Project Texodus
Our next goal is to raise the funds to escape the state of Texas.
I don't have an eloquent way to say this, so here's my real voice: We're trans, and we're scared.
As of the solstice, I have been in Texas for 7 years to the day. Since that point, I've experienced:
Water quality so bad that my skin burns when I shower, and we have to haul water from dispensers home to cook with and drink (and shortages of water because of demand)
Our tap water reads 2260ppm TDS, which is beyond unacceptable by more than double the value.
Our tap water reads 1000ppm salt, which is the absolute maximum permissible value by US law.
Extreme weather including a hailstorm that totalled the car and broke windows in the house, extreme temperature and pressure swings, a devastating freeze event, and near-miss tornadoes that have damaged our trees and house
These two days were 7 months apart from each other. I was preparing for Gromm the smilodon's studio photos in the scorching hot studio, and curled up on the couch by the fireplace with my dying cat during the big Texas Freeze.
Revocation of legal rights over my own body that I was born with & would die without, which is ironic because then I'd have more right to my body
Targeted harassment from our neighbors in the form of fraudulent civil services reports
Discrimination from our internet provider that refused to change our policy holder's name in accordance with our legally registered name change, throttled our services, and refused to correct any of these things for almost two years, affecting my ability to host video streaming of my work and hurting my income.
Shortages of basic supplies like food, toilet paper, and necessary medications even before the pandemic (and significantly worse during)
A mass shooter murdering people in their cars on the road I take weekly to the only fabric store within a 2hr drive
Political policies that target transgender people like my wife and me, including the AG seeking to make a state list of transgender individuals
Exorbitant travel requirements for basic care due to a complete lack of local services (up to 6hrs on rural Texas roads each way for an appointment, we often try to not stop for the bathroom if we can help it for our safety)
My 21 year old emotional support cat dying horribly from medical neglect at the only emergency vet available for hundreds of miles due to the same reasons. Her ordeal started on December 24th and ended on February 21st, so this whole time is a season of profound grief for me. The last thing I worked on with her in my lap was my #EclipseRig protractile/retractable feline claw prototype, which is named in her honor and memory </3
And now we're having repeated earthquakes from the fracking going on beneath our feet. In the last few years, they have been putting oil wells into neighborhoods. We have a rig closer to our house than the grocery store.
We can't fucking thrive here, no matter how much we labor to. And it's getting worse faster than my wildest predictions.
I've been working hard to try and wrap up outstanding projects so we could make our escape from this hellscape cleanly, but things just keep getting worse and I fear that if we wait too long, we won't be able to get away at all. Frankly, we're sick and tired of living in Texas and we're scared.
We're barely back to level after getting Covid in May, leaving me, our main breadwinner, bedbound for 6 weeks & operating at diminished capacity since. We depleted our savings & had to rely on the generosity of our friends & my working with active Covid to release my paw pattern.
It's been so hard for so long, the stress of all of this is affecting our physical and mental health, business, and relationship. If we don't make a change soon, I don't think we can make it out of here with our way of life intact.
I'm not ashamed to say that we're desperate at this point. This situation is destroying us, and we don't have family to fall back on while we pick up the pieces of the life we wanted to live. We just want a chance to live and create without the burden of this nightmare environment looming ever present on the periphery of our minds.
At this point I'm going to have to ask for help from the community to get out of here faster. We're putting everything we have after our unavoidable expenses into this, I'm downsizing and destashing 12 years of fursuit building supplies, equipment, and scrapped/test projects to make some extra money to get out faster. I even sold my personal fursuit.
Bye, buddy! Hope you enjoy Europe!
In the true spirit of writing our own destiny, after our winter sale blew through our goal we hopped in our car and drove home with a 35ft long retired school bus! Our next goal will be to turn this into a fully equipped off-grid tiny house on wheels.
We're going to recycle this old school bus into a mobile tiny house and studio space! Ash has 15 years of experience with off and on grid electrical, fleet management, and has driven equivalent sized vehicles, in addition to being responsible for systems and equipment maintenance of complex research and testing systems. Aurora started their career of DIY ingenuity while living in a tiny house, and out of a mix of curiosity and necessity has performed dozens of vehicle repairs and maintenance tasks, including swapping engines and transmissions. Aurora also has a background in construction and remodeling, and they designed and executed a beautiful custom art studio space for their exact needs. Between the two of us, we have the skills to make this happen.
Aurora's design is based on our current/past house dimensions and power draw, and includes a full bathroom, kitchen including fridge and oven, washer and dryer, and a 48v solar battery setup that can run it all. Plus, a custom art studio will be half of the floorplan! This is 2/3 the size of our current studio, which is about what we currently use. We are lucky to have people who are checking our designs who are professionals in their fields of diesel repair, solar electric, and motorhome conversion too!
We just need a chance, and we need a little help to make it happen. We need to live somewhere where we can go outside and not fear for our safety or get sick breathing the air or drinking the water. Somewhere we can get fresh foods that my body can use to heal and recover. To be able to see the people who matter most to us more than once every few years, because we have to drive 20hrs each way and sleep in the car.
I need a day trip not to be 12hrs of driving and holding pee.
We need to reduce our overhead costs so we can spend more time on the things we enjoy: creating bespoke art for our clients rather than churning out content to pay the bills.
After Aurora's life-threatening covid experience and all the hate and violence being directed at trans people, we need to get out of this hellscape and live our truest lives while we still have the ability.
We'll continue to put everything we have into our goal budget. Every single pattern we sell is a step closer to getting out of Texas, and we have several more coming out soon (legacy feline hand and slimpeets, legacy wolf digitigrade leg and foot padding, new upgraded wolf hand) plus I am currently assembling my ✨big project✨ and the proceeds from the release of that will also be put towards our escape. We're out in the middle of nowhere out here so we don't have a lot of hope for extra hands, but if anyone is interested in the fun part of the conversion process let Aurora know! It's gonna be a challenge to balance getting the conversion done along with all our regular work, so we welcome any and all help we can get.
What can you do to help? Our patterns are what’s making this possible, so keep on sharing our posts and using our patterns to make cool stuff! Our momentum is driven by your retweets and interactions, and the people who are on your feed might be the ones who break through our next goal! Of course, purchasing the new patterns when they drop, joining our Patreon, grabbing an item or two from our Amazon Wishlist, or making a donation to our moving fund using the button below contribute directly to our escape.
Thank you so much for everything, and I hope we can begin to live and create again to our fullest soon <3