Why I Write "It All Connects"

Dear Friends,

When I started sending this newsletter out more than a decade ago—back then I called it From The Desk of Richard Jeffrey Newman—my primary goal was to promote my work. I did this by sharing not only news about my publications and events, but also, in an early incarnation of “Four By Four,” links to articles, books, songs, and anything else I found interesting. I also sent out the occasional essay about issues I thought important enough to write about. I considered the newsletter, in other words, to be a marketing tool rooted in good literary citizenship, not a writing project in and of itself.

Over time, however, and especially within the last two or so years, as “Four By Four” evolved into its current form, my thinking changed. I began to understand that I was creating archives—of texts, images, songs, and brief accounts of moments in my life—and I began to see the occasional essays I sent out as attempts to make sense of the often disparate concerns that emerged from those archives. Two recent examples of these essays are “Israel and Palestine: Whose Side Are You On?” (Parts 1, 2, and 3) and “Poetry Versus Propaganda: When A Poem Devolves Into Rhetoric.” I now see this newsletter, in other words, as of a piece with the poems and essays I write for more traditional publication and, as a result, I think differently about both the newsletter’s purpose and the audience I imagine for it.

Like all of you—and this is reflected in the content I choose for each issue of “Four By Four”—I sit at the center of a Venn diagram of overlapping communities, interests, and concerns. I’ve chosen the name It All Connects for this project because it represents the vantage point from which I make the connections that matter most to me. Indeed, if I had to boil down to a single sentence the reason I write It All Connects, it would be this: It All Connects is for anyone who grapples with complexity—of identity, art-making, culture, and/or conscience—as a way of making a difference in their own life and, potentially, in the life of their community.

As a result of this shift in my perspective, I have come to realize that fulfilling this new vision for It All Connects will require financial support, which some of you have already demonstrated by becoming paid subscribers. Thank you! Based on feedback I have received over the past two years, however, I have also learned that readers of this newsletter fall into two broad categories: those who are primarily interested in the exploration and discovery embodied by “Four By Four;” and those who want to engage the more deliberative process that is both the essence of essay writing and what is necessary to make the conversations we need to be having personally meaningful and collectively compelling. The subscription tiers I’ve defined for It All Connects allow each group to continue to be part of this project at the level that is most meaningful to them:

The Free Tier is for those whose primary interest is in “Four By Four.” This tier includes:

• One issue of “Four By Four” a month
• Crossposts from Fernwood Press’ Learning to Love the Questions, where I blog about poetry, politics, and spirituality;
• Occasional access to subscriber-only content.

The Paid Tier ($8/month or $80/year) is for those who want more sustained engagement. In addition to “Four By Four” and the cross-posts from Learning To Love The Questions, this tier includes:

• Long form essays on topics of interest, including gender and sexuality, Jewish identity and culture, higher education, writing, and translation;
• Quarterly “Roundups” that gather into single posts the items in each of the first three “Four-Things” categories—To Read, To See, and To Listen To—so you can create your own archive of the material I have curated;
• Posts that offer a behind-the-scenes look at what I’m working on;
• Occasional PDF chapbooks in which I expand on the material in “Four Things About Me,” giving you a front row seat to a kind of memoir-in-progress.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sending you long-form posts that offer a preview of what the essays in the paid tier will be like. Then, in January 2026, when I begin differentiating the tiers, I'll also offer a free, thirty-day trial period so you can fully experience what the subscription tier offers. At that point, those on the free tier can expect to receive one issue of “Four By Four” per month, along with a cross-post from Learning To Love The Questions. Paid subscribers and those who have opted into the trial period will receive those two posts, a monthly essay, and a behind-the-scenes post, with the other paid-tier benefits coming later in the year. (If you’d like to become a paid subscriber now, you don’t need to wait. Just click here. Be aware that if you haven’t signed in yet, which Ghost asks you to do as a security measure, you’ll have to do that first.)

Regardless of which tier you choose, it means more to me than you know that you have been reading this newsletter till now. I look forward to your continued engagement as It All Connects continues to develop.

Richard

PS: Remember, throughout December you’ll get preview essays from the paid tier along with the usual Learning To Love The Questions crossposts. I hope you find them all meaningful, whichever tier you choose.