Here We Go

An invitation to impolite discourse.

One of the things beef comes from. This one is named Tyrone.

Here we go. Probably as usual too late to the party, I’m finally starting the stack that a lot of you have encouraged.

If you find your way here, it’s probably because you’re already aware of my existence from the comment threads of a dozen or so COVID-related substacks, or maybe you’re reading this in the future when I’m incredibly famous or dead or in jail. Yes, those are the only three options.

You will hopefully find my articles here more substantial than the majority of my comments in that they will be more than a two-sentence hurling of sarcasm or profanity. These will be like those longer ones that have (maybe) kept me teetering on the right side of “she is/isn’t a complete waste of space” in your mind.

Let’s get down to introduction-post business.

1. What will you write about?

Answering this question is the reason I didn’t start a substack sooner. I don’t feel that I have a particularly privileged or valuable voice in desperate need of a platform: I don’t have a substantial social or professional network of any kind, I don’t have any kind of status in the broader world, I don’t have any credentials or titles likely to matter to most people, probably including you.

I have some fairly original thoughts and an abundance of education, both formal and autodidactic, that have encouraged some of you that I respect to encourage me to start a stack. I’ve also become increasingly aware of a growing resurgent need in me to have a creative outlet and a disciplined, productive reason to write that is purely for the audiences I want, rather than (as is largely the case these days) writing other people’s words for them to audiences I don’t care about.

I like reductive thinking WHEN IT IS USEFUL. I’ve tried to distill “what are you interested in writing and talking about?” into the simplest possible answer as I feel that concision is one of the greatest casualties of modern communication. I pondered all the different specific areas that I could conceivably write something worth reading about, and tried to work out what they all had in common with 100% certainty.

Power.

I’m fascinated by power. It’s just that simple. The global mass formation around COVID-19 biofascism is an unprecedented shift and exercise in power that is, depending on your age, a singular historical event. My interest, feelings, and ideas about COVID are far more centered on how it relates to the exercise of power than on the biomedical areas, where I do not feel qualified to make any meaningful statements not better made by cats and their contemporaries (yes, every one of those is a separate link to a substack you probably already read! You’re welcome!) elsewhere backed by arguments rooted in data and research that I am far less confident in claiming authority on.

I will certainly talk a lot about power as it relates to the global crisis of authoritarianism that is the COVID-19 pandemic.

But I’m fascinated by the dynamics of power in a lot of other ways, and always have been. I’m going to talk a lot about psychological warfare, psychological operations, persuasive writing such as marketing and propaganda, the so-called “compliance science,” interviewing and interrogation, and so on.

I’ll probably also talk about interpersonal conflicts big and small, from screaming matches to “mutual combat” to criminal violence to warfare.

But I’ll talk about other things, too.

I love teaching, so I’ll be sharing things that I’ve learned or things that I’m frequently asked to explain or teach. Some will relate to the above topics, some will not. I believe written media is at its most compelling, entertaining, and influencing when it is a comfortable routine punctuated by delightful random surprises.

I will absolutely write about other random shit, too, from jokes I’ve heard to musings on the violently stupid nature of chickens. It will mostly be nice, structured, long-form articles with the occasional fart joke or book review or picture of poop with a Biden reference.

I also want to talk to you.

I intend to make posts that will be challenges to debate, in the comments, an important rhetorical, logical, or philosophical issue that I think we all care about. I will ask your opinions about shit. I may even ask your advice, because some of you are very much not stupid. I will respond to direct questions and comments.

I think that about covers it.

2. Will You Charge?

I intend to open the stack up to paid subs, the minimum $5/month that all the stacks I read do. This is for a few reasons:

• I could definitely use the money.

• If it is substantial enough, it motivates/allows me to spend more time creating further content that I would otherwise need to spend gainfully elsewhere.

• I will still offer “core” content for free.

I will never require paid subscription to comment. I am mainly creating a payment option so that, in theory, I could offer substantial content every day of the week to paid subscribers with enough support, with one main, anchor article weekly that will always be free.

I also intend to, down the line, offer cool merch around funny/interesting things. Maybe even run contests for custom stuff. I have a good creative team I work with for boring shit that would love to design T-shirts with rude words or butts on them, for instance.

Also, regardless of whether it appears as paid or free content, everything on this substack may be reproduced, shared, and copied freely. I would request proper attribution when possible.

3. Who Are You?

I’m a 40-something woman living in Pennsylvania with my husband and best friend/adopted brother. We live on a 10-acre farm where we raise meat hogs and cows as well as chickens. My husband is transitioning from a career in cybersecurity to trucking.

We moved away from NYC, where I was born and raised, in the past year for our collective mental health. We lost the vast majority of our friends over lockdown/mask/vaccine ideological differences and our community was decimated by lockdowns and economic collapse and we felt there was nothing left for us there.

I have an educational and professional background in applied psychology, social work and social services, English education, Japanese, marketing, copywriting and editing, brand strategy, and management consulting. I hold graduate degrees and formal training/experience in all of these. I say this simply to distinguish what has paid my bills for the past few decades from the things I do as hobbies and that I feel qualified to speak with some authority on those topics.

Outside of my professional background, I hunt and shoot with rifles, shotguns, and pistols and have some very basic skills in firearm maintenance. I’ve been a safety and marksmanship instructor now and then. I handle most of the operations on our family farm and mainly serve as “labor foreman” to the rest of the family. I’m a passionate cook and highly value good housekeeping.

I trained in several unarmed and armed martial arts when I was younger and was briefly competitive. I’m not as physically fit or disciplined as I used to be and am working on that.

I’m a voracious reader and typically get through a 200-page book in a week or so. Sometimes two.

I highly value privacy. I will scrupulously avoid sharing directly top-level personally-identifying information on here and pictures will probably exclude my face. I deeply respect the privacy of others, including those I disagree with.

4. Parting shots.

I’m really looking forward to creating value for everyone who shows up, in creating good dialogues and, hopefully, improving people’s lives in the same way that my own favorite Substacks have been invaluable for my mental and intellectual health.

Unlike other complete shit-filled lies you have been told, in this particular instance, we are, in fact, all in this together.