Howdy subscribers! Do you write? Do you make music? Do you make videos? Do you create art? Plug your work and all your links here in the comments. Let’s all get to know each other. I already know many of you have fascinating or beautiful things that you work on—let everyone else know about them.
May 10, 2023·edited May 10, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum
I've been a novelist and commentator for many years and was first published in my home country's national daily, The Australian, in 1993. Most of my writing appears in mainstream outlets and also for Liberty Fund, the think-tank where I hold a fractional appointment.
I do have a Substack, but at the moment I use it mainly to publish the work of unknown writers whose work I admire. I also work up my own ideas in advance of publication: https://helendale.substack.com/
Green Leap Forward, is my primary page where I write about fallacies and follies surrounding the “energy transition”, mainly in the US but sometimes with a look abroad.
Principled Bicycling is where I explore a Thomas Sowell-inspired contrast between two visions in bicycling advocacy: the Principled Vision and the Platitude Vision. It’s also a spot where I try to rekindle some work by others who’ve been buried and clear up misconceptions. It seems niche but I promise there’s a bit in there for everyone.
I write a heroic grimdark fantasy series called Inferno about four extraordinary people trying to remake their world. Although it’s a loving ode to the fantasy genre (especially as found on TV and games), it’s also an exploration of themes like integrity and the value of the individual. And it’s meant to be enjoyed - imagine geek media made by someone who doesn’t hate you!
Inferno is available digitally through several major bookstores, including Amazon Kindle. All links to all stores are available from my website: https://freethinkerfantasy.com If this isn’t your cup of tea but you have geeky people in your life, please share it with them, especially if they’re disgusted by what’s happened to their favorite franchises
Hello, I'm looking forward to finding new substacks here, I've found a couple already through the Disaffected Discord which is great. I've got a substack where I do touch on social questions as well as just general life. My aim with each one is to make the reader laugh, even if we do get into the nitty-shitty of modern life and the possible slow-motion collapse of everything we hold dear. I also talk about gardening.
My name is Arvid, I'm a Cancer, my pronouns are witty/handsome, and I'm a comic book writer. My current project is based on my love of Edwardian fantasy, ’80s era Japanese cartoons, and heavy metal music: https://www.rexmundi.net/BotC01fc.jpg
Josh, you are a mensch for making this offer--particularly for people like me who are reluctant to share their work.
Personally, I've been a James Lindsay fanboy since he released the "Biden is not the Room" podcast. In listening and re-listening to his work, I found that his early podcasts on Critical Pedagogy really piqued my interest because of how it impacts my career. It inspired me to start my own Substack digging into that topic, though at this point it basically consists of me analyzing (and dumping on) The Critical Turn in Education by Isaac Gottesman. It turns out takes me a fair bit of effort and fortitude to slog through that stuff.
In the last year, I also endeavored to provide some friends with a homeschooling physical science curriculum based loosely on a course I once taught to 6th and 8th graders. The results were...mixed. But, I do have some of it available online on a platform called PocketLab, but not the entire course (putting in onto PocketLab was just a little too much work). The first week of content is linked below (sorry, but I think you'll need to make a PocketLab account to see it, but they are free).
That's interesting. I've been thinking about doing a set of YouTube videos on one of my favorite nerdy topics (propositional and predicate logic) alongside some sort of course content. I'm in the "gathering information and figuring out how to organize it" and "practicing making videos" stage. How did you go about developing your course? Thanks in advance!
Basically, I started from the outlines I had from the class I taught (those I adapted from something a mentor had made years before). The main pieces of computer equipment I used were:
-a desktop/laptop
-a tablet ( in order to write on powerpoints I made)
-a document camera repurposed as a reasonably high definition webcam, and
-a decent microphone
I used the software Screencast-o-matic (now ScreenPal, I think) for basic recording and editing. And a heck of a lot of searches on Wikimedia for images in the public domain.
Then, I just started making recordings and learning the software by playing with it. There were certainly moments where I wanted to smash the computer, and the end-product is, as I've said, kind of mixed. But that was my basic approach.
