I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by the responses to the closing of Current. I am gratified that so many people are going to miss our little magazine. One of our writers passed along this encouraging song to some of our editorial team:
Indeed, it’s been gratifying to hear from so many young writers we have published over the years who are thankful for the way Current encouraged their careers. Read the reflection of one writer and reader here.
Back in 2020, when I approached my co-founders–Jay Green and Eric Miller–with the possibility of starting what became Current, I was motivated by a sense of community. I had been blogging at The Way of Improvement for about twelve years and I wanted to bring my ideas and curation into a space where they might co-exist with other perspectives on the nation and the world. I had hoped we could build an institution that might counter the ever-increasing atomization of the writing life that has been created by Substack culture. I thought Current could be a democratic space. Like any such space, Current would have boundaries that were shaped by some basic convictions shared by of our founders and editors–but it would be a democratic space nonetheless. Our paywall is now open, so you can take a look at what we’ve done and decide if we were successful.
What we learned along the way was that those who engage in public writing, and those who consume it, don’t really care too much about institutions. Here is Paul Pastor an executive editor at Harper Collins:
We responded:
Our Current experiment didn’t work. There are a variety of reasons for this, perhaps many of which I will understand better with the passing of time. But Paul Pastor is right. We live in a writing world driven by personal brands, celebrity and platforms. Intellectual community, fostered by institutions, is hard to come by in this age of fracture.
Several of you are asking about what will happen to The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog now that Current is shutting down. Stay tuned. Old school blogging is in my blood and after 16 years at TWOILH I am not yet ready to retire.
John, you write: “Our _Current_ experiment didn’t work.” That is true in the sense of the hopes you had for the future and for a wider reception and a stronger business model, but in a very real sense it is no less true to say: “Our _Current_ experiment worked for four glorious years.”
I really was excited when the Current came into being. It was brave to start such a project. I am one who believes that even projects that may appear to fail; have not. I was a nursing school dropout. When I later found my career, my brief time in the nursing field gave me opportunities that I might have missed.
I love history. I found there were corners that I had not been aware. I read some history books that I would never have purchased without your journal. I met writers I would never have read before.
I am sad and I will miss the Current. I rather think that you succeeded in many ways, and the time right for your journal. Sue Peterson
Thanks Tim and Sue. Both of you are right.
I will miss “Current.” It publishes good quality essays. It is a badly needed space for the kind of intellectual issues that it addresses. I am glad for the opportunity to write an essay for it. Christianity needs it. I regret the fact that I did not give any effort to support it in different ways. I assumed that, since it is excellent, it will naturally survive on its own. But I was wrong. I am so sorry. Thank you for all your hard work! It is surely not in vain.
Sad to hear this, John! I have always valued your insight and scholarship on this page… Thank you for all of it.
Although I did not come close to agreeing with every editorial viewpoint Current expressed, I nevertheless was glad to subscribe to Current. It was and is a good resource for finding out what others are saying. I am sorry that it will be closing but am glad that the legacy blog will be continuing.
Current has helped me so much during these last two election cycles. You’ve expanded my thinking and challenged me to hang on to what is good. What happens to our monetary support- can we continue to direct it to similar projects?
I always had Current in the same category as The Atlantic — a publication worth reading for the whole of its parts. Smaller, for sure, but similarly clinging to the worthwhile idea of being a place where many voices are in conversation. I was glad to see it arrive and am sorry to see it go. I agree with Tim — it worked for four years!