I enjoy trying new drinks at social events with my family and friends. As something slight for me to do the weekend after my birthday at the last minute, attending a wine festival fills the void I have to go outside with “my ass ratchet friends” when needed. I went to the 2ndAnnualReisterstown Beer and Wine Festival with my sister to fill that need to leave my house after being inside most of 2023 with an infant. The event’s crowd was good, and with a purchased unlimited taste testers ticket, I felt good amidst the crowd.
There were a total of 8 to 10 vendor booths for wine connoisseurs to venture into. I’m highlighting two that were my favorite to visit. But overall, it was a good amount of vendors to spend a good Saturday afternoon getting tipsy.
Tipsy Teacher
Tipsy Teacher is a group of teachers who love wine and created a brand to help provide resources for teachers in need. Proceeds from purchases of wines from anything in their collection went to buying supplies for classrooms.
Misfit Winery Coconut Wine
Misfit Winery is a company a person who frequently attends festivals in Maryland might see often as a vendor. They’re a famous winery that I found packs their event calendar on their site with dates of where their wine is featured. I enjoyed their Coconut Wine. I decided to purchase this one to take home.
Overall my experience could have been longer. We spent 2 and half hours at a wine festival, and I thought we’d be there a little longer. I just didn’t feel the need to continue visiting the same 10 booths after I did a round of seconds. Maybe there were so few selections of spirits because this was only their 2nd annual beer and wine festival. But the lack of variety caused us to make our exit early.
Don’t get me wrong. There are many Beer and Wine Festivals for people to attend throughout Maryland. Baltimore recently hosted its first Wine Village in the middle of the Inner Harbor. I also attended The Secret Garden Weekend Wine Fest in Westminster, MD. It’s just that my experience warranted me to say we need more because this one, in particular, wasn’t too great.
Watch We Need More Wine Festivals in Baltimore via Doc’s Castle Media YouTube Channel.
The Doc’s Castle Media Halloween 2021 costume is a spinoff from a previous costume from 2019 when I wanted to be “triggered” for Halloween. So it’s considered part two. It’s what happens after a group of people take heed to a “triggered” person’s opinion and make it into a fact; the reaction. After someone is triggered, things get canceled.
I am Cancel Culture for Halloween 2021. It does feel a little redundant to do this again, but this year I decided to make my costume an interactive experience. Take the fake gun out of the picture, decorate my black shirt with a few quotes from a few canceled celebrities, and BOOM! I’m now an interactive game for people to play at my best friend’s Halloween game night.
I didn’t know what to do this year. Unlike previous years where there is a common theme that occurs in pop culture that’s easy to point out as a potential idea, this year was tough coming up with a costume. I don’t know whether it’s because Donald Trump isn’t president anymore, so the news seems quieter than the last 4 years he was in office, or if it’s just slow because the world is still coping with living in a Covid-19 era. News and current events in pop culture are a little dull. So it took some time to get the ideas flowing.
Cancel Culture is Alive and Thriving
There’s nothing that stood out more than the continued and non-stop outrage that people have on Twitter. It’s recurring and well alive online. People get angry over everything and anything. Everyone has a platform to share their anger. Those people who have an influence on these sites have more power than we think. Online angry mobs form having the say-so in killing multiple people’s careers. What once felt like it started with just the #MeToo movement is now a show stopper for everything wrong in society. Cancel Culture sweeps in sabotaging many people’s lives. We’re just living here like it’s okay.
It concerns me to think we’re living in a society that is sensitive to hearing opinions. How can we learn to live in a world where people think it’s better to cut ties with someone because their opinions differ, rather than to learn to accept to disagree and live peacefully and respectfully amongst each other? It’s now where someone could even cancel themselves if they aren’t too careful with the things they say or have said in the past.
There are many cases where celebrities can make comebacks from being canceled. Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, and the list grows with every celebrity who powers through. Therefore it is possible to make it out of the storm of online shaming.
My Cancel Culture costume took part in highlighting 7 celebrities who are still canceled in 2021. I wrote the actions and quotes of these celebrities that caused them to be canceled on note cards and stuck them to my shirt to turn my costume into an interactive game for a Halloween Game Night.
Gamers capable of guessing who the quotes of these canceled celebrities belonged won candy because, of course, it’s Halloween night.
7 Celebrities and the Quotes that Got Them Cancelled in 2021
The 5th Annual CM Ball Music Festival was cut short after the owner of CM.Pops Ky McCoy’s mistreatment towards Saxophonist Rachel Winder post her scheduled Saturday night performance at the culture festival. Days later, a social media protest emerges bringing awareness to allegations of fraudulent practices and misogynistic abusive behavior against female performers of the festival. Spoken word poet Maya Camille and artist Amorous Ebony support artists in a Cash App campaign to pay performers not compensated for their participation in the event.
