The school was in an old building that had begun life at the turn of the last century as a private home, but whose most notable use was as Dr. Wright's Sanitarium for the drug and alcohol addicted and those suffering “minor nervous disorders.”  In 1962, 15 years before I would set foot upon the campus, William Faulkner would die in what would become my first-grade classroom. That I learned to write…

Note: This is the Member's Only newsletter that you get monthly because you support my work as a part of my membership team. Thanks for that.  It's more behind the scenes, both business and personally. I sometimes say things in this format I wouldn't put on the open internet, so I would appreciate if you kept this off the record. - HH


Hey y'all,

First, some admin: There will be…

In the small rural North Mississippi community of my childhood, there was one unpardonable sin, one transgression that was unforgivable, and that was to act above your station. We did not have much, but we were a proud people, and how dare you act like you were better than we were just because you had more money, or were born elsewhere, or had been taught to pronounce the consonants at the end…

The deadline of publishing each week means I write more, which was one of the goals. But since Saturday comes whether I'm done or not, sometimes it feels rushed, like this one does for me. I will explore this topic in more depth later, with more length and a much better ending. Thanks for going along the creative process with me. - HH

It was the first house I would own, a…

In the Jewish scriptures, we are told the story of a man named Abram. He is promised by his God that he will have unheard-of levels of wealth, that his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, and that he would be abundantly blessed. 

Abram was told that he was being blessed in this way in order that through him, all the world would be blessed. 

I want to introduce you…

Mr. Doc was a tall man, especially for his time, with broad shoulders and a strong back, somewhat stooped with age. He was retired, and while it’s convenient shorthand to call him a retired farmer, he had really been a bit of everything - a well digger, a truck farmer, and a small-time cattleman. Like most folks that lived around me when I was growing up, he did what he needed to…

Hi there - this week my wife had a procedure at the hospital, and this essay was a side effect. This week's essay is a bit longer than I normally go, but I didn't have time to write it shorter ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. As a reminder, I am now sending an original, unpublished essay each week as bonus content for my members. I hope you like it! - HH

The receptionist at the…

Hi y’all, 

I know I owe y’all a lot of personal updates, but I wanted to let you know about an upcoming additional perk you will get as a member of my patronage team: A free original weekly essay, sent out each Saturday morning. 

This will hopefully solve two problems for me: 

The first is that I need to write more, and if I don’t have a deadline as an incentive, it…

Hey y'all, 
Man, my life has been weird the last few weeks because of my day job. Actually, it's just been weird in general. But that's a story for another day. 

The reason I'm writing you right now is that in last month's Member's Only email, I said I was blocking an hour off tonight for a drop in Zoom call. I put it on my calendar and then, honestly, forgot about…

Hey y’all. 

In the closing words of one of my favorite novels, Gilead, the protagonist , on his deathbed, writes these words for his young son to read after his death:

That’s all I’ve ever wanted: To be useful. In fact, I…

Note: This is the Member's Only newsletter that you get monthly because you support my work as a part of my membership team. Thanks for that.  It's more behind the scenes, both business and personally. I sometimes say things in this format I wouldn't put on the open internet, so I would appreciate if you kept this one off the record. - HH

Hey y'all, 

It’s Monday morning, and I’m…

Hey there. I'm Hugh Hollowell, and this is the occasional newsletter I send folks who support my work as members, and thus pay recurring amounts of money to fund my projects. I'm so glad you are here! - HH
 
Hi y’all,

Well, it’s been a hell of a year so far. 

We went to North Carolina for New Years, where we tried to cram a pound of visits into a ¼…

Hey y'all.  

Over the last year, I became increasingly frustrated with my membership program, of which you are a member. Last year I couldn't find what I wanted when I decided to leave Patreon, and tried to roll my own. And it worked, and would have worked better had I not been an ADHD riddled chaos-muppet. 

But alas, I am. The new system just had too much friction, and so I…