Hi everyone, it’s Margaret. You may also know me as Greta, chasermassgrave, Food Not Bomb’s resident grocery shopper and the dog girl screamo T-shirt lady. Today, I ask you to consider another lens to view me through. Today, I come to you as a woman in need of help from her community.

Simply put, I need to leave the Midwest.

As soon as possible.

Kansas City is my home, through and through. Born in Kansas, raised in Missouri, a child of both worlds. My time here has shaped me into the woman I am today. This city has taught me hard lessons about love, resilience, the beauty of community and... I was going to say something about Barbeque here? That feels regionally appropriate, but also, it’s so much deeper than that. Kansas City has taught me… how to be myself unapologetically.

A zinester at heart and a screen printer by trade, Kansas City gave me a foundation to craft, learn, and showcase my works from Astringent Press to KC Zine Con, a space to express myself in a way only I can, and build artistic skills I will continue to hone and treasure until the day I die. Heart and trade considered, my mind has always been focused on how I can make this place, my home, better for the most downtrodden among us, as I help in the only way I can. Organizing, promoting, tabling, more artistic labor than you can print a screen at, and running the Kansas City Anarchist Bookfair (a two year tradition with a third tentatively set for this year) are only a few of the contributions I’ve made to give back to this place I love. To the people who I love.

I can’t thank the people I’ve come to know and love here enough.

That being said, I'm calling upon those same people to support me now. But first, why? Why leave?

I’m tired. I have been at the beck and call of my community members and people I love, for as long as I can remember. Always happy to help, but ultimately I need to help myself. As I’m sure many of you know, trans people in our region are fleeing in larger and larger numbers. I count myself among them now, though I once thought I never would. The state I was born in, Kansas, has crossed a line I simply cannot overlook as someone who values basic human rights and believes every person deserves at a baseline to be respected and seen as who they are. Though I had moved to Missouri, Kansas still sent me a letter, invalidating my ID, invalidating my birth certificate (funnily enough, with no refund for the fees that changing it cost in the first place). And as I follow the news daily and see these secretive overnight sessions in state congress and rushed transphobic bills deny us all manner of life and dignity. In addition to my increasing personal reasons to leave (that will remain personal)—I find myself with the clear realization that I must leave.

I am asking for $9,000 dollars to help with the expenses of repairs to my car, gas, moving and settling in, and life expenses as I transition to life in a less immediately dangerous environment.

They say trans fundraisers only ever pass around the same $20—I hope with your help I can see it passed here a few times. Thank you for reading.