Cherry Picker

I am a German woman in my thirties. I write about the things I like and care about and from my own personal (ergo biased) perspective — hence the name of the blog: Cherry Picker.

Analyzing and Celebrating Media

My blog will revolve around my interests and the media that I consume.

• horror films and drama
• comedy
• classic English literature
• nonfiction and contemporary fiction
• feminist authors: Sophie Passmann, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Roxane Gay and Chanel Miller

Advocating for Social Progress

I also want to use my voice to amplify and support opinions that I agree with and believe to be good, helpful, and interesting, if not truly original. I want to start out writing about these topics:

• the gender war, feminism and sex work
• the ethics of pickup artists and age gaps in dating
• women in STEM
• education
• immigration policies
• political tribalism and the rise of fascism in the West
• religious fundamentalism
• dismantling bad metaphors in debates

Learning from Life Experience and from Psychological Research

I will also give concrete advice here and there. I know it is not the humble thing to do, but I am in many ways secure in who I am and what I have to offer. You can take my advice or leave it.

• procrastination (Prof. Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl)
• body image, eating disorders and crash diets
• death and grief
• coping strategies and emotional self-regulation (Kati Morton)
• self-help, codependency and boundaries
• mantras and self-improvement
• narcissistic abuse (Dr. Ramani Durvasula)
• conflict resolution
• love, family and friendship (Erich Fromm, John Gottman)
• dating, breakups, limerence (Matthew Hussy)
• monogamy, sex and sexual health (Esther Perel, Laci Green)
• pseudo-psychology (e.g. love languages)
• pseudo-medicine (e.g. homeopathy)
• pseudo-spirituality (e.g. manifestation)

Leaving Room for Frivolous Fun

Finally, some of my blog will be lighthearted lifestyle stuff, because it is important to find enjoyment in the small things and purposefully bring fun and beauty into the lives of me and the people around me.

Therefore, I will also be writing about food, interior design, date ideas and gift giving.

My Other Hobbies and Interests

Besides these, I have interests and hobbies that do not lend themselves to be the topic of blog entries, but that will give you a more complete idea of how I spend my free time. I enjoy boxing, Zumba and indoor bouldering. I am currently learning how to juggle and how to make pottery. I do pencil drawings and paint (Easter) eggs. I sing in a church choir. I am a practicing, but reasonably skeptical Christian. 

I am a night owl and play a lot of Pokémon Go — usually while strolling through the city by night and listening to an audiobook or podcast. I love table top games and should really organize more game nights. I adore children and pets although (as you could probably tell by my list of hobbies) I have none of my own.

I struggle with being punctual. Procrastination is my most serious vice, but I also overspend and overeat. I am an omnivore. My favorite dish is Pho and I love Vietnamese food. I neither smoke nor drink — not for health or morality reasons, but because I myself do not like it. David McClelland would say I have a high need for power, I would say I am an introvert who is highly aware of power dynamics and I value my own autonomy.

I pride myself on my openness, kindness and discernment. Where I fall short of these traits, please point it out to me. I will probably feel defensive initially and take longer than you might think I should to carefully think it through, but I have changed my behavior and opinion in the past and am willing to readjust again and again to get as close to getting it right as I can.

A Note on Being Original

As is true for any person, my life as a patchwork of experiences is unique. So is my mind as the sum of my wishes, fears, opinions and values. But to write about experiences and ideas, I have to examine them one at a time. And viewed in isolation, they become more universal. Nobody likes all the same things as I do and for the same reasons, but if I were to write about why I love the film Promising Young Woman so much, you would probably find that all of it has been said before.

The Simpsons already did it. —Dougie in South Park S06E07

This realization first felt discouraging. But when I really embraced it and let it take me from cynicism all the way to nihilism, I felt liberated. Because it is not an achieveable goal, I no longer believe I have to find something that has never been done before. I allow myself to enjoy writing about what I damn well please without being self-conscious about having to have a truly original thought.

Ideas come to us. We don’t really create an idea. We just catch them, like fish. No chef ever takes credit for making the fish, it’s just preparing the fish. — director David Lynch in his 2011 interview with the American Film Institute

To me, it seems that Lynch argues that any creative‘s work is the selection (=catching) and the literary execution (=preparation) of the idea (=fish), not its creation. So, I will only concern myself with these two questions: Is this an idea that I care about? Am I presenting it to the best of my ability?

I will certainly not discard topics that matter to me in favor of more niche topics. Something that occupies my mind to the extent that I would like to write about it will probably have crossed other minds as well. And to even have inspiration, I need to have gotten some input from my environment.

That being said, I will hold myself to a certain standard by crediting my sources and not using AI except for the purpose of proofreading.