About

Welcome to Flâneur in the City!

Rockin' the URL.

My name is Natalie and I run this little bloggity-blog. I am a freelance writer currently residing in America's Once Manliest City, Charlotte, North Carolina. I graduated from the University of Roehampton in jolly ol' London, England, with an MA in Creative and Professional Writing. Prior to living in London, I was an editor for a large weekly alternative newspaper. I blog semi-anonymously only because I am seeking one of those permanent day jobs I keep hearing so much about, and would prefer my professional online presence to come up first in a Google search. (Rather than a blog full of inappropriate jokes and David Bowie references.)

Flâneur in the City (FitC) has become the platform I lack in my writing career; the articles I want to write, the subjects I want to address, the passions I want to indulge in. All of the things I am not paid to write about.

The city is wherever I am, be it Charlotte or New York or London. I wander and observe, I snap pictures and collect thoughts, I am the flâneur, and the city is ever under my feet. Though flâneur is a masculine title, I am using it as a universal term for a creative wanderer, regardless of sex.

There are many paths yet to walk. I write about politics, feminism, and social justice because it affects the world daily. I write about pop culture and David Bowie because I enjoy it. And because we need humor and laughter too, lest the world become unbearable. We need the beauty, the scars, and we desperately need to laugh. So all this becomes the path we walk, and you become a flâneur with me.

Short and Sweet

Successful blogs usually fall into a nice niche. Flâneur in the City started as a personal blog, titled after a compliment given to me by poet Sharon Mesmer. She called a story I wrote for her class the work of a flâneur in the city. When it came to starting a little blog to write about my day and post pictures from around town, the title came in handy. Since FitC has no niche, it's free to be a grab bag of topics and images.

Here you'll find personal essays and posts about my life (under the tag "Walk With Me"), photos from around the world (under "Weekly Flaneur"), and quotes (under "QuoteDay Is A Thing Now"). The main body of work contains a mix of serious and humorous posts on pop culture, journalism, writing, politics and feminism. And David Bowie. (In short: I am a fan. Please see the tag "Hot Man Who Looks Like A Puppy" for reference.)

Also? Keep an eye out for "City Beauty" tutorials, "Badly Drawn Little Comics" and posts on '90s pop stars. The current image in FitC's logo is from this post, The Left! Choose The Left Path!

So, what's the long story?

In 2008, I was working at a newspaper in Charlotte, N.C. Flâneur in the City was more of a personal blog, and the only people who read my posts were my friends, my partner Mr. B, and my family. The stories from that year include snippets of my work life, funny pictures from around town, my kitty Bagheera, short pop culture items, and political coverage. I was worried about losing my job, and a few of my posts show that concern. I wrote anonymously, and gave Mr. B and other friends shortened nicknames, to freely be able to write about my workplace concerns. I never wrote anything negative, but felt it best to remain incognito.

Here are some highlights from 2008:

Note To Myself
Not A Bad Idea
Those Summer Nights
Little Sarah McCain Palin

By the beginning of 2009, the company I worked for had declared bankruptcy and I was laid off. I signed a confidentiality agreement when I left, and that contract included blogging. I didn't write at all on poor FitC as I faced an uncertain future. FitC was just another abandoned blog in the wastelands of the Internet.

In the middle of 2009 I took a chance and submitted an application to the University of Roehampton (then called Roehampton University). I did not think anything would come of it so soon, but I was offered not only a place in their Creative and Professional Writing course, but a scholarship to help fund my way.

That journey is chronicled here:

Part One: Remember Me?
Part Two: London Calling
Part Three: Traditional Bagheera Interlude

I didn't have any high hopes or lofty aims for FitC. I just wanted to write, and most of my American friends had FitC's address already bookmarked. Rather than start a new blog for my London writing, I just picked up where I left off. I wrote semi-anonymously, as I do today.

For London-specific stories, check the "Flaneur in London" tag. Some highlights are here:

Minion Positions Still Available
Flaneuring?
32 Elephants
Flaneur in London, Nature Edition
Nature Edition, Part Two
Oh, London! 
Things I Have Been Doing Instead Of Blogging

In 2010, I began to share the stories and articles I was writing with sites that weren't just my personal Facebook page. Shakesville ran this post, Perspective, on their page as a guest blog.  I swapped links with commenters on Feministing.  My blog began to see more traffic, and I was always pleasantly surprised when someone who I didn't know in real life would read, comment, or send an email. (I still am so astonished when it happens now!)

Some of the posts that led readers to FitC are here:

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones, But...
In Which I Save You Money, followed with In Which I May Have Gained An Archnemesis, and Around London Town
In Which, There Is A Tube Story, The Male Gaze, And Dinosaurs

In 2011, I graduated from Roey, and began a life back in the states with my ever-present Mr. B, Matt. I announced our plans to marry in this post, To Have And To Hold, and we were married in July of 2011. Mr. B pops up in numerous posts over the years, but I didn't think to give him his own tag until recently. You'll just have to keep an eye out for him! For posts on our life together, and examples of Mr. B's endless patience, here are a few choice reads:

True Story
Cinderella
Surprises of Marriage

At the beginning of 2011, I began running Weekly Flâneur; sharing pictures of city/town/urban scenes to fully capture the experience of a flâneur. Not all of them are mine; friends have submitted photos from around the world to add to the experience. I am always open to new pictures and places!

You can find those posts under my "Weekly Flâneur" tag.

Some of my favorites, in no particular order, are here:

Fast and Furious
Thirsty
Sneaky
Cover Me
City Blues
Alma Mater

Friday QuoteDay came around this time as well. It hosts quotes from various sources, and some as images. They are labeled "Quote Day Is A Thing Now" under Tags, and appear, of course, on Fridays. Feel free to give them a look through here.

As FitC grew, other posts garnered attention from outside sources:

What Kind of Fuckery Is This? (This post was also featured on Persephone Magazine.)
Raz This
Hammer It Home Hollywood: A Feminist Look At Thor
Little Red 90210
Today In Insulting Adverts

By 2012, FitC had fallen into a nice routine. The domain name was happily changed from the free (and ridiculously long) flaneur-in-the-city.blogspot.com to flaneurinthecity.com. Ideally, I like to feature one long text post, one Weekly Flâneur, and one Friday QuoteDay every week. For the most popular posts of 2012, check out this round-up.

I hope you will stick around, join FitC on Facebook, follow me on your Google Reader or RSS, and consider adding my blog to your Internet routine. But most important, I hope you enjoy the work you find here.

Thank you for reading!