An August Appeal to My August Readers
Help me get to 500 subscribers by August 27!
But first, your moment of Zen … Sunset over Alpine, Texas, August 8, 2023, viewed from the Sul Ross State University (Go Lobos!) campus.
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Dear Readers,
Excuse me for reaching out to you while you’re trying to remain a) cool and b) sane during this brutal summer heat, but I have a favor to ask.
During the last four weeks, I have published four newsletters which, if I say so myself, demonstrate the range of subject matter, tone and style I hope is characteristic of Life Its Ownself:
July 18: a “marvelously witty” (Austin Chronicle)[i] play about the disastrous “partnership” between Kirk Watson and Greg Abbott to help Austinites feel safer;
July 25: A tribute to my good friend James Gaston;
August 3: An essay on how the latest astrophysical research seems to confirm what Hindu mystics were saying 3,000+ years ago; and
August 8: An exposé on how the Ken Paxton impeachment rules may put the thumb on the scale for the defendant, at the same time as a pro-Paxton PAC gave Lite Guv Dan Patrick a $3 million loan/contribution.
So, here’s the deal: I currently have 440 subscribers (thank you, thank you!) (I also have 28 paidsubscribers, for whom I am inordinately grateful, as all of us should be.) I’d like to get to 500 subscribers by my birthday, which is on August 27.
(I know, I know. My birthday is a state holiday in Texas, although the Legislature insists that’s because it’s also Lyndon Johnson’s birthday.)
Be that as it may, I am counting on you to help me get to 500 subscribers by the 27th. Forward your Life Its Ownself emails to your friends! Better still, open my newsletter in the Substack app and send those to your friends! Share my Facebook, Instagram and Threads posts with your friends and acquaintances! Organize a bake sale! (I don’t know what good this will do, and in this heat …) OK, organize a water balloon party!
I know there are no limits to your creativity, so please help us get to 500 subscribers by the 27th! I will thank you. Your friends will thank you. The universe – which, as we know, is paying attention – will thank you.
[i] Actually, the Austin Chronicle has not yet reviewed my play. Nor has anyone else.
Oh? How I wish I could financially. There is so much good information on substack. I am constantly forwarding because I feel it is my duty as a retired teacher to keep my children in the know. Sometimes apathy is just being overwhelmed with life. And then a person is inclined to make bad decisions, like I did in 2016.
I love Alpine. Only place in texas i would consider living in.