Just short of a week following the blow-up of the Stardust Music Festival, Baltimore women speak out about abuse in the Baltimore arts community at another music festival held during Labor Day weekend. Allegations of fraudulent business practices by McCoy emerge on social media days after artists flock to social media with feedback of the culture festival. Maya Camille, the activist, and representative for Rachel Winder published a series of tweets outing abusive and dismissive business practices with the event’s promoter.
The CM.Ball, as stated on the website, is “an annual celebration of Baltimore creators and entrepreneurs presented by food startup cm.pops.” It’s a complete DIY community-based art project in its 5th year taking a stance to educate on health, environmental, and social issues while stimulating the economy of small businesses and artists. A few Baltimore artists to perform at the CM.Ball in previous years is Blaqstarr, Kotic Couture, Ducky Dynamo, Baby Kahlo, Miss Kam, and many more Baltimore-based talent.
Maya calls Ky McCoy out to be a con via her Twitter. “CM Ball is a scam. Ky doesn’t pay artists. He is a disrespectful, unprofessional, who uses the iota of clout he has to scam artists,” she shares in her first tweet about business handlings with McCoy. She tweets nine days after Rachel Winder and numerous other artists were not paid for their performances. Maya also shares that McCoy blocked her and Winder as followers from the CM.Ball Instagram account when contacted about payment. She further explains on her Instagram McCoy’s belligerent behavior during the event.
Ray Winder retweets Maya saying McCoy is “a true scammer and doesn’t know how to treat artists.” She follows up in another tweet a picture of McCoy. “This dude is a heartless and Spineless scammer. He’s blocked by several other artists. But He doesn’t know it’s not that simple.”
In case y’all don’t know who I’m referring to when I’m talking about @cmpopsUSA and Ky! This dude is a heartless and Spineess scammer. He’s blocked and several other artists . But He doesn’t know it’s not that simple lol pic.twitter.com/ZITJZj24rw
Maya and Winder’s disclosure of a scam artist sparked a wave of concerns from other performers that weekend. Some artists share their personal reviews via their social media accounts. Cash Liss, the founder of Tortilla Gurl, a small black Baltimore artist collective devoted to covering local artists in Baltimore’s arts scene, published a text conversation with McCoy to her Instagram Story. The conversation was a response after contacting McCoy about her payment. The conversation was later shared on singer and producer :3ION’s Twitter account.
THIS IS CM POP RESPONSE TO LISS AFTER SHE ASKED FOR HER MONEY.. (I got this from her ig story) pic.twitter.com/kJzNIK3SOl
This public mishandling led to a “Cash App Roll Call” for artists not compensated for working the CM.Ball Music Festival. Maya led the campaign to raise money for Winder. A number of artistswent to action sharing each other’s social media handles in support of the profit they lost. Cash Liss gave thanks to the artists who supported her in her hesitation to share her personal account with McCoy.
Say Her Name Coalition is a foundation that prides itself in “continuing the work of affirming, empowering, uplifting and fighting for the visibility and livelihood of Black women and femmes.” As stated on their website, “they seek to smash respectability politics, patriarchal and white supremacy systems, misogynoir.” When Amorous Ebony, activist, and founder of Say Her Name Coalition, caught wind of the debate between Cash Liss and McCoy, she expressed with us in an email, she personally reached out to Cash Liss to donate payment towards her performance “after seeing the disgusting texts.”
We contacted McCoy for comments about the social media protest, and when or whether artists will receive payment from CM.Ball. Doc’s Castle Media is yet to receive a response.
How To Support Black Women and Femmes in Baltimore Community
We wondered if there would be future efforts to raise money for helping artists impacted in situations like this. Ebony shares with us she’s “open with connecting and organizing to support them with a separate fund.” There currently are no campaigns with the organization specifically for artists impacted by this incident. In the meantime, the Say Her Name Coalition is a great place to start if you’re looking to support Black women and femmes facing similar challenges. It is their mission is to end violence against Black women and femmes within this city!
Labor Day weekend Basement Rap Artist Butch Dawson celebrated the release of the album Stardust. The Stardust Music Festival took place at the YNot Lot. However, the celebration was short-lived as protesters put a halt to the event speaking out against Karlos Locke, alleged sexual abuser of 20 women within the Baltimore arts community.
