Every time you read Elephant, that’s an act of watering the “wolf” we want to feed, contributing to an imperfect yet kind and mutually-supportive community, the kind we want to and need to see more of in this world.

For 19.5 years, now, I’ve run Elephant. That’s a long time. And for 19 years, Elephant has run me. Dominated my days, filled many of my nights and weekends.

Today, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google (Gmail) have effectively cut independent media off at the knees. We have millions upon millions of readers, out there, and have for many years. But now, too few of those many millions even see Elephant in their social media, and Gmail often “hides” newsletters, even those folks have subscribed to. Our efforts to invest in Elephant as a truly independent hub continue.

Most of our “competitors” have been bought up or have withered on the vine. They’ve vanished, one way or the other, over the past 5 or so years. The age of the blog is gone, and Big Tech reigns supreme.

And yet, and yet, Elephant has stood strong, stable, humble in our simple daily service thanks to our loyal, returning readers and subscribers, and thanks to our caring team of editors and sales folks and others.

But now, seeing a way forward…is tough. So I look at becoming a full-time author, with huge social media, a smaller staff of editors and sales folks and others, Elephant Academy (our online learning) and an eco shop, along with an active yet smaller publication—still sharing to our newsletters and social media and publishing new articles daily. There is a way forward, but it will not look the same as the past.

Even over the last 19 years, change has been the one constant. We started off as a free, regional magazine. Remember those? Then, we went eco, color, national. Then, we went online, and grew steadily until the Great Facebook Algorithm Change of 5 or so years ago. Now, we are an island, a refuge for those who care about mindfulness, independent publishing, relationships and sexuality and eco and political and recipes, all from the “mindful life” perspective. And perhaps we’ll become more of a book publisher, or even add a print publicaton to our online offerings.

How can we create a kinder world, together, and on our own? That is our mission, our path of service, still.

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