All Hands On Deck

Dear Planet Waves Contributor or Colleague:

The election is upon us, and I am here to call on your assistance this week. As you know, Mercury stations retrograde tomorrow evening at about 6:03 pm EST. This is an authentically critical moment in history, and we as writers, artists and other contributors to culture are its witnesses.

"All Hands On Deck." I was looking for a bunch of guys at muster call on the stormy seas; I wasn't expecting a visual pun but this is a good one. Photo by Kym Backland, from whom (if you're a full-on raccoon fan) you can order a print or greeting card. It's a good thing raccoons don't have opposable thumbs or they would take over.

I would be grateful for your assistance in one of a few forms:

1. Please watch the media, including print, Internet, radio and television, and notice what you hear going on. Alert me directly of anything that seems unusual, strange or even strikes you as interesting for some reason. Do your best to record the data, any way you can (such as a screen shot and the URL). If you're sending me an item from the 'Net, please quote the salient part, tell me why you're sending it and include the link. The address to send to is editorial@planetwaves.net, with the subject header "Election Related."

2. I need your analysis. Why are things happening the way they are? What is your perspective? What hunches are you having? These can tie into the events, the astrology, the media coverage or all of the above. This can come in the form of short emails telling me what you perceive, or more developed articles or blog posts.

3. Help me (or another editor) coordinate coverage. To do this, we will need to decide on a subject area or a geographic region that you'll be covering, and then get you working with the right person.

4. Provide actualities -- interviews on polling lines or at political events, or photos of these things. Go out with your camera and/or digital recorder and, in the immortal words of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, get the story.

5. Please tell people (including people like radio talk show hosts and TV producers) about my writing, particularly my coverage of Mercury retrograde on Election Day. There are two versions of the story -- the Planet Waves edition and the Huffington Post (they link directly).

HOW TO REACH ME THIS WEEK

By email: editorial@planetwaves.net (which three of my colleagues will also read) or if it's for me exclusively, dreams@planetwaves.net.

By Skype: planet_francis

By AIM: ethos12401

Many thanks. And don't forget to stay tuned to Planet Waves and our Facebook page.

Lovingly, your intrepid editor sailing the Planet Waves,