Update September 22, 2019: Rent is due in 3 days – we don’t have much time. Click here to go straight to the GoFundMe. Update 2: Rent is covered – now we’re aiming to raise another $300 by the 15th of October.
It was in late 2015 that I read the book “The Art of Asking” by Amanda Palmer. Since then, I’ve been trying to ask for help whenever I need it, and encourage others to do the same. As the economy slips into deeper and deeper inequality, there are more people than ever running campaigns to get by, to receive life-altering accessibility or life-saving medicine or medical care, or to avoid homelessness. Though I still doubt myself day to day, I’m learning to let go and let people help. In the past couple of months, you, my wonderful readers and friends, have furnished my work and living space, helped me get the equipment I need to start recording high-quality videos, and almost everything is in place for me to begin creating new things, and writing. My patrons have already been given this update, but I have returned to the retail workplace as a deli clerk, and have been working at a local grocery store for just over a month now. This is helping to pay the bills, and receiving Patreon every month helps tremendously.
A skull floats in space, the lower jaw separated from the rest of the skull. Between the two rows of teeth are written the words “Til death do us part.” 
“Pain.” White and black with a little red and gray paint a simply colored but complex and chaotic image of a person with long hair, looking slightly down, one eye black and one eye white, their face fatigued and haggard. 
Untitled. A skeleton over a black background framed in hanging pink bunches of flowers holds a partially burned cigarette between its teeth. 
“Exhaustion” This is a drawn picture of a many-layered face over the repeated word “exhaustion.” 
“Bipolar disorder” a blue person appears over the repeated words “Manic depressive” from the chest up, and their face, looking to the right, is cut away in an off-circle to reveal another face, this one pink, looking forward. 
“The Grey.” A painting of a head with the eyes and mouth smudged in grey.
Because I’ve learned to ask, I’ve encouraged a friend who needs help and also makes astounding artwork to start a Patreon and GoFundMe. Her name is Ana, and she paints with dark intensity that will entice any fan of the dark existential things I like to talk about here on my blog. Her poems are equally vivid descriptions of living with depression. I’ve included several of her paintings in this post with image descriptions. Ana is deaf, and a hearing aid costs over $6000 – but jobs are nearly impossible to find without a proper hearing aid. This double bind made me want to help her, so I started a GoFundMe campaign to help her get by and replace her hearing aid. While both of these are great platforms, she still has zero patrons and we’re far from our goal on GoFundMe.
While it would be wonderful if you can donate to the fund or pledge to support her art, the most ideal way for Ana to get by is to sell her art. If any of these paintings strike your fancy, please consider buying a print or original of one of them by messaging her Facebook page.
Thank you, all of you, for your continued support. I will be back with more writings and things when possible, but for now, I hope my little blog can make a difference in someone’s life.