This diary is an update on my life, including my ongoing adventures in substitute teaching, getting my teaching credential, my critters, Covid-19 precautions AND a request for financial assistance. I will cover here my current and future needs, justification, explain Patreon and Digital Creation, Kickstarter, and my Teaching Credential progress.
If you do not like such diaries, please move along.
Thank you.
First, for April, I am asking for $1200 in contributions either direct contributions via GoFundMe, PayPal, OR monthly subscriptions via Patreon or PayPal. I will be needing about $2400 per month through October, probably, when I hope I will be an intern teacher, maybe if there is a school year next year.
No-Cost Ways to Support: REC, TIP, COMMENT, SHARE This Post
• Patreon • GoFundMe • Ko-Fi •
• PayPal (James at JamesThomasGreen.com) •
Sending me Pet Supplies means I don’t have to expend my scarce funds
Amazon Wishlists: Pet Supplies • Clothing • Random Gifts
Follow Me: Email List Signup • DKos • YouTube • Facebook • Twitter • Patreon
JUSTIFICATION:
I am disabled and have a wide range of risk factors for Covid-19. I am 60 years old, a cancer survivor, diabetic, obese, asthmatic, and probably have cardiac issues. I have multiple very large surgical hernias that prevent me from safely lifting more than 20 pounds at a time, thus limiting my ability to do jobs where lifting is required.
While the statistics for death from Covid-19 is often current stated to be somewhere between 1% to 3%, that statistic is the overall rate. When you consider my cocktail of medical issues ranging from being a cancer survivor, diabetic, obese, asthma, and cardiac issues, my odds of dying are more likely to be 20-30%, and that assumes I don’t get triaged off to cot in a corridor as not worth the effort when so many others with fewer risk factors are needing help.
I only worked ten days in March as a substitute teacher, thus leaving me quite short. This is why I am asking for $1200 for this month.
In will need about $2400 per month each month until October when I (hopefully) will either be a teacher in a teaching credential program from CSU Monterey Bay, OR I will return to yet another term as a substitute teacher, depending on how circumstances shake out.
The mortgage on my father’s house is held by Bank of America. BofA is one of the large banks who have said they will not give substantial relief in paying mortgages due, and when they do, it is only for a month-by-month basis, and in the end, they will be demanding ALL the amounts due all at once. This effectively means that if they ultimately give me six months of grace, at the end of that time when the emergency declaration is over, I will have to pay six months of payments due at once. In spite of some happy-talk among some, I’ve spoken to this both here and elsewhere, I have no reason to think that BofA, who is among the most bloodthirsty of the big banks, would not hesitate to kick me and my critters out into the street as soon as they possibly could given the predatory behavior of banks in 2008. Therefore I feel that I must, if possible, keep up the payments during this period.
As I type this, I just finished my 2019 taxes, and I was hoping for a refund, but no. Several of the districts I work for did not take out ANY deductions in 2019, and therefore I owe about $1100 in taxes, and I have no idea why they did that nor how I’m going to deal with this situation.
If I fall behind in my payments I doubt I could catch up in the end, and I could end up losing everything when the emergency is over, assuming I survive the emergency.
I realize that I am far from the only person who is potentially in trouble.
If I can’t raise the funds I need online, I will likely have to go out into the world and attempt to find something to do to try to earn something.
PATREON and DIGITAL CREATION:
Whereas I am mostly asking for direct contributions this month, in the long run, I am hoping that you will help me by subscriptions via PATREON.
Note, this was my original plan to pay for my teaching credential, which it still is, but I’m unveiling this plan sooner in order to keep living indoors until then.
PATREON works as a way to support online digital creators, such as artists, videographers, writers, et cetera, via a monthly contribution of a set amount that the Patrons (you) select. This amount can be any amount and could be as low as $5 a month to much more.
PATREON depends on what I call microsponsorship, meaning that many people will give low amounts, $5 to $100 a month, but together they all add up to enough for the artist (me) to survive.
My primary PATREON account is set up as a monthly subscription and it supports my online digital creativity, such as the examples I’ve posted herein. The same amount is charged each month regardless of how many works are produced, whether one or fifty.
All of my digital work will end up on this monthly PATREON account, eventually, and this is where the second class of Patreon account comes in.
There is a second class of PATREON accounts where the Patrons pay support by each piece created and posted. In other words, if someone (me) posts nothing, then nothing is charged the Patrons (you) each month. If the creator (again me) posts something every day, then the Patrons (again you) would be charged whatever amount they pledged at the end of the month. With the pay-per-piece accounts, the Patron (you) can set a maximum monthly amount. For example, if you pledge $1 per piece, but you didn’t want to go more than $10, you would set a monthly limit of $10 and if I posted 30 items in a month, you would only get a $10 charge as I had gone beyond your set maximum amount.
