Newsletter

Post KCON Existential Exhaustion

KCON & BLACKPINK concert coverage have worn me out, but it was a great time

Tamar Herman

Aug 25, 2023 — 5 min read

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Hello! I know I’m a bit late with this week’s newsletter. Please forgive me, as the early part of this week was dedicated to first All Things KCON and then covering Blackpink’s show in San Francisco.

I arrived back in NYC Thursday morning, a week after leaving from JFK to LA for KCON and then heading up to SF the following Monday. It’s Friday now, and I am so tired I’m barely able to get up to make coffee, let alone form a cohesive newsletter. It’s after 2pm EST, and I just am opening my laptop for the first time, which is unthinkable typically for me.

It’d be right to assume that I’m exhausted from attending the three-day KCON, all day for the convention and then concerts at night, and then another concert two days later. But being a writer who often covers events, I’ve learned that physically I can power through a lot more than I ever thought possible when it comes to covering events. It’s the struggle of the craft that on occasion absolutely drains me, especially when on deadline. So being on three rather tight turnaround deadlines for a variety of outlets have left me drained, and I kind of just want to go to sleep for ages and refresh these poor brain cells.

Screenshot of Tiktok with Taemin saying "So without my belt, it's gonna come all the way down" — Definitely among the top most random things a star has ever told me about

Nowadays, we take the written word for advantage. In schools we’re all taught to write, and then many of us spend our days dealing in some way or another with text, whether it’s talking with friends in messenger apps, engaging with social media, or simply just existing in the world. I learned when I was young that when I was nauseous in the back seat of my mom’s car that no looking out the window was one of the worst things, because my already-dizzied brain was trying to catch up with the signs speeding past us, and it was just making me feel even more uncomfortable. Words are all around us, and they take effort to get there.

A common thing I hear when I tell people that I’m a professional writer is that they can do that too. Everyone knows how to put words down on paper, but it’s pretty dismissive when you consider that writing is a skill in its own right, and like all work, it expends energy. I’ve heard over the years from friends working in less creative professions that they’re envious I can just spend my days writing, and doing things like brainstorm while cleaning my apartment, or taking a walk, or running errands. But that all is part of the job too, since the Brain is Always On, and this event-writing relay of mine has been a very rude wake up call that maybe I need to pace myself when it comes to these sort of work marathons in the future.

I used to be proud of being able to bang out quality reporting with speed, and I still am. But it’s been a while since I powered out a few major event coverage stories in the span of three days, and it’s making me pause and consider the state of how we consume and create content. Each of my editors, rightly, wanted a review to run no later than the day after the event, either KCON or Blackpink. Was it particularly necessary to get things turned in in 12 hours? The news cycle is so fast and demanding, it often leads to diminished returns. I don’t think I particularly overextended myself, as while I was writing these stories I barely contemplated the effort. But like a sigh of relief, one I sent the final draft over on Wednesday, I felt such a weight press on my body; it wasn’t pressure, it was the response to slow it down until the next such push.

So I did. I went with my friend I was staying with and a relative of hers to go explore San Francisco’s sights. We saw the Golden Gate bridge, and a cute little sea lion swimming all on its own. We got a delicious lunch (I’m a sucker for watermelon salad with mint, definitely my summer fave!), and then went to Alamo Square and just chilled on the grass, looking out over the cityscape. After almost a week of go go go followed by write write write, it was exactly what I needed.

I still am pretty exhausted, but I know after this weekend of not writing (hopefully!) I’ll be back to feeling like a human again, and get back to working on some projects, and hopefully get my newsletter out on Monday as a prefer. I have a lot to talk about KCON beyond the articles I previously wrote, so I probably will be dropping some thoughts about the event in that newsletter, so please stay tuned!

So, what have I been working on exactly?

Grammy.com 9 Thrilling Moments From KCON 2023 L.A.: Stray Kids, RIIZE, Taemin & More

Los Angeles Magazine KCON Descends on Los Angeles: On the Ground for the Gathering of K-Entertainment's Buzziest

SFGate Blackpink fell in love with San Francisco at sold-out Oracle Park show

Harper’s Bazaar Singapore

Taeyong of NCT, IVE, WayV

Taemin and Lightsum