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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Before we begin, Ashley wanted me to let everyone know that Belle Journal, who I linked to a while back, met their fundraising goal!

Ways To Give:

Anon has a post up asking for help raising funds for some fairly necessary and urgent dental work. The post linked to here is an anonymized account, but they have contact information there for anyone who wants to help.

Anon linked to a call for help by thesmilingfish on Tumblr, who is losing their apartment soon and needs to raise money for moving expenses. They're offering drabbles and manips in exchange for donations.

Aerialist linked to a petition to help get American circus arts officially recognised as an art form in the USA, the way they are in Europe and Canada. This could help with how grants and funds are distributed to the arts, which could in turn help fund great new circuses and performance venues.

iamshadow reminded me it has been a while since I linked to Better World Books, which accepts gently used books and sells them to raise money for literacy efforts. Also, it's the time of year for communities and NFPs to apply for Better World LEAP grants. YAY READING.

News To Know:

Rebecca reminded me to post here about the protest going on over Orson Scott Card, vocal and active bigot, being hired by DC comics to write a Superman story for an anthology. Many comics stores are choosing not to carry the anthology; Hater Free Wednesdays has a post up about it, and there's a petition to remove him from the title here.

Claire linked to an amazing story about a gay couple who found a baby in the subway...and then adopted him. Ten years and change later, the judge who urged the men to adopt got to perform their marriage ceremony. Seriously, this story is made of 100% awesome.

Lorena linked to a...very complicated post about the IRS and independent contractors. I don't really understand it myself but apparently the poster worked for a company as an independent contractor and the IRS changed a tax law, with the result that he is owed back taxes he paid in previous years. There's a time limit on how long you can go before correcting a tax error like that, so you may want to look into it if you've worked as an independent contractor.

Contests!

Ria linked to a contest being run by Lur, a sustainable clothing company, focused on women as Sustainable Leaders for work in eco-friendly or people-friendly areas. The winner gets $500 to the charity of their choice, and $500 worth of clothing from Lur. Go and nominate, or go and enter!

Rebecca linked me to the Hater Free Wednesday tumblr's graphic design contest, accepting submissions for logos to print on fundraising merch and stickers for awesome comic shops. HFW is an awesome resource for activism in comics fandom, particularly the ongoing battle to make comic book stores safe places for everyone, and as something of a founding contributor I strongly support it :)

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can always post items for my attention in comments here (or on any post) or email me at copperbadge at gmail dot com. If you're not sure how to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!).

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I keep sitting down to try and write a post and not knowing where to start. AUGH THERE IS ALL THIS STUFF YOU GUYS.

I haven't written-written much in months, not really. Little things, here and there, but work on big things -- fanfic or otherwise -- pretty much ground to a halt somewhere around October of last year. I can't figure out whether it's anything to do with Mama Tickey; at this point I am not actually sure whether I am depressed or not and if so, if her death is a part of that. AWESOME.

I had wanted to designate March as a month to get some hardcore writing in, but so far it's not shaping up that way. On the upside, I did manage to get out of the apartment yesterday, down to the Art Institute and the Picasso & Chicago exhibit that's going on there. It's a really excellent exhibit and there are a bunch of tie-ins around the Museum, showcasing Picasso's influence on the modern art world.

So, sometimes you write a novel, sometimes you go to an art museum. If this is as hard as my life gets I think I'll be okay.

I have managed to sort out about 99% of the inheritance stuff. My request for a partial disbursal of money went through on the investments side; I'm just waiting to see if that money will actually show up in my bank. It's been kind of fun. I'm not much for finances or math, but I do love research.

RESEARCH! *jazz hands*