A video surfaced on Twitter and retweeted over 120 times, of performers demanding protestors leave the music festival for the disturbance. Protestors are seen in the video holding a white sign with red lettering that says “1 Man + 20 Victims.” Protestors called to bring awareness to sexual assault in the Baltimore arts community. Karlos Locke, former manager for Butch Dawson and numerous other artists under the Basement Rap label, is the alleged rapist in over 20 Baltimore women accusations.
guns being shown signs being ripped encouragement from the artist on the mic to insight more violence towards the peaceful protesters 1 man 20 + victims this needs to end now pic.twitter.com/b0GvB5HiQg
Numerous other videos surfaced on social media displaying disorderly conduct and commotion amongst the crowd. In one video, Butch Dawson is seen provoking violence towards demonstrators saying “I ain’t got nothing to do with no motherfucking rape….Y’all doing all this performative stupid ass bullshit…. If y’all don’t want to support me, don’t support me. Anybody say something negative, pop one of these motherfucker, yo.” A supporter of the protests yells “stop gaslighting,” as a response. Another video raised concerns of safety as one individual on the stage was seen flashing a weapon towards the crowd. The event ended early due to the disruption.
Butch Dawson also released a statement further apologizing for how he handled events that occurred that evening, disassociating his affiliation with Karlos Locke and the CMND Group, and apologizing to all the women in his life. He, later in the week, deleted the video along with remaining photos on his Instagram page.
Source: Butch Dawson’s Instagram
DMV Artists affiliated with the free festival apologize for the position they played during the protest. Miss Kam and Detranada published video apologies to their social media channels while artist Kelow Latesha and numerous other performers personally reached out to supporters of the event regarding how they responded to the protest during the show. Journalist and creator of A Ride Down 95 Kosso is spotted in a video shoving one of the protestors on stage. He also released an apology video. Later in the week, he deleted the video from his Instagram profile.
Source: comment under a supporter’s Instagram post.
Baltimore Curators Speaking Against Sexual Assault in Baltimore
Following the commotion, at the Ynot Lot Saturday evening, event curators and small businesses in Baltimore Station North Arts District postponed shows and made public stances on their social media accounts to stand in solidarity with those silenced and to find solutions that’ll resolve conflicts inflicted upon underrepresented communities.
Mia is the co-founder of Invisible Majority, a “Baltimore-based creative community incubator providing space, services, and support to Baltimore’s independent creative business community.” She often shares her opinions via her social media channels. In her video shared on her business Instagram profile, she shares her support with those who were silenced at the Stardust event. Mia talks about supporting the women in the movement brave enough to stand against sexual abuse, the importance of holding people accountable when wrong is being done, and why this is such a vital time to ensure that we stop injustices brewing in the art scene.
City Beach, a group of artists and event curators known for the Pretty Beach and Heathen Beach Drag Shows, postponed the Strange Family Variety Show to use as a time of reflection. Curators will use the time to send surveys to supporters in the Baltimore Arts community for feedback in order “to hold themselves accountable as event curators, space holders, and humans in this city to ensure that moving forward [they] can be a safe and secure space for everyone to feel heard and welcomed.”
PreviousDoc’s Thumbs Up feature Kotic Couture publicly announced their break, as well, deciding to pause performances and withdraw from the majority of their upcoming bookings.
How unfortunate it is to write about a #MeToo moment in my very own neck of the woods. It’s unfortunate, but not surprising because the majority of women face sexual assault, especially in the professional environment. There’s no exception to the Baltimore arts community. There is no right or wrong way, or time, for exploiting intolerable and inappropriate behavior such as sexual abuse. Silencing someone’s choice to speak out against it does more detriment to an individual’s mental health than finding a resolution. Seeing the protestors brutally treated as if their words are falling on deaf ears is an outrage!
As a woman myself, I can speak as a victim of sexual abuse throughout my working career. I stand with the women silenced during the Stardust Music Festival. I understand that I have a platform I can bring awareness to this injustice that these 20 victims and many other women face. This is why I chose to document the demonstration using Doc’s Castle Media. It’s important that women, AND MEN, speak up and use available resources to spread the word about sexual assault to stop biases and corruption within the arts community.
I am not associated with the protest that took place during Stardust, but I am a listening ear to those ignored. Sexual assault is unacceptable. It is intolerable. All in all, abusers must be held accountable.
What do you think? How can we make sure that the Baltimore Arts Community has the resources for victims of sexual abuse? Leave your thoughts below.
