Volume 20: 'Strong-arming' Raffi Into Reading My Work
Plus, a hearty welcome to new readers, a mini-milestone and working with some climate change heavyweights.
Greetings to all the longtime readers, and a very special welcome to the many new ones. Last month, a bunch of you signed up mere minutes after the Gen Dread team published a short essay I did for them (more on that later).
If this is the first edition of the newsletter you’re receiving, thanks so much for signing up. Maybe it’s the emo in me, but I’m genuinely touched every time I get that new subscriber email, and I take the investment of your time very seriously.
What you’ll find here is one of the few newsletters out there right now — to my knowledge, anyway — examining natural disasters and climate change through the lens of personal stories and third-person accounts. What started as a sort of cathartic way for me to keep friends and family abreast of my family’s situation has morphed into a project that aims to tackle the personal side of natural disasters by sharing my own story as well as the stories of others (getting a little tired of only writing about myself).
Ultimately, I want this to be a community. Several of you have reached out to me to ask questions and share your own stories. If you’re brand new, please don’t hesitate to reach out here or via email or social media. And if you have a newsletter or project of your own let me know about it.
Writing for Gen Dread
The short piece I wrote for Gen Dread focused on the role language is going to play in the next phase of climate change.
I meant everything I wrote, but I only focused on the positive elements of giving disaster victims the vocabulary to properly express what they’re living through — what we’re all living through.
There’s the other side of that coin though, isn’t there? Whenever new or recently popularized impactful words and phrases go mainstream, they are almost always politicized, weaponized or co-opted for less-than-noble purposes.
Just look at the term “Woke.” That loaded four-letter word can either be an identify or an insult, depending on which side in the never-ending culture wars you’re fighting for.
I doubt “eco-anxiety” will ever be as polarizing, but stranger things have happened.
Then there’s the danger of leaning too heavily on the terms and jargon, over-sanitizing powerful language to point of making it virtually meaningless. Corporate America excels on this front. Ever read the “About Us” page of website that was so filled unnecessary buzzwords and industry jargon that you walk away wondering, “What the fuck does this company actually do?”
Ultimately, I loved working with the Gen Dread team (Britt, Sophie and Annisa) and experienced the benefit of writing for a notable newsletter on this platform. Getting in front of the Gen Dread audience pushed me over a little milestone I’ve been closing in on for the last couple months: 200 subscribers.
Thanks to all my faithful readers and some extra exposure from Britt and her team, River People Rebuild now has subscribers in 28 states and 9 countries.
If this is the first you’re hearing about Gen Dread, check it out — the work they’re doing is really, really important.
Raffi wasn’t coerced, bullied or extorted into liking one of my tweets
Twitter generally sucks right now.
It’s an ocean of hate, bile and posturing with the occasional promoted tweet for a pair of strange-fitting men’s pants thrown in (don’t ask about my algorithm).
So then why don’t you just leave? Because every now and then it reminds me of what drew me to the site in the first place — the chance to have a genuine interaction with Scott Weiland. While I never actually spoke to Mr. Weiland on Musk’s mid-life crisis platform, I did strike up several conversations with Robert Deleo, STP’s bassist, and I got Jake Tapper to follow me because of “What Your Favorite 90s Rock Band Says About the Type of Bored Suburban Dad You Are Today,” a humor piece my friend Talia invited me to collaborate with her on.
Last week I felt an inkling of that old Twitter magic when I posted the above Gen Dread article, and Britt (the editor/creator of the site) and Raffi (the iconic troubadour/activist) started conversing right there in my tweet. Here’s how it all went down:
As you can clearly see by the little exchange, Raffi was by no means bullied in liking by tweets or reading:
Bilski’s Bits and BS:
Instead of the usual roundup of books, clips, articles, songs and sound bytes I’ve stumbled upon over the month, I’m going to shamelessly promote some of my non-newsletter writing for the new folks. I promise I won’t make this a habit.
“My dad lived a lie. I’m determined my kids won’t have to do the same.” First truly vulnerable thing I ever put out in the world, and still one of my favorites.
I’m not passing my parents’ religion on to my kids, but I am teaching their values. I thought this piece was an innocuous take on my complicated relationship with Catholicism (and religion in general), but boy was I wrong. Lesson: Writing about religion is always going to be controversial and polarizing.
Water off a duck’s back. Some local newspaper writing I did after Hurricane Ida about a bar/restaurant that refuses to give up.
Questions You, My Spouse, Are Likely to Have about My Brave Decision to Start a Podcast. This is probably a good time to mention I’ll be adding a podcast to this newsletter … seriously. Also, most of this is made up, but the Justin (a RPR reader who doesn’t even know who Raffi is!) and the Guys and Grey’s was something we actually considered.
How My Wife Improved Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poem. A transcript of some emails I sent to a poetry website and one of my favorite pranks. Only Points In Case would publish something like this.
As always, leave your in the comments section (or in any post) or email me directly at jrdbilski@gmail. Finally, if you’re enjoying what you read, consider sharing with others using either of buttons below my signature (or on any of the Share buttons sprinkled throughout). Remember, word-of-mouth is the best way for me to grow this thing.
Til Next Time,
Jared