What's Next?

Along The Seam

Dear Reader,

Back when I was in college and studying journalism, I was told by a professor that no one knew what the field would become and the best thing to do would be to “pick a story and start a blog.” This was a world before Instagram and algorithms; generationally, I was among the first group of students to enter college with a Facebook account. Writing freely for the internet felt safe back then. It felt like connection and opportunity.

So, I took that advice and began taking a deep interest in my grandmother’s Holocaust survival story. My college years were the first time I ever lived near her and per my request, she and I began spending time together so she could tell me her story. I would sit in her apartment outside Philadelphia and together we talked while sipping on small glasses of expired wine as she smoked her secret cigarettes. I was an audience of one then, at my tender age of 20. I began traveling as a lifestyle around that time as well, and the blog I started became a mixture of my practice in travel writing and life through the lens of my grandmother’s story. In the years ahead that little effort would become my full time job, and that seed of an interest in my grandmother’s history would become a narrative podcast, a memoir, and a traveling museum exhibition. All of these retellings are paired with educational materials used with students of all ages. Her story took over my life.

I’m just shy of 35 now and feeling complete with this project that I’ve titled We Share The Same Sky. But, with a sense of completion comes that question of “what’s next?” It’s a question that’s been building with a sense of urgency for years, but gets reevaluated and shaken up each time the news cycle challenges our sense of safety and sanity. And the question gets murkier and sometimes lost as my own personal life goes through its own inevitable seasons and stages.

Over the past few months though, I’ve taken some deliberate time to slow down. I wish I could say that this pause came from a healthy place, but it didn’t. For years I’d been ebbing and flowing in and out of burnout, and a break was built into my life from a place of urgency rather than indulgence (I strive for the latter). In this period of deep contemplation, I’ve made it a point to think freely about what’s next. The internal flexibility I’ve given to myself during this time has made me realize that the thing to do is to go back to that advice I was given as a student; it’s time to pick something I’m interested in and start writing about it. That’s what brings me here to this Substack community. And I thank you for welcoming me. I hear this is a good place to be.

The title I’ve chosen for this space is ALONG THE SEAM, which is also the name of one of my podcasts. For me, ‘Along The Seam’ is the space in between - in between past and present, in between our old selves and our new selves, in between one decision and another. It’s the grey. The nature. The paradox. The grief. The question. The place of binding connection.

I’m going to use this space to share some of the stories I’m working on these days, indulge in joy, bring back old work with a new perspective, highlight other people’s art and stories that I find moving, and take time to just enjoy the curious and creative act of writing. And, I’m holding myself to sharing poetry which I’ve been writing for longer than I realize, but have always kept to myself.

If you’ve been following my work for the past many years, thank you for your continued support and joining me here. If I’m a new name and voice for you and we are meeting here for the first time, it’s so wonderful to know you and I can already call joining this community a success.

From here in Maine (a place I will certainly be writing about),

Rachael