the last few weeks have been a whirlwind. cvp promotion ended and the course has begun, but i’ve been so busy otherwise i haven’t been able to tune in live to any of the zoom calls yet. thank goodness for replays! and the fact that i’ve already taken the course twice so i know how things go and that it’s really ok to not be there live and watch later.
i initially thought i had not gotten any affiliate sign ups this year for cvp even though a few folks had reached out to discuss, ask questions and said they used my link after seeing my blog and/or facebook/insta posts. i was disappointed but figured it was just not in the cards this year and i’d figure out how to pay for it eventually. i stopped looking at my affiliate portal a few days before enrollment closed as i’d basically given up. so i was delighted to get a message from an artist who told me after enrollment had closed that they had decided to take the course after all, and they had used my link. i went to the affiliate portal and yes, it did actually show up!! so i got one referral… which covers the amount of the returning alumni fee for cvp!! yay!
so thank you to that artist, if she ever reads this. that really helps me out.
aside from all the cvp promo and now starting the course, what’s keeping me so busy is the upcoming #nokingsnola rally and march. it’s this coming saturday, the 28th, from 2-6pm on the great lawn of the lafitte greenway. i’ll be tabling with a mutual aid group that serves the immigrant population of new orleans east, and we’ll be trying to get donations to support our food pantry. if you want to make a donation to our parent organization, el pueblo, you can do so via their fiscal sponsor lowernine.org using this link. if you come by our table on saturday and make a donation, you can receive some awesome donor gifts at various donation levels, including buttons made by me (two of those designs are not mine but were donated), an awesome tshirt with RESIST spelled out in new orleans sidewalk tiles (designed and donated by kingfisher), and/or super cool 3d printed guillotine earrings and pendants!
our mutual aid group was featured in the new york times for our work around abandoned pets due to detainment/deportation out in new orleans east. our food pantry includes pet food for affected families as well as community members who’ve been feeding the pets left behind. we’ve begun the work of trying to document the numbers of pets on the streets in new orleans east, and are working with local pet rescues and the LA SPCA on fostering/adoption as well as education, vaccination and spay/neuter. we were happy to be interviewed and that the NYT wanted to shine a light on this issue not just here but around the country. and we hope this attention will bring us some volunteers and donations to further our work and keep covering those affected families and pets.
so yeah. there’s been a lot going on. i’m excited for saturday but will also be really glad when it’s over. i need to get back to the business of making art/merch for myself and selling some, as my pet biz has been super slow and i need money! i’ve not done a good job of getting new stuff up on the webshop but i’ll keep trying. i’m still working on getting my “community is everything” shirt up on print-on-demand but the sample i ordered didn’t look great so i’m having to rethink it, so that project is on hold. hoping after this week passes i’ll have the focus and time to buckle down.
that’s the update for march! hopefully i’ll be back with some insights and new work generated in cvp. in the mean time, i hope you find a #nokings3 rally/march wherever you are to participate in this saturday!