In programming, "hello world" is conventionally the first statement you type to become familiar with a language. So, hello and welcome. The theme I'm using for this blog uses a day-month-year format—like much of the world—for dates because it's made by a German author. I'm writing this post from the eastern seaboard of the United States. So, I was trying to use the North American MM-DD-YYYY format. Date and time is relative, but writing is timeless.

To me it's amazing that even without access to a printing press, I can broadcast my words to the rest of the world and have them be read. It seems like we were barely getting started with the golden era of writing for the masses when technology got in the way. Let me explain.

Before the internet, in order to be read or heard, one had to find a publisher of books who had access to a printing press and book stores to carry their books. Writing was flourishing. Countless books were being edited, published, and read. Yet, being noticed was harder than ever. As a writer, one had to refine the craft of writing for decades before even being noticed by a publisher. Never mind telling an interesting story that wasn't even given the time of day.

The early days of the internet created blogging, before it was bastardized by search engine algorithms and marketers looking to get noticed. For the briefest of moments in history, writing was cool! Without going through the bureaucracy of a publishing house, it was possible to get noticed. Yet, it was also too easy. As content flourished, it became preferable to "move up" in formatting. Long-form text became short tweets. Speeches became videos. Content with any form of substance was replaced by silly memes that numbed us to the cold reality that we were living in.

This blog is my own small yet timeless way of changing that. I want to focus your attention on the brief golden age of the late 90's and early 2000's that gave people the chance to be heard as their best, authentic selves. If your authentic self has been numbed by an incessant stream of useless information, maybe you can find a more quiet place to rediscover yourself here. That's my goal. So stick around. Find out what I'm about. Maybe you'll also find out about yourself along the way.

Sincerely,

Yatit Thakker