DID TRUMP FORGIVE EVERY STUDENT LOAN?

Oh, I sure hope this happens: “Every Student Loan is now “Forgiven” thanks to Trump.”

If you suddenly find your loan managed by an agency not named in your contract, not authorized by Congress, and not subject to the same legal compliance regime, guess what?

That’s a breach. A big one.

And in contract law, a breach that goes to the heart of the agreement—like changing the party responsible for enforcement or management—is what courts call a material breach. That means the contract is no longer valid. And if it’s not valid, they can’t enforce it.

It’s a post from someone you read on the internet – don’t stop paying your loans just yet.

“As I said earlier: get your paperwork. Talk to a lawyer. If lawsuits start to emerge, then evaluate whether you want to participate. But that’s a legal process — not a unilateral decision to walk away from a loan just because you read a compelling Substack post.”

RELATED: Trump says Education Department will no longer oversee student loans, ‘special needs’

HOW TO FALL OUT OF LOVE WITH MUSIC

I’m sad when I click to listen to someone’s latest offering and I’m left with a long narrow list of digital music streaming providers and download partners.

Now, a “landing page” with lyrics and photos and other “on brand” delights would be so appealing, and it’s not that hard in 2025.

But instead, a legion of talented music makers are content to do what everyone else is doing, sending their adoring fans to faceless corporate data collection services instead of pulling them further into their own creative world (and capturing a few email addresses in the process).

RESKETCH NOTEBOOKS

These look amazing.

“(Resketch) makes notebooks and sketchpads of unused architectural diagrams, maps, logs, sheet music, and more. The resulting designs offer users the opportunity to creatively engage with the original markings and add their own additions to the printed pages. Flipping through a notebook also becomes an act of discovery as old calendars or bureaucratic forms are tucked between graphs and lines.”

Via Colossal

COLLABORATION IS HOW WE THRIVE

Love this from Natalie Brite:

By shifting from competition to collaboration, you:
Create sustainability—because you no longer have to do everything alone.
Build trust & credibility—because people respect businesses that uplift others.
Challenge the corporate model—because small businesses thrive in community, not isolation.

Social media has led us to believe the idea of the lone genius. We figure everything out on our own. Growth as the singular focus.

What’s the old adage? To go fast, go alone. To go far, go with others.

AVOIDING SOME SUBSTACK LOCK IN

I tried hosting my interview videos as a Substack Podcast, but I realized something in the process – all media uploaded to Substack (video or audio) can’t be embedded on your own site. You’ve got to either uplpoad the video to YouTube (meh, Google), or in the case of the podcast… well, you’re out of luck.

So that’s why I moved things to Transistor. Yes, I have to pay $20/mo for it, but if that’s the price I need to pay to keep my interviews from disappearing if the Substack platform goes away (or gets bought by Elon Musk), then it’s a good investment.

AI-ENHANCED FREELANCERS

AI won’t replace you but AI-enhanced freelancers will.

If you’re not using AI to streamline your workflow, automate admin tasks, or turbocharge your creativity, you’re already losing to those who are. It’s pointless to try to fight technology, become comfortable with it and own it! This will give you the time to do the tasks you need to focus on and be present with potential clients and collaborators.

AI-enhanced freelancers. Damn, it’s true.

I use chatGPT to do some very basic, menial formatting work for me, across several of my clients. If I did it all “by hand” I’d be adding hours every month of busy work. Not worth it.

(via ‘How to freelance in 2025‘ by xavografica)

THE “FINALLY ORGANIZING YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOS” ZOOM HANG OUT CALL

This started by me posting on Substack Notes, a screen shot of a bunch of folders filled with my digital photos dating back to 2002. I explained how I got all those photos extracted from Apple Photos (formerly iPhoto), and into their own folders. Then how I backed them all up via Backblaze.

This got some traction, so I wondererd if people would be interested in hopping on a Zoom call and talking about it. I set up a landing page using Tally, and got over 30 replies.

From there I set up an event in Luma, and emailed those folks, and as of writing this I got 29 people signed up to attend.

It’s on Thursday, March 20 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT. If you wanna come, register here.

​- This is definitely not for the hardcore photographer crowd.

​- This is for the casual iPhone / photographer who just happens to have a jillion photos scattered everywhere and you’re looking for a temporary support group to figure things out together.

I figured out an okay system to get all my iPhone photos off my device and stored on an external HD, again, all backed up via Backblaze (which backs up two external HDs and my laptop for $9/mo).

Because of this, I was able to cancel my yearly Google subscription for more photo storage (I was using it to back up my iPhone photos), and cut my iCloud to the .99 cents per month plan.

Thursday, March 20 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT. Register here.