<div>Transmission incoming: “This is the Kobayashi Maru, calling Starfleet Command. Requesting immediate reprogramming. The test is unwinnable unless we change the rules.”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I’m 32, a mom of a two-year-old girl, and a biomedical engineering graduate who has spent the last two years searching for work that disappeared when Wall Street rippled layoffs through my industry. I drained my savings, maxed my credit, and lived in a one-bedroom lease trying to hold it together. Now my daughter and I are staying with my parents, and I’m trying to chart a new course.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The Situation:
</div>
<div>•	My daughter deserves the attention and stability that only I can give right now.
</div>
<div>•	Her father is 1,000 miles away.
</div>
<div>•	Her grandma raised ten kids and still micromanages half of them.
</div>
<div>•	A lot of my family exists on the autism spectrum but I received clinical diagnosis while employed and insured in 2022. 
</div>
<div>•	I’m educated, determined, and working up to self-employment and freelance paths — but too many options keep me in systems of manufactured scarcity and exploitation.
</div>
<div>I don’t want to:
</div>
<div>•	Sell junk that ends up in landfills.
</div>
<div>•	Farm people’s data.
</div>
<div>•	Push ads and sponsorships that drive hyper-consumerism.
</div>
<div>•	Price people out of access to real skills or knowledge that could transform their lives.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I want to give freely and try to live on the generosity of those who believe in rewriting the system, not exploiting it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The Ask:
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<div>If you can, help me reprogram this Kobayashi Maru. Donations will support:
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<div>•	Stability for my daughter (basic expenses like car payments, childcare, and daily needs).
</div>
<div>•	Breathing room for me to build sustainable, ethical self-employment that doesn’t exploit people or planet.
</div>
<div>•	A chance to prove that mutual aid and generosity can carry us further than competition and scarcity.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Closing:
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<div>Captain Kirk said he didn’t believe in no-win scenarios. I don’t either. I’m asking for help to change the test — not just for me, but for my daughter’s future.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you for being part of my Starfleet.
</div>
<div>bonus video: <a href="https://youtu.be/HgdBqZSFj64" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Edith on her uncles’ trampoline</a>
</div>

Gerry Starnes

Ryan VandeBrake

David Edick

Enter your donation forKobayashi Maru Protocol: Reprogramming a No-Win Scenario