Happy 17th Birthday, A News Cafe! (Please read until the end.)

I have an important message. Please read to the end.

It’s that time of the year, when I do two things: First, I provide a little back story of how A News Cafe came to be, which may be old news for many of you, but a new story for the newcomers.

Second, true to my promise several years ago, I only make a pitch for subscriptions and donations on A News Cafe’s birthday.

However, even if you already are a loyal subscriber, or someone who’s generously donated to ANC, I hope you won’t skip today’s column.

This month is A News Cafe’s 17th birthday. I know this is what all parents say when their baby is suddenly driving a car and is more adult than child, but I truly have a difficult time comprehending that A News Cafe has made it 17 years. Look how fast ANC has grown!

In the beginning …

It seems just yesterday when I lost my 10-year-old newspaper career, and son Joseph Domke came to his mother’s rescue and created a tiny blog — Food for Thought — so I’d quit crying, drinking Bailey’s for breakfast, and perhaps regain my sense of journalistic purpose.

I wasn’t an online person. I preferred paper. But what’s an unemployed journalist to do in a one-newspaper county? So I accepted Joe’s live link, with some doubt that I wouldn’t kill it. IT guru/friend Jim Gore pitched in and nurtured the infant blog into a full-fledged media website.

Later, Joe became the fulltime IT guy, and worked for ANC for more than a dozen years. Eventually, Joe embarked upon his new life, but before he left, Joe set ANC up with a fairly basic website theme that even I could manage without him. That’s why, if you ever find yourself frustrated with the edit button, or some wonky links, you can blame it on the IT person: me.

ANC was born in 2007 at the start of the Great Recession. At the time, ANC gathered up other former colleagues who’d left the paper for one reason or another. Me? I was pushed. I didn’t jump. Devastated, I thought that losing my newspaper job was one of the worst things that ever happened to me. Looking in the rearview mirror, I now realize it was one of the best things that happened to me.

That worst-of-times turned best-of-times concept arose again when ANC was barely 2 years old, when I faced an even bigger life quake than a job loss: a divorce caused by monkey business inside ANC business. It nearly tanked me, and I was underwater emotionally for a good year, but patient readers hung in there, and eventually I swam through to the other side, got my footing, and here we are, stronger than ever.

See how far I’ve come? That’s all I’m going to say about that, except my favorite part, where my then-husband/business manager predicted that without him, I’d kill the business within two years.

He was almost right. I was a journalist, not a business person. Over the years, the site ebbed and flowed. We tried many things that didn’t work. Over the course of 17 years a variety of more than 100 people came and went at ANC: writers, photographers, sales people, artists and videographers.

I made some terrible decisions, like trying to treat ANC like a print newspaper, with auto and real estate sections, and a restaurant menu section, and even classifieds. One of the darkest periods was when we lost our three biggest advertisers, and we nearly died, so we implemented a panicked, brief paywall, since I couldn’t figure how else to keep ANC afloat financially. That went against my core journalistic belief, that a free press should be free for anyone to read.

Many sales people came and went, until finally I decided I’d be the best sales person, which was weird for me — the publisher and head journalist — because I came from a newspaper background that said the business and editorial sides of a paper were two different creatures, and should not marry. I was a terrible sales person, so I stopped trying.

One of the best decisions Joe implemented was an income stream: a means for readers to become subscribers, or to contribute via check as many times as they wished.

The other best decision on ANC is the current makeup of our incredible team, which is small, but mighty.

We have exactly two awesome, brave paid advertisers: Shasta Community College, and Wallner Plumbing Heating and Air. I say they’re brave, because something I’ve not made public is the fact that, almost since our inception, ANC advertisers have been targeted by horrible people who threaten ANC advertisers, mock them, and write disgusting anonymous, untraceable emails to them. Despite that angst and abuse they endure for supporting ANC, Shasta Community College and Wallner Plumbing, Heating and Air have stuck with us. For that, I am eternally touched and grateful.

