#ComeForward: Mel's Still Here

Oh, hello there! What, you thought you'd perhaps heard the last of me? Not a chance...

Fam, it's been a second. And by second I mean...a while. I've been typing out my feels for sparkly pop music on this blog for close to ten years -- never have I taken this long of a break. I've outlined a lot of my frustrations in one of my last posts and honestly, not a ton has changed in my head space.

The main change is that a few weeks after I wrote that post, the United States held a terrible election that inspired ire, outrage, and -- positively -- pure activism. Yes, guilty, I've become one of those social media political outlaws, particularly on Twitter. If you follow me there, #sorrynotsorry. I promise I still listen to pop music -- and #KPOP! -- but for the most part, it's difficult for me to enumerate what feels almost trivial at this point when there's so much more at stake. 

I've bought '#RESIST' memorabilia, I've joined protests and marches at local parks, I've voiced my anger to my Senators and my Congressman (in a case of Murphy's Law -- I moved from one of the most conservative areas of New York State to New York City, where I now have the sole Republican Congressman in the metro area representing my voice in the House of Representatives). I've subscribed to Pod Save America and it both gives me hope and fuels my political ire. These days, so many people can define themselves by whether they're "Red" or "Blue" -- I never saw The Matrix but are we living in it? I'm asking for a friend...

Sure, there have been good days. But in the balance of the pure crazy being shouted into the blackhole void, of New York Times news alerts and passive aggressive and/or deluded Facebook comments, politically it's not great. I mean -- grand scheme here -- I'm a Caucasian, heterosexual person with an income and an apartment, living in one of the most diverse cities in the US, well within the quote-unquote Coastal Elite Bubble. I'm well aware my life could be a whole lot more difficult and I try to check my privilege in that respect every day.

When the anger starts to consume you, you might be asking, what do you do? How do you keep sane? The answer always comes back to this: remember who and what you're most grateful for and blare that dance music real loud.

Music has always been a kind of therapy for me. It just makes me happy. And damn, if we don't all deserve that right now. Right now and every day. 

Here's to a renewed interest in what makes me happy. Thank you for reading -- because if my dorky ramblings lead to someone somewhere falling in love with a cool song or artist, it was worth it.

PS - if you're curious to the meaning of the photo above: the pins represent the promises I'm making to myself in this ugly year that is 2017. Leia, for #Resist; RBG, for the pursuit of justice and integrity rather than angry partisan pettiness for the sake of it; Beyonce, to represent the many layers of music beyond just pop for pop's sake; Michelle Obama, because that quote is a healing mantra. Let us begin...