Relaunch Updates And An Unusual June

Hey y'all,

So, I'm sitting on a mostly finished big redesign of this Patreon, my twitter, and a few other fun things. I had planned to launch it all on June 1st with some fanfare, make an event of it, all that fun stuff. You probably saw the earlier posts if you're reading this.

Of course instead, the very badly needed mass movement against the police and police violence had other plans. The protests continue due to the refusal of the people in power to make material change and abolish the police force, instead favoring token gestures and hollow promises. They try to twist Black Lives Matter into a trendy slogan, instead of a rallying cry and threat to those in power who treat black lives as if they don't. I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, there's a million people you should go to over me for their opinions and advice. If you are out on the streets, make sure to do research on how to do it safely. The police are dangerous and drunk with impunity, but they are scared. As they should be.

So, what about Doomgender stuff?

I am paid by my patrons to write stories. I will continue to write stories. The May Patreon story will be up in the next couple days, and after that I will run a poll for June's story. This is the stuff I have promised to do, and I will continue doing that as normal, though probably with a little less fanfare surrounding it. I will not have any Twitter microfics for the rest of June, they will restart in July.

I don't feel comfortable doing a big push advertising myself and my work at this moment in time. I am white, and while we should all be supporting black voices and creators all year round, not just when it trends, right now especially I should not be pulling attention away for myself. And as such, I am delaying the Patreon redesign and everything that comes with it until July 1st. If you were planning on joining as a patron or upping your pledge this month, I recommend you instead donate that money to an underserved bail fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd (not the big city funds unless you see a very recent post on their social media saying they're still struggling) or to a local mutual aid fund, or buy something from a black-owned business or creative. Check out ways to help here: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ And do some research if you haven't already, there's lots of organizations that could use your support.

So, the Doomgender twitter will be pretty quiet this month. I will return, with new stuff. 

In the meantime, do what you can, take care of yourself and your community.  Don't let the people in power lure or beat you back into complacency. A better world is within our reach. Black Lives Matter, today and always.

~Benn