Your writing always touches me. It’s so insightful and beautifully written. I have very little extra money right now but I believe your perspective is so valuable that I subscribed. I hope others will too—you deserve the following.
Yeah, this was good- just called into the other room and told my son you did another really good one, and really need more subscribers. He said ok. We both think you couldn’t have a better name 😏
How did you know I needed to see this? 😅 I literally just lost a paid subscriber right after hitting the publish button an hour ago, so I’m counting you and your son as my official “replacement committee.” Please tell him his “ok” is now on the record as a board vote of confidence. I’ll keep trying to earn that “really good one” every time I hit publish man.
Xavier, I think what you are doing is very difficult, in addition to VERY important and very good, partly because (it appears from the 'outside' at least) your potential audience is a fraction of the general public (perhaps shouldn't be true, but is). Perhaps this is true of ANY serious writing. But your content (not tone or message) is hard to access for people not in the top 10% of active literacy (however, this may well be true for substack generally).
But your disparate content (what I've sampled of it, focused on what is important, minority related, and yet NOT fairly represented or represented at all, in MSM - forgive this crude generalization?) is generally more complex to assess and assimilate into a trend or consumable actionable picture, than, say, Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American; author, history prof), or even Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse, former federal prosecutor; author, law prof). I mention these two because they demonstrate several strategies for constructive substack success (great 'packaging' and communication in addition to great and actionable content). Also mention them because I think you are working on joining that 'class'.
They are both good in giving a thread of meaning to each bit, and in limiting the threads per piece, I would say. KISS principle. This would tend to be a missing part of salience in, say, a bare listing of important unreported events... particularly for the majority of busy or average or tired readers, even though this alone would have merit and forms a very important growing repository. So I appreciate your 'voice over' or narration of what you choose to include.
Have to say, substack has rapidly become very rich and competitive. Seems one must continue to grow in scope and the integration of timely, locally actionable information with one's own unique voice and experience. But also expect that for most there will be a difficult multiyear journeyman period as one tries to learn what 'algorithm' wins the attention vote in an everchanging attention economy. (As has another respondent here, I've thought of trying to write regularly, but I know I can't do what you do, so I comment.)
Part of what I enjoyed about your last bit was how much some your thinking about media reflected my own - but that is a caution as much as subjective praise, since neither of us are typical. Most people will want to know about things that relate to THEIR own situation, not your own (or not for long) so there can be hard limits to a relevance of anyone's unique life for ANY one audience, but particularly for reaching the 'bigger tent', and particularly if one has a repeat readership. Not sure I've made a thread for my own thoughts here, but I'm keen on your voice and success, but expect you know there is typically a tough period before anyone blows-up, and that period is one of the most valuable for the writer's eventual accomplishments.
My son has ADD (like half of the iphone gen?) and struggles to read unless I read something < 1min to him. But he's sharp, concerned, and 22 (half a century younger than me), working in a food pantry IN wisconsin, and thinking through what he'll do when ICE comes, since he is in charge on the day most immigrants come through. (So I subscribed for him in case he forgot!) Might help others too, to keep his needs and capacity in mind as you write; you know LOTS of things he needs to know.
Lastly, for getting out of my bubble, The Guardian is indeed good, also increasingly appreciate other curations like Ground News (love the many links to global sources for single news items), or the Everything Briefing (Jacob Redman on substack).
Mike, man lemme tell you this one landed. I could feel you pattin me on the back and also circling in red all the places I’m making this harder than it needs to be for anybody who isn’t already in the media-nerd top 10%. The Heather / Joyce thing does make sense: it’s not that they’re “smarter,” it’s that they pick one thread, pull it all the way through, and let tired people hang on. I do know I stack too many threads because my head is noisy and I’m trying to drag the whole web out at once.
