“Life Its Ownself” at 18 Months: How's It Going?

Plus, I’ve made a huge mistake

Welcome to another thrill-packed installment of Life Its Ownself. Your support encourages me to write and publish regularly. All my content is free for now, but your paid subscription is a big affirmation. Please let me know how I’m doing by 1) liking, 2) subscribing, 3) sharing with others, and 4) commenting below.

         Bur first, your moment of Zen … There were only a few clouds in the western sky last Thursday night, but the setting sun obligingly backlit them and added some golden highlights to a marvelous sunset. Taken July 7, 2023, outside Marathon, Texas.

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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Life Its Ownself is 18 Months Old!

         Life Its Ownself is celebrating 18 months as a Substack page, or feed, or whatever you call it. I was not sure when I published my first post whether I’d still be writing with any regularity now. I knew then (as I know now) that I have things to say and experiences to share, whether anyone wants to read them or not. But I do not think I’d keep making the effort if I had not developed what the Substack gurus call a modest “reader base.” There are 360+ people who subscribe to my feed, including a much smaller number who pay for the privilege. These are not what they’d call “monster numbers,” but I am grateful for each and every one of you — and happy to have more people join!

 

        Originally, I wanted to write about Texas politics, of which I have 30+ years of experience, and about Texas itself – its immensity, its beauty, its interesting people and places, its past and its future. I am a proud Texan, even if I am not always proud of Texas. (That is a distinction I suspect many of my readers experience.)

         I also wanted to write about me, although I am always reluctant to either treat my own history as noteworthy or to delve deeply into myself in a confessional manner. Still, I’ve had an interesting life, and it’s part of who I am and what I’d like to share in this Substack. I challenge myself to share more about me as Life Its Ownself matures.

         My original goal was to publish an essay of 1,000 words or so every week, sometimes based on politics or current events (“We Deserve to Burn in Hell for Uvalde”) and sometimes based on, well, life its ownself (“I’m Loco For Lobo, and You Should Be, Too!”). At the beginning of the session, I added an occasional series I called “Three Point Shots,” intended to be a quick snapshot of issues roiling the Legislature, with links to more information thereon. I’ve noticed that some of those posts are as long or longer than the weekly essays, which was not my intent, so I will continue them but trim their length back. My goal is to publish an essay every Tuesday – something to digest and think about – and a Three-Point Shot every Friday – an appetizer for your weekend.

         The Substack platform also allows for podcasts, chats and commentaries on posts. I have used the Chat feature a couple times to good results, and will continue to do so from time to time. I also commit to using the podcast feature, possibly even to transform my “Breakfast/Lunch with Smart People” Facebook series into a podcast.

         To summarize:

1)   Thank you for your interest, readership and support thus far.

2)   Look for a weekly essay on Tuesdays and a shorter Three-Point Shot on Fridays.

3)   Look for more personal essays about me and my life its ownself.

4)   Please join us in the Chat feature on occasions when we go there.

5)   Watch for my efforts at podcasts.

6)   Give me feedback on what works, and what else you’d like to see here.

Threads: I’ve Made a Huge Mistake

         I jumped on the 70-million-strong Threads bandwagon last Thursday and immediately realized I’d made a huge mistake. My error stemmed from the fact that Threads is tied to Instagram, which asked me if I wanted to synchronize my Instagram feed with my new Threads account. I foolishly said yes, without thinking through two things:

1)   I follow around 5,000 Instagram accounts, from my best friends to a Norwegian photographer who once took a cool picture of the aurora borealis; and

2)   Anyone who wants to “follow” me on IG has to ask my permission.

This means that I was:

a)   Instantly following thousands of people on Threads, most of whom I have no real interest in following; and

b)   Instantly had hundreds of people automatically asking me if they could follow me back on Threads, even though they probably would have no reason to follow me and I no reason to let them follow.

        Which means that, in the approximately five days since Threads debuted, I have not really looked at my Threads feed to gain whatever wisdom and grace it was supposed to dispense because I have been too busy allowing or disallowing people to follow me and, to a lesser extent, unfollowing Norwegian photographers whose art I admire but whose opinions about the relative value of the euro hold little fascination for me.

        This painful migration to a new social media platform might have been worthwhile if I was a dedicated Twitter user who had become disenchanted with The Musk and was seeking a more compatible environment for … whatever it is Twitter does. I admit, once upon a time I frequently checked my Twitter feed, because it was the best place to get up-to-the-minute intel about the Legislature. But those days are gone, or at least my need for that kind of intel is. Now I access Twitter, when I do, mostly to keep up on about a dozen friends, including a Never Trumper from Austin who, to my amazement, routinely shitposts at 2:00 in the morning and a mortgage banker from Nashville who fosters dogs and has the kindest soul of anyone I know. I don’t know if they’re even on Threads, and I doubt I’d be able to find them if they were.

        I’ve made a huge mistake. Like most mistakes, big and small, I will muddle forward, trying to get my Threads account under control or, in the alternative, delete it and start over.But should you decide to follow me, ask me at @deecex at Threads.

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        The Art of Livin’ … This guy attended Matthew McConaughey’s five-hour self-help seminar so you wouldn’t have to. Alright, alright, alright!