Hello and welcome to my fundraiser! (line-by-line
cost breakdown at bottom)
Danielle Muscato
here. I'm a
civil rights activist
, writer, and transgender woman from St Louis. You may recognize
my name as the woman whose "tweet storm" about Donald
Trump's SNL tweets
went viral
in December of last year. I wrote a follow-up
op-ed for Newsweek here.
I'm thrilled to announce
that Esther Roth-Colson and I, as the producer and host of The RESIST Podcast
respectively, will be attending this year's #SSAcon from July 7 through 9
in Columbus, OH.
During the 3-day conference, we will interview as many
professional civil rights activist leaders as possible,
for upcoming episodes of the show!
I'm raising money to travel to this event.
To save money, we are staying with a friend for part of the
time, and in a very cheap hotel, and also in the OSU dorm, where the
conference is being held. The total cost will be about $472.90 (see
below for breakdown).
I have actually spoken at the SSA conference in previous years,
and in 2012 in fact I worked for SSA as an intern & staff
writer. I'm not a speaker this year, but
I want to attend (as a journalist) so that I can interview as
many of this year's workshop presenters, speakers, and award
honorees as I possibly can, for the podcast.
These interviews will focus on social justice activism and
concrete steps we can take to resist Donald Trump, fascism, and the
white supremacy during the new administration.
We will be publishing these interviews freely and publicly
over the next 2-3 months,
so that people can benefit from the advice and expertise of the
interviewees. By doing these interviews in a conference setting, I
can schedule as many as about 10 (!) interviews with only a single
travel expense, and WITHOUT the expense of professional recording
studio time—so I think it will be WELL worth it.
To save money, we will be driving rather than flying.
The money will mostly go to paying for gas, food, dorm space,
and necessary supplies for the recordings (like batteries, cables, etc).
Also to save money, I'm crashing with friends in Columbus for
several of the days I'll be there. If all goes to plan, we will only
have to pay for an actual hotel room for 1 night.
Simply put, YOUR financial support makes my work possible.
I am a full-time activist who is ONLY able to make a positive
difference because of YOU! Your support inspires and invigorates me,
and I am ineffably grateful.
As you may know, I am actually semi-homeless at the moment. I
was living in my car for awhile, but I'm currently crashing on an
airbed on a friend's floor in St Louis. I'm actually doing OK here
for the time being, and believe it's important to continue my work
even while I am housing insecure (although if you would like to
support me in helping with my housing situation and transition,
I also have a Patreon pledge page here!
).
I am *not* getting rich off doing this work
, but I believe with all my heart that the work I do is
incredibly important and that, under a Trump administration, it will
only be more important moving forward. I am working hard to begin
transitioning as a trans woman, and it's going very slowly. The
world is not very accepting of people like me, but I'm not letting
that stop me, or even slow me down. If you would like more
information about my current situation, or if you have ANY other
questions, please feel free to ask me directly, or also, recently I
also hosted a
2-hour video AMA (ask me anything) here
.
I am very grateful for your support
, at any dollar amount. Thank you, and
please share this as well!
Love and Respect,
Danielle
Twitter @RESISTpodcast
Facebook.com/RESISTpodcast
Danielle's Twitter: @DanielleMuscato
Facebook.com/daniellemuscato.page
Esther's Twitter: @ERothCo
Facebook.com/erothcolson
Email:
danielle@daniellemuscato.com
esther@resistpodcast.com
-----------------
Breakdown of estimated costs:
836 miles: Drive from St Louis to Ohio & back
20 mpg average highway (42 gallons)
$2.10/gallon estimated
10% gas buffer just in case
= $97 for gas
$5/meal for food x 3 meals: 6 days = $90
Hotel in Columbus: $53.90
Dorm for the other days: $33 per night x 4 = $132
Columbus parking: $40 (estimate)
$10/day incidentals (things I didn’t plan for) = $60
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TOTAL COST = $472.90
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Itinerary: Leaving St Louis AM on the 5th, arriving Columbus
that evening. Conference prep starts as speakers arrive on Thursday
the 6th. Conference runs the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Final interviews on
the 10th, return home the morning of the 11th.
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Thank you for your support! Please share.
