you're in the habit of denying yourself things.

if someone asked you directly, you would say that you love a little treat. you like iced coffee and getting the cookie. you drink juice out of a fancy cup sometimes, and often do use your candles until they gutter out helplessly.

but you hesitate about buying the 20 dollar hand mixer because, like. you could just use your arms. you weren't raised rich. you don't get to just spend the 20 dollars (remember when that could cover lunch?), at least - you don't spend that without agonizing over it first, trying to figure out the cost-benefits like you are defending yourself in front of a jury. yes, this rice cooker could seriously help you. but you do know how to make stovetop rice and it really isn't that hard. how many pies or brownies would you actually make, in order to make that hand mixer worthwhile?

what's wild is that if the money was for a friend, it would already be spent. you'd fork over 40 without blinking an eye, just to make them happy. the difference is that it's for you, so you need to justify it.

and it sneaks in. you ration yourself without meaning to - you don't finish the pint of ice cream, even though you want to. the next time you go to the store, you say ah, i really shouldn't, and then you walk away. you save little bits of your precious things - just in case. sometimes you even go so far as putting that one thing in your shopping cart. and then just leaving it there, because maybe-one-day, but not right now, there's other stuff going on.

you do self-care, of course. but you don't do it more than like, 3 days in a row. after that it just feels a little bit over-the-edge. like. you can't live in decadence, the economy is so bad right now, kid.

so you don't buy the rice cooker. you can-and-will spend the time over the stove. you can withstand the little sorrows. denial and discipline are practically synonyms. and you're not spoiled.

it's just - it's not always a rice cooker. sometimes it is a person or a job or a hug. sometimes it is asking for help. sometimes it is the summer and your college degree. sometimes it is looking down at scabbed knees and feeling a strange kind of falling, like you can't even recognize the girl you used to be. sometimes it is your handprint looking unsteady.

sometimes it is tuesday, and you didn't get fired, and you want to celebrate. but what is it you like, even? you search around your little heart and come up empty. you're so used to denying that all your desires draw a blank.

oh fuck. see, this is the perfect opportunity. if you had a mixer, you'd make a cake.

Legendary U Washington bookseller Duane Wilkins is drowning in medical debt

Nearly every sf writer who's ever toured the west coast knows Duane - he's the encyclopedically knowledgeable sf buyer for the U Washington Bookseller, who has organized some of the best sf signings in Seattle history. He's a force of nature.

He's also broke. A two-week hospital stay left him drowning in medical debt - despite being insured! - and now he's being threatened by a collection agency.

Now, Duane is forced into participating in one of the most barbaric of contemporary American rituals, fundraising to cover his medical debt. He's raised $6k of the $10k he needs (I just pitched in $100).

If you can afford to help out someone who's done so much for our community, please kick Duane whatever you can spare.

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Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that the Biden administration is looking to lessen the burden medical debt has on people by purging it from their credit report. This means that even if people have piles of medical debt — one in five Americans say they do — it’s not going to affect their ability to get a mortgage or a car loan. So they will at least have a place to rest their head and a car they can drive to work every day while paying off their medical bills.

Via AP:

Harris said that would make it easier for them to obtain an auto loan or a home mortgage. Roughly one in five people report having medical debt. The vice president said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is beginning the rulemaking process to make the change. The agency said in a statement that including medical debt in credit scores is problematic because “mistakes and inaccuracies in medical billing are common.” “Access to health care should be a right and not a privilege,” Harris told reporters in call to preview the action. “These measures will improve the credit scores of millions of Americans so that they will better be able to invest in their future.”

It only seems fair that high medical bills for an emergency or serious illness shouldn’t affect one’s credit rating anyway. It’s not like we’re talking about someone irresponsibly dropping several grand at Versace and then never paying off the credit card bill. Fifty-seven percent of Americans could not afford a surprise $1000 emergency, so the inability to pay off massive amounts of medical debt is hardly a fair reflection of an inclination to default on normal payments — payments you can budget for — on something like a mortgage or auto loan. “Way to be irresponsible by getting cancer, lady! You should definitely be punished for that by not being able to find any place to live!” seems pretty harsh, no?

👏

Voting matters. #KatieHobbs

Republicans will NEVER forgive student or medical debts of individuals. NEVER.

They truly have no idea of the meaning of forgiveness. Their Christianity has no virtues.

MAGA put Betsy DeVos, a person who personally benefits from student debt, in charge of education.

The difference in parties is staggering.

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

new year, new commission post and prices.

i'm willing to discuss most off-menu things as well as discounts for bulk orders of things like little guys, so don't hesitate to ask! message me here @nanistar if you are interested!

Script 1 of 7 donated by Kripke for our final fundraiser for RIP Medical Debt kicking off on April 25: an early draft of the Supernatural pilot!

Supernatural pilot script signed by Eric Kripke with a note from him on the cover page: "Original pilot that got tossed out — whole different story — enjoy this alternative reality Sam and Dean"

It's really hard for me to ask this, but would anyone be able to help me financially get home from work and a doctor's appointment this week? I'm already taking the bus as often as I can, but there isn't one that runs by the time I get off work, and I won't be able to get home otherwise. My next paycheck is expected to drop on the 15th, and I currently only have $5.26 in my bank account. I would really, deeply appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.

cash app: $fattributes ko-fi: fattributes paypal: [email protected]

Hay guys. I’m $6,500 in medical/personal debt. I had surgery this past September to remove fibroids from my uterus and my insurance refused to cover multiple things. So I changed the uncovered items to my credit card. Any help will go towards my medical/personal debt. Funds can also be sent to $SophiaChes, PayPal- [email protected] and my venmo Sophia-Chester-1. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Methinks its time to move back home actually

TRAs having no empathy yet again

Teenagers who are pushed towards transitioning aren’t “pushovers” they’re mentally and emotionally vulnerable young people who shouldn’t be allowed to make life-changing medical decisions. Acknowledging this fact isn’t stopping adults from transitioning. It just aims to stops other vulnerable teenagers from doing the same.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs plans to cancel $2 billion in medical debt for up to 1 million residents. This is the biggest medical debt cancellation proposal in the country. The Governor plans to use $30 million in federal funds to buy and cancel the debt with RIP Medical Debt.

At least two other states — Connecticut and New Jersey — have moved to erase medical debt owed by their residents, in addition to a growing number of municipal and county governments across the nation.

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Do you live in Connecticut? Do you have a lot of medical debt?

Do you make less than $59K per year?

Well, good news!

The state is partnering with a nonprofit organization that buys debt at the same discount price at which debt collectors buy it, and will be leveraging $6.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to get rid of $1 billion in medical debt. Who is eligible? Residents whose income is less than 400% of the federal poverty line (so $58,320 for individuals, $124,800 for a family of four, etc.) and anyone whose medical debt is more than 5 percent of their annual income.

What a superb use of funds earmarked by Biden for COVID assistance. Every state should do this.

No other country lives in fear of medical debt.