The writer Lonnie Lee Hood once quipped that “Journalists are people who just decided they want to do homework for a living.” When I read this, I felt seentacked. I love researching, reading and writing about what I’m learning. This is why I went to J school.
I will confess that I’ve found both parts of my work harder to do this year than in past years.
As a researcher and writer, I’ve got a full roster of podcasts I love and an infinite list of audiobooks in my queue, but I’ve been sad to see some of the media orgs I’ve loved for years shuttering or cutting staff. I’m excited that AI might help us learn to talk to animals (!), but it’s also making it harder to figure out whether any given image we see is real or AI-generated.
As a teacher, I see the students I serve struggling to keep up, too. As
wrote recently, many members of Gen Z do not know how to discern whether sponsored content is a real news story or an ad, or whether “spurious claims in social media” are worth researching further.
I find that when we can’t figure out if the information we’re consuming is trustworthy, many of us end up spending a lot of time and energy fact-checking (or spiraling). Living in a constant state of doubt about what is “true” can also stop us from acting decisively, which can slow down progress in everything from social activism to science. (This is a major plot point in “3 Body Problem,” a prescient book and TV series with which I am completely obsessed.)
This makes it even more incredible and inspiring to find work that is good, and thoughtful, and ground-breaking, in the worlds of journalism and storytelling. I suspect that tools that make it possible to find, support and share the work of these creators directly have played a large role in this.
Which brings me to my question:
What kind of creative work feels worth your reciprocity these days?
Meaning, which creators do you support, or would you like to support1, because they contribute to your life in some important and irreplaceable way — either by informing you so that you can act, or creating art that helps you remember why life is worth living?
This could mean:
Writers and/or publications that you pay to read, or would like to if you had the means (this includes actual books)
Podcasters and/or other programs info that you support through sources like Patreon or subscription-based streaming services, or through hyping them to your friends on the regular
Accounts or people that you regularly re-tweet, re-stack or re-gram
Here’s why this matters: Good activism in this moment can’t really go forward without good information. And good art and information can’t really be made without people who are willing to be in reciprocity with their creators.
I hope that by talking more here about all of the above (in ways that are cool and kind, please), we can better help to spread the good around, and keep it going.
I realize that it is not within everyone’s means to support art, information or activism monetarily. The folks who make them dinner, give them pep talks when they are sad, and hype them in places like this to people who don’t know them yet are all also wonderful ways to be in reciprocity, and they all count!
Adding a link here. A piece of journalism I found to be moving and offer a glimpse into a situation that feels insurmountable.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7A5BevPKMCg7CMtukkd1QW?si=PFmiEprhS0OFyj7Mx4-hsA
on the 6:58 mark the story is about a family and kids who fled Gaza. No politics, just story. Sharing because it has helped me process.