Life and Literacy Beyond the Pay Wall
More than anything I love to read!
It’s my primary form of escapism, I guess.
I am tele transported to another realm. A long winded lover of words, it usually doesn’t bother me a bit that others do not always share my joy in savoring the written word.
Over the years, I have made some modest modifications to my love. There has been the subtle transition to listening to audiobooks as a form of pleasure. I can see it is an extension of being read to by someone who definitely wants to entertain me and hold my interest.
I have even been making audio files; letting go of my preference at least momentarily of touching the paper while absorbing the words. Turning the pages of a newspaper, magazine, or book is part of the tactile pleasurable experience. I like to read while taking a bath. magazines and books get wet, but the risk of electrocution and having to replace your IPAD has curbed my habit to a shorter bath time with bubbles but no digitals.
Making and stacking my piles books in my perfect order to the utter dismay of HGTV designers who actually face the spines of the books of others is merely my screening tool for knowing who really understands me and who will relish their time in my sanctuary. Losing access to the libraries of my youth made me learn what I needed to create my own in various spaces and at all times of the day and night. Lighting and comfort is so very important. I understand of need glasses now for almost all of my reading. My kindle reader has ways to flip the page and enlarge and lighten the font so I can read at night but of course I have to be charged up and prepared for outages. I like books and selecting my own material..
I also like to share what I read.. not just to see who likes or doesn’t like what I like but also because I like the conversation. A therapist once commented what a breakthrough I must be having that I could treasure my own interest by buying books for myself and reading not just because I thought someone else my like it, but because I did; no questions or sharing required.
I have the annoying habit of reading everyone elses horoscope first, even posting someone elses sign on FACEBOOK and then sending it to them with various interpretations. I would then save my own Aquarian and Saggitarian ascendency pearls for last and definitely not sharing it on FACEBOOK .else's
As a writer, storyteller and not closeted bibliophile, I am absolutely sure that if you read what I had just read in all it’s detail it you read, surely you would see my point of view. It would be perfectly clear what prompted me to write what I wrote.
Moreover if you read all (???? pages) and background resources; we would come to the same conclusion. Indeed more is better. The goal is to understand what the writer is trying to say in so many words.
Surely, everyone wanted to read all 237 pages of the Supreme Court decision on affirmative acton. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1185048706/affirmative-action-supreme-court-opinion#:~:text=Read%20the%20Supreme%20Court%20decision%20reversing%20decades%20of%20precedent%20on%20affirmative%20action&text=The%20Supreme%20Court%20ruled%20in,North%20Carolina%20at%20Chapel%20Hill.
Not everyone would wait on line till Kinkos openend to print out their own copy for notes in the margin, that would be extreme. Only my besties would do such a thing…
What was the point… and “oh my” after reading something it usually makes me want to read more and get to the source document or what inspired… those words.
I don’t think I was an early reader but I know for sure I was an early listener, I LOVE being a listener. Read me a story! I also love the storyteller as much as I love the story. What I would call eavesdropping and what my mom would call interfering or minding in grown folks business has it’s benefits. Little ones hear everything!
Being seen and not heard does allow you a certain vantage point or listening post.
Being deprived of the ability to read, to listen to others, to read if you can or to get information for yourself feels criminal, short sighted and so unkind. Who would promote such deprivation to anyone of what seems like such a simple harmless pleasure that should be accessible to all. Censorship of any kind or access to Free Stuff & FREE words seems like it shouldn’t even be the basis of an argument. I assumed until quite recently that EVERYONE would agree with me.
As the daughter of two teachers, literacy at any age was valued at the same time I never heard either of them disparage or malign anyone who couldn’t read. They both knew folks who may have had shame about their ability to consume information and books and to write, but they valued those who couldn’t while saying everyone would want to if given the chance or if they had something worth reading or listening to that mattered. Information that piqued their interest.
