NEWSLETTER
September Days in A-Culturated
Our first ever edition of the A-Culturated Newsletter
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou
Hello to our growing A-Culturated community!
I’m going to be honest, Lucinda and I have gone back and forth with the idea of starting a newsletter for our A-Culturated readers and writers.
Ultimately, we know it’s a lot — the volume of emails that people get spammed with on the daily. We didn’t want to add one more to your pile.
But the truth is, our community has been growing at rapid speeds, as have our ideas about what to provide you all with. We want to connect with everyone who keeps returning to our publication, and give you updates and news on all the things you might otherwise miss out on.
We thought not having a newsletter was the better way, but now we know better. We need to keep you all in the loop somehow, and this seems to be the most logical how.
At least for now.
News, Reviews, & Updates
The month of August was a busy one! We wrapped up submissions on our first ever cash-prize competition (winners to be announced on the 8th of September), and we got the chance to speak about the importance of intercultural stories on Medium Day.
A special thank you to everyone (from all over the globe!) who attended, it really means the world to us to have you support this publication, and be an essential part of it!
- Our August Writing Prompt was dedicated to the idea of emanating, relishing, being full, and feeling with all the senses. We really enjoyed diving into these sensorial stories. You can read them all here.
- Our September Writing Prompt is out now, and hot off the press! We are diving into health, and what that looks like around the world.
- Our Summer Cash-Prize Competition was the first of hopefully many independent competitions on A-Culturated. Although 77 new countries joined the Medium Partner Program, there are still writers across the globe who cannot profit off of their words, so we are trying to bridge that gap with our self-funded writing competitions. If you want to donate to the pot of competition money, you can do so here. Many thanks to those of you who contributed already!
- Our Ongoing Series. While we have monthly writing prompts and sporadic writing competitions, we also have an ongoing series called “Cultural or Comfortable” where we unpack the uncomfortable truths behind our most accepted cultural behaviors. We are also currently working on a new Series to be announced soon, so stay tuned…
Quick Stats from August
- 16 boosted stories
- 17.5K views
- 9.3K reads
- 250 new followers
- 1260 total followers
- 103 current writers
Monthly Mentions & Editors Picks
We don’t want to overwhelm you with a lengthy reading list, so we’ll keep things short and sweet!
Editors 3 Top Picks
- Purbita Chakraborty’s takes us on the journey from a parent’s perspective about understanding their TCK.
- Farah Hisham’s fluid storytelling had my emotions on a roller coaster with her, and laughing in agreement that tourists often flock to see something we take for granted and scratch our heads over.
https://medium.com/a-culturated/in-relentless-pursuit-of-snow-1d6c7b9a4b23
- Sandeep Sreedharan’s story stood out for the detail, getting accustomed and acclimatised to physical contact as part of communication with customers, so much so that he went home and hugged his parents.
Our Most-Read Story in August
Lina Boudier’s Three Sure-Fire Ways to Make Zero Friends in Japan has 1.6K views, 1.1K reads, 1.8K claps and 41 comments. https://medium.com/a-culturated/three-sure-fire-ways-to-make-zero-friends-in-japan-cd39631a9b53
Boosted Stories
If you want to read more amazing stories, be sure to check our Boost Gallery and look through what was boosted in August. Don’t forget, we nominate stories for a boost, but this doesn’t guarantee they get accepted for a boost. For more information on the boost program, click here.
We hope the month of September brings you fresh starts and a happy change of season.
Thank you so much for unpacking cultures with us!
See you next month!
Love,
Maria & Lucinda
