Why You Should Care About Proofreading Dear Friend, Reader and Past Subscriber: Over the weekend, I was working with a corporate client-relations specialist whose focus is email. She read one of my recent letters to you wherein I mentioned that your subscription dollars pay for proofreading and fact-checking. She wrote, "That's important to you, not to them." I didn't agree. I know my readers. You tend to be the educated, book-reading types. Yet, in case you're wondering, I want to take half a moment and tell you why the integrity of language is so important -- and why it's worth paying for. If this is totally obvious, please forgive the indulgence.
This is contributing to the decay not just of language skills but also of the reasoning skills that support what we experience as self-awareness. Planet Waves has never given in to communication in 140 characters, or the "dumb it down" theory that is so popular on the internet. We cater to a now-select group of people who want to think. Who want to be aware. Who want to grow. We are publishing for readers who get that there's a difference between right and wrong, in the most basic sense of those concepts -- such as, "does that fact check out?" Inherent in that is preserving the integrity of language. That means presenting you with clean copy. It means that when you read something, you can be sure that at least three Planet Waves editors have gone over it for integrity on many levels. If I misspell the name of a city, you might wonder what else I don't know. That kind of integrity takes resources: time, willingness, attention to detail, love of the work and, of course, money. To do this well, we maintain a staff of trained, educated proofreaders and fact-checkers. Just like Der Spiegel and The New York Times -- and unlike any other astrology website we know of. We go a lot further than this: our stories reach for the roots of an issue; we try to get the whole picture into focus, and offer you writing with a well-reasoned, balanced point of view. That is what subscriptions provide you and all our readers with: in essence, with professional work. Unlike most of the internet, we write for literate people who appreciate solid, thoughtful writing. When literacy falls apart, the results are things like Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh. Isn't it troubling how little sense they make, and how many people love what they say? Our basic membership is called Core Community, and we mean it. You are the core of our community, and you're our reason for doing the work that we do. We offer this level billed monthly, or monthly at a discounted level. You can sign up for one year. Or you can upgrade to a Backstage Pass. If you need a sliding scale option or want to become a major donor, please write to us at cs@planetwaves.net. Every subscription helps. Your subscription will make an immediate difference. While change is often a positive force, there are some things that need to be preserved in order to preserve the integrity of the world. Thought is one of them: honoring the process of reasoning, the idea of something making sense -- and as part of that, the integrity of written language. Thank you for casting your vote for sanity and awareness. Lovingly, 
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