Seeking Connection

Hello Friends,

The pandemic and global events have done a number on us, haven’t they? But we’ve adapted. We have managed to find ways to stay connected, and to give back. For many of us, that comes via regular phone calls, or frequent texts. For others, that looks like cups of tea with treasured friends, or volunteer work parties to help our neighbors. And for a lot of us, that is using online social networks.

We are all we have. No matter what, we find a way.

This week, still reeling from the Club Q shooting coinciding with Trans Day of Remembrance, I woke up to the news that my name was on a mass “take down” reporting list with five thousand others on Twitter. Twitter has been my primary social networking site for years. I knew the end was coming, but this? This was unexpected.

I’ve had stalkers. I’ve been a minor target of brigades and fascists before. I’ve locked my Twitter account before. But this was the first time I was part of a massive sweep trying to suppress the voices of Black and Indigenous scholars, LGBTQIA communities, disability activists, organizers, public figures, and antifascists.

Why am I talking about all of this? This event is causing me to rethink how I engage. Decades ago, I had a membership site on my website. Ahead of the curve, it didn’t really take off, so I turned to the places people were gathering online, instead. Realizing those places changed on the whim of an algorithm, I also slowly began to grow my newsletter, though I barely used it.

I started this Substack two years ago as an alternative to the larger social networks and a way to step up my newsletter use. It felt like a place I could send out weekly thoughts in a cozier environment, and engage with people in a semi-public online space. And it is. But eventually, it might go away, too.

So today, as I’m making future plans to experiment and consolidate things for myself, I’m asking you: What are your current favorite ways to stay in touch? Where are you hanging out? Are you having work parties in your communities? The aforementioned cups of tea? Are you trying various social networking platforms? Are you calling your aging relatives? Writing letters?

How are you forging connections with other human beings?

Wishing you all the best.

And, as I said on Twitter last night:

Thanks for being here — Thorn

As a way of forging connections, I’ll periodically recommend Substack newsletters I’m currently reading. This week, I encourage you to check out author Robert Jones who writes about culture from a Black US perspective.

Also, do you like print books? I’m part of this Urban Fantasy and Paranormal print books collection. My Solstice-themed book By Witch’s Mark—about a shy young witch with a chronic illness and a bad problem—is represented. Please scroll through and see if any others catch your fancy.