…and what you can expect to find here.
Photo Credit: Passaic River Coalition (http://www.passaicriver.org)
The idea for the Dead River Journal was hatched at a meeting to consider a new communications strategy for democrats, independents, and moderate republicans in Bernards Township. We intend to be serious, wide-ranging, funny, and engaging, and provide what a local newspaper or magazine should – articles worth reading.
PLEASE NOTE: The focus of the Dead River Journal has changed substantially since it first began. I’ve kept much of the original description here, but we never implemented some of these ideas, and are not likely to. Rather, it has become a vehicle for sharing original thoughts, articles, and essays for me and a few close colleagues in Bernards Township, NJ. (Jonathan Cloud, Nov. 8, 2013)
We’ll have a monthly newsletter, and a subscription list, and ask readers for $10 a year for a subscription. Frankly, if we each kicked in that much we could make this much more effective as a means of communication. Given the urgency of our times, this seems increasingly important. Issues of economics, of energy and the environment, of the role of local government, and of other matters of public interest, are impacting each and every one of us and call for concerted action.
We’re passionate and sometimes partisan advocates for improvements in both our local and our global communities. This just reflects today’s realities. If you’re opposed to change, think global warming is a liberal conspiracy, and that things are just fine in Bernards Township, then you probably won’t like what we’re doing here. But the fact is that we are doing it; we’re both making and recording a real change in the way people speak to each other, engage in dialogue, and agree to take action.
In short, the DRJ has a social mission. We welcome your comments, your involvement, your attention – and your financial and literary contributions. Why not take a moment to send in your check for $10 today, made out to BTDC-DRJ, at 22 Cedar Street, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920? Or send us an article or proposal to editor@deadriverjournal.org. And then keep reading, coming back here, and prodding us to do more.
In our view change is inevitable, and the issue is just which way it’s going. There used to be a school of thought called “laissez-faire economics,” which held that change would take care of itself if we left everything to the unfettered operation of the market; but we don’t hear about this philosophy much these days. Everyone’s in favor of government intervention – it just depends on whose side. So this is a good time to discuss what ought to be done, and by whom.
And how do we expect to get attention? Pretty much in the old-fashioned, word-of-mouth, kind of way – but also using all of the techniques available to us today, from direct-mail postcards to email lists to social media. We believe we can be an effective, and self-sustaining, medium for progressive voices to get their message across in the face of the status quo. If you think so too, please join us in this effort.
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