(no subject)

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

dreamwaffles linked to a fundraiser for Miranda, a close friend who is escaping an abusive home; yesterday morning she was assaulted by her father and is planning to live in her car until she can get her feet under her, but hoping she doesn't have to. You can read more and help her afford a safe living situation here.

guineapigwithaflamethrower recently had a really terrible day (the anniversary of her father's death) and spilled an entire glass of wine on her laptop, which now needs to be replaced; as a receptionist at a rape-crisis center she's not exactly wealthy. You can read more and donate at her youcaring; also if anyone has a line on a used macbook they'd be willing to sell, you can get in touch via tumblr. (I know her a bit and she's really good people; this is a suck thing to have happen on an already terrible day.)

rionsanura linked to a fundraiser for Tredici Bacci, an italian-cinema-soundtrack inspired band/chamber orchestra. They're trying to get to South By Southwest but will be playing without compensation, so they need travel funding. You can read more and give here; I think $10 for their entire discography in download form is a pretty good deal, having listened to some of their tunes. You can also check out the group on Band Camp here but warning the banner is a little NSFW (butts!).

rilee16 is still struggling to cover medical expenses after two head injuries last year, and hasn't been cleared to return to work, thus can't earn money to cover basic living costs, let alone the bills they've received, including a recent rent increase. They literally have no money left until their next worker's comp check comes, which means no gas money for their car, so they can't get anywhere to do odd jobs for bill money. You can read more and help out here.


Help For Free:

brainwane has a post up calling for volunteers with fluent written English to provide 90-minute online English tutoring sessions between now and April 3rd. This will be helping non-US students applying for (primarily tech) internships who are at a disadvantage because of undeveloped written English skills, who need some kind, nonjudgemental help with their written applications. You can read more and find out how to help here.


Activism:

Alma linked to Children Of A Different Sky, a forthcoming story anthology which is raising funds for refugee aid. You can read more and support the Indiegogo here.

I'm relinking this week to She's Running, a new podcast about women running for local, state, and federal office. The podcast interviews women about their inspirations, support systems, and challenges. You can listen to the first episode here or on iTunes -- and remember to rate and review if you do! (I really enjoyed episode one; I haven't listened to episode two yet but I'm looking forward to it.)


And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. 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!). If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

BASEBALL IS COMING

Now that most of the farm leagues have their 2017 game schedules finalized, I’ve been building my summer baseball calendar. My stepdad got me a ten-game pass to the Railcats for Christmas, but I’m also within an hour’s train ride of the Cougars, Boomers, and Slammers (sounds like the title of a hip anthropology book about middle-aged white people). So I have a calendar set up to list which games I can get to, and which games I should especially try for. Sadly, it looks like I won’t be seeing the Wingnuts play this year.

All of the teams have “theme nights” meant to draw crowds; there’s almost always a Star Wars Night, a Christmas In July, a Bark At The Park where you can bring your dog, a “Halfway to Halloween” costume night, and interestingly a Princess Night. There are lots of firework nights and a few all-you-can-eat nights and cheap draft beer nights. 

But I think my favorite so far is that the Kane County Cougars have a Peanut Free Night. I’m not so allergic to peanuts that I can’t even be around them, but some people are, and peanuts are all the fuck over the place at ball games, particularly non-MLB games. So despite not ever having seen the Cougars play, they have already endeared themselves to me for that. (I can’t actually go to the Peanut Free Night game, but I’ll be cheering for them in spirit.)

If I do it right I can attend every Bark in the Park, two Star Wars, Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, two all-you-can-eats (one is crawfish, which seems…unwise) and something called Strike Out Stroke Night which I think could have been better named. 

And maybe I’ll take out a small loan and go to a Cubs game at some point. 

BASEBALL! 

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