Happy Valentine’s Day!

Thanks For Signing Up to Walter’s Substack

Hello Everyone,

It was really nice to see so many new subscribers after my recent post on Illumination. I appreciate all of you and I’m looking forward to learning more about this platform.

Over the last few months I’ve been burdened by the increase in hostile comments. When you write about ways that people are oppressed and exploited in the US, naturally it’s going to make people angry (particularly those that profit from the unjust system... and they have all the money).

It occurs to me that I need a more positive echo chamber, and I am hopeful that Substack will provide that. The benefit of positive comments still outweighs the impact of harassment from AI bots, but hopefully this platform will swing the results even further in my favor.

Also, one of my favorite writers was recently booted from a platform under what I feel were unfair circumstances. That made me feel vulnerable, so it makes sense to get established on as many platforms as possible.

Right now, my plan is to do about one Substack email a week. I figure I will highlight a few articles that aren’t getting as much attention as I’d like. It will be interesting to see if those of you who subscribe to my other email feed aren’t receiving all my notifications.

But let’s keep it light for today, and since it’s Valentine’s Day, you might enjoy this one (my wife thought it was hysterical):

Your Wife Needs That Valentine’s Day Bouquet More Than You Know

The other thing I’ve got going on is a library presentation on Thursday. It’s the first public appearance I’ve done since the pandemic, and I’m just a touch nervous about it. Things have been too hostile in the US lately. If I thought there was a significant danger then I wouldn’t do the talk, but I have to admit that it’s on my mind. I wrote about that here:

Should Writers Be Afraid of Getting Attacked at a Public Appearance?

Finally, I’m curious what day you prefer to get an email from me. Also, I just like that I can do a little poll, I think I’ll do that in every message. In the future, I’ll use polls to ask questions about what kind of topics you want me to address. But “keep it light” is the theme for today, so here you go:

I’m looking forward to getting to know this platform and using it as a tool to help me discover the topics you want me to cover. Again, Happy Valentine’s day everyone! You’re all a tremendous source of comfort to me!

WR