I figure since everyone and their mom has one, I’d put out a weekly e-newsletter too. Not much of an early adopter, I don’t mind being a little late to the party so I can get a proper lay of the land. Trailblazing no, disruptive maybe just an ooch.
Dispatches from the Feral Fringe came to be in the life-dismantling, uncertain wake of Covidtimes—a radio transmission, a telegram, an S.O.S from a place of dire circumstance. Many of us were cut loose from our support networks, flung fast and hard into a state of untethered free-fall. Society as we once knew it was no longer. The office went virtual while homes became gyms, classrooms, spas, and doomsday bunkers. Families and working people huddled in solidarity, cuffed in indeterminate lockdown.
A class of tribeless folks—the newly unemployed, children and adults orphaned by COVID-19, and all the marital status single ladies, gents, or otherwise—emerged from the wreckage of corona’s shock and awe. Borne from the pandemic but disfigured by complex trauma, depression and anxiety, physical disability, and immense grief, we found ourselves in exile—each day an entirely new and unfamiliar existence.
The whole world grieved the loss of soul-nourishing IRL experiences where we felt connection and a sense of belonging. Those of us who’d been in free-fall eventually crash-landed on the outskirts of town with nary a place in society and only a peephole-sized view of it at that. Some days would feel big with wide-open possibility, others cold and lonely and dim.
Over time, unlikely friendships sprang up, allowing lone wolves to take comfort in their otherness. Lost souls found themselves even more adrift than before—but together. Welcome to the Feral Fringe.
What to expect
Six-part e-newsletters delivered to your inbox every Saturday at 9am. Have your mom fix you a big bowl of Honeycomb and enjoy your morning cartoons.
Dispatch
Tales that’ll warm your heart and make you sick to your stomach. Each issue will include such a parable, drawn from lived experience and observation during the pandemic.
Tech Support
Information Age anecdotes from Zoomtown. Learn how not to navigate social media, smart devices, new technology, and cybersecurity from this Luddite no-talent assclown.
Archetype
Everybody plays the fool—sometime. There’s no exception to the rule. Even non-Jungians find archetypes to be accurate and apt portrayals of humankind. Each issue highlights one of twelve.
Liminal Space
Airport people-movers and long basement corridors offer in-between moments for reflection on our journeys from Points A to B. Each Dispatches holds space for a brief respite.
Doubletake
To reimagine life and raze our bubble-gummed and duct-taped systems, world-building challenges the very things we once held true. An idea each week of something we may want to ponder.
Pretty Thing
An image or object, a poem or portrait. In an ugly world, we can find beauty in surprising places. Each issue leaves you with a parting sentiment—something nice, until next time.
If you made it this far, you’re in a very exclusive category of person. Sometimes I wish I was one of those people.
Thank you for reading. See you next Saturday morning.
xx