy our attention, shortly following in 2007, the Iphone brought a new screen to our lives. In 2020, Tik Tok became the supreme ruler of culture, with the short-form content revolution. Now, in 2026, streaming platforms of shows and film, are self aware that they are the second or third screen vying for our goldfish-like attention spans. This is bad for business. What are networks supposed to do? I’d say they are letting this short form content culture lead.

Enter Project Runway Season 21 and its new, Tik Tok and YouTube editing style with quick cuts and comedy edits, that are self-aware to a level, that was a bit jarring to me. It was like internet culture was uploaded to an established show of 21 years, in order to modernize it. It did just that, it laid its cards on the table of what producers think a successful television show must have in the mid-2020’s – drama and internet-personas instead of contestants, in my opinion. It’s only gotten worse with the announcement of Season 22.

Why is it so loud here?

It’s noisy. I feel like everything about the show is shouting at me. I tried watching the first episode, and quit after the intro. Instead of letting the viewer sit back and engage with the show, the show demands shock, shade, and a level of seriousness that is simply undermined by how the contestants, presenters, and judges act. They are caricatures of humans. Like Zoolander or The Devil Wears Prada, it’s not an accurate representation of human behavior. The drama has been dialed up to a point of puppetry and theater, which would be fun if it was for say, in the pursuit of comedy like RuPaul’s Drag Race, which I am a fan of. This version of Project Runway is not about the clothing or the craft of sewing. It is for the purpose of creating internet buzz and translating that into streaming numbers. It feels so trite to say that. Project Runway is a business, what I miss is the illusion of the storytelling.

Tim Gunn, Zac Posen, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia brought an industry seriousness to the show that provided context. With the elimination of all but Nina Garcia, and the death knell of losing the spot to show at NYFW, the legitimacy of the show is in shredded. What is all for? Internet fame. Even the challenges were different last year, with sponsorship themes shoe horned into a semblance of “design criteria” and it felt off. For example, the PNC “brilliantly boring” challenge to use boring fabric. There was the Eczema awareness challenge, that should have gone deeper, but instead gave us a concept and then quickly shooed it off screen.

In contrast, I have gained greater appreciation for Drag Race and its the commitment to staying on topic.The causes presented on the show seem genuine and it is refreshing! Like it is all in alignment with worldview.

Lack of Integrity in the Fashion Industry

I think this is because to have a clear worldview in the fashion industry right now, it has to be political, and they don’t want to do that at Disney, and so the political stances are muddled for the sake of saying nothing. Which is a political stance, indifference is infuriating with the amount of clout the show claims to have. This show is fashion “influencing” but make it a reality show.

The worst part of this muddled stance is the inclusion of Tyra Banks. The Netflix documentary from this winter makes sense now, it was a PR project to rebuild Tyra’s image. I grew up with America’s Next Top Model, created by Tyra Banks. I watched ANTM long before Project Runway, and it was a sh*tshow.

She let the cameras roll in Season 2, when a dangerously inebriated contestant, Shandy, experienced SA, and then Tyra had the gall to keep her from the hospital and police, to keep filming. She framed Shandy as an example of cheating, and publicly shamed her for a decade. She pressured contestants, Joanie and Danielle to undergo dangerous dental procedures. Tyra created photoshoots promoting blackface.

She fat shamed and encouraged ED on the show, ignoring the dangers of ED, all while shaming contestants who couldn’t “hide it” well enough. This is just a short list of the problematic behaviors on the ANTM show, a show that preyed on young women of color, and then made a mockery of them, reinforcing racism again and again for profit. I have no interest in watching a show that Tyra Banks is a part of, when she danced around an apologize in her documentary and, in my opinion, did not take any responsibility. Just have integrity, it’s all I ask for. Apologize. Truly make amends and rebuild your reputation through real change. This path is not fooling anyone.

Connecting the Two

Okay, so how are my two topics connected? Well first off, I wish they had brought a quality judge back like Zac Posen, but secondly, I think as much as people are not up in arms enough about Tyra coming back to television, I think the internet is always trying to drum up knitting controversies, that are not that serious.

I was definitely dragged into caring about The Game of Wool, by my corner of the internet, and proceeded to make a bingo card, as my farewell, once I realized I didn’t give a hoot even if this show was a let down. The most recent “controversy” I’ve seen is the Gap Happy Stripe collection for Summer 2026, promoted by the CCO, Zac Posen. The collection is not a knitwear focused throwback, instead it utilizes technology to make something “knitwear” centered. The image of the original knit has been printed on a mesh collection, that I believe has a decently high polyester content, because mesh.

As a fiber artist, if I want a happy stripe inspired piece, I’m just going to recreate it. Done. I don’t need to feel slighted by Gap, or be frustrated that they are not centering knitters with “fake knitwear” as I have seen touted on the internet. Gap is a fast fashion company, the knitwear would be machine knit, and the workers are not being compensated fairly. It’s the fashion industry, its problematic. They make poor choices and they create a ton of pollution. They also favor tech “innovations” so this is not radical, it seems inline with Project Runway to be honest.

