June 28, 2017

Lunchtime Photo

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What are Orange County’s most famous attractions? At a guess, I’d rank them something like this:

  1. Disneyland
  2. Knott’s Berry Farm
  3. Christ Cathedral (aka the Crystal Cathedral)
  4. Mission San Juan Capistrano
  5. Huntington Beach pier
  6. Richard Nixon library
  7. Balboa Island
  8. Little Saigon
  9. South Coast Plaza, a famous shopping mecca
  10. Other
  11. stuff
  12. The Great Park balloon

I don’t have pictures of any of the other things, but I do have a picture of the balloon. If you’re ever in Orange County, come on out and take a ride. It’s a tethered balloon that goes up 400 feet, that being the length of its steel cable, and the view at the top is…OK, I guess. Be sure to check the weather first, since they halt balloon “flights” at the merest hint of wind. Tickets are ten bucks.

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A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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