Kotic Couture celebrates their one-year anniversary of the official music video for Pink Durag ft. 310N this August 2021. And I can’t help to wonder if they meant to release the video for Pink Durag weeks prior to Durag History Week. Today I share in its glory by making the Pink Durag featuring 310N official music video the latest Doc’s Thumbs Up feature on Doc’s Castle Media.
Kotic and I go way back to 2016 working for Baltimore pop hits radio station Today’s 101.9 as promotion assistants. Thank God we’ve evolved from those humble beginnings. I always loved Kotic’s straightforward tell-it-how-it-is attitude. So when they told me who they really are outside of working at the station, I kept following them closely on all their social media so I can watch their musical journey.
Kotic makes waves in Baltimore like no other. From appearing in the Netflix documentary Dark City Beneath the Beat, DJing, and opening up for other musical artists in Baltimore, to hosting parties at arts and entertainment venue Crown in Baltimore, Couture alerts are from every direction in the DMV and tri-state area. Obviously, the couture is juicy because the Kotic buzz has been busy for a while now. They also appeared in Spotify’s DMV Ripple Effect Playlist as a feature on Miss Kam’s FTCU along with Ddm. Finally, as of recently, they’re traveling more booking gigs across the east coast from New York City to even DJing in the PBNJ Block Party club music tour on August 28th in New Jersey. Like, is this Kotic giving us all that they got? …because gah!
Kotic Couture Pink Durag ft. 310N Official Music Video
Pink Durag is the Doc’s Thumbs Up feature because it’s long overdue. The video premiered last August while I was still learning how to build this website. Now, I remember while Kotic celebrates its one-year release via Instagram. I’ll say this post is better late than never because they deserve all the recognition they can get with this one.
In honor of #DuragHistoryWeek, Kotic Couture is here with it. Though there isn’t a durag insight in this video, the message is as strong as its staple in the black community. Kotic shares with us via email the idea came during the pandemic after watching, what felt like consecutive, fatal killings as a result of police brutality. “The deaths of George Floyd, but specifically Breonna Taylor and Oluwatoyin Salau, left such an impression on me. I was tired of screaming on the Internet. I literally had to tell myself to calm down so I started working on music.” Out of frustration, the song was born.
The production and visuals of the video are fire, but the overall message is what should take you away. Breaking barriers from what society pictures as the norm is what makes Kotic one of my favorites in Baltimore’s art scene. They can really put on a show defying the odds and truly showing who they’ll be. But listen closely to the spoken word closing out the video.
Kotic narrows our attention on Oluwatoyin Salu, a 19-year-old BLM activist who was murdered days after protesting for George Floyd in Tallahassee, FL. Her murder highlighted the notion that despite being the backbones of communities and large movements, Black women still face a high risk of facing a violent end. I love that Kotic took a moment to bring this message to the forefront. It is what truly should be on our minds in her case. The music video defies stereotypes, sure. This breeds a fire 🔥 reaction in itself. But Kotic is also spitting a message American’s need to hear.
The sound and video are a bit different from the usual fast tempo or club banger from Kotic. “The last time people saw a visual from me it was loud and colorful,” Kotic shares. Pink Durag is quite different which shows, early, them to be versatile through maneuvering genres. With this skill, we can expect them to work with numerous different artists in the future. Wow, oh wow, at what we get coming from little ole Baltimore, hmm?
Durag History
Over the course of a decade, summertime is designated as an hour for black people to ride the Durag wave. In September 2014, Durag History Week was declared by Van R. Newick II in a thread of memes via a tweet and Black Twitter went wild. Black people started to come together yearly in honor of celebrating durag history by sharing their favorite durag memes on social media. A few years later, visual artist and activist Dammit Wesley initiated the 1st annual Durag Festival in Charlotte, NC to showcase its history and dismiss the stereotypes associated with black hair and black culture. Just this year on Juneteenth, black folks in NC celebrated its 3rd annual durag celebration, and on July 25th the residents of Milwaukee saw their 1st durag festival. What’s to say that these durag traditions won’t evolve and carry on to more cities and states.
I wondered if there was any relation to releasing Pink Durag the time black people love cherishing durags so much. Actually, Kotic told me the durag didn’t have any influence on the song at all. “I definitely didn’t wear a Durag on purpose. I never want to be too predictable or cheesy and the song had nothing to do with Durags, that’s just the metaphor for things sitting on your mind, so I didn’t think that being in the video needed to be represented.” I guess I’ll scratch the idea of Kotic touring in Charlotte and Milwaukee offering to perform Pink Durag for next year’s festival is officially off the table.
What do you think? Do you like the video? Share your comments below.