The pay-per-piece PATREON model serves to encourage a creator (yet again me) to actually create stuff and post it in the appropriate Patreon account. I am in the process of setting up several pay-per-month accounts including:
Patreon-JTG Politics
Patreon-JTG Critters
Patreon-Random Reverberations
Patreon-Mister Green Teacher
Patreon-JTGenealogy
Patreon-JTGourmet
So if you particularly enjoy pictures and videos of my dogs and cats, you can pledge there. If you enjoy my political cartoons and videos, you can pledge there. And so on. This has a feedback effect in that if many people pledge in JTG Critters, but few pledges in JTG Politics, I will put a lot more attention in posting pictures of my doggos and kittahs.
Everything will end up in the Monthly PATREON, eventually, although the specialized accounts will get the posts first, a few days earlier.
So if you have read through that, to start, please pledge something to my MONTHLY PATREON.
Then you can later also pledge to one or more of my specific pay-per-item PATREONS.
I hope that eventually, I will get enough pledges via PATREON that I do not need to ask for direct funding to make up the difference between PATREON income and my actual needs.
Please let me know in the comments if this makes sense. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.
KICKSTARTER PROJECTS
Kickstarter is a way for creators to raise funds for a creative project, such as art, books, et cetera. It works like this, a creator (like me) posts a discription of a proposed project with a pledge period of weeks to months. If the amount needed to proceed is met, the project proceeds until it is complete and delivered, usually within 60 days of the end of the pledge period.
I am planning at this point, at least two Kickstarter projects as written documents, and if enough people contribute, I will expand them to audiobooks and physical books.
Mister Green’s Substitute Teaching Daze: I have been a substitute teacher for the past four years. I have taught in every grade level from pre-school through twelfth grade. I have taught in about thirty different schools spread out over seven different districts. In that time I have aquired a lot of stories along with a lot of photographs and student drawn fan art. I will write about my experiences as a sub, leaving out names of students, schools, and districts. I’ll talk about the fun and the cute. i’ll talk abut the more serious, like the kid who said he was going to “kill you with a knife”. I will talk abut teaching ideas and techniques. I will post pictues of murals, indoors and outside, at different schools. I will talk about advise for other substitute teacher, as well as tips for regular teachers on how to write sub plans.
Caregiving my Dad: In 2000 my father went into hospital for what was supposed to be “routine” heart bypass surgery. The problems evolved when he got a surgical infection and nearly died. I refused to allow his life support to be terminated until the medical staff could prove he was not going to make it. Their arguments seemed to revolve around “he’s old” (72). At one point the head cardiac nurse and the head social worker of the hospital had me in a meeting room for over an hour telling me things like I was being selfish, I needed to let go, and that if Dad did live, he would be in a vegetative state and “you don’t want that”. However I spent almost every minute I could for months in the ICU talking to him and eventually Dad pulled out, and he was still there mentally, but I became his caregiver for the rest of his life. I will tell about his recovery, and the additional fifteen years he got in large part due to my refusal to give up on him until he died five year ago.
I will also include parts of Dad’s life, such as being a nuclear veteran as he was on the first survey naval ship to visit Bikini a few months after it was nuked.
I do not have either of those set up yet, but i will in coming weeks.
In the meantime, to get a head start, please go set up your own Kickstarter account, and then when I launch the pledge period, you can then pledge.
Please let me know in the comments if this makes sense. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments. Also, without any expectation of ultimate committment, do either or both of these sound like things you would like to see made.
TEACHING CREDENTIAL UPDATE:
The future of my teaching credential is currently uncertain. For one thing, it is not clear at this point if there even will be classes in the 2020-2021 school year. If there are going to be classes, then I have two options, Paid Teaching Internship or Unpaid Student Teacher. Here’s the difference.
Paid Teaching Internship:
As a teaching intern, I would be hired as a teacher at a regular teacher’s salary. I would teach during the day and then go to my credential classes in the evening and online. This is my prefered option. This is a two-year program.
Unpaid Student Teacher:
If I were to become a student teacher, I would not be paid. I would be essentially free labor for the school. This is a one year program. I prefer not to go this route unless my Patreon income rises to a high enough level for me to have a reliable income beginning in April going through until October 2022 when I hopefully will be a working and paid teacher in my own classroom.
If I cannot get either a paid teaching internship or enough funding pledges to spend 15 months as an unpaid student teacher, then I will either have to return to be a substitute teacher, or find something else I can do to live indoors.
Please let me know in the comments if this makes sense. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.
