This is what I get for being obscure and meandering. Everybody seems focused on what I might be feeling and is missing the point, which … okay, I don't even exactly what my point was, but how people are interpreting my mess of words is far from where I am at mentally and layers above what I was complexly and incoherently saying. Again, my fault. Nearly everything I wrote was meant to be interpreted beyond the surface, in the subtext’s subtext. I should have added a warning label or something.
I will. I just don't have the time right now to do so as often as I'd like. I have some ideas for future essays and will likely start chipping away at one of those soon. I've done most of the research for one already.
I'll sit at your lunch table. But in truth, I completely feel what you're saying. And here's my two cents: it's nice to "meet" kindred souls on the 'stack, but what feels like overly wrought self-analysis is the need for more real life connections.
Or, I'm just projecting. And in that case, I need to put this phone down & go talk to people in my midst.
I agree with David Poff. I also agree there’s very little that’s new under the sun, only more. Good to see you writing here, if only for the moment. I still like your reflection, but I suspect you’re looking for a different mirror.
In my hackneyed attempt to give sentences more than one meaning, I seem to have misled some people. It’s amazing I didn't predict this. I think I was too absorbed in my revisions and countless re-reads, too focused on ideas—instead of conveying them less vaguely—that everybody seems to have interpreted my jabberwocky based on emotions. Fair enough. Most of my writing is rife with emotions. This piece was absent of them, in its making. I can't choose his people feel about or interpret my writing. But no emotions were hurt while writing this disaster. I have no feelings about it.
I was intentionally obscure, the opposite of my usual writing, and so I was taken at face value. Perhaps I tried to bite off more than I could chew.
Not a disaster, and speaking of chewing, this piece is like a mille feuille. A thousand layers of crunch, with some creaminess to balance, topped with an indulgent fondant. Hm, it might be time for my breakfast.
Nearly 3 millennia past, a wise fellow, under the nom de plume Quoheleth, observed "there is nothing new under the sun" and declared all to be vanity. What was true then most assuredly remains so today. Technology and "knowledge" increase (NOT necessarily for the better!), but the reality is that humanity has, in fact, changed little, and that decidedly for the worse! Most are still chomping on the fruit of the tree of knowledge, without gaining an iota of WISDOM in the doing! We were even given an "owner's manual" for how to function successfully, but the vast majority, over the centuries, never read it in it's entirety, if at all, and of those who have, even fewer have applied it it their lives or thinking at all.
Quoheleth devoted a fair amount of space to 1 instruction few have even tried to follow: "seek Wisdom". If there is a choice between acquiring knowledge, and acquiring wisdom (for the less enlightened, they are NOT the same; neither are they acquired in the same manner), choose WISDOM! It will serve you far better in the long run! Perhaps that's where you have gotten off track?
“Everyone has two phases, a dead dream beside a suppressed memory”. Can some source of creativity be found there? That, motivation to be creative and not imitative seems like an one subtext of what you wrote. You have set yourself a high standard. You seem to me to want nothing less for yourself and your writing. Daniel
Hi Corey, first, thanks for writing about where you are in this moment. It is always honest. I thought you had described having some ongoing work, editing, ghost writing and even some research. I was hopeful it was putting money on your plate and easing financial burdens. I think you mentioned writing a novel? If those things continue to work out and are interesting speaking for me, keep them up and in your free time write what matters to you
Yes, despite my tone and a few unintended dark sentences, I am doing well. Busy. Still haven't completely adjusted to the new gig. A lot to learn and remember. Hopefully, when the three-month trial period is over, they still want me around. I look forward to writing some more thoughtful essays here and have some great ideas, just waiting to have the time to start cracking at them. My poor novel, though … I was living and breathing that thing for weeks and had let it consume my every thought. Now, it is sadly pushed aside. I don't even remember the last time I read fiction. Oy.
I largely agree, but then again, I'm reading this very perceptive piece on Substack, and I can't help but wonder whether it's the medium itself that permits such a searching critique.
In any case, thanks for sending this piece out into the ether.
Maybe you need a project to work on that involves something solid, like collecting information, or numbers, rather than contributing more opinions to the sea of opinions in SS. Something of paramount importance to the future of humanity; something that could potentially shatter the entire world order. Here's the project.
