Please click the pen and fill my ink!
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The Osborne Ink cup is down to $100 allocated for a $200 project and $5 kindly dropped recently by one of my more avid readers. Ads pay for bandwidth only. My decision to put them on here was an act of capital rebellion in the information wars, and if not for that widget on the right I might have gotten rid of them long ago.
The truth is, this blog is not what it could be or, I think, ought to be. I have done good work, elicited positive reviews, gotten high visibility…but this blog doesn’t break through because I haven’t broken it through.
For those who haven’t been reading this blog since its early days in Google hell, I have always been into creative venting. Sometimes, great things come of it. Maybe, possibly, I thought, it might amount to something.
Along the way, hands have come out (I have Bob Cesca and Bob Kincaid to thank, as well as Ben Cohen). I have met wonderful, helpful, friendly progressive souls. I have been proud to share a widget with people like Oliver Willis and Mike Stark. I have worked on a project with Brad Friedman, gotten tips from Jamie Holly, and seen a new cadre of fans across the ‘sphere. I have met (and documented) some amazing people.
But ads still only pay for bandwidth. I’ve been doing odd jobs and lawn care, but lack the truck necessary to develop that business. I am lucky to inhabit a very low-cost area and operate this blog while living on less than four hundred dollars a month. Reader and viewer contributions have now produced three thirty-minute documentaries and a chronicle of eighteen months in the culture-war trenches.
I have shied away from becoming yet another collection of Sarah Palin posts and Beck rants. Instead, I have tried to focus on identifying the threads of kulturkampf woven into our national political discussion. An early title-bar I considered for this website was “Declaring Peace in the Culture Wars” — the American right is pervasive, strong, and incredibly wrong, yet manages to dominate the conversation in part because the ‘sphere pays entirely too much attention to what they are saying. Stupid Sarah Palin thing of the day gets hits — one of the highest-hitting posts in the history of this blog was a Captain Coolaid post about her breast enhancement — but strange as it seems, I don’t want to chase those hits. Instead, I want to make some noise of my own.
What they are saying is awful. What they are doing is even more awful. Rather than repeat the news every progressive and liberal blogger is already chopping up and regurgitating from newswires, Osborne Ink is about committing the occasional act of citizen-journalism — and finding others who do — to accomplish more than a chronicle of cultural politics.
Karoli, who plucked me from Huffington Post obscurity. Nico Pitney, who gave me the chance to post under Arianna’s banner. Shoq, the link-fu master. Bo Webb, who is a genuine hero. They all tell me I shall go on to great things, but I haven’t become famous, haven’t done the talk-show circuit, haven’t produced a book.
To me, the least interesting panel at Netroots Nation is “How to Become a New Media Star;” being a new media star is a bit like being the hobo with the biggest shopping cart. I have no wish to continue this blog unless it can grow, and I lack the funding to grow it. I actually missed out on a very good opportunity with ThinkProgress this fall because of car problems. To the extent I have failed to change the story, it has been a learning curve and a lack of funds at work.
I am particularly indebted to the HORN for loaning me a better camera and sincerely wish I had not had car problems this fall; I wanted to do far more coverage of Democrats and Republicans than I did. And I did, in fact, get both sides. I wish I could have gotten more.
As a consequence of the worsening economy, low employment opportunities, and the needs of family, I can’t keep doing this on nothing at all. I don’t want to do this another six months without making it work better, so I’m setting a goal of $1200. This fundraiser will continue to dominate the Morning Awful until New Year’s Eve or until the goal is met. If the goal is not met, this blog will shut down with the new year.
Because unless I can get to Tuscaloosa to check Scarborough’s connections, the Gulf Coast for impact assessment, and other stories in a day’s drive there is no point in continuing because I am not changing the story. Unless I can be in Montgomery to cover the legislative session, there is no point in my continuing because I am not making the news.
All contributions help, in any amount. Readers and viewers have made this blog happen at surprisingly little cost. Two hundred dollars a month is not a lot; I am not asking to get rich. At the current rate of posts, it’s about three bucks a pop — and that doesn’t even include video work. Compared to other experiments in the online media revolution, I think mine offers more bang for the buck.
Please click the button to fill my ink:
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