Digital media companies have faced brutal layoffs and massive restructurings over the past several years, with the most recent rounds hitting major outlets like Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and Pitchfork. Thankfully, one thoughtful citizen has taken on the task of helping writers who have lost their livelihoods in the process: This woman has opened a beautiful farm sanctuary where laid-off digital media employees can live out their days eating raw oats and writing as many 4,000-word essays as they want.
What an incredible way to provide a safe, secure home for workers who have reached the end of the road in their media jobs.
Patricia Ritzen of Temecula, California was disturbed to learn how many promising writers had recently been cast out from the publications she knows and loves, and in response, she converted her five-acre lot into a free-range farm where she provides these jobless creatives with feed bags full of oats, troughs full of cold brew, and as much space and time as they need to muse on cultural trends in longform essays of their own devising. “It broke my heart to learn that though many of these writers are only in their 20s and 30s, they have very few prospects for their remaining years,” Patricia explained. “After all the thankless work they’ve put in, I want to give them the chance to write about whatever it is they write about without the pressure that comes with paying rent on the apartment they share with three strangers or landing their next gig at yet another crumbling media property.”
This is so beautiful.
Patricia says that the dozens of writers she has sheltered so far are thriving, having already produced such articles as “I Lived On The Laid-Off Digital Media Workers Farm For Three Weeks: Here’s What Happened,” “Five Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Man Who Comes To Shear Me Once A Month,” and “On Eating Grain From A Feedbag.” She has also been able to bring literary agents to tour the farm, and reports that the writers find it incredibly soothing to be petted and told that their writing has great potential and could be turned into a book one day.
Wow. As painful as the recent upheavals in digital media have been, it is so heartening to know that a place like this one exists for laid-off writers to live their final years in peace and comfort. We hope more sanctuaries like this one pop up to meet the growing need!