Good writers are good listeners and usually good readers. I like poetry. I like letter writing, the epistolary style as a genre and I like the notion of being a scribe. I learned a new word this week as I was preparing this post. I made a note of it even though I was pretty sure I couldn’t pronounce the word. It seemed to describe not so much what I wanted to be when I grew up, but what I had been for much of my life without knowing there was even such a person.
I am an amanuensis!
An amanuensis (/əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs/) is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter’s authority.[1]
I wish I was employed to be such a person, to be paid for this would be great. I don’t know how to start such a business, but I would be like to set my new moon intentions in this regard.
Imagine if you will, that not long ago, literacy as a skill for most workers was devalued and reserved for a certain class of folks. Universal public and free education is in many respects a recent 19th century phenomena.
The hazards of literacy, reading and writing for yourself were often articulated as the downfall of a happy impoverished working class or a less than obedient congregation of followers.
Let me read this for you… I will help you.. trust me this is too complicated. Don’t wory about the details, I will take care of it for you, I know what’s in your best interest. At the close of slavery, fewer than 5 percent of the black population could read and in many places, touting your ability to read or even teaching someone to read had dour consequenses. I want bore you with the legality of reading, writing or teaching someone unapproved for such an actvity.
Pay to Play.
Who will read our work?
https://www.apmresearchlab.org/10x-adult-literacy
Subscriptions …subscribers…
Calling all Readers and Writers
DONATE and UPDATE your status
Here is the tease.
Pay to get more, better, insider information. Pay to belong. I will give yuo two paragraphs for free..but yuo must register, subscribe to get th rest. just give me yuor address, and listen to this video, and you too will be in the know and part of my subscriber list and Price of membership is information and knowing the truth and staying informed.
What is the current cost of subscriptions, what is the cost of not subscribing? Financial and otherwise… pay for access to information and education. What is the responsibility of those with wealth and insider knowledge to serve and dole out bits of information to the deserving.
Andrew Carnegie… says?
What might A Philanthropist with an eye for frugality and free public libraries make of the public good regarding access to books. Consequences of giving your blog away creates pockets of literacy for your world view. What would Taylor Swift do? What would Tucker Carlson say ?
Is truth, integrity, and cost of dissemination even a factor ? What would Jesus do? (wwjd,) code for what is the moral obligation? How might you decide as an individual or the society decide in whose best interest?
Imagine what would the best 19th century robber barrons say about Elon Musk and the owners of the unenslaved workers at Amazon and Starbucks? What constitutes a living wage? If you work 40–60 hours a week, should that secure shelter, food, and education, and “happiness” and pride in how you spend your time?
Would I even want reparations from strangers if I thought there was a chance in hell I could get by on what I could make with working for an income. Is my wage a sign of the value of my contribution?
If I want to be a paid writer, and I start a “business” and monetize word for word; how would I get a paying clientele? The question becomes, who would not just want to read what I write or think or feel but who might want or could afford to pay for it or even know that it (my work) or I even existed.
A friend now deceased often said there is a difference in ad copy and literature. You can do both but don’t expect to be paid.
What if like me, you really do like to read something longer than a tweet or a text, but don’t know how to find a writer or a topic and don’t have access to books or various differing opinions. How do you know what’s true?
Is YOU TUBE the great equalizer? Can you listen freely to a wide range of opinions styles and genres or even with little effort and not much more than your phone, post video that potentially could reach anyone with internet access and a not so dumb phone. That is pretty exciting while at the same time creating an elite body of knowledge seekers, knowledge keepers and those who will only share if paid.
So back to the PAYWALL…. and content and what I am dutty bound to pay for with no apologies till the money runs out. I will continue to pay for my current subscriptions, because i am addicted to reading and I do want the writers to get paid espcially if they know STUFF I dont or want to learn.
I will “share” and circumvent the system of my exclusive rights to my subscriptions and share access to access, my words and others if there are interested or if I am insisting that they listen or read or know about…. (fill in the blank) about what I think they should know about or be interested in knowing about according to me.
