Welcome to V1LLAG3 Voice, the V13 Media Newsletter. Every Friday, you’ll get some of our best music, entertainment, culture, and literature pieces. C’est la V13.

I made the conscious decision not to send this newsletter for three weeks.

One of my kids has PDA, or pathological demand avoidance, a subtype of autism. I can’t possibly explain what living with it or parenting through it feels like in a newsletter introduction, and I’m not going to turn my child’s life into content. What I can say is that it demands a kind of parenting completely opposed to my instincts, my own upbringing, and the raging ADHD that I’m clinically diagnosed (and medicated) for.

What I will say is this: it is fucking frustrating at the best of times.

I knew what those three weeks were going to require. I knew there was no way to be there for my kid while maintaining three newsletters, a podcast, a roster of clients, a live AMA, the Green Room, several book projects, and everything else we’ve been trying to keep alive.

So I put it down.

I don’t like ghosting people. So instead I stuck to this:

My childcare is back on a regular schedule now, which honestly means more to me than this newsletter. No offence to anyone reading, it’s just true.

But we are back.

And Mr. Gonda has been going through it too. Life has been unkind to both of us, but we keep returning because honestly? We love spending time together; creating, ideating, and helping creatives, even though none of this has created prosperity or wealth for us in any currency other than vibes.

Maybe a handful of people care. Maybe half a dozen. Maybe nobody. Maybe you can see through this whole thing and recognize that, at some level, I’m still marketing to you and trying to drive clicks, views, and blah blah blah.

Maybe I get what I fucking deserve.

But I hope somebody discovers the band they’ll listen to for the next twenty years. A song that stays on their playlist for a lifetime. A book that sticks with them for ages. A photograph of their favourite artist that glows with the memory of seeing them play.

More than that, I hope somebody feels seen, understood, and part of something.

The digital landscape as it exists now was designed to fracture us, then sell things into the loneliness it created. We can’t have a collective movement if we aren’t a collective. Our tastes don’t have to be weapons we use to bludgeon one another. They can be the things that help us align.

I’m not asking you to reassure me that this matters. Life already asks enough of people.

I only hope there’s something of worth here for you.

If there is, great.

We’re back.

Let’s do this.

We had an absolute monster of a month in terms of Cover Stories while I was out, so I thought I’d just go ahead and feature them all here for your catching up pleasure.

V13 Media Group hosts regular Weekly AMAs, answering questions in real time from anyone seeking industry guidance or insight. Join us on Wednesdays!

In this episode of Ampocalypse, Damian FitzGerald is joined by Gregg Deal from Dead Pioneers for another 2000Trees special, as he faces the ultimate festival survival scenario.

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