I have a blog called motheRucker. Behind the obvious play on words is that I’m a mom who likes putting her kids into backpacks and walking around with them so I can have some quiet time to let my mind wander freely. And that’s what I do on my blog. I discuss lots of issues concerning modern culture, but my perspective is generally tethered to themes concerning taking purposeful action toward pursuing virtue, personal resilience, and practical and spiritual freedom. I enjoy reading and writing fiction and believe that stories are powerful vehicles for ideas, so sometimes I attempt to weave narrative form into my essays. I am a very playful person at heart and think humor is not only better medicine than anything big pharma can conjure, but is also very useful for building connection with others by exposing fallacy/truth through comedy. So, when the mood strikes, I’ll be making use of humor in some of my posts. To anyone who may read my essays, you have my thanks and I sincerely hope you enjoy! Here’s a sample:
I wrote a series on ‘tonic femininity’ through the lens of evolutionary psychology. I apply my understanding of Dr. Joyce Benenson’s explanation of the female competition style to develop a view of toxic and tonic female behavior. I plan to expand on this series within the next month. I’m sure much of what I write next will be inspired by Lorenzo Warby’s outstanding work on this subject. There are currently three parts up, here’s part 1:
Longhouse is a term used to describe the hyper-feminized authoritative nanny-state dominated by mother-hens who chiefly believe that any perceived threats to safety must be extinguished at any price. Despite their nauseating safety-first rhetoric, the union between the Longhouse and big government is only concerned with its own welfare and is a direct threat to the very people it claims to keep safe. I offer a strategy for 'Longhousing the Longhouse' by turning its own impulse to mother against itself here:
In response to some recent outcry for censorship on Substack, I offer the Substack team the perspective that humans have a psychological need for narrative, and therefore free speech.
I have been producing music off and on for a number of years and recently started a Substack for music-production related topics, and to promote my own work. https://theproducer.substack.com
Since retiring as a book editor in 2019, I have self-published a short novel called *A Third Thing*. It’s about a weekend romp involving four women who meet up to help one of them escape the clutches of her domineering father who doesn’t approve of her being gay. Set in the year 2007, their adventure is also a reminiscence as stories are told of coming out in south Louisiana in the age of 1970s radical feminism. But these characters are doers, not victims, as in most such stories. It’s my antidote to being gay but *not* woke. (Josh, if you have any interest, I’d be pleased to send you an ebook; all I would need is an email. No pressure at all, just a thought.)
Hi everyone, I'm Viv! I grew up in a Custer B household and ended up in Cluster B infected friend groups (immensely shocking, I know). My writing is a hodgepodge. I have an intro summary pinned to my main 'Stack page and I posted a content update earlier today.
I’ve mainly been writing about some of my personal experiences for my own mental processing benefits and anyone else interested. Additionally, I sometimes write poetry, draw & manage to be hilarious.
I currently don’t have a consistent posting schedule and most of the serious posts up so far have been emotionally taxing for me to produce (which I did not initially anticipate, somehow) even when the results seem brief. However - I know some of my stories have been leaking out of me into other comment sections which is a clear indicator to me that I need to light a fire under my own ass again to get more posts up soon!
So if you're into careful academic analysis about the culture war...go literally anywhere else in this space because there's plenty of other people already doing that well - but if you're into occasional poetry, thoughtful anecdotes and chalupa jokes then I'm probably your girl :)
I'm also one of the moderators on the Disaffected discord server, so if you're in there don't hesitate to say hi! :)
you need to read "The Divided Mind" by John Sarno to get an explanation of mood disorders, and what to do about them. Fascinating reading, and very useful.
Only 10-20% of the population will accept a psychogenic diagnosis.
As for contemporary events, I believe part of the problem is denial about ideology. Ideology is a postmodern word for religion. Religion is, at heart, about extreme bias. Metaphysical levels of bias.
The answer is in genuine education (i.e., a classical education.)
Leftism is a cult drawing upon distorted metaphysics giving it a veneer of profundity. It works by changing the subject creating the illusion that it is unrefuted. It is a victory of style over substance.
