I had not updated the ToC since June 2024.

I’m going to come off my writing hiatus. There are things to write about. Someone I know and love had an awful experience with Stenograph. The Trey Perez lawsuit had a lot going on that I failed to write about. It’s just been… well, you know, it’s hard. I don’t make enough money off Stenonymous to hire a staff writer or do this full time (yet). There are also other things going on in the background it’s not yet time to talk about.

And it shows. Readership is down. There’s been nothing new to read.

But, you know, perseverance.

I want to put something very important out there.

Sometimes I do controversial pieces. And I do them because, group think — particularly when that group think is anti-union, anti-solution, and “just let things stay the same forever” — is a major disadvantage to us as a whole. And I’m sorry if that seems harsh, but it’s the shameless truth. The outside-the-box thinkers that dedicate themselves to protecting the inside-the-box thinkers don’t do it to insult people, they do it out of a love that hopefully someday everyone gets to experience. It’s just as I imagine the inside-the-box thinkers who protect the outside-the-box thinkers feel. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about there’s a whole world of people out there fighting (nonviolently) for you in one way or another, whether it be information dispersal or political fighting.

That said, Stenonymous’s direction is always going to lean with how people interact with it. I’m at a weird point in my writing side hustle where there are digital reporters wanting to write pieces and post them here. And you know, I’m going to let them. I practically begged the stenographic community, over the years, to contribute, and write, and help this thing grow, and though I often get help in the form of information, and am grateful for that, I rarely get help in the form of people taking the time to write me something or give me materials about their events.

And, I mean, if I go back, people used to complain the Journal of Court Reporting wouldn’t publish this, that, the other thing. Did all those people retire? I run the field’s largest alternative publication. People read this stuff. We get in the search engines. It’s weird sometimes. But it works.

So, to an extent, this is just a gripe I have, that we don’t have more opinions and personalities contributing to the blog. I never wanted it to be just me, me, me. And if it takes publishing digital reporter content to escape the me, me, me bubble, I’m willing to try it and get those different opinions out there. And if you don’t like it, write me something, I’ll publish it if you want it to be published.

In the alternative, if anybody’s a good fundraiser, maybe let’s talk about how to put this thing on the map. It doesn’t have to be all writing. Adding a little bit of charm to my colder analytical style would also be a welcomed change.

I am still very troubled by yesterday’s post. I’ll be reflecting on it for at least some of today.

Be well.