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🔗 HOME | OP-EDS | REPORTS | SHALLOT SATIRE | CONTACT

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🇺🇸 Our Values, Mission, Method & Message

We champion common sense by asking uncommon questions

📖 Our Editorial Aspirations & Methods

We are the only organization in town who, as far as we know, seek out opposing views, invite those who disagree with us to critique us on our platform. And every editorial, Op-Ed, or column carries a large footer requesting corrections and inviting counter-speech.

🎤 FAQ: Talking to Reporters: “On the record” vs. “off the record” vs. “on background”

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If You Disagree with Our Editors or Guest Op-Ed Writers:

Show some courage and write your own Guest Op-Ed!

Offer a new idea, a levelheaded critique, or fresh take on old issues. No need to overthink it. Say it, write it, voice note it, send it via courier pigeon…

Read the guidelines on How To Submit Your Guest-Op Ed, and reach out to [email protected] or directly to your Hudson Common Sense correspondent.

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Wondering What Your Op-Ed Will Look Like?

Take a look at our example Guest Op-Ed here. Your piece will have similar formatting, layout, and visuals, though we welcome creative guidance & contributions from our Guest Writers.

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If You Want to be Added to Our Directory:

The Common Sense Directory is not a social network or an exhaustive list of every resident in town. Instead, this is a limited scope and highly functional, hopefully utility-driven directory designed for both new and long-term residents to understand exactly who runs the municipality. We want to demystify local power structures by mapping the individuals who drive the conversation, lead charter reform, shape tax policy, and anchor our local commerce.

To submit your profile, email [email protected] with the following existing public information that we hope to organize for each profile:

✔️ Ward, Current title or position, relevant prior held positions

✔️A square headshot of yourself, with dimensions of at least 1024 x 1024 pixels

🔗 Read more here: Add Profile to CommonSense Directory

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Two example profiles of our Common Sense “Profile Boxes,” with their respective “Profile Portraits”, demonstrated best by our Editors’ most beloved (fictional) Parks & Recreation characters, Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson.

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If You Want to Share Your Thoughts with our Editors:

Write a Letter to the Editor!

Whether it is to set the record straight or pay a compliment, by sending correspondence, we slow things down. Like coffee over a fresh edition of The Economist or FT, good ideas and dialogue are not rushed.

Submit your letter to [email protected] or directly to your Hudson Common Sense correspondent.

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If You Want to Write a Classic “Open Letter”

Compose an Open Letter!

An Open Letter is a letter addressed to a specific person or group but published for the whole community to see. It is a powerful tool for accountability and transparent debate. Perhaps the most famous example is Émile Zola’s J’Accuse…! (or MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail), which proved that public words can shift history.

Submit your open letter to [email protected] or directly to your Hudson Common Sense correspondent.

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The Briefing Box:

Each Hudson Common Sense piece also opens with a Briefing Box, a brief summary that sets out the main argument and essential facts before the longer essay begins. It is not a softening of tone or a response to readers who found our references too pointed. It is simply a way to make complex ideas faster to grasp, without losing precision or edge: a headline for the mind, not the algorithm.

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If You Want To Flag Any Corrections and Updates:

While we are all entitled to our own ideas and opinions we are not entitled to our own facts. If we get any facts wrong, please let us know posthaste by emailing [email protected] or even texting one of our editors. We will investigate, correct if necessary, and note the change honestly.

As part of our reporting process, we make a good-faith effort to reach primary subjects of stories in advance to fact-check and give them a heads up. We call this “calling in, before calling out.” However, if subjects have been consistently non-responsive to prior outreach or have repeatedly ignored requests for comment, we may not reach out again in every instance. More on this topic in our post on The Threshold Test.

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ℹ️ **ABOUT**

✒️ **COMMON SENSE EDITORIALS**

🗣️ GUEST OP-EDS

📗 SPECIAL REPORTS

🧅 SHALLOT SATIRE

👥 FACT SHEETS & DIRECTORIES

Artwork and inspiration taken directly from The Economist, we are decades long premium subscribers and we do not monetize the art work but use it honorifically. See full Disclaimers, Ts and Cs.