Send Danielle to DC & Philly!

Hello and welcome to my GoFundMe fundraiser!

Danielle Muscato here. I'm a civil rights activist, writer, and transgender woman from St Louis. You may recognize my name as the woman whose "tweet storm" about Donald Trump's SNL tweets went viral about a month ago. I wrote a follow-up op-ed for Newsweek here.

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited to participate at the Women's March on Washington on January 21 in Washington, DC. Also that same weekend, in Philadelphia, is the nation's largest annual LGBTQ activism conference, called "Creating Change" (Jan 18-22).

I'm raising money to travel to both of these events. Since both are the same weekend, it will just be 1 trip for me from St Louis. The total cost will be about $585 (see below for breakdown).

I actually spoke at the Creating Change conference last year in Chicago. I'm not a speaker this year, but I want to attend (as a writer) so that I can interview as many of this year's workshop presenters, speakers, and award honorees as I possibly can, for a new series I'm doing called "RESIST." These interviews will focus on social justice activism and concrete steps we can take to resist Donald Trump, fascism, and the alt-right during the new administration. (I will also be conducting interviews at the March in DC).

I will be publishing these interviews freely and publicly over the next 2-3 months so that people can benefit from the advice and expertise of the interviewees. By doing these interviews in a conference setting, I can schedule as many as 10-20 interviews with only a single travel expense, so I think it will be well worth it—especially since I'm combining this with the trip to DC.

To save money, I will be driving rather than flying. The money will mostly go to paying for gas, and to pay for registration for the conference, at their low-income rate of $200.

Also to save money, I'm crashing with friends in Columbus, Ohio along the way (it's a 2-day drive) both on the drive there & back. I'm also crashing with more friends in DC as well as in Philly, so that I won't need to pay for ANY hotels for the entire trip. 

I will need to raise the funds by January 15 in order to make this work, which gives us 10 days from today!

Simply put, your financial support makes my work possible. I am a full-time activist who is only able to make a positive difference because of YOU! Your support inspires and invigorates me and I am ineffably grateful.

As you may know, I am actually homeless at the moment. I was living in my car for awhile, but I'm currently staying in a homeless shelter in St Louis. I'm actually doing OK here for the time being and believe it's important to continue my work even while I am homeless (although if you would like to support me in helping with my housing situation and transition, I also have a Patreon pledge page here! ). I am *not* getting rich off doing this work, but I believe with all my heart that the work I do is incredibly important and that, under a Trump administration, it will only be more important moving forward. I am working hard to begin transitioning as a trans woman, and it's going very slowly. The world is not very accepting of people like me, but I'm not letting that stop me, or even slow me down. If you would like more information about my current situation, or if you have ANY other questions, please feel free to ask me directly, or also, last week I also hosted a 2-hour video AMA (ask me anything) here.

I am very grateful for your support, at any dollar amount. Thank you, and please share this as well!

Love and respect,
Danielle

Twitter @DanielleMuscato
Facebook.com/daniellemuscato.page

[email redacted]

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Breakdown of estimated costs:

890 miles: Drive from St Louis to Philly
20 mpg average highway (45 gallons)
$2.35/gallon estimated
5% buffer just in case = 2 gallons = $5 extra for gas
= 1st leg: $110

135 miles to DC
15 mpg average (expecting heavier traffic for inauguration) (9 gallons)
$2.35/gallon estimated
5% buffer just in case = 0.5 gallons = $1.17 extra for gas
= 2nd leg: $23

820 miles DC to St Louis
20 mpg average highway (41 gallons)
$2.35 estimated gas price per gallon
5% safety buffer = 2 gallons = $5 extra for gas
= 3rd leg: $102

Total for gas: $235

$10/day for food: 10 days = $100

Philly parking: $30 (estimate)
$20 incidentals (hotel tips, miscellaneous, things I didn’t plan for)

$200 Creating Change registration (low-income rate)
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Itinerary: Leaving St Louis AM on the 16th, arriving Columbus that evening. Leaving Columbus AM on the 17th, arriving Philly that evening. Spend 18th, 19th in Phila. Leaving Phila AM on the 20th, arrive DC that evening. Women’s March on Washington is the 21st. Return to St Louis.

$585 total for this trip
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Thank you for your support! Please share.