US Social Forum Wiki - person's contributions [en]

October 2, 2009

2009-10-01T10:38:30Z

76.208.15.79: Created page with 'U.S. Social Forum Writers Network October 2, 2009 The following is a bi-weekly communication to members of the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network who have committed themselves to…'

U.S. Social Forum Writers Network
October 2, 2009

The following is a bi-weekly communication to members of the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network who have committed themselves to the work of helping spread the news about the USSF, which will be held in Detroit June 22-26, 2010. Writers should try to submit at least one piece of work per month to a local or national newspaper, community or professional newsletter, internet blog, or other media source. Below are suggestions of possible “hooks” for stories that can reach diverse audiences we seek to mobilize for the USSF and the movements participating in it. Please feel free to use these ideas to help get the USSF message out and to support the social movements behind the U.S. and World Social Forum process.

If you have ideas for future USSF writers communications or a link to a piece you’ve published, please send them to writers@ussf2010.org .

Another world is possible, and we need you to help make it happen!

Help Build the USSF Writer’s Network
Please distribute the call for participation to other organizations and individuals: http://wiki.ussf2010.org/wiki/Call_for_Participation

Suggested Story “Hooks” October 2, 2009

 Ralph Nader calls for Citizens to Convene—And the USSF is ready!
In a September 28 op-ed, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader called for a national convention of citizens to respond to the failure of major political parties and elected officials to respond to the real needs and crises Americans now face (http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/28-10). The essay makes a great case for why the U.S. Social Forum is needed. But Nader fails to mention that USSF organizers are already working to create a space for groups to convene and discuss both the problems we face as well as our ideas about how to work together to solve them.
USSF writers might use Nader’s arguments to help point people’s attention to the USSF as a space for bringing groups together to take action on the major crises our country and world face.

 October 24 is “Take Back your Time Day” and Global Day of Action on Human Rights and Climate Change: CHILL OUT
“Take back your time” is an organization working to combat our consumerist culture and the pressures of overwork in our society. They work “to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.”
TBYT has determined that October 24, 2009 is the day when, if we had the same paid vacation policies of much of Europe, we could stop working for the rest of the year to take time to rest, recreate, and enjoy time with family and friends. The group is working for the realization in the U.S. of Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitations on working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”
This year, activists working to combat “time poverty” are joining forces with environmental groups at 350.org to put pressure on our leaders to “Chill Out,” unplug, reduce our reliance on fossil fuel energy, and slow down our demands for growth and unnecessary consumption. See: http://www.timeday.org/ and www.350.org
These are values motivating many in the USSF and the larger World Social Forums, who argue that “another world is possible,” where people matter more than money. Take back your time day is a great opportunity for groups to organize events or hold discussion groups on these themes. USSF writers should consider writing pieces to encourage people to think about the messages TBYT and its environmental partners are raising.

 Important events on the horizon that might serve as “hooks” to talk about the USSF and the movements participating in it.

o December 7-18—United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen—World leaders debate how to respond to climate change. Many scientists and politicians see this conference as crucial to curbing the most disastrous effects of global warming. Activists are threatening to disrupt the convention if leaders don’t step up their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. For information see: www.campaigncc.org
o December 10—International Human Rights Day

TIPS FOR WRITERS:
“How to Pitch a Story” http://www.timeday.org/book-appendix-c.asp

SEND YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND PUBLICATIONS TO: writers@ussf2010.org

Submitted by: Jackie Smith, Sociologists without Borders and member of the USSF Communications Working Group

USSF Updates

2009-10-01T10:36:02Z

76.208.15.79:

'''USSF Writers Network Memos'''

Below are links to the regular memos distributed to the USSF writers network. They are meant to remind writers to continue working to spread the word of the USSF to various media sources, and they give some suggestions of ideas for timely articles and essays. Writers are welcome to draw from these materials in their own work. Also, please send links to any pieces you have published to ussfwriters@gmail.com.

