A very nice thing that just happened

On kindness and generosity.

I try not to make too many asks of you in this newsletter. Read. Engage. Share. And, yes, pay to subscribe.

The reality is that this is both a passion project and a business venture for me.

I write, yes, because I love to write and think about politics. Having a forum to do that — and to see how people respond to it — is tremendously gratifying.

But I also am doing this as my main gig these days (and hopefully in the future!). Which means I need people to invest in me to keep this going. Literally.

Which is sort of a hard thing. I spent the five previous years at CNN, which doesn’t charge for content. And, before that, I was at the Washington Post which, at the time, didn’t charge for content.

So, this is a big change for me. I am now purposely, at times, limiting who can see my content. I am doing so for what I believe to be defensible reasons (I need to make a living!) but nonetheless it’s tough — mostly because I know there are people who want to pay for my journalism but simply can’t.

Which is why what happened yesterday is so nice. A paid subscriber named Patric Martin emailed me and let me know he wanted to donate 10 (yes, TEN!) paid subscriptions to “So What.” I asked him why. Here’s what he said:

After getting Chris’s excellent work for free on CNN, subscribing to ‘So What’ was a no brainer. Donating a subscription or two gave me the opportunity to make up for those free years, and help out some who Chris feels would appreciate getting one.

Pretty great, right?

First off, a HUGE thank you to Patric for his generosity and his support of this community. It means a ton. It’s the kind of selfless act that makes this group — and what we are building — special.

Second, if anyone would like to follow his lead — in the Christmas spirit and all that! — you can donate subscriptions easily by clicking here:

Third, I have TEN paid subscriptions to give away. I thought about the best way to do that and came up with this: Send me an email — at cillizzac@gmail.com — with a sentence or two on why you should be one of the ten to get one of the subscriptions Patric donated. I’ll let you know if you get it!

Fourth, let me, again, note that I need your help to make this newsletter work. If you have been on the fence about becoming a paid subscriber, I hope today is the day you get off that fence. You can do it here: