An action a day keeps the fascists at bay.
How I Got Here
I am a 40 year old gay guy who recently moved from the Midwest to Portland, Oregon. I struggle with major depressive disorder, social phobia, at least one mood disorder and a variety of other physical ailments. My interaction with people in “real life” is very limited and I would be perfectly happy never (or rarely) leaving the apartment. As you might imagine, this has caused employment problems (not to mention my prospects of ever finding a life partner).
I have been trying to get Social Security Disability, but have been unsuccessful thus far. It is not an easy process. Fortunately, I have two amazing friends who are allowing me to live with them in exchange for taking care of their dogs and some light housecleaning. I get food stamps for food but, other than that, I have no source of income. I had Medicaid in Indiana, where I last lived, but lost that as a result of the move. I have applied for Oregon’s Medicaid, though, while I wait for a decision from that program, I have no medical or prescription coverage.
I share all this not because I want the world to know how lame I am, but as an explanation of why I am starting a blog. I am hoping that, through advertising and maybe the kind donations of others, I might be able to develop a small income stream to pay for medicines and incidentals like laundry, toothpaste and deodorant. Besides trying to change the world, my blog will hopefully also serve to show people I am trying to be a productive member of society and to help me feel as if I am doing something worthwhile.
The idea for this blog has been in my head for years. In my fantasies, I wanted to design a site using one of the open source content management systems, and I wanted to create a one stop internet clearinghouse of all progressive action alerts from around the world wide web as well as an internet community where people could exchange ideas and information. One of my ideas was to create a site was to use Scoop, which would allow others to also post action alerts and people could recommend the ones they like best like we do here on Booman Tribune. In my wildest fantasies, I would have a subdomain for every state and one for international alerts, so that more localized actions could also be highlighted.
Since I can’t afford hosting fees, for the moment, I’m going to settle for trying to make a go of it using Blogger. I won’t be able to do everything I had fantasized about doing, but I still hope that The Daily Activist will become a useful resource for active and apathetic people alike, and empower them to take daily action to affect positive changes in the world.
I will be posting an easily re-tweetable list of action alerts from my blog here, every day my mood allows, to try to promote activism and, frankly, to try to get people to visit my blog. I’ll also try to write about tips for improving the effectiveness of activism alerts and about actions that me be a little less traditional.
Please feel free to provide me constructive feedback and send me alerts you would like me to post. I’ll post as many as I can. Also, if you have any suggestions about how a recluse might be able to support himself without interacting with people, please let me know. 😉
Peace and respect,
Chad (at dailyactivist dot org)
The Daily Activist
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Today’s Re-Tweetable Actions
Ensure Religiously Affiliated Hospitals Provide Emergency Abortion Care http://goo.gl/b/ezUp #abortion #aclu #religion #women #health
Stop Puppy Mills: Bring All Commercial Dog Breeders Under Federal Oversight http://goo.gl/b/Utlf #aspca #animals #pets
Tell Obama to Stop Offshore Drilling http://goo.gl/b/hzBt #environment #oilspill #sierraclub #offshoredrilling #energy
Tell the Obama Adminsitration to Support Battlefield Preservation http://goo.gl/b/PSJc #cwpt #civilwar #preservation
Tell Admiral Thad Allen to Count All Gulf Wildlife Casualties http://goo.gl/b/fmOW #wildlife #edf #oilspill #environment #animals
Support Equal Rights for All Families. Tell Obama to End #DOMA: http://goo.gl/b/kUcr #HRC #LGBT #marriageequality
Pass H.R.5643: Prevent Unintended Death of Wildlife, Pets and People http://goo.gl/b/QfFO #wildlife #pets #care2
Tell Congress to Rein in Government Travel Abuses http://goo.gl/b/CufK #ACLU #travel #civilliberties #privacy
Tell CNN: Stop Spreading FOX’s Race-Baiting http://goo.gl/b/666v #colorofchange #racism #media #civilrights #politicalrights
