Ideas for Substack posts.

What should I post?

• Reviews of classic books I’ve read that I’ve mostly-to-entirely forgotten. I already wrote this but I’m not sure if I want to publish it.

• A post about being abducted by a UFO in a dream on night of May 11. I already wrote this too but I’m not sure if I want to publish it either.

• An essay titled “Before War.” Tank Magazine published my ~5,000-word essay “The Partnership Before War” in 2021. I’ve since expanded it to ~12,000 words and shortened its title to “Before War.” Since it seems unlikely that another magazine will want to publish such a long essay that’s already been published in shorter form, Substack seems like a good place for it. There’s an ~8,000-word version on my website but I’d like the ~12,000 version to be here I think.

• Excerpts of my essay “Nini.” Harper’s accepted my ~13,000-word version of this but asked me to edit it down to 9,000 words, which I did. I could post excerpts from it that were edited out. The version that will be in my book Reasons to Live, which I recently completed, is currently ~11,700 words.

• An interview with my mom about 12 books that she read while visiting me from January 20 to March 10—Return from Heaven, Soul Survivor, Reflections on Life After Life, Transformed by the Light, Pottenger’s Cats, Poisoning for Profits, Saved by the Light, The Education of Koko, Wizard of the Upper Amazon, Underestimated: An Autism Miracle, The Truth About Contagion, half of The Awakened Way, half of Children Who Remember Previous Lives. She read so much in part due to being stuck at the house. There’s nowhere to walk to here, and she couldn’t drive.

• A post on the term “conspiracy theory.” I recently did an interview where
  I was asked about this. I said, in part (and could expand into a full post):

The CIA popularized the term "conspiracy theory" to dismiss people who disagreed with the official narrative on the JFK assassination (read about this in this paper). The term, as the CIA wanted it used, has been adopted by mainstream media (not surprisingly, considering Operation Mockingbird) and most of society. I don't like the term. For most people, calling someone a "conspiracy theorist" is the same as calling them an "idiot" or "nut" or any other name-calling/insult-based term. It serves to demean and ostracize.

Fortunately, as an artist, I'm granted some leeway in exploring so-called conspiracy theories before I get dismissed, at least by some people. In my opinion, society would vastly benefit from more, not less, people examining what are called conspiracy theories. Most conspiracy theories seem to be at least partially true, and our world is ridden with "crimes committed by more than one person in secret"—the literal definition of "conspiracy theory."

• An update on my feral pig friends. Much has happened with them since my first post on them, which covered up to January 23, four months ago.

• Nini’s diarrhea. My cat Nini had diarrhea continuously for something like nine weeks. I stayed calm—due in part to my knowledge from Dr. Garrett Smith regarding bile—and let Nini’s liver detox via diarrhea,. He eventually stopped having diarrhea and now seems healthier—and less autistic—than ever. Normally, a vet would have wanted to stop the diarrhea with antibiotics, which would have impeded the detoxification process while destroying Nini’s microbiome, leading to worse outcomes later, instead of his now healthier-than-ever state.

• A post on reincarnation, which I’ve read seven books on since December. I’m now 98 to 99 percent convinced it’s real. Believing in reincarnation changes so many things. For example, reincarnation seems to be a third major factor in what makes us who we are—along with nature (genes) and nurture (environment). We carry over habits, likes, dislikes, fears, memories, and much more—even physical characteristics—over lifetimes, apparently, according to the evidence.

• A post of photos of me with various animals throughout my life.

• I wrote a piece on glyphosate for Amalia Ulman’s movie Magic Farm, for a booklet for it, that I could post here at some point.

• “Tour of My Computer Screen.” I could record my screen while talking about it. Would need to be in the right mood to do this.

• Shoplifting “Shoplifting from American Apparel” from Urban Outfitters. I wrote ~1,000 words of this proposed book a long time ago. I could post it here. It begins:

“Should I really write Shoplifting Shoplifting from American Apparel from Urban Outfitters,” said Sam, returning with Michelle to his apartment after buying pasta from a deli to eat during The Royal Tenenbaums, which they’d wanted to rewatch after rewatching Rushmore in Sunshine Cinema on methadone a few nights earlier, both liking it more than their previous, respective viewings, when (this was unsaid, but Sam felt they were both aware of its relevance) they hadn’t been on drugs.

• Notes from my diary/notes file from 10 years ago. I started taking near-daily notes in late 2013. They became daily in 2015 I think. I could post a month of my unedited notes from exactly ten years ago. I feel safe with the ten years distance—since whatever I said was said by me from ten years ago, not me now.

• A post listing and discussing the books for this: