100th Post

Thank you for all of your support.

What a wild and winding road this past year has been.

The nation largely recovered from the economic challenges caused by the pandemic. However, having the best economic recovery in the world isn't enough to fully insulate Americans from higher prices. On the brighter side, unemployment is low, job creation is high, and wages are up. 

Attacks on abortion rights have continued, with near-total bans enacted in some states at the same time as reproductive rights have been defended in other states. The debt ceiling was resolved. A Speaker of the House was vacated. And a budget was reached almost six months after it was due.

In addition to all of that, we’ve discussed healthcare, gun violence, income inequality, political strategies, and even interesting solutions to our nation’s problems, such as produce prescriptions.

This marks the 100th post of The Pragmatic Humanist, and readership has grown steadily. Subscribers are spread across the United States and around the world, including 20 other countries.

This past year has been exciting in a way that no other job has been. I’ve never languished with the thought of needing to write another article or research a new topic. My only complaint has been trying to find the time to do even more. 

And that is why I need to work on becoming comfortable with self-promotion this year. I am ready to write the next 100 articles. But to keep that pace going, I need some support. And I’d love for that initial support to come from some of you who have been enjoying these articles week after week. 

1.5% of you are paying subscribers. Thank you sincerely for your support. It is in no way a negative that so many of you are reading for free. I’ve always wanted to keep this information openly available so that everyone has access to learn, be informed, and share. 

What I need to do is find more ways to make it worthwhile to support this work.

*Update: Unfortunately, there was no additional support for announcing these additions. That means I will need to hold off on making audio versions for now to use that time towards other work that pays the bills.

It also means that a paid subscriber chat is still a ways off, as there are still not enough members to make that work well enough.

I will continue to publish articles at a similar pace and explore new options when there is more support. This update refers to the italicized portion.

One addition I will try is an audio version of articles for paid subscribers available right here on The Pragmatic Humanist. 

If you don’t have the time to sit down and read, or if you’re interested in hearing my tone, emphasis, and inflections, this will be a new way to access the material. I will add audio versions of new articles and, over time, add audio versions for some of the most successful articles from the past.

From the beginning I’ve wanted to have a weekly chat for all paid subscribers where we can discuss what is happening in the world, what is happening in US politics, or dive deeper into the subject matter from the articles. It would be a safe space to question, learn, or simply hang out among like-minded people. For this chat to work, there needs to be enough paid subscribers in order to generate enough discussion. Hopefully, we can reach that point soon.

There are now enough articles that older ones will be moving into an archive. Paid subscribers will always have access to the entire archive and free readers will still be able to read new articles just as they always have.

With that in mind, here are the top five most successful articles taking into account reads, new subscriptions, and engagement. These are great candidates for audio versions in the near future.