Other Duties (as assigned)

Other Duties (as assigned)

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...and Uncomfortably Asking for Money

Steve Nuzum's avatar
Steve Nuzum
Dec 31, 2024
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a close up of a cell phone screen with numbers on it
Photo by Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash

Hard part first:

I’ve always hated talking about money, maybe because of my upbringing, which prioritized modesty, and maybe because of my belief that it’s usually unwise to trust someone who is trying to sell you something.

And yet money is the major driving force in the things which are important to me: education access, policy, opportunities, participation in government. The ideological value that discussing money is gauche is probably a product of people so wealthy they could historically pretend money didn’t exist. It was the height of privilege to avoid discussing it.

The people who shape our world don’t have to talk about money, because they have so much of it.

So if you’ve supported me monetarily, I appreciate it a lot, especially because I know many of my readers, like me, have to think about money. Leaving teaching, which didn’t pay great, but was at least somewhat stable in terms of pay, was a big financial risk. This newsletter is a rel…

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