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Hey Folks,

As you know, I like to keep it real. I'm pretty open about what I'm doing, thinking, and feeling—whether I'm in a room with close friends and family or reporting to relative strangers on the Internet via livestream.

Even so, there are some things I haven't been ready to talk about, to anyone.

As someone who regularly reports on things others don't and who is in-field where corporate media can't be  bothered to cover, I've had a heck of a lot of ups and downs and moments that have changed me forever. As much as I try to separate 'journalist Jordan' from Jordan the person, it's just not possible sometimes.

My latest Corporate Con Job chapter reflects that:

--- https://www.patreon.com/JordanChariton

I've been to Standing Rock 7 times to report for The Young Turks, my former employer. It changed my life forever. Going to Standing Rock and reporting on the #NoDAPL efforts made me a better journalist and person.

In many ways, I wasn't aware of the extent of that evolution until more recently, when I was writing Chapter 6 of my book, Corporate Con Job in December, that I just released.

In this chapter, I ended up talking a lot more than I ever have about what I personally went through and saw there—how I transformed. How it humbled me to be around and speak to people like Happy American Horse, LaDonna, Vanessa, Ignu, and Julie (you'll meet them in this chapter).

Even those who are closest to me have said they were surprised (in a good way!) by this chapter because I opened up even more than usual and it really touched them.

This chapter is not about me though and my book never has been. And the problems of Standing Rock haven't gone away even though it's fallen away from the little media coverage it had. I'm itching to get back there—to start reporting from there again.

As if on cue, I was getting ready to release this chapter, Chapter 6, Calm Before the Standing Rock Storm, when I saw this headline:


Mandated Study of Dakota Access Line to Miss Completion Goal


Not surprising.

But the real heart-wrenching quote came later in the article:

and ETP attorney William Scherman said the tribes are "inhabiting an alternate universe" with their views on how the work should be completed.

I've seen a lot in my time working in corporate and independent media. I've seen some shocking quotes and people and been disgusted by many things. This is up there with the very worst. Stomach churning.

This absurd statement hasn't gotten anywhere near the attention it should have gotten, but I did a video on it during my livestream yesterday (watch it if you haven't).

The fact is that Native Americans like Happy American Horse are not "inhabiting an alternate universe"–WE have been inhabiting their universe–their land—and destroying life forces like their water, in perpetuity.

Here's an excerpt from this chapter on the very real-reality of Standing Rock:

Happy American Horse: "We gotta physically chain ourselves to these machines, which in itself is really dangerous."

I can't put everything I want to say and every thought I have had and currently have in this email—it's already getting too long. But I've bared my soul in Corproate Con Job Chapter 6, Calm Before the Standing Rock Storm, and I really hope you'll read it.

This chapter is about people like Happy, how green I sometimes felt as a journalist in Standing Rock dealing with life-changing revelations and realities, and what the #NoDAPL movement was and is about. This Standing Rock chapter (there's another coming—Chapter 7!) is about the beautiful parts of that experience. There is beauty to be found amidst the horror.

I encourage you to become a Patron and download this chapter today. You can support me and read it for as little as $1 or $2 per chapter, though there are higher levels available with various rewards (talking to me on the phone, a t-shirt, shoutouts, etc.).

Your support is, frankly, very much needed. I'm on my own now, building a business with my business partner that will be shaped from whatever support I receive now.

I want, and need, to get back out in the field. To cover stories like Standing Rock and #NoDAPL. To get back to Standing Rock. To go where other journalists won't go.

Please become a Patron today, at whatever level you can comfortably afford, and read Chapter 6.

As always, I can't wait for your feedback after you read it.

I appreciate you more than you know and couldn't do this without you. Sharing my Patreon link also helps (I have a reporting Patreon as well now). Getting the word out means a lot!

---Read all book chapters here: https://www.patreon.com/JordanChariton

Thank you,

—Jordan


 
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