A promotional message from the fall of 2020

I am cleaning out my Google Drive as a way of procrastinating and not writing anything today. I found this something I wrote early in the days of Town Crier Productions and share it here. Links are active to things I do now and maybe this will wake me up a little. 

Hello! My name is Sean Tubbs, and I'm a journalist who has recently returned to daily practice after a brief pause in a long career. I've got over a quarter-century experience in research and writing about our section of Virginia, and I'm here to work for the community. 

These times we are in call for accurate information about the complex challenges ahead of us as a community, a country and a world. I believe that I can help at the local level, where I believe every single one of you can make a difference. You are part of a web of connections that make us who we are, and I thank you for your contributions to society. 

I had been working in a different kind of job, but this spring, I felt a calling to return to journalism in order to help explain COVID-19 and to help get out information about what’s happening. Now I want to keep doing that work and am seeking to make a living doing so again. 

To do so, I have launched a new business called Town Crier Productions in order to make a living as I go about my work researching public policy in our community.  In three months, I have gained nearly 500 subscribers to a daily newsletter I produce, for free, that keeps people updated on what is going on.  I seek to not only cover Charlottesville, but Albemarle and other surrounding counties. 

I am asking people to help support the effort in several ways. 

• Support my research by making a donation through Patreon

• Sign for a subscription to Charlottesville Community Engagement, free or paid

• Pay me through Venmo

• Follow me on Twitter  (discontinued September 2022)

Local journalism across the country has fallen on hard times and there's a lot of uncertainty about the future. You may have seen headlines about reporters getting laid off. But democracy requires an informed public, and that's where I come in for the area in and and around Charlottesville. I seek room in the market and I am steadily growing an audience to find new sources of revenue to support not only myself, but to train a new generation of journalists. 

My mission is to provide a constant flow of information about this area to provide context about decisions made by our elected and appointed officials.  Documenting what happens is important not only so that voters can make informed decisions, but also so that the future can look back upon what happened. 

For now, I recommend signing up for the free newsletter. I will place a link in the chat. I’m here to answer any questions, and in the near future, I will have affordable ways for you to advertise your businesses to your future customers. We’re all part of this community, and I’m here to help connect a lot of us together. Thank you for your time.