Friends, my original "labor of love" is in full bloom. Our community of readers at A Year of Being Here has grown so fast in one year that it has exceeded my technical ability to distribute the poems. My modest tools, all of them free, no longer suffice for such a crowd. Therefore, I've had to choose: quit, or upgrade.I never considered quitting. I just plunged ahead, trying to find solutions to the problems. And I've found them, thanks to kind souls answering my endless questions. But these solutions will come at a cost I hadn't foreseen. Beware of labors of love that take over your life....
So, with reluctance, and at the urging of friends, I've decided to invite our community of readers to help sustain this project by donating through a tip jar, located in the right sidebar on this site.
Let me be clear: I don't want to profit off the remarkable poetry (and artwork) I'm posting here. I'm well aware of my role. I'm here to serve the poets (and the artists). I'm here to serve the poems (and the art). I neither seek nor deserve any compensation for doing this. But the truth is, the service I'm performing is becoming somewhat expensive.
Here's my pledge: I'll be a wise steward of whatever donations are made to the project. No donation will ever be required of any reader. No dollar amount will ever be suggested to any donor. Any "lucky pennies" dropped (via PayPal) into the tip jar—or "change jar," as I prefer to call it—will be used to defray operational expenses, so that this project can flourish.
Why do I prefer calling it a "change" jar? First, because I believe that these expenses can be met by modest donations. Small change, not big bills. Second, because I believe that mindfulness teaches us how change is built into the nature of What Is—and what is happening, happily, with this project is just more evidence of that. Finally, because I believe that the more mindful we and other people become, the more the world within, around and beyond us changes for the better. "Change" jar, indeed. Drop in your pennies, and something will happen. It always does.
As I'm writing this, having just set the change jar on the tabletop of this site, somebody has already dropped in a donation. Some dear reader from Down Under, in Australia. How wonderful. I'm laughing out loud.
As Muriel Rukeyser said, "Flower flower flower flower .... "
truly, there is no such thing as "small change." thank you for your work here, in pulling all this and we, your readers, together. a worldly circle of poets, poems, and readers. lovely. and needed. thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a kind, generous message, Mackenzie! Thank you! I'm happy to report that our community of readers has expressed dramatic support of the project through the "change jar," and the project is now on solid footing. I've been overwhelmed, and more grateful than I can say. As you say, no such thing as "small change."
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