Women of Color Want To Go To The AMC!
I've got some updates, They'll be in red for those of you who have already read the post...Thank you to everyone who donated so that I can keep my traction unit. I'm down to less than $100 to pay for it, and we can definitely scrape that together ourselves without much difficulty. You have no idea how relieved I am! I get to keep it! YAY!
But...there are others who need your help in the next few weeks,
the Allied Media Conference is coming up and several bloggers are going but can't cover their expenses. The AMC is open to anyone of any age, race, ethnicity, etc, but is about alternative media and media justice. The focus is on marginalized communities and people having their opportunity to communicate to the world. This was a sticking point for many of us who went to WAM!, we felt like much of that conference was for people looking for "fame and fortune", the ones who already have an audience, who are being heard, but want to add to it and make a career out of it. They want more than just being a popular blogger, they want to also be a pundit or mainstream media personality, or have book contracts, or a gig with a big name magazine publisher. WAM! is all about capitalism and careerism, and the AMC is about being heard in the first place, just being heard. I think that's why it's so much more important as a conference to WOC and other marginalized communities. Do you see why it is so frustrating when white feminists project their desires on us, when they say, "You're just jealous!" of a book deal or popular blog, because they think everyone else wants fame and fortune just like them? This is what they hope to get out of blogging, for WOC we want to be heard and taken seriously and for people to be inspired to act on what we write. Media as a means of social justice is the goal.
Anyway, I know I've asked for my readers to help me out, now I am asking you to help out some others if you are able.
Little Light also needs your donations and she's getting a late start on the fundraising. So if you are able drop some change into her tip jar too. If this writing isn't worth a donation, I don't know what is: The Seam of Skin and Scales.I stole the script for Sydette/BlackAmazon's paypal button from a cached copy of a webpage at Having Read the Fine Print, so that you can donate to get her to the AMC. Click the button and send her to Detroit!
Ms CripChick has reached her goal and is no longer fundraising. Thanks to everyone who donated!Lex will be there! Please help her to cover some of the expenses.
Mamita Mala is going too, and wants to take her children. As I said, the AMC is for all ages, there are activities for the children to learn how to get their own message out.
Give her a helping hand.Noemi and Vicki are also
fundraising for the AMC.
Tigera Consciente will be
traveling to the AMC also. The Paypal button is a little ways down the sidebar, but it's there!
Kameelah is also going to the AMC and
needs some help to get there.
Aaminah was planning on attending, but the last I heard she will be unable to go. If circumstances change I'll update this post.
The same is true for Sudy at
A Womyn's Ecdysis, she will not be going. Instead she is going to the Philippines! I don't know if she is fundraising for that trip, and she doesn't have a paypal button on her site that I can find anyway. I will update when I find out more.
I just wanted to say one last thing. When I was fundraising I had some people apologize that their donations couldn't be more. Don't do that! Just think if 100 people are embarrassed that all they have is $5 to donate and don't do it, then the person fundraising still has ZERO dollars, but if they all gave $5 then the person fundraising has $500! Also my plan is to give something every week from what I have, it might not be much, but it helps, and I will choose a new person from the list to give to, or if I have something like 20 or 30 dollars, I might choose two and give $10 or $15 each. We have about 5 weeks to go until the AMC, let's see what we can do together to make sure that this trip isn't a hardship for any WOC to go.
I'm No Longer In Deep Doo Doo!
YIPPEE! HURRAY! YAHOOOOOOOO! Thank you so much for your help everyone. I get to keep it! The fundraiser was a success and I only have to come up with just under $100 to pay for it, we can manage that. *whew* Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!People who read my blog know that I have some sort of chronic ailment. I have 3 herniated discs and a bone spur which cause me pain most of the time, but usually it's manageable. When it first happened and I was in pain all the time I actually contemplated suicide, I didn't think I could live in pain like this all the time, but that was back in 2000 and my sons were still young and needed me, that's what convinced me to hold on. As time goes on you get "used to it", it sounds funny thinking that someone can get used to being in pain all the time, but you do. Even though the pain is sometimes worse than it was back then, I never think about suicide now, because I got used to it and find ways to manage my life around it.