I created a bucket list in the wee hours of Doc’s Castle Media, in 2013, with the hopes of completing everything that’s on it before I die. Participating in a fashion show, recording a rap song, and releasing a mixtape are just a few things I can mark complete from my Bucket Lists. Now it’s nearly a decade later, and it’s time to revisit my bucket list from 2013 to see if I somehow continued to scratch things without staying on top of it all of these years.
At the time, I made a bucket list to keep myself busy while searching for a gateway to my career. It’s funny how that was so unnecessary to do because life has a way of making you busy with all its crazy twists and turns. With that said, I kind of forgot about my list until it started trending on Doc’s Castle Media this summer. I guess viewers suddenly have an interest in what aspirations I made for myself 8 years ago. Nevertheless, I am revisiting my list to see what I completed without the thought of conquering my list even being on my mind.
In the last decade, I learned that creating lists helps me feel fulfilled. They’re made to give me purpose. I don’t need reasons to do things, but it’s better when I set goals for myself that grant direction whenever I hit a period in my life I feel I am “stuck.” As a mental health practice, conquering bucket lists and creating vision boards gives me reasons to live.
Doc’s 2020 Vision Board
By all means, please don’t confuse it with the vision boards I share online each year, my bucket list is of tasks to complete before I die. There’s no deadline for any of what I want to achieve on this prior to that. In fact, this particular list of goals is full of things that I think are cool saying I can complete throughout my lifetime.
Doc’s 2021 Revised Bucket List:
After living my life these few years, I find that a list of only 12 aspirations is not enough. I want to do so much more. Furthermore, I realize as I age, I should dream of more ideas for my bucket list because every time I complete a task, it feels so amazing. It’s a feeling that should be frozen in time.
Below is my revised bucket list 9 years after it initially appeared on Doc’s Castle Media. The things crossed out represent what’s completed.
Be an audience member in a live show taping (Preferably Ellen)
Write and Publish a Book
Complete SEO/Marketing Certification
Turn my house into my art museum
Own a personal library in my home
Will I revisit this list again in the next decade? Why not? Tracking and revisiting whether I completed any goal is cool. What’s surprising is having the support from my readers reminding me to always come back to it.
Spotify’s Frequency Playlist highlights the music of artists from the DC, Maryland, and Virginia regions. Some of the DMV’s well-known hip-hop artists Rico Nasty, Pusha T, and Ari Lennox come together on Spotify’s Frequency Sunday Dinner podcast to discuss the Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist. I had the time to listen in and wanted to further give a Doc’s Thumbs Up to the artists in the DMV who made this dope hip-hop playlist. So I list five artists to listen to on Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist who do not live in Baltimore city.
The DMV is finally getting its well-deserved flowers from major folks in the music industry. I always knew our region had a spark about it. Too many of my talented friends were going unnoticed in the last decade. But I believe major industry folks are seeing how DMV artists are able to hold their own without traditional media backing. In the new area of social media, everyone has a platform and most of these artists have a loyal following that they work hard for.
Spotify’s Frequency consists of 4 playlists that were ”created in response to a climate in which Black voices in music, fashion, business, and more continue to be left out of the narrative, their contributions left underappreciated and underrepresented.” The Ripple Effect playlists’ mission is to uplift artists who are unknown, unsigned, and from underserved genres. So this playlist was specifically tailored to serve our people!
As savvy underground listeners, we have uplifted these artists through online streaming services. We added their songs to our playlists on services like Spotify and YouTube Music. Supporters followed their Soundclouds. Fans attended their local shows. I’m so proud to see Spotify highlighting dope artists from the DMV, and it’s because of the buzz that’s created by supporters of these talented individuals. It’s a great thing to see, especially coming from where we come from. When we work hard, we elevate to new levels. Some of the Baltimore artists to make the lists, I watched constantly at work for years. Now they’re getting recognition past the borders of the city.
I woke up to expressive Instagram posts from Baltimore artist and last month’s Doc’s Thumb’s Up feature Miss Kam and Baltimore MC Deetranada excited about being featured on Spotify’s Frequency Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist. Rico Nasty also gave shoutouts on The Frequency Sunday Dinner podcast released on July 29th to Miss Kam and Baby Kahlo. Such awesome talent emerging from the DMV area. Other Baltimore artists to grace the ears of listeners of the playlist are DDm, Kotic Couture, CalvoMusic, YG Teck, Ernest Third, and Mighty Mark.
Artists of Baltimore definitely get the top pick of the litter here on Doc’s Castle Media when it comes to highlighting talent. It’s because of my Bmore pride, I want to give my hometown its well-deserved recognition. There’s over 40% of our views coming from Baltimore readers. So I give people what they’re used to seeing and what they like to see represented in the city. But today, I decided to check out a few more artists from The Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist because everyone on it deserves a good listen.
