Thunder Pie / Small Biz Saturday
Hello, my friends!
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I hope you ate your weight in mashed potatoes and gravy and zonked out so hard to the football on TV that you woke up hours later on the couch in a little pool of your own cranberry scented slobber. As for me, I needed to take a Holiday Mental Health Week off from the regular writing. But I’ll be back next Friday (December 6) with something brand new.
Instead of our regularly scheduled show then, I had an idea.
Today is Small Business Saturday all across the land.
I really like Small Business Saturday. I believe in the essence of a day in total contrast to Black Friday. And no, it’s not because I go around soapboxing about how Black Friday is evil or whatever. I mean, it is what it is. But in my mind, and in an ever-growing number of people’s minds, corporate America’s choke hold on our holiday groove is a bit much at this point. Black Friday, to me, represents ‘them’. The greedy monstrous overseer force who could care less what you buy as long as you buy it from them. But Small Biz Saturday? That represents us. And by us I mean you and me. Real people. Actual faces. Personalities with eccentricities and curious taste who like used book stores and tiny indie record shops. I’m talking people who dig stuff made by people we can actually buy directly from, maybe have a little conversation with. Whether it’s a jar of salsa or a little framed quote or a homemade t-shirt, whatever it is, it’s way cooler when we buy it from someone who is trying to sell it because they believe in it. And they freaking made it themselves. Or they wish to hell that they had.
Thinking about this impending season, I know me and you are both going to be hemorrhaging loot in the name of love. Looking for so many gifts, we are probably going to hit that Amazon button a ton. It's just who we are now as this American species. It isn’t one person’s fault/ it’s been a slow descent into the brainwashing mist. But now is the time to fight back if you can! Toss a pebble at the giant’s toe! Hit his heel with your little stick but do it like you mean to bring his ass down to the ground!! I’m telling you! That’s what Small Biz Saturday is all about!
As I write this on Saturday morning (right before I send it to you/ misspellings and all), my wife Arle is down in lovely Bellefonte, Pa in the frigid 22 degree cold setting up her tent and her portable space heater so she can stand there outside until 4pm this afternoon. Why? Because it’s a Small Business Saturday Pop-Up and she loves doing these kinds of little markets. It’s hard work and often it can leave you wondering if it was even financially sensible. Yet she never gives up. Always signs up and always shows up. Because these are the cherished times when she gets to present her handmade art and creations to people just like her, people just like us, who really want these kinds of eclectic awesome treasures in their life.
Look, there’s still a place for real art in this world as long as we pay the real artists who create it! It’s the truth. AI is here to stay. In the next few years you are going to see a film released without any humans involved in its creation. There will be a hit song with not a single living or dead person credited behind it. Your head will begin to spin as you read an article about the artificial intelligence behind so much of the cultural takeover.
It’s all coming, trust me.
For now though, Target is just down the road. Walmart too. Yet there will still be folks stopping to talk to Arle today. They’ll share a frozen smile, their breath will rise like chimney smoke as they look at all of the art my wife has created, and maybe/hopefully they will buy a couple things from us. And for Arle and me, that’s the life we want. That’s the world we want live in. It’s honest work and it’s creatively driven. That’s the dream, man. That is our humble sensible dream.
And listen, truth is I still have to buy most of our groceries at Walmart because we can’t afford to go to Wegmans or even Trader Joes or Giant. And I hate the feeling I get when I have to do it. So I understand why some people never shop locally or small. It’s not in their financial wheelhouse. And that sucks. But I absolutely get it. The back and forth of a local economy that once existed across this land is gone. And it probably ain’t really coming back.
In light of all that, I still really love Christmastime. I still really feel like a kid when I get to hand one of my minions or Arle a gift that I’m so excited about. So this year I wanted to offer a little bone, a small business creative alternative to anyone who might be interested in trying to recapture that old time feeling of giving someone a gift that isn’t a piece of plastic shite. If you purchase a Thunder Pie yearly subscription ($120 a year) from me this week, you will be getting a damn good deal on it. So will someone you care about. See below for the details.
Plus you will literally be putting your money DIRECTLY into the hands of a hard-working working class dude with a big family. (ahem…that’s me).
I love creating art and I am driven to use my mind (or what’s left of it!) to write a Substack almost every single week of the year. My work’s persistent theme is being alive. It’s as simple as that.
My Substack is about being the fuck alive on Earth.
The daily struggle to exist gets all swirled up with the nightly struggle to make sense of it all.
That’s my sales pitch.
That’s my theme.
My hashtag.
My brand.
I write from the bottom of my heart about being alive and I think I do it pretty well. If you happen to agree, then please consider paying me for my writing if you are able to.
If you find yourself unable to support my work with payment but still want to read me every week, don’t sweat that. Just message me and tell me and I’ll hook you up. For what its worth, I don’t ever want anyone who wants to read Thunder Pie to be shut out.
Ok. Thanks so much. Love you guys.
Serge
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The Thunder Pie Small Business Saturday Week Long 2 -for- 1 Sale!!!!
For every One-Year Paid Subscription ($120) purchased over the next week (from Saturday, Nov 30th through Sunday, December 8th) you will receive a second One- Year Paid Gift Subscription ($120) absolutely FREE.
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Here are the details!
If you become a NEW THUNDER PIE PAID SUBSCRIBER at the One-Year Level ($120) this week, just message me and I will set up an additional one-year paid subscription as a gift for you to give to anyone you want.
If you are already a FREE THUNDER PIE SUBSCRIBER: you can upgrade to a one-year paid subscription ($120). Then just message me and I will set up an additional one year paid subscription as a gift for you to give to anyone you want.
If you are already a MONTHLY PAID THUNDER PIE SUBSCRIBER ($10 a month): you can upgrade to a one-year paid subscription ($120). Then just message me and I will set up an additional one year paid subscription as a gift for you to give to anyone you want.
If you are already a YEARLY PAID SUBSCRIBER you can buy two gift subscriptions ($240 value!) for the price of one ($120). Just buy one yearly gift subscription ($120) for someone you want to share Thunder Pie with. Then message me and I will set up an additional one year paid subscription as a second gift for you to give to anyone you want.
ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL??
Email me!
‘Christmas Morning, Waiting to Come Down’ by SB, 2023.