Bucknell Magazine

How a Bucknellian transformed her passion into a blog.

Melinda Kummer Rubinstein '05 Give and take -- Alumni Experts Share Their Experience

By Melinda Kummer Rubinstein ’05 (English and studio art)

In college, I tested the waters in my first blog, with posts ranging from political rants to slices of life. After a few missteps in the Internet Wild West, where there are no rules, especially about civility, I abandoned the blog, never thinking I would return.

In spring 2009, I was back in the blogosphere reading about white dresses, DIY favors and wedding budgets in preparation for my marriage to Jason Rubinstein ’04. Blogging had come a long way since 1999. More like online magazines and less like Live Journal diary entries, these blogs showed me the successes of focused topical writing in an online format.

The writing itch resurfaced, and I started blogging about my wedding planning experience as Palindrome Bride (www.PalindromeBride.blogspot.com) in homage to our palindrome wedding date, 01/02/2010. My posts were picked up by the national wedding blog Weddingbee.com, where I was featured as a regular contributor. For nine months, I chronicled everything wedding from touching moments to gigantic DIY failures. When I posted my farewell wedding recap, I was left with a burning question: “What now?”

I took the old writing adage, “Write what you know,” and looked around my life. We had just bought a fixer-upper in Durham, N.C., and were watching several hours of This Old House a week. The Lowe’s plumbing department knew us by name. I was navigating the waters of cooking for a family and exploring the abundant farm produce in the South. We were coming into our own as a couple facing burning issues such as merging finances and cat ownership. Palindrome at Home (www.PalindromeAtHome.com) was born out of the stuff of our life. I roughly categorized our projects into Thoughts, Apron and Tool Box, then let the content flow from there.

I taught myself about purchasing domain names and storing online pictures as I took tips from my blog heroes. I hired out graphics work to improve the look and usability of my blog. I attended a BlogHer conference to network and learn from the hottest female bloggers in the country. I wrote, edited pictures and answered comments late into the night. I pushed forward with posting even during family emergencies, allowing the blogosphere to witness our woes and, in turn, to be comforted by longtime readers, now friends.

Today, Palindrome at Home gets roughly 1,200 visits per month. Building the blog certainly took hard work and dedication, but the steps were simple and merely took a leap of faith. Step 1: Find your voice. Step 2: Set up a free blog account. Step 3: Post regularly. Step 4: Keep posting.

Upon our recent move to San Francisco, I worried I would lose readers as our suburban home ownership lives took on an emphatically different, city-dweller feel. My blog friends followed right along with us as I let them in on the excitement of a cross-country drive and the challenges of turning our balcony into livable square footage. As much as our day-to-day routine has changed, the universality of this human experience remains the same. We move, we redecorate, we fail, we triumph and then we do it all again.

 

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    Through life-sized renderings of yearbook photos, painting project brings together Bucknell's past and present.
  • Open House Nov. 14 at Bucknell's Art Barn
    Bucknell University's Department of Art and Art History will host an Open House at the university's Art Barn on Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 5 to 7 p.m.
  • Meet our new associate professors
    Sixteen recently tenured or promoted associate professors talk about what led them to pursue their fields and what inspires them as teacher-scholars.
  • BILL presents 'Tea & Talk' in October
    The Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning's "Tea & Talk" program will host three afternoon events on Oct. 2, Oct. 18, and Oct. 24, exploring Uyghurland, dance and the presidential election.
  • A 'Golden View' of Art and Science
    Makoto Fujimura '83 and President John Bravman explored how technology and the arts intertwine in the Bucknell Forum event, "Creative Engagement: The Questions Science and Art Ask of Each Other," held April 3, 2012.
  • Bucknell Forum April 3: The Artist and the Engineer
    The final event in the Bucknell Forum series, "Creativity: Beyond the Box," brings together Bucknell University President John Bravman and artist Makoto Fujimura, Class of 1983.
  • 'INFLUX: Sculpture by Joe Meiser' at Samek Art Gallery
    The Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University is hosting the exhibition, "INFLUX: Sculptural Works by Joe Meiser," on display through March 29.
  • Samek Art Gallery exhibition features alumni art collection
    The Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University is hosting the exhibition, "The Sandy and John Nesbitt Collection: The Discriminating Eye at Work," through March 29.
  • Master Chinese calligrapher to speak Jan. 31
    Master Chinese calligrapher and painter Fang Zhiyuan will give a talk and demonstration of calligraphy at Bucknell Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in Trout Auditorium of the Vaughan Literature Building.
  • Blake, Bucknell and the Bible

    An exploration of the liminal spaces of the heart, the mind and faith.

  • 'Extreme Creativity' performative installation Oct. 1
    The Samek Art Gallery, The Griot Institute and the Presidential Arts Initiative at Bucknell University will host the performative installation, "Extreme Creativity: An Experiential, Experimental Endeavor," on Saturday, Oct. 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Gallery.
  • Meet Bucknell's new assistant professors
    Eleven new tenure-track faculty members describe their research interests and the ways in which they are challenging students across the disciplines.
  • Meet Bucknell's new full professors
    Seven recently promoted faculty members talk about what led them to pursue their fields and what inspires them as teacher-scholars.
  • Samek Art Gallery 'Portraits' through Oct. 2
    Two portrait exhibitions -- "The Black List Project Volumes 2 and 3: Portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders" and "Self Portraits 2002 - 2004: Photographs by Myra Greene" -- will open the fall 2011 season at the Samek Art Gallery.
  • John Hartmann '79

    John Hartmann '79 returned to Lewisburg last spring and enjoyed a full-circle moment. The art-deco murals on the walls and ceiling of the Campus Theatre that fascinated him as a student now have new life thanks to Hartmann Fine Art Conservation Services.

  • 'Street art' provides text for understanding cities
    Bastian Heinsohn, an assistant professor of German at Bucknell University, studies graffiti, or street art, in Berlin and other cities in the midst of revitalization.
  • Kristallnacht Remembrance

    Kristallnacht Remembrance