Announcing: Grover Reads the News

The news is hard. We can do this together.

The other day I was standing in my friend’s kitchen hearing a refrain that’s grown louder over the last years: kind, committed, activist-oriented people who care about the world can’t bear to read or hear the news anymore as a regular practice. One of my friends shared that she checks in with her girlfriend every week or so to see if she wants to hear a snippet of important news — in a gentle, informed consent kind of way.

We joked that I, a person who still reads the news, should send a warm voicemail to our friends every couple of days. “Hey. Good morning. I hope you’re well. I hope your cat’s well. I hope your coffee is just the right temperature. I have a news summary to share if you’d like to hear it. It’s about the election. Would you like to hear it?” We were joking and then we weren’t. Can we face the news together?

What we’re living through — as a nation and a world — is intense. And so many of us have survived and endured quite a lot of change, grief, and loss over the last five years. We are inundated with information and often overwhelmed. I believe we absolutely need to rest, take care of ourselves and focus on the people and commitments that are absolutely top priority for us. And I also believe that to live in a world with shared decision making and to be resilient personally, locally, and globally, we need to take in some of the context we are living through as it happens.

So, for the next couple of months I’m making an offering: Grover Reads the News. It’ll take the format of a short-form audio offering, a twice-a-week news summary that gives people some agency in what they hear, delivered simply.

Each Substack post will include a full recording of the news summary as well as hyperlinked pieces of the digest. Would you like to only hear an update on the US elections? Click here. An update on global military conflicts? Click here. Fun Facts? Click here.

The offering will live on this Substack and coming soon via a text-message platform. When you subscribe I’ll post each audio offering via Substack and it will land in your inbox. I’ll also post a full recording to the Podcast section of the Substack.

SUBSCRIBE HERE:

Questions you may have:

What's in a news summary?

• The News Summary will arrive in the form of a clickable audio file that will open in a browser.

• The News Summary will usually run 3-4 minutes. 

• I will generally provide updates in these four topic areas:

  • US ELECTIONS: An update on US electoral news (until after the January inauguration).

  • GLOBAL MILITARY CONFLICTS: An update on global military conflicts such as in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Israel, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, and around the globe as they emerge. 

  • US DOMESTIC NEWS: Non-electoral news such as breaking news of gun violence, Supreme Court Hearings and decisions, state and federal policy news, far right and white/christian nationalist activity, natural disasters, and organized resistance to oppression and inequality such as movements for racial justice, Indigenous sovereignty, or union organizing. 

  • FUN FACTS: News about animals, nature, something that got fixed, or some amazing phenomenon such as the Northern Lights that could be seen farther south than usual. 

• Note that these updates are not exhaustive. They are intended for people who are moving from almost no news updates to receiving twice-weekly updates on a few topics. They will not contain every important or breaking news topic, and are unlikely to include an update on the same topic twice in a week, excepting the US Election news update. 

• I will include footnotes or source lists of quoted news articles at the bottom of the Substack.

How does Grover decide what's in an update?

• I will include what I think is important for a broad audience to know. 

• I will provide a summary of one news topic per topic area. 

• I will include what seems important for a broad audience to know, sticking to the reported details as much as possible. I may shift the framing but will generally not add additional context to reported stories.

• I will sometimes read a quote from a reported story and attribute it to the news site and main journalist. I will not include graphic details of people being harmed in these news updates, but will report on people being killed and assaulted, including if the people killed were children or another vulnerable subpopulation and naming the entities responsible for the killing, if they are known.

What Kind of News Does Grover Get their Information From?

• I read from a range of news sources including: The Associated Press, Politico, The Washington Post, Planetizen, Shelterforce, Democracy Now, 19th News, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, NPR, LA Times, CalMatters, TransLash Media, Them, USA Today, CNN, Rutgers, and the Guardian. 

• I read widely and critically and I often receive news through Google Alerts, which are pseudo-agnostic as to the news site reporting on any given topic. Even when I am critical of the owner of a news site or skeptical about the decisions of an editorial board, I will still read news from a wide range of news sites. Their inclusion of a reported story from a site does not mean they endorse any or all of an organization's decisions, reporting, or trends.

Who is Grover and why should I care about their updates?

(You, dear reader of You’ve Got Mail, already know who I am, but in case you share with friends, I’m leaving it in).

• I’m a person who reads the news. Some other things that might help you understand how I understand the news and why I care to share it with you:

  • Many of my former jobs required me to read the news every day and summarize it for other people! I’m a former Deputy Director of Communications at a national racial justice organization, Communications Manager at an Oakland, CA affordable housing advocacy organization, and now I train advocates and other leaders who are working together to solve homelessness in narrative and communications. I’ve also got a PhD in communications ←→ homelessness.

  • I’m queer, a transmasculine Butch, and a parent of school aged kids. I’m a white person who’s been part of racial justice formations for two+ decades. I’m from the rural midwest and live in place where both my state reps are lesbians. 🙌🎉

  • I care about people. I want us to survive and thrive together.

If you want to sign up, click here! If you or someone you know needs this but can’t pay the $5 a month, LMK by direct messaging me with your email.