Not Potato Salad.

Hello. I've been familiar with crowd funding for some time, but this is the first I've felt like I had to ask for help. I admit, my pride has made me hesitant to ask in the past. I'd like to be able to accomplish some of the things I'd like without help, but I'm realizing more and more every day that isn't how the world works.

I'm 27, have a wide variety of skills, and am very interested and committed to a couple of projects, one of which I'll be outlining later. I have put a great deal of thought into what I want to be doing with myself, and ways to facilitate co-operation and collaboration between artists, tradesmen, and community members. I'd like to see a society where public works and facilities can be emergent, and not simply handed down from on-high. That so many people feel so disenfranchised because the means to fulfil their will isn't within reach, and so they settle for whatever pays best. I want people not to just feel empowered again, but for them to be able to see the fruits of their labor and feel powerful again. To feel a part of something that really has an impact.

What I'd like my first major project to be is a mixed media collaborative website. I feel like artists, writers, and philosophers are incredibly important to the health of a culture, but that the current state of America greatly depreciates the value of "pure" art. So many compromises have to be made that the end product tends to lose a good deal of it's heart for no other reason than financial concerns. That popularity has more to do with luck of the draw and advertising budgets than it does with than the merits on which the work stands.

The major motivation for this is to have a platform focused on independently directed media development. Pictures, books, movies, games, etc. People would have an account that cites them for all of the works they have done and projects they have contributed to. Project licensing would also be up to the group working on the project. I want to give people a way to easily connect with each other and retain control over their work without having to submit to the demands of publishers. Freeware, triple A games, open source projects, shipped or printed art, downloadable movies, free or paid, however the creators want to handle it. I'm only interested in covering power consumption, bandwith cost, and providing a couple of maintenance jobs.

This is just one thing I want to do. There are a couple of projects in the same vein that I'm trying to see accomplished. I'm working on a software project to cover some of the larger costs, but if you've worked on software before. . . it takes time. I come from a family that is buried under mounds of debt and bad financial decisions. Almost all of my money goes into rent and trying to help my mother keep her house. I had a little bit of an egg saved up for the necessary software licenses, but it's looking like that is going to get eaten up by automotive repairs and a few other necessary expenses needed to keep myself in a stable position.

So . . . here I sit weighing the value of my pride. I can't ask people to fund my dreams for me; I feel it's important that I get there by the merits of my own work. However, asking for a little bit of help is needed sometimes, and these funds would go a very long way towards increasing the success of my future plans. It would allow me to fix the parts of my life in need of repair without having to sacrifice the project I'm planning on using to get me to where I want to be. I know there are people in more dire straights, but I am committed to making this world a better place. I don't want to even have to consider the choice between losing the job that is allowing my mom to keep her house or canning the project which is going to fund the next couple of steps of my future and eventually allowing me to provide for my family. We all need a little help sometimes, and I intend on paying it forward in a big way down the road.

Any generosity is greatly appreciated.