I'm launching something new

Offline Recess is a newsletter that invites you to pause from digital distractions and rediscover the joy of finding inspiration on your own terms, away from the algorithm.

A big announcement!

On August 1st 2024, I wrote the following in my journal:

Since I wrote that (almost) one year ago, I’ve decided to go on a meandering (yet focused) deep dive. I read books about fandom, I make note of celebrities monetizing their audience, I bookmark merch, I scroll Reddit, and I’ve even outlined my own framework (more on that later). I’m not just talking about what people like. I want to focus on what people love and what that love leads to: personal meaning, friendships, romantic partners, casual hookups, toxicity, betrayal, personal wealth, ritual, identity, and more.

Which has led me to launching a new project called Huge Fan!

Huge Fan is where fandom meets business, community, and belonging. It will focus on fandom as belonging, fandom as power, fandom as architecture, and fandom as fun. I will be joyful, curious, and also real.

You can call it a newsletter but I see it as a publication. This newsletter that you subscribe to right now feels like something penned from my desk, by me, every Sunday. Huge Fan will be bigger than that. While I hope to always impact the content, there will be guest contributors, interviews, gossip, and resources galore. It’s for the fan curious, the fans themselves, the agents + managers, fan clubs/groups, those in marketing, brand owners, the people who have fans, and those looking to become someone who has fans. It will be hosted on Beehiiv, not Substack (more on that later).

There are a few ways you can help me launch this starting right now:

• Subscribe to receive an email when things get published

• Follow the account on Instagram and like the post (or share)

• Reply to this email if you or someone you love is a huge fan of something and would be interested in being featured 

• Send me links, articles, posts, and gossip about all-things-fandom 

• Send this link to anyone who might like to subscribe. It will give them a little context and prompt them to sign up.

And for this newsletter? A lot of my creative energy will be focused on Huge Fan and Wonderly for the foreseeable future. I hope the rest of my creative energy can be channeled towards showing up in my friendships, cooking, and maybe even trying to make art for myself again. So I’ve decided to wind down this newsletter at the end of the year. 

I’ve consistently authored this Sunday letter since December 2019. When I hit publish on my last, it will have been six whole year. I feel like that was three different lifetimes ago, a fully different version of myself. 

For full transparency, I’ve decided to list out what the remaining topics will be…in case you’d like to stick around! I’ll be publishing once a month this August through December. 

• What I’m a fan of 

• What it takes to launch something like Huge Fan (behind the scenes look)

• Working with your significant other

• What goes into creating a $20,000 website

• Lessons I’ve learned after 13 years of self-employment 

• plus fun links + quotes as always sprinkled in

I thank all who have opened, tipped, clicked, and replied. I’ll probably never not share on the internet but it’s fun to have the space to change how I do it.

P.S. You’ve enjoyed this newsletter over the years, you can help contribute to the cost of publishing. I don’t have any intention of putting up a paywall but you can Venmo me @alliepal or send a tip via Paypal (this account is under my maiden name Jocson because Paypal makes it nearly impossible to change your name). Thank you to all who tip me!