Happy Summer! Changes & Updates

Plus two pictures from the yard around the "wood house"

Planter on the patio.

Happy Summer, Readers!

I haven’t posted an article in awhile but will start again soon. In the meantime, I’d like to announce a few changes & provide some updates/clarifications:

Change to Comment Policy. Starting today, I am limiting comments to paid subscribers only.¹ As much as I love a discussion board, it can be a distraction from producing content and stewarding time wisely. Paid subscribers should note that I am thinking about returning to the no comments policy I initially used when I launched this Substack in July 2022 - or allowing subscriber comments only on some posts - but my choice at present is to place the simplest parameter around the comment option. Direct feedback, questions, and corrections via email is always welcome, and I try to respond to serious, non-anonymous readers in a timely fashion.

Paid Subscriptions. All articles on Wood House 76 are free; I may change access in the future or make certain article subscriber-only, i.e., those that take a considerable amount of time and investigative effort.

Twitter/X. I won’t be engaging on Twitter this summer, except to post Substack articles and retrieve posts & threads that I have been meaning to "move” or translate into Substack posts (like I did here and here) for historical purposes & ease-of-reference. [Note: It’s been awhile since my Twitter DMs were “open,” but another decision I have made is to cease communicating with anyone via Twitter DM for the foreseeable future.]

Independent Status. The research I write about here and on Twitter is completely independent. I don’t “work for” or report to any political group/interest, business, organization, or individual. I’ve addressed my background multiple times and wrote a longer post-2020 bio on this Substack several months ago. I do not feel the need to include my CV but am happy to provide it upon reasonable & relevant request. (I’m sure it’s somewhere on the Internet from the days I worked with schools/education agencies and had a professional website!)

Religious Background. Detractors have recently alleged that I am a “fake” Christian. I’m not so much offended by that assertion as I am intrigued by it. I’ve been a Christian since age 7, grew up in a Christian household, attended a private Christian high school, spent three semesters in a Christian college, married a Christian man, and can’t recall a time when I didn’t attend church. Needless to say, those things don’t “make” me (or anyone) a Christian, but I’m of the mind that besides God, the people in the best position to ascertain whether I hold the beliefs I say I do are people who know me in real face-to-face life — not Mysterious Minds of the Internet. American evangelicals & Chicago-area residents may be familiar with advocacy I was involved in until March 2020 or so, regarding an area “megachurch” that we attended for a number of years. The issues with the church were longstanding and were initially publicized by two courageous ex-members of the church via an independent blog.² The later involvement of Chicago area journalists & media finally helped bring much-needed accountability for church leaders. My “unique” contribution to that effort involved spotting and reporting a tax issue with one of the church’s LLC-owned properties.

Content Organization. As much as I appreciate Substack, the options for organizing content are not always optimal for the way I think & work. Readers may recall that I came to Substack not because I had a grandmaster plan for what I was going to do here, but because I was kicked off of Twitter. I plan to reorganize articles topically and may “move” all New York-related content to another Substack or medium. I appreciate Readers’ patience with my less-than-perfect approach to investigating the New York event and other COVID-era questions/issues.

Thank you for reading!

Jessica

Cicadas in the front yard.

1. Comments on this post are intentionally disabled for all readers.

2. Both were men - neither of whom we knew while attending the church, in part because we attended a different campus than they did. They spoke out at great personal cost.