What I find extraordinary is the sheer scale of dishonesty and the unmistakable "I hate you don't leave me" mentality. It is astonishing. It's bizarre levels of incivility.
Thank you, Josh. I'm pretty quiet on here, but always a listener. I write personal essay-type columns for my local paper, the Daily News of Newburyport, as well as some other area papers. I steer absolutely clear of politics, so if you a palate cleanser before diving back into current events, I'm your girl. I often get recognized walking around Newburyport, because my pic accompanies column, and my kids think this is both hilarious and mortifying. Anyway, I write funny, thoughtful, and sometimes sad pieces, but you can be the judge of that. You can find all my work, as well as lots of my pics, on my blog-- malibu93.webnode.com . Thanks in advance for anyone who cares to look! marilyn archibald, west newbury, ma
Greetings comrade. Here are my top 10 pieces about subverting subversion. Happy to visit the disaffected podcast anytime to discuss countering demoralization: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/yuri-bezmenov-top10-syndicate-askmeanything
I second this, Josh. Cамиздат!
Hiya Josh, thanks for asking. I launched my Substack, Concerning Narcissism this week. https://open.substack.com/pub/gingercoy/p/coming-soon?r=7qu8k&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
So pleased to see another person join the conversation on this issue.
I've been a novelist and commentator for many years and was first published in my home country's national daily, The Australian, in 1993. Most of my writing appears in mainstream outlets and also for Liberty Fund, the think-tank where I hold a fractional appointment.
I do have a Substack, but at the moment I use it mainly to publish the work of unknown writers whose work I admire. I also work up my own ideas in advance of publication: https://helendale.substack.com/
Josh's interview with you is one of my favorite Disaffected segments.
Oh, excellent!
I haven't watched this yet, but I will tonight!
Green Leap Forward, is my primary page where I write about fallacies and follies surrounding the “energy transition”, mainly in the US but sometimes with a look abroad.
https://www.greenleapforward.wtf/
Principled Bicycling is where I explore a Thomas Sowell-inspired contrast between two visions in bicycling advocacy: the Principled Vision and the Platitude Vision. It’s also a spot where I try to rekindle some work by others who’ve been buried and clear up misconceptions. It seems niche but I promise there’s a bit in there for everyone.
https://principledbicycling.substack.com/
Out of curiosity, are you familiar with Alex Epstein?
Yes!
https://www.greenleapforward.wtf/p/the-knowledge-system-and-its-discontents
Good stuff! I had the good fortune to work with him on both of his books, and it heartens me to see his message making inroads.
That’s amazing!
Hello Disaffected Faithful,
I write a heroic grimdark fantasy series called Inferno about four extraordinary people trying to remake their world. Although it’s a loving ode to the fantasy genre (especially as found on TV and games), it’s also an exploration of themes like integrity and the value of the individual. And it’s meant to be enjoyed - imagine geek media made by someone who doesn’t hate you!
Inferno is available digitally through several major bookstores, including Amazon Kindle. All links to all stores are available from my website: https://freethinkerfantasy.com If this isn’t your cup of tea but you have geeky people in your life, please share it with them, especially if they’re disgusted by what’s happened to their favorite franchises
Subscribed.
Thanks, Josh, and greetings, fellow Disaffected Newsletter readers. I write a substack covering themes like:
* The Marxcissist mania sweeping America (https://aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/marxcissist-mania-is-sweeping-america);
* Being culturalist, not racist (https://aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/im-not-racist-im-culturalist); and
* The benefit of trying new things, even if you are unable to do them well (https://aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/if-somethings-worth-doing-its-worth).
I'll say what Daniel D didn't for anyone who might consider reading his stack - the man is hilarious!
Hello, I'm looking forward to finding new substacks here, I've found a couple already through the Disaffected Discord which is great. I've got a substack where I do touch on social questions as well as just general life. My aim with each one is to make the reader laugh, even if we do get into the nitty-shitty of modern life and the possible slow-motion collapse of everything we hold dear. I also talk about gardening.
