Update from Mary and Shanley

Please read for a brief update on subscriber benefits.

Friends,

We have been thinking hard about what Geddry should offer the people who support this work most directly.

The honest answer is that we haven’t done the best job making the paid-subscriber space feel as active, useful, or attended-to as it should. That’s on us, and we’re going to do better.

The public pieces aren’t going away, and free subscribers will still have access to everything they have always had access to. We want the work to travel, we want readers to be able to share the essays, analysis, and commentary that help make sense of national and international power, politics, democracy, climate, conflict, propaganda, media narratives, and the forces shaping ordinary lives. But paid subscribers should get more than a quiet thank-you, you should get a deeper layer.

Going forward, we’re going to use Substack chat more intentionally, publish a regular paid feature we’re calling The Backchannel, collect reader questions, host Q&As, and create more behind-the-scenes content about what we’re watching, what feels under covered, and what we think deserves a sharper look.

Think of the Backchannel as the room behind the public pieces: more conversational, more direct, and more connected to the readers who make this work possible.

Paid subscribers can expect:

• Regular Backchannel updates

• Paid subscriber chat prompts and discussion

• Reader Q&As and question threads

• More behind-the-scenes context

• Regular live-video conversations between Mary and Shanley

• A closer look at what we’re watching next

We aren’t promising bells, whistles, or corporate nonsense. We’re promising to show up more deliberately, make the value of paid subscriptions clearer, and build a space that is worthy of the people who support this work.

If you are already a paid subscriber, thank you, truly. We’re grateful, and we’re going to do more with the space you are helping sustain. We couldn’t do this reporting without you.

If you are reading for free and this work helps you understand what’s happening, upgrading is the best way to keep the public pieces available while joining the deeper conversation.

This week, we’re opening the first Backchannel thread and asking paid subscribers: what national or international story feels important, under-explained, badly framed, or ignored right now?

Keep your eye on the chat, and come tell us.

With gratitude,
Mary and Shanley