The mockingbird finally prevailed...

    When I turned in last night, I told God and the angels that I feel it is time I return to the being a mockingbird, and I will keep writing  at afoolsworkneverends.blogspot.com, redneckmysticlawyerforpresident.blogspot.com, Facebook, Poetic Outlaws and my Substack newsletter, but it is Their job to promote the writings, or not. People who wish to keep up with my writings can follow me on those platforms, and my books can be read for free at the internet library, archive.org. I may continue pestering my closest relations.

    

    In that context, I posted a couple of things at Medium Daily Digest, which seems sort of like Substack, and then I subscribed to Medium and posted the Father’s Day poem, and last night I received:

A letter from Tony Stubblebine, Medium CEO

Tony Stubblebine <members@medium.com>

Tue, Jun 18, 10:02 AM 

to me

Hi there,

This is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium. I’m writing to thank you for becoming a Medium member. I’d like to share a clearer sense of what we’re trying to do, why it matters, and how to make the most of your membership.

We believe that everyone has a story to tell. On Medium, anyone can share insightful perspectives, useful knowledge, and life wisdom with the world. Each story has a chance to influence others, plant a seed, perhaps even start a movement.

We do our best to help these stories find the audience they deserve and help readers find stories that move them, through a system based on human curation and member-driven engagement. As a result, over 100 million people read and connect on Medium every month.

This is why Medium exists: To spread human-centric, human-created ideas that deepen our understanding of the world.

Medium is creating not just a platform, but a new information ecosystem—one that’s open for everyone to participate in, and rewards quality over quantity. One that values diverse perspectives and doesn’t allow hate, harassment, or intolerance. One that spreads important ideas and sparks intelligent conversations. When you read and write on Medium, you’re contributing to a global community that values depth, nuance, and substantive storytelling that wouldn’t be possible anywhere else.

So, how do you get the most out of your membership? Open Medium, and find your favorite writers. Discover your favorite corners of Medium: Start with our Staff Picks, or follow a topic. Read a story. Highlight a sentence or two (or browse your past highlights). Find a publication about the ideas you’re most passionate about, independently run by editors who share that passion. If you’re feeling inspired, leave a response. Add stories you love into lists. Even better, write your own story. Start your own publication! Build your reading lists, your followers, your knowledge base, your Medium community. We’re glad you’re here.

We have come a long way on this journey, but we’re just getting started. As a paying member, you’re critical to our mission. At any time, feel free to reply to this email to share your thoughts with our team.

Thank you for reading,

Tony Stubblebine

CEO, Medium

    I replied this morning:

Hi, Tony-

Thanks for the welcome

I will post stuff to my Medium page as it comes to me, which I have done at my blogs, Facebook and Substack. 

I've had a very unusual life and my writings reflect that.

Here's my Google profile:

After many moons, this southern lawyer took a road less traveled, which his family and friends viewed as stranger than fiction. I cannot prove any of it happened, and I would be crazy if I thought I could. The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, of and not of this world, as I and other people experienced it. My fiction and nonfiction books are free reads at the internet library-archive.org, in English and around 33 other languages. The Redneck Mystic Lawyer Podcast is viewable at around 48 Torrent platforms, which have tech that translates English into other languages.

The first two of many poems set the course from which I wavered at times, but the two never wavered:

"Living Poets" 1991

Dead poets are poets who never write

Who obey shoulds and oughts

Who live to please others

Who value money over God

Who die without ever having lived

Death is their mark 

Dead poets are remembered by the living.

Living poets are remembered by time

Dead poets never sing their song

Living poets never stop singing it 

The difference between the two is this:

One worships fear, the other life 

To be a dead poet is hard

It requires being someone else

To be a living poet is easy

It only means being myself 

One choice is hell, the other heaven

That is what is meant by free will

"The Mockingbird” 1992

I happened upon a mockingbird

singing its fool head off –

I asked it how and why it sang?

But all it did was look ahead,

all it did was sing.

It never turned to see if I was watching,

or listened for money jingling in my pockets,

or asked if I liked its music,

or expected a recording contract –

It was too busy singing

to pay any attention to me.

Thus did I learn

the greatest sin of all

is to kill a mockingbird.

I'm a Birmingham, Alabama native, and To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Alabama native Harper Lee. Birmingham is infested with mockingbirds, as are three remote places where the winds took me and I stayed a while, a long while at the third: Isla Mujeres, Mexico; Tortola, BVI; Key West.

Now I'm back in Birmingham, living in the same old inner city apartment building where I ended up two other times I quit running away from home, across from a beautiful city park filled with very old trees and shrubs allowed to grow wild and bramby, and lots of mockingbirds and other birds, and a pair of owls that raise a young owl each season, and an earth energy vortex in which lives something that takes me for rides elsewhere when I let it and it's in the mood.

Cordially,

Sloan

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com