The State of the Valley Address

Wow! WHAT A WEEK!

Hello, all, and I know we say this all the time but now it feels especially appropriate: thank you for being here! Thanks to those who’ve stuck with this Crazy Train as it veered almost completely off its tracks, and thanks to those who jumped off and then back on when you realized the conductors hadn’t actually lost their dang minds! “Vroom vroom, here comes the train wreck!” we once said when The Valleyfolk first launched, and here we are. #WreKd

There’s not a lot to say about the events of last week that has not already been said, but I tend to be pretty long-winded, so please indulge my rambling for a second. First of all, y’all, Kevin and Kait deserve all the good things in life. They both handled the good and the bad stuff last week with patience, maturity, and elegance, all while dealing with their own personal shtuff (that’s short for “sh*t stuff”). We’re so lucky to have them, and walking into the office on Monday last week, we all hugged each other, cried a little, and like, leaned on one another? I don’t know. It’s sappy and weird to talk about but it meant a lot. 

The final thing I want to say is that we’re all handling this in our own ways, and that includes you all, me, Joe, Steve, Lee, everyone. Everyone is doing their best, but sometimes people’s “best” kinda sucks in certain ways. Or it’s painful. Or it’s sloppy. So, on behalf of all of us here at The Valleyfolk, thank you for believing in us, and if you’ve decided to no longer be a subscriber, patron, follower, fan, etc: That’s okay, too. We are working on getting refunds to anyone who’s asked for them, and we are slowly making our way through your messages on here-- most of which are incredibly kind and thank you for that. For those on the fence, all I’ll say is: we got this. There is a fire under our flat, hairy butts now that is already resulting in some of the best stuff we’ve ever done, even as we all move forward at our own speeds. 

SO! Let’s all hold hands and support one another as we walk into the future, because the future is bright, so bright Steve is still wearing his sunglasses. Here’s what we are working on:

• Shelves: Joe’s method of healing has resulted in, and I’m sorry if this sounds like a brag, so many shelves. We now have new shelves, and older shelves that have been re-organized. Shelves have been assembled, disassembled, cleaned, and re-arranged for maximum workplace tranquility. He calls it "Shelf-help." Honestly, I’m so proud of Joe for funneling his anxieties into something productive, like shelves. So many shelves. I’d give him props for it, but honestly I think he’d just put them on a shelf.
• Dayvin’s Back: If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o6Ddw2nlRM . I’m holding off on watching this video until it gets posted on Thursday. Big fan of this and weirdly proud of everything about how this trailer was uploaded. The stupid file name title? Come on. We’re havin’ fun.
• Touring: One of my favorite things about doing live shows is actually getting to meet the people who watch us, but noooow we want YOU to get to know US, and that’s going to happen with a little tour happening at the beginning of 2020! Whoo! Dates soon, and patrons will get discounts whenever possible! 
• Updated HOT TAKE: I’m gonna do less newsy type topics and try to pivot to stuff that I’m a little more into/excited about. This is in no way an example of something that deserves its own bullet point, but I’M excited about it, and this is MY blog post, and I happen to love the way that Elliott writes, and this is Joe typing this. Let’s see, what’s the next bullet point on my To-Joe list. Joe, Joe, Joe, this is Joe.
• MERCH! We're hard at work on all sorts of new merch, as well as working on ways to build more merch that coincides with our upcoming weird freakin’ videos. Y’all will get discounts, of course, and YA GONNA LOVE IT. We're trying to world-build here, and that's very fun.
• New Patreon/REBRAND stuff: We know we’re looking old, okay?! We know death encroaches as slowly as it does quietly, the butterfly effects of our decay reverberating across the cobwebbed-lines halls of our fading minds. So we’re gonna make this place look dope, with new tiers, a new Patreon video, and we’re gonna get back to building this community! So… it’ll be fine. Until, you know… it isn’t. Also, this process is across the board. New Your Show set for the new year, new banners, new Valleycast intro we just got in from Andy Mogren, and just a general new-ish vibe across the land. And shelves. I'm talkin' surface area, babyyyy.
• New GUESTS! If you think for one second we aren't going to have so many guests in the NEAR future, ya' wrong and I don't care who knows it. This week on the podcast we have Ane Baker, who went from being a sex ed teacher to a filmmaker, and that's getting uploaded in like five minutes and it's super interesting. And we're going to keep bringing in new folk and getting to know them with you, and I think that's rad. 
• New BOARD GAME VIDEOS: I REALLY like these new videos we’re doing. Some of them are sponsored (shout to the lord, all the earth!) and others aren’t, but I don’t know. They’re weirdly enjoyable to watch and kind of addictive. Anyway, SHA BE FUN.
• Counseling: We’re gonna do some corporate/business counseling. Whoo! High-five! Joe, Steve, and I all go to therapy already, but we’re hoping to work through things better as we move forward and better communicate and support one another. I’m very excited about it and excited to see how the progress bleeds into the creative stuff you see. Or maybe it won’t, who knows! (It will)
• So much more! Want to know the other things that you probably can imagine but it’s more fun to not talk about? Well, here’s one-- Oh, sorry, that’s our time for today. See you next week!

In short, we’re getting back to work and looking ahead, and we hope you can come along for the ride. We’ll try to swerve the train a little less in the future, and we’re gonna start by not leaning so heavily into this metaphor. 

See ya soon! 

-Joe Bereta, fan of Elliott Morgan