May Update
Hey everyone,
Last week, I shared this post on Instagram, with this caption:
This is a picture I’ve taken before and one I’ll probably take again. It’s a view I used to see very regularly but now only every few months or so. Ever since I moved out of Monmouth County three years ago, I feel a pit of some complicated feeling in my stomach when I come here. At first I thought it was just longing: because I do miss it. I miss the chill in the air, the breeze coming off the ocean. I miss the squawks of seagulls as background noise. I miss saying things like “I’ll meet you at the bridge” to my friends.
But I think I miss a version of this place that no longer exists. Every time I come back, there’s some new characterless monstrosity where an empty lot used to be. Some new ‘coming soon’ sign next to a patch of forest. Less restaurants I know. Less people I recognize.
It’s the feeling of seeing evidence of a place moving on, without you. A place that feels a little less like yours every time you go back.
A lot of people commented on it or messaged me to say they felt the same. A few days later, news broke that The Inkwell, a beloved shore-area institution, had closed. I hung out a lot there in my late teens and early 20s when I was home from college and looking to reconnect with friends from home. The Inkwell was one of the few (non-bar) places open late where lingering after ordering just a snack (you could order apples with peanut butter, and I frequently did) or a beverage wasn't discouraged. They had stacks of boardgames and were always blasting music. It was a place for weird art kids to go, and the fact that those places are rapidly disappearing makes me so sad.
The Inkwell was essentially a diner but it was dimly lit and didn’t have a senior special. The bathrooms were covered in stickers and profane graffiti. It used to be someone's house and it still looked like it. If not for the sign and the parking lot and the side yard with patio tables, passersby might still think it's a residence from the street. The inside maintained a house-like layout, and if you used your imagination, it was easy to figure out which rooms were bedrooms and where the living room must have been. The upstairs sometimes hosted open mic nights and shows. During the summer after my freshman year of college, I went there weekly for an improv show, sweltering in that tiny room where our legs stuck to plastic seats, but we didn't care because the comedians were good enough to distract us.
A few years ago at this point, not long into dating my boyfriend who grew up in North Jersey, I took him there because he hadn't heard of this shore-area staple. I told him, "A lot of weird things have happened to me here," and I was thinking about how one time at improv, I uncharacteristically raised my hand when they asked for a volunteer for "A Day in the Life," so they performed a skit based on the events of my day. I was thinking about how it was a place where a friendship fissured, where someone expressed disappointment in me and our bond was never the same. I was thinking about how I once played Apples to Apples with two boys I knew both liked me and they both pouted when I didn't choose their card as the funnier answer. I was thinking about how I once broke a chair there because it was old and wobbly and I sat down on it too hard. I was thinking about how it was where I exchanged Christmas gifts with a then-new boyfriend and we discovered we'd bought each other the exact same thing. I was thinking about the comically tiny spoon I got in a milkshake once, the one I fished out and cleaned off with a napkin before slipping it into my purse, the only thing I’ve ever stolen.
There was a period of time when I rarely went to The Inkwell without running into someone from high school or friends of friends or acquaintances I recognized from seeing them around. That time of my life doesn't feel like so long ago, but the last time I was there, I looked around and thought, I don't know any of these people.
RIP The Inkwell, you’ll be missed. I hope they don’t knock you down for some terrible mixed use retail space with condos above the stores, but you’re two blocks from the ocean so I’m afraid that’s exactly what is going to happen.
Anyway, here’s your monthly dose of New Jersey/photography-related distractions from Jersey Collective. Scroll down for some very exciting book event announcements!
Last month on the ‘gram
Here’s one image from each week of our April takeovers.
Actively seeking new takeover guests!
There once was a time Jersey Collective had a waiting list that was over a year long. I didn’t love that, so over the years I stopped doing the sort of outreach/promotion that led to such a long wait time. However, I currently only have one person scheduled in the next few weeks, which is an opposite and worse problem. As a result, Jersey Collective is currently “on vacation.” I could also use a bit of a break before things get really busy for me next month, but it’s mostly because I didn’t have anyone lined up due to someone cancelling last minute and didn’t feel like scrambling to find someone to take their place.
Please reach out by email (you can even reply to this!) if you’d like to give it a go. Please tell your friends! A reminder that you don’t need to be a professional photographer by any means; anyone can participate (except businesses).
Book News
New Jersey Monthly’s June issue is all about the shore, and features a great article of suggested summer reads from New Jersey authors and with New Jersey settings. I’m so happy New Jersey Fan Club made the cut! Pick up the issue, on newsstands now, to see the full article! The book is in great company, you’ll want to add a bunch of these titles to your summer reading list.
Monthly Ask
If you’ve received and read your copy of the book, would you consider leaving an Amazon and/or Goodreads review? It doesn’t matter if you bought the book from Amazon or not—you can still rate and review there if you have an account! It will take you under a minute—you can go do it right now, I’ll wait!—and it helps me and the book so much.
I’m personally do not shop with Amazon for a multitude of reasons, but I can’t deny it is a major way many people are exposed to new books.
Upcoming Events
Less than a month until our book tour! These are all the planned events so far. There are more coming, too, in other parts of the state. Each event will be a different format and feature different contributors, so I really hope you’ll plan to come to one or a few of them.
A few more events are in the works for other parts of the state in July and August, but nothing to announce just yet, stay tuned!
I’ve also scheduled some virtual and in-person lectures at libraries including Somerset County Library, Cape May County Library, and the New Jersey State Library. My library presentation is a New Jersey day trip ideas program. I gave it for the first time last week to a virtual crowd of 60 people, and they loved it! I even got an email afterwards from someone who asked if I could give the talk for her community’s women’s club. See dates and sign up here.
Attention writers:
I’m teaching a three-week book proposal class virtually for Project Write Now in July. If you have a nonfiction book idea, join us to develop it into a book proposal.
New Jersey Round-Up
I recently got a chance to read the first issue of Beach Badge, a new zine about the Jersey Shore from Eight Stone Press. You know I like place-centered publications, so I was very into this! I have a few older essays I’ve never published that fit their theme, so I’m currently debating which one to submit for their second issue. You can order the zine from their website, or pick up a copy at Asbury Book Cooperative when you come to our launch event on June 17th!
Our friends at NJSpots are doing a spring photography contest, and there are still a few days left to enter.
I’m excited to read this New Jersey-related novel that comes out tomorrow: The Shore by Katie Runde.
I loved this essay, Haters and the Garden State by Jenna Kunze.
Help me out with this section: you can submit New Jersey-related books/articles/events for consideration for future New Jersey Round-Ups here!
That’s it for now!
Thank you for supporting Jersey Collective and New Jersey Fan Club. See you next month! If you’re celebrating a holiday this weekend, I hope you have a great one.
-Kerri
@ksulphoto
@jerseycollective