[[Early September-Labor Day 2009]]

[[September 18, 2009]]

[[October 2, 2009]]

September 18, 2009

2009-09-18T10:58:00Z

76.208.15.79: Created page with ''''U.S. Social Forum Writers Network September 18, 2009 ''' The following is a bi-weekly communication to members of the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network who have committed the…'

'''U.S. Social Forum Writers Network
September 18, 2009
'''

The following is a bi-weekly communication to members of the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network who have committed themselves to the work of helping spread the news about the USSF, which will be held in Detroit June 22-26, 2010. Writers agree to submit at least one piece of work per month to a local or national newspaper, community or professional newsletter, internet blog, or other media source.

Below are suggestions of possible “hooks” for stories that can reach diverse audiences we seek to mobilize for the USSF and the movements participating in it. Please feel free to use these ideas to help get the USSF message out and to support the social movements behind the U.S. and World Social Forum process.

If you have ideas for future USSF writers communications, please send them to ussfwriters@gmail.com .

'''HELP BUILD THE WRITER’s NETWORK''': Please distribute the call for participation to other organizations and individuals: http://wiki.ussf2010.org/wiki/Call_for_Participation

Thanks!
Jackie Smith, Sociologists without Borders and member of the USSF Communications Working Group

''
'''USSF Organizers Continue to Build Momentum for June Forum'''''

The organizational machinery of the second U.S. Social Forum seems to be running like a well-oiled machine compared with the ground-breaking (and back-breaking) work done by those organizers who helped bring the World Social Forum process to the United States in 2007. This is not to say that the work has been easy. Organizers are trying to create new structures to facilitate communication and cooperation across groups that are not used to speaking to each other—much less working side-by-side.

Members of the USSF National Planning Committee are spread across movements ranging from immigrant rights to anti-racism to feminism, labor, environment and youth justice. They hail from all parts of the country, and one thing they share is that most come from and work with people who are most adversely affected by the global economic system. So they don’t have lots of rich friends or extra cash on hand to host such as large event. And most of the organizers are adding USSF work to their already insane work schedules. But they do have passion and commitment, as well as strategic smarts that lend credence to Detroit Local Organizing Committee organizer Maureen Taylor’s aspiration to bring 30,000 activists to her city this coming June.

Unlike the first USSF, organizers now have at least a portion of the budget for the Detroit Forum in the bank, and they are working to hire a handful of organizers to take on the job done last time around by just one paid staff person, Alice Lovelace. The working group structure has built upon the experiences of the Atlanta USSF, and the technology team has vastly improved the group’s ability to use the internet to assist with organizing conference calls and working group coordination.

New groups are also applying to join the National Planning Committee, and organizers have been working to set up structures that are most effective at getting the work done while also ensuring that all participants—particularly those most marginalized and adversely affected by current economic and political structures—have a voice.

So the train is slowly moving out of the station towards the second U.S. Social Forum, and what is needed now is for more engines to jump in and pull us forward against the formidable resistance to social change in this country. More details on the who, what, when, and most importantly, the “how-to-get-involved” are at http://www.ussf2010.org.

''
'''Uncivil Health Care “debate” in U.S. signals need for larger changes in public discourse and culture. This is what the Social Forum is all about
'''''

Former president Jimmy Carter criticized the recent vitriol and public spectacles at town hall meetings on health care reform and the outburst by South Carolina Senator Joe Wilson during President Obama’s address to the Congress as racist. Carter said statements such as calling Obama a "Nazi" are not just "casual outcomes of a sincere debate" over the president's health care proposals. He said it is "deeper than that."
Clearly the latest round of “debate” on health care has generated more heat than light, and given the urgent needs of so many Americans, it’s time for far more serious reflections on the real options for improving access to basic health care. After all, without health care, people can’t contribute to the economy or to the larger life of the community. That is why world leaders made access to health care a basic human right, expressed in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.udhr.org/UDHR/default.htm).
Community leaders and organizers from around the United States have been working hard to create a space where people around the country can come together for dialogue, debate, mutual learning, and to build movements for a more just society. What is planned is the country’s largest “town hall meeting,” where an anticipated 20-30,000 people are expected to come engage in honest and open dialogue over the major conflicts and crises of our time. Participants, not elected officials, set the agenda and terms of debate. This means that options—such as the single-payer model or even the limited “public option” put forward by the Obama administration--that are resisted by corporate elite aren’t rejected out of hand, as they tend to be in Washington. The aim is to build alliances and common understandings that are needed to generate popular pressure for change. As the social forum’s slogan attests: “Another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary.”
If we are to see real reform of our health care system, more advocates of social justice need to get involved. The USSF offers a possibility for mobilizing a broad alliance for reforms that will address the urgent health care crisis in this country.

