Share

I met queer feminist artist Sini Anderson many years ago when Riot Grrrl Ink. was just starting to grow from a house concert/local DC booking company to something more. Sini would come through town, all dressed in white and inspire me not only with her performance, but also talks over steak—always in the same Adams Morgan diner. Sini helped me see how a record label could be more than a traditional record label. How Queer Arts needed funding, nourishment and support in every area, not just music. Those talks helped shape RGI to become the diverse company it is today. Sini has had a profound impact on my life.

If you are reading this and have no idea who Sini Anderson is I encourage you to google and spend some time on the inter-webs and get to know your herstory. Sini is an amazing film maker, she is currently working on a documentary about Kathleen Hanna's life. She is a founding member of Sister Spit and has spent decades touring with her performance art and spoken word. Sini's work has helped pave the way for so many. And now she needs our help.

Sini's partner, the writer Melissa Febos and artist, Tammy Rae Carland, posted a Indiegogo fundraiser  for Sini Anderson who is in the late stages of Lyme Disease and is suffering with over 70 symptoms.

Insurance only does so much for the chronically ill, drug companies focusing on profit more than health had left Sini in a place where she needed a medically prescribed PICC line that administers high doses of antibiotics for the next several months. No one had the money so they turned to their community and explained Sini's diagnoses. They asked for the minimum amount to cover medication($12,000) and went live with yet another crowd funding campaign.

What happened next was magical. I will even use the word woo here. By midnight on the first night they have raised $12,723 now the campaigns been live almost 24 hours and they are just over $16,000 and it grows little by little every time we all look at it. Every time someone shares the link through social media—Sini's safety net from her community grows. This is community at its finest, this is what happens when not just the art but the artist has touched an audience. We didn't stop at the minimum and we still have 59 days left to give, every little bit that we can to help with mounting medical debt, living expenses and all the other things that come with literally fighting for your life back from a chronic illness. We have a chance to show the world what community is about. No matter what the world throws at us, we make a way together.