The following post is an editorial from the One More Blog team in response to the 2024 Presidential Election. Our team has spoken over the past week about our thoughts on expressing and reaffirming the core values of the One More Stop Server and planting a firm guidepost for how we are planning to move forward as a community. Our founding blog member and trustee, Lunar, has chosen to share a personal message with you, along with contributing blog editor Owl Eye.
We encourage everyone to read our mission and rules in the #rules channel and reach out to curators or trustees if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great week, friends!
A Message from Our Trustee, Lunar:
“I just wanted to start off by apologizing for not speaking sooner, I needed a few days to think and not react strictly emotionally.
As many of you will know by now, Donald Trump won the 2024 election, and that has me, and I know others here, feeling frightened. I know this isn’t solely a US issue, as the policies and demeanor set forth by his administration has and will effect governments around the world.
Here, in One More Stop, we stand for everyone’s human rights, and we are a safe place for every single person. Regardless of sexual orientation, gender (or lackthereof), race, we want everyone to feel like this is somewhere they can and should be themselves.
This will be a scary time in the United States for at minimum 4 more years, but we’re safe here. You do not need to be afraid of being discriminated against, we do not tolerate bigotry of any sorts.
I am trans-feminine non-binary, and Latine, so I can empathize with a lot of what people are sharing fears about online, I share those fears too. But I trust One More Stop to be a safe place for me and anyone else who wants to participate in this hobby without being harassed.
I’m Lunar, I am a trustee of this community, and I started One More Blog with the idea to uplift members of our community and help to promote each other’s art, and I am so happy we’ve made it this long, writing a post every week to celebrate this community.
Please feel free to reach out to me at any time if you need anything.”
—Lunar Hades
A Message from Our Editor, Owl Eye:
“Hello friends, photographers, and artists.
My name is Owl Eye and I’ve been a member of One More Stop’s weekly blog team —One More Blog— for the past ten months. It has been a great pleasure to be involved in this experimental project of collaboration, whereby I’ve been able to meet and work with a dedicated team of supportive individuals who have chosen to include curating and editing a weekly project into their daily lives. From my perspective this community has always been a safe place to experiment with new ideas of collaboration and it has been very rewarding to watch a project continue to grow over the past year.
Each day I am reminded that the One More Stop collective is a community that supports others as artists and as individuals as they make their way through their life’s journey. This is a safe place for a diverse group of people and I’m thankful to those members, curators, and trustees who came before me who fought the tough battles of shaping this community into what it is today. Through their hard work and devotion to the mission of providing a safe and inclusive environment for artists to share, learn, and grow, this community is now bearing the fruits of positive change.
While writing this, I also reflected over the conversations I’ve had this week with those people for whom communities like ours are here to protect and provide safe haven for. I am humbled by the stories of those who are looking for places where they can feel safe, and I wish to reinforce my commitment to continue to do everything in my power each and every day to provide an environment where all people are safe and included.
My journeys this week have seen many strong bonds beginning to form between like-minded individuals, and at each point it started with a simple conversation between two people. This isn’t just something you and I are experiencing either. There are many conversations such as these happening all over the country, and beyond, at this very minute. Conversations about who we trust, how we trust, and who we can turn to in times of need.
I am Owl Eye. I’m a cis male and I stand with those who are marginalized or underserved in our community. I stand with women. I stand with mothers and daughters. I stand with the LGBTQ+ community. I stand with minorities. I stand with those with disabilities. I will always fight for you, and you may consider me a friend and ally. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time if you need. Take care of yourselves, have good conversations with your loved ones, and keep your heads held high. We are in this together!”
—Owl Eye
