Thanks for being here, Emma! Yes, losing one's parents takes a lot of getting used to. I hadn't really prepared myself for that. I am very sorry for your loss.
I love the idea of Substack as a place to write to, a place to send your letters home...when the home you have always written to (even if it changed address from time to time) is no longer there. And what a treasure for you not only to have those letters you wrote home for decades, but to know that your parents received them.
Oh my gosh I loved reading this, Jeffrey. I'm looking around your newsletter & thinking, Wow, this is incredible, I love what you've got going on here. My hat is off to you, Jeffrey. Congratulations, & I am thrilled you have found something that is like a new home to write to. Bravo.
Thank you for your encouragement, Gabe! If newbies like me stick around on Substack, when the numbers are all low (as they are at first) and it's hard to know which way to turn, it's because of warm heartedness like yours. You've been a constantly generous voice. Thank you!
This was a lovely reflection on your Substack experience thus far and the inspiration behind your publications name. Thank you for sharing it’s nice to get more of a window into the writer behind the words :)
"It hasn’t always been easy to negotiate the quiet pools along the banks of Substack River without getting pulled from my moorings by the quickening current in the middle." - oh my. how great.
I am so happy to have discovered you and your writing on Substack. About home, it is always within ourselves that we have and find it. It goes with us wherever we are. I love the way you bring your consciousness into the narrative as an embellishment along the way of describing the journey. I do not travel the physical world but can take my mind to the wonderful levels of all things through literature and prose. I would use the word 'scintillating' to describe how your essay makes me feel. It is not quite the right word but will have to do for now. I have ancestors from Devon and other parts of the world. I sometimes wonder if there can be a vibe or thread of consciousness that survives space and time? Count me in as a fully engaged fan of your work and homeplace.
I may be only twenty-four, but this essay read as a beautiful accompaniment to my way of thinking, my way of feeling, and my way of writing. Beautiful words. Thank you, Jeffrey!
Thank you, Tom. I'm glad to hear that this piece worked for you. And thank you for visiting the English Republic of Letters. I hope you will visit again.
Really, it's wonderful stuff. It felt like an honest preview into how writing evolves with someone over a lifetime. I'll most certainly be visiting again. And I love the name - I actually wrote my dissertation on the RoL!
Hi Jeffery, I just found and signed onto your newsletter which I greatly enjoy, the sort of thing that I resonate with, so happy you are here. I am an artist more that a writer. I now jokingly call myself a 'Certified Old Master' since I am receiving social security for the last year or so here in the States. 'Certified Old' for sure, and after 50+ years of being an artist I probably know my way around in the studio.
As a budding writer I finally locked in daily journaling about a year and a half ago and proud of myself for it. I just started getting serious on substack postings two or three months ago. I figure it will help me stay accountable to my journaling intentions. When I was younger I studied other Modernist artists' works ferociously and now that I am writing stuff I am taking the same interest in the Modernist literary world, especially of poets. I think of it as a Trans-Temporal Conversation that we artists and poets are all having together over the centuries through our works. I am starting to wander around the Poets tables at this big banquet. I make and post a lot of collage poetry and art from over the last 20 years.
Your musings will be coming home to this address in the high desert of New Mexico. (By the way, I spent 7 years in Cuernavaca which I am sure you will know if you were in Ciudad de Mexico.) So that is my introduction to you. all the best, mucho gusto. Cecil
Hi Cecil, bienvenido! it's great to have you here. I really like your idea of the Trans-Temporal Conversation! Yes, I remember Cuernavaca well, such a beautiful place. I hope to write about Mexico here at some point. In the meantime, make yourself at home!
I've just been listening to Dr Rangan Chatterjee's latest podcast about the life changing power of connection. Worth a listen. One of the contributors voiced his thoughts about where home is. He said that home is the place where somebody notices if you're not there. I hope you now feel at home on Substack 😊
Mmmm ... should have seen that one coming 😁 Not in the sense that RC’s podcast contributor meant. I’m not yet a writer so nobody will notice if I’m not ‘around’. But we’ll notice if you’re not here! I’m still feeling my way. There are so many interesting and thought provoking writers here, too many to follow, unfortunately. Like the subject of the podcast, I’m interested in ‘connection’ and have just started reading Steve Taylor’s ‘Disconnected’. Substack falls short on real, in-person connection, but that’s the nature of online communication. For some, it will be the first stepping stone.
I'm finding a good level of connection, especially through the comments section of my Substack and that of others. And thanks for the tip; I'll check out Disconnected.
I'm so touched by the idea of writing your way home, Jeffrey. Cheers to you, to that beautiful sentiment, and to all the wonderful milestones ahead of you. Your parents would be so proud!
Thank you, Maddie, for those kind words. Thanks for being here!
