If you like TMV and want to make a donation, NOW is the time. There are a few reasons why TMV can use your help right now — now more important than ever, as our final update on this LIMITED fund-raising drive (which ends definitively May 31) explains.
(BE SURE TO READ NEW UPDATE)
OUR MOVE AND REDESIGN: We moved in December and our redesign was supposed to be in place some time ago. There were complications, particularly on the cost of implementing a great new redesign and some other issues. This has required some $600 to resolve some issues we thought were resolved. The design you see is a barebones temporary one that should have been retired some time ago. The redesign is slated to be in place by Sunday June 3rd.
MY OWN BLOG EXPENSE: Since starting TMV, my big change has been staying in motels with better Internet so I can post. This means paying more for hotels while on the road (from Motel 6 to Days Inn or Best Western). I travel a great deal. Any contributions will help offset at least a portion of these costs. This will include a stay at a hotel TONIGHT.
A SERIOUS FAMILY ILLNESS EMERGENCY: This has gotten much worse the past 24 hours. I kept the details off the Internet, but my father is seriously ill. Two weeks ago I went to the East Coast for a week to visit him and my mother. My day job is THIS (even though I was trained to be a journalist and worked in the news media for years). Also, I do a lot of schools and the directories I advertise in hinged their payment deadlines to May versus being spread out. I get no salary; income comes from events (TMV does not pay the rent and all TMV income goes into a Paypal account which is used largely to pay for TMV and its advertising).
As of last night, my father was rushed to the hospital. I may have to make two or more trips ot the East coast this summer which would mean being unable to do events and having to reslate or if necessary totally cancel them.
THE BOTTOM LINE: If you like TMV and want to contribute to it, this is the time. Once the May 31st period is over there will be no more posts about donations on this site (but the donation icons will remain and can be used). Just go to the Paypal and Amazon links under DONATE if you want to help out.
5/25: YES. This will run at least through May 30th. The situation is now very grave with my father and at any moment I may have to cancel events and get on a plane with little advance notice to fly to the East Coast.
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NEW UPDATE: Saturday 5/26:
In deference to my father, Richard Gandelman, I have not gone into details about the personal side of what’s going on. But as of today they’re removing the respirator tube from him. He has had terminal lung cancer at 88 coupled with — as of this week — two forms of pneumonia. As I write this, the tube is being taken out.
I never did a fund-raising request for TMV but the convergence of several “crisis” factors gathering for the month of May in an unprecedented simultaneous manner made me decide on a limited time-frame request for donations for both the redesign and to offset what was clearly to come. Since doing this blog my hotel costs have greatly increased since I have to stay at places with better Internet (and a lot of the places you stay at that say they have good Internet do not) but I seldom have asked or reminded readers about donations. (I have linked to blogs that needed them and had their own fund-raising drives).
This means that for four days or even a week sometime very soon I will personally not be posting or will post very little. This could happen at any minute.
I will be flying from San Diego to Connecticut for the funeral and a few days there with my 86 year old mother, brother and sister. But TMV has evolved into a group weblog anyway. (Since I have no salary but get income from events I will basically cancel a week’s worth of shows once he passes and fly to CT on one of those short-notice airfare tickets).
In any event, if you wanted to tip TMV, this is a good time.
And on May 31st you should see a new face on TMV that better reflects what it is today and what it will become in the future heading into 2008…and this message about donations will forever vanish into the archives..
MONDAY, MAY 28: I’m off to Connecticut for my second West Coast to East Coast trip in three weeks to attend the funeral of my WWII “The Greatest Generation” vet father, who died Sunday, a day before Memorial Day.
My postings this week will be limited, unless they’re done late at night due to lack of sleep.
5/29/07: Funeral and reception at home were today. I may be able to post a little this week, but the priority is on helping my mother transition after more than 60 years of marriage to a single life.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.