Taking a deep breath and letting go…

As I wrote in my last post, I have a lot going on, including a project I’ve been wanting to do for a while.

Well, reTyped launched today and I’m nervous as crap. Is my writing good enough? Will people actually be interested in it? Is my writing good enough? Oh, and is my writing good enough?

Making all of the decisions about the appearance and approach, trying to figure out what would be most successful has been a bit tough. But my support system (friends and family) has been the greatest, pushing me to do this when I often had doubts.

But in the end, this is a very personal project for me addressing stereotypes. As a reporter covering local government, I was often the only black face – and sometimes the only woman – in the room. This set the stage for numerous funny, uncomfortable and/or incredibly inappropriate encounters.

From neck rolls and finger snaps to people assuming that I worked in the newspaper’s press room rather than the newsroom, people applied stereotypes to me before they could learn who I really was. Some people used those stereotypes to try to identify with and befriend me. Others used them as a weapon to belittle me.

So reTyped is my small effort to show that stereotypes can often be incorrect and unfair. I partnered with a fellow Hamptonian, artist David Marion, and together we’re presenting sketches – drawings and short stories – about everyday folks to show how different we all are. The project also allows me to interview people and exercise my writing chops, which I really kind of miss since leaving newspapers last year.

So, I hope you’ll check it out and join in the conversation on the reTyped Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Let me know what you think!