I don’t think Zac Posen should “canceled” for this or for us to spam Gap, with anger that knitters have been slighted again. I don’t buy store bought knit anymore. I certainly don’t buy store bought crochet, because its either fake or created with slave labor. I try to buy thoughtfully, make what I can, mend, up cycle, and treat clothing as a permanent object. I think that is the best we can do right now. The problems with the fashion industry are not contained to Gap. It’s world wide. I have no reason to buy a mesh printed garment, so its a moot point for me. Protect your peace, the world is incredibly messy right now, this is a drop in the bucket.

Do you remember the Gap Happy Stripe collection? I don’t. I remember colorful knitwear from the early 2000’s and wearing one from Old Navy or Aeropostale. I’m getting tired of the internet shouting. I’m getting tired of endless knitting drama. I’m quite tired of dumb reboots of shows I liked. Whew, I think it I did it! Thank you, reader, hanging in with me on this random post. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. ❤

July 10, 2026

Only Going to the Coasts or National Parks

What are the biggest mistakes people make when visiting your country?

Before I dive in, I’d like to acknowledge that the United States is a very big place, and it’s not easy to see all 50 states. Most Americans haven’t done that, nor do many of us have the opportunity to visit all the National Parks in our lifetime. There is a lot to explore, but that’s also why I am sharing this, because getting off the beaten path of travel vloggers and notable cities could be the key to making one-of-a-kind memories for yourself as a traveler. I want you to get the most bang for your buck and make some great memories! My hope is to emulate Geography King’s spectacular regional guides, which have helped me learn more about my own country and inspired me to want to explore new destinations.

The Big Two Cities

Now, this could just be the travel vloggers I have been served up on YouTube, or potentially James May being singularly focused on Southern California and New York City as the defining regions of America, but it can create tunnel vision. These destinations, I would say, are highly influential on a world scale, but as defining all of the United States, they are just one topping on the pizza. One character in the film. The rest of the United States is different from these microcosms.

We have a lot of cities to see, each with their own unique flavor. Chicago has amazing views of Lake Michigan, deep-dish pizza, and kayaking in downtown. Cincinnati offers a rich German heritage and skyline chili. Portland is a donut capital and uniquely charming, with stores and hotels unlike anywhere else. Boston has history, walkability, and seafood. Austin has barbecue, music, dance halls, and more. Savannah is a low-country gem, with historic charm and a complex history that holds important lessons from the past.

Many Regions with Endless Variety

The contiguous US has many regions: the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the Rust Belt, the Midwest, Big Sky Country, the Southeast, the Deep South, Appalachia, the Rocky Mountains, and the Northeast. These regional distinctions are a great foot-in-the-door to research places completely unknown. For example, the Southeast and Deep South are known for their swamps, but did you know the Mid-Atlantic, specifically Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, have swampy-marshy low country too? Along with great beaches and seafood, due to their proximity to the Chesapeake Bay! For another example, did you know that natural hot springs are found in central California, Idaho, and also Arkansas and Alaska? What about sand dunes? We have big dunes in North Carolina, Indiana, and New Mexico. There are tons of options for whatever you are looking to explore!

Tour by Food

I believe food is one of the best ways to explore the US. Food tells the story of the people, particularly immigrants, by which the US has been shaped. But did you know, we owe a great deal of our food heritage to black culture and the seeds carried here, by African people who were kidnapped and brought here as slaves? They cultivated the plants and created the dishes, that have become mainstays of Southern cuisine and Soul Food.

Indigenous nations, long before North America was colonized, developed a rich food history that has survived genocide and cultural erosion. Without their contributions food staples such as beans, corn, squash, salmon, venison, etc would not be part of our culinary knowledge.

Thirdly, the contribution of Mexican cuisine is incredibly important to understanding the food landscape of the United States. Without Mexican culture, we do not have tacos, burritos, avocados, tortillas, chiles, salsas, mole, tres leches, agave, etc. Mexican food deserves respect.

In addition, exploring the United States through barbecue, pizza, hotdogs, sandwiches, beer, and hamburgers is a great way to learn about regional lore. Take for example Carolina style barbecue, Detroit style pizza, the Po’boy, the Wisconsin butter burger, Dogfish Head’s Punkin’ Ale, or the Primanti’s sandwich. Go check them out!

Our Third Coast and Great Lakes

What is the Third Coast? It’s the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico that stretches across Eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Western Florida. The Great Lakes sit to the North, along our border with Canada, and comprise five freshwater lakes. Moving from west to east, they are Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. These regions are generally more affordable, less traveled, and offer stunning scenery, seafood, gorgeous beaches, swimming, and sunsets.

