When we were up at Big Bear, I figured I might as well try some night sky shooting. So off I went, driving the entire time with a nearly full moon staring straight at me. But I was oblivious. Only after I had finally gotten to my shooting spot did it suddenly occur to me that a nearly full moon meant that I wasn’t going to do any night sky shooting.

I tried a bit anyway, but then gave up and turned my attention to taking pictures that benefit from a full moon. It turned out that the spot I had chosen was apparently some kind of local trysting and/or beer drinking location, because there was a beat-up old rattan couch sitting there surrounded by bits of trash. So I took a series of pictures of that, lighting it with my flashlight to get a sort of creepy Halloweenish look.

Stay safe tonight, and keep all the cats inside.

October 20, 2018 — San Bernardino National Forest, California

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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