Dear Reader,

It’s true. 2020 is a year most of us will be glad to bid farewell to. For frontline workers, those in healthcare and essential services like grocery store workers, delivery, and transportation, the year has been the most difficult and terrifying. Government and corporate services have been scant and fall far short of the adequate protections working people need, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. But artists, poets, musicians, writers and independent journalists have also found this year especially challenging because we are all too often forgotten or marginalized within the ranks of society’s labour force. The contributions and services we provide for mental, emotional and spiritual health, as well as toward continued independent, critical thought and analysis of our political and social landscape, are generally looked at with an indifferent eye under the paradigm of late capitalism. And many resources have been either reallocated elsewhere or simply do not exist.

Therefore, it is with great humility that I ask for donations this year. I understand most of us are struggling; and there is absolutely no obligation or guilt implied with this request. As with previous fundraisers for this site, this one does not place any requirements upon the reader. Whether one is able to donate or not, all articles and access will remain free, and no government or corporate entity will have sway over the content or what is written. Also, my editorial support from the exemplary Elena Baudelaire and technical assistance from Patrick Hanaway will continue.

We are all looking forward to 2021 as being a fresh start. We look forward to an end to the pandemic, but also for a beginning of meaningful dissent and liberation from our existentially devastating status quo, including militarism and endless wars, economic disenfranchisement, political and corporate tyranny, social oppression, and the ecocide of our precious biosphere. Personally, I look forward to working with other writers and activists, continued writing and critical analysis for this site, more guest writers, poets, thinkers, philosophers, bards and other artists, as well as a few other exciting and fascinating prospects, including a fiction I am currently working on.

I wish you all a truly magnificent Solstice and New Year. And thanks in advance for your support, whether it be in sharing my pieces, the contribution of ideas or informed criticism, monetary assistance, or any of the above.

If you would like to donate monetarily, simply click on the link below and use PayPal.
https://kennorphan.com/donate/

Kenn Orphan December 2020

*Title art piece is The Novel Reader by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888.