It’s the end of the line and the end of an era for OK WASSUP!
I launched OK WASSUP! in 2007 while I worked with the Obama campaign and had the audacity of hope that America just might elect the first Black President of the United States. The “blog” I started was frighteningly basic and not at all aesthetically pleasing. In fact, it began on Blogspot but later transferred to the technologically-rich WordPress. Still, it provided me an opportunity to document, write about, and post photos of Barack Obama’s historic run for The White House.
After President Obama was elected and inaugurated, OK WASSUP! became an outlet to discuss political stories of the day, including Obama cabinet appointments, GOP disdain for the Democrats, the contentious fight over the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), and more. Back then, I’d frequently do more than 1 story per day — and I quickly discovered how difficult it was to produce interesting articles restricted solely to politics multiple times per week.
It was then that I decided to branch off into Current Events stories. In fact, the new tagline at that time became “OK WASSUP! – current events for a current generation.” That decision became a high point for the site, forced it to evolve from a “blog” to a working news site, and upped readership and discussion.
Soon thereafter, OK WASSUP! became global, with readers from all over America and as far away as the Middle East and beyond. The international numbers shot through the roof (some readers wrote to me that they loved our stories and were translating the articles so they could follow US news and share it with others). I recognized that the time had come to update the site to a more polished and professional look.
OK WASSUP! went through several designs and redesigns before I settled on the current style. Through the Obama years, gun violence, the shooting deaths of children in schools, the white-power Charlottesville march, the Hillary Clinton run for the presidency, the 4 years of Donald Trump, COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd, ensuing protests, and more, regular readers and commenters came and went. Everything was evolving.
Sometime thereafter, blogs began to become obsolete and were replaced with vlogs (video blogs). People preferred watching the latest stories rather than reading them. Additionally, video stories were the beginning of the end of comment sections below internet news articles. Then, as time went on, vlogs were replaced with podcasts, allowing interested parties to listen to current events stories in their car commute or on a train to work without having to read anything at all. Our chosen medium was beginning to die a slow death.
Still, we continued to press forward. The nomination of Kamala Harris and the hope that she might become the 47th President of the United States fueled a desire to keep OK WASSUP! up and running.
And then, Donald Trump happened.
Like many people I know, November 5th was the date I and others suddenly lost the desire to watch the news. It’s also the date I lost interest in scouring the internet to find stories to write about and discuss. Combine that with dwindling numbers for the “blog” concept that was going the way of the dinosaur and the writing was on the wall.
I never made a dime from my work writing this site. The work I put into it 5 times per week was exclusively a labor of love to showcase my interest in writing, as well as my love of politics and the current events of the day. However, in the days following the November 2024 election, I woke up and realized that the thrill had gone. I had no desire to write about the antics of Donald Trump (again) for another 4 years. The time had come to move on.
And so, after 17 years, OK WASSUP! will end on December 31st. We will do our traditional Christmas Eve “T’was The Night Before Christmas” video, our “Top 10 Stories of 2024,” and our New Year’s Eve Countdown clock. And then, it will end.
Because of my love for writing, instead of composing a blog 5 times a week, I intend to finally begin working on a book I’ve promised myself to write. After 17 years here, I am reminded I’m not getting any younger and I need to do what makes me happy.
I will use this final month of December to avoid politics and Trump as much as possible here. Instead, I will post as many public interest, entertainment, and current events stories as I can create. I’ll repost some of our best stories over the years — and then, we will go out with a bang as the clock turns to 2025.
I will say more about this later, but thank you to all of the readers, commenters, and participants over the years. You’ve been the engine that kept me wanting to continue creating content all this time. I couldn’t have done it without you!
-DJ
OMG Dj I didn’t expect to wake up to this after Thanksgiving.