avoiding writing by writing

Ugh, I have to work sick today! That has rarely ever happened to me because usually I could move things around easily in my old job.

I was looking at the reddit thread about the rash of gnarly crimes around my house (right about the late time I was getting dropped off by a friend at my house a woman was being raped in the bushes one block away) and I also saw a thread about my block butcher bar post on foodways. I was stoked to see it linked and discussed but the only comments are super negative. I guess if you don't know me or my writing or the tone we are going for with foodways that would be your first reaction. also if you are a dork that is into reddit.

but, fair enough. if you have ever written jokes you know that it is very difficult to tell if a joke is funny when you write it. and I know that some of mine are definitely groaners, which maybe I should take out. And I never get edited as far as jokes. But I'm not gonna change and I guess it's better to be talked about than not talked about. Ryan and Rodney want me involved and we started the website together so I gotta stay true to myself and our vision.

But the thing that bugs me is that the three discussions I've seen lately about my writing(2 on fb and one on reddit) I've been accused of not knowing what I'm talking about. I can say that after ten years of writing about food that a lot of the time (not all! I cop to my flaws!) that I fucking know what I'm talking about! I don't know how you prove that to people. and one of course was about writing about rap, which I also know a lot about (at least the rap from late 90s/early 2000s).

I am wrestling with the urge to answer back right now but I will sit on the comment a few hours and maybe not post it. You can't get the last word and as long as I stay off local media I probably won't even hear it, although NM did text a screenshot of it to me last night. A comment where someone said I was probably a tattooed douche from Roseville.

I am not fishing for any praise, cereal. I get a lot of positive reinforcement, too.  I am just voicing my struggle to not feed the trolls and attempt to get an even thicker skin. And also avoiding the piece I need to write for news and review right fucking now.

Also I should keep in mind that people also trolled the thread started by the guy who trying to warn people that his friend had been beaten up in my neighborhood so grain of salt.

here's one of the non-troll comments, which makes me sad. there is also another one about how a guy who lives in oak park and works near barwest has seen exponentially more violence in midtown

"Yeah, I moved up here from Oakland and everyone I meet here is all "don't you feel safer here?"; hell no, I've seen stupider shit in Midtown than I ever did in Oakland (with the exception of the ass who shot at me while trying to run me over because he didn't think cyclists should be on the road)."