## End of File, for now

I have decided to pause my research and podcast journey. I [posted a letter to my Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/32445075) explaining the details, which I will paste below for posterity:

Hello Dear Friends,

I have bittersweet news to share: I have decided to step down from my leadership role in the Future of Coding community. I still plan to be involved, lurking in the Slack, responding to emails, helping where I can, but I will no longer be organizing events, doing research, or releasing podcasts (beyond the final few I still have in the queue).

I asked Ivan Reese, one of the first and most dedicated community members, to take my place. Not only is he an incredibly smart researcher and talented interviewer, he has excellent judgement, is kind, and thoughtful. His one guest interview (with Jack Rusher) was the best-produced and most-listened-to episode on the feed! 

You'll hear more from Ivan soon about his plans for the future of the podcast, community, and website. 

Tidying up a few loose ends:

Why am I stepping down? 

In the short-term: to focus on family, plan my wedding, and make a feature film with my fiance. (Out of left field, I know!) 

In the longer term, I plan to come back to this work fully as an "organizer" of it, in the shape of a company, non-profit, or governmental organization. Will keep you posted!

What about my research? 

I still think it's a terribly interesting thread to pull on, and am very excited to continue to follow Conal Elliott, Adriaan Leijnse, and the denotative community. Even in my less-active state, I will be really quick to reply to all emails about this! All of my thoughts and notes will remain in futureofcoding.org/log.

What about Patreon? 

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and our community so far! I am shutting this Patreon down. I expect Ivan to start his own in the coming months.

Thank you so much, everyone! Two and a half years ago I started talking to an empty room and all you beautiful people showed up, listened, and had so many wonderful things to add to my life, and to each others'. The world became a bigger place and a smaller place for me. For all it's faults, the internet has allowed us all to find each other in this lonely world. It's a magical thing having close friends who can speak to your soul that you've never met in person. 

I better end this before I get too teary-eyed. But really, to those of you who have been my cheerleaders and biggest fans, you know who you are, please know that none of this would've happened without you. I am so grateful. I can't wait to see what new heights you reach in this next chapter.

Love always,

Steve Krouse