Tap, tap, tap ... Is this thing on?

It's me, Laurin! Y'all still out there?

Hey, y’all! It’s been a minute since I launched this thing and then promptly forgot about it for four years. We’re in the midst an election season too bonkers for Hollywood to dream up, and my writing itch is reaching calamine lotion levels. For more than a decade after I shuttered my original blog, The Laurinline, to join the upstart presidential campaign of a young Illinois Senator, I took to Facebook to scratch my writing itch. These days their algorithm overlords bury any post identified as political. I got tired of banging out 500 words of thoughtful analysis on my thumbs for only three or four people to engage with it, so I mostly stopped writing.

This publishing machine is still here, though, and today I decided to dust it off and take to the keyboard. I don’t have anything in particular on my mind to write about at the moment. Mostly, I just wanted to send out the Bat Signal and see if y’all are still out there and might be game for building a little community with me on here. If you’re unfamiliar with this platform, Substack, here’s a quick rundown. Posts are delivered to your email inbox, but if you’re like me and your email inbox is eligible for Superfund, you can also find the latest content using the website version of the newsletter. OR — my preference — you can download the Substack app and find the latest posts on there. The app is a social platform with commenting and whatnot. I’m still learning my way around it, so feel free to ask me any questions if you're confused about how it works.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with this thing. I don’t know if I’m going to keep the name. I don’t know if I’m going to use it regularly. Though the paid subscription option is still there, for now I’m only going to post “open” posts, so don’t feel any pressure to do that just yet. If I morph into a Substack beast and start hammering out epistles on the reg, I might look at trying to make a business out of it. For now, let’s just have some fun. I’m grateful to have y’all here!

For me, the best part of public-facing writing — whether on a blog or Facebook or anywhere else — is hearing from readers, engaging in meaningful (and/or playful!) discourse, and learning from one another. I’m lucky to have many smart friends in real life and online, folks with diverse backgrounds and opinions. Dissent and fact-checking are encouraged. Rudeness won't be tolerated. (Unless it’s funny. And not at the expense of other readers. If it’s at JD Vance’s expense, that’s fine.)

In addition to scratching my writing itch and facilitating community dialogue, I like to share good stuff, and I want you to share good stuff with me — especially articles, op-eds, and any other thought-provoking (or laugh-inducing) content. So y’all get comfy and let me know what you want to see happen in this place. I’m not promising anything, but it’s always fun to light a match and see what happens, right?

In closing, I’ll leave y’all with a recent pic of me and my Velcro dog Penny. No, I’m not wearing an alma mater shirt of the Hillbilly Eligizer. It’s a Y’ALL shirt, and it’s awesome. Here’s where you can buy your own.