Thank you for the reminder about both sides are. Two days ago I was having a fairly casual conversation with a neighbor about politics, and asked if he was registered to vote. Was very disappointed when he said no, that he never has and never intends to vote. He's 26 years old, so young. Has a master's degree. He said he knew that trump is a very bad guy but claimed that Kamala is equally evil because that is the only way people succeed in politics. And that there is no reason to vote for either one because they are both evil. Seriously! Don't know if he really believes it or not or if he didn't want to engage me in convo. You know, female that I am. White Utah Mormon males. Think they have all the answers. Buts that's my story.
Thank you for your words and stories. Your daughters are fortunate to have you as a storyteller.
Keep up the good work, Walter. It feels awesome to have a man (and such a good writer) championing for women and against racism. Thanks for what you're doing.
Nice to see you starting to build an audience over on Substack, too! I've really gotta try doing one of these voiceovers for some of my work. I've relied on Speechify for far too long hahaha.
Hi Ben! Yes, this platform is a good compliment to Medium. I had a reader request a voiceover about 6 months ago... but I still need to get better at it!
I’m long overdue to give it a real stab. Just reading my work outloud in the Muddyum group was a reminder of how far I still have to go. You’ve definitely got a great voice for it!
By Kamala and Tim bringing back joy and providing the most illuminating counterpoint to the gloom and doom right and their incessant outrage mongering, it is my hope that the mood of the country continues to move forward. I'm hopeful that enough of the angry gullibles can open their hearts and minds enough to be lifted out of the haze of resentment that the right has relentlessly spewed for their own domination.
Dear Walter, Thanking you for the tip on starting to write! I all my 74 years, never was gifted with the simple instructions you gave to go back to whisps you can remember and jot down notes of every remembrance, then write about them. ( Which I also took to mean, don't judge your memories as "not enough".) I now have 70 prompts!
To my mind, you are spot on with your political commentary. Keep it up. You do know that the fool who criticised the post using the picture of f**k spelled with guns IS a FOOL, and we'd all be better off without him and any friends he may have.
One of my prompts is writing about losing a friend who laughed at me for being against tRump the first time.,,, .
Excellent! Are you on Medium as well as Substack? I like to start off my articles on Medium, and then repost them on Substack after they've earned out over there. The story of losing a friend because s/he succumbed to violent political rhetoric is something people would be interested in reading. Thanks for the comment!
I'd love to cross promote some of my political stuff - I know you don't really need my support but I feel we all need to be as visible as possible.
I'm looking for cooperation mostly here on Substack. Most of my pieces on Medium get nominated anyway. I have noticed though that my more political pieces were all rejected recently not sure why that is. This is my latest in Deb's Whistle Blower on Medium. I'll be publishing it here on Substack as well. I'd love to work with you, let me know what you think?
Hi Ronke! Yes, lately Medium doesn't seem to want the overtly political stuff. However, you can still comment on politics if you are very nuanced and personal. I just nominated this post about Genocide and it was taken: https://readcultured.com/dispatches-from-the-front-the-rwandan-war-comes-to-new-haven-261036e43372 If you have more personal stories like that, please DM me with them. I'd be happy to work with you to get something Boosted!
Thanks Walter, that's a wonderful personal essay. I had a nearly 100% boost rate before I started writing more political things. All the editors thought they were great and nominated them but nothing...
The program has gone through some transformations lately. August was much different, but things seem to be stabilizing now. It feels to me like anything with "Kamala" or "Trump" mentioned by name just isn't going to get boosted. Instead, you need to write a story about something like a time in high school when a teacher made a casual comment that was an attack on your racial identity. That's the kind of stuff they're looking for. My boosts were down in August too, but they're coming back (but slowly).
The next time you have a draft ready send it over and I'll give you some feedback. I'm an editor for Cultured, so you could submit it there! Thanks for reaching out!
Thank you for the reminder about both sides are. Two days ago I was having a fairly casual conversation with a neighbor about politics, and asked if he was registered to vote. Was very disappointed when he said no, that he never has and never intends to vote. He's 26 years old, so young. Has a master's degree. He said he knew that trump is a very bad guy but claimed that Kamala is equally evil because that is the only way people succeed in politics. And that there is no reason to vote for either one because they are both evil. Seriously! Don't know if he really believes it or not or if he didn't want to engage me in convo. You know, female that I am. White Utah Mormon males. Think they have all the answers. Buts that's my story.
