Fundraising

Nobody likes fundraising. It’s the worst. You all want good quality content. We want to write good quality content. And yet, here we are, forced to raise funds once a year. We do try to keep it to one day, but not being harassed requires you to step up and open those grand, grand pockets of yours, if you can. If you are a Patreon subscriber and give $5 or $10 a month, giving $15 a month would help us out. If you want to donate on PayPal, please try to do so. I of course appreciate the direct support people give for the grave series, which is a very direct way to support a specific type of content on this site since 100% of the proceeds are used for the required travel. But of course you get all sorts of content on this site. And some of it is truly unique to the entire internet. Who else would not only think up a grave series, not only implement a grave series, but make the grave series and producing the posts around it a fundamental organizational concept of their life? You all benefit from these weird history lessons. It’s the same with the labor history series. And now it is the same with the film club series. Who knows what else will come out of my overactive mind and obsession with doing concrete projects? Could be anything.

And that’s just me. We’ve been able to develop a hell of a set of writers at this site over the years. We cover politics, sure. That’s the bread and butter. Some commenters don’t like me because I come at all this more as an activist and because I think it’s more interesting to challenge people’s ideas directly than just talking about the latest Trump outrage. But this blog needs both. Now in an era where police brutality is on the front page everyday, we have a nationally known expert on the issue writing here when he has time. We didn’t bring Simon on because we knew this was going to be on the front pages, but because we are looking for new and interesting voices that don’t just repeat what we already have but move us in a different direction. Some of us write a lot, others only when something specific to their policy interests are in the news. But we have here overall is a unique community, not only in that it has lasted so long but in that it continues to grow and expand.

But for all that, we don’t make much money. My share of the blog’s proceeds most months….does not cover my internet bill. We aren’t getting rich here. It’s a true labor of love. Costs for servers and the like do not go down. And think of what you are contributing to. It’s not just that this blog serves as a place to read some news commentary. Without LGM, I don’t get to write up a bunch of thoughts on outsourcing after the Rana Plaza collapse and get asked to write a book on outsourcing and the crimes of global capitalism. Without the labor history series, I don’t get to write A History of America in Ten Strikes and pick Noam Chomsky’s mind about his take on the present. Without being able to work out ideas here, I don’t get to take my ideas to the New York Times and Washington Post. You reading and making this site worthwhile is an active contribution to the maintenance of the blog, sure, but also to try to fix the horrible discourse in this nation.

So fork over some cash so we can get back to what we all like to do: discuss sandwiches.