Monday, July 30, 2012

Good AND Bad News! It's Like a News McDLT!

I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm going to briefly seize control of the blog, in a kind of test of the Emergency Broadcast System, but without the color bars and the high-pitched, migraine-inducing electronic tone.  Sadly, this isn't only a test...

Due to budget cuts, curtailed enrollment, and other factors, Mary was "displaced" from the school she's worked at for the past decade, which in English means "laid off."  Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a cause for alarm, as the District would simply assign her to another school in the same dangerous, run-down, inner city neighborhood -- problem solved.  Except shortly after she was superannuated, the District announced that they were bored with the old system, and had decided to turn their staffing process into a Hunger Games-style competition, in which faculty openings were posted on the Internet, and teachers invited to fight over them.  The use of archery was encouraged, but not required.

Immediately, Mary went about tracking down vacancies, faxing out resumes, making phone calls, aware that if she didn't succeed in finding a job before school started, she'd be thrown into the Sub Pool (which is usually the climax to Shark Week on the Discovery Channel), and get work only when it was available.  So the pressure has been on, and frankly, things have been looking kinda grim for the past two months.

But here's where the Good News comes in:  She just got a job!  One she was really not expecting to get.  Even more amazing, it's in a better equipped, higher performing school, in a far less gun-, drug-, and gang-infested neighborhood (so, fewer amenities, but still...!).  But here's the Bad News:  It's all but inaccessible to public transportation, and our car died back in early 2010.  Having no rainy day funds, we were forced to let it rest in peace, which has been, as you can imagine, a bit of a challenge in Los Angeles.  But by leaving the house before dawn and taking the subway and two buses, Mary was able to get to and from her previous school; unfortunately that's no longer really an option.

Here's the Okay-ish News:  After consulting an expert, we've been told that the car is only mostly dead, and if we can raise $695, we can get it restored to running condition, licensed, and reinsured.  So this is actually less of a test of the Emergency Broadcast System, and more of an unscheduled telethon.

Before I go any further, I would like to deeply, sincerely apologize for this.  We came to you last year too, when the medical and veterinary bills piled up, and I feel awful for asking again. I fully realize that times are even tougher than they were the last time we rattled our tin cup, so if you're in no position to help, we completely understand.  If you do happen to have a few dollars you could throw our way, please click on the button at the top left.  Or, if you're not Pals with Pay, drop me a note at scott.clevenger - at - gmail.com and I'll send you our snail mail address.  Anything you could give would be a huge help to us.

Thanks for listening.

16 comments:

Carl said...

Perhaps you could do a Hunger Games thing with the car and make it earn the repairs.

Congrats Mary!

Stacia said...

I used to substitute myself, so believe me when I say CONGRATULATIONS MARY on the full time job! My memories of the interview process still haunt me, so I can only imagine how stressful your job search was, but thankfully it paid off in the end.

Tracy said...

Yay for Mary!

This means dipping into beer money, but it's for a worthier cause than my liver damage.

M. Bouffant said...

I dunno how you guys do it, but again you need, & I have a little extra. (Just got a check [Saturday] from an insurance co. for a policy on my mother, dead five yrs. now, that I had no idea about. Thanks to Calif. Comptroller John Chiang for lighting a fire under the ins. co. to get the money to me.) Expect a few $ in the mail.

And congrats on the gig. My friend & sexual associate was going to retire from her LAUSD gig this yr., but decided to stick it out another yr. so she won't be living on rice & beans in her golden yrs. Maybe Mary can apply for her gig next yr.; it's closer to Hywd. than the (I assume) Valley.

Li'l Innocent said...

Yay, Mary, and I say that as a descendant of a couple generations of classroom teachers, though not lion-hearted enough myself to have become one.

A PP pittance is electronically yours, guys.

Anonymous said...

I know you've provided this before by snail mail please.
I'll send my info to gmail account but others might want the same

Anonymous said...

I guess I should really read the entire post ... in any case request for snail mail has been made

Unknown said...

Nice school, inaccessible to public transportation? Feature, not bug.

Thorlac said...

Done. Definitely a better cause than expanding my waistline with copious snack-foodery.

Chris Vosburg said...

Congrats, Mary, and good luck. Off the bus line, hmm, sounds like the place where I went to school (see Scott for details).

Chris Vosburg said...

Congrats, Mary, and good luck. Off the bus line, hmm, sounds like the place where I went to school (see Scott for details).

Chris Vosburg said...

Sorry, twitched when I hit "Publish". Fucking Dupuytrens.

Just Some Guy said...

I don't think there is any shame in rattling the cup every now and then. You provide a product: snark. (Some of the finest snark available anywhere on the internet, I might add). Nothing wrong with asking for a little help now and then to keep lights on. Or the car running.

I suppose you could have spent the time you put towards blogging selling trinkets on Etsy. In that case, you might have car money, but I'd be that much poorer.

Good snark is a scarce resource, is what I'm trying to say.

So I'm in for $20 via Paypal. And tell sadlyno.com to fix their link, it points to the old address.

Just Some Guy, again said...

Haha. I just say where it says "Support the Snark" above the Paypal link.

Always nice to see somebody say in three words what you couldn't express in three paragraphs.

Dr.BDH said...

"Mr. Gower cabled you need cash, stop. My office instructed to advance you up to twenty-five dollars, stop. Hee Haw and Merry Christmas! Sam Wainwright."

(Edited for reality.)

Dr. Alice said...

I missed your last fund drive, so I made sure I participated in this one. Again, congratulations, Mary!

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