<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[I'm With The (Boy) Band]]></title><description><![CDATA[Is Real Love Possible In Reality TV?]]></description><link>https://www.erickirbywrites.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:28:10 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.erickirbywrites.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Neon, Noise, and Complete Chaos: What Teen-Me Thought MTV Spring Break Meant for My Future]]></title><description><![CDATA[Neon, Noise, and Complete Chaos: What Teen-Me Thought MTV Spring Break Meant for My Future Picture the scene. It's sometime in the early 2000s. You're fourteen, sitting on the rust-colored carpet of your family room, staring up at a bulky cathode-ray TV that hums faintly and throws off enough static electricity to give you a shock if you drag your feet. Outside that room there's school. Homework. Family. The general, grinding awkwardness of being a teenager. Then you flip over to MTV. And the...]]></description><link>https://www.erickirbywrites.com/post/neon-noise-and-complete-chaos-what-teen-me-thought-mtv-spring-break-meant-for-my-future</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6ac130992291ee73d35c9e1f</guid><pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:47:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/13a015_d41aef8ffc034033bacc6e0baabd3474~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_834,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>dashkirby</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Lost Art of Mixtapes]]></title><description><![CDATA[There was a time when telling someone I made you a playlist required considerably more commitment. You couldn't search for ten songs, drag them into order, hit Share, and send the whole thing across the country in four seconds. You needed equipment. You needed blank tapes. You needed patience. And depending on how seriously you took it, you might need an entire afternoon. I still remember my yellow Sony Walkman and the shoebox full of mixtapes I made for myself — tapes for certain moods,...]]></description><link>https://www.erickirbywrites.com/post/the-lost-art-of-mixtapes</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa3aefbf448a9cd17b2a79c</guid><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:44:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/13a015_849002014b5a417aa82b0ddd4e57ea75~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>dashkirby</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>