I love my Medium and my Sub Stack as theey encourage me to write and read other writers even if I dont get paid. I pay for the privelge to read yuor work and to have others curate what I read.
I appeal to those in dire need of money to consider how limiting access to whatever has the perception of making the world smaller and creating greater divides in the haves or the have nots which can be even greater than the divide between the ones who know and those that don’t’? I want you to be paid and I want to pay you and I know you can’t pay your rent or your kid’s tuition with my heartfelt thank you note. Fair exchange as long as I prioritize what I can “pay” for to be a member.
If I want to earn money as a writer, and know that I do, I do I do…I will have to charge you directly or at least give you an opportunity to pay in exchange for adding you to my mailing list.
Hit DONATE, Subscribe & Be a Member!
I could also ask you to “pay” by buying my book, printed or audio material. selling me access to your address, your feed and your family of believers. I want you to find an easy clickable way to support me but I will also share for free because if I share, I would rather not limit my audience at this point in time as I am still not sure who my audience is and what constitutes the “paying public” but at the same time, I will whine that free access doesn’t mean that my work is not worth paying for.
Mostly I write and read because I would be absolutely nuts without those activities on a regular if not daily basis. If I am momentarily flooded with content and subscriptions that run in the hundreds do I now pay both the editor and purveyor of information and for an additional access price “subscribe” to a special content list or Provider. I do want to subsidize the writer or content creator as well.
Did anyone else grieve the loss of the Sports Department at the NY Times while rejoicing that you could limit your annoyance with other news by subscribing to the Athletics Newsletter. I am not a fan but experienced this as a loss and somehow even my newly appointed sports curator might not know what I might want to read about. What becomes of the historical record when all information is curated and we don’t get to browse or read more than the first 100 words. What voices are missing and univited to the sale or the conversating communion table? I look forward to reading what you have written. What I love best about MEDIUM is the dialogue and conversation.
It was a sad but confusing day in my personal monetizing my art hell when I subscribed and became a member of MEDIUM but then after a while and earning about $3.00 in royalties; the MEDIUM email told me I couldn’t get paid for my writing without having 100 subscribers on board.
No offense intended, just an editorial, curatorial decsion about who and what MEDIUM Partnership would look like. I persisted and waited and wrote and clicked more and read more: read more…I did write more; but not necessarily post more of my own work and realized that my writing was more expansive and curious and now I have over 100 subscribers. Lucky me!
My network marketing training hones in on the simple fact that an additional $500 a month would be a game changer for most people. Consistent well placed, well intentioned effort and the willingness to “ask” and not worry about the answer and keep it rolling and full of love… right place, right time, right folks. All is well
PROMISE I PROMISE
I will also not get mad or even be jealous of my fellow writers with thousands of subscribers, paying, or otherwise. Can I get paid for doing what I love, or what I am good at or what the “market” values in the workplace? I am going to find out about the donate button and encouraging my followers to buy a book or a “coffee” or a membership or a subscription when I am feeling worthy and can figure it out. I am going to keep reading and buy a book and support a writer in every way I can.
Slow and steady, keep reading and keep writing and if you would like, teach someone to love what you love. Click over and buy a book right now and read it or share it with a friend. I write about what’s on my mind. You can choose poetry, my own curatorial journey of church and spiritual development or a memoir about nursing your baby.
I self-publish happily with xlibris.com with my given birth name.
SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSELLER and purveyor of the GOOD NEWS!
SUPPORT THE FOLKS who teach people how to read or listen to books even if they don’t love it!
If each of us erected a pay wall, found a way to move around it and also read a book and bought a book and shared a book; we will be just fine!
https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Jacqueline+Lois
Not to worry..
keeping my subscriptions to :
MEDIUM
SUBSTACK
NY Times
Wall Street Journal
Washington POST
Audible
Atlantic
DWELL
Amazon Prime VIDEO
Pay Walls beware, WE READ…
