A bit of housekeeping for The South Lawn moving forward.

One of the organizing principles we have always had on here is a desire to write things only when we have something to say. All of us generally have a distaste for hot takes and producing noise for noise’s sake. That’s what Twitter is for, after all. We have always sought to sink our teeth into a topic and write in a deliberate fashion about subjects that matter to working folks, especially working folks in the South. All that said, since we launched the Patreon, we have tried to keep a more frequent posting schedule at times. The work we produced on those schedules did not feel authentic to this project, though, and we defaulted back to our old pattern of writing something only when we had something to say.

This has not felt fair to the people who have decided to support our blog financially, and we’ve considered setting a more regular schedule of updates again. After some discussion between myself, Douglas, and Roqayah, we have decided that we will update once a week, on Sunday. This will give us the time to write thoughtfully and at length on topics without running the risk of falling into hot takes. Yesterday’s post by Douglas is the first of this new schedule, and it will be far from the last.

We’d also like to build some community around our writing and we’d like to have more guest posts on the blog to broaden the perspective we present. The former will take time for us to moderate, and the latter takes time for those contributors to write what we will publish. Because all of us are socialists, we believe uncompensated labor is bullshit, and this is where y’all come in. If we get to $2500 per month, we will set up a Discord server for our patrons and start having guest contributions where we pay contributors $250 per piece. If we get to $5000 per month, we will publish at least one guest contributor a month and pay $300 per piece. For every $1000 per month we raise beyond that, we will increase the amount we pay contributors by $50.

We appreciate the support and love that we’ve gotten through the years, and if you can spare some money to give to the Patreon, please do. Douglas needs new shoes, and Sperrys ain’t cheap.

New logo, same great flavor.

That is a quote that you see often used when it comes to sodas and restaurants, but it rarely pans out. When it comes to this blog, however, we can, without a doubt, tell you that it rings true.

The logo bears some explaining:

• The color. It is red, because we are reds. We are socialists who have devoted our passion, heart, and soul into transforming the South for the better. We will continue to do the work required to build coalitions and bring about a progressive, democratic South.
• The flower. It is a magnolia, that timeless symbol of sweet tea, cornbread, and amazing barbeque. It is representative of the region that we were born and raised in, and that we continue to call home.
• The leaves. It is a nod to our former slogan, “It’s all about the grassroots, y’all!” It still is, as it always was.
• The slogan. However, the new slogan fits the action-oriented nature of our advocacy. “Esse Quam Videri”, the state motto of North Carolina, is a Latin saying meaning “to be, rather than to seem”. In other words, talk is cheap. We believe that enough talking has been done; it is time to put deliberation into strategy, and strategy into action.

We hope that you enjoy the new look of The South Lawn. And, as always, stay tuned.