I am so sorry for the delay! My gorgeous nephew came very early this weekend. Watching my little brother and his amazing wife become parents has been wildly hopeful. Their sweet baby is still working on breathing and eating on his own. I can’t wait to hold him. For now, I’ve gotten to touch his little toes and stroke the back of his little hand. And that’s almost enough. I am happy to wait for more.
Okay.
As I said earlier, I’ll continue to publish access to essays here, on a delayed schedule. I will no longer be publishing original work or sending out emails from Substack.
I don’t want to overwhelm you with a lot of information at once. So I am launching new features, a day at a time, throughout the week. I will keep you up to date over at the new site as they go live! This Sunday, you’ll get an email from Pocket Observatory with an easy-to-follow walk-through.
Right now, I just want to give a quick overview of how Pocket Observatory has changed.
You can now find Pocket Observatory at pocketobservatory.org.
It looks pretty good right now! It will look EXCELLENT by the end of the week when the rest of the pages and community features have been added.
You can now receive a monthly snail mail newsletter from me!
Each newsletter will have exclusive, never-published online writing from me, along with related ephemera. Learn how here.
I am so, so excited about this part. I just feel like 2024 is going to be a year where we need something to hold onto, you know? And this is my little way of giving us something to hold.
If you are currently a Pocket of the Patron, you are eligible to receive the snail mail newsletter! I’ll send you an address form to fill out and you can opt-in, if you’d like!It is very easy to log in to the new site!
Simply click the portal button. It says, “Enter the Observatory.” Share the email associated with your membership (the same one you used here!), and you’ll be emailed a link!I’ve lowered the cost of becoming a recurring supporter. It now starts at $3 a month to access community features.
There are so many cool new tokens of gratitude for each member. Head over here to learn more about them. If you are currently subscribed at $5, your payment will change to $3 within the next seven days.The Observatorium has returned!
Its complete features will be added to the site throughout the week. For now, if you’re a paid member, you can visit the first member-only discussion right here!There is no paywall on the archive.
This is an act of radical hospitality provided by me, and more importantly, the people who become paid members of Pocket Observatory. When you support my work, you support making it available to readers everywhere. Thank you.
It is very easy to upgrade/downgrade/cancel your account on the new site.
Simply head to the portal button and type in your email. You will be emailed a log-in link. Click the link. You’re in!From the open source platform to the privacy obsessed analytics, everything I’ve used to build the site is concerned with protecting your data.
You are not being mined by Pocket Observatory when you visit the site. I’ve even included real-time analytics dashboard so you can see exactly what data is being collected. This is more costly to me as a writer because you have to pay for tools that don’t mine data. But it’s less costly for all of us as people. And I think that’s….valuable.
Okay, this is new for all of us! So I imagine there will be a couple hiccups. If you need help, email info@pocketobservatory.org.