My CRITTERS
Some of you have been aware of my critters, four dogs and three cats, along with several ferals
They are:
Dogs: Dorcas, Zorrita, Brunhilda, Fenris
Cats: Anubis, Apophis, Na’at
My critters are very entertaining and demand a lot of attention. They, however, have paid me back in huge ways in that often over the years since Dad died, my critters have sometimes been the only light that has kept me from giving up. I do not think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say that I might not be living indoors, or even living at all, if not for them.
The puppies are all siblings and I was there when they were born. Unfortunately, the mother, Delight, got out of the yard about a year ago.
Anubis is the elder cat and he won’t come inside anymore, so I feed him on the front porch. He seems like he’s still plump and healthy even though he is now about 15.
Apophis I rescued from a storeroom at the local junior college. He was present when the puppies were born. When they were born, I took their damp bodies and rubbed them on his face so he could get used to their smell, and vice versa. Apophis has been somewhat listless and sleeps all the time. I hope he’s OK, but taking him to a vet is not financially feasible right now.
Na’at, is named after the Egyptian goddess of justice and is the baby of the house. I rescued her off the front porch. She has quite a lot of personality.
If you have any questions about any or all of my critters, please ask in the comments.
If you can send me pet food and flea meds via my AMAZON PET SUPPLIES WISH LIST, I and my critters would be grateful.
Please Support my Diaries, Creativity, Activism, and Activities
No-Cost Ways to Support: REC, TIP, COMMENT, SHARE This Post
• Patreon • GoFundMe • Ko-Fi • Kickstarter •
• PayPal (James at JamesThomasGreen.com) •
Sending me Pet Supplies means I don’t have to expend my scarce funds
Amazon Wishlists: Pet Supplies • Clothing • Random Gifts
Follow Me: Email List Signup • DKos • YouTube • Facebook • Twitter • Patreon
ANTI-COVID19 MASKS
One way you can help Both me AND help DKos’s own Sara and Ann is by ordering and sending me a 5-pack of their home-made masks for $40 plus $7.75 shipping. If I wind up working as a teacher, either substitute or regular, anytime during this school year, I will need them when I return to a classroom. If I start teaching again before a vaccine is developed, masks would be helpful to keep me from getting Covid19 from the walking Petri dishes. They would be helpful for merely going out in public, medical visits, food banks, et cetera.
If you are interested in sending me a set of masks, please kosmail me and I’ll send you my home address.
If you have read through all that, thank you.
#jtg
Friday, Apr 10, 2020 · 1:55:26 AM +00:00
·
jtg
RUNNING TOTAL:
Goal: $1200.00
Raised: $1086.00
Remainder: $0074.00
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I am close to achieving this month’s goal. I anticipate needing $2400 in May as I have zero income this month, and I am not counting on any money from the government nor unemployment until/unless I get it in my account. Thus if you are able, I would appreciate if you contributed to me now for next month if you are able.
In addition, my monthly Patreon Subscription pledges now total $101, starting next month, thus reducing the amount I need to request next month (anticipated to be $2400).
LINKS:
ORIGINAL NEEDS DIARY
PayPal (James -at- JamesThomasGreen.com)
GoFundMe • Ko-Fi • Amazon Pet Wishlist • Patreon
Kosmail for postal address
Friday, Apr 17, 2020 · 3:44:32 AM +00:00
·
jtg
RUNNING TOTAL:
Goal: $1200.00
Raised: $1111.00
Remainder: $0089.00
-------—
I am close to achieving this month’s goal. I anticipate needing $2400 in May as I have zero income this month, and I am not counting on any money from the government nor unemployment until/unless I get it in my account. Thus if you are able, I would appreciate if you contributed to me now for next month if you are able.
In addition, my monthly Patreon Subscription pledges now total $101, starting next month, thus reducing the amount I need to request next month (anticipated to be $2400).
LINKS:
ORIGINAL NEEDS DIARY
PayPal (James -at- JamesThomasGreen.com)
GoFundMe • Ko-Fi • Amazon Pet Wishlist • Patreon
Kosmail for postal address
Thursday, Apr 23, 2020 · 9:51:11 PM +00:00
·
jtg
WE HAVE A WOOT!
I am have achieved this month's goal with a little towards next month.
My goal for May is $2400 as I have zero income this month, and I am not counting on any money from the government nor unemployment until/unless I get it in my account. I anticipate needing $2400 each month for a while, as well as a future amount for my Teaching Credential tuition in the fall.
I have $200 towards next month’s goal for $2200 remaining.
Thus if you are able, I would appreciate if you contributed to me now for next month if you are able.
In addition, my monthly Patreon Subscription pledges now total $101. Pleas
LINKS:
ORIGINAL NEEDS DIARY
PayPal (James -at- JamesThomasGreen.com)
GoFundMe • Ko-Fi • Amazon Pet Wishlist • Patreon
Kosmail for postal address