We are more than FL, TX, CA, CO, UT

Sure Disney World in Orlando is fun, Texas has Buc-ee’s, California has the redwoods, Colorado the mountains, and Utah has Moab and Zion. These are the big states for tourism, and they are booming, but don’t let FOMO and trends define your travels. These all very pricey, very crowded, except for Texas. Texas is just turned into the charicature, and this can drown out the real culture, for the kitschy cowboy vibes. Just like Montana and Wyoming, are more than just the Yellowstone of streaming. Looking beyond these popular destinations can break your trip out of the hive mind of the post social media landscape.

West Virginia and Kentucky

Don’t sleep on these two stunners. Along with Alabama and Mississippi, West Virginia and Kentucky are the butt of many jokes, even though the people are lovely, the scenery is picturesque, and these communities have been extracted to within an inch of their lives for coal that made a lot of people rich in other states, while making them very poor. Look beyond the hardships and the rough exteriors to see the good hiding underneath. Hiking, cave exploring, bourbon tasting, rafting, pepperoni rolls, and waterfalls are just a few things you can explore.

National Parks and Western Scenery Bias

Because of social media, I believe there is an intense focus on visiting National Parks. The views are incredible, the hiking is pinable, the content is effortless, I get it. These still exist at State Parks, without the extra fees. Trump recently added a fee of 100 USD, per person, for international travelers who visit the 11 most popular parks. Or you can pay 250 USD for a pass, but I think it’s wrong to paywall natural beauty that cannot be owned. NPS staff are also short staffed due to Trump’s DOGE fiasco, so this is plea to give these places a break while we sort out this mess for you and for all of us. Plus then, you don’t have to buy the 250th anniversary pass, with his ugly mug on it.

Take Yourself Out to the Ballgame

Why not go to a baseball game while your here? With 30 professional teams and 120 minor league affiliated teams, there are endless opportunities to take in a baseball game. MLB stadiums boast impressive view of their cities, with great snacks, affordable tickets, and a lovely day outside.

I Beg of You, Skip This City and This State

Please, do not go to Washington D.C. right now. The White House looks like a pile of rubble because of the ballroom build, and the UFC arena being built on the White House lawn. Go another time, when this is all a distant memory. Please skip Hawaii too out of solidarity to the local people of Hawaii, who have been priced out of their homeland by the rich and the land developers. Hawaii was colonized by force for military strategic position, over time Hawaiian culture has been diminished by forced assimilation into white cultural norms, and now overtourism is hurting Hawaiians once again. Let’s give Hawaii a break.

Kindness Still Exists

My final point is to not throw away the United States just because evil is being done by those in power right now. The majority of my fellow citizens are outraged and fighting to stop ICE, the War in Iran, Data Centers, and corruption. There are still good people here, who will welcome you with open arms regardless of where you are from, what you look like, or who you love. You are welcome here. Please come visit and let us share this beautiful scenery with you!

June 11, 2026

I’m Going to Miss Watching Colbert

I was pretty late to the Late Show party, becoming a fan after it was canceled by CBS, for ‘purely financial reasons.’ What a shame that is! I think what we need more of is laughter. Pure, intelligent comedy for the sake of the joke. Not for the algorithm, or to bow down at the altar of tech bros, or the gold Nebuchadnezzar statue of Trump. But to instead frustrate the heck out of these life-draining entities with comedy.

In both my personal life and the greater world around me, the stress level is high. Morale is low. I think we’re all feeling tired by the burden of man doing what is right in his own eyes. But wait, there’s more! Now, the so-called “Christians” are whoring themselves out again, like the Israelites did in the Old Testament, raising up idols for their own gain and neglecting the covenant God made with them. It’s infuriating to be an adult and realize that this story is not a Bible story from the past, but a living example that continues to evolve with the generations, in repetitive cycles of taking God’s name in vain. Being the absolute worst representatives of God’s image, and claiming their actions are blessed by God.

As a kid, I naively thought this was what people from the past did, not us. In our “Christian” nation. I feel so dumb remembering how duped I was by the authority figures around me. As I got older, like we all do, we begin to see the signs of hypocrisy and corruption around us. Nowhere was it more apparent than in the Christian bubbles and institutions I interacted with. I remember my parents and grandparents warning me that the deepest cut would be in these circles. That sinful actions would feel more harmful in these environments, because we expect the believers around us to play by the rules, but we don’t. We treat each other just as badly, and sometimes worse, than the non-believers around us.

Politically, the age of MAGA and the culture wars of the last decade have exacerbated the tension in this dance of Christians being terrible representatives for the gospel, but wonderful representatives for their political parties, and the sin patterns being held onto, instead of being transformed by the sanctification process.

What I have the most irony, as I reflect right now as I write this, is that for my whole life, I have heard that the problem with America is that the church doesn’t preach sin anymore. This is usually targeted at things like unmarried couples living together, promiscuity, homosexuality, and gender expression. But I realize that, yeah, this is one of the problems with America, but not for any of the reasons listed above; instead, racism, bigotry, political idolatry, Nationalism, greed, capitalsim, extraction of the global south, ICE, Fascism, and more recently, worship of Trump, are some of the sins that are not preached about in the majority churches – and these sinful behaviors are running rampant in our world, destroying whole nations like Palestine, Iran, Congo, Sudan, and Lebanon for the sake of these bloodlusts “sanctioned” by people who aren’t being taught by churches that this is sin.