The official US mortality data suggests a democide occurred in 2020-2022 in the US by some unknown means, which killed over 1.5 million people--it was likely worldwide. It's been covered up by pretty much everyone in the media, esp. excess deaths in 2020, prior to the vaccines, when most of the increase in deaths occurred. This mortality data is a matter of record, not opinion, and it contains many unexplored clues about what caused these deaths. It does NOT support the idea that a virus, or bad medical treatment, or stress caused these deaths, even though those ideas are being widely promoted.
I have a new reference book devoted to documenting the US mortality data in the covid years, totally opinion-free and conclusions-free. You can get quite a bit of free content at this link--more than enough to see if this subject may interest you. https://www.virginiastoner.com/us-mortality-guide
I so appreciate that you just outright said it. — “... anybody with half a finger crammed inside a nostril can see how performative and nonsensical this whole newsletter business is. Every Note’s feed is a lunchroom table in a high-school cafeteria. We seek allies with a veneer similar to ours and accept their impersonations if they validate our bullshit or share our wares.” —
This is, undoubtedly, one side of this thing and it’s kind of cringey how it seems we often pretend it isn’t.
It’s a status game, as is everything in life. But, for some reason, I just can’t seem to look past it here. Though you are right, it is only one side. There are many great things about Substack. I am just a bitter recluse who likes to complain.
I think it’s hard to look past here because as writers there is a supposed to a level of thoughtfulness, introspection, and considered self-awareness to what we write (hopefully anyway), and so, when we see through all that to uncover just another status game — it feels particularly off-putting.
I hear you Corey, and speaking only for myself, I'm here because I can be. For me, that's good enough.
This is what I get for being obscure and meandering. Everybody seems focused on what I might be feeling and is missing the point, which … okay, I don't even exactly what my point was, but how people are interpreting my mess of words is far from where I am at mentally and layers above what I was complexly and incoherently saying. Again, my fault. Nearly everything I wrote was meant to be interpreted beyond the surface, in the subtext’s subtext. I should have added a warning label or something.
Stay. And write. Everything you say here reinforces that for me.
I will. I just don't have the time right now to do so as often as I'd like. I have some ideas for future essays and will likely start chipping away at one of those soon. I've done most of the research for one already.
so very (and selfishly) glad.
I'll sit at your lunch table. But in truth, I completely feel what you're saying. And here's my two cents: it's nice to "meet" kindred souls on the 'stack, but what feels like overly wrought self-analysis is the need for more real life connections.
Or, I'm just projecting. And in that case, I need to put this phone down & go talk to people in my midst.
Thank you!
Write for yourself
I agree with David Poff. I also agree there’s very little that’s new under the sun, only more. Good to see you writing here, if only for the moment. I still like your reflection, but I suspect you’re looking for a different mirror.
In my hackneyed attempt to give sentences more than one meaning, I seem to have misled some people. It’s amazing I didn't predict this. I think I was too absorbed in my revisions and countless re-reads, too focused on ideas—instead of conveying them less vaguely—that everybody seems to have interpreted my jabberwocky based on emotions. Fair enough. Most of my writing is rife with emotions. This piece was absent of them, in its making. I can't choose his people feel about or interpret my writing. But no emotions were hurt while writing this disaster. I have no feelings about it.
I was intentionally obscure, the opposite of my usual writing, and so I was taken at face value. Perhaps I tried to bite off more than I could chew.
Not a disaster, and speaking of chewing, this piece is like a mille feuille. A thousand layers of crunch, with some creaminess to balance, topped with an indulgent fondant. Hm, it might be time for my breakfast.
thank you!
Not a writer - but I know no artist who doesn’t ask these questions.
"They train algorithms to close their minds."
Just read this essay again. So many great lines that catch my breath, but this one beats them all.
Thank you. I particularly liked that line as well.
Nearly 3 millennia past, a wise fellow, under the nom de plume Quoheleth, observed "there is nothing new under the sun" and declared all to be vanity. What was true then most assuredly remains so today. Technology and "knowledge" increase (NOT necessarily for the better!), but the reality is that humanity has, in fact, changed little, and that decidedly for the worse! Most are still chomping on the fruit of the tree of knowledge, without gaining an iota of WISDOM in the doing! We were even given an "owner's manual" for how to function successfully, but the vast majority, over the centuries, never read it in it's entirety, if at all, and of those who have, even fewer have applied it it their lives or thinking at all.
