Welcome back to Lucid, and hello to all new subscribers. I wanted to give you the monthly calendar for August, and also tell you about Lucid’s three subscription tiers. I work hard to provide you with excellent content, which leaves less time for brand and marketing considerations. I realized that I have rarely (or maybe never!) explained the subscription options and introduced the premium tier.
Free subscribers have access to a lot of content, all of it shareable. There is no paywall on the weekly essays I write for you, and the Substack Live conversations are open to everyone.
So why become a paid subscriber?
Paid subscribers can participate in the weekly Q&A, where you can ask questions of me and my guests live, and be part of a congenial community. Some people have attended every week for years, and it is always wonderful to gather and be together for the hour.
If you can’t attend these sessions, due to time zone or other issues, you can view the conversation at lucid.substack.com, videos tab, which now is an incredible archive of conversations with amazing guests regarding autocracy and democracy. You can view it here.
Premium Tier Subscriptions: Substack also calls these Founding Subscriptions, and each author is free to design their own menu of benefits. Several longtime premium subscribers have told me that Lucid’s offers the best value for its combination of direct-access events and exclusive analysis.
What you get: quarterly assessments and forecasts that cover U.S. and global developments. I also hold quarterly small-group Zooms to discuss them and whatever else seems important to the group. They are normally on Sunday nights, 8-9pmET, but I am open to alternating or adding other times in the future so that people from more areas in the world can participate. If premium members have a specific interest, I try and accommodate it in assessments and questions.
The next premium zoom is August 23, 8-9pmET, and I will be sending out a Q3 assessment/Q4 forecast a day or so before that, and you’ll get a link at 5pmET that day to register.
If you have questions about this tier of membership (or any tier), you can reach me at contact.ruthbenghiat@gmail.com.
I am grateful for your support. It allows me to have assistance with research, the Q&As, respond to problems you have with payments or email, and manage a newsletter with more than 211,000 subscribers.
Lucid is also the only woman-authored newsletter among the top 12 bestsellers in the world politics category.
You can find the Lucid support page and FAQ here.
August Event Calendar
Substack Lives, Open to Everyone. Just download the Substack app (desktop or mobile), enable notifications, and look for the join link when the Live starts. I email all Lucid subscribers a join link to make things easier.
August 10, 8-9pmET: direct from Nagasaki, where the atomic bombing of that city is commemorated on August 9, we have Annelise Riles, a Nagasaki Peace Correspondent and Professor of Law at Northwestern University.
August 26, 12:15-1:00pmET: civic education expert Danielle Allen, director of the Allen Lab for Democracy at Harvard University, is hosting me for a conversation about civic education.
Q&As for Paying Subscribers
August 14, 1-2pmET: corruption and oligarchy expert Brooke Harrington, author of Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism.
August 21, 1-2pmET: Barb McQuade, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and author of the new book The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.
August 28, 1-2pmET: Australian journalist, bestselling author, and activist Sarah Wilson, whose latest book is Eat The Stars: How To Live Fully in a Collapsing World. We’ll talk about climate, hope, and love. I know this is not a good time for my thousands of Australian subscribers, but you can send me any questions for Sarah ahead of time at to contact.ruthbenghiat@gmail.com.
And here is a flower from the garden, offered as a thank you to everyone for reading and following Lucid.
What a beautifully organized plan for August! We do not want to miss one event-thanks!
👏👏👏 Thank you for all that you do!