2024: Year in Review
Next year, I hope you'll consider supporting The Gauntlet
Hello all,
And thank you so much for being a part of The Gauntlet.
A year ago today, I’d never have imagined being where I am now. I was working a full-time job, freshly “recovering” from my first COVID infection, writing The Gauntlet on the side. Unfortunately, like millions of other people around the world, I would never fully recover from that infection. I would never fully return to full-time work.
Like rain on your wedding day and the no smoking sign on your cigarette break, I was the Long COVID reporter who developed Long COVID. Both entirely expected and unexpected. Both as prepared as one could be and as unprepared as one always is.
As weeks passed, I poured the little energy I had, and all my good hours on all my good days, into writing about the COVID crisis. It had already been my passion; now it was my life. And as I wrote more consistently, this community surprised and supported me. My paid subscriber number consistently rose. I began to hope that reporting could be more than a side-project done in off-hours, but could, in fact, be my job.
This year, thanks to you all, my dream has started to become a reality.
Some of my (and your) favorite stories this year:
Liberals joined conservatives to mainstream anti-vax beliefs about viruses and public health
Does the public understand that "variant" means "vaccine resistant"?
Out of control COVID means permanent segregation for many disabled people
Last week, I covered bird flu, and the week prior, I put out one of my personal essays, about the one-year anniversary of my COVID infection, and my first year living with Long COVID.
As most of you know, I will never paywall critical public health information. But my personal essays, which are generally about my own experiences living with Long COVID, are paywalled to help fund the reporting side of The Gauntlet. My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the most recent essay mentioned above, was one of my most personal yet, and I’m very proud of it. If you’ve enjoyed my reporting, I truly believe you’ll find my personal essays worth the investment in this newsletter.
So yes, here’s the part where I ask for money.
If you’re not yet a paid subscriber and can afford $7/month (the price of a fancy coffee!) or $70 a year, please do upgrade your subscription. As of right now, only about 5% of my readers pay, but even with just 10% of readers paying, I would be earning a living wage for the reporting work I’m doing. I know not everyone can pay; that’s why I don’t have a paywall on the work that includes critical public health information. However, if those who can pay don’t pay either, eventually, I won’t be able to report anymore, and everyone will lose access to this resource.
If you find The Gauntlet to be useful, important, interesting, accessible, or helpful in any way, I hope you’ll help me continue to operate and even grow this newsletter. Someday, I’d love to have a podcast arm of The Gauntlet, although that’s definitely still a ways off. In the meantime, I promise to keep giving my all to researching and reporting about the ongoing COVID crisis, as long as you all continue to support the project.
For those who can’t afford to subscribe, you too can help grow The Gauntlet. Remember to like, share, and recommend articles to your networks. And regardless, you are still a critical part of this community and I’m so grateful you are here.
Thank you to each and every one of you for getting this project this far. Aside from supporting my “career”, you’ve also supported me through a particularly rough and traumatic year. My writing was my refuge as my health fell apart during 2024. My advocacy helped me find meaning and make sense of an event which was otherwise bleak, random and cruel.
Solidarity and with hope for a better 2025,
Julia
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