Hello, dear readers! Though I’ve dropped the regular letters from the editor, there’s enough changing behind the scenes that it’s appropriate this time around.
Introducing Issue 19
First, allow me to kick off our November/December issue by welcoming two thoughtful new contributors.
Rick Heller is a freelance writer who comes on board with a combined review of three books on genetics and social inequality. He adds his own thoughts on the policy implications of genetic inequity.
Ilana Grostern is a somatic coach who works with gifted adults to heal the artificial divide between mind and body—which is precisely what she talks about in her first article for Third Factor.
Publishing in Smaller but More Frequent Bursts
You may have noticed that, while I’m calling this a new issue, it’s got only two articles plus this letter from the editor. Rest assured that we haven’t scaled back. Rather, it’s all part of a strategic plan.
See, until now, I’ve been clinging somewhat stubbornly to a “paper issue model” in which a bunch of articles come out all at once, enabling cool thematic connections, this has become increasingly hard to manage. And hey, I sometimes even listen to reader feedback, and you guys have said you’d like more frequent new content. Okay then, here it is!
Over the course of November and December, watch for more articles to bubble up here and there. (I promise no sort of schedule. We’re juggling too many new possibilities, so please bear with us.)
Where to Follow Us
Even you you found your way to this article somehow, this shift to a new publishing paradigm might make some of you want to know where to find the new content. We’ll post new articles to all of the following:
- Facebook: @ThirdFactorMag
- Twitter: @ThirdFactorMag
- Patreon
- Our Mailchimp mailing list: To sign up, see the footer of this page, below the mail article text. (It used to be easy to copy and paste a box for you to sign up, but alas, we are no longer in that golden age of the Internet.)
We also have an Instagram (also @ThirdFactorMag) which a volunteer might actually update regularly.
If you’re among those who are positively maladjusted to social media, might I encourage you to get on our mailing list or even sign up for Patreon?
Welcome, New Editorial Team Members!
I’m very happy to announce that much of what you see here is made possible by two new members of our editorial team! Thank you to both Alexis Obernauer and Ilana Grostern who believe in this project enough to dedicate their time to helping make it better. They bring some strengths to the table that I very much lack, and the site is already better thanks to them. You can read their bios over at our Editorial Team page.
Podcast Status Update
Some of you also may be wondering what’s going on with the podcast we launched. The two episodes we’ve done so far were pilots of sorts, showing me and my founding co-hosts, Vincent de Boni and Laura Becker, to see just what went in to creating a podcast.
We were not surprised to discover it was a lot of work, but we still need to figure out how to make it sustainable. Going forward, you’ll see more episodes featuring conversations between Vincent, Laura, and me, as well as some conversations between me and other special guests. Some of these will introduce and explore concepts from the theory of positive disintegration; others will appeal more broadly, though always stemming from our core themes of positive maladjustment and the third factor. I’ve got a few lined up that I can’t wait to show you.
You can subscribe to our podcast on any of the following:
Would You Consider Becoming a Sponsor?
There’s no getting around this: all of this will go smoothly if I can pay people for help. People are quite justly more willing to work with a team to help build a vision that’s not entirely theirs if they’re being compensated for their time. Right now I pay writers for well-written pieces that take little work from our editors; I’d like to expand that to pay editors to help those who are not experienced writers—but who have relevant stories—to help get their stories to you. I’d like to pay my podcast team to help edit video and audio. I’d like to pay the content strategists for all the help they’re doing getting Third Factor to cohere and reach new audiences.
If you value what we create and think those services are worth doing, would you consider helping me give something back to the people who do it? This will never pay the bills, but there are freelancers out there who believe in our mission and would love to help us if we can just make it worth their while.
To those of you who already support us, thank you. Your support has made all of this possible!
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