I’ve loved the internet, ever since the days of dial up when I would hear all those beeps and tones as the modem connected to what would now be an absurdly slow speed. Back then you really did feel like you could reach the end of the internet. Now the internet seems filled with never ending absurdities. One thing that has remained the same is the ability to peak into peoples lives whom you could never have known without the internet. I’ve recently come across two such people, both of the British Isles, Clisare and Keni Styles.
Let me start with Clisare, whom I came across via my Irish friend Aisling who posted a great video by Clisare titled “Shite Irish Girls Say“, while I did find it really really funny, I still find “Shite Irish Lads Say” even funnier.
Clisare is an artistic charismatic woman whom makes me feel invited to come and hang out with her and her friends. The conversations may not be high brow but they don’t need to be, rather they offer me a perspective to hanging out in Ireland, that without the internet I couldn’t get here in Ohio. Her informal conversations aren’t that of a vapid person, she is an LGBT activist and ally, she is aware of issues effecting her community but she is able to share them in a low-key manner so that we can pass our medicine with a big dollop of sugar. Clisare gives me a unique perspective into the lives of some young people in Ireland not only do I enjoy it her posts, I look forward to them.
The other British Isle export to my laptop is the wonderful Keni Styles. I came across Keni Styles via one of my favorite blogs, Racialicious, where they had named him their crush of the week. Keni Styles is an intelligent, politically aware, porn star. The writer at Racialicious loved him for his porn, but for me while the eye candy is enjoyable, I don’t find myself really interested in his porn rather in his political perspective. From ageism and misogyny in the workplace, to the riots in England and institutionalized racism (that’s right— it’s when he says “institutionalized racism” that get’s me all excited), his views on the food we consume and the idea of how processed food effects our health, and his tips on gardening in urban spaces.
It is all of these things that make him a delight to follow on the internet whether it be his tumblr, his video blogs or his tweets. In fact I wish he’d do a little less of the flirty tweeting and more ideological tweets…that’s the stuff I love to read. The only thing that really makes me sad about Keni is that he vloged about running a 5k in 21 minutes, and the competitive part of me thought, “damn I’d lose in that 5k” so on the off chance Keni reads this, if we do a 5K jog together, can we keep it to 9 minute mile pace?
My two new internet BFFs are people who are fully enjoying life while stilling being aware of their surroundings; they come from a different background than this small town girl from Ohio, and to boot they are also people whom without the internet I would have never found. Go check ‘em out.
