Welcome to the New Home for All Things BRC

Greetings on this first Friday of Spring.

If this newsletter has landed in your inbox, it is because you have signed up for a variety of my offerings around the internet: Substack Newsletter, The BRC Communiqué, an event signup sheet, or one of your best friends or scurrilous enemies sent it your way 😀

While I am still moving in, rearranging furniture, and getting comfy, I want to welcome you to my new space for all things BRC. You can easily unsubscribe at the bottom of this post, but I hope you'll hang out as I attempt to create a space where I can more creatively and effectively offer meaningful content to the body politic.

First, what's here?

Professional website (As has been on www.reyes-chow.com)
The Amalgamation Newsletter (From Substack)
The Amalgamation Podcast (Previously BRC & Friends)
The BRC Communcaie (From eNewsletter on Brevo)

But why did I decide to leave Substack?

Not only is Ghost, the platform that I am now using, less expensive than Substack (currently $480/year vs $700/year), but there has also been significant debate about publishing on Substack.

The fight for free speech in 2025 and beyond: Substack’s ongoing commitment to freedom of the press, where founder, Chris Best, praises Musk and Meta's free speech principles.
Don't call it a Substack where OG social media leader, Anil Dash, calls into question the very nature of a platform that is gaining a tighter and tighter grasp on people creative work.
Substack is at it again, “Why on earth would you brag to your users that you've partnered with a bunch of protofascists?" where Marisa Kabas points out the problems of partnering with and paying Bari Weiss to publish on Substack.
You can also see the thread Imani Gandy’s BlueSky post Rabbi Danya Ruttenbrg’s note about why she left and headed over to Ghost.

To be clear, this decision is not meant to throw shade or shame anyone's way who stays on Substack. There is a lot of great stuff written there. This move just felt like a good one to make to align with

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Always willing to take calculated risks and test the digital waters, I have moved to Ghost Pro, migrated all subscribers from all the places, and am ready to get writing again.

So, what's new with Ghost?*

Vibe — As the Kool Kidz say, the “vibe” is different. Ghost is more fun and allows me more opportunities for personalization and play.
Content — Content won’t change much (musing on life, faith, culture, etc) except to be more consistent, coming out 2-3 times a week.
Delivery— Content will now be delivered right to your inbox and via whatever social platforms on which we connect. *cough* *BlueSky* *cough*
Sliding Scale — I still rely on paid subscriptions to help supplement my itinerant life, but I do not want money to be a limiting factor. I will no longer offer special offers. Instead, there is a sliding scale from $3 to $20 per month and there will always be a free option.
Paywalls — While there will still be occasional paid-subscriber content, there is no paywall for commenting or accessing archived content.

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You can unsubscribe pretty easily the email or website. You can also let me know, and I’ll unsubscribe you.

But wait there's more . . .

Website — www.reyes-chow.com is not only the home for all things The Amalgamation but has also continued to be the hub for all of my professional information: bios, speaking, coaching, contacts, etc. We are still tweaking and updating, but please to poke around.
Podcast — After almost a decade of various iterations of The BRC & Friends Podcast, The Amalgamation Podcast team is being assembled and the first episodes should be out sometime in May.
Team BRC — In the past, I would fire my entire team for their incompetence most folks understood that "the team" was me. Well, I now actually have a team of more than just me. And while The Team is only three, it is safe to say there will not be any company-wide firings in the future.

So there you go, and welcome again or for the first time. I'm glad you are here and grateful for the support.

Peace,

* We have had a fantastic experience with the Ghost support team. The migration assistance and response to questions have been top-notch. If you want to make the jump to Ghost, here is my Ghost Pro Referral Link.