''
'''G-20 Meeting on Global Financial Crisis Starts September 24 in Pittsburgh —Opposition to “Cult of Market” moves from Movement to Elite Circles
'''''

As the leaders of the world’s richest countries prepare to gather in Pittsburgh to plan a response to global financial crisis, civil society groups are amassing their own forces and ideas. But now some of those in power are singing tunes that sound more like those being sung behind the barricades that have insulated leaders from the crowds of protesters that have shadowed global financial meetings over recent years. French President Sarkozy is taking on the “cult of the market,” and proposing that leaders devise new measures of economic health. “[T]he definition would be expanded beyond traditional gross domestic product (GDP) models to include measures of well-being and what Sarkozy describes as "the politics of civilization." These include environmental sustainability, the quality of public services and the amount of time citizens of a country have to meet family responsibilities.…” Such arguments have long been made by social movements opposing neoliberal economic globalization, including many of the groups preparing to gather in Detroit this June….

[For more on Sarkozy position, see article in The Nation: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/15-11]

More G20 Info on Early September USSF Writers Memo: http://wiki.ussf2010.org/wiki/Early_September-Labor_Day_2009

''
'''Important events on the horizon that might serve as “hooks” to talk about the USSF and the movements participating in it.'''''

o September 15 marked the opening of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly. The organization was formed to “end the scourge of war.” Obviously some new ideas are needed if it is to succeed in its job.

o September 24-25 G20 leaders meet in Pittsburgh to address economic crisis (see above). They’ll be met by global social justice activists.

o September 24—Special summit session of the UN Security Council to address nuclear non-proliferation questions. Will nuclear states begin to take steps towards disarmament that are essential to the larger effort to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons?

o December 7-18—United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen—World leaders debate how to respond to climate change. Many scientists and politicians see this conference as crucial to curbing the most disastrous effects of global warming. Activists are threatening to disrupt the convention if leaders don’t step up their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.

SEND YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE UPDATES TO: ussfwriters@gmail.com

USSF Updates

2009-09-18T10:49:40Z

76.208.15.79:

Call for Participation

2009-09-17T11:33:42Z

76.208.15.79:

'''Support Movement Building in the United States
'''Join the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network
''''''

Detroit, seen by many as ground zero for the current economic crisis, will host the 2nd United States Social Forum. As many as 20,000 are expected to participate in the Forum, which runs from June 22nd through June 26, 2010.

Organizers hail the Social Forum process as a powerful vehicle for change and as the next stage in community organizing, community governance and democracy. But the success of the forum depends upon the work of many, and we invite you to join this historic movement to bring people’s needs back onto national and global political and economic agendas.

The USSF writers network will produce op-eds; articles for mainstream, community, and alternative media; and other creative expressions to help raise public awareness about the USSF and the issues it addresses. We aim to reach the many diverse groups that make up our country.

For information and to join the writers network, go to: [ http://www.ussf2010.org]
(Click “Get Involved,” then “Writers Workshop”)

''"Let’s make a network of communication among all our struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of alternative communication against neoliberalism… (and) for humanity. This intercontinental network of alternative communication will weave the channels so that words may travel all the roads that resist… (It) will be the medium by which distinct resistances communicate with one another. This intercontinental network of alternative communication is not an organizing structure, nor has a central head or decision maker, nor does it have a central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who speak and listen."'' --Subcomandante Marcos

''
'''Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary
'''''

Call for Participation

2009-09-17T11:32:28Z

76.208.15.79:

'''Support Movement Building in the United States
'''Join the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network
''''''

Detroit, seen by many as ground zero for the current economic crisis, will host the 2nd United States Social Forum. As many as 20,000 are expected to participate in the Forum, which runs from June 22nd through June 26, 2010.

Organizers hail the Social Forum process as a powerful vehicle for change and as the next stage in community organizing, community governance and democracy. But the success of the forum depends upon the work of many, and we invite you to join this historic movement to bring people’s needs back onto national and global political and economic agendas.

