Category: Do Something

Diary, Do Something, Medicine, Shapiro1 Comment
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The Greatest Gift You Can Give

shapiroout

Without the organ Donor there is no story, no hope

Gonna get a little personal on you today.

Last week my older son Brian had a corneal transplant. Without it he would have gone blind, which would be a rather inconvenient condition to have given that his chosen profession is photography. You can see some of his work by clicking here.

He lives with a condition called keratoconus which you are welcome to click the link and find out more about, but basically means his corneas never formed properly.  It occurs in around one out of every 2,000 people and is the leading cause of corneal transplant.

This was the third attempt to have the transplant, the first two aborted because of, first, a problem with anesthesia and second a problem with the viability of the cornea to be transplanted. With transplants the phrase “good enough” is never good enough. If it’s the least bit hinky the surgeon says no go.

As well she should.

Fortunately the third time was the charm. As he is a single gentleman his mother (Cruella) and I took care of him for the first few days of his recovery. That consisted mostly of keeping lights in the house low or off, making sure he took his anti-rejection medication and providing as much TLC as he would allow us to give. Once assured he was capable of going it on his own we returned him to his own house where he continues to recover.

From this experience I find myself up on the soapbox preaching the good word of organ donation and why you, yes you, should be taking the easy steps to participate in the process.

To see how, click the link below

Continue reading “The Greatest Gift You Can Give”

Adrastos, Big Damn Heroes, Do Something, Hurricane Ida2 Comments

How You Can Help

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’ve meant to do this for several days but I’ve never been so tired in my life. Heat exhaustion and grief are a powerful combination. It also took time to find a group that’s doing direct on-the-ground relief in one of the hardest hit areas, Terrebonne Parish. They were recommended to me by several friends with ties to the bayou parishes. A quote from their go fund me page: This go fund me is through the Helio Foundation. It is being run by people who live in Terrebonne Parish. Directors Johnathan Foret & Reagan Creppel have been social workers for … Continue reading How You Can Help

Athenae, Do Something
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Update: YOU DID IT!! First Draft Food Pantry Fund

Allison Hantschel

Update: YOU DID IT YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARDS!

Yesterday I had the rockin’ job of calling up the directors of the St. Hyacinth Food Pantry (who happen to be my aunt and uncle) and telling them I was sending them a check for $1,500 so that every single family that gets a Christmas food basket from them this year will also get a gift card to buy presents for their kids.

In a normal year the pantry would run a MASSIVE toy drive and distribute everything from stuffed animals to bikes, but it involves multiple volunteers, hours of going in and out of places to collect donations and drop them off, and families lined up to choose things at a time when the virus is out of control in their neighborhood. Everyone’s been really understanding about it, but it’s hard on the little kids to have nothing to put under the tree.

You’ve made it so that they can. You’ve given hundreds of families a terrific holiday season. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Continue reading “Update: YOU DID IT!! First Draft Food Pantry Fund”

Athenae, COVID-19, Do Something, Elections2 Comments
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Two Weeks

Allison Hantschel

Two weeks, cats and kittens. Increasingly I have nothing, due to the sheer avalanche of bullshit and my own pressing need not to lose my grip on reality. Clench your fists, sharpen your teeth and get ready.   In no particular order: If we want everything to get back to “normal” we need to close down stadiums, restaurants, bars and performances, and pay all those people what they’d be making anyway. I don’t give a fuck, okay, about the owners of restaurant chains but if it takes a giant bailout for whoever owns six IHOPs to pay the people who … Continue reading Two Weeks

Athenae, Campaign Notes, Do Something, JOEY B SHARK

What Joe Biden Hasn’t Done

Allison Hantschel

Hasn’t condemned looting and property damage that follow protests. Hasn’t put the flag in the background of the Democratic Convention or in any commercials or campaign events. Hasn’t mentioned God and/or took God out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Is going to take away people’s guns. “You are actively trying to amend your Second Amendment right and take away our guns,” the man said. “You’re full of s—,” Biden replied, adding that “I support the Second Amendment.” Opposes law and order.  Hates police. I can do this all day, you know. I can line-by-line refute what’s being shared around various … Continue reading What Joe Biden Hasn’t Done

Athenae, Do Something1 Comment

Another Mutual Aid Thread

Allison Hantschel

All right. It’s pretty definitively up to us, right?   America’s prodigious infection rates are also a testament to our own national failure — and therefore a source of existential ghastliness, of sheer perversity: Why on earth were so many of us sacrificing so much in these past four and a half months — our livelihoods, our social connections, our safety, our children’s schooling, our attendance at birthdays and anniversaries and funerals — if it all came to naught? At this point, weren’t we expecting some form of relief, a resumption of something like life?   We did this back at … Continue reading Another Mutual Aid Thread

Adrastos, COVID-19, Do Something, Food and Drink, New Orleans
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New Orleans Needs Your Help

Peter Adrastos Athas

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Dear First Draft Readers:

New Orleans needs your help again. The situation here is dire and getting worse. We have the 6th highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the country. It’s hard not to feel helpless in these terrible times but there are people trying to make a difference.

My friend and fellow Bayou Brief writer Troy Gilbert and local food writer Robert Peyton have a great idea about how to help our beleaguered restaurant industry. (Troy is one of the OG NOLA bloggers as well as one of the founders of Rising Tide.) Last week, Troy ran their idea by me, I was immediately impressed and urged them to go for it. Last weekend, Chef’s Brigade NOLA was born.

I’ll let them explain the details to you via two Facebook posts:

There’s a GoFundMe link at the bottom of the second post. Please join me in donating to help our restaurants survive and do what they do best: feed people.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Thanks in advance,

Adrastos who is trying to keep the Spirit of ’05 alive.

Updates can be found after the break.

Continue reading “New Orleans Needs Your Help”

Athenae, Do Something14 Comments

First Draft Community Help Thread

Allison Hantschel

On my way to work this morning I got on my usual bus, which was carrying its customary assortment of metropolitan itinerants in varying stages of consciousness and togetherness. At the next stop a young woman got on with a baby, maybe a little less than a year, and sat down, baby on lap. It was 8 a.m. and she had a look I’ve seen so many times in the mirror since I became a parent: The day has barely started and I am already so completely done. The baby gummed fingers and pacifier and waved tiny hands in the … Continue reading First Draft Community Help Thread

Athenae, Do Something1 Comment

Giving Tuesday, Get On It

Allison Hantschel

I know all y’all’s favorite nonprofits are all over you today because it’s Giving Tuesday but I wanted to find out if we, The Blog, could get together and raise some funds for the St. Hyacinth Food Pantry this year. Remember the pantry? It’s the one we started boosting back in 2016 to help out the folks most likely to be hurt by what we’re all now just calling The Way Things Are Nowadays. Every year they do a MASSIVE toy drive for the little kids so they can have some holiday presents and they’re well-supplied, but need $500 for … Continue reading Giving Tuesday, Get On It

Athenae, Do Something, Immoral Values1 Comment

Signal This Virtue

Allison Hantschel

Of all the dismissals of protest and outrage that we’ve heard from conservatives over the past two years I think the one that makes me the craziest is the accusation of “virtue signaling.”  Expressions of moral outrage are playing a prominent role in contemporary debates about issues like sexual assault, immigration and police brutality. In response, there have been criticisms of expressions of outrage as mere “virtue signaling” — feigned righteousness intended to make the speaker appear superior by condemning others. Clearly, feigned righteousness exists. We can all think of cases where people simulated or exaggerated feelings of outrage because … Continue reading Signal This Virtue