I’m pointing out five artists whose songs feature on the Ripple Effect playlist that I heard for the first time thanks to Spotify. Take note of these artists’ names and tracks as we may hear more from them in the years to come.
Five artists to listen to in the Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist who don’t live in Baltimore:
Soul Belongs 2 U is a cool love song by Dreamcastmoe that puts you in a new atmosphere. It might sound a little creepy, but I can Digg it. Just think of speaking to the love of your life than telling them that their soul is now yours. That’s the type of effect I want on my man. “You’re mine,” said like Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat. Yeeeeeeeah, that’s the vibe I got when I heard it. Haha! Dreamcastmoe got a dope song there.
Broken reminds me of songs by Juice World and what’s funny is in Leeto’s YouTube bio, it’s said that’s who he grasps musical inspiration from. He’s only 16 years old and I can already pick up on musical influences in his tracks. That’s a skill that many artists at that age aren’t able to hown. Good job! You’ve got my attention, young grasshopper.
Let’s add some girl power to this list. Charizard made the Ripple Effect Playlist and it came on with a punch. Let me tell you I did not put this list on any particular shuffle so I wasn’t expecting Charizard to come on after hearing IDK and Young Thug’s PradadaBang. This is something fast-paced that I’ll consider adding to my workout playlist while I’m getting this Thirsty 30 Body right. Kelow is also one of the two female rap artists to make the playlist that does not live in Baltimore. Rico Nasty is the other.
It’s very rare that I find an r&b/hip-hop artist that I like. So it feels good to come across Heavy Heart on the playlist. It gives off an R&B/alternative kind of vibe. Very calming to my ear after hearing so much rap at the start of the playlist. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not the entire list. Shaolinn is one of those soothing voices to subscribe to because we aren’t all hard here in the DMV area. There are some dope vocalists here, too.
Shy Lennox is another smooth-sounding alternative R&B artist coming with his song Poolside. He’s an actual vocalist who studied vocal performance at Virginia Commonwealth University. But his song Poolside projects for me “audiovisuals,” similar to if I closed my eyes and started seeing what is being sung vibrantly. It’s relaxing.
There are 58 tracks on the Ripple Effect: DMV Playlist. Nearly three hours of original content from unsign and unheard-of talent from the Washington metropolitan area. These five artists shared today are only a snippet of the full list.
Thank you to the many Pen Pal friends I met in early 2021 from across the world. Today is the day I’m sharing more “free game” for inquiring minds who want to know about what I do. How to Start A Blog as a Hobby is easy. So I narrowed it down to six essential steps for helping someone figure out the basics of creating a blog.
Slowly is a geosocial networking app and Pen Pal generator. It’s an app for “people who yearn for meaningful conversations in the era of instant messaging.” Users send letters, photos, and audio clips to their matches based on language & commonly interesting topics. What makes Slowly authentic to the Pen Pal theme is the time taken by a message to be delivered. Messages deliver depending on the distance between the sender and the recipient. So if someone who lives in Baltimore, MD expects a letter from Egypt, they’d prepare to receive it within 26 hours.
I made over 25 pen pals from around the globe using Slowly. But I remain connected to a core group of 5 people from Ghana, Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Egypt. I downloaded Slowly to meet new people from other countries and gain personal pandemic survival stories from people during Covid. I intentionally sought for the differences and similarities of how we all cope with implementing social distancing into our daily lives. See, I’m interested in how others handle living in a global shutdown. All in all, we were doing fine.
Slowly App Logo
Turns out, everyone’s finding new things to learn and hobbies to take on to keep ourselves busy. While getting to know these people, I learned about the privilege I have compared to people living outside of the United States, too. Upon finding out I’m a blogger hosting my own website, I quickly realized I possess certain technology and knowledge that many people around the world do not have. When asked to share what I knew about blogging so they could take on starting a blog as a hobby, I thought ‘why not share this mini luxury of mine. So as another “free game” post, in which I give free advice for something that doesn’t require much to figure out with time and patience, I’m spilling the tea on how to start your own blog.
How Doc’s Castle Media came to be is from years of trial and error, and genuinely wanting to understand publishing my own content. It’s easy and done for free if you know where to find the correct resources. Aside from what I’m sharing here, YouTube is a great resource for further information. Ten years into blogging, it is still my go-to for new ideas on ways to improve Doc’s Castle Media.