The USSF writers network will produce op-eds; articles for mainstream, community, and alternative media; and other creative expressions to help raise public awareness about the USSF and the issues it addresses. We aim to reach the many diverse groups that make up our country.

For information and to join the writers network, go to: [http://www.ussf2010.org]
(Click “Get Involved,” then “Writers Workshop”)

''"Let’s make a network of communication among all our struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of alternative communication against neoliberalism… (and) for humanity. This intercontinental network of alternative communication will weave the channels so that words may travel all the roads that resist… (It) will be the medium by which distinct resistances communicate with one another. This intercontinental network of alternative communication is not an organizing structure, nor has a central head or decision maker, nor does it have a central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who speak and listen."'' --Subcomandante Marcos

''
'''Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary
'''''

Call for Participation

2009-09-17T11:29:14Z

76.208.15.79: Created page with ''''Support Movement Building in the United States '''Join the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network '''''' Detroit, seen by many as ground zero for the current economic crisis, will…'

'''Support Movement Building in the United States
'''Join the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network
''''''

Detroit, seen by many as ground zero for the current economic crisis, will host the 2nd United States Social Forum. As many as 20,000 are expected to participate in the Forum, which runs from June 22nd through June 26, 2010.

Organizers hail the Social Forum process as a powerful vehicle for change and as the next stage in community organizing, community governance and democracy. But the success of the forum depends upon the work of many, and we invite you to join this historic movement to bring people’s needs back onto national and global political and economic agendas.

The USSF writers network will produce op-eds; articles for mainstream, community, and alternative media; and other creative expressions to help raise public awareness about the USSF and the issues it addresses. We aim to reach the many diverse groups that make up our country.

For information and to join the writers network, go to: [www.ussf2010.org]
(Click “Get Involved,” then “Writers Workshop”)

''"Let’s make a network of communication among all our struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of alternative communication against neoliberalism… (and) for humanity. This intercontinental network of alternative communication will weave the channels so that words may travel all the roads that resist… (It) will be the medium by which distinct resistances communicate with one another. This intercontinental network of alternative communication is not an organizing structure, nor has a central head or decision maker, nor does it have a central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who speak and listen."'' --Subcomandante Marcos

''
'''Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary
'''''

U.S. Social Forum Writer's Network

2009-09-17T11:25:32Z

76.208.15.79: /* How do I join? */

{{RightTOC}}
The USSF Writers Network is part of the [[Communications Working Group]] for the [[US Social Forum]]. We will work to help raise public awareness about the [[USSF]] and the issues it addresses among the many diverse groups that make up our country. We aim to:
* '''broaden participation in the [[USSF]]''', particularly among groups most excluded from mainstream politics,
* '''expand networks among diverse media practitioners''' in a collaborative effort to disseminate information and stories about the [[USSF]],
* '''inform members and the public''' about the US Social Forum and the larger World Social Forum process (See [[USSF Resources Page]]), and
* '''increase awareness and understandings of the global movement''' of which the [[USSF]] is part.

''"Let’s make a network of communication among all our struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of alternative communication against neoliberalism… (and) for humanity. This intercontinental network of alternative communication will weave the channels so that words may travel all the roads that resist… (It) will be the medium by which distinct resistances communicate with one another. This intercontinental network of alternative communication is not an organizing structure, nor has a central head or decision maker, nor does it have a central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who speak and listen."''
--Subcomandante Marcos

==Who we are:==
* Writers (amateur and professional)
* Poets
* Visual artists
* Journalists
* Sociologists without Borders
* Activists
* Regular Folks

We are responding to and helping build a movement for social justice in the United States and to support the [[World Social Forum]] process. Our aim is to help the exploited, excluded, downtrodden, hopeless, underpaid, overworked, unemployed--and all those who need hope—see that [[Another World is Possible]]. The [[U.S. Social Forum]] is a way we can, together, make that world a reality.

==What do I do?==

By committing just a few hours per month, you can be a part of our historic effort to build the movement for social justice in the U.S.

