I think I’m finally going to post these pictures taken last year at Sumapaz National Park in Colombia. I’ve been oddly reluctant for a couple of reasons. First, I felt almost proprietary toward these little lagoons, as if they were my own private experience. They were breathtakingly gorgeous, but only at the very particular time I was there. A few days earlier or later and the water would have been different, the weather would have been different, and it would have looked nothing like this. I feel like I’m one of the few human beings ever to see it exactly like this.

The other reason is that these photos simply don’t capture what it looked like in real life. Your mileage may vary, but I find that this doesn’t happen very often. In this case, however, the picture is a poor substitute for being there and drinking in the tiny, perfect little garden that the rain has made out of this miniature lagoon. If you’re wondering why I’m making such a big deal out of something that’s pretty, but just that, all I can say is that you had to be there.

These pictures are both of the same lagoon. They were taken from opposite ends.

August 8, 2019 — Sumapaz National Park, Colombia

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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.

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