December 31, 2019

Lunchtime Photos: The Best of 2019

I narrowed this down to 16 and then got lazy. I suppose I could get it further down to a top ten, but why bother? It’s not like I pay by the pixel, after all. Besides, I figure each of you can pretty easily narrow it down yourself. In no particular order, here they are:

Barbed-wire fence

March 29, 2019 — Black Star Canyon, Orange County, California

Bogotá at night

August 6, 2019 — Monserrate, Bogotá, Colombia

Clouded sulpher butterfly in flight

May 8, 2019 — Near Milepost 170, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Sea lion and kids at the Long Beach Aquarium

October 5, 2019 — Long Beach Aquarium, Long Beach, California

Chimney Rock overview on the Blue Ridge Parkway

May 7, 2019 — Chimney Rock Mountain overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virgina

Pink trumpet tree

April 3, 2019 — Irvine, California

Mother and daughter at the Plaza Bolívar

August 4, 2019 — Plaza Bolívar, Bogotá, Colombia

Saddleback Mountain behind the clouds

March 24, 2019 — Irvine, California

Two horses near Blowing Rock

May 9, 2019 — Near Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

The Second Home exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

June 30, 2019 — Los Angeles, California

Sunset at Carroll Gap

May 8, 2019 — Carroll Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

School bells in Laurel Canyon

April 5, 2019 — Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, Orange County, California

Silverado Creek

March 24, 2019 — Santiago Canyon, Orange County, California

Haircut in La Candelaria

August 6, 2019 — La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia

Water off a duck

April 5, 2019 — Irvine, California

Waterfall at Yankee Horse Ridge

May 7, 2019 — Yankee Horse Ridge, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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