Welcome to The White Pages
Here’s the deal: I write about what it might take for all of us to become true partners in building a more caring world, including those of us who’ve been traditionally been propped up by the current system (you know, like men, white people, straight people, people who benefit economically from our current economy, etc.).
So, like a left-y, feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist kind of newsletter?
I mean, maybe? There’s plenty of those already. The question I’m really interested in is what you do when you’re a member of any group that has been (a). given a whole bunch of power and (b). taught that we really only need to take care of ourselves. How do we learn about community and collective care and interdependence? How do other identities play in our struggle to do so? What can we do to make it easier for each other?
So more accurately, we talk about the promise and challenge of building true communities in a world that makes doing so hard as heck.
If you’re a free subscriber, you get emails from me about all of that. Once a week, typically on Tuesdays.
Paid subscribers get a few more things:
The ability to financially support something that you care about and find valuable, which is very cool and much appreciated (the other half of my professional life is training thousands of organizers and community builders through the Barnraisers Project— I am able to offer all those trainings for free because people support my work here).
Another essay/discussion (usually on Thursday) that is looser and full of good nonsense. Thursdays are for community building. We talk to each other. We make dumb jokes. We learn about each other’s passions. It’s a highlight of my week.
Access to the Flyover Politics Discord, the Internet’s premier spot to commiserate about the state of the world and talk about the joys that get us through (mostly breakfast pizza, if I’m being honest). It’s a shared space for our community and the cool crew that has coalesced around Lyz Lenz’s Men Yell At Me newsletter. There’s a Midwestern soul to the place, but you’ll feel welcome even if you don’t know your Casey’s General Store from your Kwik-Trip. I promise.
Occasional bonus essays! Often about movies, but not always. Not too many, though, I promise.
A sticker (if you want one!).
Discounted and/or free access to other projects I’ve got in the works. Is it cliche that there will be a podcast soon? Yes, but it’s also accurate.
Oh, and there’s a whole “pledge drive” membership level (because I also run a nonprofit called the Barnraisers Project, which trains organizers across the country and we have cool merchandise- sweatshirts and tote bags and such). For folks who can chip in more, I’ll send you some of that stuff.
Also: If any of that stuff above about “occasional additional newsletters” and “access to weekly discussion threads” is of interest to you but you don’t have the cash for a subscription, just toss me an email and I’m happy to help you out.
Regardless of what tier you join: The emails are often long but some of the jokes are decent. They could definitely use an editor, but people seem to find them helpful. It’s fun when people write back and share stuff that they’re thinking about/working on with me as well.
Oh, and about me: I used to work in education nonprofits but now I don’t. Instead I do organizing for the common good in majority-White communities. You’ll hear about that if you subscribe (or, if you really can’t wait, feel free to head over to The Barnraisers Project and check out our work there). I’m from Montana but live in Milwaukee. I have two kids, a decent collection of baseball hats and a CPAP machine. Oh, and I wrote a book! It’s called The Right Kind of White and is currently available wherever books are sold. I think you’ll like it.
If you want to find me elsewhere, I sort of know how to use Instagram and Bluesky and occasionally remember that I have aTikTok account.
Thanks for being here.
