How did it all start? One very rainy/thunderstormy loud night in April’s Baltimore apartment this past July, April and Rachel set out to write a few penultimate lists, exchange a few last things, listen to some old songs, reminisce and story-tell, and, of course, find ways to fight the moonlit hours and impending departure of Rachel! What was hatched in this sad-but-fun-and-brilliant summer end-all brainstorm was a plot to create a jointly accessed blog to be shared by both best friends even as they traverse terrestrial barriers. Hence was born, ((jetset))BF!
How it got its name is an entirely different story we are quite prepared to tell! The jetset part is quite simple — it’s an ode to Rachel on the bound as she embarks on graduate school in Prague (more on that below). And the BF part is multifaceted, you see — Rachel and April are indeed best friends (commonly known as “bfs”), but they are also known, in other monikers, as Bernstein and Finklestein (respectively). These names were borne out of April’s father’s mistaken reference to Belle and Sebastian (whom he named Bernstein and Finklestein) and were reappropriated by the best friends when in need of fun names to use on a mini-golf scorecard the summer before their senior year in art school.
What is ((jetset))BF? What is its mission?
JetsetBF is a web/word/sound/picture (still and moving) blog co-authored by two best friends and homo-social life partners, April and Rachel Bernstein-Finklestein. Although it is co-authored, it is written as if there is only one writer since, indeed, many of the thoughts, opinions, and experiences are shared among the writers. But, more importantly, it is written with one voice since it is meant to document the experience of one partnership even as its partners are physically separated by the Atlantic ocean. JetsetBF was created in honor of the tradition of list-making (for more information, read first blog: “A Polemic on Listmaking) and was intended to document the trans-coastal experiences of the bf’s as Rachel embarks on grad school in the Czech Republic and as April continues to live in Baltimore and embark on the quest for “what’s next…” (a scary quest, indeed).
Comments are very welcome! As is your correspondence, please send mail to: jetsetbf@gmail.com
