Fall pledge drive: Contribute to The Gray Report

Hey folks, thanks for reading and enjoying The Gray Report.

I was listening to NPR recently and heard them begging for money, and thought, I've been doing this blog for several years and have never really done a post like this. I put the "virtual tip jar" up on the site last year and quite a few people have contributed. But while I've occasionally nudged, mostly in the comments, I've never done an outright begging for money post.

If NPR can, why not me? Granted, they give you more content. But how good is their content on wine?

In case you weren't aware, writing about wine isn't as lucrative as just about any job you can think of. You can't beat the perks, but we make gym teachers' paychecks look like Wall Street wunderkinds'.

Moreover, if you give NPR, say, $50 (feel free to add zeros), you don't know where that money ends up.

Any money you donate to The Gray Report goes directly to me, for use in paying for health insurance and rent and reporter's notebooks.

The Gray Report needs new shoes (true) and a haircut (true). I miss the stylish salon haircuts I got when I had a fulltime job. (I also miss the hand-on-hip harumph from the stylist. Her: "What can we do about this?" Me: "My head is your canvas. Express yourself. But not too short.") I'm sure my wife and friends miss those hairstyles too, but The Gray Report now patronizes a Salvadoran woman who will do my whole head for $12 with scissors, not the electric buzz-cutter, if I remind her in Spanish. If I have to move downmarket to the $6 place, it's buzzcut all the way.

Your donation can keep The Gray Report's hair longer than 1/8 inch from its embarrassingly lumpy scalp.

So please. Give generously. There is no greater pleasure in life than giving to another. And as NPR would say, The Gray Report is made possible by the support, emotional and financial, of readers like you. Thanks in advance for your kindness.

Here's the donation button; it's Paypal, so it should be safe. I will not see your credit-card info.

Follow me on Twitter: @wblakegray and like The Gray Report on Facebook.