My name is Arvid, I'm a Cancer, my pronouns are witty/handsome, and I'm a comic book writer. My current project is based on my love of Edwardian fantasy, ’80s era Japanese cartoons, and heavy metal music: https://www.rexmundi.net/BotC01fc.jpg
I'm @arvidthetwit on Twitter.
Josh, you are a mensch for making this offer--particularly for people like me who are reluctant to share their work.
Personally, I've been a James Lindsay fanboy since he released the "Biden is not the Room" podcast. In listening and re-listening to his work, I found that his early podcasts on Critical Pedagogy really piqued my interest because of how it impacts my career. It inspired me to start my own Substack digging into that topic, though at this point it basically consists of me analyzing (and dumping on) The Critical Turn in Education by Isaac Gottesman. It turns out takes me a fair bit of effort and fortitude to slog through that stuff.
https://inquiryintocp.substack.com/
In the last year, I also endeavored to provide some friends with a homeschooling physical science curriculum based loosely on a course I once taught to 6th and 8th graders. The results were...mixed. But, I do have some of it available online on a platform called PocketLab, but not the entire course (putting in onto PocketLab was just a little too much work). The first week of content is linked below (sorry, but I think you'll need to make a PocketLab account to see it, but they are free).
https://app.thepocketlab.com/lab-report/7sGwZODs0001zGo_?ro=1
That's interesting. I've been thinking about doing a set of YouTube videos on one of my favorite nerdy topics (propositional and predicate logic) alongside some sort of course content. I'm in the "gathering information and figuring out how to organize it" and "practicing making videos" stage. How did you go about developing your course? Thanks in advance!
Basically, I started from the outlines I had from the class I taught (those I adapted from something a mentor had made years before). The main pieces of computer equipment I used were:
-a desktop/laptop
-a tablet ( in order to write on powerpoints I made)
-a document camera repurposed as a reasonably high definition webcam, and
-a decent microphone
I used the software Screencast-o-matic (now ScreenPal, I think) for basic recording and editing. And a heck of a lot of searches on Wikimedia for images in the public domain.
Then, I just started making recordings and learning the software by playing with it. There were certainly moments where I wanted to smash the computer, and the end-product is, as I've said, kind of mixed. But that was my basic approach.
Thank you for the reply!
I cover drag culture's push onto children with examples of the damage it's caused in this video - https://youtu.be/V4XJL2xz7t4
Banjo tunes - https://youtu.be/LVm5mMX8b_s
Aw, thank you! <3
I have a blog called motheRucker. Behind the obvious play on words is that I’m a mom who likes putting her kids into backpacks and walking around with them so I can have some quiet time to let my mind wander freely. And that’s what I do on my blog. I discuss lots of issues concerning modern culture, but my perspective is generally tethered to themes concerning taking purposeful action toward pursuing virtue, personal resilience, and practical and spiritual freedom. I enjoy reading and writing fiction and believe that stories are powerful vehicles for ideas, so sometimes I attempt to weave narrative form into my essays. I am a very playful person at heart and think humor is not only better medicine than anything big pharma can conjure, but is also very useful for building connection with others by exposing fallacy/truth through comedy. So, when the mood strikes, I’ll be making use of humor in some of my posts. To anyone who may read my essays, you have my thanks and I sincerely hope you enjoy! Here’s a sample:
I wrote a series on ‘tonic femininity’ through the lens of evolutionary psychology. I apply my understanding of Dr. Joyce Benenson’s explanation of the female competition style to develop a view of toxic and tonic female behavior. I plan to expand on this series within the next month. I’m sure much of what I write next will be inspired by Lorenzo Warby’s outstanding work on this subject. There are currently three parts up, here’s part 1:
https://motherucker.substack.com/p/tonic-femininity-part-1
Longhouse is a term used to describe the hyper-feminized authoritative nanny-state dominated by mother-hens who chiefly believe that any perceived threats to safety must be extinguished at any price. Despite their nauseating safety-first rhetoric, the union between the Longhouse and big government is only concerned with its own welfare and is a direct threat to the very people it claims to keep safe. I offer a strategy for 'Longhousing the Longhouse' by turning its own impulse to mother against itself here:
https://motherucker.substack.com/p/toxic-soft-competition-the-modern
In response to some recent outcry for censorship on Substack, I offer the Substack team the perspective that humans have a psychological need for narrative, and therefore free speech.
