So I launched a project (an invitation)

An invitation and a thank you note.

Last week, I activated the paid subscription option for this newsletter. I was in the gym when I received the first-ever notification, saying that i just had my first paid subscriber. My heart pounded so fast that I felt like the whole world was watching me in my sweaty gym outfit, happy but anxious, ready to reveal the biggest gift box.

Being a freelance writer is my ultimate childhood dream (yes, ask my parents). It is hard—harder than I thought. The public’s definition of valuable content is extremely linear and highly constricted by capitalism and colonialism. Society doesn’t reward content that provides context and complexities, requiring people’s attention for more than 2 minutes.

In general, society is messed up. Unfortunately, I’m part of society, and there is just no way for me to price my work at this stage.

Sometimes my writings worth so much that no money can buy me to take them back. Sometimes they worth nothing as they move no one and change nothing; they are stones I thrown into the ocean, buried by the endless before it making a sound.

Sometimes I feel like I was born solely to put certain words down.

The fact is, my works are not a masterpiece, and most likely they will never be. And man, how much does a masterpiece cost? You can easily get your hands on a complete Shakespeare collection on a second-hand book resale for less than $50.

There are legitimate reasons to give up putting a price tag on my words.

My paid subscribers are not my customers. They are not buying my product; they are more like a tap on my shoulder ‘Hey, we see you, we like what you are doing here. Keep writing, we have your back.’

For this, I want to say thank you, thank you. I feel seen, I appreciate you.

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To actualize the appreciation to my paid subscribers (and to pat their shoulders back), I want to launch something I’m super excited about.

A bit of background: people including me, slow down and even stop their liberal arts learning after leaving school. We lose access to the library, access to a well thought out syllabus, access to the environment that motivates us to learn and grow, and the scariest part: we lose our curiosity to go deep, to understand how the world truly works. We stop reading, writing, and researching.

Hell like adult life.

(Photo by Trnava University on Unsplash)

SO, I want to build a seminar, a loose syllabus, an environment for collective learning.

For all the paid subscribers, each month, I will have a long post/email dedicated to the book I think you should read, essay you should check out, social critiques that I believe are relevant, perspectives of which you should be aware, podcasts you should listen to, and topics that you should probably research on.

And my thoughts and analysis of all the above.

In order for us to continue the self education, in order for us to never stop exploring (and thinking) about what it means and what it feels like to be a human being.

The ultimate objective is — learn to be a better human.

I have my answer ready before you ask me, ‘What do you know about this?’ I know NOTHING. I’m not a mentor, and I will never be. I’m a fool and a learner, most likely just like you are.

So this is it. My hope is that we can build a community, something like a book club but more than that. Thoughts will be shared, feelings and visions too.

Please, please, join this journey. If you have not yet become a paid subscriber, you can sign up by logging into the Substack app (you might need a VPN if you are in mainland China). You can also get one month of free access by referring this Substack to three of your friends by clicking the bottom below:

If you are already a paid subscriber, you can gift one month free subscription to three friends for free by clicking the bottom below (and if it doesn’t work, please let me know and I will fix it for you):

The first post will be published around the end of this month.

And I will see you tomorrow of this week’s Taste of The Week. So many great stuff I promise.

Again, thank you for finding me in this random random world.