Thank you for your words and stories. Your daughters are fortunate to have you as a storyteller.
It’s a condemnation of our educational system that people can earn a master’s degree with an attitude like that.
Keep up the good work, Walter. It feels awesome to have a man (and such a good writer) championing for women and against racism. Thanks for what you're doing.
Thank you so much!
Nice to see you starting to build an audience over on Substack, too! I've really gotta try doing one of these voiceovers for some of my work. I've relied on Speechify for far too long hahaha.
Great piece, Walter!
Hi Ben! Yes, this platform is a good compliment to Medium. I had a reader request a voiceover about 6 months ago... but I still need to get better at it!
I’m long overdue to give it a real stab. Just reading my work outloud in the Muddyum group was a reminder of how far I still have to go. You’ve definitely got a great voice for it!
That's encouraging to hear! Thank you!
Thank you being my hope scroll this week and last!
You're very welcome. I'm hopeful now. We've got this! But keep the pressure on!
By Kamala and Tim bringing back joy and providing the most illuminating counterpoint to the gloom and doom right and their incessant outrage mongering, it is my hope that the mood of the country continues to move forward. I'm hopeful that enough of the angry gullibles can open their hearts and minds enough to be lifted out of the haze of resentment that the right has relentlessly spewed for their own domination.
Yes, it's like the Biden message on steroids. It's so nice to see an effective exchange of the baton!
Dear Walter, Thanking you for the tip on starting to write! I all my 74 years, never was gifted with the simple instructions you gave to go back to whisps you can remember and jot down notes of every remembrance, then write about them. ( Which I also took to mean, don't judge your memories as "not enough".) I now have 70 prompts!
To my mind, you are spot on with your political commentary. Keep it up. You do know that the fool who criticised the post using the picture of f**k spelled with guns IS a FOOL, and we'd all be better off without him and any friends he may have.
One of my prompts is writing about losing a friend who laughed at me for being against tRump the first time.,,, .
Excellent! Are you on Medium as well as Substack? I like to start off my articles on Medium, and then repost them on Substack after they've earned out over there. The story of losing a friend because s/he succumbed to violent political rhetoric is something people would be interested in reading. Thanks for the comment!
I'd love to cross promote some of my political stuff - I know you don't really need my support but I feel we all need to be as visible as possible.
I'm looking for cooperation mostly here on Substack. Most of my pieces on Medium get nominated anyway. I have noticed though that my more political pieces were all rejected recently not sure why that is. This is my latest in Deb's Whistle Blower on Medium. I'll be publishing it here on Substack as well. I'd love to work with you, let me know what you think?
https://medium.com/whistle-blower/why-trump-thinks-we-should-play-god-with-disabled-people-678e088312e4?sk=730e6ce6d0ebc4ea6756c4a08ed2f8e9
Hi Ronke! Yes, lately Medium doesn't seem to want the overtly political stuff. However, you can still comment on politics if you are very nuanced and personal. I just nominated this post about Genocide and it was taken: https://readcultured.com/dispatches-from-the-front-the-rwandan-war-comes-to-new-haven-261036e43372 If you have more personal stories like that, please DM me with them. I'd be happy to work with you to get something Boosted!
Thanks Walter, that's a wonderful personal essay. I had a nearly 100% boost rate before I started writing more political things. All the editors thought they were great and nominated them but nothing...
Not even this one that I feel was very personal even if it was based on Trump saying Kamala wasn't Black - maybe you have some thoughts how you'd have changed this piece https://medium.com/the-virago/why-people-like-me-can-easily-relate-to-kamala-harris-mixed-heritage-dilemma-eff117cb9d54
The program has gone through some transformations lately. August was much different, but things seem to be stabilizing now. It feels to me like anything with "Kamala" or "Trump" mentioned by name just isn't going to get boosted. Instead, you need to write a story about something like a time in high school when a teacher made a casual comment that was an attack on your racial identity. That's the kind of stuff they're looking for. My boosts were down in August too, but they're coming back (but slowly).
I hear you, I'll try that :)
The next time you have a draft ready send it over and I'll give you some feedback. I'm an editor for Cultured, so you could submit it there! Thanks for reaching out!
Thank you Walter that's very kind of you