(no subject)

Good morning everyone! Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways To Give:

forests_of_fire linked to a fundraiser for ambelies, who has had to withdraw from school due to heart problems and cancer, but whose only source of income was school financial aid, which is now withdrawn as well. She is raising money for gas and doctor's appointments, food, and other necessities.

chicleeblair is raising money for rent and expenses while she is unable to work during an unexpectedly long recovery from surgery. She's also looking for freelance or work-from-home opportunity recommendations.

ofearthandstars linked to a fundraiser for a friend who is trying to leave an abusive marriage where she is not permitted to hold a job or have access to the family finances. The majority of the money raised is to cover lawyer fees for the divorce; anything after that goes to childcare for her children and the expenses of a new place to live.

nifki linked to a fundraiser to help dhamphir, whose water heater has died and led to the discovery of extensive repairs that need to be made to bring the house up to code. She is on disability, so the $1200 needed is an issue for her.

Anon's friend Ger's house in Boston was flooded recently, and Ger is raising funds to support herself (and potentially cover losses that insurance may not) through the sales of her self-published book, Breaking All The Rules: Cosplay And The Art Of Self-Expression. It looks like a great book that you can purchase for a good cause!

mammothluv is raising funds for a friend, Colette, who is saving up for facial feminization surgery. They're offering fanworks of various kinds (including graphics for journals, fanmixes, gif sets, and other fannish stuff) as thanks for donations!

veedub is raising money in order to travel to Brazil to speak at a Pagan Pride event in October and perform some Feri Tradition initiations. They're in need of airfare to Brazil plus train and bus fair in Brazil, but they're couch-surfing while there so no hotel money is required.

shwoop linked to a fundraiser for Ollie, a cat with luxating patella (a dislocated knee cap) whose owner does not currently have the funds for the surgery needed to fix it and prevent severe arthritis.

Christina linked to a fundraiser for Ponyride, which is working to renovate its mixed-creative space in Detroit (with a dance studio, workshop, and administrative offices) to help creative small businesses grow. They have some really cool donation perks!

Help For Free:

jjhunter linked to a petition to support Spozhmai, a young Afghan girl who was forced into a suicide-bomb vest by her father and rescued by a a soldier who spotted the vest. She is appealing not to be sent back to her family and the MoveOn petition (while a little short on functional detail) asks President Karzai to provide her with a safe environment in which to be a kid.

tealin linked to a petition asking cloudflare.com (a hosting site) to cease hosting chimpmania, a website pretty much chock-a-block with racist screeds and highly active in cyberbullying. I had a look at chimpmania and it is fucking appalling. You can read more and sign the petition here.

Housing:

kenzafiction is starting a new job in Los Angeles mid-February and looking for leads on a studio or 1br apartment beyond Craigslist and Westsiderentals. Month-to-month preferred for the moment; looking for the westside (West LA, Culver City, Santa Monica, etc.), but will also consider Sherman Oaks and its environs. You can read more and get in touch here.

News To Know:

Anon got in touch with me after last week's link to transclothesswap to point out some problematic wank on the community with regards to non-binary-gendered folks. I could wish for a little more context on the post, but it's good information to have in making a decision about supporting the site.

Just For Fun:

jjhunter is hosting the Words and Deeds Love Meme 4 Jan. 18th - Feb. 2nd. Let's celebrate the things we say, do and make! All are welcome regardless of whether you have a Dreamwidth account.

kenzafiction has a friend, Brian, who has just released his documentary on the history of Star Wars toys. "If you have friends in the Star Wars fandom or who are collectors, please pass this along! This was a true labor of love for him as fan and collector, as well as a professional journalist." You can read more and watch a 12 minute preview here.

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!).

(no subject)

This morning I went apartment-hunting using an old but effective "walk around and write down the names of apartment buildings" method.

It worked much better than basically anything else I've tried, including "get a rental agent" and "abuse google maps shamelessly". Mind you, I'm still bending google maps to my will. To start I took a notebook, drew a map of the area I was investigating, and scribbled notes all over it as I walked; I'm pretty sure at one point I was suspected of being some kind of stalker. Once I got home I transferred all the notes into a My Places map and then colour-coded them in terms of how attainable they were.

The neighborhood I'm looking at is described as an "enclave" by nearly every property management company and realtor whose website I looked at. I've never lived in an enclave before. What does one do?

Most of the places I looked at were condo buildings, which wasn't wholly unexpected. And maybe it's time to consider buying. Clearly looking outside Chicago for jobs didn't go optimally for me, and I like the city. There are, I came to realise when I decided Baltimore wasn't my style, very few places I would leave Chicago for, and many of those are disqualified anyway by reason of being in other countries. So maybe it's time to stop clinging, white-knuckled, to the concept of "I cannot be pinned to one place by this kind of financial responsibility".

I know some of you who read this journal are in your teens, and I think you should know that maturing is a painful, frightening process and I don't blame you one bit if you avoid it for as long as you possibly can.