Getting back to the point of this post, all this darkness has felt like a dense fog spreading across all the light and truth, but comedy, by those like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, has cut through the complicit silence. Now we only have one of these shows left, although Trump calls for Kimmel’s job constantly. I’m going to miss Colbert’s voice in the void and hope that he finds a new place to do the same thing – call out the evil and stand for the truth, while making us laugh. The sweet pressure valve release of laughing through things that scare us is essential, I believe, for us to maintain our humanity.

It is a non-violent fight against fascism, an unwillingness to buy the crap they are selling us, and remain focused on what is good and true, when the propaganda tries to drown it out. That’s what is happening here with CBS, a complicit, chicken-sh*t response to pressure from above. What they have chosen to silence is the reminder to be kind, to be unwavering in our beliefs, and to not let the bad around us determine who we will be.

I’m thankful for the time I got to watch Colbert’s show, for the comfort pause to laugh through the ‘Hormuz news you can uz’ segment, in the middle of a war that none of us want but can’t depend on our leaders to stop, while watching our tax dollars be ripped from social programs to bombs and guns. It was like a balm to the soul, a place to reset and breathe, with a laugh. A way to process together. Thank you, Colbert!

In the meantime, what will I do? Watch Jimmy Kimmel. Rock out to the Piedmont Raging Grannies, and laugh my butt off watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.

May 26, 2026

Pivot! An Important Sewing Skill

Okay, as a millennial, I can’t hear the word pivot without thinking of this scene from Friends. But, silliness aside, Ross was correct; you have to pivot and pivot well. The longer I sew, the more agitated I get when I make foolish cutting or measuring mistakes in my garments. Like my shortalls from last year, I tried them on over the weekend because it is feeling warm and springlike here, and I was shocked by how poorly I fit the shorts. The top portion of the shorts fits excellently, but not the shorts. No one wants weird bunching when it comes to shorts, and that was exactly the problem!

At first, I went through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance that no matter how delusional I chose to be, these shortalls are uncomfortable. I would not wear them. This made me feel so many regrets. The pink overalls I drafted completely from scratch, using a special fabric featuring corgis and bread from a Japanese fabric brand called Kokka Fabric, sourced from my local fabric shop, Firecracker Fabrics. The second pair was cobbled together as a challenge of fabric and repurposing. The fabric was 1 yard of 59″ cotton twill from Mood Fabrics, and the pockets were sourced from a pair of shorts in my closet. I refused to scrap these. But what could I do to fix these? With all the patterns at play, adding in a new fabric sounded scary. Cutting these into bags or future quilting projects was throwing in the towel too soon for me.

My solution came to me one night, as I was washing my face; I didn’t have to make a drastic change. I had to address the problem – the way I cut the curve of the pants. I could remove the section that divided the fabric into legs, and transform the shortalls into pinafore dresses with a few cuts and stitches! It was a success! The shorts are now a skirt, by cutting away the curved line and sewing a straight seam on the back and front of the skirt. I also made a quick swap to the back bib of the brown floral pair, adjusting the square bib to the triangle shape of the pink ones. This adjusted the fit of the dress in an excellent way. The purpose of the triangle, I believe, from the fit change on my garment is to eliminate gapping between your shirt and the back bib, so the fit follows the line of your body.

Now, sewing is not the only place to pivot, obviously. Problem-solving is a fundamental part of the creative process. Projects rarely work out the way you want, from knitting to cooking to building a piece of furniture. In this fast fashion, consume and donate, culture poisoning my country’s culture, we are losing the art of problem-solving. This has been exacerbated by the rise of AI and ChatGPT. Why think at all? Why imagine, ponder, or research? Why try if you aren’t going to get “expert” results? That is what the rise of optimization culture is creating: the fear of trying. But you have to try to become an expert. AI is not an expert; it is a thief, stealing the knowledge of humans who have spent years and decades striving to know, unafraid to try and fail. It’s literally the scientific method. So if you are an impressionable person, who is growing up in this current era, don’t give up your creative ability for AI to do it for you. You will lose crucial thinking and creative skills if you don’t exercise your mind and problem-solve on your own. Just do it.

April 15, 2026

Sewing Tips that Changed My Life

I’ve been sewing for five and a half years, and yes, it took me close to that amount of time to learn these helpful tips. The skill of taking a needle and thread to fasten pieces of fabric together is one of the most complex technologies I’ve ever learned, and yeah, some of the more obvious things can go over your head because there is so much to learn. Even with half a decade of sewing experience, I am still a rookie. Here are four things I have learned about sewing recently that have changed my sewing experience from a laborious struggle to a relaxing craft I want to do.

