Dear Family, both chosen and blood,
This is the first of what may be regular podcasts. This may be a better use of my talents and skills than my previous Substack efforts seemed to be.
In this podcast, I am joined by “Rob.” Rob has also agreed in principle to be the “sound engineer” for these podcasts. In future podcasts, some of you may also join me.
In the podcast, I note that I wanted this to be a ten-minute recording. In editing a 180-minute conversation, Rob felt that a 12-minute podcast would be best, in part because he wanted time to say nice things about me.
In this podcast, I also talk about my deep unhappiness with how the universe and I turned out. I also share my deep pessimism. I am reminded of the old saying, “An optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds; a pessimist is sure that it is.”
I know that many of you, some of whom love me, find my talking about this both painful and useless. I have been told that it is wrong for me to share my pain with other people unless there is some hope of a better tomorrow. I do not know if it is wrong, since I don’t know how to decide if something is wrong. However, I have no desire to hurt you, so if you think this might harm you, don’t listen.
I say in the podcast that I don’t have much of a filter. However, that is not completely true. I rarely talk on social media, at least social media that I think any of you will access, about my sexuality or gender identity. I suppose I do hide that.
So here are the questions.
Should I continue to post in public how unhappy and pessimistic I am?
How long should the podcasts be?
What should the podcasts be about?
Would you like to be interviewed for a podcast?
Much love,
Fred
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