Navel Gazing Towards the New Year
We're wrapping up 2024 and looking ahead to what Driftless Times Media has in store for the New Year.
Happy New Year — what a long, strange trip it's been. Thank each and every one of you for joining me on this little, equally strange endeavor; we're entering our eighth month of existence and are so glad you've decided to tag along!
Most of my professional life has been in publishing and journalism in one form or another, making me acutely aware of the importance of an editorial calendar. While I have no formal document to share for Driftless Times Media and our Substack-arm, I do have a handful of ideas and interests guiding the brand.
I'm also a sucker for year-end wrap-ups and roundups — the kind of fool who gets giddy for their Spotify Wrapped. So, in part editorial calendar, part year in review, I thought I would take this as an opportunity to offer a look into what we have in store for 2025 while also looking back at some of the ideas we'll continue to build on in the new year.
Culture, The Other and You
I've been beating this particular drum in a few different pieces over the year and have been pleasantly surprised at the positive reception. "The Economics of Woo" was our best-performing bit of content this year, and its spiritual successor, "The Extraordinary Within Reach," also received great feedback. Each is a companion to a longer, heady essay at the main site (driftlesstimesmedia.com).
One of the things that I enjoy most about these subject areas — folklore, the paranormal, etc. — are all the various lenses and disciplines you can examine them from and with. I know many try to avoid the political, cultural, and economic aspects when discussing subjects of "the other," but, as I've detailed in some of the above-linked pieces, I don't see how you can at a certain point. We can't discuss cocreation, cultural contamination, or trickster elements without also addressing the everyday forces that shape our collective lives.
As indicated by the warm reception of this past year's pieces, I think people are both open to these ideas and growing more aware of them and their impacts.
Case in point — I'm currently four chapters into Dr. Gabor Maté's "The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture." Dr. Maté’s reflections on culture and its forces resonate with many ideas I’ve explored this year, particularly around the unseen influences shaping our reality. A passage from the book is below:
I've also been enjoying Jeremy Vaeni's ongoing conversation with Tom Cheetham at Vaeni's "Our Undoing Radio" podcast. Where Dr. Maté covers the medical and physical effects of culture in his book, Vaeni and Cheetham have been speaking on the metaphysical and archetypal.
The information from all has got a few different ideas percolating in my mind. I think the first newsletter essay of 2025 will explore hoaxes and the impact of unreality on people's reality. It makes sense in my head, trust me.
The Collective Goo of Thought
Where do our thoughts go after they've left our heads?
I've been mulling around this idea and taking notes on it for a while in anticipation of writing another, likely sprawling, essay for the main site. For the October 26 edition of the newsletter, I wrote a piece titled "Beyond the Pale of Thought," which essentially lays out the central thesis of the thought experiment.
However, I still want to expand on it for the main site, incorporating evidence for and against it all. Looking at my notes, I see that folks like David Lynch, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Whitley Strieber are all cited for it, among others. Like I said, sprawling.
I should note that, as with everything I write about, I'm beholden to very little of it. If an idea is fun to think about, I run with it; I have no fundamental beliefs — all I know is that I know nothing. Hopefully, you'll find it fun, too, when the essay lands at the main site. I have a lot of reading to do before then, though, so don't expect it anytime soon.
If you have sources to support or challenge this thought experiment, I’d love to hear from you.
Also At the Main Site
Aside from the aforementioned essay, I'm working on some other pieces for the main site. I've mentioned plotting Wisconsin Bigfoot sightings before, which I continue to plug away at in my free time, of which there is little. Once completed, that'll live on the main site as an interactive resource any researcher or Bigfoot-curious person can utilize.
After the map, I will do deep dives into a handful of different topics. Lake Mills' Rock Lake is full of lore that's worthy of research, for example, and during my deep dive into the work of ufologist Allen R. Utke, I came across a handful of other Badger State UFO figures I want to explore.
I'm also hoping to make it into the field this year. I want to visit the Elmwood area and see some of these places Utke was investigating, and I've yet to visit the Mineral Point Vampire site despite it being well within driving distance. If time allows, I might take my camera and compile photo galleries of these and other locations.
Otherwise, there are significant dates I'll be making content pushes around — March 30 for the vampire, June 22 for Bozho Day and Elmwood UFO Days in July, where I’ll spotlight Utke’s work. Utke was investigating UFO activity in the area long before the 1976 UFO sightings made Elmwood famous and he really deserves at least a mention when folks talk about Elmwood.
Contributor Highlights
As I wrote in the editor's note of his debut, I'm thrilled to have Gustav Phling onboard as a semi-regular columnist, even if he prefers to keep his real name secret. He and his partner were in town the other day and we were shooting ideas around for future columns over lunch. If it made one of us chuckle or our spouses roll their eyes, it got jotted down. I can't say when his next piece will be in — he has a rather demanding career, thus the need for privacy — but I would gander within another month or two.
And as a reminder, our submissions are always open. I love collaborating with writers, and bringing on more contributors is a central part of Driftless Times Media’s growth strategy.
If you have an idea or pitch, please consider submitting it.
Loose Ends and Big Ideas for 2025
If all that wasn't enough, there are a handful of loose ideas I'll undoubtedly circle back to in the coming year. I'll continue examining phenomena via the lens of cinema and media. It's both fun and an accessible way to understand some of the stranger aspects of these subjects.
Early in the newsletter's existence, I dedicate a few issues to topics revolving around the philosophy of language. I also speculated on heady ideas like free will and the impact of technology. No doubt 2025 will be ripe with opportunities to expand on these ideas.
All in all, it'll be a jam-packed new year of high strangeness content. What 2025 has in store for us is unknown, but I'll keep churning out weird, entertaining writing for as long as possible.
Thanks again for reading and subscribing. I wish you all a happy New Year — and if you’re going out tonight, stay safe, watch for cops and get home in one piece.
Keep Curious.
–Walker