Thanks for all the comments on this, I wasn't looking specifically for advice (I'd already decided not to send to Brevity) but more wanted to open up the topic for discussion in case others here were/are interested.
And yes Brevity is an on line journal started by Dinty Moore that publishes very short < 750 word creative non-fiction essays.
I was actually just brushing up on some of these markets as that last posting came through, so thought I'd respond.
Another market for short non-fiction of various types is the Christian Science Monitor. < 800 words mostly.
Also Creative NonFiction publishes various types of essays of various lengths another good market.
And also, yes Duotrope is a good place/has been a good place to find markets, but as you mention they are going to a paid subscription model so they'll also be off my list as well starting 1/1/2013
This page lists a few markets for Personal Essays:
http://www.writing-world.com/creative/fifteen.shtml
If anyone is interested in other creative non-fiction markets I could list some or feel free to post any you have found of interest.