the place that i learned how to be a writer was the Houston Press, the big alt-weekly in houston — this was like 2008 or something — i didn't have any real experience or know any real writers or anything — i was just some guy with access to the internet...

after a bunch of failed attempts i finally wiggled my way into freelancing for them — it was the first real publication that i'd ever written for — they had a cool office in downtown houston and they had staff writers and they had a reputation in the city as "the cool paper"...

most importantly though: they had editors — proper editors — editors that only cared about one thing: making sure their writers knew how to write so that, collectively, they could put out the best and most useful paper possible...

and there were many talented editors there — but the two that i had the most interaction with: chris gray, who was the music editor, and margaret downing, who was (and still is) the editor-in-chief — they were (and are) so fucking perfect...

they spent so much time answering my questions and teaching me how to write and teaching me how to interview people or request information from a courthouse or police station or whatever — they were true newspaper people — they took everything so seriously...

there were times where i'd get lazy and try and write my way around something in a vague way and every single time they would slap me on the wrist and be like "no that's not how you do it" — they did that shit with me for four years — they raised me up from a pup...

for a lot of years i thought they had singled me out and spent that much time with me because they thought i was special — turns out: nope lol — they did it with me cuz they were doing it with every single person who wrote for them — didn't matter staff writer or freelancer...

they felt it was their responsibility as editors to take their writers seriously and treat their writers as professionals — and that kind of relationship is so so so important — it empowers you — it seeps into your pores — you start to feel the same way...

you start to take yourself seriously and your work seriously — it's exactly the kind of professional relationship you need to have if you're gonna "make it" (at least it was for me anyway) — i owe so much to chris and margaret...

even all these years later i can still hear them in my ear when i'm writing: "where's the conflict in this story shea" "are all of you sentences helping you arrive at your main point shea" "have you done enough research to confidently write about this shea"...

i don't know a lot about a lot but i know that my life looks a lot differently without margaret downing and chris gray — i owe them so much — i owe them in a way that can never be repaid, only honored...

they exist in my brain as people of the utmost integrity and of the highest order — that's margaret in the middle of the first picture — that's chris in the second picture — just looking at these makes and seeing them again me so fucking happy — they're total goddamn heroes...

anyway i say all of that to say: i read a story this morning about how the Houston Press (which margaret is still the EIC of) has been hit hard by the coronavirus the same as every place else: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/the-houston-press-appeals-for-donor-help-11459279 — as such i'm gonna make a donation to the Houston Press...

if you wanna jump in you can — we can do one big donation — send your money here:

venmo: (@)shea-serrano
cashapp: $RealSheaSerrano
paypal: shea(@)sheaserrano(.)com

i'll put it all together and get it to the HP

go ahead & mute me cuz this is all i'm gonna tweet about today lol

it's going downnnnnnnnnnnnn