Hey folks,

For some of you, it’s been a year since I last checked in on my personal situation, for which I apologize. The instability of my life over the past couple of years has finally settled down, but not yet to the point where I’m being particularly sociable. I’ll work on it. 🙂

When last I wrote about all this in May 2015, Revel and I had at last found stable housing, after seven months of homelessness while we dealt with apartment leases for units that were, to put it gently, not habitable. Aside from the hassle of not having a home, that little escapade blew through about $11,000 before we had extricated ourselves from two bad leases. That, in turn, left us economically…fragile. But we had a place to live, and we were about to get married.

Which we did, on May 29, 2015, so we just celebrated our one-year anniversary! Special thanks to Rev. Anne Hall, her husband Dave, and Allena Gabosch for a ceremony that was simple but memorable.

Unfortunately, for me last year was dominated by a body-wide e coli infection in June that was very nearly lethal. With my compromised immune system, it settled into my right ankle joint and took eight months, multiple hospitalizations, the threat (at one point) of amputation, and a couple of rounds of daily home IV infusions to finally get rid of.

It was harrowing, but we did it, and as I catch up on all the secondary issues I couldn’t deal with during the infection, my health is as good now as it’s been in several years (knock wood). Revel, who heroically set aside treatment on some of her chronic problems while we were dealing with my acute one, is also now addressing those; her health, too, is slowly improving. But in the wake of several months of illness, I also lost the (very part-time) jobs that were helping keep us financially afloat.

Through all this, I’ve continued to be politically active; especially on homelessness and housing issues, and still holding forth in print and each week on KEXP’s Mind Over Matters (Saturdays, 8:30-9 AM on 90.3 FM Seattle, or streamed or archived on www.kexp.org). I’m hoping also to launch a new web site this summer that will fill some of the same functions for me as an uncensored platform as Eat the State! did for many years, only brought into the 21st century with radio podcasts and videos, graphic content, and social media all part of the package. Stay tuned.

The down side to all this, of course, is that with several months of serious illness I have yet to manage to build financial stability to the point where we can absorb unexpected expenses, and in the past couple of weeks we’ve had several of them: prescription drug purchases that weren’t expected or covered (or adequately covered) by insurance, upcoming medical procedures (ditto), a surprise $4,000 home health care bill last week dating to those home IV infusions in January and February, car repairs and licensing (minor, but it adds up – it’s not really driveable now), and so on. A turnip only has so much blood. After the latest hit today I have about $8 to my name. It’s two weeks until the next paycheck I’m sure of.

And, so, one last time, what I want and need more than anything else is your financial help. The PayPal button (lower right) that takes credit cards or whatever; my address is still PO Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145, or call me to make arrangements.

This is beyond frustrating. I hate to ask once again, but it really is what I need – and I’m so close, in health, housing, and my ability to work more actively again in the community. Giving back has never been an issue, but changing the world is a gig that doesn’t pay well. The less time that I need to spend stressed out about how to afford groceries – and that’s a very real problem right now – the more I can focus on improving my health and getting back more actively into the local media and activism scene.

If you value the media, activism, and political work I do in the community, and would like to help me do more of it without the emotional and health stress of being unable to pay my bills, I’d really appreciate your help. I know and appreciate that many of you are stretched thin yourselves; every little bit helps. Even without the $4k bill – which I may or may not be able to delay or avoid – I’m probably looking at $2,000 in immediate, unexpected expenses. I’m also intent on giving back to those of you who’ve helped already, but first we need to get on our feet for good. Whatever amount you can offer, as a loan or a gift, would help us hugely.

And as my life (hopefully) normalizes, I do want to get back into more regular contact with my friends. If we haven’t communicated recently, please let me know how you are doing, and when we can talk and see each other. Hit me up – by social media, e-mail, phone or text.

Happy upcoming solstice, and many, many thanks – Geov