November 2, 2020

I Am Proud of My Friends Who Used to Not Give a Shit About Politics

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Yes, it’s true, things are bad. Now let me introduce you to my friend Anne. I was the nerdy one, she was the artist who taught me how to put on makeup (okay, still does). Then 2020 happened, and I watched her grow her own quarantined activism zone, using social media to urge her friends to vote and politely arguing with the Karens and the male-Karens in the comments. Sure, the polls suggest an increase in voter engagement this year, but seeing it up close in people I actually know didn’t give a real shit before gives me hope that people will demand action on our biggest challenges, from systemic racism to climate change.

I texted Anne to see if I could interview her. Here’s what she said:

Here’s the conversation that followed:




—Pema Levy

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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