What is Sometimes Weekly? | π₯ #000.3
This week, I withhold your promised punchline and break the fourth wall.
Welcome to the latest edition of the Punch Weekly newsletter! If you have questions or feedback, please donβt hesitate to reach out to me at nick@sometimesweekly.com.
Weekly Jabs
Light Free Speech: Yesterday at Penn State, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes βjoked:β βIf you wanna man up and play hardball and do real shit like kidnap a governor - not gonna talk about this here, but meet me outside, I got some guys β¦ Blink twice if you're ready to play fucking hardball. Ready to kill some judges? Let's fucking do this," McInnes said before adding, "metaphorically."
DΓ©jΓ Haymaker: House Republicans have failed to coalesce around a Speaker, but will give it the olβ college try again today. Babe, I got you babeβ¦.
Chuck E. Pleads: Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis have pleaded guilty in their efforts to overturn Georgiaβs election. This could be bad news for the disgraced ex-president who, in an unrelated incident, asked his Secretary of Defense in the Oval Office if they could shoot peaceful protestors in the legs.
The Main Event
Breaking the Fourth Wall
First, let me say that I appreciate your readership. At this early stage it's difficult for me to fully express what, exactly, Sometimes Weekly is, but over time I hope it will continue to become more clear. For the time being, Iβve taken to describing Sometimes Weekly as: a sometimes-serious, sometimes-satirical transmedia publishing company. And this newsletter (Punch Weekly) is an important part of the Sometimes Weekly project.
There are other elements Iβll be introducing over time: SometimesWeekly.com (launching 11/12/23), YouTube (ongoing), podcasts (maybe), pamphlets (2024), and so on. As you can imagine, this will all take time to construct, since Iβm a lowly one-man wrecking crew. Your support is appreciated.
We are living through truly turbulent times. While we indeed have many shared societal difficulties which are playing out in real time, most of us also have individual difficulties defined by our context, culture, and so on which often donβt play out publicly. These influences, societal and individual, inform (or undermine) our interpretation of the best path forward to address these difficulties, shared or otherwise. If youβre alive today, and I assume you are, these conflicting and contradictory forces mayΒ cause some level of disillusionment that can be challenging to overcome. This is natural, but underscores how important it is to maintain an understanding of the core self-evident truths we all have infinite access to: freedom, liberty, individuality, and so on. These elements are foundational to our work of building meaningful communities, organizations, governments, and so on.Β This is, I believe, the most important work we have ahead of us.
In one senseβthe most obvious senseβthis newsletter is a very narrow recap of the week funneled through my personal perspective. A few sentences about a few things from the past week, and a few more sentences about one additional thing from the past week or otherwise. Some weeks, you might not be interested in the topics I talk about you, or you might just need a break from thinking about, well, everything happening in the world. Those weeks, please skip the newsletter. I wonβt know, and youβll feel better.
What can you expect from the future of Sometimes Weekly? Well, Iβm going to resist making projections about the future, though probably in vain. Iβm also going to resist, though also probably in vain, the urge to analyze issues through a narrow political perspective, like suckers and losers of the day. Instead, I will try my best to stick to narrative observation with broad analysis, humor, and satireβalmost certainly in vain. In that respect, thereβs really no fourth wall to break, because Iβll be talking to you, dear reader, throughout my work with Sometimes Weekly. Abandon ship while you still can!
Whereβs the newsletter now? Just under 100 readers. If you end up enjoying it in the weeks and months ahead, and know someone who might enjoy it as well, feel free to share it. Or, just keep the newsletter all to yourself. I wonβt be complaining either way!
My hope over the next few weeks, and months, and years is to pursue some small amount of clarity through some small amount of levityβhopefully not in vain.
God speed & talk soon,
Nick
Binghamton, NY
October 24, 2023
βIf all printers were determined not to print anything βtill they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.β
Benjamin Franklin