Wow! It has been a year to the day since my first substack release. Thank you so much for being here; it is truly an honor to have my words absorb into your world.
If you are new, I urge you to peruse the archive to taste the variety I like to serve at The Skinless Grape.
Some of my favorites have been:
About the time I went to jail.
This short narrative essay detailing a particular behind-the-scenes vibe I caught before clowning for a circus crowd in Downtown LA.
A reflection on some of my experiences as an adopted kiddo.
The shape of this place is a bit amorphous, and rather than pinning it down for the sake of assumed consumer-based necessity, I choose to let it be a garden of variety! As such, I encourage you to engage with comments about what bits hit, or don’t, so that my publications may, in turn, respond.
I value your fireside participation immensely and am here with the hope that we may create a conversation.
To prompt a comment, I’ll leave a button here. Did you visit the archives? Have a favorite read? Is there a topic you know I’m hip to that you’d like to hear more about? Anything you’re hip to that you’d like to share with me? Please let me know! The internet can feel so isolating, even while overwhelming in its persistent chatter. We can do something about that! I am here with you; this is not a vacuum. Substack even has a new chat feature!
I especially appreciate talking with you here because I am actively working to build a new world for myself, and Substack is a big part of that. Substack is the only online hub I feel genuinely curious about and interested in. It isn’t the only place I am, but perhaps someday soon, it will be.
I recall life immediately before the pandemic in excruciating detail. Why? Because for one month, I had gotten entirely off Instagram, and I was more present and happy than ever. I intended to keep it up for good. Then, we were all isolated in lockdowns, and I found myself back with the gram, a place that does not align with my well-being.
Through and through, social media dampens my life experience.
This morning I listened to an episode of The Twelfth House Podcast featuring Ameida Hruby, who has successfully grown her business off the social media grid.
See: me drooling with lust and hope and desire to be just like her.
This topic has been at the forefront of my mind for some weeks now. I moved from LA to Texas 6 months ago for community and to find my current artistic voice without the fetters of the past.
Yet, I find myself inundated with social media stressors that are holding me back to no end.
That beezy is made up of fetters of the past. Tricking their way into my day-to-day. Disguised in the false doctrine that it is a necessary place to exist to be up to date with the now.
I know I need to get off of social media entirely. There is no way I will find my freedom and be my most whole and luminous self while still plugging into this mess. Sticking my soft, delicate neck into the iron grip of the algorithm's deluded hands must end! I yearn to breathe freely!
I am all too comfortable with using the gram for a quick fix for an artistic outlet and meager marketing efforts. In doing so, I’ve let its distracting presence in my day-to-day confuse my priorities, alter my chemical state, and expose me to infuriating and demoralizing bits of this, that, and the other.
Have you had any success leaving social media behind? Any failed efforts? Goals? Observations on the matter?
Alls to say, I’m glad to be here. I greatly enjoy writing, and developing this skill set is important to me. There’s a stark difference in what Substack offers my quality of life versus places like Instagram. As I gear up to make a permanent departure from the gram, I just wanted to take a beat to speak to my struggles around it. I sense many are going through something similar.
Let’s together create our experience of the material world to be as lived as it can be!
It won’t be easy to sign off something so interwoven into society. There will be a lot of give to get the take I seek. However, frankly,
I gotta choose my quality of life over my ability to leverage success on social media.
Your support is mega appreciated. I’ve never had such a battle with addiction and toting a history of exiting long-term relationships with cocaine, oxycontin, and nicotine… that is saying a lot.
Please stay in touch, and share The Skinless Grape with others who might relate!
In other news:
I booked my first acting-for-film gig since pre-pandy times! Playing a spooky, hella powerful dead witch mom for a feature film by HorrorWeb Productions Inc.
I get to play “burned alive” and everything!
Hell yeah. This is gonna be a good time. Mad thanks to my girl Alison for helping me with my audition tape! And to anyone curious about how to represent yourself in this BIZ, my advice is to submit yourself to projects on Actors Access.
Aloha nui loa!
Julia Fae
Congrats on the one year!
I took a break from social media for a while. I'm now only on Twitter, but I don't have the app on my phone; I'll only go on it on my laptop if I ever get the inspo to post. I've become a poster and ghoster, no scrolling, just posting my ridiculous thoughts when I get the urge then I'm outie, hehe.
I've come to realize that social media is one of the bigger problems in our society that needs to be dealt with. As someone who was an endless scroller on TikTok, and even participated in the app myself to promote my business and musings around peace, I decided to delete it off my phone, amongst all other social media apps, more because I didn't like the idea of participating with apps that were intentionally trying to get me addicted.
I'd love to just be on Substack myself, but I too am trying to figure out how to grow my business off the social media grid. Thank you for the rec on the podcast btw!! Definitely checking that out
I'll miss your insta presence when you dip! But totally understand and support that. Social media's juice is by no means always worth the squeeze 🍋💦