I laughed at “Harvard-trained statistician ;)” because that’s exactly the dude I need telling me, “you and I are not the median reader, man.” Your son in Wisconsin is in my head now: sharp, distracted, worried about ICE walking through the door, giving me maybe 45–60 seconds before his brain taps out. If I can make him feel seen and less alone instead of lectured, then I’m getting closer to what this is supposed to be. I’m grateful you’re paying to watch me stumble through this journeyman phase in public, and I really do mean it when I say: keep sending notes like this, even when they sting a little on the first read.
Your combination of raw honesty, sheer intelligence, and gorgeous writing has brought tears to my eyes and won me over. You're now my first paid subscription on Substack. When my ship comes in, I'll upgrade to that higher level. Meanwhile, I'll be doing my all to get you in front of more people. You deserve thousands of readers, fr fr.
Oh wow, Stephanie… I’m kinda just staring at the screen right now trying to figure out how to respond without messing it up. 😅 To be somebody’s first paid subscription on Substack feels… wild, like I just got handed a responsibility I’ve been asking for but still don’t feel fully ready for. “Raw honesty” and “gorgeous writing” is the sort of thing I usually assume people say about other folks, not the retired cop in the corner over here tapping on a keyboard.
When you say you’ll do your all to get this in front of more people, that hits me even harder than the money part, honestly. I don’t take lightly that you’re spending real dollars and real emotional energy on this little beacon we’re building. So thank you, truly, for betting on me this early, ship or no ship or whatever. I’m gonna do everything I can to keep earning what you just wrote here, even on the days when a brothas hands are shaking over the “publish” button.
Thank you for today’s post. Having subscribed for a few months now, I’m never disappointed in your topics or observations. Today’s history lesson, connecting the dots from Murrow to the denigration of present-day journalists in the Oval Office, made clear how much truth has been (and continues to be) sacrificed at the altar of profit and short attention spans.
I’m in that spot of having more than enough interest in your writing to be a paid subscriber, but not enough funds to back it up, so for now, I have to stick with the free subscription, but know that I religiously restack the creators I follow tightly every single day.
I have three paid subscriptions, I’ve been with HCR for many years now (emailed newsletters), and didn’t realize until this summer that Substack was this huge community all on its own. The other two I found this year on here and YT and I’ve stretched myself as far as I dare to money-wise for now.
I thought maybe I could give myself a go on here, but my day job (Professor) is 7 days a week, 9 months out of the year and doesn’t leave me much down time for creating posts during the semesters. I have 40-something subscribers, but I haven’t enabled paid subscriptions yet because I don’t feel right asking for money, when most of my page is the occasional original post and daily restacks.
If I were writing every day, it would be different, so I know the drive behind your work, the self doubt, and the joys of seeing someone subscribe to you and stick around even with a free subscription.
I’ll do everything I can to push your voice out so you can hit your stride. All my best. ❤️🕊️
I started years ago with HCR also. She is now so wildly successful, that I’m reallocating that subscription money to Xplisset. He is or should be a rising star.
Wow, Diane, that’s incredibly generous and thank you.
I gotta admit I flinched when I first saw that because Heather’s work is a North Star for me. I’m definitely not trying to be a replacement, just trying to add one clear voice and earn your trust one post at a time.I’ll treat your support like stewardship—hold me to receipts, fairness, and heart, and tell me when I miss. I won’t take a dime for granted. And thank you for your paid support in my push to elevate this work.
With a limited income, my choices are very finite. HCR has been launched into success and rightly so. Now it’s your turn. Keep writing and keep mining the deeper truths.
I've been reading your substack for about two months now (for free) and this morning I subscribed at the annual rate ($80.) Your perspective and your honesty provide me with much needed clarity in this world of "sensationized bullshit."
Xaiviar, While I don’t believe I’m your intended audience, nonetheless, somehow I’ve wandered into your space and find myself sitting down to listen. I’m an old white woman wondering what’s happened to my deeply flawed, but, once hopeful country. We’ve been monetized, patronized, and manipulated into betraying our own vision. Thank you for being one of the clarion voices cutting through the cloud of disinformation. “Brainwashed” was the piece that pried a paid subscription out of me. You write beautifully & honestly. Thank you.
