“Cerebral Thunder in one way conversations” is the first thing you see when you click on skepticalteen, the tumblr blog of Townsend Harris senior Teresa Ng.
Tumblr is a social media outlet centered around blogs. These blogs fit into various categories such as fandom, food, political, art, and aesthetic blogs. Teresa has been running her blog since middle school and over time it has developed into an “aesthetic photography/art based [blog].”
Although most social media outlets rely heavily on original content, Tumblr blogs are a hodge podge of what the blogger finds appealing, sometimes coming together to have a cohesive theme, sometimes not. Teresa “doesn’t post anything original anymore” although she has “some quality posts floating around the internet.”
Teresa describes her aesthetic blog as featuring “nature, fashion, art, cats, [and] travel-type posts,” although not all of them correlate necessarily in subject matter. A light pink background pulls together the soft color scheme of each post. The blog itself is photo based; there are little to no text posts or words outside the pictures, adding to her minimalistic approach.
Her blog highlights the beauty of life; the awe inspiring sights, the delicious food, the simple elegance of each post all act as food for the soul, devoured by our eyes that are so used to listlessly viewing tests and textbooks.
Tumblr’s reblog system allows even the most random post to gain a lot of attention. Teresa’s most popular post is a picture of ice cream, with some 700 notes.
THHS students especially will notice the calming serenity inspired by Teresa’s blog. Whether it’s a single rose held before a white background, big green leaves stretching across the frame, or a picture of some far away sunset, her blogs make us want to be our most creative and adventurous selves.
Different aspects of Teresa’s blog appeals to its viewers. For sophomore Julia Dolega, it is the coloration involved. “The profile’s pictures all have light colors…no bright colors, [and] they all have a similar theme,” she states.
Freshman Awestaa Zia became similarly inspired to engage in photography, saying, “when I see an image of nature, I’m inspired to capture an image like that myself.”
For Teresa, it’s the diversity of tumblr that makes it special compared to other social media platforms. “Their interests range, and you can tell based on the posts itself.” On tumblr, “you’ll find a lot of original art and poetry with no censoring whatsoever…. [This creates] some of the best work you’ll see,” she concludes.
