<div>Hello gentle people,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Rose June. I am a poet, writer, teacher, and digital creator. I am also a contemplative. This means I am living a life of awareness, attuned to the desire to be fully Black and alive. I am also someone who just survived a really hard year.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This past year was one of the most difficult of my life mentally and emotionally. I navigated a mental health crisis serious enough that a second hospitalization was on the table. Luckily I was able to avoid it, but not without a cost. The kind of cost that you spend months, slowly, paying back to yourself.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>But I am making it through. In January, I found a part-time job I actually like. Come late August, I will take on an additional role at that job, bringing me to full time status. But as it stands currently, my job runs September through May, which means this summer I will be without income.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Womanist theologian Katie Geneva Cannon named something I have spent years dwelling in: “Do the work your soul must have.”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>There is a work my soul must have. It is the deep, unhurried work of becoming. This summer, I want to do that work. And I need your help to protect it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What This Summer Is For</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am calling it a sabbatical and I mean that word with full intention.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I want to lean into slowness. I want to rest without guilt. I want to have fun in ways that have nothing to do with output or optimization. I want to commit to the radical act of not grinding.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I hold two master's degrees from Boston University School of Theology, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology. My thinking lives at the intersection of womanist theology, Black feminist thought, spiritual formation, trauma and disability wisdom, and digital wellness. For over four years I have been showing up, weekly, through everything, writing and creating through A Gentle Landing for a community of over 1,800 readers. This past year, I spent time in three different fellowships to enhance my public work.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have spent a long time finding my identity through work. I am actively always resisting getting another credential. This summer I want to practice something different: finding myself through rest, healing, and play.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Here is what this summer holds:</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Resting genuinely, unapologetically, without guilt
</li>
<li>Singing loudly. Playing guitar. Practicing calligraphy. Being soft.
</li>
<li>Reading deeply and writing carefully without focusing on outcomes (though it would be nice to produce a book proposal)
</li>
<li>Spending 2-3 weeks in residency at a retreat center learning from the land and writing
</li>
<li>Taking a class on Haitian Kreyòl for dyaspora speakers like myself and gently building upon my work of poems and essays for Haitian-Americans.
</li>
<li>Contributing to The Rest Stop, a womanist community project I'm building with my collaborator Bethany Nicole, because it is the work my soul must have to build community with other Black women, femmes and nonbinary people.
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Come Bear Witness:</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I'll be documenting the journey of sabbatical rest on my YouTube channel, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@agentlelanding" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Gentle Landing</a>. It is my hope to share it as testimony, providing an honest look at what it means to choose yourself after a hard year. I want to showcase the slow work of becoming exactly who you are. As I share, I hope to create what inspires softness in others, helping others dream of their own sabbaticals or to practice rest within the margins of their days.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>You can also follow my writing (for now) on <a href="https://www.agentlelanding.substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Substack</a>.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>The Numbers</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>$7,000 is roughly what I earn in three months at my current part-time role. This campaign covers my basic living expenses for the summer while I am without income. I am also factoring in GoFundMe's processing fees so that what reaches me covers what I actually need.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When you donate, GoFundMe will offer you the option to cover the processing fee at checkout. If you're able to check that box, every cent of your gift lands with me. But never let that stop you from giving what you can. Any amount is an act of love.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If I don't reach my goal: I am still exploring summer employment while fundraising. Whatever is raised will go toward rest and healing. I also carry medical debt from my 2023 hospitalization that I have been slowly paying down.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Why Community Funding?</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I believe in mutual aid as a practice, not just a principle. I have shown up for others. I am asking my community to show up for me.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have been living paycheck to paycheck since January. My hard season last fall depleted what savings I had. I am carrying medical debt from my 2023 hospitalization. I am not asking from a place of abundance.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>For four years I have been writing, thinking, and creating in public. The essays, the reflections, the community offerings, all of it freely given, week after week. That is four years of unpaid intellectual and spiritual labor. Authors get advances. Academics get sabbaticals. Nonprofit leaders get grants. I have been doing serious work without any of that infrastructure, and I have done it faithfully.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This campaign is, among other things, compensation for that: rest as back pay. Community funding as the infrastructure that was never offered to me by institutions.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When you give to this campaign, you are not a donor. You are a co-laborer. You are saying: this Black queer disabled woman's life matters. Not their output, not their productivity, not what they produces for others.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Give what you can. Share this with someone who believes in rest as a radical act, in Black women who deserve softness, in the holy work of coming fully alive.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Come bear witness to a gentle landing.
</div>

Anonymous

Alyson Nunez

Susan Wackerbarth

Jada Price

Jessica Kormos

Ana Maria Rodriguez

Khalia Ii

Lori A. Buehler

Myles Lennon

Help Rose June Land Gently This Summer

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help Rose June Land Gently This Summer

Still $2,120 to go. Help us build momentum.