Here are Six Steps to Starting A Blog As A Hobby for my Slowly App friends
What motivates you to start a blog
Start by thinking of your reason. There’s a reason people want to create a blog. One pen pal from Slowly tells me they want to share information about their culture. Another pal wants to use it as an outlet for their poetry. I also have a friend from Brazil who wants to create an anonymous online diary. Anything can be the spark to get someone started on the path towards blogging. Mine was for a good grade in school. Figure out your why for your site.
Choosing a blog name
A lot of bloggers choose whatever they’re writing about to also be included in the title of their blog’s name. People mainly do this to appear easily in Google’s search engine. But your blog’s name can be anything. I named my blog Doc’s Castle Media because I didn’t have a specified genre to write about, just wanted to write about what I enjoy. It took a while to figure out what I enjoyed exploring. So I kept my blog’s name simply by using my nickname because my commentary is the common theme on the site.
Choosing your blog’s hosting platform
Deciding where your blog is hosted is one of the most important steps in the process. This is where you’ll think about what you’re truly investing in, whether this is something for fun or if you have an extra income coming your way. If this is a hobby, finding free websites, like Blogger or WordPress.com, are great free tools that provide easy-to-use templates to start. The interface for some of the administrative dashboards on free hosting sites can be more user-friendly and targeted to beginner bloggers. So use these tools to your benefit when creating a website tailored to your passions.
Use free templates and plugins
Explore and experiment using your blog site as the playground. There aren’t any rules to what you create. Researching free templates and plugins gives your blog personality. This is where you build upon your original content and how you’ll structure how you want to physically appear to your readers. Colors, pictures, or plain text format, you learn through using free tools how your finished product should look like.
Myspace in 2008 was where I originally learned how to edit a webpage using basic Html. Basic Html skills are easy to learn online these days because the information is free. Using free resources, like W3Schools and Html5 Editor, teaches me how to build a page by showing me the coding language that communicates with the backend of my website. A combination of using free templates, plugins, and HTML coding editors can help you build the best website for your blog.
Share your content in an online community.
Sharing your original content on social media gets it in front of an audience that supports what you put into the world. You can subscribe to the big social media sites, but the cool thing about the Internet is you can find even smaller communities within bigger social networks that are more geared to your specific content. It places your material in front of people who genuinely enjoy the same things as you.
Join groups that are specific for the topic or genre of blogging you participate in. Places like Reddit, Meet-Up, or Facebook friend groups are great places to start to find your niche support group for your blog. You aren’t limited to these websites. These are just a few to name.
Don’t be discouraged in the process of starting your blog
Your blog is your voice. Remember you have complete control over what you post when you’re the creator. You have that ability to constantly recreate yourself. So even if you feel stuck or reached a block, change it up and explore something new. Change the topic of what you write about. Do what you need to do to keep your voice. You could even start a new blog. But don’t give up if it’s something you love.
Let me help you:
This was a fun video to record for my Slowly friends. I’m intrigued with what other questions any of you may have about blogging. Remember, Doc’s Castle Media started as a hobby and is still a hobby, but I do make a little money from what I enjoy. I make it work for me. Leave in the comments below questions that you have about blogging.
I needed to pick myself up for the Thirsty 30 Body Challenge. So I took to downloading The Outbreak Escape Virtual Run App by FIX Health as motivation to get active.
I’m falling behind on following through with my Thirsty 30 Body Challenge. I haven’t been doing HIIT Training or much of any exercise. So I can’t say I remained disciplined during the earlier months of 2021. I guess quarantine was getting a bit stale with the repetitive routines. So I needed something new to change the pace.
While we were in the midst of a lockdown in Maryland during the “5K Season,” opportunities were readily available. Like many of the art exhibitions that emerge around town during the pandemic, we are fortunate to have plenty of opportunities geared to physical fitness, as well. There are lots of outside meetups for yoga and virtual meetings making up for limited space or closed gyms. It’s easy finding something to remain physically active while social distancing.
In April, my sister came across a game called The Outbreak, a virtual run geared to promoting physical fitness through the use of one of the most popular horrid themes in video game history; escaping a zombie apocalypse.
The people at FIX Health appeal to people that are just like me. People that require a little more than the daily run around the track. Like when you can’t visit the gym or are tired of trying different YouTube Fitness Channels, FIX Health is there with an alternative.
FIX Health was founded on “the belief that all aspects of life are enhanced by a healthy lifestyle.” The company develops interactive games promoting health and daily activity in a fun, socially connected environment. TheOutbreak is one product by the company used in numerous workplaces promoting employee wellness and morale. “…its programs focus on daily movement and an incremental increase in active minutes overtime. Participants are chased by digital zombies in an app that features a storyline along with daily and weekly goals that require teamwork to complete.”