Needles

I knew I needed to change out my sewing machine needle consistently (which I usually forget to do), but did you know you should change out your hand needles often? Nope, I did not. I recently began changing my needles after each large project or after two small projects, and wow, the difference in hand fatigue is mind-blowing! My issue with sewing by hand has been the wear and tear on my hands, particularly some on my finger joints, which felt exhausted after hours of pushing the needle through the fabric – apparently that’s not how it is supposed to be. The needle should glide; cheap needles or needles that are dulled from use will not do this. I feel like a silly goose.

Now that I know and have experienced the difference between fresh needles and started purchasing DMC needles from my local fabric shop, I am sewing more. Most importantly, my hands are happy, my stitches are small and straighter – it’s like night and day. The needle glides into the fabric and through to the other side with minimal pressure, my thread is not getting tangled, and I am sewing with more efficiency. If you sew, go change your needles.

Shear Maintenance

Did you know you should oil and sharpen your fabric shears? I did not. It’s such a simple concept, though. Own thing, use thing, repair thing, use thing more. Repeat. What’s silly is that, in our disposable culture, I thought fabric scissors had a lifespan and had to be replaced once they dulled from wear. But regular maintenance, like a car, keeps them around and working well.

I keep my scissors crisp by cutting aluminum foil from time to time. I oil my shears with a towel, very carefully. Please don’t cut yourself like I did the first time.

Know About Me: Fabric Edition

Kill the doubt, I don’t want it, kill the fear, I don’t want it
Kill the rule, I don’t want it, kill the end, I don’t want it

Let me show you that, show you that, mm-mm
Know about me…

Let me show you that, show you that, mm-mm
Know about me (know about me, that’s that)

– Nmixx, Fe:304 Forward

Researching fabric is important, but when you are first getting started, you feel overwhelmed and like you’ll never be able to cram all this knowledge into your head. There are a lot of fabric types! With two main families – woven and knit that separate into a myriad of options that will make your head spin. But truly, what will make your head spin more is not buying the proper fabric for the project at hand, with one caveat being in the beginning. When you are truly beginning, you just gotta see what is cheap or available because you are going to mess up – don’t use the good or expensive stuff to keep yourself from heartbreak.

I’ve started researching any fabric I am looking at to know if this textile will be applicable for the idea I have in my head, and pivot based on the information I glean. I thought it would be time-consuming, but it’s not. It saves money and fabric from being wasted in the chaos of choosing an incompatible fabric for your garment plan. You don’t want a stretch when you need a structured fabric. When you need opaqueness, a sheer fabric would throw a wrench in your plans. Fabrics, like people, have their own character, attributes, and talents. It’s more of a matchmaking process than just adding to the cart.

Ask a human. Ask a reputable website. Don’t ask ChatGPT. OpenAI is a little busy now with its Department of War contract, but don’t worry, they “promise” not to do mass surveillance or help create automatic weapons.

Hand Posture

I learned this final tip from Abby Cox and Nicole Rudolph during a TikTok Sewing Tutorial Reaction video. Sewing hand posture will determine your sewing experience. Whether you can sew for hours or for half an hour before you need a break. I used to sew with a hand-straining posture that created wrist, hand, and finger discomfort. Pulling the needle to the side, horizontally, reduces strain compared to pulling upward. It uses a light wrist flicking motion. Similarly, holding the fabric to the side with your wrist loosely bent will keep your hands relaxed and reduce hand strain. I have applied this new hand posture to my sewing, and it was a game-changer. I’m not surprised that I was doing it wrong. I am self-taught, but dang, the ability to sew a pair of pants by hand without hand strain was incredible!

I hope these sewing tips help you as much as they helped me. I wish you happy sewing!

March 26, 2026

How I am Preparing to Leave Pinterest, if OpenAI Buys Them

I want to start off by pleading with Pinterest, please don’t work with OpenAI. (I know this is purely a rumor, but even so, I think using the internet to voice opinions is important.) I have been using your platform since 2012, and it is so useful! It has become less useful over time, with the “purely financial” decisions of peppering in a multitude of advertising pins and allowing AI-generated art to invade the platform. Even so, it is still a platform I use and love to escape into for inspiration.

Without Pinterest, creative writing projects like Udal Cuain, knitting colorwork projects, sewing projects, and home decor ideas would have been more difficult to source and may not have been on my radar – ever. I’ve even learned simplified versions of songs to play on the piano before I bought proper books, for free through Pinterest. Now what about fandoms? On really difficult days, my Stray Kids board is filled with memes, SKZ Code, captured moments from lives, silly edits, and STAY inside jokes that would not exist in one place to make me smile.

