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- Call for entries: Unfinished.
Readers,
Today, we're launching a vital new project called "Unfinished" — a platform for the stories that need to be told, now more than ever.
In a world where progress is under attack, where critical research is being defunded and life-saving aid is being withdrawn, "Unfinished" is a space for those whose work on the frontlines of the future has been cut short by the current U.S. administration.
These are the stories of public servants, scientists, and humanitarian workers who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place.
They are the people behind the early-warning famine systems, the childhood cancer treatments, the weather and climate models that help us understand our changing planet.
They are federal employees, contractors, and international partners who asked “What can I do?”, who answered the call to serve — only to have their work ripped away.
At Important, Not Important, we have always operated with a simple mission: to help people understand and take meaningful action on the complex, interconnected challenges we face.
We lead with integrity, empathy, and a commitment to helping people answer the question, "What can I do?"
"Unfinished" is a natural extension of that mission.
It's a platform for those who have already answered the call, who were doing the hard, necessary work of building a better future — until they weren't.
Frankly: We're furious that this project has to exist.
But in the face of the administration's attacks on science, aid, and progress itself, we refuse to go quietly. We will amplify the voices of those who have been silenced. We will shine a light on the vital work that remains unfinished.
So.
If you or someone whose work you admire has been fired or stripped of resources by the current administration, we want to hear from you.
Submit your ready to publish 500-800 word essay at the link below. While we can't publish every submission, we'll share as many as we can.
For the first time, we're honored to welcome two incredible guest editors to the team:
 | C. Brandon Ogbunu is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He investigates complex problems in epidemiology, genetics and evolution, and he also runs a parallel research program at the intersection of science, society and culture. Brandon has appeared 3x on our “The Most Important Question” (formerly Important, Not Important) podcast, and written for WIRED, Quanta, Undark, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Andscape, and more. |
 | Swathi Nachiar Manivannan is a PhD student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. She is interested in understanding the factors that affect the capacity of microbes to adapt to different environments and what this means for the spread and control of infectious disease outbreaks. She thinks a lot about how scientific research and societal issues are deeply intertwined, and has also occasionally written about this for student-run newspapers and magazines in her undergraduate and graduate student careers. |
Together, we'll make sure these stories — your stories — are told.
We'll highlight the human costs of rolled-back progress, the generational consequences of short-sighted policies.
We'll remind the world of the essential, unfinished work of making life better for everyone, everywhere.
This is "Unfinished". It's a testament to the undaunted human spirit in the face of adversity. It's a rallying cry for all who believe in science, in aid, in progress. It's a light in the darkness, and an invitation to join the fight.
Submit your story. Share this call. Stand with us.
Thanks, as always, for giving a shit.
Quinn & Willow
PS: Before I go —
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas published a poem in 1951 that’s still relevant today. Maybe he wrote it about a dying father, maybe not. Michael Caine recited the poem in Interstellar, as our near-future world grasped at the very last opportunity to survive what we’d done to ourselves.
I’ll leave it below.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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