October 31, 2018

Lunchtime Photo

When we were up at Big Bear, I figured I might as well try some night sky shooting. So off I went, driving the entire time with a nearly full moon staring straight at me. But I was oblivious. Only after I had finally gotten to my shooting spot did it suddenly occur to me that a nearly full moon meant that I wasn’t going to do any night sky shooting.

I tried a bit anyway, but then gave up and turned my attention to taking pictures that benefit from a full moon. It turned out that the spot I had chosen was apparently some kind of local trysting and/or beer drinking location, because there was a beat-up old rattan couch sitting there surrounded by bits of trash. So I took a series of pictures of that, lighting it with my flashlight to get a sort of creepy Halloweenish look.

Stay safe tonight, and keep all the cats inside.

October 20, 2018 — San Bernardino National Forest, California

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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