A Note About The Status Kuo and The Big Picture

Good morning! My team and I are still in the throes of launch week for The Big Picture, which sadly has meant no substantive pieces in the Status Kuo yesterday or today. But that will change, starting tomorrow! Here are some quick answer to FAQs folks have had:

Q: Are these separate publications? A: Yes! The Status Kuo is my own personal project, and The Big Picture is a publication put out by George and my team at The Social Edge. They are not affiliated in any official way, but we both recommend each other’s audiences.

Q: How often will you be working with The Big Picture? A: I plan on writing 2-3 pieces a month for that publication.

Q: What will you be writing about? A: The scope of the topics are, as the name implies, far broader than here at The Status Kuo. This month for example I’m working on two pieces: The rise of autocracy in Florida under DeSantis and the use of “Groomer” as a new slur but old weapon against the LGBTQ+ community. My pieces will trace the history and progression of things like illiberal states and fake concerns over the “safety of children” to provide a broader context for the disturbing rhetoric and policies we are seeing today. As with all our pieces in The Big Picture, I will also provide some examples of hope and a way forward.

Q: Will you still write The Status Kuo? A: Yup! I should resume my regular writings tomorrow as soon as the launch today of our first substantive piece—an essay by George Takei I had the honor of discussing with him and helping edit—is complete.

Q: Is The Big Picture free? A: The primary weekly articles in The Big Picture are free. Unlike my own work, however, there’s a whole team behind the effort there, so for paid supporters the subscription will also include access to guest contributor pieces and a chance to interact with authors and George Takei in the community comments.

Q: What’s the discount code again? A: For this week, there’s a 25% discount I’m able to offer The Status Kuo subscribers on their first annual subscription to The Big Picture, bringing the cost down to $45 or less than $4 a month on average for the first year. You can take advantage of that until March 8th here:

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/0289c8e3

Thanks again for all your incredible support and encouragement. I’ve been working really hard with my team to put this all together for our launch while holding to my regular cadence of Status Kuo pieces, which I promise will resume tomorrow! I deeply appreciate all of you and the community we have built here, and I hope to also see you from time to time over at The Big Picture when my writings are published there.

Jay