Lies, Damn lies, and Writing for Money

This esteemed publication and its proprietor sincerely need your support more than ever

(Me on the right, Michael my beloved on the left)

Hello my treasured audience,

This post isn’t in our usual format. We aren’t looking inside of a major corporation or discussing geopolitics today. In this post, I’m seeking support. I really need a hand financially. This past week has been incredibly challenging and financially draining, with more and more bad news continuing to roll in as the days pass.

On New Year’s Day, my van/home decided to pack it in and stop working. As winter sets in to the Portland area, this becomes increasingly dangerous for both myself and my partner who lives with me. So we started a gofundme in order to sustain potential repairs or replacement of our van. We thought this was it, as bad as it could be. After 4 years of living in a minivan, how much worse could it be?

As it were, fate had worse in store for us. Yesterday, Michael lost his job of 3 years at Intel unexpectedly, a casualty of automation in his field. While he has since applied elsewhere and has job prospects, it will be some time until he sees a paycheck, and funds are dwindling fast with bills due - like our phone bill and storage locker, two absolute necessities for us as we continue to face homelessness.

And then, to top it all off, today I was called today by my mother informing me that my father, her ex husband, had been struck by a car walking from his home and was in critical condition at our hometown hospital, some 2200 miles away from my roost in Oregon, back in Pittsburgh.

This news was the breaking point for me. I had been barely holding it together but now I’m inconsolable. I don’t have the funds to be there with him, and I have no chance of saying goodbye to the man who helped raise the man I am today.

My father and I weren’t particularly close in my later years but I still remember my childhood fondly, even if we had our problems- and even as he had his own, struggling most of his adult life with a crack (and later opioids) addiction. Alas, he’s still my dad, and I still care deeply about him and his well being. This news is simply too much to bear. I broke down. For the first time in a long time, I bawled like a baby. Loud, wet public sobs.

I’m at the lowest point of my life and I can’t catch a break. Dear audience, please allow me to lean on you and seek your support to alleviate some of our troubles - even if you can’t solve all of them. I’m publishing a link to the gofundme below, in hopes you might share it on your social feeds, or contribute (if you’re able). If not, I understand. I don’t typically ask my audience for much of anything, but as I’ve learned, people who don’t ask for help don’t get any. So please, consider helping us. We would be forever in your debt.

We hope to publish something more along our typical format soon.

RS

https://www.gofundme.com/f/michael-and-i-need-help-fixing-our-homeonwheels