Quoheleth devoted a fair amount of space to 1 instruction few have even tried to follow: "seek Wisdom". If there is a choice between acquiring knowledge, and acquiring wisdom (for the less enlightened, they are NOT the same; neither are they acquired in the same manner), choose WISDOM! It will serve you far better in the long run! Perhaps that's where you have gotten off track?
Having read the comments and a couple of your responses, I'll just welcome you back.
“Everyone has two phases, a dead dream beside a suppressed memory”. Can some source of creativity be found there? That, motivation to be creative and not imitative seems like an one subtext of what you wrote. You have set yourself a high standard. You seem to me to want nothing less for yourself and your writing. Daniel
Thank you, Daniel. A high standard indeed. Perhaps too high. I might never achieve it but will die still trying. I am okay with that.
Hi Corey, first, thanks for writing about where you are in this moment. It is always honest. I thought you had described having some ongoing work, editing, ghost writing and even some research. I was hopeful it was putting money on your plate and easing financial burdens. I think you mentioned writing a novel? If those things continue to work out and are interesting speaking for me, keep them up and in your free time write what matters to you
Yes, despite my tone and a few unintended dark sentences, I am doing well. Busy. Still haven't completely adjusted to the new gig. A lot to learn and remember. Hopefully, when the three-month trial period is over, they still want me around. I look forward to writing some more thoughtful essays here and have some great ideas, just waiting to have the time to start cracking at them. My poor novel, though … I was living and breathing that thing for weeks and had let it consume my every thought. Now, it is sadly pushed aside. I don't even remember the last time I read fiction. Oy.
Hi Corey, I am happy for your writing et al ventures. I am rooting for your continued success. Daniel
I largely agree, but then again, I'm reading this very perceptive piece on Substack, and I can't help but wonder whether it's the medium itself that permits such a searching critique.
In any case, thanks for sending this piece out into the ether.
Maybe you need a project to work on that involves something solid, like collecting information, or numbers, rather than contributing more opinions to the sea of opinions in SS. Something of paramount importance to the future of humanity; something that could potentially shatter the entire world order. Here's the project.
The official US mortality data suggests a democide occurred in 2020-2022 in the US by some unknown means, which killed over 1.5 million people--it was likely worldwide. It's been covered up by pretty much everyone in the media, esp. excess deaths in 2020, prior to the vaccines, when most of the increase in deaths occurred. This mortality data is a matter of record, not opinion, and it contains many unexplored clues about what caused these deaths. It does NOT support the idea that a virus, or bad medical treatment, or stress caused these deaths, even though those ideas are being widely promoted.
I have a new reference book devoted to documenting the US mortality data in the covid years, totally opinion-free and conclusions-free. You can get quite a bit of free content at this link--more than enough to see if this subject may interest you. https://www.virginiastoner.com/us-mortality-guide
I have a lot more info to get you started, such as this summary of the ages and places people died during the "death peaks" in 2020-2022, and the causes the deaths were attributed to--a surprising number of which were NOT attributed to Covid. https://www.virginiastoner.com/writing/2024/2/3/us-death-peaks-2020-2021-multiple-causes-of-death
Oh, I have plenty of projects. I think, because of my intentional obscurity, some have misinterpreted my words. My fault.
A pleasure to ‘see’ your words!
Thank you!
I so appreciate that you just outright said it. — “... anybody with half a finger crammed inside a nostril can see how performative and nonsensical this whole newsletter business is. Every Note’s feed is a lunchroom table in a high-school cafeteria. We seek allies with a veneer similar to ours and accept their impersonations if they validate our bullshit or share our wares.” —
This is, undoubtedly, one side of this thing and it’s kind of cringey how it seems we often pretend it isn’t.
It’s a status game, as is everything in life. But, for some reason, I just can’t seem to look past it here. Though you are right, it is only one side. There are many great things about Substack. I am just a bitter recluse who likes to complain.
I think it’s hard to look past here because as writers there is a supposed to a level of thoughtfulness, introspection, and considered self-awareness to what we write (hopefully anyway), and so, when we see through all that to uncover just another status game — it feels particularly off-putting.
Maybe anyway.
You nailed it.
I've been wondering where you've been hiding your words, Corey--happy to "read you" once more--ven if it was a 'tangled, tangential tirade' - (smile).
Thank you, Sharon.
You're more than welcome, Corey.
A wonderrrad, despite your seemingly like warm opinion on your piece. Thanks, Corey.
Hope all works out well in your day job.