Your writing always touches me. It’s so insightful and beautifully written. I have very little extra money right now but I believe your perspective is so valuable that I subscribed. I hope others will too—you deserve the following.
Yeah, this was good- just called into the other room and told my son you did another really good one, and really need more subscribers. He said ok. We both think you couldn’t have a better name 😏
How did you know I needed to see this? 😅 I literally just lost a paid subscriber right after hitting the publish button an hour ago, so I’m counting you and your son as my official “replacement committee.” Please tell him his “ok” is now on the record as a board vote of confidence. I’ll keep trying to earn that “really good one” every time I hit publish man.
Xavier, I think what you are doing is very difficult, in addition to VERY important and very good, partly because (it appears from the 'outside' at least) your potential audience is a fraction of the general public (perhaps shouldn't be true, but is). Perhaps this is true of ANY serious writing. But your content (not tone or message) is hard to access for people not in the top 10% of active literacy (however, this may well be true for substack generally).
But your disparate content (what I've sampled of it, focused on what is important, minority related, and yet NOT fairly represented or represented at all, in MSM - forgive this crude generalization?) is generally more complex to assess and assimilate into a trend or consumable actionable picture, than, say, Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American; author, history prof), or even Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse, former federal prosecutor; author, law prof). I mention these two because they demonstrate several strategies for constructive substack success (great 'packaging' and communication in addition to great and actionable content). Also mention them because I think you are working on joining that 'class'.
They are both good in giving a thread of meaning to each bit, and in limiting the threads per piece, I would say. KISS principle. This would tend to be a missing part of salience in, say, a bare listing of important unreported events... particularly for the majority of busy or average or tired readers, even though this alone would have merit and forms a very important growing repository. So I appreciate your 'voice over' or narration of what you choose to include.
Have to say, substack has rapidly become very rich and competitive. Seems one must continue to grow in scope and the integration of timely, locally actionable information with one's own unique voice and experience. But also expect that for most there will be a difficult multiyear journeyman period as one tries to learn what 'algorithm' wins the attention vote in an everchanging attention economy. (As has another respondent here, I've thought of trying to write regularly, but I know I can't do what you do, so I comment.)
Part of what I enjoyed about your last bit was how much some your thinking about media reflected my own - but that is a caution as much as subjective praise, since neither of us are typical. Most people will want to know about things that relate to THEIR own situation, not your own (or not for long) so there can be hard limits to a relevance of anyone's unique life for ANY one audience, but particularly for reaching the 'bigger tent', and particularly if one has a repeat readership. Not sure I've made a thread for my own thoughts here, but I'm keen on your voice and success, but expect you know there is typically a tough period before anyone blows-up, and that period is one of the most valuable for the writer's eventual accomplishments.
My son has ADD (like half of the iphone gen?) and struggles to read unless I read something < 1min to him. But he's sharp, concerned, and 22 (half a century younger than me), working in a food pantry IN wisconsin, and thinking through what he'll do when ICE comes, since he is in charge on the day most immigrants come through. (So I subscribed for him in case he forgot!) Might help others too, to keep his needs and capacity in mind as you write; you know LOTS of things he needs to know.
Lastly, for getting out of my bubble, The Guardian is indeed good, also increasingly appreciate other curations like Ground News (love the many links to global sources for single news items), or the Everything Briefing (Jacob Redman on substack).
Mike, man lemme tell you this one landed. I could feel you pattin me on the back and also circling in red all the places I’m making this harder than it needs to be for anybody who isn’t already in the media-nerd top 10%. The Heather / Joyce thing does make sense: it’s not that they’re “smarter,” it’s that they pick one thread, pull it all the way through, and let tired people hang on. I do know I stack too many threads because my head is noisy and I’m trying to drag the whole web out at once.
I laughed at “Harvard-trained statistician ;)” because that’s exactly the dude I need telling me, “you and I are not the median reader, man.” Your son in Wisconsin is in my head now: sharp, distracted, worried about ICE walking through the door, giving me maybe 45–60 seconds before his brain taps out. If I can make him feel seen and less alone instead of lectured, then I’m getting closer to what this is supposed to be. I’m grateful you’re paying to watch me stumble through this journeyman phase in public, and I really do mean it when I say: keep sending notes like this, even when they sting a little on the first read.
