Take a Break From Your Escape to Improve Someone Else's Reality
Monday, June 25, 2012
Critical Care Comics Knows Comics Cure!
Robot 6 has a new post up about a charity doing exactly what I initially set out to do with Comics Cure. I wish them luck and hope they have better luck navigating the red tape and restrictions that go with achieving true non-profit status, not to mention the difficulty unloading dusty old back issues (putting the 'bac' in bacteria) on pediatric hospitals. Do-gooders doing it right!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Kickstart Renae De Liz's Recovery... Then Let's Kickstart This Broken System!
I wish this blog could stick to the original premise--do-gooder geeks sharing their disposable income and creative energy to make the world a better place. But here's another post tying comics to charity in the wrong direction--another creator in need.
This sad news comes with a glimmer of hope via Bleeding Cool: Womanthology creator Renae De Liz, who made a name for herself by pulling together the many talents featured in that beautiful book and then by raising an at-the-time unheard of amount of money to fund the project through Kickstarter, is now in a far more dire fundraising scenario. Like so many artists living job to job and uninsured, De Liz has fallen ill and, perhaps worse, deep into debt as a result. You can read the details at her husband Ray Dillon's blog, here. There's also information on how you can help them out with a donation or by hiring them for a commission.
Dillon's latest update is that De Liz is going to pull through with a full recovery...physically. The family will be digging its way out from under medical bills for years to come. Knowing De Liz will be okay makes me feel better grumbling over the politics of the matter.
It is frustrating how this system (which system? healthcare? comic industry? society?) is set up in such a way that so many professional creatives are forced to ask for handouts -- direct donations or charity commissions -- to survive. I guess it is cool that anyone with a vision can go to Kickstarter and present their idea to a world wide web of potential investors. But to have to do the same to stay afloat on medical bills and mortgage payments? The fuzzy four-foot high cubicle walls of the full-time job look more and more attractive each day.
We've got to find a better way for artists and the arts to thrive beyond passing the virtual collection plate. But is there a better way?
This sad news comes with a glimmer of hope via Bleeding Cool: Womanthology creator Renae De Liz, who made a name for herself by pulling together the many talents featured in that beautiful book and then by raising an at-the-time unheard of amount of money to fund the project through Kickstarter, is now in a far more dire fundraising scenario. Like so many artists living job to job and uninsured, De Liz has fallen ill and, perhaps worse, deep into debt as a result. You can read the details at her husband Ray Dillon's blog, here. There's also information on how you can help them out with a donation or by hiring them for a commission.
Dillon's latest update is that De Liz is going to pull through with a full recovery...physically. The family will be digging its way out from under medical bills for years to come. Knowing De Liz will be okay makes me feel better grumbling over the politics of the matter.
It is frustrating how this system (which system? healthcare? comic industry? society?) is set up in such a way that so many professional creatives are forced to ask for handouts -- direct donations or charity commissions -- to survive. I guess it is cool that anyone with a vision can go to Kickstarter and present their idea to a world wide web of potential investors. But to have to do the same to stay afloat on medical bills and mortgage payments? The fuzzy four-foot high cubicle walls of the full-time job look more and more attractive each day.
We've got to find a better way for artists and the arts to thrive beyond passing the virtual collection plate. But is there a better way?
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