Participants in the Writers Network commit to do the following actions in support of the [[USSF]]:
* Write at least one essay, op-ed, news analysis, or other piece per month for general audience news sources to help educate the wider U.S. public about the [[USSF]], the people it involves, and/or the issues it addresses; and/or
* Write at least three analyses, poems, opinion pieces, announcements, etc. in specialized publications targeting particular audiences of activists, community gruops, professionals, or other publics who should know about the [[USSF]] and/or who can contribute to the work of the [[USSF]]; &
* Following the [[USSF]], write and speak to inform the U.S. public about the [[USSF]]'s discussions ideas for advancing the goals of social movement cooperation and progressive social change in this country; &
* Encourage friends and colleagues to make financial contributions to support the [[USSF]]. The costs of this meeting are high, and organizers also seek to raise money to increase participation from low-income activists. Costs will be met through registration fees, donations, and corporate or foundation grants; &/or
* Speak to journalists and/or activists in participants’ own communities about the USSF and encourage local participation in and/or media coverage of the forum;
*Be creative in using ''[[Wikipedia:Social_media| Social Media]]'' to spread the word about the USSF.

Writers Network members will receive regular updates on relevant developments in [[USSF]] planning, ideas for stories, and suggestions for finding publication outlets for material.

==How do I join?==

Subscribe to the mailing list by going to https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/writers_network

Once you are subscribed, you'll receive bi-weekly messages with updates and suggestions for timely articles or essays on the USSF process. We'll also include any additional suggestions we hear for getting your writing out into the world. This list is an announcement list only, so there won't be more than 2-4 messages per month. If you'd like to send information that you wish to have made available to the network, email ussfwriters@gmail.com.

**Encourage others to join the network by spreading the [[Call for Participation]]

==Writing tips==

====Here are some tips on how to pitch your articles to local media outlets====

* Contact your institution’s office of media relations, vice president for news, or any other public relations body. They will have contact information for opinion page editors at local newspapers and magazines. They can also be quite helpful in trying to place opinion pieces by faculty members to larger media organizations.
* The [[Progressive Media Project]] accepts and edits commentaries from activist, advocates or other specialists and distributes them via the [[McClatchy-Tribune News Service]] to leading metropolitan newspapers around the country. You can find the submission guidelines at: http://progressive.org/pmp_submit
* Keyword searches on Google News, Lexis/Nexis or other news databases will allow you to search for major newspapers or publications in particular states that have featured articles or topics similar to yours in the past. Once you find print or electronic publications that seem likely to run your piece, you can find the opinion editor’s contact information from the publication’s Web site and write directly to that person.
** Google Alerts will help keep you up to date with news of interest to you.
* The following links contain useful guidelines for writing opinion pieces and pitching them to the media:
** http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/facultyopinions/about.html
** http://www.landmines.org/getinvolved/startacampaign/media.cfm
* After submitting your article to the USSF Writers’ Network website, contact only one other media outlet at a time to avoid multiple publications. If a particular outlet rejects your piece, then you may send it to another publication.

====Write like the media====

Scan the publications or Web sites you would like to target and see how their pieces are written. You don’t have to compromise your own writing style or content, but an editor will be more inclined to feature your article if you emulate the publication’s general writing style. Most journalistic writing, including opinion pieces, aim to be clear, concise and to the point. Paragraphs are short, usually no more than three sentences. Active voice is always best. Keep in mind that articles for the Web tend to be shorter than those written for print publications.

* Surf the Web. With some internet searching, you can find submission guidelines to various progressive media Web sites. Here are a few to start with and the links to their submission guidelines:
**The [[Progressive Media Project]]: http://progressive.org/pmp_submit
** [[CommonDreams.org]]: http://www.commondreams.org/submissions.htm
** [[TomPaine.com]]: http://www.tompaine.com/contact
** [[Independent Media Center]]: http://indymedia.org/en/index.shtml (click the ‘PUBLISH’ link and follow directions)

* Follow-up is important. Newspapers receive hundreds of submissions every day, and Web sites probably receive much more. Personal follow-up is important to distinguish yourself and your work from the masses. If you submit to a print publication, follow-up with a phone call rather than an e-mail. The same is true for Web sites if you can find the editor’s phone number on the site. Otherwise, send an e-mail. Follow-up strategies vary. Once you start doing it, you will find what works best for you.

