andreas

Took a walk around Södermalm, as every sunday during the last year. Went up to the top of Stigberget and took Monteliusvägen, the narrow walkway with the great view. Stopped here and there to take some photos. Maybe some of you international RW-readers are interested. In the picture above you see the church called Riddarholmskyrkan #stockholm

I’m not a gamer. Actually, the time I’ve spent on online games or video games the last twenty years is a couple of hours. In total. Therefore I’m quite surprised my kids got me into this brainless game Hay Day. An app where you’re a farmer. You’re supposed to grow and harvest and take care of animals, make pies and cloths and other stuff you can sell on the market. It’s not fun, it’s not educating, still I’m doing it. Yesterday I spent an hour before bedtime in this worthless game. Today the same. Why? Do I hate my life!? No. I don’t. I blame the pandemic. This is what happens.

First of all, I agree with Noisy Deadlines, ReadWriteAs is awesome. Second, I really liked ND’s blog post about social media and the attention economy. I’ve read Lanier’s book with all ten great arguments for deleting your social media accounts (he’s got nothing against personal blogs, quite the opposite) and I found it very interesting. But, there is a but, for me as an employed journalist it’s very hard to get rid of Facebook or Twitter. It’s often a good source for information or ideas because it’s the place online where people talk about subjects as the local politics, the schools, the parks, the elderly care and all that stuff. I have to be there. But I really try not to spend more time on Facebook than necessary. And I’ve almost stopped posting myself. It’s something. The time spent with my phone in my hand is not decreasing though. Instead of Facebook and Twitter, I’m spending more time on W.A and R.W.A and Micro.blog but the good thing about that it’s completely free from ads and the content, blog posts and pictures from complete strangers, are giving me new perspectives, insights and joy. I never wrote in English before but the potential audience here, since not many of my friends are spending time reading old fashioned blogs, has made me do it. It’s good for me, I need to practice my English. And it gives me opportunity to meet new people, even though it just means we’re people reading each other’s blogs. #socialmedia #microblog

Now it’s official. I am happy to announce that I am going to start a new job. After 18 months as a news director at the business magazines Fastighetsnytt and Byggindustrin (about the real estate and construction business in Sweden and the Nordics) I’m going to be news director at Dagens Nyheter’s metropolitan division DN Sthlm the section that covers the Stockholm area. I am looking forward to it a lot. Local news is the best.

Jag vaknar sent efter gårdagens omtumlande upplevelse av att ha fått ta emot gratulationer på Twitter, Facebook och Linkedin i en hel dag. Jag hade behövt lägga stor möda på att skriva klart en av de sista större intervjuer jag hinner göra för Fastighetsnytt, men administration och annat kopplat till jobbytet upptog större delen av min dag. Jag får ta igen det veckan som kommer. Allt löser sig.

Cilla Jackert (jag älskar Spung!) har skrivit manus till en ny svensk tv-serie: Tunna blå linjen. DN:s Niklas Wahllöf har intervjuat henne om arbetet med serien och jag fastnar vid ett citat:

Vad har du lärt dig under skapandets gång?

– Hur mycket poliser får ägna åt psykisk ohälsa. Det ser man väldigt lite av i andra sammanhang, men att möta människor i total kris är en stor del av deras jobb. Jag har under min research träffat poliser som berättat att de kört samma person till psykakuten fyra gånger under en och samma dag. Jag tror inte att psykvården ska klandras här, men man kan förstå frustrationen som poliserna känner när de har räddat livet på någon som de direkt träffar ute på stan igen..

Det där känner jag igen efter egna intervjuer med poliser i Stockholm under min tid som reporter på StockholmDirekt. Den underbemannade, eller kanske felkonstruerade, psykvården är ett ämne som det kan berättas mer om.

Jag fick med mig yngsta sonen på promenad idag, vi gick längs med Årstaviken och Norra Hammarbyhamnen och vidare upp genom Barnängen mot Ringvägen. Löken fann vi som den ser ut på bilden, prydligt placerad på egna staketstolpen intill en tappad vante. Vid ett källarfönster på Ringvägen upptäckte sonen glassen.

En gatukonstglass, i lagom höjd för små barn.

Lite kul.

#streetart #södermalm #stockholm

Jag har varit ledig i drygt två veckor och det har varit extremt stillsamt. I dag var ett avbrott. Det var längesedan jag kände mig så trött, antagligen på den spänning som släppte. Jag berättar mer inom kort. #personal

I love this digital way of fast writing that goes online immediately. All I need is my smartphone. All my notes at work (journalist) are digital notes as well. Back in the days I used paper and pens but the transcription part, when the handwriting had to be transformed to digital text, took way too much time so I gave that up. For the same reason I try not to rely too much on recorded interviews. If a record I see the audio file as a backup, I can go back and listen if I missed a detail or if I have to double check something. Sometimes I forget to make good notes during a conversation/interview and that’s always a hassle afterwards. With all that said I start to re-evaluate the analog writing, all handwritten things. There’s something special about it, something that never can be digitalised: the feeling of holding a pen in hand and move it with just the right amount of pressure onto the paper. You create words. And if you get something wrong you will have some problems. It’s very hard to delete words on paper without traces. The handwriting acquire thinking in advance. It’s not always good, quite the opposite actually if you ask me. One of the good things with the kind of writing I’m doing right now is that it’s very direct, I’m hammering down my words to use the expression TMO used in a well written post about blogging the other day. Yesterday I really had to do some thinking before I set down to write. In the first time in many years I wrote a classic enveloped letter to an old friend, a relative that means a lot to me but who I rarely see or talk to. To write a classic letter during Christmas time felt like the right thing to do. It won’t interfere. I hope she’s able to read my handwriting though. Maybe I’ll get a response! When was last time you got a handwritten letter?

#handwriting #blogging #personal

I really enjoyed reading this blog post by TMO and the response from Jet Girl. My native language is not English so this would be a more well written thing if I’d done it in Swedish but sometimes I want the WA community (if you could call it that) of bloggers/personal writers to be able to understand what I write. Even if I don’t blog with a goal of making money or reach out to the masses, it is more fun doing it knowing at least someone could read it. I work as a journalist and that kind of writing is supposed to attract audience and in some ways educate. Here, on my personal blog, I write freely (!), about this and that because I want to. Because it makes me feel good. Because a day with writing, even a short note on a subject no other person is interested in, is a better day than a day without writing.

All bloggers out there, keep writing.

#personal #blogging