I am passing the microphone to you—and giving some of you a little present
Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth, Martin Johnson Heade, 1888.
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If there are any real number-heads out there, you may have calculated that the next issue of this newsletter will be the 100th. (This one does not count because I say so.) That is a lot of emails, a lot of words, a lot of me talking to you about things I am cranky about in whichever week.
To mark this centenniary, I would very much like to pass the microphone over to you all. I know most of you probably don’t know that much about each other, unless you have like hacked into my mainframe, but trust me, you are a very smart, cool, funny, insightful bunch of people. I mean, the responses to the Dune issue alone.
So specifically, via a little survey, I would like to hear your brief thoughts about the issues and themes that we’ve been talking about all this time, plus just a little feedback on the newsletter. I would also love to round up some music/TV/books that you have loved lately. If I get a critical mass of responses, we can do a reader takeover for the 100th issue next week.
***In return for this nugget of labor I am requesting, if you fill out this questionnaire, I will add you to a drawing in which three people will receive a book that has been featured in the newsletter, as a special little thank you.***
Choices include: All We Can Save, The Uninhabitable Earth, Ministry for the Future, Last Days by Tamiko Beyer, or any novel by Cadwell Turnbull or Sam J. Miller. Or if there are any others you recall that I mentioned in the newsletter that you’d rather have, I’ll see what I can do. Books will be purchased through Papercuts, a small, woman-owned bookstore here in Boston that also runs its own feminist small press. And I will throw into each package a piece of black tourmaline, the official gemstone of Crisis Palace, as a keepsake. It is a grounding stone that protects against stress and bad vibes—or just a cool looking rock you can keep on your desk. And yes I will pay for the shipping don’t worry I’m not going to do you like that.
I should also say that the idea for these writing prompts, and doing a contest/survey was inspired by ~aka completely stolen from~ Tamiko and her newsletter, Starlight and Strategy, which is the best go subscribe now.
OK so what do you have to do?
This little online form linked here will offer a few very brief questions about this newsletter, just for my own use. Then, you will find two prompts that will ask you for your thoughts on Crisis Palacey concerns. You can write a couple sentences or a couple paragraphs, or if you have a lot on your mind, I don’t know just go wild.
You don’t have to answer everything, only what speaks to you (although come on give me just a little something if you want to be in the drawing you know what I’m saying).
The deadline is in one week, end of day Thursday, October 21.
Your responses may be featured (credited or anonymous, up to you) in next week’s newsletter, and I’ll include your media recommendations too. I can’t emphasize this enough, I am really hoping to not have to come up with anything on my own next week. I want to be able to really phone this one in.
Finally, if you are like, give me a break man I don’t want to have to mess around with some google form, the questions are all below. You can always reply to this email with your responses below. EASY.
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Survey
These responses are just between you and me, to help me plan future newsletters.
What are your favorite parts of the newsletter? (pick two)
- Main essay
- Links
- Music recommendations
- Book/comics recommendations
- TV/movie recommendations
- The cute little endings
Would you prefer the emails to be…
- a little shorter
- longer and with more interviews and reporting, but less frequent
- about the same
What have been your favorite past topics/past issues?
What topics would you like to read about (or read more about) in the newsletter?
Who would you like me to interview? (either people in certain fields or specific individuals)
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Writing Prompts for Crisis Palace 100!
Responses will potentially be included/excerpted in Crisis Palace 100. If you do not want your answers to be published or you only want them to be used anonymously, it’s no problem, just let me know in your responses. Don’t worry about punctuation, spelling etc., I’ll clean em up.
Prompt #1: Do you feel like the world is on fire?
Literally or figuratively. How do you feel climate change impacting your life? What other related crises (democracy, inequality, structural racism, housing, transportation, health, etc) do you feel bearing down on you? What emotional response is this bringing up—anger, rage, motivation, energy, grief, dread, anxiety? Who or what are those emotions directed toward?
Prompt #2: What do you want to build in the next world?
What are the elements of the future world you want to see built or help build? Innovations, infrastructure, community resources, social bonds, organizations, businesses, economies, government agencies—whatever. What actions do you want to take in coming years, individual or collective? What are you excited about? How are the problems discussed above shaping your work (either your job, your art, or volunteering)?
Recommendations
Finally, what are some books, TV shows, movies, podcasts, articles, music that have served you well in the past couple of years? As many as you want. Again, let me know if you don’t want me to credit you by name and would prefer to be anonymous.
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Thank you. And thank you for being a part of this project for 100 issues.
Yip yip
Tate