Note to Readers

Explaining a new byline.

The last time I made an announcement in here about writing on another platform, I was in the mother of all hurries and made a dog’s breakfast out of it. So I’ll take time now to explain why you may be seeing my name next to a column on another platform during campaign season.

Racket subscribers have been extraordinarily generous to me and my family since we started this experiment in 2019. In that time I hope readers have noticed that I’m not very mercenary about this job. I haven’t raised prices or filled texts with SUBSCRIBE buttons or done PBS-style give-a-thons begging for cash. I believe this is a business and if we do a good job, people will subscribe. If not, they won’t. Past that, I try not to think about it.

In recent weeks however I’ve agreed to partner on a campaign column with a site that also works with some other Substack colleagues. I’ll let them announce it, but I wanted to make sure readers here weren’t taken by surprise. I also wanted to explain that you won’t be getting less content (as you’ll see in the next days), and that this isn’t about money. If you want me to get into it, I will, but essentially I’m trying to find ways to get around certain new forms of digital pressure that have me worried about the site’s independence.

Again, I can explain more if you like, but I have to get back on the road (I’m speaking at Cornell tonight, and will try to publish some transcripts from that event). Please also watch this space in the next days for a story I’ve been working on for weeks with some familiar partners. Until then, thanks for your patience and support, as always, and you’ll be hearing more here soon.