Vote Dammit

This year I’m electing to stay off social media until tomorrow. I can’t bear the thought of that repulsive swamp monster taking office again. I told Bishop yesterday that he must be the one to text me the news, but only if it’s a good result.

BONUS: My MASH bag with some of my patriotic pins.

Amy's Bond Dream

Ha! I came across this old text message from Amy:

Evil Dead - The Musical

This afternoon I drove up to Amy's and we gals went to The Crescent Theatre to see a local production of Evil Dead - The Musical. It was silly and campy as hell with good songs and laughs-a-plenty. It was a tiny little theatre and even though we sat in the far back, away from the "splatter zone", we saw everything perfectly. Would definitely go again.

Lauryn's Divorce Party!!

Tonight was Lauryn's Divorce/New Apartment/I'm Free! party. Lauryn is so wonderful because she knows me and my anxiety well and knows exactly how to set me at ease. She said she would have vegan munchies and desserts for me, understood if I wanted to arrive late or leave early, and told me who the other guests would be and a little info on them. It started at 6 and I got there a little before 8. Everyone else was there but it took merely the introductions to decide that they are all really wonderful people. I knew Lauryn's sister Kristen plus Mel and her hubby Scott, but the new folks, Berry, Dale, Jen, and Jess, were so nice and welcoming and very laid back. We are all so grateful that Lauryn got aways from that mess of an ex-husband and his stupidity and cruelty and is embarking on a brand new life that is sure to be wonderful! The best bit, meeting Jess, Lauryn's ex-husband's former partner. Lauryn was so worried that she would never see her step-son after the divorce but she reached out to Jess and discovered what a warm and kind person she is; basically the opposite of what Lauryn's ex made her out to be. Lauryn ditched the husband, gets to keep her relationship with her stepson and has the bonus of a brand new friend in Jess. Hurrah!

October 2024 Donation

Mud & Flood / Hendoween

For Vincent Price Day, Victoria Price had the below image on the screen before the show began. She lives in North Carolina and saw, first hand, the devastation that tore across Hendersonville and Asheville. She has created the Mud & Flood Fund to help out her community and has even cobbled together a handful of pretty fantastic people to help boost things with an online auction. People like John Waters and Cassandra Peterson and Svengoolie! On Instagram I even saw the lovely Ms. Diana Nyad urging people to help out. So in honour of Halloween, Vincent Price, and community, I tossed a little bit of money to help out. Please consider doing the same!

Give to the Mud & Flood Fund

Your donation to the Mud & Flood Fund will help residents and small businesses in Henderson County whose homes or small businesses have suffered damage due to mud and/or flooding during Hurricane Helene. It is estimated that only 2% of residents possessed flood insurance, making recovery for those community members especially daunting. 

The Mud & Flood Fund aims to aid individuals, families, and small businesses who might otherwise fall through the cracks in being able to rebuild and come back stronger than ever! 

With the funds raised, the Mud & Flood Fund will assist homeowners in need through Henderson County Habitat for Humanity programs. Additionally, a portion of the funds raised will be used to boost small businesses, the backbone of the local economy, buoying access to low-interest loans or services from the Chamber of Commerce to help them rebuild and thrive once again. 

Your donation to the Mud & Flood Fund will appear as a donation to the Community Foundation of Henderson County. After processing, you will receive an email notification for your tax records. 

 Thank you for helping Hendersonville and Henderson County heal.

Message from Victoria Price: 

I won't lie. It's been a very intense and crazy busy month since the hurricane.

I've driven over 2,000 miles leading tours and speaking/appearing at events and conventions. I've also had to cancel appearances to come back to WNC to deal with the damage (covered by insurance) and begin a complete rebuild on a recently-completed project. And I still work full-time.  In between, I've been reaching out to folks for help, gathering auction items and setting up everything online.

 

Although it's been a lot, I am continually grateful that I have a sweet place to live, wonderful neighbors and friends, the support of so many people around the world 

in creating this fundraiser . . .

 

I know I will look back on this time as one of the most extraordinary and hopeful moments of my life. In a world where all we read about is division and discord, this natural disaster is bringing so many people together in hope and healing.

 

Last week, I tried to sum it all up in a social media post that seemed to resonate with a lot of folks. So, in case you're not on social media (which is, as we all know, a decidedly mixed blessing), I thought I'd end this email with my pic and post:

What a strange yet wonderful month it has been this far. 

 

Usually October is a big month of posting for me. My favorite time of year. 

Fall colors. Wonderful travels. Great traveling companions. All that has been true. But the month started off with the wallop of Hurricane Helene — no power, cell, water for over a week and devastation all around — so that even when I was on the road, speaking and leading our incredible Price Poe Tour, the situation in 

Western North Carolina was always on my mind. 

 

I wanted to find one photo that somehow encapsulates my biggest takeaway from all I've learned from my neighbors, my traveling companions, working on recovery efforts, traveling, talking about my dad and more. 

 

It's the same thing I keep learning: 

Joy is not optional.

It often feels like it is. 

Like being worried busy stressed anxious about the world, our lives, our neighbors, our bank accounts, disasters or politics is what we should be doing. 

It's not.

 

Desmond Tutu said: 

“It helps no one if you are sacrificing your joy because others are suffering. We people who care must be attractive, must be filled with joy, so that others recognize that caring, that helping and being generous are not a burden, they are a joy.” 

 

This photo was taken at the University of Virginia in front of Poe's dorm room. 

He only stayed a semester because he ran out of money. He kept running out of money, losing the people he loved, but he never stopped seeking love or doing what he loved — writing. Sure people love pointing out the miseries of Poe's life, 

but that's not really why we remember Poe. 

We remember what he wrote. The joy we find in his words. 

 

Poe wrote: “It is a happiness to wonder — a happiness to dream.” 

 

Fear wins when we give up on joy. 

Love wins when we find joy in the challenges. 

I have to remind myself of that every day. 

But this picture reminds me that when I am with people I love, 

bringing others joy, joy radiates back.

 That's Love. 

That's healing. 

That's the whole point. 

 

In our hearts, don't we all know this?

 

All Love. 

Victoria

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!