*Unless your readers *want* to be treated like naughty boys, but then you're probably on a very different kind of site altogether... 😳😈

😂 For anyone who read last night's paid newsletter:

When I popped on the site to check comments on the announcement, folks are still raging about the initial commenting system as OS's downfall. And I agree: I wasn't a fan of the way moderation was managed on either the front or backend. (Too much corporate message management to the whole business.)

But boy howdy, the fury people still feel over it speaks for itself. Never piss off your readers by treating them like troublemakers from the jump!

International Women's Day, mi gente. 🕊️

In Colombia, it's treated as a kind of Valentine's by some, but definitely not by all.

Today's a great day to reflect on who's left out of our advocacy for a more just world. If your advocacy creates demographic lines between who deserves and doesn't deserve protection from gender-based violence, is it really helping us create a safer place for all? And if environmental reform isn't included, how will we reduce domestic stressors?

https://youtu.be/dTzx6gV5LdQ

Best 5k of the year (so far). 💪🏻

Today, we run.

Morning, CoSo.

Took forever to let this one go, but that's just because this is the end of my time talking about OnlySky.

For paid subscribers, I have an essay filled with reflections on what I learned from the last two years of trying to grow with an ambitious new venture.

There's a wee intro free-to-read, but otherwise, I'll have some YouTube content for all viewers on Sunday, and my regular free newsletter schedule picks up again on Monday.

G'night, CoSo.
Thanks for being you.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/the-privilege-of-a-platform

Live footage of my brain.

Can't rest my eyes long enough on the page to complete this last read-through.

Quick z̶o̶o̶m̶i̶e̶s̶ walkies, and then we finish and post.

Ah, good. There we go.

This is my final piece for OnlySky, a two-year experiment in secular news and storytelling, which sadly launched at a most delicate time for online media.

Thank you to everyone who supported the work on this platform while it was live.

I sorely appreciate the time you put into reading and commenting on my pieces in particular. You kept me to a higher standard, for sure.

(More from me in a few hours, via my newsletter for paid subscribers.)

https://onlysky.media/mclark/were-going-to-need-a-bigger-village/

I never thought I'd make it to 30, and every day since over the last 8 years has been a gift. If I died tomorrow I'd still have had more chances than most.

But the world-grief is something else.

I hate not being able to do more. I hate how much money is tossed at nonsense, cruelty, & corruption, when we have enough to uplift us all.

Still, we have to pretend to love the world 'til we do again.

Feign joy even at interests that might seem frivolous now.

And remember that being here is enough.

One nicer task today is the "thank you" email to an editor who did the best he could behind the scenes these last two years.

Still finishing today's main post, and then I have to prep materials for tomorrow's video (so much for getting ahead on tasks this first transition week!), but I look forward to that act of gratitude in the middle of it all.

Good manners are rarely wasted.

(Except on fascists, and such.)

And it always serves to let someone know when they made a difference in your life.

We so routinely see hateful people sheltered from consequences--heck, even aided in the harm they do, by others who want to ride the wave of power, or who don't know how to "get off the bus"--that it's mystifying how we manage to be so hard on ourselves in our more quotidian struggles.

But then again, it feels like it should be a low bar not to do the harm that genuine grifters and hatemongers do.

In a better world they wouldn't be at the centre of every public conversation about moral action.

Early morning walk, not run, today.

Just want to listen to the world.

Morning, CoSo.

#Space

As much as we want V1 & V2 to live forever, we're inching closer to the end:

"Instead of sending messages home in binary code, Voyager 1 is now just sending back alternating 1s and 0s. Dodd's team has tried the usual tricks to reset things—with no luck. ...

She says that they do have a list of possible fixes. As time goes on, they'll likely start sending commands to Voyager 1 that are more bold and risky."

We've done extraordinary things though, eh? Sometimes.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236033493/nasas-voyager-1-spacecraft-is-talking-nonsense-its-friends-on-earth-are-worried

I think tonight's going to be when the big cry comes.

I went through anger pretty quickly, and I was never in denial, but I've been waiting for the good full sad to come along.

I've lived with precarity my entire life, which also means holding my breath any time I get even a toehold in--knowing full well that the other shoe's always going to drop; it's just a matter of time.

In this case, I was bracing for, oh, a year while everyone was in denial. Now I get to let it out.

COME ON, BIG FEELS.

My final post has been queued for OnlySky's closing announcement tomorrow.

I'm thinking I might wander a bit for the rest of this afternoon, before tackling tomorrow's deep-dive for the newsletter, and reading prep for my video content on Friday.

This week was filled with a lot of nervous energy. Didn't get to sleep until well past midnight, just ~thinking~ (never good).

But next week's workflow should be easier, I hope.

Time to touch grass, and see what the bees know.

Going for a walk before pressing "send" on a tough email.

I feel like we should have a word for this kind of action: the long pause we sometimes take to make sure we're in the "right" state of mind before doing something. (Or to screw up our courage to do something - either/or!)

Will ruminate on a possible term for this state of being while living out its definition!

Morning, @elmaxx! 🤗

So glad to see your glorious name pop up! Hope your day's starting swimmingly.

(Oh, and come for the whales, but DEFINITELY stay for the homophobic entomologist who published his disgust with the mating practices of certain butterflies. 👌)