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Since being discovered at age 24 in front of a Texas campfire in 1986, singer-songwriter and activist Michelle Shocked has voiced her political opinions through a variety of musical styles, including bluegrass, swing, and rock. In Kind Hearted Woman (Private Music, 1996), Shocked’s first album in four years, she returns to her folk roots with a set of mellow storysongs about life in rural America.

Mother Jones asked Shocked what she’s been reading and listening to lately. Here’s what she had to say about Odelay (Geffen Records, 1996), the latest release from underground folk/hip-hop boy-man Beck.

“I thought the art direction on the cover was too art-directed. The Dust Brothers production was too hip by half, and I was admittedly a little envious of how the whole thing was pulled off with that Geffen flair, but when you take it all down to the sound, the CD is a deep, sonic, poetic, cool collage.”

Also recommended by Shocked:

The Holy Bible. “I’m not committed to a scholarly approach,” says Shocked. “But I’ll tell you it works pretty good in an I Ching sort of fashion. Flip it open to any page and carry a thought for the day, which will become more lucid as the day’s events unfold.”

The horrors of World War II descend on the peaceful Greek island of Cephalonia in Louis de Berniéres’ historical novel Corelli’s Mandolin (New York: Vintage Books, 1994). Mixing satire and lyricism, the book manages to capture the worst and best of human capacity in one breath. “It’s just a really amazing way to put yourself in that place and time,” says Shocked. “It makes you laugh, and on the very next page you’ll sob.”

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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