Patreon question

I'm focusing hard on budgeting, and one of the things I want to do more of in the coming year is support independent creators/small groups on Patreon and Substack, even if I can only do a little bit at a time. I have a few creators I already support on Patreon, and two on Substack, but I'd love to support more.

I know you've got creators that you love to support on these platforms! Tell me who you support and why you started supporting them if you have creators that are especially unique or near and dear to you. Anything and everything, across the board, I love supporting small business and I love finding new people and niches I never heard about before. There're no wrong answers here!

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: 'How to avoid centering yourself in strikes for Palestine (& beyond)' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: '01. Announcing your actions isn't necessary We are here to support Palestinians and boost their voices. Do that. Remove yourself as much as possible from the things you are doing to support the strike. This includes things like only showing art / signs you've made without your presence in the photos, sharing posts without commenting on them yourself, etc.' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: '02. Focus on what you CAN do. Nobody needs to hear the reasons why you can't do a specific thing. There are many ways to support the strike beyond not working / spending money. Just do ANYTHING. Do what you can and be silent about the rest.' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: '03. Ask yourself 'Who is this for?' before speaking, especially to another person. Oftentimes, bringing up disabilities and other struggles is a way to alleviate guilt at 'not doing enough' and is seeking comfort and reassurance from the other person. Ask yourself if you've considered who the other person is and what they might be struggling with as well before assuming you're the only person with these problems. Strikes always require a sacrifice and the cause is greater than you. Don't burden others with coddling your guilt, especially anyone of BIPOC identities if you’re white.' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: '04. Ask yourself 'What am I inspiring?' before speaking. When people comment with excuses for why they can't do something, it not only inspires others to use that same excuse, it distracts from the focus of the action. Suddenly we're not remembering Palestinians anymore, we're focused on 'this is too hard for me to do, actually, I'm just gonna sit this out.' Would you want someone to say that about helping you? Is that what you’d want people to be talking about instead of helping in any way they could realistically offer?' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: '05. Don't double down. If someone, especially anyone of BIPOC identities & especially anyone Palestinian, tells you to stop talking & stop centering yourself - do that. Do not get louder about the reasons you are suffering for XYZ thing. This is about Palestine. They are suffering. We are here to support them. This is about them. Those without food, medical care, homes, families, friends, etc. You could be speaking to someone who has direct connections to this in some way. Respect that and learn to be quiet.' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

[Photo ID: A color image of an adult with a keffiyeh wrapped around their face, standing in front of a gray sky holding two large Palestinian flags on a pole. Text in a dark gray box over the image reads: 'We should all be outraged and uncomfortable while witnessing genocide. It is not 'life as usual' right now.' and 'transfloridaresources.' /End ID]

If you learned something from this post, please consider a donation to Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Care for Gaza, and/or Muslim Aid USA.

I'm sorry if you've answered this before and you are under no obligation to respond but do you find a little off-putting that Henry Cavill hasn't shown any sign of supporting BLM? I'm not saying he doesn't (don't come for me pls LOL), I just get the idea that he the British upper middle class attitude (why are people causing a fuss? things aren't that bd for them!), esp given he comes from privilege and money. I could be wrong but would love to hear your thoughts. PS: Get the CEvans thing though

I have answered this before but I’ll repeat what I’ve said!

It’s a conflicting thing especially as a black person trying to talk about who posted /said what and when and if it was right or not enough or performative or acceptable, it’s rather exhausting to try and keep up with but it doesn’t bother me and I’ll tell you why

We have a weird kind of access to Henry (as well as any other big name people you may be fans of) and he has access to us as fans because he has status that people recognize and know and people that follow that and a platform he can use and be listened to

A part of me says ok you should be using that wide reaching platform to speak about racism or social issues in the world and another part of me is like...none of these white people have really spoken up about thing particular issue before and sure he can speak up about it and so can anyone but do they actually mean what they say and walk the walk in real life, that’s what the concern should be about

For many of them and regular every day white people without that kind of status, they are just becoming aware of what we as black people have been trying to say and get their attention with for a long time now

I don’t want you to rely on him or any of these white people frankly to say something because you should be relying on yourself to do your share of the work to be anti racist and to support black people, that’s all you can do

Don’t rely on them but of course as a fan who cares, we should hold them accountable and what’s more important than anyone saying anything online is if they take the time to educate themselves and be vocal and supportive in their actual life, the post does nothing if it isn’t carried over to real life and continued every day henceforth

Because that’s where the real work is, in real life, it’s a lifelong thing not just about posting on social media or saying something here and there, it’s continuous and you could have this argument every single day if someone isn’t actively showing that they support us

I’m not interested in seeing him post anything more than he has frankly, I’m not interested in dissecting what he has to say and discussing whether it’s right or wrong or if he needed to say more or if he shouldn’t have said this or that, sure it would be really nice to have that support form him but the truth is that we don’t know him in his personal life and what steps he’s already taken to speak with his own friends and family about racism especially where in lives in Europe and not just within the sphere of the US

I can imagine he’s probably been having conversations and listening and educating himself and donating to the cause because we know enough about him that it seems like Henry’s someone who is open to criticism and to learning and bettering himself and has a great deal of empathy or a willingness to just try and listen even with his background of privilege

We can always ask white people to do more and do better, there’s a never ending list of things they gotta get educated about moving forward and while I don’t want anyone to coddle them I also don’t want you to be upset that this is something they don’t understand and will really have to do a lot of heavy lifting to come to terms with and do better with

He’s said stuff before regarding race in Hollywood that he got backlash for and with the kind of person he’s shown himself to be in that time and since then it wouldn’t surprise me if he took time to really look at himself and do better

I hope that all made sense!