Sometimes You Gotta…

Launching a newsletter is easy.

Growth requires a mission-focused approach. I was discouraged by the lack of immediate reaction to The Apollonian 2.

“Why wasn’t I getting feedback?“

The better question:

“Why do I expect instant feedback?”

Bad Feedback

Those familiar with live mics know the deafening sound of instant feedback. Audio bounces between the speaker and the mic, intensifying each time until the performer or audio engineer has the awareness to cut the noise.

Instant Feedback does not mean valuable feedback; your words may be clones to others.

Good Feedback

Kind feedback is humane and helpful. Misguided intentions can inspire a mission, but only as consolation.

Nabala, my favorite coffee shop in Chicago, was recently vandalized by way of broken glass. There were many windows to choose, but the vandal selected the window where the Palestinian flag stands.

The day after, while enjoying my regular, a cardamom cold brew, I noticed a news camera capturing the shop and interviewing the owner. Finding a seat is normally a challenge, but there was standing room only—I don’t think anyone cared to sit.

Our presence was our hug. Community building is valuable feedback.

Humane, human responsibility is to ensure kindness always wins.

The Spectacle of Exhibition

Positive, instant feedback may exist when one’s novel voice or presence materializes others’ thoughts or feelings; this is a quality of virality.

Contemporary culture highlights spectacle. Virality accompanies intense resonance and/or disgust.

Encouragement for mindfulness coincided with a new academic year as “Demure” infiltrated the cultural zeitgeist to usurp the infamous “Hawk Tuah.”

A reminder that, “sometimes you gotta pop out and show niggas,” kicked off the summer.

[ I’m a grown, black man and I’m going to strategically use the word when I see fit. ]

Previous generations might consider seeking fame by hinting XXX for $$$ as a moral stain, despite “liberation”.

Younger generations might be too discouraged by failing institutions and lopsided wealth distribution to care what elders think,

…and instead find joy in the ironic and comical.

“It’s not that deep.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

…but we are so, so numb.

Viral Vroom-Vroom

Going viral is a vehicle to riches when a personality is tall enough to drive attention.

Contemporary streaming analytics indicate 15 minutes of fame can equate to 500k hours of watch time or more—a highly profitable operation.

Manipulating human attention holds unquantifiable value. Corporations assign dollar values to the metric of attention, but they may never reveal the total capital gained.

We have grown to evolve our ability to draw attention beyond natural, healthy limits through entertaining programming like TV, streaming, and social media.

Mental candy, or poison, is camouflaged as mental food.

The 1st tech giant to combine these addicting mediums in a novel way will have a massive, maybe insurmountable, advantage.

For the record: Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon have live, or scheduled, anti-trust cases regarding your data.

Remember:

Under a system of capital and the dollar, you’re always paying for attention with attention.

On The Brand “Eye of Apollo”

Coordinating The Apollonian across media channels like Substack, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and web is my biggest current challenge.

Otherwise, I’m waiting on a bulk order of hoodies to arrive for printing.

I’ve started the design, but the next few weeks will include a design sprint. Look out for video documentation on the Eye of Apollo Instagram, and some will appear in Ghost Wonder.

Other Updates:

All pages on the website are “functional”, but About Me/About the Brand need work.

Definitions (like Week 1’s Brand and Week 3’s Virality) explored in The Apollonian will appear in Mnemosyne.

Each day, I spend 2-3 hours writing for the Eye of Apollo comic book, our newsletter The Apollonian, The Dionysian (not revealing this, yet), music reviews, and/or essays.

I was overwhelmed by hours spent, but now expertise in language turns words into building blocks for architecting thought—thus behavior.

The Apollonian 3 was heavily inspired by these songs [explicit content].

Song A ; Song B; Song C; Song D; Song E

Until Next Time, Wolves.

Kindness Always Wins,

Apollo