While I was in Wisconsin my doctor became very concerned because my left arm was losing it's reflexes. You know how the doctor might test your knee with one of those little rubber mallets and it jumps? There are areas in the arm that can be tested like that, and mine didn't jump. The weird part is that my legs when tested jumped like crazy, almost kicking straight out. The doctor said that is a very bad sign, because when you lose the reflexes in one part of your body the other parts overcompensate. Anyway he wanted me to get bone graft fusions done on the two worst discs, I had already been to see one surgeon who was willing to do the surgery and was scheduled to see a second surgeon for a second opinion when my husband got the transfer to New Hampshire. There is no way I could have the surgery without him there to help me recover, so I put it on hold until I could get to NH.
When I went to see a surgeon here, he looked at my MRI's and questioned me about my pain, and refused to do the surgery. He said it wouldn't help since the worst of my pain was in the right side of my neck/back but everything that would be repaired would only fix the problems on my left side. Not only that but when he tested my reflexes in my left arm they were weak but they were back and my leg reflexes were normal. Instead he recommended I see a
physiatrist. My physiatrist has been trying out a little bit of everything, I have 6 different prescriptions, plus I go to physical therapy three times a week, I've had trigger point injections, and I have a
tens unit and the latest is a
home traction unit.
The home traction unit is the problem here. I just got a bill from my insurance company and I found out we have a $500 deductible. I don't have frigging $500! I need this traction unit, when I do have pain or numbness on my left side it relieves it IMMEDIATELY. I have been so much better with my arm since going to physical therapy and using the home traction unit that my arm only rarely goes numb and probably only has pain a couple times a month, compared to every day when I started. Not only that, but I'm not sure if I can send it back. I don't want to send it back since I need it, but I don't have frigging $500!
I'm embarrassed and ashamed to be asking my readers to help me again so soon after I begged for funds for WAM! but I don't know what else to do. I'm especially embarrassed since I never did send personal thank yous to everyone who helped with the first fundraiser, I had been offline for nearly 3 weeks because of a flare up and still haven't caught up with everything online. Anyway, if you can help, with any amount no matter how small, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty desperate here.
Spine-Health.com has
alot more information about cervical spine herniations and injuries. Check out the video on the right, the reason I have three herniations is due to degenerative disc disease and that is what the video is about. The discs affected in my case are C4 through C7.
And the Gold Medal Goes to....
Right from the horse's mouth, in
USA Today Hillary Clinton said:
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
That's right, she's convinced that whites are racist and will not vote for a black man, but sexism isn't a problem here at all, they will vote for a white woman. So Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Erica Jong et al can just shut their mouths about sexism being the worst oppression because their heroine has just awarded the Gold in the Oppression Olympics to racism.
Unfortunately for her, I believe she is wrong and the racists she is courting are also sexists, because they are Republicans. They are giving her a boost in the primaries but when it comes right down to it her white working class Archie Bunkers will vote for the white guy in the general. I also believe this is why so many of her supporters say they will not vote for Obama if she isn't the candidate, because some of them are Limbaugh's operation chaos monkeys, and others would prefer an election where they have the choice of two Republicans and Hillary Clinton is a right of center DLC corporate stooge. If you want a Republican, why vote for the Republican-lite candidate though? They won't vote for Obama, but they also won't vote for Clinton in the general.
For more reading:
Bob Herbert at the NYT-
Seeds of DestructionEugene Robinson at WaPo-
The Card Clinton Is PlayingDerrick Z Jackson at the Boston Globe-
Clinton's diminishing of black voters
Can't Afford a New Pair of Glasses?
Now you can! I'm surfing my bookmarks and get over to Soapbox Blog and CLD has gotten herself
a new pair of prescription sunglasses for $27 including shipping! "No freaking way!", I thought but, yeah, it's true. She tried out
Zenni Optical and a commenter says that she and her husband have bought glasses there with no problems too. So with the cost of gas, home heating/cooling, groceries, everything going sky high and killing your budget you might have thought that you would have to wear the same old pair of glasses until they break (and then tape 'em) because it would be one more thing you can't afford. Well now it looks like you can! Too cool.
Speaking of saving money on prescriptions, I've heard that the best prices for prescription medicines is through
Costco online and I heard you don't have to be a member. I heard this years ago so you might want to double check that by contacting them, it still might be worth it to join if you see that you'll save big.
If anyone has any other ideas for saving money leave a comment and I'll add to the post.
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