Morning Comrades!
I got a little personal in last week’s patreon-only email and thanks to circumstances beyond my control that is going to have to continue a little today. Whilst in no shape or form looking for or wanting to create any weird-hollywood-esque sympathy waves, a few things need to be said.
Before that though, as with every week, a brand new Weekly Jams.
I have absolutely no idea what in the cross jumping christ went on last week, music wise at least, but here we are - and I mean that in a very positive sense of the word, this weeks playlist is just all over the place. At one point I got stuck on a day long vibe of super rare 12inch remixes and so they’re in here, I clearly had a “rap” day somewhere along the way, my weekly “new releases” were insanely good and then, as per usual I zoned out in various interpretations of post-punk - which is a very broad spectrum in my case. So here we are, Weekly Jams 148 is longer than usual but hot damn, so worth your time.
God Damn Capitalism
I am sure most of you have at one point read a tweet or a shared tweet that went something along the lines of: x% of people are one unfortunate event away from being broke. I know I have and lo and behold that’s me today. Culturally speaking, this is not something that is something I was raised to bring up in public, blame the weird English-stiff-upper-lip nonsense mixed with whatever Calvinist/Prussian vibes I have picked up here in Germany over the last 16 years but, here we are, and seeing that I preach transparency over most other virtues guess it is my time now.
It’s nothing utterly dramatic to be sure but I have been in panic / flight / crisis mode for a few days to resolve this issue. This newsletter here has an option to support this work which many of you do, around 100 to be exact and that pays for my rent, which is wonderful. The fuckening did however raise its ugly head once again and I am left in somewhat of a pickle that needs resolving and resolving soon - and whilst no effort is spared to make that happen via work I figured I would offer the option to everyone to throw in a little to my own personal rescue fund without having to commit to a monthly subscription - something I realize might be a little off-putting. Again, this is by no means a weird attempt to coax anyone out of anything by telling a weird sop-story, I’ll leave that to Hollywood, but if you like this work here and feel like sending a “fuck yeah thank you” tip my way, you can do so below.
That reality has also led me to think about the patreon-style option on this newsletter. As you know you can decide to support this work here with a 10USD monthly subscription. I get around 7USD a month from that after substack takes their cut plus whatever bank fees etc. - however, and again, for the sake of transparency I wanted to open this part of this project up for debate and your input. With this subscription you get an extra dispatch a week, free art and a discount code on merch. Whilst I depend on that money there is an undoubted pang of guilt for restricting access to information, as a matter of principle. In an ideal world that pay-wall wouldn’t exist but without that money I would have to do a lot more shifts at work to cover that cash, meaning less work here, hence the title of this subsection.
But what to do about it? Drop the paywall? Make it cheaper? This is where you come in - what do want? Access to it all? No monthly subscriptions? Let’s hear it! I want to make this work for everyone and am open to whatever makes most sense for everyone, including myself here and the least amount of barriers to knowledge and experience is what I am aiming for here- please feel free to comment below or if you want to chat privately, please feel free to reply to this email.
News From The Void
Aside from the fuckening up above there is heaps to talk about, of course, with the world or rather our very self-destructive social constructs doing exactly what they say on the tin.
A few words about Sri Lanka, again, I am sure you have seen the pictures - I truthfully do not know enough about what happened, why and by whom to say anything at this stage. What I do know is that there is a massive operation afoot to spread information, not much of it I trust and that there are cultural and social nuances at play that I knwo very little off. I am looking into it but if anyone has first hand information, by all means, drop me a line. I am curious but not willing to comment on anything that I know so little about.
Shinzo Abe Killed
Seemingly, killing fascists is back en-vogue and for legal reasons I am going to leave that comment as it is, but for anyone unsure how to place the assassination of Abe, please, please, read this below thread for context AND as a jump-off point to dig deeper into his families role, his role, his parties reality and then some.
Listen To The Scientists, Part 1
Yes, I know, it’s in the damn WP, but do get into this report - it’s not a story, it’s a lot more important than this. I know I have written about this topic a number of times but again, listen to people smarter than I am. I realize that to many of us it seems like such a unfathomable reality but we do need to face facts, read the signs and prepare accordingly.
Listen To The Scientists, Part 2
Degrowth is something I often write about here as an alternative economic reality, and whilst I agree with it on my points I do, personally, consider it more of an entry drug to an entirely, more “radical” ( there isn’t anything radical about wanting to create a planetary-inclusive, sustainable relationship with, well, everything but hey ) idea, but it the idea is entirely valid. Here is another scientist explaining it better than I could.
If Podcasts are your thing, this is the only one I can genuinely recommend, you all know how I feel about them and this episode with Alan MacLeod on the Deprogram is I guess why anyone would be into podcasts in the first place. It is informative, witty, funny at times and I actually learned something.
As always, thank you for your time and attention as always, I am back to figuring out this conundrumI have found myself in and we shall hear from one another again on Wednesday.
Until then, I remain yours, without compromise,
V.
Maybe make it a pay what you can model instead of a fixed fee?
If some folks can pay $5 and others can pay $10, then let them each pay within their means.
You could still set the default or preferred amount at $10 or whatever makes sense to you.
I have similar concerns about a project of my own. What to charge? I'd rather provide it for free but there are costs. I largely agree with the idea of "pay what you think it's worth" with some minimum amount. You might also find that people pay more than the minimum.
Of course, depending on the options that Substack supports, you could also try a pay-per-post arrangement. I think Patreon offers something like that.