As you might have noticed, my blog’s site address was inspired by a Stevie Nicks song which happens to be one of my favorites on account of it being one of my ‘name songs.’ So, here you can find out a little about me, if you were so curious, though I would rather let the way that I talk about my favorite music help describe me better than I could. We’ll see.
The basics: My name is Lily and I am a white American and cis-female (she/her). I was born in southern California and as someone who has lived in Washington state for most of her life, I’m one of those annoying people who won’t let you forget where I’m really from because I can’t forget. At least I am so lucky to have the Pacific ocean follow me wherever I go. I’m in my mid-20s, and I am a Taurus (April 27th) and an ISFP. Most importantly, I hold a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, so I am a writer. You will also probably find that I am, indeed, a feminist, and I most often write through an intersectional feminist lens.
As far as music goes – who you can’t glean from my blog banner or from my blog in general – I’ll demonstrate whose music I feel the most significant connection to: Janis Joplin’s blues run through my veins, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are responsible for the music that I call my home, Stevie Nicks’ poetry empowers me, Linda Ronstadt’s “Blue Bayou” taught me to sing, Cyndi Lauper created my calm inside the storm, Alice Bag reinforced the punk rock in my flower child soul, and A Fine Frenzy once re-inspired my will to live.
There are other artists, groups, and bands who mean a great deal to me, but the point of this blog (mostly) is to find out who all that is!
If you’re curious about my blog title and what it means, I will say that it surprisingly didn’t come to me as slowly as titles usually do (I’m usually awful with titles – you’ll find out). “Writing for Pearls” is a reference dedication to Janis Joplin, whose nickname was Pearl. Seeing as pearls are gems, I fully intend to write about artists and bands who I deem ‘gems’ but may be considered that way in a more modern, sardonic sense: those who are beloved to me, but may not be as well known or beloved to others (which is tragic, as far as I’m concerned). So I’m not just writing for Janis…I’m also writing for forgotten gems, or ignored gems, or gems who I think are gems but everyone else thinks I’m crazy for thinking that. Or perhaps they’re gems who’ve lost their shine…and oh, what a sad day that’ll be to read.
Everyone experiences music differently – me, I experience it on an extremely sensitive, emotional, and (at the best times) even physical level. I write about that, to reinforce to myself that my feelings about this art are valid, and also to reinforce to the artists that they’re doing something right (and sometimes when they’re not. Nobody is above criticism – least of all my favorite bands and artists). I especially write about music by women because I’ve found that there is a shameful void of honest and objective evaluations of their work, and I write to prove that women and men deserve the same chance at fair critique of their work, which is to say that I am thoughtful of their work regardless of their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, etc. I write about music by artists, full stop.
Writing for Pearls 