Hi Everyone,
I've been using this handle since just about when the subreddit got nuked, and while I'm not a super prolific poster, some of you might know me for my posts on food history and philosophy.
some context to my situation, and a bit of my story
I have been incredibly lucky to have been able to do only food scholarship for a living recently after more than a decade working random jobs, which is awesome for me, since I'm super passionate about it, and I love the work.
However, I don't have a stable position, and I mostly do small writing work here and there, or work for small grants with universities, so my whole income situation is pretty precarious.
Last year was specially rough, some work fell through, I never got paid for work i spent 9 months doing (still fighting the people responsible for that), and started a new job that looked promising but eventually fell through, all the while struggling with very strong autistic burnout and depression, which almost sent me to the psych hospital several times.
A pretty bad year, income, physical and mental-health wise has led to me being three months late on rent. Things were pretty bad already, but I thought i could manage until my family back home (I'm an immigrant from the Global South) asked me for urgent help with money. I gathered whatever little money i had left and sent a remittance immediately. This, of course, left me with no money to even pay one month's rent.
Conveniently, the landlord has let me know that unless i pay at least one month's rent ASAP, i'm out on the streets. I am currently looking for any job that can tide me over while i get back on track, but things are kind of sedate in retail and other jobs around my area because of the new year. Some of my community around me have helped with groceries, but none of them could help me with the cash i need to keep a roof over my head, so i'm turning to you hexbears.
The place i live in is what keeps my fragile mental health still going, and I honestly don't know what I would do without it. If you can spare anything at all, I would appreciate it so much.
I have set up a ko-fi account, where you can donate anonymously: ko-fi.com/izzysfoodtakes (don't worry about the first name and opsec, it's a new name i'm trying out but nothing to do with my real name), and I can PM you my paypal username if you prefer to use that.
Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day.
