STAY INFORMED
Read, Listen, Watch
Staying informed is essential for responsible citizenship and meaningful participation in society. By reading, listening, and watching credible sources of news and information, individuals gain a deeper understanding of current events, public policies, and global issues.
This awareness empowers people to make thoughtful decisions, hold leaders accountable, and engage in productive dialogue with others. In an era of rapid change and widespread misinformation, actively seeking out diverse and reliable perspectives is not just helpful—it is vital to preserving democracy.
READ & LISTEN
Letters from an American
A Daily Blog by Heather Cox Richardson. (free)
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Heather Cox Richardson is a prominent American historian and professor at Boston College, where she specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, the American West, and political-economic history .
Since 2019, she’s published Letters from an American, a widely-read daily newsletter (via Substack) that interprets current events through a historical lens focused on the health of U.S. democracy. This newsletter attracted over 1.3 million subscribers by early 2024.
For those who would like to listen to Heather Cox Richardson reading her daily Letters from an American, she has a daily podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/letters-from-an-american/id1730358737
WHAT IS SUBSTACK?
Seniors: Welcome to Social Media!
Substack is a hybrid platform that is best understood as a platform for creating a publication that can include written post, audio (podcasts), and video, which is then delivered to subscribers via email. Substack combines the functions of a blog, a newsletter service, and a social network. https://substack.com/home
Go to Substack or directly to any writer’s Substack page.
- Enter your email to subscribe.
- Choose (a) Free subscription (you get free posts) or (b) Paid subscription (you get premium posts)
- You’ll receive each post directly in your email and can also read it on the Substack site or app.
- Use the Substack app to follow writers, listen to podcasts, and comment on posts.
The Parnas Perspective, by Aaron Parnas
Aaron Gideon Parnas is an American journalist based on TikTok. As of 2025, he has over 4.5 million followers on TikTok, 3 million more across other platforms, and his Substack newsletter, The Parnas Perspective, is the top-ranked news newsletter on the site with more than 615,000 subscribers.
Robert Reich
Robert Reich is a Berkeley Professor, writer, former Secretary of Labor, author of The System, The Common Good, Saving Capitalism, Aftershock, Super capitalism, The Work of Nations. Co-creator of "Inequality for All" and "Saving Capitalism." Co-founder of Inequality Media, and a contributor to Substack.