Welcome to the Slow Response

New name, same vibes 🐢

I have a clear memory of the end of high school, when I’d taken up poetry and storytelling and dreamed of being a writer. The time had come to talk about college, and I floated the idea to the adults in my life of majoring in creative writing. The reaction was something like, “Cool story kid, but writing is hard! You’re going to need a backup plan.” Fair enough, and definitely true.¹

The same year, I discovered the world of blogging with a little site called LiveJournal, sparking 20+ years of writing for the Internet. I tried new platforms and social media, got gigs writing music reviews and essays about faith. I found my people in cozy little communities and screen names that would someday be real life friends. The anxious little rush of clicking “publish” never quite went away.

Then came the late 2000s/early 2010s blogging boom of slick websites and email drip campaigns, content creators happily selling courses about how you too can make a six figure passive income if you just niche down and hustle. Writing for a living felt possible, like any of us could be the one to break out, go viral, and get a book deal.

I admit, I thought that too. I half-finished courses and searched for a niche. I shut down my Wordpress and started a newsletter. Now I see many, many Substack posts about how to make all the dollars on Substack. Same as it ever was, I guess.

But I’m older now, and I still don’t know how to niche down, and I’m very fine with it. I’m still a 17-year-old on the inside, scribbling in her semi-public diary. In the words of Whitman, flinging “filament, filament, filament,” hoping something will catch.

The online world moves faster than it used to. There are so many ways to get audiences and eyeballs — niche blogs, Instagram schedules, long video, short video, live video, so much video. But whenever I’ve tried to be a focused blogger like the pros or follow social media best practices, I just… didn’t like it.

Instead I hold onto a tiny poem from farmer-poet Wendell Berry: “Suppose we did our work / like the snow, quietly, quietly / leaving nothing out.”²

This is what I’m already doing. I’m just naming it once again.

Welcome to The Slow Response.

WAIT What is This Now?

The Slow Response is a slowly (lol) but regularly (ish) newsletter by me, Jen Rose Yokel. I’m a poet and spiritual director, and I make my home in Massachusetts with my husband Chris and our rescue dog Malika. By day I’m a content writer and office manager for a small branding agency, a job I did not know how to do until I started doing it. In the spaces between I write and practice spiritual direction.

This place exists to pay attention to what is and dream out loud of what it could be. It’s a newsletter with a scrappy old-school blog spirit. It doesn’t have a niche, unless you consider that every human life is a niche experience.

I call it The Slow Response because it takes me 3-4 business days, maybe longer, to understand what I think about anything. Here I don’t write about something because it’s timely, but because I have thoughts that won’t leave me alone.

Here I chase all kinds of interests, including but not limited to: contemplative courage, making art, poetry, walks in the woods, the unexpected joys of city life, sustainability, staying human, staying creaturely, music recs, my dog, fantasy and sci-fi books, things I don’t know for sure, spiritual formation, aging, friendship, cool auntiehood, and growing into a decent neighbor and peacemaker.

There will also definitely be old memes and gifs because I can’t quit them.

POV: You’re an elder millennial and the someone tells you how to Internet

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How to Only Get the Topics You Want

Because I am incapable of niching down, this Substack is… a little all over the place. Some of you are here for the poetry, some maybe found an essay they liked, and I don’t know, maybe some of you enjoy my Listening Notes series on music.

Good news! Substack has a nifty little sections feature that you can use to subscribe to only the topics you want. If you read via email, that can be super helpful to only get the topics you care about and leave the rest. Here’s a handy help page that shows you how to only subscribe to the sections you want.

What you’ll find here:

📍The Slow Response: Essays, general news, basically a catch-all category.

📍Poetry Corner: Fresh poems and book-adjacent news.

📍Listening Notes: A mostly monthly What I’m Listening To roundup and the occasional album review

In the Navigation menu, you’ll also find my Spiritual Direction landing page. Meeting with individuals or groups to explore the spiritual life is a real joy for me. If you’re looking for a companion for the journey or are just curious, all the info you need lives there.

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The Paywall Explainer

Listen, it’s Substack, we have to talk about paid subscriptions.

Before you brace for a sales pitch, some clarity: the majority of essays and poems here are free. The thought of writing enough ✨quality content✨ to justify a monthly subscription stresses me out. Right now, the only thing that will be paywalled is the occasional book club, and I aim to keep those as affordable as possible.

At the same time, financial support really does help me devote more time to writing and spiritual direction.³ If you really like what you see here and want to support my work, there are a few options:

⭐️ A monthly or annual subscription through Substack says you enjoy my writing and want to help me make more of it! Hooray!

⭐️Can’t abide one more subscription but want to make a one time donation? I get that. You can toss a few dollars in the tip jar.

⭐️ Consider buying my poetry book! Ordering from Bandersnatch Books supports both me and a small indie publisher for books off the beaten path.

⭐️ To give meaningful support for zero dollars: like posts, share and restack if something resonates, or leave a comment. Even just knowing a few folks care about this work keeps me going. 💕

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Okay, that’s a lot!

Thanks for visiting and, hopefully, subscribing to The Slow Response! This page is a living document and subject to revisions as this space evolves. Whether you’re here for one post or the long haul, I hope you find something that will help you slow down and notice the good. 💛

1. So I majored in radio broadcasting, a TOTALLY FUTURE PROOF AND STABLE career choice. (I kid, I was in radio for 15 years.)

2. Wendell Berry, “Like Snow” from Leavings.

3. It also helps feed my dog and keep my almost-20-year-old Honda Civic, Roach, alive for another day. Do it for Malika and Roach!