The Problematic Workhorse Is Off to the Races
Perfectionism, workaholism, depression, paralysis by analysis and wee bit of existential dread in the face of consumerism and New American politics. But don’t worry, I won’t get too heavy just yet.
1. Όλα Καλά: Are You OK?
I’m not exactly sure but if you know anything about me, you know that I’ve got a lot of ideas. For me, writing and talking are the best ways to get my ideas out of my head and into the world so that’s why I’m here and that’s what I’ll intend to do! About a third of this stuff will be me writing about my ideas and relationships to the people and places that have had some impact on my life both as a musician and practitioner of “wellness”. Figuring out what “wellness” even is will be a primary focus. To help me suss it out, I’ll be having conversations with poets, healers, chefs, musicians, meditators, and other important and inspiring people from different areas of my life. Subscribers will be able to join in these conversations and I hope to create some small amount of dialogue in my corners of Western New York. In addition to essays and articles, I will record many of these conversations for you to listen to as well.
Speaking of listening, I’ve been following some of my favorite artists like Miranda July and Colin Meloy on Substack for a little while and, I dunno. It feels so much quieter over here. Listen:
We can’t do this with all the noise and distraction that exists on those other platforms, can we? After struggling for years over what type of “massage content” to publish on the internet, I came to my final conclusion: there isn’t any. And I don’t know how much I really care to change that. Sometimes, a problem exists and the best thing to do is to accept it and move on.
As for sharing music, I don’t know if this is the best place to do it but it seems like a more decent way to for me to do it, at least for now. Tunes, songs, and soundscapes (like the one above) I’ve made over the years I'll uploaded here. Subscribers will get the exclusive stuff like storytelling about past projects and sneak peaks of projects I’m currently working on.
Let’s just see how things go for a while. Along the way, feel free to let me know what resonates with you. Ultimately though, I hope this will be a place for me to get out of my head and make more, write more, and listen to more of what truly matters to me.
So consider a subscription!
Subscribing to The Kala Project for free is all I ask of you. A $7 monthly contribution (or the discounted yearly option) would do wonders for this project in more ways that I can describe at the moment. The only reason to choose a Founder subscription would be to join me and others in occasional online group meditation and discussion sessions.
~ J