Hey gang, I’m in the middle of writing the MAN report and wanted to give you an update on what I’ve been up to. I don’t do interviews, podcasts, or public talks, so I know it can feel like I drop off the face of the earth and then reappear months later with a new report.
The gap between reports has gotten longer because the kind of report I want to make has changed. If you’ve been here since 2017, you know I started this Patreon as a lottery to get my unsold gallery work into the hands of people who actually followed what I was doing, instead of just wealthy collectors. Once that work ran out, I shifted to quick, informal videos about my experiences in the art world.
Over time, the scope got bigger. Instead of zooming in on one topic or myself, I started trying to connect a lot of cultural subjects together. From 2019 to 2023, I went from making 5 twenty-five minute reports a year to 3 that run over an hour. The research scaled up too, from reading just a few thinkpieces per video to reading ~10 books, plus basically everything else I can find on the topic. This all just takes time.
This change has created a dilemma: people sign up because they like the longform reports, and people unsubscribe because they’re not getting a new video every week or month. The problem is, the kind of meticulous, 1500 image, hour+ long video you signed up for isn’t possible to make that quickly, so what you get instead is the longer wait between releases.
I'm not the only person to cover the topics I discuss, and Youtube offers a harrowing look at what happens when millennials spend just a couple weeks writing and not-researching a hot button issue. The results are unwatchable. You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure it’s tempting to look at the $5 you paid during a production month and wonder “Did I just pay for nothing?" but what you’re really paying for is the next report I’m actively working on... and the difference between it and the many available alternatives.
This MAN report is shaping up to be the most ambitious one I’ve done because there are so many connected topics to cover. There really is a line to be drawn across the DOZENS of man-related issues that have dominated our The Discourse the past 15 years, but drawing that line carefully, subject by subject, takes time.
(Btw I appreciate all the research recommendations, please keep them coming. I’ll post another list of topics I’m looking for help with soon.)
The writing itself has truly been fun so far, which is usually a good sign. Every day I sit down and feel like there’s too much I want to get through, and I always have ideas for what I’m excited to write about the following day. That’s also why I don’t have a firm release date yet. I don’t want to foreclose the possibility of a better version of the report just to get something out as fast as possible.
TLDR: I'm working hard, having fun writing this one, and appreciate your support.
Thanks for sticking with me.