Once upon a time, at the exact same table where I’m currently sitting to write this post, I set out upon my first foray into blogging. I made an account on Blogspot — which has since turned into Blogger — and chose a blog name that would end up sticking with me for the next x (x > 7) years: 735WishesandMiracles.

Don’t hold your breath on finding any cringe-worthy teenage angst from those early years. In a brilliant moment of foresight several years ago, I got rid of my Blogspot/Blogger account before permanently moving residence to Tumblr. My Tumblr is very easily accessible on my blog right now, so I’ll let you do the adventuring yourself.

That same blog name, however, stuck with me through my main Tumblr years, from 2010 to 2015, and even hung around as I moved homes again to WordPress in 2015.

Keeping the teenage, Tumblr-esque name as a college student trying to start a personal blog was, I know, a little odd. But I’d chosen to keep it for sentimental reasons. I like holding onto keepsakes and mementos, so it only made sense that I would keep a name that had stuck with me for so many years and did have some meaning behind its frivolity.

It was only in the past couple months that I decided to finally let the name go.

Although it’d meant a lot to me in middle and high school, it no longer felt a part of my post-grad self. For most people in my generation, the words “wish” and “miracle” tend to come wrapped in several layers of sarcasm and salt. While I wouldn’t say that I’ve completely adopted these cynical perspectives, college does tend to make you more jaded than when you were just a high school student.

My blog’s new name debuted after I took it through a much-needed facelift. Please welcome to At the Table. 

It was, admittedly, a reluctant debut. I hesitated another two weeks before removing the old 735 name from the actual URL that linked to my blog… Now a few weeks out, I’d like to think that my blog is slowly earning its right to this new name. (At least, I hope it is…)

Traditionally, you eat food at the [dinner] table. As someone who has long since given up denying the fact that I basically run a food Instagram with the occasional smattering of an actual human, I wanted to capture my passion for food and the shared experiences it could create: The best conversations are held over food. The conversations I have during meals — whether it’s with a large group of people or with just one other individual — are often some of my fondest memories.

Food invites us to share memories evoked by the food on hand (or rather, in mouth), and it also gives us the opportunity to share our backgrounds and cultures with each other. Food can be an experience that’s easily both universal and intimate.

However, you can bring more than just food to the table. You can also bring conversations metaphorically to the table, creating and opening a space in which you and others can feel welcome and safe to have dialogues about potentially difficult topics.

One of my goals is to be able to provide others — family, friends, as well as those more distant from me — a space in which they feel comfortable to voice their opinions and share their thoughts. Even if our perspectives differ and we disagree on many fronts, I hope that I, on the space of my blog and in person, can encourage this type of dialogue.

Thanks for reading!