Two weeks ago, we wrote to ask for your help. Our paid subscriptions had taken a nosedive as we lost quite a few subscribers in the “dreaded churn.”
This is when subscriptions come up for renewal. And because we launched in September, our annual subscription renewals come due that month. And that’s when the precipitous plunge began.
Most subscribers don’t realize they’ve been caught in the dreaded churn. Credit cards expire, people forget to renew, or they have it on their to-do list, but that list just keeps getting longer.
Believe me, we’ve been there!
Thank you to the wonderful folks who stepped up and became paid supporters of The Border Chronicle—some of you even became founding members!
You helped us “break the dive,” which is the aviation term for pulling out of a nosedive. (We’re going to keep this aviation vibe going.) We are now at 1,010 paid subscribers and a heck of a lot closer to making our ultimate goal of 2,000 paid subscribers, which would mean that The Border Chronicle’s two founders, Todd and Melissa, could make a living wage for their work, and pay their editors Steev Hise and Pablo Morales. (Wouldn’t that be nice!)
We also want to thank everyone who donated via PayPal to support our work. ¡Mil gracias!
In the last two weeks, we’ve received some wonderful, encouraging messages from readers and listeners who became paid subscribers or renewed their paid subscriptions. Here’s a sampling:
“The discourse around this issue during the election season is so bad. It seems the Dems have decided to kowtow to the right and dehumanize migrants because they think it makes good politics. Thank you for continuing to make sense in spite of all the horrible rhetoric.”
“Todd and Melissa, you’re wonderful! I’m happy to support your work. Thank you for your commitment to truth. I feel fortunate to have access to your on-the-ground reporting.”
“On the ground, grassroots reporting is what you do so well. There is so much misinformation about the border and immigration in these current political times. I value and trust the reporting Border Chronicle does. Thank you.”
Thank you for your trust in us and for reading and listening to The Border Chronicle. We wouldn’t exist without you!
In these final, nail-biting days before the most consequential presidential election in our lifetime, we are working to counter false, dehumanizing narratives about the border, through on-the-ground reporting and reporting with context and analysis from our decades of experience as journalists in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
If you are still on the fence about becoming a paid subscriber, we hope you will support our work. Everything we do at The Border Chronicle is funded by you, our subscribers. A subscription is just $6 a month or $60 a year. Or even better, become a founding member of The Border Chronicle for $150. You’ll get a cool Border Chronicle tote bag with our scorpion logo, and two additional paid annual subscriptions for friends and family.
If your subscription has lapsed, you can upgrade from a free to paid subscription or make other changes to your subscription here.
We also offer group subscriptions for a 20 percent discount per person. If you’d like to arrange a group subscription for your classroom or organization, please click here.
And before we sign off, some follow-up notes for stories previously covered at The Border Chronicle.
Last month, we published a Q&A about a controversial plan by the U.S. Air Force to expand its combat-training areas in southern Arizona and New Mexico. This would mean thousands of additional maneuvers, including lowering the ceiling of supersonic flight training to just 5,000 feet. And using more flares, which have caused fires in the past and at least one severe burn injury to a civilian. The Air Force has extended its public comment deadline to November 12. So, if you haven’t registered your concerns about the Air Force’s proposal, now’s the time. You can do that here.
In 2022, we covered former Arizona governor Doug Ducey’s junkyard border wall in Cochise County. Thanks to a grassroots effort, the shipping container monstrosity was finally removed. If you’d like to turn one of those containers from Ducey’s boondoggle into something more positive and useful, containers are still available. A reader sent us this link to an Arizona state auction site. Starting bid is $2,000, folks!
And finally, we’ve written extensively about Border Patrol agents trashing asylum seekers’ belongings, including legal documents and religious items. In August, the Border Patrol finally issued a directive that agents must safeguard and return essential items, including medicines, religious items, and legal documents. Our friend John Washington at the outlet AZ Luminaria has an article on the Border Patrol’s directive here, in case you missed it.
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