"The key word is survival on the new frontier"

Introducing a new section to the newsletter, which will have a historical/political bent to it.

I’m not one to shut down and ignore things. I have never wanted to be a “put my head in the sand” person and not care about things like my country and the world around me. But the past… however many months (particularly following the 2024 election) gave me something of a shock that left me tuning out a bit.

I was focusing on the things I enjoyed—sports, music, books, movies, culture, etc.—rather than letting myself engage with what was going on.

That’s generally not my modos opparandi. I’m someone who likes to be engaged, and I’ve put my money and time where my mouth is on this. I’ve donated to political campaigns as well as (digitally) knocked on doors—I did text messaging GOTV stuff during the 2020 election… yes I was one of those annoying people (I’ve got stories I can tell about that experience, but perhaps for another time). I’ve also done some phone call canvassing as well as door-to-door stuff in the past (I can get a little stutter/stammer so those conversations can be really tough and I do try to eschew them).

But after this election, I felt so defeated and like everything I thought and believed in… didn’t make sense. Yes, I’m perhaps owning up to my own point-of-view here by acknowledging that after this election I felt defeated, but it’s true (and I think I’m a thoughtful enough person to where I can be taken seriously while still clearly having a point of view and opinions of my own). I wanted to disassociate and not care. I was angry and sad and tired, and not just because whom I supported didn’t win. There were some other factors in play that I’d like to explore a bit further, but you get the idea. Thus, for a while, I checked out.

But I’ve started to realize… that’s really no way to live and I made a shift. Rather than retreating and sticking my head in the sand, I wanted to open my eyes and look clearly at what happened. I’ve subscribed to (digital versions of) newspapers and political/news-centric Substacks. I’ve been listening to news and political podcasts again.

Growing out of this is this new section/newsletter-within-my-main-newsletter, which will have a focus on both current events/politics but also history (I imagine a lot of book reviews, as I do enjoy reading about history when I have the time). Writing is one way that I process things. It’s the way I come to realize what it is I think about something. As I’m trying to look into the world out there, both our present and then the past that informs it, I’m going to reckon with those things through writing.

The title, The New Frontier, is the term used in John F. Kennedy’s 1960 acceptance speech at the DNC and later became the label/tagline for his administration’s programs.

Let that be something that lets you know about the point-of-view I have and what I believe. Without ascribing a label, I have a reverence for quite a few things that perhaps articulates my outlook: the New Deal Coalition/consensus, the mid 20th century political sphere and the intertwining of intellectual history/historians and politics, the Kennedys (yes, I know)(mainly the JFK, RFK SENIOR, Teddy, Eunice and Sargent Shriver) and the things that branch off in the midcentury (and that tradition’s inheritors in the 21st). I have a strong belief in institutions (though I’m trying to challenge myself a little bit there). I don’t know if I’m a “moderate” but I would say I’m someone who’s “moderating” (if that makes sense)¹.

It’s with all that said that I’ll launch this element of my newsletter. I want to write and think about what’s going on in our country and the world now, what it means, what to do, and how we got to this point (where the history comes in). If you’re interested in this, you shouldn’t have to do anything. If, however, you’re not one who really wants to read that kind of writing from me (for whatever reason), then just make sure you’re only subscribing to my Culture and Sports feeds. But I hope you all will keep reading and sharing and enjoying what I’m thinking about with this.

1. As someone who is also a teacher, I’m maybe being a bit coy here, but with good reason I think. One can read between the lines on what I’m saying here and grasp my stance though.