UPDATE:
The community has shown up for me.  I am humbled and grateful more than I can say right now.
Financially, y'all have lifted a burden off my shoulders.
Emotionally, my ADHD brain and its alinear thought processes will connect all the dots and I'll burst into tears in a few hours or days: the weight of what y'all have done for me is still settling onto my heart. 
I just want to say thank you to everyone who shared and donated, liked and retweeted, empathized and sympathized, expressed well wishes and encouraged me to sit down. I'm going to sleep easy tonight, knowing y'all have my back. 
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. 

ORIGINAL REQUEST:
My name is LP Kindred and I'm a speculative fiction writer, editor, and teaching artist. Two guys robbed me at gunpoint in the wee hours of this 5/17/2022; they drove off with my phone and my work computer.

 

I'm an alum of Hurston-Wright and VONA, and finally heading to Clarion this summer after pandemic postponements. My fiction features or will feature in LeVar Burton Reads, Fiyah Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Anathema Spec Fic from the Margins, Escape Pod, Speculative City, and the anthologies Queer Blades Volume 1 and (Re)Living Mythology.

 

Most of my community work is in Voodoonauts, a grassroots collective addressing the isolation and underrepresentation of Black Creators in the Speculative Fiction Community.

 

I'm finishing up guest-editing an issue of Speculative City, doing some programming work for the Lammys, logistics and selection for this summer's Voodoonauts Retreat, and preparing to attend Clarion this summer in San Diego.

 

I work part-time at a restaurant to hold space for my community work and writing, but the equilibrium is now precarious.

 

While I'm grateful for the things they left behind (my wallet, my passport, MY LIFE), I really need to be able to work and communicate right now.

 

Even with a full scholarship to Clarion this summer (for which I'm so grateful), I'm facing job insecurity when I return and still putting away money for rent and utilities while I'm away. I can't afford this expense right now, but I can't afford not to figure it out.

 

It would mean the world to me if folks would share and support this campaign.

 

$249 = phone deductible

$419 = the comparable computer I located at Best Buy

$40 = computer cover

$80 = new backpack

= $788

I rounded up to $800 for hidden fees and surprises.