😉😊
Harvard trained statistician…;)
Your combination of raw honesty, sheer intelligence, and gorgeous writing has brought tears to my eyes and won me over. You're now my first paid subscription on Substack. When my ship comes in, I'll upgrade to that higher level. Meanwhile, I'll be doing my all to get you in front of more people. You deserve thousands of readers, fr fr.
Oh wow, Stephanie… I’m kinda just staring at the screen right now trying to figure out how to respond without messing it up. 😅 To be somebody’s first paid subscription on Substack feels… wild, like I just got handed a responsibility I’ve been asking for but still don’t feel fully ready for. “Raw honesty” and “gorgeous writing” is the sort of thing I usually assume people say about other folks, not the retired cop in the corner over here tapping on a keyboard.
When you say you’ll do your all to get this in front of more people, that hits me even harder than the money part, honestly. I don’t take lightly that you’re spending real dollars and real emotional energy on this little beacon we’re building. So thank you, truly, for betting on me this early, ship or no ship or whatever. I’m gonna do everything I can to keep earning what you just wrote here, even on the days when a brothas hands are shaking over the “publish” button.
Thank you for today’s post. Having subscribed for a few months now, I’m never disappointed in your topics or observations. Today’s history lesson, connecting the dots from Murrow to the denigration of present-day journalists in the Oval Office, made clear how much truth has been (and continues to be) sacrificed at the altar of profit and short attention spans.
I’m in that spot of having more than enough interest in your writing to be a paid subscriber, but not enough funds to back it up, so for now, I have to stick with the free subscription, but know that I religiously restack the creators I follow tightly every single day.
I have three paid subscriptions, I’ve been with HCR for many years now (emailed newsletters), and didn’t realize until this summer that Substack was this huge community all on its own. The other two I found this year on here and YT and I’ve stretched myself as far as I dare to money-wise for now.
I thought maybe I could give myself a go on here, but my day job (Professor) is 7 days a week, 9 months out of the year and doesn’t leave me much down time for creating posts during the semesters. I have 40-something subscribers, but I haven’t enabled paid subscriptions yet because I don’t feel right asking for money, when most of my page is the occasional original post and daily restacks.
If I were writing every day, it would be different, so I know the drive behind your work, the self doubt, and the joys of seeing someone subscribe to you and stick around even with a free subscription.
I’ll do everything I can to push your voice out so you can hit your stride. All my best. ❤️🕊️
I started years ago with HCR also. She is now so wildly successful, that I’m reallocating that subscription money to Xplisset. He is or should be a rising star.
Wow, Diane, that’s incredibly generous and thank you.
I gotta admit I flinched when I first saw that because Heather’s work is a North Star for me. I’m definitely not trying to be a replacement, just trying to add one clear voice and earn your trust one post at a time.I’ll treat your support like stewardship—hold me to receipts, fairness, and heart, and tell me when I miss. I won’t take a dime for granted. And thank you for your paid support in my push to elevate this work.
With a limited income, my choices are very finite. HCR has been launched into success and rightly so. Now it’s your turn. Keep writing and keep mining the deeper truths.
I've been reading your substack for about two months now (for free) and this morning I subscribed at the annual rate ($80.) Your perspective and your honesty provide me with much needed clarity in this world of "sensationized bullshit."
Xaiviar, While I don’t believe I’m your intended audience, nonetheless, somehow I’ve wandered into your space and find myself sitting down to listen. I’m an old white woman wondering what’s happened to my deeply flawed, but, once hopeful country. We’ve been monetized, patronized, and manipulated into betraying our own vision. Thank you for being one of the clarion voices cutting through the cloud of disinformation. “Brainwashed” was the piece that pried a paid subscription out of me. You write beautifully & honestly. Thank you.