I think my parents always expected me to write a book, but had to be content with letters and then emails. I don't think there'll ever be a book, but yes, I think they'd like the idea of me writing this newsletter.
There is a lot to read on Substack, isn’t there. I started reading before writing, too. I am just starting to feel a little comfortable here. Feeling my way, still. Being an adult orphan is not at all comfortable though. I still feel devastated that my parents died within 18 months of each other. A lot of things in life take some getting used to.
Your worlds were a salve for me, one of the millions of people who crave home but know they can never go home again because it doesn't exist (literally or metaphorically). So thank you for sharing this! I don't know how I got to this post, so that means it was likely a restack through Notes! So, hooray for Notes! I might be your #101 subscriber. Also in Notes this morning, an oft-quoted poem called "Why Bother" by Sean Thomas Dougherty: "Because right now there is someone; Out there with; a wound in the exact shape of your words." Your post did that for me. Fit the wound of lost home. Also, taking a risk here because not everyone likes Morrissey, BUT, I am a fan of his work and the song "Home is a Question Mark" began playing immediately as I read your post.
Home, is it just a word?
Or is it something you carry within you?
I'm happy just to be here
If I ever find home
...
If I ever get there, do you really think I will?
Do you really think I will?
How many times I've saved myself
I mention it because to me, this search for home, the archetypal home which includes our parents, expressed in this song always hits a very deep chord of bittersweet for me. And, then the resolution at the end that maybe what we were looking for all along was ourselves. So, maybe when we write to home we are writing to ourselves and maybe when we write a pathway to home, we are writing a pathway to ourselves. I don't know. Seems to neat in a pop psychology sort of way to really work or feel good; but sometimes, if I'm in the right mood, it works for me.
Thanks, Emily, for being here and sharing your thoughts so beautifully. I'm glad you found this place and more importantly, I hope you find your pathway home and to yourself. Thanks too for the share of the poem and the Morrissey song!
Thank you, Yi Xue. I have to say that these feelings came as a surprise to me. And I hope that time is far off for you!
I am new to you Jeffrey, but this was a beautifully moving essay - thank you.
Thanks April, for your kind words and welcome to the English Republic of Letters!
Thanks for being here, Emma! Yes, losing one's parents takes a lot of getting used to. I hadn't really prepared myself for that. I am very sorry for your loss.
I love the idea of Substack as a place to write to, a place to send your letters home...when the home you have always written to (even if it changed address from time to time) is no longer there. And what a treasure for you not only to have those letters you wrote home for decades, but to know that your parents received them.
Oh my gosh I loved reading this, Jeffrey. I'm looking around your newsletter & thinking, Wow, this is incredible, I love what you've got going on here. My hat is off to you, Jeffrey. Congratulations, & I am thrilled you have found something that is like a new home to write to. Bravo.
Thank you for your encouragement, Gabe! If newbies like me stick around on Substack, when the numbers are all low (as they are at first) and it's hard to know which way to turn, it's because of warm heartedness like yours. You've been a constantly generous voice. Thank you!
This was a lovely reflection on your Substack experience thus far and the inspiration behind your publications name. Thank you for sharing it’s nice to get more of a window into the writer behind the words :)
Thanks Michael. That's very kind of you. And thank you for being here!
"It hasn’t always been easy to negotiate the quiet pools along the banks of Substack River without getting pulled from my moorings by the quickening current in the middle." - oh my. how great.
Thank you for your kind words, Jan!
Thank you for sharing your writing my way home.
I like this you said, and that’s me too.
I’ve realized that if there’s one thing I enjoy more than writing on Substack, it’s reading on it.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Tinabeth!
I am so happy to have discovered you and your writing on Substack. About home, it is always within ourselves that we have and find it. It goes with us wherever we are. I love the way you bring your consciousness into the narrative as an embellishment along the way of describing the journey. I do not travel the physical world but can take my mind to the wonderful levels of all things through literature and prose. I would use the word 'scintillating' to describe how your essay makes me feel. It is not quite the right word but will have to do for now. I have ancestors from Devon and other parts of the world. I sometimes wonder if there can be a vibe or thread of consciousness that survives space and time? Count me in as a fully engaged fan of your work and homeplace.
I may be only twenty-four, but this essay read as a beautiful accompaniment to my way of thinking, my way of feeling, and my way of writing. Beautiful words. Thank you, Jeffrey!
Thank you, Tom. I'm glad to hear that this piece worked for you. And thank you for visiting the English Republic of Letters. I hope you will visit again.
Really, it's wonderful stuff. It felt like an honest preview into how writing evolves with someone over a lifetime. I'll most certainly be visiting again. And I love the name - I actually wrote my dissertation on the RoL!
Really? I'd like to hear more about how you came to be interested in the RoL.
