I spent $1,250 to deepen my understanding of the solidarity economy

Apocalypse spending (vol. 3)

Hello from our new content management system: Ghost!

This week, I’m continuing my Apocalypse Spending series with a little bit of a plot twist.

As the name suggests, most of the time, apocalypse spending happens when we feel panic and doom about the world around us. Sometimes, we stock up on resources — dry food, canned goods, fridge cigarettes (ICYMI: this is Gen Z slang for Diet Coke, and it’s been really tickling me lately). Sometimes, we say “Fuck it” and spend hedonistically for fear of missing out on the simple pleasures that we love.

When we think about emotional spending, we tend to think of the emotions that get a bad rap — shame, guilt, fear, panic, and envy, to name a few. I would argue that, because emotional spending begets very real consequences, we often dismiss emotional spending that comes out of hope, inspiration, courage, and faith – especially faith in our creative pursuits and in others.

At the beginning of this year, I made a big financial commitment rooted in hope. I invested in a 9-month program called Next Economy MBA, which teaches business tools and strategies to leaders building a regenerative economy. A regenerative economy prioritizes people and nature over profits, healing the environmental, social, and economic damage caused by capitalism.

Here’s a diagram that informs the basic principles of the Next Economy, with a blue star that indicates where I’m personally at in life:

I felt so much peace when I saw this diagram. The arrow pointing down represents the old business-as-usual economy that’s dying off. This part of the process involves some “hospicing” — grieving the traditions, practices, and structures of systems that are built to exploit us. The arrow pointing up represents the "midwifing" of the next economy — the uphill battle of building something new. 

That blue star is exactly where I am in my process: I’m grieving, while building up something new, something that makes me feel alive and connected to the world around me. It’s a really cool journey to be on, and I’m grateful to have a whole cohort full of great people doing cool things to share it with.

What it costs

The 9-month program costs $4,500 full price, with a 50% discount for BIPOC. I also received a $1,000 professional development grant from our fiscal sponsor, the Tiny News Collective, which brings my grand total down to $1,250.

Instead of paying the $1,000 upfront, I set aside the grant money so I can make monthly payments of $275.

Regret meter: 0/10

No regrets at all.

But I will say — even as I write this newsletter, I'm feeling a lot more shy sharing about hope-fueled spending than anything else. I'm working my little tail off right now to not confuse the embarrassment that comes from being optimistic as regret!

Media I’m consuming lately:

📰 I can’t stop thinking about this story written by Sophie Culpepper at Nieman Lab, a journalism research center based out of Harvard. A Cape Cod newspaper called Provincetown Independent bought a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom condo for its early career reporters. Instead of using 50 to 60% of their salaries toward housing, these three reporters live together in a house owned by the Local Journalism Project, and they only pay 30% of their salaries in rent. After buying that condo, a community member donated another 3-bedroom property to the newspaper. The second property needs a gut reno, but it’ll only cost $100,000 after they’ve called in favors from contractors in their community. Do you think our bosses should pay for our housing? Would you live with your coworkers? Let me know in the comments!

💌A newsletter called Scratch about how writers are surviving financially – fascinating read!

📺 House of Villains, a reality show featuring the most iconic villains from other reality shows. Tiffany “New York” Pollard has been in every season and I’m so happy about it. Big thank you to Andrea, our admin strategy extraordinaire, for putting me on.

📺 RuPaul’s Drag Race season 18 — no spoilers, but Jane Don’t was ROBBED.

📺 I rewatched all 7 seasons of Scandal in the background while working and cleaning. This show was truly unhinged. I am ready for Scandal trivia if anyone ever decides to host it.