I don’t want to leave Pinterest at all, but there comes a time when we must make a stand for what is right – if you integrate with OpenAI, as rumors have thrown around, many other like-minded individuals, and I will leave because, as artists, we will not stand for the theft being carried out by generative AI of our work. Art is human. Generative AI is regurgitation. Art is for an audience of many; AI-generated art is for an audience of one. Human-made art has emotion; AI-generated art is the result of algorithmic decisions. AI-generated things are not new; they are not groundbreaking. They are human effort and human creativity scraped by these computers and served up as “new” all while consuming vast amounts of electricity and clean water, for nothing but perceived “innovation” that makes these tech bros wealthier. It gives nothing to humanity; it feeds the greed of the few. Alright, that’s enough of looking into the abyss for me.

How do I plan to make this change if Pinterest is bought by OpenAI?

Crafting Books
Used Books, Magazines, and Catalogs
Respectful Fan Accounts on Instagram
Physical Notebooks
Migrating to Milanote
Blogs and Research
Building a Creative 3rd Place Elsewhere
Creating Your Own Charts
Physical Moodboards
Acknowledging Frustration
Diving into History
Utilizing Libraries

Yes, we’ll be going back to analog inspirations, like going back to the 1990s and 2000s. I’ll be crafting even slower, researching longer, and spending more time digging to learn how to do new techniques like fillet crochet or how to paint using gouache paints, but that’s okay. At least it will be honest inspiration. In time, we will all come back together through a new creative community platform, and it will be a bit of a waste of time. So, Pinterest, put these rumors to bed, please, because when it comes to AI, we artists mean business, and you will be left behind.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk ❤

March 4, 2026

#79 – Craftivism

This is a new term for me, but it is genius. Craftivism is activism through crafting. It is using your art and everyday things to show what you believe and to speak out against injustice. And to use an internet term, this has completely “changed my brain chemistry” to think of using my knitting to say what I believe, just like art.

What made this a tangible thing for me to get started in community was the Welcome Blanket collection at my local yarn shop. Together, sections of knit and crochet squares would be collected and seamed into blankets, like receiving blankets, to welcome immigrants to the United States. With all the ICE-y conditions out there, it’s swimming against the current in a way that aligns with my beliefs and what we are called to do as Christians – love your neighbor and take care of immigrants. Not to worship power, money, and excuse racism like some so-called “Christians” in my country are doing. Seeing my crochet square stitched together with other like minded indivduals’ fiber art was powerful. It reminded me of how we are stronger together and how doing small things, as a community, makes a difference. I also enjoyed reflecting on my own immigrant heritage and sharing my story of how my family came to the US and why immigration is necessary.

As an American who is not Indigenous, every part of my family tree came from somewhere else. Some of my family came from Germany, I believe, in the early 1900s, since my great-grandmother, who was born in 1912 in the US, spoke German as her first language at home. Some of my family from Ireland left County Cork’s farmland during the potato famine to escape certain death from the genocide of starvation by Great Britain. Some of my family from County Armagh immigrated in the late 1800s to the US, went back to Ireland in the early 1900s, and came back again to the US during the Troubles. The rest of my family came from Canada in the 1960s. If we are not members of Indigenous nations, then we are all here because of immigration. To act like immigration is dangerous, un-American, and unwelcome is not American to me. We all came from somewhere else. Let’s love our neighbors and support them in this new chapter of their lives, which came about because of a very difficult decision.

The second opportunity that brought Craftivism back on my radar was the Melt the Ice hat. This hat was used from protest by Norwegians in the 1940s during the Nazi occupation of Norway. Minnesotans, many of whom are descended from Norwegian immigrants, but now are a rich community of immigrants from all over the world, brought the hat pattern back to raise money for the Immigrant Rapid Response fund, which provides assistance for immediate needs – food, rent, etc. This fundraiser raised $650,000 with a $5 pattern during the Melt the Ice MAL in February 2026. If you are not aware of what has been going on in Minneapolis, there has been violence, there has been death, there has been kidnapping, and unlawful occupation of a city by federal forces in the name of corruption and power. Making the hat felt like there was a healthy place to channel my grief and anger over what is happening while bringing community together – Craftivism is powerful.

Have you ever heard of Craftivism? Would you participate in it?

February 25, 2026

Maybe Fiction Isn’t the Best Way to Express the Art?

With a new year comes new goals, like should I get organized and make this the year I return to writing as my full-time focus? I’ve been mulling over this for the past six months. I started watching more book-focused media and picked up physical books again, all in the quest to jump back into fiction writing after a one-time try in 2017 – also known as Udal Cuain. It was the ultimate escape during a time when every part of my life was falling apart, and we were struggling. My family was struggling; it was isolating, but instead, I crafted a world that I could escape into. I couldn’t afford therapy, so I wrote about what was on my mind. And it helped. It felt like a high I had never experienced before, but then it stopped helping. Life got a lot more complicated, but also better, more on track, and I walked away from it. Then I lost the draft for 6 years until I found it last January.

Life has been messy again, and the world feels like it is literally on fire, and I can feel the pull to want a coping mechanism.

This is where our story begins.