For a month as a new fitness routine to get into while still in a pandemic, I joined my sister in completing Escape Virtual Run hosted by FIX Health.
I downloaded Outbreak with major hopes of outrunning the virtual zombies in the allotted time. The game’s storyline begins with a mission to reach the safehouse which is 60 miles from the starting point. Each day, I logged my daily steps by syncing my fitness watch with the app. My progress is converted to miles and tracked using a map to showcase my distance from the flesh-eating zombie hoard. Zombies close in on my avatar on this escape mission. It’s my duty to continue out walking them using my real steps. It took me 24 days to reach the safehouse; only six days sooner. I am proud to say I completed the mission in less than 30 days.
Watch my review of The Outbreak: Zombie Escape Virtual Run
Join The OutBreak: Escape Virtual Run
If you’re interested in doing this virtual run, you’ll need to purchase your entry ticket before you can have full access to the app. You can sign up by visiting their website: www.outbreakchallenge.com.
You could feel the spirit of K-Swift in the production in this one. Issa Rae, TT the Artist, and Nexflix come together to showcase Baltimore city’s club culture in Dark City Beneath The Beat documentary.
Dark City Beneath The Beat initially premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and American Black Film Festivals prior to the 2020 pandemic. The documentary premiered mid-April 2021 with a bang on Netflix while artists in Baltimore share in pride and excitement across their social media timelines opening weekend.
I can speak for many in Baltimore when I say we were a little skeptical of the documentary. It’s been years since I celebrated club music. I reminisce of my peak in embracing Baltimore’s club culture when I joined dance battles amongst my middle school classmates. I miss making up dance routines with my neighborhood friends. Those fun moments in my past that I associate with club music and viewed as a distant memory, aren’t as extinct to many artists like TT the Artist, DJ Mighty Mark, and DJ Blaqstarr.
It was in the early 2000s when the city lost its club music queen K-Swift. There are small glimpses of a rise of Baltimore’s club culture – back when K-Swift traveled and advocated nationally for house music prior to her passing. Without K-Swift, the aura is not the same. It’s like the people of Baltimore secretly get jealous of acclamations that other house music listeners from states like, for example, New Jersey claims “to being the land of the greatest club music, ever.” & Such claims are absolutely absurd, of course.
TT The Artist is a Baltimore city arts advocate and director of Dark City Beneath the Beat. She speaks about the hate she receives considered an outsider of Baltimore. Originally from south Florida, TT moved to Baltimore city and fell in love with Baltimore’s club culture while attending the Maryland Institute College of Art. When she left to pursue dreams in Los Angeles, she exited carrying with her the precious sounds of the Baltimore club mix to push an evolution. TT saw something magical. She felt that club music and dance were too good to keep confined to the streets and people of Baltimore city. She sees a culture that uplifts a community that also needs to be uplifted in return. So she created this documentary.
About the Film
The artists featured in the film have the charisma to share with the world what Baltimore’s club culture is about. What I and many other people lack is the knowledge of how they do this. The film sheds light on groups and organizations working to keep the Baltimore club music culture alive. Viewers learn a brief history of club music, the names of staple icons, such as dancers, singers, and producers, in the current Baltimore’s club music scene, and soak up the essence of feeling Baltimore’s original beat. The documentary isn’t so caught up on historical breakthroughs in club music by highlighting influencers that we so often hear of like the well-known Frank Ski, Rod Lee, and Ms. Tony. Rather we learn about influencers in the culture today. A new list of artists comprised of dancers and community leaders like Uneek and Tsu Terry.
I gave the documentary a shot the morning it premiered on Netflix and wasn’t disappointed. I had faith in it doing well so I support it. It stands as a good representation of what Baltimore club music does for those who live here. It’s not so prevalent in my lifestyle as it once was for me as a child, but the beat still speaks to me whenever I do hear Baltimore club mix. It’s near impossible to watch the film without doing the crazy legs or sexy walk in my chair. It should be the same for anyone who’ll stream the film on Netflix. I encourage others to give it a shot, too.
Overall the film gets a Doc’s Thumbs Up because TT The Artist served her purpose well. She paid homage to Baltimore and forged a visual representation for a famous Baltimore art subculture. She works her ass off helping to pave a lane for this art. The film is beautifully done. I commend her and everyone involved in the production of Dark City Beneath the Beat. It deserves to be celebrated.
Watch Hey Baltimore! Produced by Kariz Marcel and written by Rufus Roundtree and Eze Jackson.