* Track your stories. Publications, especially Web sites, don’t always let you know that they have published your article. It is important to keep checking the papers and sites to see if your story pops up. When it does, report back to us with the name of the publication or Web site, the date it ran your story (if it’s a print publication), and any other relevant information.

* It’s who you know. If you have or make any contacts or connections to editors or writers at progressive media publications, talk to them. Talk to them a lot. Tell them about the USSF Writers’ Network. Ask if they are interested in more articles by our writers. Perhaps they would like to publish one every week. Perhaps more. Finally, tell us about any connections you have made.

====Report your successes====

* As soon as your piece is published, please send it (or a link to it) to ussfwriters@gmail.com . Tell us the details: who printed your piece, date of publication, and web site address of your article if it appears online. We will keep a record of sources that have featured pieces from our Writers’ Network and when.

* If you find any publications that seem likely to publish other pieces from our Writers’ Network or other media outlets that accept submissions, let us know so we can share the information with the other writers.

==Resources, Background Information, and Important Updates==

See: [[USSF Resources Page]]

For the latest news and updates, see: [[USSF Updates]]

U.S. Social Forum Writer's Network

2009-09-17T11:25:03Z

76.208.15.79: /* How do I join? */

{{RightTOC}}
The USSF Writers Network is part of the [[Communications Working Group]] for the [[US Social Forum]]. We will work to help raise public awareness about the [[USSF]] and the issues it addresses among the many diverse groups that make up our country. We aim to:
* '''broaden participation in the [[USSF]]''', particularly among groups most excluded from mainstream politics,
* '''expand networks among diverse media practitioners''' in a collaborative effort to disseminate information and stories about the [[USSF]],
* '''inform members and the public''' about the US Social Forum and the larger World Social Forum process (See [[USSF Resources Page]]), and
* '''increase awareness and understandings of the global movement''' of which the [[USSF]] is part.

''"Let’s make a network of communication among all our struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of alternative communication against neoliberalism… (and) for humanity. This intercontinental network of alternative communication will weave the channels so that words may travel all the roads that resist… (It) will be the medium by which distinct resistances communicate with one another. This intercontinental network of alternative communication is not an organizing structure, nor has a central head or decision maker, nor does it have a central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who speak and listen."''
--Subcomandante Marcos

==Who we are:==
* Writers (amateur and professional)
* Poets
* Visual artists
* Journalists
* Sociologists without Borders
* Activists
* Regular Folks

We are responding to and helping build a movement for social justice in the United States and to support the [[World Social Forum]] process. Our aim is to help the exploited, excluded, downtrodden, hopeless, underpaid, overworked, unemployed--and all those who need hope—see that [[Another World is Possible]]. The [[U.S. Social Forum]] is a way we can, together, make that world a reality.

==What do I do?==

By committing just a few hours per month, you can be a part of our historic effort to build the movement for social justice in the U.S.

Participants in the Writers Network commit to do the following actions in support of the [[USSF]]:
* Write at least one essay, op-ed, news analysis, or other piece per month for general audience news sources to help educate the wider U.S. public about the [[USSF]], the people it involves, and/or the issues it addresses; and/or
* Write at least three analyses, poems, opinion pieces, announcements, etc. in specialized publications targeting particular audiences of activists, community gruops, professionals, or other publics who should know about the [[USSF]] and/or who can contribute to the work of the [[USSF]]; &
* Following the [[USSF]], write and speak to inform the U.S. public about the [[USSF]]'s discussions ideas for advancing the goals of social movement cooperation and progressive social change in this country; &
* Encourage friends and colleagues to make financial contributions to support the [[USSF]]. The costs of this meeting are high, and organizers also seek to raise money to increase participation from low-income activists. Costs will be met through registration fees, donations, and corporate or foundation grants; &/or
* Speak to journalists and/or activists in participants’ own communities about the USSF and encourage local participation in and/or media coverage of the forum;
*Be creative in using ''[[Wikipedia:Social_media| Social Media]]'' to spread the word about the USSF.

Writers Network members will receive regular updates on relevant developments in [[USSF]] planning, ideas for stories, and suggestions for finding publication outlets for material.

