Over the summer I took the Narrative Department's Writing Bootcamp and while I got a lot out of it, one of the most important things I came away from the class with was my friendship with the TA of the course, Crowe.

Crowe is a brilliant artist who teaches and enables others to tell stories in engaging ways. He is a freelance visual artist, storyteller, and editor, and works as a moderator in a community discord, fighting to keep it a safe space for queer, trans, and poc voices.

Near the end of 2023, Crowe was hit by a car while riding his bike. In 2024, Crow received word that the insurance company representing the people driving the car were pressing charges and looking for a large settlement. With jobs in artistic and creative fields dwindling, Crowe does not have the income to pay the settlement, nor the income to hire a lawyer to represent him. He has spoken with lawyers on the subject who advised him to take the settlement--not because he is at fault, but simply because it will cost him more in the long run to contest it than to pay.

This is grievously unfair. This is also the world that we live in, where just and unjust matter less than who has the better lawyers and better insurance--and Crowe has neither.

Needless to say, Crowe is struggling. He recently had to move out of state, after having to move out of the family home in the wake of his mother's passing last year--while also juggling the sudden familial responsibilities that come from losing a parent.

Being hit by a car was the beginning of a really bad year for Crowe. We can't help him or his family heal from the loss that is the death of a parent. But we can help ease the financial burden of an unjust court system while he gets his feet back under him. I would love to help him with it, both because he has improved my life with his creativity and the bright enthusiasm that he brings to his community, and also just because he deserves to be done with the ghost of 2024.

I believe together we can do that.