The Briefly Returns
Good fucking lord. I took a few months off, what the hell happened?
Good fucking lord. I took a few months off, and the world went to hell.
After the election of our swag mayor, I felt a bit mentally broken. For some background, Mayor Adams was someone who sponsored the Brooklyn Bike Patrol almost a decade ago. Before getting the sponsorship (which paid for some reflective jackets and bright yellow shirts), we met with State Senator Eric Adams.
I’ll never argue that he’s not charismatic. I got the distinct feeling that he was more interested in having his name on our jackets and shirts than he was in supporting our cause, which was helping people walk home who felt unsafe for no cost. It allowed him to look like he was doing something without doing anything.
I watched him climb the NYC political ladder, becoming the Brooklyn Borough President, stepping into Marty Markowitz’s shoes. It seemed like the perfect job for him, a mostly figurehead role with seemingly no actual work.
Then he became mayor, and things went off the rails on his first day. Saying “I told you so” feels hollow when you’re talking about the city's safety in the face of a continuing pandemic, a nationwide rise in gun violence, and a mayor whose points of view don’t amount to much and his actions mean even less.
Some of his actions seemed intentionally cruel. Some of his actions seemed blatantly corrupt. His public statements made it feel like a portion of the city was duped into electing a villain from the 1960’s Batman TV show.
It felt awful to read through the news every day and try to summarize the actions and words of someone I genuinely believe can’t see past himself and his friends.
Then Russia invaded Ukraine. The weight of that has never actually settled for me. My family left Ukraine to flee Russian oppression before World War I (note: this is a bit of an assumption on my part, but the timing and stories I have been told throughout my life are in alignment), and while I have never felt a strong connection to Ukraine, it still felt crushing. This is a world-changing event, and I knew the best I could do was to post a link to a “How to support Ukraine” listicle. I’m not a journalist; I’m a guy who wants other people to know more about their city.
The day I said I needed a serious break from the news was also the day I won the Best of Brooklyn Award in the web service category. To be “honored” when I intentionally stepped away was a real trip.
Some time away allowed me to put The Briefly into perspective. I had aspirations of a paid version of the newsletter. Seeking to make a living off of The Briefly, and more importantly, segregating any of its content behind a paywall, felt wrong. The experience of reading the news online has only worsened over the last four years, and I don’t care to contribute. Instead of thinking about making money or subscriber growth strategies, I’m going back to writing.
The Briefly is fucking back. The first email back is next week. Email me the most important stories I’ve missed in the last few months.
