Give Us 6 Words, and We Just Might Give You 100 Bucks

By Don Hazen, AlterNet. Posted April 10, 2009.

Dear AlterNet Reader,

Ask an AlterNet reader for a little creativity, and it's amazing what you get. Using only six words, over a thousand readers have told us what AlterNet means to them:

• Nancy from Calif.: Awakening of all that needs shaking!
• Betty Ann from Mich: With AlterNet I have gained power.
• Marian from Ga.: So I know I'm not crazy.
• Jack from Mich: It's the rest of the story!
• Ann from Calif.: AlterNet puts tooth in the truth!
• Topasa from Texas: I am glad we met, AlterNet!
• Heather from Calif.: AlterNet makes sense out of madness.

Now, we want to hear from the rest of you as we enter the final stretch of our spring fundraising campaign and six-word challenge. If you love what we do at AlterNet and don't need persuading, please click here to make your 2009 contribution and enter the six-word challenge right now.

The Six-Word Challenge

We hope you're also up for some competition. Let us know what AlterNet means to you in six words, and you could win 100 bucks. We know that tens of thousands of you rely on us every day to publish truth, exposés and progressive analysis of the political moment. Will you support our work and enter the contest?

Time is running out. We need to raise $40,000 by April 13 to keep on providing you with the stimulating stories, hard-nosed investigations, provocative opinion and the information you can use to deal with the financial meltdown. The amount we need to raise is 20 percent less than last year, because we've already cut our budget by that amount. And we know you have less to spend as well. But we hope you are still on board with us. Together we will fight for progressive solutions to the problems at hand.

Thanks for all you do,

Don Hazen,
Executive Editor

P.S. Why a six-word contest? Here's a little story:

A few years back, Larry Smith of the storytelling site SmithMag.net, had an idea to ask people to write their life story in six words. Results poured in, from people famous and obscure. They were funny, angry, nostalgic, witty, poignant and heart-wrenching. And people loved them.

So Larry teamed up with Rachel Fershleiser and wove the best six words into the wildly popular book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.

The insider history is that Larry was managing editor of AlterNet some years back, and he is currently on our board of directors. We have Larry's enthusiastic endorsement for the AlterNet six-word challenge, and he will be picking the winners!

P.P.S. We depend on reader support to do what we do here at AlterNet. So please help us out, if you are able. However, if you're truly strapped for cash and can't send financial support right now, please still send us your creative support. Click here to enter the contest without donating.

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Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.

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