Hi Jeffery, I just found and signed onto your newsletter which I greatly enjoy, the sort of thing that I resonate with, so happy you are here. I am an artist more that a writer. I now jokingly call myself a 'Certified Old Master' since I am receiving social security for the last year or so here in the States. 'Certified Old' for sure, and after 50+ years of being an artist I probably know my way around in the studio.
As a budding writer I finally locked in daily journaling about a year and a half ago and proud of myself for it. I just started getting serious on substack postings two or three months ago. I figure it will help me stay accountable to my journaling intentions. When I was younger I studied other Modernist artists' works ferociously and now that I am writing stuff I am taking the same interest in the Modernist literary world, especially of poets. I think of it as a Trans-Temporal Conversation that we artists and poets are all having together over the centuries through our works. I am starting to wander around the Poets tables at this big banquet. I make and post a lot of collage poetry and art from over the last 20 years.
Your musings will be coming home to this address in the high desert of New Mexico. (By the way, I spent 7 years in Cuernavaca which I am sure you will know if you were in Ciudad de Mexico.) So that is my introduction to you. all the best, mucho gusto. Cecil
Hi Cecil, bienvenido! it's great to have you here. I really like your idea of the Trans-Temporal Conversation! Yes, I remember Cuernavaca well, such a beautiful place. I hope to write about Mexico here at some point. In the meantime, make yourself at home!
Thank you sir. Will do.
I've just been listening to Dr Rangan Chatterjee's latest podcast about the life changing power of connection. Worth a listen. One of the contributors voiced his thoughts about where home is. He said that home is the place where somebody notices if you're not there. I hope you now feel at home on Substack 😊
Thank you for your kind sentiment! I guess I do feel at home here. Kind of. How about you?
Mmmm ... should have seen that one coming 😁 Not in the sense that RC’s podcast contributor meant. I’m not yet a writer so nobody will notice if I’m not ‘around’. But we’ll notice if you’re not here! I’m still feeling my way. There are so many interesting and thought provoking writers here, too many to follow, unfortunately. Like the subject of the podcast, I’m interested in ‘connection’ and have just started reading Steve Taylor’s ‘Disconnected’. Substack falls short on real, in-person connection, but that’s the nature of online communication. For some, it will be the first stepping stone.
I'd miss you if you weren't here!
I'm finding a good level of connection, especially through the comments section of my Substack and that of others. And thanks for the tip; I'll check out Disconnected.
Thank you 😊
I'd be interested to find out what you think about this book, particularly given your experience.
This was a lovely read and wonderful way to think about Substack. I also have found the question of "home" confusing over the past few years.
Thank you for reading and for being here, Ashley. I hope your confusion is resolved.
I'm so touched by the idea of writing your way home, Jeffrey. Cheers to you, to that beautiful sentiment, and to all the wonderful milestones ahead of you. Your parents would be so proud!
Thank you, Maddie, for those kind words. Thanks for being here!
I think my parents always expected me to write a book, but had to be content with letters and then emails. I don't think there'll ever be a book, but yes, I think they'd like the idea of me writing this newsletter.
There is a lot to read on Substack, isn’t there. I started reading before writing, too. I am just starting to feel a little comfortable here. Feeling my way, still. Being an adult orphan is not at all comfortable though. I still feel devastated that my parents died within 18 months of each other. A lot of things in life take some getting used to.
Your worlds were a salve for me, one of the millions of people who crave home but know they can never go home again because it doesn't exist (literally or metaphorically). So thank you for sharing this! I don't know how I got to this post, so that means it was likely a restack through Notes! So, hooray for Notes! I might be your #101 subscriber. Also in Notes this morning, an oft-quoted poem called "Why Bother" by Sean Thomas Dougherty: "Because right now there is someone; Out there with; a wound in the exact shape of your words." Your post did that for me. Fit the wound of lost home. Also, taking a risk here because not everyone likes Morrissey, BUT, I am a fan of his work and the song "Home is a Question Mark" began playing immediately as I read your post.
Home, is it just a word?
Or is it something you carry within you?
I'm happy just to be here
If I ever find home
...
If I ever get there, do you really think I will?
Do you really think I will?
How many times I've saved myself
I mention it because to me, this search for home, the archetypal home which includes our parents, expressed in this song always hits a very deep chord of bittersweet for me. And, then the resolution at the end that maybe what we were looking for all along was ourselves. So, maybe when we write to home we are writing to ourselves and maybe when we write a pathway to home, we are writing a pathway to ourselves. I don't know. Seems to neat in a pop psychology sort of way to really work or feel good; but sometimes, if I'm in the right mood, it works for me.
Thanks, Emily, for being here and sharing your thoughts so beautifully. I'm glad you found this place and more importantly, I hope you find your pathway home and to yourself. Thanks too for the share of the poem and the Morrissey song!