Welcome to the New Wild West
What is The Westrn?
We’re an outdoor publication that tells stories with integrity.
Here, writers tell stories that are a little bent out of shape, rough around the edges, spiritually radical, and soulfully sound. We’re rebelling against the constant monetization of writing for the Google search bar. Instead, we’re writing for the human spirit and what lies beyond our windows, windshields, and windbreaks.
What really happens in the mountains, on the water, in the woods, or on horseback? What goes on in the spaces where rural and urban collide? And how do these places and experiences make us more human?
These are the questions we care about, among many others.
Meet the Crew
The Westrn is a cooperative of four co-founding journalists with deep roots in the outdoor industry at large.
Nicole Qualtieri, Editor-in-Chief
Kestrel Keller, Executive Editor
Katie Hill, Managing Editor
Gabriela Zaldumbide, Contributor
We’re Spicing It Up
At The Westrn, we’re taking back online writing about the outdoors and infusing it with all the juicy fat and flavor others trim in search of a better bottom line. We’re passionate about complexity, honesty, voice, and having a little fun. We don’t give a shit about optimizing our content for search engines or social media. We’ll never sell your email address. We won’t spam your social media, either.
We’re Slinging It Fresh
For less than the price of one craft beer per month, you can support great outdoor writing.
In return, you’ll receive at least two original long reads every month, straight to your inbox. That’s our baseline promise.
In addition, you might get personal essays, investigations, profiles, breaking news, or news analysis. You might get fiction, poetry, photography, or visual art. We’re a multifaceted crew. There’s no telling what we might throw at you.
You’ll also fund our capacity to scale our efforts and crush our goals. Print products, podcasts, short films, and a budget to pay for freelance work are all on the horizon. Stay tuned.
Support Stories with Integrity
The Westrn offers a few different subscription options.
As a monthly subscriber, you get access to all content for $5 a month. In beer math, that’s like buying each of us one-fifth of a pint.
As a yearly subscriber, you get access to all content for $50 a year. Pay once, get $10 off the monthly rate. That seems fair to us.
As a group subscriber, you and a friend (or two, or three, or 12) get access to all content for $40 each, or $10 off the yearly rate. Yeehaw!
As a founding member of The Westrn, you get access to all content for $150 a year. You also help further The Westrn’s capacity for important investigations, creative work, storytelling, and business development. We’re thinking up ways to thank our founding members for this level of commitment. To those who have already bought in as founding members, we appreciate you endlessly. You leapt before the net appeared. That is our kind of partner-in-crime.
As a free subscriber, you get access to every story on the site for two weeks. After that, all archived content will go behind a paywall. You’ll only have access to the latest stories for a limited time before they become unavailable. We hope this option gets you hooked enough to toss us a little pocket change each month, but we also understand that money can be tight.
Future Submission List // Contact Us
We’re already receiving inquiries from creatives who want to work with The Westrn. Currently, we’re closed for pitches and submissions, but we aim to pay creatives fairly for work in the future. Check back in for limited opportunities to contribute. If you’d like to be a part of our future freelancing crew, shoot us an email. We’ll add you to the growing list.
Additionally, we welcome tips and letters to the editors. We are happy to provide anonymity to anyone sharing sensitive information. Don’t shy away from tough topics. We certainly won’t.
Contact email: editor@thewestrn.com
Above all, make yourself at home here.
Kick off your boots, warm your bones by the fire, and listen closely. We have much to share.
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