==How do I join?==

Subscribe to the mailing list by going to https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/writers_network

Once you are subscribed, you'll receive bi-weekly messages with updates and suggestions for timely articles or essays on the USSF process. We'll also include any additional suggestions we hear for getting your writing out into the world. This list is an announcement list only, so there won't be more than 2-4 messages per month. If you'd like to send information that you wish to have made available to the network, email ussfwriters@gmail.com.

Encourage others to join the network by spreading the [[Call for Participation]]

==Writing tips==

====Here are some tips on how to pitch your articles to local media outlets====

* Contact your institution’s office of media relations, vice president for news, or any other public relations body. They will have contact information for opinion page editors at local newspapers and magazines. They can also be quite helpful in trying to place opinion pieces by faculty members to larger media organizations.
* The [[Progressive Media Project]] accepts and edits commentaries from activist, advocates or other specialists and distributes them via the [[McClatchy-Tribune News Service]] to leading metropolitan newspapers around the country. You can find the submission guidelines at: http://progressive.org/pmp_submit
* Keyword searches on Google News, Lexis/Nexis or other news databases will allow you to search for major newspapers or publications in particular states that have featured articles or topics similar to yours in the past. Once you find print or electronic publications that seem likely to run your piece, you can find the opinion editor’s contact information from the publication’s Web site and write directly to that person.
** Google Alerts will help keep you up to date with news of interest to you.
* The following links contain useful guidelines for writing opinion pieces and pitching them to the media:
** http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/facultyopinions/about.html
** http://www.landmines.org/getinvolved/startacampaign/media.cfm
* After submitting your article to the USSF Writers’ Network website, contact only one other media outlet at a time to avoid multiple publications. If a particular outlet rejects your piece, then you may send it to another publication.

====Write like the media====

Scan the publications or Web sites you would like to target and see how their pieces are written. You don’t have to compromise your own writing style or content, but an editor will be more inclined to feature your article if you emulate the publication’s general writing style. Most journalistic writing, including opinion pieces, aim to be clear, concise and to the point. Paragraphs are short, usually no more than three sentences. Active voice is always best. Keep in mind that articles for the Web tend to be shorter than those written for print publications.

* Surf the Web. With some internet searching, you can find submission guidelines to various progressive media Web sites. Here are a few to start with and the links to their submission guidelines:
**The [[Progressive Media Project]]: http://progressive.org/pmp_submit
** [[CommonDreams.org]]: http://www.commondreams.org/submissions.htm
** [[TomPaine.com]]: http://www.tompaine.com/contact
** [[Independent Media Center]]: http://indymedia.org/en/index.shtml (click the ‘PUBLISH’ link and follow directions)

* Follow-up is important. Newspapers receive hundreds of submissions every day, and Web sites probably receive much more. Personal follow-up is important to distinguish yourself and your work from the masses. If you submit to a print publication, follow-up with a phone call rather than an e-mail. The same is true for Web sites if you can find the editor’s phone number on the site. Otherwise, send an e-mail. Follow-up strategies vary. Once you start doing it, you will find what works best for you.

* Track your stories. Publications, especially Web sites, don’t always let you know that they have published your article. It is important to keep checking the papers and sites to see if your story pops up. When it does, report back to us with the name of the publication or Web site, the date it ran your story (if it’s a print publication), and any other relevant information.

* It’s who you know. If you have or make any contacts or connections to editors or writers at progressive media publications, talk to them. Talk to them a lot. Tell them about the USSF Writers’ Network. Ask if they are interested in more articles by our writers. Perhaps they would like to publish one every week. Perhaps more. Finally, tell us about any connections you have made.

====Report your successes====

* As soon as your piece is published, please send it (or a link to it) to ussfwriters@gmail.com . Tell us the details: who printed your piece, date of publication, and web site address of your article if it appears online. We will keep a record of sources that have featured pieces from our Writers’ Network and when.

* If you find any publications that seem likely to publish other pieces from our Writers’ Network or other media outlets that accept submissions, let us know so we can share the information with the other writers.

==Resources, Background Information, and Important Updates==

See: [[USSF Resources Page]]

For the latest news and updates, see: [[USSF Updates]]