Hey supporters, subscribers, audience members, etc,
In case you missed it on the show, Blackbird episode 100 was my last.1 Thanks so much for your support of the Blackbird project. It’s been an absolute thrill and honor knowing my work2 has influenced, enlightened, and cheered up so many people.
You might have noticed I’ve kinda been phoning it in lately. If you haven’t, I’m a great actor. Blackbird has largely become exactly what I swore it wouldn’t: A libertarian podcast. Obviously, I have nothing against libertarian podcasts. Some of my best friends are libertarian podcasters! But I wasn’t going to become one of them.
When I took back up the mantle3 of organizer for the Mises Caucus prior to the Reno Convention and agreed to be on the mic team, LP stuff pretty well overtook my life. I don’t regret that, obviously. What the LPMC accomplished in Reno is phenomenal, and I’m glad I was part of it. But for those few months, and even now, I was looking at the world with blinders on. Tunnel vision isn’t great for curiosity.
So, after 100 episodes of two Blackbird, plus another 19 of that other show I did, I’m calling it quits. As you know from my chats with guests as diverse as Conrad, Chris G, and Alex Brueckman, I have a shit ton of goals and I have the capacity to be very curious. I’m not meeting those goals right now, and I need to be. I’ve lost my curiosity, and I need to regain it. I’m not serving you with my current mindset, and I’m sure as heck not serving myself. I’m doing this to re-diversify my life and my interests and to reach my career, personality, spiritual, and even leisure goals.
I’ve even been teasing a project called Liberty Creators, as recently as episode 100. That’s not going to come to fruition either at this time.4 When I’m not working my day job and fostering my relationship with the Andrew the Longsuffering, I’ll be heavily focused on freelance work5, learning new skills, and, crucially, consuming interesting content. I have an ever-growing list of books I haven’t read that I’m really looking forward to tackling.6 The show started as what I hoped would be a means to life improvement for me. It has morphed into a distraction from actually improving my life.
So, with all that said, be sure you’re following me on Twitter7 and stay subscribed to this Substack8 so I can update you. If you’re a paid subscriber, I’ve paused your withdrawals and comped your subscription, so if I do release premium content, you’ll still get it.9
Thanks for everything, and as always, live free.10
For now at least…
I hesitate even to call it work. I’m just asking questions.
Yeah, it’s mantle. I looked it up. Mantel is the thing above the fireplace.
For now at least…
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I started with “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World” by Harry Browne. Can you believe I hadn’t read it? (That’s an Amazon affiliate link. I’ll get a little kickback if you click it and make a purchase.)
I’m shadow-banned, so you can’t search for me. Hit the link now so you don’t forget.
Hit the purple button if you aren’t already subscribed.
Free subscribers, I’ll be uploading the audio of the most recent few episodes over the next few weeks. Sorry I got so delinquent on that! (If you aren’t subscribed to the audio feed, search Blackbird with James Jenneman on your podcast app!)
If you’ve enjoyed the footnotes in this post, or even if you haven’t, please do yourself a favor and go subscribe to Been Awake by my good friend and frequent guest, LB Muñiz. You won’t regret it.
That's All, Folks!
James, I will miss seeing/hearing you on your Sunday youtubes!! Wanted you to know how very proud I am of you and wish you the best of everything in ALL of your future endeavors! You are the most curious human I know and with it, I am sure you will always succeed in this life. Love you so much!