Breaking my silence...

Greetings to my readers and subscribers, both old and new. I’ve recently picked up a couple of new subscribers who found their way here from my latest piece for American Thinker, even though I haven’t posted anything on this newsletter in more than a year. And it hasn’t been a very inspiring year, which is part of my excuse for not writing. I’ve had a couple of injuries, a couple of surgeries (nothing really major, but still…), have lost a couple of dear friends, and in general feel as if the pace of aging has significantly picked up in the past year, a year in which I passed the three-quarters-of-a-century mark.

Plus, it hasn’t been a very good year for those of us who love America and her Constitution, and for civilization in general. I don’t want to blame clinical depression for my hiatus from writing, but there’s plenty enough to be depressed about, or at least disheartened and discouraged; “All you have to do to feel the Blues is watch the News.”

So here’s a hearty “Thanks!” to those who are still interested, and to those who have recently signed on. My original intent in undertaking this newsletter was to make it a source of income; the Substack model calls for having enough subscribers that a sufficient number will be motivated to become paying subscribers; a couple of thousand subscribers, each paying a couple of dollars a month, and I could actually make a living at this!

That was my plan when I started, when I was struggling to stay afloat, having been “relieved” of my job as a staff writer for Trends Journal because I’d had the temerity to contract COVID and be unable to work because I was hospitalized. My boss, who’d been so pleased with my work that he’d given me three raises in the course of a year, told me that “the show must go on,” and replaced me permanently.

[A little side note: The unspeakably horrific events of Oct. 7 caused my former boss to confirm his true colors and true feelings about Israel and its very right to exist, feelings of which he had previously exhibited only the faintest whiff. Based on what I know now, I’m happy to be no longer associated with him. And even you, Dear Reader: If you harbor any sympathy at all for the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, or entertain any ambiguity over that nation’s right to exist, you are invited to stop reading and go away.]

Alas, I have so far managed to accrue only 200 or so subscribers, and so for my livelihood I turned back to my other skillset, retail demonstration sales (honed by 30+ years as a Boardwalk Pitchman). So, barring some major infusion of subscribers, I’ll just have to continue this newsletter as a labor of love. And, believe me, I greatly appreciate each and every one of you who is still reading it.

As today, Feb. 17, marks the third anniversary of the passing of Rush Limbaugh, and the very name of my newsletter (suggested by Chrissie Strider) is an homage to Rush, I invite anyone who hasn’t done so to read one of my earliest posts on this newsletter, “What I learned (too late) from Rush Limbaugh” (which I admit is more about me than about Rush). And I pledge to put aside my discouragement and continue to offer commentary, reminiscences, humor and even hope for America in the spirit that Rush Limbaugh did.

ST