Happy Mercury Day Beloveds!
around this time for the last few years I have opened up a tip jar to support my short and sweet end of summer breaks. this year, I am sharing an opportunity to support my mother (some of you know her as the priestess of The House of Liberation) in relocating to a sustainable home instead. below I share the story behind this communal invitation and drizzled all over it is my gratitude for your time and consideration.
We (my mother and I) are inviting our communities to support the completion of her renovation of a school bus into a tiny home! The intent of the transition into mobile living is to create the conditions wherein Angelique/Kohenet YA can attend to the reality of the impact that chronic grief and long-term acute trauma has had on her body-mind, be free of rent pressure, and travel to warmer climates for her mental health and communal projects with ease.
(scroll down to the TL;DR for the short version of this story if needed)
Many of you may recall there was a (very successful) attempt last year to gather resources to secure a new home for Angelique/Kohenet YA in the form of an RV. The pandemic had cancelled all her scheduled liberation work in community and has continued to obstruct a secure flow of income up until now, since her work has historically been in person.
The RV was secured due to the generous contributions of our communities and strangers!!! Yet after several weeks of difficult work to renovate the vehicle, it was discovered to have hidden severe water damage. Despite the literal blood, sweat, tears, and money already invested into the process it was decided to be beyond practical repair, so the appliances were salvaged and the shell remains to be sold.
What was left of the funds raised was used to purchase a school bus for which renovations are well under way, as those who have been following her documentation of the process on Patreon and social media know. The work has been done by very few hands and many gestures of generosity as the schoolie requires large spaces to reside in for the indefinite amount of time it will take to renovate it as resources have trickled in.
TL;DR: I’ll just be real with y’all. Since the brutal ground zero divorce in 2016 that wrecked our lives, my mother has barely been able to catch a fucking break between addressing ongoing mental and physical disability, financial instability, the back-to-back unexpected transition of her mother and grandmother, relational trauma, a car totaling accident and concussion, and god knows what else. Still, she’s shown up to her work in the world, her communities, and her priorities with rigor and integrity in addition to renovating her new home in DIY fashion. She (we) is tired.
We have done what Indigenous people have done since the beginning, which is pool resources between myself, my partner (who has also been unemployed due to the pandemic) and her to stay afloat. We are asking for support because it is just not possible to generate the resources necessary to sustain financial recovery, sustainability, AND renovate a bus into an entirely new home while being realistic about the capacity of her body-mind.
I know many of us are tired and strained after this last year; the support we are welcoming is that from a place of abundance, spaciousness, and a praxis of care work rooted in the understanding that we are the ones who fill in the gaps left by systemic neglect. And if you are at all familiar with the work Angelique/Kohenet YA offers, you know how necessary it is to the birthing of a new paradigm and that she can't continue if she's struggling through mental and physical health to meet her basic needs.
To complete this final phase of transition that will bring so much relief, freedom, and peace of mind to Angelique/Kohenet YA (and to me), we need the love and generosity of our beloved communities.
You will find specific details and a wishlist link to purchase schoolie items directly on the fundraising page. Thank you for taking the time to read this in support of me and my family. I am in awe and gratitude every day for your relationship to my work and for the overwhelming generosity of many of you over the years.