Help Marie Get Bottom Surgery
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Zachary Acosta-Lewis and I would like to talk a bit about my dear friend Marie, on whose behalf some friends and I have organized this fundraising effort.
If you live in Richmond, Marie (who you may also know as Palmer) likely needs no introduction. It is possible that you’ve seen her play drums in Serqet or witnessed the eclectic psychedelia of her project Heavy Mistress. You may have come across her collage work on a flyer or glimpsed a window into her encyclopedic subcultural knowledge by way of one of her zines. She may have played the best record you’ve never heard before during a DJ set or given you the perfect book recommendation. Maybe you’ve spent afternoons in a reading group with her or just enjoyed the odd conversation or two at shows. If you know her, you may be aware that she has been in the process of medical transition for the past few years. The most recent step of this process has been the scheduling of bottom surgery in January — a major procedure that will cost approximately $20,000 and will involve traveling to DC and missing six weeks of work. As you might imagine, this is a time that is both exciting and overwhelming for Marie and her loved ones.
Even if you have never encountered Marie or her work directly, it is quite possible that you have felt her presence in the work of others — me being just one example. She has been a close collaborator with Behavior, the electronic music collective of which I am a member, regularly contributing video accompaniment and spatial design to our events. Besides the work I’ve done with the aforementioned Heavy Mistress, nearly all of my sonic output contains traces of Marie both small and large. Whether it be lyrical content informed by our conversations and work together; techniques and ideas developed in recording sessions; or samples from those sessions themselves, neither Division of Mind, Predation, Remote Neural Monitor, nor H.B. would be the same without her. She has volunteered her time to help facilitate shows at the Warehouse as well as DJ’d parties and played shows there. My academic work — as well as its less professional parallels — is replete with concepts and thinking developed throughout years of conversation, reading groups, and cooperative writing practice with Marie. Her work as an author, editor, translator, and thinker has been vital to my intellectual life and I am very certain that I am not alone in this. To be plain, I would not be who I am without her.
One of Marie’s qualities that I most admire is her resilience and commitment to letting her work speak for itself. She has never been one to try and leverage her position or identity, nor one to use her work to advance her social status or satisfy her ego. Indeed, much of her best work, in my opinion, has been anonymous or deliberately uncredited. It would be unfair of me not to mention her reluctance, even aversion, towards asking anyone to contribute their own resources towards her healthcare, particularly in a time that has been beyond trying for absolutely everyone that we know. Ultimately I, along with a few other friends, have convinced her to allow us to fundraise on her behalf because we have recognized how high the stakes are. If you know me then you know that I am deliberate with words, and this is a time in which I would do anything for my friend.
If you have a loved one who has ever considered or undertaken medical transition procedures, then you likely know what a substantial psychic, emotional, financial, and logistical investment they require. American health insurance, designed as it is to maximize profitability, rarely covers any transition-related surgeries, especially if it’s necessary to go out of state. Few of the meager opportunities that do exist for coverage are accessible to the working class and Marie, who is a production line worker on Virginia Medicaid making substantially less than a living wage, has been preparing for her surgery with the knowledge that she very well may incur a lifetime of debt. It should go without saying that this is a decision that nobody makes lightly and, in this instance, there is simply no alternative. This surgery will be, quite literally, life saving.
I can’t speak for Marie, but I can attest to the overwhelming gratitude that she feels for any contribution to this fundraiser, large or small.
On my own behalf I can ask that if you’ve ever come to an event that Behavior organized, had fun at a Warehouse show, met me at a conference, seen me play on tour or in Richmond, or enjoyed a record I’ve made, to please consider making a contribution in whatever way that you can. Any donation, sharing this with someone else who may be able to, or making a quick post on your social media of choice would mean the world to Marie and to me as well. Thank you for your time - hold on to your friends.
Zachary Lee Acosta-Lewis