LOOKING AHEAD☽ A waterway clean-up for Swimming Home
Shout out to non-profit newsrooms and the Creative Commons license.
Swimming Home is growing, by the grace of 501(c3)’s and the Creative Commons license.
Something I learned from my first foray into being a founder was that the mechanics of running a magazine are effing hard. I know how to copy-edit, how to line-edit, how to fact-check, how to put stories into a CMS and make it look pretty.
It felt — well, not socially acceptable, but not egregious to run a zine with my college acquaintances, with no funding, no capital, no compensation for the homies save for a personally penned letter of reference for jobs.
I’m grown now.
Which means nothing, by the way, in the context of capitalism and a puffed-up economy.
Sidebar: Are we still in an inflation economy?
At the time of writing this, it has now become public knowledge that bigwigs at thee Federal Reserve concluded — in January 2024 — that inflation will probably be high for a little while longer.
Although, the Consumer Price Index indicates that the rising prices aren’t rising as sharply as they did some 12 months ago (compare 3.1% to 6.4%).
Beyond inflation, I think my frustrations are just the pains of adulting at this point…
People in their 30s and 40s have told me and my chronically online ilk that my generation wants everything, ironed out, right now.
But looking at everyone else’s highlight reel — from glitzy Instagram and TikTok to stately LinkedIn — has made me feel bad about the fact I still haven’t figured out how to:
work eight hours a day,
work on my passion project for eight hours a day,
eat three meals a day,
do my 45-minute weightlifting workout every day,
go outside, too,
catch up with my friends,
show my face with my parents,
date as a queer black person in the raggedy locale of the District of Columbia,
maintain my French skills and go hard again with my Italian,
go to ballet every week,
teach myself bass again,
watch Oscar-bait films and Emmy-nominated hour-long dramas,
andddd parse out which earthy crunchy venture capitalists will take a chance on a scrappy Gen Z journalist who wants to make their ancestors proud!
I have gotten some guidance, though, recently! Through my fellowship program, I have met some wonderful newsroom leaders whose brains I hope to pick, to find a path forward.
I’m also going to finally stop self-sabotaging and moaning, and get serious about reaching out for help! asking for advice! applying for grants for my passion projects this year.
If you know of any environmental justice grants, some intersection-of-art-and-politics grants, or independent reporter grants, let the kid know!
I’d love to get the tools and capital required to really be that editor-in-chief — even if it’s just a taste this year, I will be eternally grateful.
I want to be that editor-in-chief — emphasis on “editor” — who spearheads a gorgeous, juicy editorial package with reported deep dives, personal essays, and photos, photos, photos exploring decolonial ecology, the sustainability of fashion, textile sourcing.
If I’m feeling ambitious, I’d love to really shake the table with a STEM-heavy foray into water, air and body pollution and the impact, along racial lines, of these environmental injustices.
Until the grants come: An intriguing temporary solution
I figured the expansion of Swimming Home — from deeply informal slice of the internet, to quirky little zine, to veritable enterprise and features outlet — would take at least one year.
But in three months, I have found an intriguing, probably temporary solution to my desire to consolidate as many climate justice resources as possible with little means (time or capital).
As someone on the spectrum/with ADHD who ended up falling into this ecological rabbit hole as the result of hyperfixation, I found myself devouring every publication I could that regularly covers environmental justice in a fresh and friendly way.
My go-to’s includes Atmos’ tranquil essays, the snippets of Advvaya’s e-learning courses that get shared on Instagram, minuscule slices of life from the @massive.archive Instagram, the “anthology of Anthropocene” that is For the Wild, another fabulous meditatation on the power of nature (through the lens of deconstructing capitalism) in a podcast called Upstream.
I also came across two publications, which each allow for the republishing of their work.
About Common Dreams:
A line from CD’s about page that feels very aligned with my own stance on journalism: “We are optimists. We believe real change is possible. But only if enough well-informed, well-intentioned—and just plain fed up and fired-up—people demand it. We believe that together we can attain our common dreams.” Ugh, I love a full circle.
I was also delighted to find this nugget listed on its website:
All of Common Dreams' articles—except those re-published from other sites— are published under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. This means you may republish and share our articles for free as long as you follow the terms of the license including not using our content for commercial purposes.
Some parameters to which republishers must adhere:
Give them credit, with the full name of the writer and the original URL.
Include all of their links.
Don’t edit the material; do omit their images or replace them with your own.
Don’t sell the stories.
Republish articles individually; don’t just copy everything.
Tag them in your social media posts.
I’ve been going back and forth over the past few weeks about whether to publish content from CD. One, I have 60-some original content drafts sitting in my Substack. And two, CD leans very obviously left. And I still can’t shake the J-school inclination to leave that sort of content behind.
That’s when I have a come-to-Jesus moment like, “Babes, if you’re gonna be on the climate beat, you probably won’t be hob-nobbing with too many conservatives.”
Plus, the publication is reader-supported, and the bigger donors don’t raise too many red flags for me. CD also states on its website that it has a 100% rating from Newsguard and even has a publicly shared fact-checking policy. That trustworthiness is there for me.
And now onto Grist:
If nothing else, I love Grist’s sickly chartreuse branding. It reminds me of cicadas and matcha — two of my favorite things. Anyway!
A couple of weeks had passed since I found out about Common Dreams, when, as I was trudging along in my rabbit hole, I stumbled across Grist.
“Since 1999, we have used the power of journalism to engage the public about the perils of the most existential threat we face,” Grist’s about page reads. “Now that three-quarters of Americans recognize that climate change is happening, we’ve shifted our focus to show that a just and sustainable future is within reach.
And what do you know? That publication also allows republishing, with a few parameters:
Byline credit in the form of “Author Name, Grist.”
Getty photos can be republished if you also attribute them, in the correct context, to Grist.
You don’t change anything significant — adjusting temporal language is fine.
Don’t sell the stories.
Copy the HTML.
Keep in contact/share on social media.
Grist’s funding also looks pretty solid to me and the publication is certainly backed by some household names.
For me, that prestige is there. Both publications do incisive and meaty work, which why I’m looking forward to republishing their articles on my Substack.
I know Swimming Home is in its infancy — its tadpole era, if you will — right now. But I’m excited to start sharing wonderful reporting through my Substack for a few reasons.
It meets my personal goal of not just highlighting my narrow perspective, but giving voice to the stories and experiences of others, through my storytelling expertise.
It meets my spiritual goal of sharing important information about climate change and subsequently, climate solutions, to interested audiences.
It meets my professional goal of giving me experience running my own publication. Even though I’m graciously borrowing the work of CD and Grist’s editors and reporters, I’m getting the feel of what it’s like to be a real editor-in-chief. I’m gaining experience with macro news judgment. I’m building the muscles needed to publish stories in a timely manner (to establish Swimming Home as a valuable waterway for information).
And valuable for the longevity of the vision, I’ll be able to demonstrate “proof of concept” to the potential interviewees, collaborators, reporters, co-editors, and investors who are meant to come with me on this journey home.
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