Our sustainability consultant, Report For America, has spoken: The Southlander basically needs to touch some grass.
I’m paraphrasing, but that’s essentially what their advice to us came down to in a recent meeting. So we did; we got out from behind the screens we spend too much time in and into the communities we cover. On August 23rd, fellow Southlander Abraham Márquez and I along with independent journalist Cerise Castle, joined a discussion about maintaining integrity in our craft and how we each found our unique way to journalism. We were hosted by Memories of El Monte/People’s Cafe LA in El Monte. Our discussion was facilitated by Di Barbadillo of the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles and host of the Know Your Rights podcast.
We shared space with community members, some of whom we know came from as far as Riverside, while Arón Montenegro (People’s Cafe LA) handed out plant-based Reuben sandwiches in honor of slain journalist Ruben Salazar. Salazar was killed by the LA County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) while on a break from covering the Chicano Moratorium on August 29, 1970.
Continuing our outreach this month, we’ll be heading to the LA Public Library in Silver Lake on Saturday the 26th. We are excited to lead a conversation at noon, in partnership with their Teen Council program on independent media.
We’re putting together other in-person outreach efforts, and because you’re on our list, you’ll hear about them first. If there are other opportunities for us to get out into the community near you, please reach out to us at hello@thesouthlander.com and let us know! We’ll do our best to add it to our schedule.
Lastly, and this is more of just an experiment: Do me a favor and reply directly to this email, tell us how you’re staying cool in this heat. The best replies have photos attached.
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