about/contact

About me/this blog: something slightly more extensive (scroll down for contact information. Brevity is not  necessarily my strong suit.)

I am presently interstitial and not easily defined. Among other things, I'm interested in brutalism, transit, thrift stores, architecture, etymology, foraging, crafts, sending and receiving mail, anything abstract, reuse and upcycling, countersurveillance techniques, artwork, observing aircraft in the sky, houseplants, birds and becoming more of a candle person... 

I have no (or rather, very minimal. I took an introductory architecture course once.) formal training in the subjects of urban planning, transportation and the built environment. My knowledge of said topics comes from various things I have read, mostly online. There are lots of resources out there! Greater Greater Washington is a good place to start, especially regarding local matters. Citylab is another thing to read. And I follow knowledgeable people on Twitter. 

This blog is (kind of, at least) focused on Montgomery County, MD. Occasionally it may also cover nearby DC-metropolitan areas. It's generally focused on the built environment; perhaps some journalism-related things will pop up too, since that's another area I'm involved/interested in. Other assorted topics may also be covered, since it's my blog and I can write about whatever I want here. 

(other) Writing:
Find my most recent news work here on Medium. You can find some of my past work at the MC Advocate website (someday I'll find my direct author link...), though it's not necessarily related to the topics this blog is focused on. The Advocate is a student-run publication based out of Montgomery College's Rockville campus. Although I am no longer involved with it, if you're an MC student interested in journalism, definitely give it a chance! 

Social/cultural commentary: "When You Care Enough Not To Send the Very Worst," The American Conservative 

I am on the editorial board and write for Greater Greater Washington now too! (more specific link to come, perhaps)

Contact: I write and edit this blog myself, so any comments, suggestions, questions or complaints/hate mail you may have should be directed to me. You can tweet me @rachelvetica or email me: RTAYL537 [at] gmail [dot] com. I would prefer it if you don't send me hate mail, but I guess I can't really control that.

Or if you happen to know my mailing address (which I am not publishing for any and all to see online; sorry folks/stalkers), send some good old-fashioned mail via the postal service or carrier pigeon. Bonus points if you use an interesting stamp. I'll write back! Of course, if you manage to encounter/track me down in person, feel free to deliver your physical cards and letters of commentary that way. If you would like to send me physical mail, my mailing address may be available upon request, as a treat. 

What I can do for you: inquire within if you're interested. I don't necessarily charge for these services, but maybe I should. 
Edit written material for clarity and grammar | Wash and cut your hair for free (I haven't been trained in hair cutting, so it wouldn't be right to charge for this service). | Paint your fingernails | Ghostwrite handwritten cards/letters (I have good handwriting). | Make natural ink from berries. | Make handmade envelopes (I will sell these to you if you want some) and origami. | Provide fashion advice and help with shopping for clothes. | Crochet simple objects, like baby blankets, bags or scarves/cowls. | Give you some of my no-longer-wanted clothing items in good condition as an effort to minimize wastefulness [my measurements for chest/waist/hips are approximately 34/28/36; I'm 5'0" and the clothing is for someone of that size. My shoe size is US women's 6 or EUR 36] | Braid your hair (if it's long enough); I can do French and Dutch braids | Provide advice, which you can follow at your own risk | 

What you can do for me: as above, inquire within if you're interested.
Send me nice/interesting mail. | Tell me about interesting things. | Teach me how to repair bicycles. | Save glass containers (preferably clean jars of any size with their lids) and give them to me to reuse/upcycle. | Tell me places to forage for things. | Give me cuttings of plants to grow. | Offer me a paying job in a relevant field if you're hiring. | 

Last updated: 23 August 2021

Popular posts from this blog

AI chatbots

I just read a highly interesting and very fascinating article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a man who used AI to simulate his dead fiancee in a chatbot. This happened to include multiple topics that interest me, such as epistolary formats and the concept of death mixed with AI in a slightly similar scenario to the movie Her , which is one of my favorites.  I suppose I might be an ideal candidate to create an AI chatbot out of because there would be a decent amount of source material to feed into it, so as to better simulate me. I imagine it would be more difficult to accurately capture the voice of someone who is less inclined to communicate at length via writing. Training the AI on text messages from someone who never texts more than fifteen words at a time might not result in  a particularly personalized AI chatbot. That's my theory, at least; though maybe I'm wrong?   Although not explicitly referred to in the article, it made me think about the possibility of paraso
Read more

DC Ride of Silence 2019

Image
The  Ride of Silence is an annual ride occurring on the third Wednesday of May in locations around the world. It is in memory of cyclists who have been killed while biking . This year, DC's bike community suffered a particularly devastating loss -- a driver killed Dave Salovesh last month. Although I didn't know him personally, he was a dedicated activist for safer bike infrastructure in DC. It's only more recently (within the past year) that I've gotten involved a bit in the local biking community ( #bikeDC , as well as #bikemoco / #bikerockville , which I've been trying to make a thing), so this was really the first group ride of any sort I've participated in. It was an impactful experience. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to organize the ride beforehand, and thanks also to the people who marshaled/stopped car traffic at intersections and led the group during the ride so everything went pretty swimmingly, even though we only had a police escort for
Read more

A deep dive into the DC Metro challenge

On Saturday, Aaron Landry and I completed the Metro Challenge. It entails passing through every single station in the Metro system in a single trip. This is an extremely detailed explanation of what it's really like to attempt and finish the DC Metro Challenge. It's also probably more than you ever wanted to know about the Metro Challenge, but here goes. A Washingtonian writer did the challenge recently , which is how this idea got in my head.  Here's an earlier preview post with some of my thoughts about the challenge prior to attempting it . All in all, it was an adventure. Though some people may not find the concept appealing at all, doing the Metro challenge may be of interest to those who like transit. It's an interesting day trip idea and rather doable with the proper planning and execution. Here's a current map of the WMATA/Metrorail system  (PDF), for reference. At best, the challenge can be completed in around eight hours. Our final time was 7 hours,
Read more