Bio
Reporter. Local news publisher. Birder. Traveler. Gen Xer. Americaner. Er-er.
Who is this for?
Did you like Erma Bombeck? Do you even know who she was? Do you remember when you listened to music with a Walkman? Did you graduate from high school in the mid-1980s? Then you are the person who will most appreciate this publication. That’s because with help from the field notes found here, you will recognize yourself in the wild, and come to appreciate how beautiful you are.
This is a publication that observes midlife in America in a way you might not have thought of before.
A field guide
Welcome to America is your field guide to Americans: what and how we think, what we do, who we think we are. It’s all explored, skewered, exalted, and mulled over, and mostly just not taken too seriously. Wasn’t it Oscar Wilde who said if you’re going to tell people the truth, at least make them laugh so they don’t kill you? My experience validates that. WTA is also a combination of two previously published sites.
The first is documental: mapping the american states of mind, one of Substack’s oldest continually published sites (which is why I kept the original url), that traces the unraveling of the propaganda, cultural tropes, public education, corporate media, and familial influences that made a white, middle class, Gen X woman think what she thought. And, of course, all this meant we examined mental health, because as we all discovered together, it’s the system that’s cracked up, not us. We had lots of smart and famous guests on the podcast. Feel free to skim the archives for those convos.
Small Town, Big Picture, includes musings about my recent decision (Fall 2023) to settle down in my birth state of Kentucky where I run The Edge, an online local news outlet in a small town run by Christian Nationalists, also the town where the South’s first racially integrated, coeducational college is the largest employer. It’s going well. But things can be strange. My bemusement can be your amusement.
Confessions
It’s not like I want everyone rubbernecking to get a look at the dark side of you, me, and our fellow mid-life Americans. We can examine the Yankee underbelly in private. So, this is where paid subscribers only can hang out. Mostly, I think it’s where I unpack my own luggage, but just have to tell someone about it. Those Meet the Publisher video chats I kept promising last year (2025), well, they’re happening here, too. Private conversations, but in a group setting. And, guest speakers who might upset people. I was inspired to do that by reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Consider This. I hope you know that if I could give each of you a tiara for your participation, I would.
Reviews
I used to review opera in our nation’s capital for what is about the only arts and theater publication left in DC, but now, living on the edge of Appalachia, these days I don’t attend too many operas (as in, none), just porch stomps and jam sessions featuring loud twangy stringed things. (Don’t let my snark fool you. These get-togethers inspired me to learn to play the bodhrán so I could add some heft to the steely twingy. And this is how I discovered I got rhythm.)
But a reviewer must review, so here we have a review section. I’ve just created a section called “Reviews”. I haven’t written one yet, but I will, and it will be a fielder’s choice kind of thing. A Western or a punk rock album. A painting. Or a theory. You take your chances with that part of this publication. But it will be American, or will reference America even if it’s about Greenland. Or Venezuela. Or Canada.
Reading List
I confess, I still read books. Hard copy ones with dog eared pages, checked out from the fantastic public library we have in town. But I also read online sites ad nauseam, and notice when they are worth sharing. I read a lot of other things, too. Audio books count, I say. Often, I wish I could talk about what I gleaned from these written and spoken words, but don’t know anyone around me who’d take that on.
So, you are the lucky one.
Hallmarks of this bird
And if you have read anything of mine, odds are it was something to do with nature, and in particular the landscape. Yes, I told you about a rolling field at sunset even if I was writing about running a newspaper or deconstructing late stage Capitalism. No fear. I do that here, too. I mean, I am who I am after all.
How do I know what I know? Observations made in many places. I’ve moved too many times to be from anywhere in particular. And no, I’m not running from anyone, or at least if I am, they haven’t caught up to me yet. I’ve also traveled extensively, both at home and abroad. My peregrinations have given me the chance to collect quite a bit of data on the mid-life species in various habitats, giving me a clear sense of what makes Americans both similar and not at all alike, and also what makes them different from other nationals. My observations are irreverent but sincere, and will make you laugh, but also think.
Grab your binoculars, and let’s go.
Whitney
