Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished here at Eclectablog. What started as the random, eclectic musings of a wannabe writer has turned into something so much more. People tell me on a regular basis that Eclectablog is one of their “must visit” sites every day so that they can stay abreast of what’s happening in Michigan and for insightful commentary on national issues.
Why? Because we offer something a bit different than any other site. Here are three things that set us apart:
1. We break news stories that other sites and news outlets pick up later
Here are some of the stories that you read about first on Eclectablog this past year:
- BREAKING: Half of Michigan State Board of Education comes out against expansion of the EAA
- BREAKING: The NERD Fund is back – Snyder administration faces charges of nepotism and corruption
- BREAKING: Dick DeVos threatening Republicans who don’t support EAA expansion with massive financial support of primary opponents
- BREAKING: Mackinac Center using public school email system to encourage teachers to leave their union
- BREAKING: Education Achievement Authority sending out deceptive letters to poach students from other districts
- BREAKING: Crowd-funded SuperPAC to spend $1.5 million to help Paul Clements unseat Fred Upton
- BREAKING: More cronyism in the Snyder administration: Bill Schuette has given his former law firm nearly $2 million in state business
2. Interviews
This past year we’ve interviewed people like Lizz Winstead, LGBT/marriage equality pioneers Jayne Rowse & April DeBoer, Josh Silver of Represent.Us, Congressional candidates like Pam Byrnes , Dan Kildee, Bobby McKenzie, and Eric Schertzing, and a host of others.
Perhaps the most important work we’ve done at Eclectablog this year, however, were the many interviews I conducted with former and current teachers and administrators from the Education Achievement Authority (EAA). Those interviews played a huge role in ensuring that the EAA is not expanded in Michigan and that the bright light of public scrutiny was shined on the travesty that’s happening in that failed experiment on Detroit children.
Look for more interviews between now and Election Day with Debbie Dingell, Paul Clements, MDP Chair Lon Johnson, and others.
3. PHOTOS, PHOTOS, PHOTOS!
One of the things you see a LOT of on Eclectablog is this statement:
“Photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog”
That’s because we have the privilege of having one of the most talented political photographers in the country providing us with outstanding professional photos. And not just that. Anne does graphics for us and memes as well. Here are three of my favorites:
And who could ever forget Anne’s photoessay of the day when nearly 300 same sex couples got married in Michigan? Or her touching follow-up story of Dexter wives Diane VanDorn and Connie Greer who were married that day?
If you’d like to join those who find what we do here at Eclectablog worthy of supporting financially, there are three ways to help.
First, you can make your donation using the PayPal form below. You can change the amount if you wish. The default is $50 which is basically $1 per week, a pretty good value.
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Or you can wait until the TinyPass pop-up pops up (every tenth click on the site) and donate that way. If you do that, the popups will go away as long as you have cookies enabled. Like with the Paypal form, the default amounts for annual or monthly donations can be adjusted to whatever you wish them to be. They are currently set to be around $1 per week. Again, it’s a great value.
Finally, if you would prefer to send a check, send me an email and I’ll give you the address. This is the most beneficial way for us because it avoids the Paypal and Tinypass fees that are taken from contributions to the site.
If you cannot afford to support us financially, you can still help. Please share our content on your Facebook page or other social media like Twitter, Reddit, etc. Put a “Like” on our Facebook page and click the “Invite friends” button and encourage your friends to like us, too.
Thanks so much for your support,
Chris, Anne, Amy, LOLGOP, Tony, Emma, and Charles
