Weekly Retrospective #6
Putting this review series on pause, end of winter reorganizing
Hello, reader. I’m starting to realize that this weekly review series has come at the expense of standalone pieces I’d like to write. While enjoyable, I think it’s best to put this on the back burner just for a little while. I’ll definitely start it again later this year.
But I now have a growing folder of notes and themes I’ve been unable to get to. And that’s not good, since this isn’t supposed to exclusively be a review and commentary newsletter. Most of you have not stumbled on my writing through this series, either.
I’ll try to publish once a week though. It just won’t be a review for the time being.
That being said, when I do bring back this review series, I hope to be subscribed to many more substacks so I can cover them. I originally imagined this series to be an exchange of ideas as an open conversation with other writers on here. So, if you’re reading this and are a writer yourself, or can recommend substacks I should be reading, please let me know!
I’d also like to share that I’ve also been busy working on an essay for publication in a magazine. It reexamines the issues I outlined in my social recession piece but in a more historical way. Hopefully, it’ll be out soon.
Cleaning Up the Newsletter
Past week or so, I’ve been moving some things around and I’ve settled on a structure to make everything easy to find.
You can now browse all the sections via the Explore tab or also on the sidebar where they’re listed.
If you don’t know already, my newsletter is broken up into three major categories:
There are also two series that are visible on the top navigation bar: Past as Prologue (historical pieces) and The Weekly (on pause for the moment, as you know).
Finally, there’s the Meta category for updates on the newsletter itself.
Anyway, that’s all for now. There are over 1,750 individuals subscribed to my newsletter currently, which means a lot frankly. Thanks for reading!
- Anton
Hello Anton,
[Isn't it odd that the norm now is to address strangers online by their first name -- which seems uncomfortably too forward -- yet the idea of addressing you as "Mr. Cebalo" seems uncomfortably too formal?]
I enjoyed reading your March 29 article at Palladium Magazine entitled "Midcentury Planners Demolished America’s Social Fabric."
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/03/29/midcentury-planners-demolished-americas-social-fabric
[One of the posters over at the Ace of Spades HQ blog (https://ace.mu.nu/) linked to it recently.]
Near the end of that essay you discuss the idea of “third places:” those areas of socialization that can be counted as neither school nor work. Having been born in the early 1960's, I can certainly relate to having experienced, witnessed, & lamented the loss of such interactions over the past 60 years. I would humbly suggest that it's no coincidence that the rapid decline in perhaps what was once the most dominant area of "third place" socialization in America -- religion via neighborhood & community churches -- correlates to, if not has been a primary cause of, the rapid decline (in a whole host of areas from morality to education to happiness) of Western Civilization in general and the U.S.A. in particular.
Cheers!
I support this move! I also feel like the weekly commentary theme has become somewhat congested. However, a monthly review "dump" will be welcomed, just to see which way you are looking at ;)
Looking forward to new interesting pieces!