The Great Hiatus

In the words of both the Terminator and King George III, "I'll be back." I will not, however, send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love.

Friends,

You may have noticed that the only new content I’ve produced recently is under the aegis of Chronically Illing Out, where I co-host a weekly discussion that includes dealing with chronic pain and illness, along with Nick Paro, Soso's World, Beth Cruz and various guests. These conversations are extremely grounding for me while the rest of my life is in a bit of chaos. I’ve also guested on The Debrief with Debra Shushan,, along with Rabbi Sandra Lawson and with Walter Rhein on his channel.

I want to assure you that Freedom Over Fascism Fireside Chats have not gone away; they’ve simply gone on vacation. Why? Well, as many of you know, I’m in the middle of several life transitions at once, and the thing that had to give was new Freedom Over Fascism interviews.

What transitions? I’d like to say “all of them,” but that’s not true. Just many. This month my eldest, first, best, and only son graduated high school. At the same time he started his first sleep-away camp counselor job. At the same time, my husband and I are selling our house and moving states to be closer to his parents, who need more support than they used to. My parents, while not living here, are facing their own health challenges.

As if this weren’t enough, said son will be starting college in the fall and is negotiating stuff like course registration, where I’m the default backup plan he’s using while he has to work.

Now, if you don’t have kids, or have neurotypical kids, this might sound easy peasy (though I know that the empty nest situation happens to all of us with kids). But I’m the emotional support animal for my kiddo, which I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I want to assure all of you Succession watchers that I’ve pre-grieved, so obviously I’ll be fine (if you didn’t watch Succession, just ignore the reference. It doesn’t add much to the conversation).

So, between getting kid out, house ready to sell, moving to temporary housing, looking for a new house in a new state (TBF it’s where hubby grew up), and chronic migraine, I’ve let the Freedom Over Fascism conversations rest for a while. I’ve got some great ideas for when we start up again, which is realistically in September after the bird has flown the nest. I’m still getting pitches, and if you’re one of the folks who want to pitch me on conversations, I’m still accepting them, though I’m asking folks to circle back with me later in the summer. I will be moving to Maine and will have some Maine-focused content as well, especially since all eyes are on the Platner/Collins race. I’ll actually be able to vote and have it counted, which is more than I can say for most previous votes in California and Massachusetts. If you’re in Maine, DM me so I can get to know real people when I move.

But Do. Not. Worry. We’ve got tons of conversations that remain relevant every single day that you can check out. It’s all on the Substack page here. www.freedomoverfascism.us.

And we’ve got partnerships and alliances and new ideas in the works that will be really exciting when I can finally share them. I wish I had pictures of baby elephants like Benjamin Wittes or some new merch for you. Rest assured that it’s all coming, except the baby elephants.

I’m always happy to chat with any of you, my subscribers or followers. Please feel free to DM me on Substack or find me on Signal at stephgerwilson.01.

To tide you over, here are a few shots of my adorable furbaby Ruby. I’d give you some kiddo pics but he stays far away from social media.

So, my friends, I miss you all, and will be back with you as soon as I can with new Freedom Over Fascism fireside chats.

In love, solidarity, and democracy,

Stephanie

ps. Please share this and pass it along so that anyone who is interested might see it.

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And, as always, I welcome free and paid subscriptions to fuel this work. If you’re a paid sub, thank you!, and if you’re along for the ride, welcome! My work is always paywall free. If you need a pause, contact me and we’ll work it out!

Til then…