What You Don’t Know About BAS
My name is Alex Mak, I’m the managing editor and co-owner of BrokeAssStuart.com. You may recognize my byline as I’ve personally written over 1,000 articles for BAS, and I’ve edited and published 3 times that many by independent writers from our community.
What many of you already know about independent media, is that we make very little money from our journalism. We don’t get paid more if we expose corruption, we don’t get a bonus for giving free exposure to small businesses, we don’t get lucrative contracts for interviewing local artists or defending our city’s progressive ideals.
We keep the lights on by selling products, promoting Bay Area events, and most importantly, from the support of our Patreon subscribers.
Since the pandemic hit, and keeps hitting, something like 50% of our income has dried up. People don’t buy our beer, wine and coffee passports nearly as much during a pandemic, and many of the events we typically promote continue to be canceled.
That’s why I’m writing to ask you to please join the Broke-Ass Stuart Patreon at $6 or above. It is literally what keeps us afloat.
Meet Our New Team Members!
This year we brought in some journalists who provide invaluable voices to independent media in the Bay Area. With SF Weekly disappearing (and many others) we need independent media now more than ever.
New BAS Editors
Lydia Sviatoslavsky – Editor
Interviews important local artists and writers, highlights and covers local independent businesses like indie bookstoresand coffee shops. She researches and writes about our SF history and historical landmarks. Coverage that is literally happening nowhere else in our increasingly corporatized city.
Abraham Woodliff – Editor
Covers the most important and culturally relevant news happening in the East Bay, especially when it is relevant to working people (like you and me). From covering school closures in poor neighborhoods and police accountability, to important COVID information, Abe is not just a popular Bay Area Meme creator, he’s a journalist that covers unpopular and important issues in the least talked about Bay Area cities.
Jessica Z – Editor
Is a voice for our next generation of independent writers and journalists. Her work is geared for young, broke and beautifulin San Francisco. Writing about low income housing, to student loan relief, Jess is a youthful voice in a city grown too expensive for the young. She’s currently working on a series of interviews with young professionals and students about what they do to pay their bills and enrich their neighborhoods.
Supporting Local Arts & Nightlife
Lizzie Locker – Arts & Events Editor
Lizzie keeps her finger on the pulse of Bay Area culture and nightlife, from organizing ticket giveaways from local venues, to highlighting performers and artists who you should see, Lizzie plays an invaluable role in keeping us hip to what’s happening in the Bay with our new weekly Events Newsletters every Tuesday.
New Contributing Writers
BAS also continues to be a platform for up and coming diverse voices from our community, like Gabriel Moore-Topazio who has written about a queer Native American Powwow and queer D&D players, Dee Dee Thompson who writes about self-care, addiction and recovery, Valeria Castaneda who writes about mental illness, addiction, self-harm and most importantly provides guidance towards self-help. We also have M. Keith who writes about what it’s like being a blue woman in a red state. And JC Carlston is diving into sports and art for us.
Stuart & I want to keep independent media alive in San Francisco, we want the next generation of writers to have what we had when we arrived in SF: a community that loves, explores, and supports its journalism, arts, history and culture.
With your help, we’ll be able to continue providing the vital, community-focused resources needed now more than ever.
Thank you SO much. None of this is possible without you.
Sending you love & solidarity,
Alex, Stuart, Lydia, Abraham, Jess & Amiee
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