Life is starting to get crazy in tmatt land

An update on Relevant Sheep plans as we near the end of the launch phase

Moving is never easy. The Mattinglys of East Tennessee are going to remain in East Tennessee, but we are — over the next month or so — moving back to the Tri-Cities area, up near the Virginia and North Carolina borders.

I’ll stay active at Rational Sheep during the whole time, even while I move my office, the podcast equipment and everything else. Obviously, when a journalist-professor and a librarian start packing, we are talking about lots and lots of books (which seem to weigh more as one ages).

But the move isn’t the main topic in this personal post.

Rational Sheep is nearing the end of its sixth month and we’re about 100 posts into this project. This was when I planned to end our “launch phase” and move into (What’s the phrase that Substack writers use?) the “reader supported” phase of this digital newsletter on faith, family and screens culture.

In other words, on September 1st I will hit the button to turn on the “paid” mode for the website (lots of readers can frown at this point).

However, I want to emphasize that “free” subscribers will continue to get at least two items every week — including the post that contains the “Crossroads” podcast. For those who are curious, the decade-long podcast library can be found at the GetReligion.org archive (please explore) and at my Tmatt.net website, which contains columns since (for all practical purposes) the mainstream birth of the Internet. “Crossroads” files are also in the Apple podcast pages.

In other words, I know that not everyone can subscribe to all of the many Substack newsletters that they want to read. We all make choices between “free” and “paid” options. I want as many people as possible — especially parents, pastors, teachers and counselors — to stay in touch with some of what happens here. “Free” mode will remain alive. Trust me on that.

That said, I do hope that many readers will support me as I carry on with this work. I am retired and, well, income from this project would really help. And, as I have said many times, I hope my “Exegete the Culture” seminar — born while I taught at Denver Seminary long ago — will be reborn, since it’s directly linked to Rational Sheep.

More on that in a moment. I also wanted to offer some feedback on what I have learned in the first six months. Here we go.

* As I have said many times, this is not a political website. It is also not a journalism criticism project, as with the 20 years of GetReligion.org. However, some of that DNA remains in the “Crossroads” podcast posts — since (let’s face it) the niche-journalism realities of this divided age are part of the “screen culture” drama. Many readers (#SIGH) do seem to assume that online commentary equals politics. True?

* Smartphones, smartphones, smartphones. I made a vow that I would strive to do only one post a week (on average) about the explosion of debates on how to wrestle social-media apps (and handheld Internet devices in general). There is no way around the fact that this is the dominant Rational Sheep issue of our time and I don’t see that changing soon. However, I have noticed that readers are reluctant to suggest concrete ways for parents, pastors, teachers and counselors — especially those linked to organized religion — to DO ANYTHING practical linked to this crisis. We are dealing with principalities and powers, in this case.

* Catholic readers are crucial. But how do I break out over into contact with parents, pastors, teachers and counselors in the wide, wild world of Protestantism? I mean, obviously, this project has lots of Protestant readers. But it’s hard not to notice the high traffic rates for posts linked to Catholicism, which are often picked up by Catholic websites. What are the Protestant websites that matter the most?

* To my surprise, my writings about religious issues and themes in popular culture have not drawn as much response as I expected.

What kind of material is that? Here is an example from blockbuster cinema (“Where was God, after the Thanos "snap"?) and here is a music post (“Another poetic step in Nightwish evolution”) that tips into God-haunted heavy metal (and science, if you can imagine that). Popular culture is as powerful a force as ever in American life, but maybe it has become so niche-audience-driven that these specific posts split the Rational Sheep readership? I hope that readers will warm up to this content.

* I am moving even closer to the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains, which has been my family’s stomping grounds since the early 1990s. Readers: Let me know if you are interested in reading — rare posts, I promise — about some of the life and culture of the region where I live and work.

The community in which we will live dates back to 1750 or so and, in the American Revolution, played a crucial role in the “Overmountain Men” attack on the British at Kings Mountain, N.C. Many scholars now consider that the turning point in the war. Did your history classes long ago teach you anything about the American Revolution in the Southern Highlands? The culture here is really quite amazing, including the music and arts scenes. And then there’s the BBQ religion.

Finally, I know that some Substack scribes publish tons of material day after day (think superstar Rod Dreher) while others only write once a week. Then there are full-scale news and commentary operations like The Free Press.

As a 70-something mostly retired guy (like I said, I still hope to find a classroom on a small scale somewhere), I have tried to slow down a bit from the crazy pace I maintained during the years at GetReligion.org, where I posted and edited material every day — sometimes up to three posts a day. Also, I still write my weekly nationally syndicated “On Religion” column, which has been a part of my life for 36 years.

Four posts (one containing a podcast) is a pretty solid Substack menu and I do plan to do an audio version of one of the posts for subscribers who like to listen while they drive. Substack now offers an audio chat function and, once I month, I want (once set up in my new base camp) to give that a spin with Q&A sessions. That would be for subscribers, as well.

In terms of length, I have been trying to keep things in the 5-10 minute range, in terms of the time it takes to read a post. Is that working?

I am always interested in comments and feedback, especially to a personal, planning, post like this one. I hope that this wasn’t like one of those awkward National Public Radio local fundraising events, where I sometimes think they should go ahead and play altar-call music to stir up emotions (non-Bible Belt people can click this link to hear what I’m talking about).

I will hit the “reader support” button on September 1st. I do hope that the “free option” readers will stay on the list.

Thank you for your time! Now, I have to get back to packing. Can you imagine how much paper a pre-Internet journalist could file away in filing cabinets over several decades?