Thank you for your kind remarks and for the clap. There was a time when articles I submitted to Medium would gain a bit of traction and more than a few claps. Sadly, those days seem to have vanished in the mists of past successes.

I am still the same writer I've been for more than 50 years; still the same opinion columnist; the same word technician. But as many Medium writers are discovering, it is not enough to be a good writer anymore. One must also be a good marketer, adept at selling oneself in ways I am simply unable to either grasp or employ.

I don't play the algorithm game very well, as the most successful Medium writers are able. I don't begrudge their success; I simply am not constituted to be as adaptable as are many of my Medium peers. I write what moves me or what I feel needs to be said. That is not necessarily a sure-fire strategy for success on Medium.

My son is an American expat now living in Australia, where he will stay as an Aussie citizen. The American political system--of which he was once a part--no longer tugs at him, though he was able to cast an absentee ballot (Virginia) from his home near Canberra.