Patronize me

Would you be interested in patronizing my work? You probably already know the sorts of things on which I value working, but if not, I'll give you a glimpse. I need encouragement to know that what I'm doing connects with you, and, to be sure, I need a bit of income. I would be very grateful to have you support me in either or both ways, and I will gratefully acknowledge your patronage. Please get in touch with me so that we can discuss what sort of effort you would like to support, and how we should establish that relationship.

In patronizing my work, you have a lot of options. I certainly enjoy writing, but in reality that is just one way for me to express my ideas. I desire intensely to share information and analysis to help facilitate good decision-making, which could manifest as anything from teaching to giving talks to policy advising. But also writing. More generally, I want to help build rich, vibrant, and resilient communities: that could involve facilitating community meetings; providing support for conflict resolution and reconciliation (in the Nonviolent Communication tradition); or it could mean collaborating on computer network communication tools (as part of my formal training is actually in software development).^[1]

When it comes to my research, analysis, and writing, you can get a sense of the sorts of topics that I find compelling from what I have already written.^[2] I am very interested in theorizing about how society should be structured (and what that even means). (Hint: things are pretty bad right now, generally speaking.) I certainly value looking at history, including recent events, to establish a meaningful story about what we are doing in the world. Perhaps you might want me to report on an event, spin a story, review some book or article, or provide a critical analysis of some idea (in writing or in person). There is so much that is rich and interesting in the world, and I would greatly enjoy your support in plunging into it.

I also have some more material interests and skills that might benefit you. I would like to work with you on energy and food infrastructure, or doing maintenance on your bicycles. Oh, and I would greatly enjoy helping you raise and care for your children (and note what I already mentioned about teaching, earlier). Also, right, if you are interested in building a very close community with me, I am working on fostering an intentional community in my area. In that case, we would all be supporting each other very directly, and continuously. As you can see, there are a lot of things that I want to say, a lot of things that I want to do, although really they are all connected. Perhaps you want to see just how these things, and others, are connected. Good question! That could be a great jumping off point for establishing your patronage.

There are likely a few extra things that you want to know. For things I've left unsaid, and the particular details, we can establish them when we talk. I envision your support as actually establishing a collaboration between us. Some of the ways I might acknowledge your patronage are by crediting you on the particular articles and descriptions of projects that you have supported as they are published, and also by including you on a list of patrons. And at some point, I might make some sort of badge that identifies you as a member of my community of support, if there is interest in that sort of thing. But I also foresee weaving your own interests into an ongoing narrative of my immediate community and our efforts.

How would you like to see me deploy my voice and my energy?