One of the things required for doing good work is stability, of even the most provisional kind. The governance research I did earlier this year was grant-funded, but every other network thing I've worked on for the past couple of years has pulled from savings. Right now, I'm working from a one-legged stool; it needs more legs.
So I'm trying this: For now, I'll keep writing, keep researching, try publishing new kinds of things, and I'll keep looking for ways to contribute most effectively to the network projects I think are most promising. And if you want to, you can back me—by signing on as a member, by working with me, by helping me find funding that's a good fit for this work—and help make it possible for me to continue beyond the short term.
There's no paywall! And there won't be. (Paywalls are fine, but not for this work.) If you support me, you’re helping me set aside time and energy for the whole community, not just the folks who can pay.
permission & company
I’m also craving something that goes beyond money: buy-in, or what Craig Mod calls permission. I want to know that there are real people who value this work enough to make it worth continuing even when it's hard and weird. I want a chance to dig in on ideas with collaborators and conspirators who can see into the places where I can help the most, and help me work reciprocally and sustainably.
And, you know, I want the company. In the launch post for this studio, I quote Adrienne Rich's wonderful, "Diving into the Wreck." It's not lost on me that Rich establishes in that very first stanza that her diver is alone:
I am having to do this
not like Cousteau with his
assiduous team
aboard the sun-flooded schooner
but here alone.
I'm only me and no Cousteau, but I want the fellowship of that sun-flooded schooner that the diver never gets. And, especially when the work is heavy, a bit less diving alone. So once or twice a month, I’ll open up a conversation thread for supporting members. It’s a simple setup: I’ll bring questions and thoughts, lay out a code of conduct, and welcome your perspectives, new questions, reading lists, and schemes.
Maybe this develops into other things, further in. Maybe not. In the meantime, hi. Thank you for coming here and reading this. I’d love to hear how you're doing, what you're working on, and what you're hoping to see.