Woven: Reflections on the Wonderfully Weird Web, Part 10 [The Finale] | Also: This newsletter is shifting as new dreams are being woven by this author—I hope you'll join me.
This one is especially close to my heart for many reasons. ☺️
But I feel especially tender about the section dedicated to the stranger.
Maybe because “The Stranger” echoes of the foreigner in the Bible (a class of person to be especially looked after), and the foreigner is violently unwelcome in the current US regime.
Maybe because your words are open arms to future love.
Maybe because I was once a stranger, and you cared for me.
I resonate so much w the need to move and publish and write at your own pace. And the theme of entanglement over engagement that you’ve been talking about has been sitting deeply in my spirit for some time. I am so grateful to the woven vs wired series in particular.
I’d fallen off my Substack reading (I realized I substacked too close to the sun and subscribed to more publications than I had capacity to engage with), and as I made my way back I thought about - which folks resonated the most either bc they put to words so many of my thoughts and feelings or they challenged me in ways I need to grow? Yours was top of this list.
It’s lonely to publish to no response. I started writing on here to find or build community as a memory worker and world builder. The memory worker in me agrees that there’s value in writing for the archive, of documenting. The world builder craves the creation that comes from engagement.
Your post made me think about how IG has changed the culture of the comment section. Comment sections used to be places for conversation and discourse but they’re turning into places where you have to type a word to get a link to buy the thing someone is selling. We’ve been trained to be spectators who take vs digital friends who exchange. But on a more optimistic note, perhaps there’s another option where folks are very moved by your writing and just sitting with and processing it on their own. The feedback would be nice, but there’s also trusting that the care and intention put into a piece has legs and is doing the work you set out for it to do long after you hit publish ❤️
Martina, thank you for your reflections and the gift of your attention on this post. I don't have answers for everything but I definitely have reflections and invitations.
1. "I substacked too close to the sun" is a great name for a post on newsletters and rest.
2. I am HONORED to have come to mind on your list. So deeply. I will be saving this comment to my encouragement folder.
3. RE: "It’s lonely to publish to no response." - I am currently reading up on community building—online and offline—and thoughts are forming but I am working through the conundrum of not being on algorithm-driven platforms (including Substack Notes). This weekend, at the woven: mini retreat, we had some great moments of not engagement, but entanglement. It has me more encouraged by the work I have put in to tend to the space, and in this series describing what I am aiming for. But I am unsure what to do with this reality: short-form, algorithmic platforms helped me build 2/3 of this audience. I am also dealing with missing the instant gratification that comes with engagement. It is...a journey.
4. RE: the IG comment section- Just...UGH....I remember craving depth over there and getting crickets. But reflecting on that has me thinking all the more about how we create countercultures for digital tools that incentivize shallow connection.
5. RE: folks processing on their own - I try to imagine this often. Every once in awhile, a friend I know in real life tells me they are doing this, which reminds me that others are doing this too. Reflection is what I know, in my secured self, I want for my readers...engagement is what my insecure self craves for me. Again-journey. Whew.
Wow. The miracle of reading this piece after writing a few pieces myself on Substack that did moderately well (for me) followed by one that has received crickets that was about how we never know how our work will impact future generations is really something. Thank you 💗
This one is especially close to my heart for many reasons. ☺️
But I feel especially tender about the section dedicated to the stranger.
Maybe because “The Stranger” echoes of the foreigner in the Bible (a class of person to be especially looked after), and the foreigner is violently unwelcome in the current US regime.
Maybe because your words are open arms to future love.
Maybe because I was once a stranger, and you cared for me.
I love this parallel, and I love that Rose is anticipating being looked after as well, thus turning strangers / foreigners into community.
I resonate so much w the need to move and publish and write at your own pace. And the theme of entanglement over engagement that you’ve been talking about has been sitting deeply in my spirit for some time. I am so grateful to the woven vs wired series in particular.
Lemme first say I know entanglement lasts because I feel it in our friendship.
Thank you for your support of this series!
I’d fallen off my Substack reading (I realized I substacked too close to the sun and subscribed to more publications than I had capacity to engage with), and as I made my way back I thought about - which folks resonated the most either bc they put to words so many of my thoughts and feelings or they challenged me in ways I need to grow? Yours was top of this list.
It’s lonely to publish to no response. I started writing on here to find or build community as a memory worker and world builder. The memory worker in me agrees that there’s value in writing for the archive, of documenting. The world builder craves the creation that comes from engagement.
Your post made me think about how IG has changed the culture of the comment section. Comment sections used to be places for conversation and discourse but they’re turning into places where you have to type a word to get a link to buy the thing someone is selling. We’ve been trained to be spectators who take vs digital friends who exchange. But on a more optimistic note, perhaps there’s another option where folks are very moved by your writing and just sitting with and processing it on their own. The feedback would be nice, but there’s also trusting that the care and intention put into a piece has legs and is doing the work you set out for it to do long after you hit publish ❤️
Martina, thank you for your reflections and the gift of your attention on this post. I don't have answers for everything but I definitely have reflections and invitations.
1. "I substacked too close to the sun" is a great name for a post on newsletters and rest.
2. I am HONORED to have come to mind on your list. So deeply. I will be saving this comment to my encouragement folder.
3. RE: "It’s lonely to publish to no response." - I am currently reading up on community building—online and offline—and thoughts are forming but I am working through the conundrum of not being on algorithm-driven platforms (including Substack Notes). This weekend, at the woven: mini retreat, we had some great moments of not engagement, but entanglement. It has me more encouraged by the work I have put in to tend to the space, and in this series describing what I am aiming for. But I am unsure what to do with this reality: short-form, algorithmic platforms helped me build 2/3 of this audience. I am also dealing with missing the instant gratification that comes with engagement. It is...a journey.
4. RE: the IG comment section- Just...UGH....I remember craving depth over there and getting crickets. But reflecting on that has me thinking all the more about how we create countercultures for digital tools that incentivize shallow connection.
5. RE: folks processing on their own - I try to imagine this often. Every once in awhile, a friend I know in real life tells me they are doing this, which reminds me that others are doing this too. Reflection is what I know, in my secured self, I want for my readers...engagement is what my insecure self craves for me. Again-journey. Whew.
So so so good.
🥹 🖤
Thank you Quanny!
Welcome sugar!
Wow. The miracle of reading this piece after writing a few pieces myself on Substack that did moderately well (for me) followed by one that has received crickets that was about how we never know how our work will impact future generations is really something. Thank you 💗
I am so glad for this serendipity for you! I am currently reading that piece I think you are referencing by the way. :)
Thank you, Rose.