March for Planned Parenthood (crossposted from tumblr)
So! It is February 28th. In a few more days, it will be March, and I will be transforming myself into a lean, mean, fund-raising machine, on a quixotic quest to help Planned Parenthood replace some of the millions of dollars in state funding that has been lost over the last few years, because despite all the progress we’ve made, the United States government is still largely run by old white dudes who are way, way too invested in what people choose to do with their uteruses. (Dear Daniel Issa. Fuck you. Fuck you in the ear.)
Starting March 1st (actually, starting now, because it felt weird to start on a Thursday when Monday is the beginning of the week, but I’m not really counting mileage until March 1st, so), I will run every day. I may not run far every day; it might not be more than two or three miles some days, but I will run every day until a) March is over or b) something breaks (but we’re trying to avoid that second one). For every mile I run, I will donate $1.00 to Planned Parenthood of the United States. My goal is to run at least 100 miles during the month, so that would mean a donation of $100.00.
And since I was feeling cocky (and I have my tax return), I kind of just went ahead and did it already:
http://www.crowdrise.com/MarchForPlannedParenthood/
What I’m asking you guys to do is to help me turn my little bit of seed money into a whole lot of chickenscratch by joining me and donating to Planned Parenthood. You don’t have to donate a dollar a mile, if you don’t want to. You could donate fifty cents, or a nickel, or whatever. You could donate for every day that I manage to run (because honestly, running every day will be harder for me than running a hundred miles, so). You could donate ten dollars just because. But if you can, if it’s within your reach, please donate something.
And if you can’t donate something, please reblog this post. And that way maybe someone who can afford to donate will see it, and they’ll take action.
For those who are interested in following my progress over the course of the month, you can find my RunKeeper profile here:
http://runkeeper.com/user/lookninjas/profile
I’m generally terrible about actually logging my runs (I usually kind of just do them), but for at least one month, I swear to you that every single mile will be posted, no matter what. Also, I realize you can find out a hell of a lot about my location using my RunKeeper profile; I’m asking you not to, and if you do, please don’t stalk me or do anything weird. Not that I think you would, just, you know. In case.
I have figured out how to use my webcam and microphone and such, and I have posted a video on tumblr; it's here, if you want visual proof of my reality:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/i-am-awkward-as-fuck
There will probably be more video posts to come, although I imagine they'll be more focused on the running aspects of things than about the political aspects. There will also be daily updates on my progress (and/or daily complaints about how much IT HURTS, depending.)
Now I’m sure that some of you are totally hands-down uninterested or even opposed to the project; you don’t care, you want nothing to do with it, and you don’t want to see it. Everything here will be cut so you can skip past it with (relative) ease; everything on tumblr will be tagged so you can use tumblr savior to dodge it.
That being said; I really hope you don’t do that. I really hope that you guys read this, and reblog it, and donate whatever you can, if you can donate at all. Planned Parenthood has meant a lot to me over the years, just as it means a lot to every young woman living below the poverty line with no health insurance. It’s more than just abortions - it’s pap smears, and cancer screening, and STD checks, and birth control, and breast exams and just so many things that so many women just couldn’t afford if Planned Parenthood didn’t exist. It gives women not only the opportunity to decide when they’ll become pregnant, but the services necessary to make sure that when they do (if they do) become pregnant, they’ll be in wonderful health and be absolutely ready and be able to raise that child without having to fear complications caused by poor health or unknown risk factors. It’s not about killing babies - it’s about saving the lives of women. And it’s important.
So track the tag, reblog the posts, and if you can, please give.
Starting March 1st (actually, starting now, because it felt weird to start on a Thursday when Monday is the beginning of the week, but I’m not really counting mileage until March 1st, so), I will run every day. I may not run far every day; it might not be more than two or three miles some days, but I will run every day until a) March is over or b) something breaks (but we’re trying to avoid that second one). For every mile I run, I will donate $1.00 to Planned Parenthood of the United States. My goal is to run at least 100 miles during the month, so that would mean a donation of $100.00.
And since I was feeling cocky (and I have my tax return), I kind of just went ahead and did it already:
http://www.crowdrise.com/MarchForPlannedParenthood/
What I’m asking you guys to do is to help me turn my little bit of seed money into a whole lot of chickenscratch by joining me and donating to Planned Parenthood. You don’t have to donate a dollar a mile, if you don’t want to. You could donate fifty cents, or a nickel, or whatever. You could donate for every day that I manage to run (because honestly, running every day will be harder for me than running a hundred miles, so). You could donate ten dollars just because. But if you can, if it’s within your reach, please donate something.
And if you can’t donate something, please reblog this post. And that way maybe someone who can afford to donate will see it, and they’ll take action.
For those who are interested in following my progress over the course of the month, you can find my RunKeeper profile here:
http://runkeeper.com/user/lookninjas/profile
I’m generally terrible about actually logging my runs (I usually kind of just do them), but for at least one month, I swear to you that every single mile will be posted, no matter what. Also, I realize you can find out a hell of a lot about my location using my RunKeeper profile; I’m asking you not to, and if you do, please don’t stalk me or do anything weird. Not that I think you would, just, you know. In case.
I have figured out how to use my webcam and microphone and such, and I have posted a video on tumblr; it's here, if you want visual proof of my reality:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/i-am-awkward-as-fuck
There will probably be more video posts to come, although I imagine they'll be more focused on the running aspects of things than about the political aspects. There will also be daily updates on my progress (and/or daily complaints about how much IT HURTS, depending.)
Now I’m sure that some of you are totally hands-down uninterested or even opposed to the project; you don’t care, you want nothing to do with it, and you don’t want to see it. Everything here will be cut so you can skip past it with (relative) ease; everything on tumblr will be tagged so you can use tumblr savior to dodge it.
That being said; I really hope you don’t do that. I really hope that you guys read this, and reblog it, and donate whatever you can, if you can donate at all. Planned Parenthood has meant a lot to me over the years, just as it means a lot to every young woman living below the poverty line with no health insurance. It’s more than just abortions - it’s pap smears, and cancer screening, and STD checks, and birth control, and breast exams and just so many things that so many women just couldn’t afford if Planned Parenthood didn’t exist. It gives women not only the opportunity to decide when they’ll become pregnant, but the services necessary to make sure that when they do (if they do) become pregnant, they’ll be in wonderful health and be absolutely ready and be able to raise that child without having to fear complications caused by poor health or unknown risk factors. It’s not about killing babies - it’s about saving the lives of women. And it’s important.
So track the tag, reblog the posts, and if you can, please give.