What Not to Post

The drive to relentlessly Post, even on a mundane niche topic like composting, can take you to dark places. I saw a news story about a man who died in an industrial accident at Pennsylvania mushroom compost facility, and immediately my media brain goes: what other compost-related deaths are happening out there? How dangerous is working with compost, either commercially or at home? Maybe an explainer about mushroom composting?

Or perhaps: be a human and not a content machine. Here’s a Gofundme page to help transport the deceased man’s body to Mexico and support his children.

Talking about not posting is cheating of course. Let’s post about not posting, an allusive head-fake around a problematic topic, somehow maintaining a veneer of restraint while still posting the post. So principled! I can remember that calculus well from media jobs back in the day. Somehow the variables and constants can always be lined up to equal “OK to post.” The more you do it, the simpler the equation gets.

I’m still sticking to these weekly posts for self-disciplinary reasons, even though it perversely keeps me from other writing which is less quick and disposable but ultimately more creatively satisfying. There’s certainly no audience or monetary factors in play here, which should be frustrating but feels more like a very small but useful liberation. Anyway it’s spring, and once it stops raining I’ll open up the sleepy East Compost and spread it on the garden. Then oh boy will we have some Content.