As I share often on this blog, I have become a sewist and fiber artist. I began this journey to a career pivot after a layoff in 2020, and it has become my whole world, particularly knitting and crochet. I find the more I dive into the craft of yarn, the more I feel creative release and the ability to tell stories with my stitches. You can even protest with it. I have been a visual artist my whole life, the frequency depending on how many notebooks, pencils, or paints I have access to. It is my first love. So where does writing fit in?

I was always a writer who enjoyed essays. I like writing about something, researching the subject, and I adore historical research. I enjoyed poetry in school, but my affection for literature came much later. Mainly by force, if you want to take AP English, you must read this many books over the summer. I’m still not the most passionate reader, I definitely take breaks between reading sprints, and sometimes I won’t pick up a book for months, because my hands are always busy with a project. This has put my desire to write another novel, a more polished one, in conflict with my life and potentially my calling.

This week, I sat down to brainstorm another round of novel ideas. This is my third or fourth round of this since 2023. Every time, I think of some good options, narrow my list down, start plotting, and hit a wall. My heart is not in it. I don’t see the characters or care to take my time to meet them. I want to get on with it and then analyze the deeper meaning. The other thing that happens regularly is that I freeze, and I think about how the world has changed since 2017 – mainly BookTok.

I don’t read Romantasy, I’m not going to write spice because that’s not my interest. Don’t look to me for trauma or disturbing plot lines; I don’t want to write that. I am white, cis, and straight, so will I offend by not having representation? I also don’t have the proper experience to offer diverse representation. I don’t know what I have to say in a book, like in a bigger picture – I don’t know what the deeper meaning is that I am looking to point to that I couldn’t just write about in an essay or create with visual or fiber art. This is where the title should start making sense. I don’t think worldbuilding and dialogue are my paint and canvas, and I don’t think we spend enough time considering where our gifts are best suited right now because of social media content.

We are so concerned with getting our work plugged into the algorithm, jumping on trends, cross-posting, and getting successful that we aren’t considering if the medium is best for our art. We are trying to fit in, and that’s killing creativity and the editing eye to know that’s not for me. I feel like it is obvious now, since reflecting on why I have writer’s block, but taking the time to look objectively feels so hard to do when we are fighting the AI monster. But it is okay to specialize. It is okay to find your niche and not appeal to everyone. It is better to work within your wheelhouse and say something authentically you and express it in a medium that feels true to yourself than worry about keeping up with others.

Maybe the best thing we can do as creative people is edit and focus on where we feel the most alive. I feel the most alive planning a personal knitting project that features motifs that represent my life and my loves. I love blogging and talking about serious things, not in literary techniques but in societal critique. I spent the day today, sketching and drafting pet portraits, and I am the most relaxed I have been in months. It’s the same high I felt writing Udal Cuain. I didn’t feel that way while brainstorming a novel. I felt nervous. So I don’t think it’s for me anymore.

Have you ever fallen into this trap? How did you find your way out? Thanks for spending time with me today. Until next time. Stay safe out there and know you are loved.

February 24, 2026

Why I Quit the Clique and Cliche of Twenty One Pilots

So it’s 2026, and if you’re online, there is a good chance you have seen the 2026 to 2016 posts. The nostalgia for 2016 is real, even making me look at one of the most volatile years of my life through rose-colored glasses. But even though the 2010s were full of change for me, beginning with my junior year of high school, and ending with 2019, globally leading us into the pandemic. How weird is that? I got my license, my high school diploma, traveled to Europe, graduated from college, got married, moved out, had my first job (more like jobs), tried to have a career, reunited with my dad, met my siblings, moved out of state, wrote a novel, and lost several loved ones in 2016. My family fractured – it was so much personal change! But even so, I miss the optimism of the hipster era. I miss the simplicity of the pre-AI era and the pre-social media domination of our world. We were less logged in, less screen addicted. I’ve been drawn to watching Portlandia again, yearning for a coffee shop to spend the day in while listening to indie music, a simpler time. This week, I’ve found myself walking down memory lane in the form of 2010’s alternative music. Bands I haven’t thought of for a decade – The Joy Formidable, Phantogram, Joywave, Bear Hands, Sir Sly, etc. But one band, I determined in this holiday, into nostalgia I will not listen to again, even though they were a band I loved in the 2010s – Twenty One Pilots.

This is a bit of an oddball post. I haven’t listened to Twenty One Pilots since 2018, but for a three-year stretch, they were my favorite band. I collected merch, CDs, and ate up the lore. The para-social relationship was built on mental health struggles, faith, and being “quirky” felt comfortable. I mean, this was the mid-2010s and the height of the “not like other girls” trope. I relished in the alternative feel of their music, what I now understand to be noise music, and the darkness I felt in my own life craved the outlet to plug into. Josh understood my shyness, and Tyler understood the anxiety and depression I was feeling at the time. It felt safe because they were “Christians” and their music had “biblical references,” but they were also questioning everything and challenging the void. I didn’t see at the time how much un-aliving yourself idealization there was in the nihilistic moments of their music. The more I listened to their music, the more depressed I felt, and that is where I began to wake out of the dream I was walking in. I haven’t seen them or their music the same way since.

