Parent Newsletter [Week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent]
An update on the future of this blog
I’m a Scorpio stellium, so while other people meet with themselves to discuss their rebrand, my selves are rattling around in constant cycles of death and rebirth. Same same but different, I guess.
Fear not, the rebirth is only adding to whatever it is I “do” here, not fundamentally altering or taking anything away.
I’d like to officially introduce the work of Reagan Yates, my sister in bearing the cross that is a presidential namesake (though my little joke is that I was named after Jackie, not John), the artist of my first tattoo, and my dear friend. If you can believe it, this was her first time designing for the screen. It’s with great pleasure that I share the full-sized renderings of Parent Newsletter’s first-ever logo (see below) and header (see above).
I can’t think of a better date of the year than that which aligns with my area code to launch these St. Louis-inspired images and the next phase of my time here on Substack: the pay-what-you-can subscription.
Three years of Parent have flown by, and in that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to have my work embraced by some of the best and brightest voices this platform has to offer (Camille Bacon, Hailey Denise Colborn, Jessica DeFino, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Safy Hallan-Farah, Charlie Squire—if you’re reading this, thank you for believing in what I have to say). There’s only one thing I could possibly ask for on top of the connections and catharsis this experience has granted me, and that’s an intimate community with which to share my rawest material, as well as what I’m reading and resonating with in literature and media at large. (Bet you thought I was gonna say compensation…I’ll get to that momentarily.)
I’ll be brief. A paid subscription to Parent Newsletter will grant you continued access to my series on what I like, EGGSHELLS (but vol. 3 will remain free and is forthcoming later this month) as well as my longer personal essays. I intend to keep my arts writing and upcoming collaborative pieces public. To be real with you, I cannot wrap my head around the fact that there are somewhere around six thousand of you (Substack dashboard says less, but my author profile claims there’s more), let alone around the idea of offering up my innermost self to all six thousand of your email accounts. But for a $5 payment (or $55 if you’re looking to subscribe for a whole year), I will serve you said self on a silver platter! If that doesn’t fit into your personal finances at the moment, let me know via email and we can work something out. I’m also running a 314 Day Special this weekend and a Founding Member sale with extra perks—you can find all the quantitative details here.
I’m actively building out a publishing calendar from now until my graduation in May, so expect more from me than usual as of this relaunch. Alongside this announcement, I’m also asking for your input on what I write in my first thread using the Substack Chat feature. Please let me hear from you and we can plan to yap more regularly…
Thank you for your continued readership and support!
With so much to share so incredibly soon,
Kennedy