Something New Is Coming
We’re about to make a change
January 8, 2020
That was the day that “Independent Thought” officially launched. I put out my first episode titled “War With Iran”. It was a reaction episode to President Trump’s assassination of a top Iranian general, & how I feared Trump was trying to start a war before heading into an election year.
Originally, Independent Thought was never going to be anything more than I podcast. A podcast that was supposed to be shared between myself and a friend from high school. He and I spent years talking about politics casually. Whether it was at the bar (obviously the best place to have these discussions), at one of our homes, or over the phone after he moved away from Missoula.
However, as the launch date grew closer, my friend ended up deciding that he wasn’t interested in being a full time cohost along side me. He opted to rather just make occasional appearances. If you look back through the first season of our podcast, the name “Christopher Tracy” makes several appearances throughout the 2020 campaign of the show.
Since then many things have changed for Independent Thought. I started an Instagram account, for the sole purpose of promoting the podcast (ironic that the Instagram account has now become WAY more popular than the podcast ever was). I’ve managed that account by myself for almost 5 years now & really feel a sense of accomplishment with how many great connections I’ve made through it over the years.
Tried my hand at streaming on Twitch, produced a news show on YouTube, and launched accounts on other social media platforms. It’s been great finding new ways to connect with people and grow what is - Independent Thought.
Truth be told, from the very beginning, I’ve always wanted Independent Thought to be a collaborative effort. I made an attempt at that in 2023, when I joined a group called “The Left Wing”, but found that it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.
Even though that experience never materialized into what I was hoping, I still hoped that one day I’d find a way to turn this into a collection of voices, rather than just the thoughts of Desmond Price.
Starting this Substack has been a breath of fresh air. It’s once again given me a new way to connect with people & allowed me a freedom to express myself in a longer format. Something I’m incredibly grateful for, since Instagram doesn’t really allow you to go into too much detail, on a platform that seems to incentivize very quick bites of information.
While I’ve been enjoying writing these posts and talking to a lot of you about them on Instagram afterwards, a part of me hoped that one day I could add more voices to this Substack; finally coming full circle to my original plan for Independent Thought.
Recently I asked for people to reach out to me on Instagram if they wanted to contribute to the Substack. We had almost 30 people reach out with interest! I was very excited about the prospect of finally completing one of my original goals for this work. A few folks really seemed more interested than the rest & I held zoom calls to meet with these folks one-on-one. I’m not sure how many of these one-on-one interactions will turn into new contributors on this Substack, but I can say that one person should be joining us shortly!
I’m excited to announce that Independent Thought will be adding a new contributor to our Substack!
What can you expect to change?
Our new contributor will be writing pieces on her own, so there will be even more posts from us, and her writing style is definitely different from my own. I’m giving future contributors pretty free rein on here, so it’s safe to expect a different tone in the writing, as well as, different opinions on topics.
I told everyone who I sat down with, that I wanted to make this Substack a collection of voices, and that it was okay if we all didn’t agree on every subject (as long as it was too widely out of line 😅). I thought the audience would appreciate different tones, perspectives & lived experiences. So that’s what we’re aiming for.
At the end of each post, you’ll see a picture of the writer of that particular article, so you know which writer you’re reading from. We will also have bylines at the top for this distinction as well.
I hope you will all help me in welcoming our new contributor (and hopefully others in the future too) as we officially introduce her in the not too distant future.
I’m excited for this new chapter & will bring you all more details in our next post.
Happy Holidays,
Desmond
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Excited to see this!