I think right now, with all the ways Christianity is being watered down, misused for political manipulation, and trampled upon by religious fundamentalists, I don’t want to listen to a band that is “somewhat Christian” again. That is not an estimation of their music either; that is what I found when I looked at the TOP subreddit today. That sentiment reminded me of what turned me off the most from their music, Tyler’s waffling. Or should I say deconstructing? That was another discussion I found on the subreddit. Now it is only fair to discuss this, with my own struggles out in the open. There were some things that came to light in recent months about someone I know, who is a pastor, which contradict the Bible, and it made me furious. Combine that with the DHS sharing misquoted scripture to claim their racism and violence as a “holy” thing turned me into this character.

What has my spiritual life been like in 2025 and now in 2026? Clinging to who I know God is in the midst of all these evil, power-hungry syncophants. Have I been reading my Bible daily? No, I have been a slacker. Have I been praying consistently? Yes, more than I have been reading my Bible. Have I been avoiding Christian culture? Yes. Where have I found myself gravitating towards? People who are acting out their faith and non-believers acting in ways that mirror what the Bible calls us to do. Never in this muck and mire have I wanted to imagine a world without God. If anything, it has made me crave God’s presence in this world with more frequency. It has to be a real connection. Faith is not a feeling, and it is not something you choose one day and rip apart the next. It calls for trust and for submission to align every part of your life under what you believe in. Faith is telos. Faith does not exist in a vacuum, nor do our relationships. Some days, having faith in good triumphing over evil feels like an extremely radical thing. There is no space for indecision.

Now, Tyler is allowed to feel and think what he wants, as long as he is not hurting anyone. I don’t care. But do I think he is a good example? No. There is an immaturity to his faith. A fence sitting that is only hurting him. As Earl Smooter says in Sweet Home Alabama, “You can’t ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean.” My need for conciseness and clarity is, for sure, part of my neurodivergence. I like it when people communicate directly. Honestly. I prefer the path laid out by another favorite artist.

I give life to my words
(Yeah, I’m doing what I say)
I reach heights from the dirt
(Yeah, I’m doing what I say)
You know I bite the way I bark
(Yeah, I’m doing what I say)
(Doing what I say, doing what I say)

Creed by Stray Kids

Decision matters. Being aligned with what you believe in, in every aspect of your life, which takes being truly honest with yourself, will bring mental peace. Mental peace was something I never personally felt from their music. I could feel the overthinking, tearing at the seams, the complete drifting in the current. It could be dressed up with lore or cringing lyrics, but the identity was never solid. Taking time away from their music gave me such relief. Ironically, my time of being part of the Clique was followed by a period of listening to mostly worship music for a few years before landing in K-pop. I think I personally matured out of the place where the Clique remains, waiting for identity. Where their leader remains. I think it is easier to not confront ourselves than it is, to have these times of personal crossexamination. But I think it’s a poor witness for your faith to never pick a side. How can something so integral to your life, your worldview, be left with unresolved doubt? What a loose end.

Deconstruct with integrity. Affirm your faith with integrity. I’m all in favor of confronting the church for its cowardice over injustice in America. Jesus showed us how. So did his servant Paul. But to leave it as a vague, Blurryface, is immature thinking. Through my research for this post, my searches for a clear answer about Tyler’s faith left me with more questions. Like a politician, it is vague and hard to define. Answers offered were that he can’t put it into words, he is wrestling, still defining, or can’t put it into words. What? More digging led to answers outlining TOP’s music as his way of communicating his search for understanding. To explore doubt by supposing a world without God – well, that’s why I found their music so dark! I am actively shaking my head. Again, there needs to be more maturity in songwriting, creative writing, philosophy – something to explore these themes with more nuance. I am just not impressed. Especially when you contrast Tyler’s exposition of his faith and the world we are living in, to the faith journeys of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In summation, I find the faith and doubt of TOP to be cliché and played out. Go deeper. Tell us what you believe in, like fans have requested, concerning the genocide in Gaza.

Now, TOP fans, this is my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. None of this was written as an attack on you or your favorite group, just my honest reflection on a time of my life where Twenty One Pilots spoke to me. I’d say really the only part of this “lore” I’ve listened to is these four albums – Twenty One Pilots (2009), Vessel (2013), which was my favorite, Blurryface (2015 the album I started with, and Trench (2018), which I disliked so much I sold my concert tickets and donated my merch. You, Clique, have popularity on your side. I know I am in the minority, but I’m also in the minority of thinking Taylor Swift is a terrible songwriter, and that hasn’t stopped me.

What kind of music did you enjoy in the 2010s? Has your music taste changed? Thanks for spending time with me today, dear reader. Until next time ❤

January 22, 2026