Beyond

A few years ago, I started this website as an extension of our Instagram account. It’s been defunct for the last two years, basically since we moved from Blowing Rock, NC, to Ohio. Part of the reason I stopped was the move, lots of things were changing then, but I also stopped because I just never really figured out HOW to use it in a way that felt meaningful.

I started out using this section to blog about influencer experiences, as that seemed to be what there was the most demand for at the time. While there are some people who blog and influence incredibly well and in a way that feels natural and authentic, I never really got the hang of it. As my IG captions often reflect, I’m a policy nerd at heart. I like to go a little deeper into what’s happening, and more importantly, understand why things are happening. My writing style trends toward the legal and academic writing I’m used to doing professionally. It lacks the relatable, stream of consciousness style that successful bloggers and influencers so effortlessly embody. While I know how to influence policy decisions, this skill set is not a direct cross over to influencing for retail products, which is a lot more like sales and marketing.

Now, looking back, I find a lot of the reviews I posted here cringe-worthy. But I also feel like most forms of personal growth involve cringing at your former self in some way, so, at least there’s that. Looking back and seeing stagnation would feel far worse.

Like my own life, the dog Instagram community has also changed significantly in the past two years. Dog Instagram is a lot bigger and a lot broader in terms of its audience. It’s expanded from just being photocentric to a one-stop shop for training tips, gear reviews, and thoughts on current events. One of my favorite concepts from a history book I wrote on a US federal court is the quotation, “courts, after all, are people, and little else.” Someone also compared working at the newly created court in question to building a plane while flying it.

I feel like both parts of this analogy work for dog Instagram, too. Although many are quick to point out that it is centered around dogs, or that they are just here for the dogs, that is somewhat inaccurate. Dog Instagram is really targeted at the people who love dogs and therefore create accounts to enhance their existence with them. Dog Instagram, at its core, is a group of people. And as social media is still a relatively new phenomenon in our world, many of us have been part of building the plane while we’re flying it.

As is often the case, with growth comes opportunity. I recently started mulling over the opportunity to use this website in the more meaningful way that I was looking for by combining my legal and media background to discuss current events impacting the dog Instagram community. The objective is to write in a more journalistic way — i.e., to provide news-based summaries and observations of topics derived from interviews and supplemented by background research rather than share my own opinions (I have my own posts and captions for that), and perhaps shed some light on topics that people see being discussed but in a way that it is not constrained by Instagram’s 2,200 character limit.

Hence, “beyond.” The landing page for this website refers to my dogs’ adventures “through the Blue Ridge Mountains and beyond.” After selling our house in Blowing Rock earlier this year, we’ve left the Blue Ridge mountains behind. It’s now time to focus on what’s beyond.