📧 to TSW

Thank you for your email, and your stated interested in resolving the matter amicably. I wish that desire were shared by your client/s, especially Mr Claiborne. However, he continues to speak and act in ways that negatively affect my reputation. In his August 3rd email, he characterized my good faith attempts to protect my rights and to ensure my values are not misrepresented as saying "Logan’s books and videos are no longer available on our websites because of his own requests/demands..." This line is biased and unnecessary, and it leaves out important context. 

The only time I could find that I ever used the word "demand" was on February 13, 2020 in an email to him, Leroy Barber, and Caz Tod-Pearson (CCed): 

"On Monday, February 17th at 6:00am Eastern Standard Time I will send out demand letters to The Work of the People and Zondervan if TSW refuses to negotiate, or fails to express an interest in so doing, before that time." 

Mr Claiborne's choice of language hides the fact that TSW refused to renegotiate terms of a Release that disproportionately benefited them. Not only did they recieve $26,000 for our work, they literally erased the contributions of a handful of creators like myself. I have studied power enough to know his words were not morally or politically neutral; his words were a convenient distraction to maintain his relationship with a powerful figure in publishing at my expense. My agent is now reluctant to approach anyone at HarperCollins because of the way my actions have been misrepresented for fear of it affecting her relationships with editors at what she calls "the big cheese." 

This is not an example of "sharing possessions" or living into an economy of abundance; TSW has claimed my work as theirs while withholding the socio-political benefits to themselves. This is another example of the way Mr Claiborne's selective empathy has harmed "friends" who depend on the same systems he has leveraged to build his own platform. When challenged, TSW refused to negotiate more equitable terms and retreated behind an attorney, who, to your credit, managed to meet the bare minimum I would accept. Somehow I get dismissed as the disgruntled, demanding veteran. 

Erasing the erasure of my work is not justice, but at least it is on my terms. And at least now I have further documentation to refute any future mischaracterizations. Thank you, Mx Smith, for bringing the legal matter at hand to a conclusion.