Dear Reader,
Stop supporting Joe Biden. Stop backing anybody who wants to be President of the United States. Stop pretending that anyone other than a deranged megalomaniac would want such a job.
Stop glorifying corporate monsters. Stop looking the other way when politicians shake hands and do photo ops with executives who bank on the backs of families in foreclosure.
Stop snapping selfies in dangerous places. Stop hiking Mount Everest. Stop only sharing photos on Instagram of exciting things you do and fronting like you’re Crocodile Dundee.
Stop at red lights and for people in the crosswalk. Stop thinking that your mode of transportation is the best one available when you have no idea where people are coming from, literally and metaphorically.
Stop engaging strangers about sports on the assumption that they understand what you’re talking about.
Stop telling me how long before departure I have to arrive at the airport.
Stop yelling.
Stop claiming that you have a “movement.”
Stop using the term “ghetto,” especially if you’re referring to a neighborhood that you are gentrifying and don’t even give enough of a damn about to get civically involved.
Stop walking on my lawn.
Stop being a NIMBY.
Stop charging for the MBTA until it’s working.
Stop with the puns.
Stop texting me after we haven’t talked for like five years and just being like, “What’s up, yo?”
Stop writing columns about what people should stop doing unless you have something positive to say as well.
Start reading. Start leaving books and magazines that other people should read around toilets they happen to use.
Start actually supporting area businesses and not just saying that you are going to.
Start paying more attention to the people who are struggling around you.
Start local.
Start promoting your own stuff more. Start using Dig Box Office for all of your event ticketing needs and, of course, donate to the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism at givetobinj.org.
Start posting more about your friend’s band than you do about some stupid band that’s not even much better than your friend’s band but has a million-dollar budget behind them.
Start holding politicians accountable. Start buying projectors, which are pretty darn cheap these days, and flashing the names of elected officials next to the amount of money they take from the sleaziest donors imaginable on the side of the State House.
Start preparing for the winter.
Start more than you stop.
CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A Queens, NY native who came to New England in 2004 to earn his MA in journalism at Boston University, Chris Faraone is the editor and co-publisher of DigBoston and a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. He has published several books including 99 Nights with the 99 Percent, and has written liner notes for hip-hop gods including Cypress Hill, Pete Rock, Nas, and various members of the Wu-Tang Clan.
