Personal news: My labor and love

I wrote about the work that makes all other work possible this week. I’ve been thinking a lot about labor and love lately, and as such, I’ve decided to honor my own in asking you all to consider paying for a subscription to this newsletter. Let me tell you why…

How the sausage gets made. (Photo by Stella, age 4)

I often sit down in front of the blank screen, not without a bit of trepidation, but comforted by knowing it is you—the community we have built here—that is going to be receiving my thoughts. This platform gives me space to see what flows, to listen into deeper parts of my life and this country.

2020 hit. And this has been our place for working out what this moment means. We commiserate over that incessant question in the time of COVID—“Was that okay?”, our shared rage, and our deep desire to be genuine partners in this moment of racial reckoning. I’ve introduced you to some of the friends and mentors who inspire me most through Friday Q&As--people like Aisha Nyandoro, Mia Birdsong, and Louise Dunlap. And most recently, I’ve started breaking down the Sunday New York Times in my own weird way.

It’s connecting and enlivening and immediate, and a true honor. But it is work. 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the more we honor the people that feed us--whether they be caretakers or teachers or artists--the more we value, protect, and appreciate their role in our society, and the more human we all stay (case study in the opposite: Facebook, where we have become the product). Money isn’t the only way to honor another person and her labor, obviously, but it is a way, and one that matters--particularly at a scale where it’s hard to arrange exchanges of labor and love.  

So here’s the deal: The newsletter will continue to come out two to three times a week, and will include a mix of essays, Q&As, and Sunday Times Snapshots. Paid subscribers get it all. Free subscribers get the Wednesday essay. If you feel this work has some value for you, and you’ve got the means to support it by subscribing, I would be so grateful.   

I’m excited about one thing that makes subscribing to my newsletter a bit different than a typical subscription. I’m going to use this as an experiment in redistribution. Every person who I feature in a Q&A will receive either direct cash from me, to be used however they want, or can request that I donate it to a 501(c)(3) organization of their choosing. In other words, when you subscribe to this newsletter, you join a giving circle of sorts. (And if you have institutional support to subscribe, would you consider doing so at the Founding Member rate? That will help me donate more money to more amazing people!)

If you are already subscribed, but do nothing else, you will continue to get my essay on Wednesdays. 

If you can’t afford a paid subscription, but want it all, just let me know and we’ll make it happen. I don’t want anyone, no matter what the reason, to feel excluded. 

And if you do have the means to underwrite others who have a need for this kind of space and limited means, you can do that, too.  

To donate a subscription to a specific person in your life, click the button below. Your friends are my friends! 

And if what you read here nourishes you, tell someone else about it—share it on Twitter or Facebook, forward this email or link to a friend. Enlarging the community here and spreading the love is what matters most.

Thank you thank you thank you. 

Photo by pal & collaborator Wendy MacNaughton.

If you have thoughts or concerns, just respond to this email, or find me at courtney@courtneyemartin.com.