https://motherucker.substack.com/p/the-psychological-need-for-free-speech
I have been producing music off and on for a number of years and recently started a Substack for music-production related topics, and to promote my own work. https://theproducer.substack.com
Most of my recent music is on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/harmonic-horizon
Also, my wife stated writing here about Down Syndrome and parenting (our baby has Down's). This is her first post: https://theupsidedowns.substack.com/p/here-goes-nothing
Baby is in the hospital right now for heart surgery.
Since retiring as a book editor in 2019, I have self-published a short novel called *A Third Thing*. It’s about a weekend romp involving four women who meet up to help one of them escape the clutches of her domineering father who doesn’t approve of her being gay. Set in the year 2007, their adventure is also a reminiscence as stories are told of coming out in south Louisiana in the age of 1970s radical feminism. But these characters are doers, not victims, as in most such stories. It’s my antidote to being gay but *not* woke. (Josh, if you have any interest, I’d be pleased to send you an ebook; all I would need is an email. No pressure at all, just a thought.)
https://www.amazon.com/Third-Thing-Leslie-Watkins-ebook/dp/B0BT9KMVLR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37DEMQSMPB0FC&keywords=a+third+thing+watkins&qid=1683826916&sprefix=%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-1
Hi everyone, I'm Viv! I grew up in a Custer B household and ended up in Cluster B infected friend groups (immensely shocking, I know). My writing is a hodgepodge. I have an intro summary pinned to my main 'Stack page and I posted a content update earlier today.
I’ve mainly been writing about some of my personal experiences for my own mental processing benefits and anyone else interested. Additionally, I sometimes write poetry, draw & manage to be hilarious.
I currently don’t have a consistent posting schedule and most of the serious posts up so far have been emotionally taxing for me to produce (which I did not initially anticipate, somehow) even when the results seem brief. However - I know some of my stories have been leaking out of me into other comment sections which is a clear indicator to me that I need to light a fire under my own ass again to get more posts up soon!
So if you're into careful academic analysis about the culture war...go literally anywhere else in this space because there's plenty of other people already doing that well - but if you're into occasional poetry, thoughtful anecdotes and chalupa jokes then I'm probably your girl :)
I'm also one of the moderators on the Disaffected discord server, so if you're in there don't hesitate to say hi! :)
Hi Josh,
you need to read "The Divided Mind" by John Sarno to get an explanation of mood disorders, and what to do about them. Fascinating reading, and very useful.
Only 10-20% of the population will accept a psychogenic diagnosis.
As for contemporary events, I believe part of the problem is denial about ideology. Ideology is a postmodern word for religion. Religion is, at heart, about extreme bias. Metaphysical levels of bias.
The answer is in genuine education (i.e., a classical education.)
Leftism is a cult drawing upon distorted metaphysics giving it a veneer of profundity. It works by changing the subject creating the illusion that it is unrefuted. It is a victory of style over substance.
What I find extraordinary is the sheer scale of dishonesty and the unmistakable "I hate you don't leave me" mentality. It is astonishing. It's bizarre levels of incivility.
Elite overproduction seems to be playing a role.
Millennial's are fragile and immature.
Thank you, Josh. I'm pretty quiet on here, but always a listener. I write personal essay-type columns for my local paper, the Daily News of Newburyport, as well as some other area papers. I steer absolutely clear of politics, so if you a palate cleanser before diving back into current events, I'm your girl. I often get recognized walking around Newburyport, because my pic accompanies column, and my kids think this is both hilarious and mortifying. Anyway, I write funny, thoughtful, and sometimes sad pieces, but you can be the judge of that. You can find all my work, as well as lots of my pics, on my blog-- malibu93.webnode.com . Thanks in advance for anyone who cares to look! marilyn archibald, west newbury, ma
UGH, WANT a palate cleanser