"Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it's a start." Anthony Bourdain

#WeGoAlong

F*ck you BuBu

Normally, I write these newsletters the morning we send them out. It’s a nice distraction but this week… Well, it has been a week and there is not much I can focus on besides doing whatever is needed to resolve this TikTok situation. 

My friends, we have a mission. And for the time being, an enemy. 

From leveraging contacts of people who know internal workers, to tweets, and of course your guys' support through emails, I am confident that somehow this will be resolved. It may take some time and a little bit of strategy but we won’t stop until either TikTok gets back to us or BuBu goes down. 

Honestly, just the name BuBu has become a monumental moment in our journey. On the positive side, it has a good branding ring to it.  Which is why we have decided to drop a “F*ck you BuBu” T shirt. Multiple colour ways are available on www.wegoalong.com 

Whether we need to consult legal assistance, go to the TikTok office ourselves, or hit the press, BuBu stands as an important learning lesson for Alex, myself, and all of you guys. We can’t control what happened but we can control how we respond and we plan to be loud. Again, thank you for your continued support for Alex through emailing, tweeting, and joining his live on the backup account last night (@jacquesmbackup).

A few weeks ago I asked the WGA discord about having a member from the community write an article. With no guidelines or direction, Denise sent a piece that I feel is not only well-written and insightful but fitting to the time. A simplified reminder of the good. Even when things seem bad.

#Trending

Diary of a Fan

I’m going to start off by saying that this sounds crazy, because it does. On the surface it is. I mean, I’m far from being a teenager fan-girling over the cast of Stranger Things (#TeamSteve). But here I sit, waiting for a “live” from one of my favourite TikTok creators to start.

If you told me a year ago that, not only would I be using TikTok and making TikToks (gasp!), but it would be my biggest source of entertainment and friendship, I would have told you you were crazy. But this is how I have chosen to spend my time and energy. I love it.

It’s not really about TikTok. TikTok is just a tool, a vehicle that allows these creators we love to entertain and communicate with their fans in a way that has never been done before. It allows us to be able to really get to know the creators (and their friends and families) as people, not just the images we see, or as a character an actor may portray.

But the most amazing and unexpected thing that has come out of all of this is the community. It started with seeing the same names in the chat section each time there was a live, to liking and commenting on each other’s TikToks, to direct messages and small group chats. Casual chatting about the creators turned into real, deep conversations about life. Internet friendships became real friendships.

Now we have friends all over the world. Everyone is kind and good to each other, and the love and support is amazing. We are an army of positivity and have used our power to donate to charity, and lift each other up when things are difficult. We do all of this together out of love and respect.

Out of a social media app where you can find people doing just about anything, grew a community like no other. Together, with the creators we love, we have created something special. The best community on TikTok. #WGA