Heyyy...hey...how y'all doin?

I had TikTok for two weeks. Allow me to (re)introduce myself. *Chapter 75*

Wow. Okay. Well.

Here we are.

Fourth week of 2025. Three quarters of the way to 100 essays. I am writing this to you on Sunday from a newly discovered co-work space nestled right off the corner of the town square a few blocks from where I live. I’m sitting at a giant repurposed wood desk, with a very nice rolling office chair and a battery generator to power my dinosaur of a computer who, even when plugged in, can barely stay charged. Bless her. It’s a bike shop, vintage store, coffee bar with natural bath products for sale and several magical office nooks to work from. The joy coursing through my body reminds me of the euphoria felt after a dream of finding a room in your house you never knew existed.

My desk. My office chair. My generator.

First things first. There are about 300 (and counting) more readers here this week. Hello!! You have wisely followed

culturework

to Substack from TikTok and I commend you for doing so. Her Chat, started right after the app’s demise Saturday night (and return a few hours later?), seems to be a life raft for the decimation of the community y’all created over there and that makes me happy. It is because of her recommendation of my Substack that you have found yourself here and the only reason I have a substantial readership. I’m grateful to her for that and all the work she continues to do through writing and content creation, encouraging us to think critically and pointing out truths I know I’ve been conditioned to overlook. Thank you, Z.

I signed back into TikTok about three weeks ago after swearing it off in 2020, my willpower to keep myself from scrolling into the 4am hour nonexistent back then. I’m glad I got over it and returned just in time to take in the view for the final few moments it existed in its purist form. What I saw surprised me. This is was not endless one minute clips of teenagers dancing and babies telling me about their favorite form of retinol. This is was information sharing, community, solace, small business successes. This is was genuine connection. I feel deeply compassionate for the sense of loss a lot of you must be feeling. (And the confusion of how to proceed now that it has returned?)

All that said, welcome to Substack! It’s weird here. Lol. I still have no idea how it works and I’ve been posting for two years. There isn’t an algorithm, the majority of my readers only do so through email and so figuring out how to directly connect (and grow if that’s a goal) is a bit of a challenge.

My purpose is to share my inner monologue outwardly, casually and with humor. People generally relate most to the posts I write quickly, plucked right from the top of my mind.

My recipe is as follows: the thoughts and themes that consistently pop up over the course of seven days, a heavy pour of my personal history, a sprinkle of the wisdom I’ve gathered having lived 41 years, a pinch of nostalgia because I exist in memory. Bake and you have, Yeah, I’d Hang Out With Her. (Side note: I love baking and have made a handful of completely unhinged cooking videos.) I publish essays every Monday and have been doing so consistently for 75 weeks.¹

If that sounds fun to you, stick around. I have plans to progress into chat and video features this year, letting you in on my current fitness journey, bringing back my podcast and striving to form more of a community.

My mother is an incredible painter and I share her work with all of my Monday essays. You can find her at lynnfelton.com or @bonzart.

For my readers who have been here since the start, I love you. I literally love you and thank you for allowing me the chance to express who I am to people who’ve never read a single word I’ve written.

Lastly, to get everyone who’s hanging out up to speed, I retired last September from the restaurant industry after spending fifteen years serving. I am now in what I consider My Bridge Era, halfway across the river from one life to another. I assume a lot of you can relate. This essay will post Monday, Inauguration Day, MLK day, the day TikTok becomes Facebook? To say the least, this is a time of transition for many of us, for a whole country of us.

Whether in-person or through the Internet, connection is more important now than ever. Genuinely knowing each other is paramount. My contribution to the collective is this space, a reprieve, a place for grounding and for joy. Levity is always my number one goal. Letting you in on my personal growth, successes, failures and the emotional wave pool that is living, my greatest hope is that you can relate. We are never alone when we remember that we have each other.

Thanks for joining. Thanks for hanging out with me. Whatever the future brings, I plan to keep blabbering about my experience of it here. As usual…

READING

I just picked up, The Night Circus, from the bookshop up the street. It was a staff pick for the month and their description of it was captivating. Anybody read it? As temperatures are dropping by the minute down here in Georgia, I plan on spending the night under my weighted fur (eww of course not real fur!) blanket reading.

DOING

I can’t remember if I’ve told you about this free 12-Week YouTube workout from Heather Robertson I’ve been doing. It’s GREAT. Starting Week 4 tomorrow.

Also, this adult paint by number that is SO freaking HARD.

LISTENING

THE TELEPATHY TAPES?!?!?! Have you listened??? To say I loved this podcast is putting it as lightly as humanly possible, I LOVED THIS PODCAST.

I hope everyone is faring well. I’ve been having absolutely wild dreams for a week and a half and my woo woo self (my favorite self) is in full activation. I am positive my subconscious mind is in the process of a much needed Winter deep clean.

Speaking of woo, I’m constantly thinking of Spring these days and all the metaphorical seeds I’ve planted. It makes me excited for the coming months and the promise of everything finally coming into bloom.

For now, I hope you keep cozy and take the very best care of yourselves and the people you love. I am, as always, sending you my gratitude. Talk to you next week and to you, my Paid Subs, this Wednesday!

1. I’m linking several key posts in this essay that I think sum up what you need to know about Yeah, I’d Hang Out With Her.