The Work Hasn’t Stopped. I’m Just Tired.

I haven’t vanished. I’ve just been buried under the weight, same as anybody else trying to keep their head above water in this country.

For the past month, I’ve barely had time to write a grocery list, much less a story. I’m working four part-time jobs, hustling to keep the lights on, feed my family, and hold onto some piece of myself that isn’t just work, bills, or the next crisis. That’s the truth. No mystery, no strategy, just the same grind every working-class person in this country already knows. Your hours get chewed up, the money runs out, and you’re left wondering why you’re so damn tired all the time.

Right now, every post on Holler & Hammer is out from behind the paywall. It’s all free. I’m grateful for every paid subscriber, but I’m not about to let a price tag keep folks from reading what’s already been written. If you need the record, you get the record. If you’re trying to read what I’ve written, you shouldn’t have to swipe a card first.

Some of the slowdown is just time and exhaustion, but a big chunk of it is that getting basic public information from Johnston County government and getting it from Johnston County Public Schools has turned into a damn obstacle course. Public records requests that should take days now drag on for months, sometimes over a year, buried in delays, deflections, and silence. I was told everything has to go through Katie Cornetto, the school board attorney, and it’s clear the goal is to let accountability rot in an inbox. David Pearce and this board already shoved public comment further into the shadows by cutting off the broadcast. Now they’re treating the paper trail like it’s their private stash, and the public can only see it if we beg, wait, and get ignored anyway.

This county does not care about transparency. That’s not good government or public service. The school board especially has slammed the door in the faces of the people who pay taxes, send their kids, sit through meetings, and live with the fallout.

So, if anybody knows a First Amendment lawyer, a public records attorney, a civil liberties group, or anyone willing to work pro bono, or just point me in the right direction, get in touch. I’m not chasing some courtroom drama. I just want help making these public officials follow the damn law and quit acting like public information is their personal property.

In the meantime, I’ll still check in. I’ll still write when I can. When a story needs telling and I’ve got enough breath left, I’ll put it out there. It just might not be as often for a bit.

Holler & Hammer isn’t dead. It’s just being run by a tired man with too many jobs, too many kids, too many bills, and still not enough sense to shut the hell up when the folks in charge would rather I did.

That part has not changed.