Dear Reader,

After navigating freelance journalism for over five years, writing for dozens of publications, and notching a couple of exciting accolades, I am launching a subscription-based newsletter. This post explains why I’m starting the newsletter now and some of the content I have planned. But first, to subscribe with an early supporter discount at $5 per month for your first six months, click here. The regular rate is $8 per month, and I’m offering a $40-per-month tier for those who want to contribute even more.

While I’ve considered starting a newsletter before, I have always had the good fortune to write many of the stories I care about as a regular contributor at non-profit independent media outlets, including Truthout and Yes! Magazine. That work has kept me occupied and provided regular income, meaning that starting a newsletter never felt as urgent as it does now. Then, in April, I got the bad news that Yes! Magazine will be sunsetting operations at the end of June. That magazine paid me to cover solutions-oriented stories you won’t find at other publications, including how urban planning could be reimagined to serve working people, the importance of archiving labor struggles, and why the disability community joined the Stop Cop City movement. Plus, last year, my contributor role at Yes! Magazine amounted to more than a quarter of my income. This year would have been the same. Now, not so much.

The loss of independent non-profit media outlets is not only tragic but also a threat to the movement-building needed to meet our current moment. As extreme weather imperils frontline communities, authoritarians roll back the hard-won rights of marginalized groups, and Western governments fund genocide in Gaza, we need reporters and outlets committed to centering the voices of affected communities and uplifting stories of progressive and transformative social change more than ever.

Launching this newsletter is meant to cushion the financial blow of a contracting non-profit news industry and provide a platform for projects that reflect my expertise and interests and respond to the demands of our time. That means you’ll find more of my signature reporting on political organizing, climate justice, and disability communities, as well as the occasional detour into historical research and writing. Here are some things I have planned:

First, a collection of interviews with climate advocates working in the Middle East and North Africa. These regions are among the world’s most vulnerable when it comes to climate change, and local experts and community groups are stepping up to mitigate risk and implement adaptation strategies, often in the absence of organized governmental support. I’ll be kicking off this series with a conversation with Mariam AlSaad, a member of the Arab Youth Council for Climate Change and founder of AlManakh, one of Kuwait’s only climate advocacy non-profits. You can expect that to be published later this month.

Second, in-depth reporting on those with Long COVID facing homelessness. More than 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with the post-viral condition, and I encountered many struggling to make rent, fighting eviction, or already living on the street when I was reporting on disability and housing insecurity earlier this year. 

Lastly, a series of reported stories on the groups that have fed world-changing social movements. For example, the pop-up kitchens and organized food delivery schemes that sustained protesters in Egypt’s Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring, Lebanon’s October Revolution, Black Lives Matter uprisings across the US, and more. I have wanted to produce these stories for years, and the series will give me a chance to return to food journalism. For my previous food writing, I won an International Association of Culinary Professionals award, was named a finalist for another, and was nominated for a James Beard award.

If you’d like to share your story for my reporting, collaborate on a project, or send an idea for something you’d like to see me cover, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m looking forward to building this platform together so we can publish more stories that inform, empower, and inspire readers to build a better world.

In solidarity,

Marianne