Happy first Friday of the year! After hearing so many great things about Substack and seeing so much amazing writing on here, I decided for the new year to start a newsletter here.
I haven’t written a ‘hi, I’m new here!’ post in over three years and I can feel those nerves and negative ‘what if’s’ just as strongly.
But I’m trying to remind myself that those thoughts are nonsense and also remind myself that I’ve been so excited about this for ages. The safe haven of writing that I’ve been aiming for this Christmas holiday. Here I finally am.
So introductions are in order. ‘Culture Clutter’ or ‘culture clutter’ (I love the lower case trend that’s gripped social media in recent years) is a phrase that I created in my autumn semester of uni when we were doing a blog assignment. I wasn’t willing to post these on my blog so I created a new blog. It’s a phrase I love so much and I couldn’t let it remain as something solely for school so I held onto it. Plus it was alliterative, and as you’ll see, I’m very obsessed with alliteration. On Instagram, I started seeing accounts on my explore page sharing what they consumed in the past year. I liked that idea and as I said when I shared my first issue, I hoped it would encourage me to consume culture more consistently. It’s definitely worked, I enjoy making the newsletter so much and I’ve got to interact with so many writers I’ve grown to admire in the past year.
(Also why have I chosen Kermit on a typewriter as a header? I’m so glad you never asked. I was looking through some old pictures and one of them was the desk I worked from when I did a day’s work experience at my local newspaper. They had that picture framed and I don’t think anything else would have been more suitable.)
And about the person writing this? I’m Sandra, I’m an aspiring writer from England. I’m in the 2nd year of my media studies degree and I’ve loved to write for as long as I remember. I started a blog three years ago and recently made the decision to move away from blog posts and write more articles. Which is another reason why I’m here. As well as a companion to the newsletter I have, I want ‘culture clutter’ to be a place where I really refine my writing and make my mark as a culture critic.
Before I go, this wouldn’t be a proper introduction post on a newsletter about culture if I didn’t share some of my favourites.
Literature: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman, Emma by Jane Austen and Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. (I’m trying to get out of my reading slump, the pandemic really did a number on me. It all started when I didn’t have a bus commute to read on and it’s gone downhill from there…)
Film: French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson), Last Night in Soho (dir. Edgar Wright), Clueless (dir. Amy Heckerling) and Pride and Prejudice (dir. Joe Wright) (Elizabeth Bennet is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time as you can see by my profile picture.)
Music: Night & Day (Day Edition) by The Vamps, Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, emails i can’t send by Sabrina Carpenter and KIKI by Kiana Ledé.
Magazines: Stylist, The Face, Dazed
Thank you for reading my intro post and I’m so excited to be writing on here!
Sandra x
Looking forward to reading!
:)
soo excited for this!! can't wait <33 xx