Where I’ve Been and Hope to Go

ContagiousQueer was a project started in the summer of 2013 as a way for me (Charlie) to be angry while also learning more about the world. It started as a way to learn about oppression and injustice and sharing that journey with others.

This project has grown and changed over the last five or so years. I’ve written about different things in the media, police brutality, being mentally ill, politics, and so much more. Over the last year and a half or so, my commitment to this project has wavered as depression and life have taken over. But my commitment to learn more about the world hasn’t left. I still want to learn about all the issues that influence the lives of individual people and want to share all the ways in which I’ve learned how to be a better person.

The goal of ContagiousQueer was originally to be a collection of resources on social justice. I hope that this will still be a place for people to learn and grow but now, I hope this project can be more focused on queer life/history, mental health, and a few other things.

The queer/LGBTQ community is a diverse and wonderful community that I have an immense love for. With ContagiousQueer, I hope to write about all the ways you can learn about queer history and what it’s like to be a part of the community. You’ll be able to see more of that work under the Queer History Archive and LGBTQ Life.

I have written about living with depression and anxiety on this blog before and will continue to do so. Other people talking about their experiences with mental health was a big reason I started to understand all the ways in which mental illness had influenced my life. I wouldn’t have the words and ways to speak about mental health if it weren’t for others speaking so openly about their experiences. I hope that I can help other people by talking about my experience.

Writing about all the social justice things for a hobby as a single person is admirable but not something I’ve been able to accomplish over the years. Every so often, I’ll be writing about different topics (like feminism, racism, etc) but my main focus will be on queer life/history and mental health.

With all of that, I’ll also be making some subtle changes to how the blog looks (including deleting some old posts). A part of this change comes from realizing that not every thought I have needs to be published on the internet and realizing that some of the work I’ve done in the past isn’t my best. Another part is wanting the project to look just a bit better visually speaking.

Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me and I’m excited to see where things go!