The rest of ANC’s income comes from loyal readers who subscribe at amounts as low as $1.35 per month, on up to as high an amount as they can afford. Many of you reading this column are among these dedicated financial supporters, and for that, I am appreciative nearly beyond words.

The pitch

We’ve come a long since ANC’s inception in 2007, when we had about 2,500 unique monthly visitors, to where we are now, with more than 100,000 unique monthly visitors.

A frustrating fact is that of those more than 100,000 unique monthly visitors, only about 1 percent contribute financially. Obviously, there are people who religiously read ANC but who hate this site, so I won’t hold my breath waiting for them to subscribe. Besides, they’re already busy enough leaving down votes on comments. (Thanks for the views, guys!)

But what never ceases to perplex me are those regular readers who really like ANC, and even comment on stories, but who’ve yet to donate a dime. I just don’t get it. I can only assume that they think they don’t need to contribute because someone else will. All I can say about that is it’s stinkin’ thinkin’.

I dream of how wealthy, resource-rich and secure ANC would be, if even one quarter of our readers gave $1 a month.

Just yesterday a longtime dedicated reader said she wanted to double her $5 monthly subscription, which requires me cancelling the subscription (which always feels so wrong) so she can re-subscribe at $10 per month at her leisure. She apologized for not giving more, and said she’d give more if she won the lottery one day.

She meant it to be funny, but I felt like crying. The truth is, with readers like her, I feel as if I’ve won the lottery!

Some of you give much more than that amount each month, and have for many years. Beyond “thank you!” I lack the words to fully express the depths of my gratitude.

Looking forward

You may have noticed that the last four years have been a stressful slog for ANC staff and readers, too, as we’ve reported on what I affectionately have come to call the Shasta County Shit Show. It’s been like journalism whack-a-mole to keep with with the seemingly never-ending mind-numbing flood of on-going bad news. It’s been rough on us all, and many of us are suffering from negative news overload.

Speaking of negative news, with the prospect of what awaits us with the upcoming new president, and the fact that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors board majority seems to be a mini version of what will soon happen in the White House, we’re catching our breath and regrouping.

For one thing, we’ll soon become reacquainted with some non-political feature stories from time to time. I may actually write some food columns again, since food might be one of the few things even the most politically divided among us have in common. Whether someone’s a transgender school board member (yay, Bobbie Simpson) or a militia member (hi, Woody Clenenden) we all have food and cooking in common. Baby steps. Oh gosh, where to start? Rainbow-bean chili, anyone?

We’re trying some other new things, like a button that will offer audio options, beginning as soon as possible. What a wonderful technological world we live in, because although the audio versions may sound similar to my voice, or R.V.’s voice, or Mike Chapman’s voice, it’s actually a copy cat made possible through an AI tool we purchased. (No way could I read 15 minutes’ worth of writing without messing it up along the way.) Cool, huh?

In 40 days 2025 will be upon us, and A News Cafe will head into its 18th year, old enough to be considered an adult.

If you know me, you know how much I hate asking for help, and especially asking for money. That’s why I only do this once a year, in November, right around Thanksgiving. If you already support us, then a million thanks to you! We know who you are, and we appreciate you very, very, very much. Thank you!

However, if you’re among those who are regular readers, but who’ve never supported us, please consider becoming a subscriber today, but only if you can afford it. Then, you can join those wonderful readers who take pride in knowing that their contributions help keep A News Cafe alive and well.

To those who support us financially, we especially care what you think. We’re open to hearing your observations and suggestions. Please, be honest. We can take it. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below. We will consider each one.

Until then, here’s to another year of enterprising stories, photos, cartoons, columns, commentary and investigative journalism on A News Cafe, your locally owned, locally interested independent online news magazine.

We literally could not do what we do without you. Thank you! Happy birthday to us!

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A very special request on A News Cafe’s 17th birthday: If you read A News Cafe and appreciate our team’s coverage, please consider a subscription to this site. Thank you!