2025 Wrap-Up
It seems to be customary to do these kinds of annual lookbacks on here, which invariably double as further advertisements for oneself. One particular reason to do it in my case is that this marks (as the site helpfully reminded me) the end of my first year on Substack. Though I’ve been writing essays under the Strange Frequencies banner for a few years now, I only moved here earlier this year (for newer subscribers or those perusing, all past essays remain free to read). The reason was simple: to get more readers and subscribers.
This was largely successful on both counts. The Substack ecosystem allows for greater interaction with other readers and writers along with higher visibility for published articles. This is especially useful ever since Twitter started de-boosting links (and collectively dropped about 30-50 IQ points in the process); meanwhile LinkedIn is insipid and Bluesky is insane.
Of course, that doesn’t say anything about why I’m writing on the internet at all. Matthew Yglesias recently discussed the difficulty of competing for attention in the age of social media, particularly given his interest in swaying people toward his preferred policies. To this Noah Millman countered that his own purpose is not argument but reflection and engagement.
I confess that I am with Millman here. Indeed, I’m not sure it could be any other way. I lack utterly the talent for self-promotion, and I find the instant-take economy intensely boring, plus I distrust the need to comment on every development under the sun. I’m here to write about what I’m actually interested in, as I try to work through my own thoughts. In the process, I hope this helps clarify how other people might think about these things, but I’m not interested in changing anyone’s conclusions.
This particular year, my interest was drawn to disparate topics ranging from the End of History to the meaning of exile to 80s movies to analog sound among others. Naturally, I love them all, but I was particularly pleased with the essay on humanism, which I suspect will be a major theme in the coming years.
I am honestly grateful to everyone who reads me, though I admit I’m particularly grateful to my paying subscribers. If you are not yet one of those, I am presently offering a 40% discount on annual subscriptions to Strange Frequencies. These subs provide further incentive to write here, instead of sending out to other venues.
On that score, I’ve published a number of essays elsewhere throughout the year. Among my favorites: I reviewed A Complete Unknown for the Washington Examiner and found it a surprisingly enjoyable entry in a fundamentally silly genre. For Wisdom of Crowds, I wrote about Canada’s curious decline, a piece that was cited in The New York Times (thanks Ross!) and resulted in my being profiled in the National Post.
Elsewhere I wrote about the dire impact of both left- and right-wing politics on comedy for The Critic. I reviewed two bad but representative books on populism for American Affairs. For The New Atlantis I wrote an uncommonly personal essay on deafness and the trans phenomenon, and what both suggest about human nature. And I discussed two remarkable Western novels—Blood Meridian and Lonesome Dove—on their shared 40th anniversary in The Hedgehog Review. I also explained in The Hub why The Simpsons is the best guide to understanding the behavior of Ontario’s premier, and in Foreign Policy why the secure and puissant United States continues to act like a revisionist power.
For the coming year, I do hope to publish more here. I encourage all readers to comment—even (especially?) for the purpose of disagreement—as I try to respond to non-insane comments as they come in. Please also feel free to reach out if you’d like to see me expand on a particular theme or there’s something you’d like to see me writing on generally. I find this kind of feedback useful, and quite a number of pieces I’ve written over the years were prompted by suggestions from editors, friends, and so on.
In the meantime, I have a couple of long-form articles slated for outside publications early in the new year (which I will duly promote on here) as well as several gestating ideas for essays here on Strange Frequencies.
And who knows? Maybe a book (or two). Happy new year.