Guys, the situation in Gaza is getting worse day after day. Heavy bombardment resumed today everywhere, as if the war has started all over again. We are living in harsh tent conditions, facing freezing cold, violent winds, and heavy rain, with no access to even the most basic necessities of life.
On top of all this, my father is seriously ill, and his health condition is deteriorating day by day, while proper hospitals and medications are unavailable.
Life has truly become a living hell beyond human endurance. We have reached a point where we wish for death instead of this hell we are forced to live through every single moment.
I know I am asking a lot, but I am placing my hope in your humanity to extend a helping hand to my family. We are in desperate need of your support.
i want you all to know that there is an artist (carmen papalia) who, after he started using a white cane, assembled a 12 foot long white cane and began using it in downtown vancouver. the length of the cane made it functionally useless as a device and the only purpose it served was making him an obstacle for sighted people. dare i say… 2019 goals
therapist to sighted patient: long cane isnt real and it cant hurt you
carmen papalia:
[id: a dimly lit photo of carmen papalia using his 12 foot “long cane” piece. he walks casually behind it. the cane takes up the majority of both the photograph and the sidewalk.]
Okay I went to a conference where this guy was a keynote and he’s so fucking cool. He’s done a ton of art around disability rights. The twelve-foot cane is really cool, but here are some of my other favourites:
From the series on replacing his cane, this is one where he replaced his cane with a megaphone and would stand at intersections repeating “I can’t see” until somebody would stop and help him cross the street
Another cane replacement, this time replacing it with a high school marching band who would change the music depending on if there was something in the way or not.
A museum intervention where he got people at the MET to go through the museum with their eyes closed and experiencing touching things he’d gotten permission to touch (the floor in this image) and just exploring a visual art museum blind.
The Blind Field Shuffle, in which he has dozens of people form a conga line behind him with their eyes closed and leads them on a blind tour of the city - literally the blind leading the blind.
Wish I could find a better photo, but this is a museum gallery he curated where the works are almost at floor height, making them accessible to children, little people, and people in wheelchairs, but requiring abled people to bend down or sit on the floor in order to see them properly.
In short, this man is amazing and I love his work.
id’s in order
[begin id 1 of 5: a photo of carmen papalia from the upper torso up holding a megafone to his face while walking on a sidewalk. He is at the forefront of the image in the camera’s left corner, and the megafone takes up a lot of the corner. behind his head stretches the sidewalk and road, with a fence and trees on the other side of the sidewalk on the camera’s right. he’s speaking through the megafone with a neutral expression. it has captions that read: “I can’t see you” four times. end id 1 of 5]
[begin id 2 of 5: a photo taken across the street from where carmen papalia is standing at a crosswalk and facing the camera with a marching band behind him. the marching band’s conductor has his back to the camera and is in the middle of conducting as some people watch from the camera’s right. end id 2/5]
[begin id 3/5: a photo of two people who are kneeling on the floor of a museum, one has straight mid length dark hair, the other has long hair tied back. The one with their hair tied back is guiding the other person’s hands along the floor, both look happy. there are museum goers in the background and to the camera’s right. end id 3/5]
[begin id 4/5: a photo taken of carmen papalia walking down a sidewalk towards the camera with his cane. he is leading a long group of people who have their eyes closed. half the line is approaching a turn in the sidewalk that the others have already taken. most of them look happy. Carmen and people close behind him have more neutral faces. there is an onlooker from the camera’s right who looks like an officer of some type, his expression is neutral. end id 4/5]
[begin id 5/5: a photo taken from a low pov of a museum display where all the images are close to the ground. Someone is standing close to the camera but facing away, i think it’s carmen papalia. there are a few people sitting on the floor looking at the artwork. end id 5/5]
We are so grateful to everyone who supported us while my sister was in the hospital. Thanks to your prayers and kindness, she is finally home and slowly getting better.🙏💗
But now, we are facing a desperate situation. Our landlord has given us only two weeks to pay the rent of $1,500 or we will have nowhere to go. The weather is bitterly cold, my elderly parents cannot withstand it, and my sister is still too weak to face any stress.😔💔
We don’t know what else to do, and we are turning to you with hope in our hearts. Every single donation, no matter how small, will help us keep a roof over our heads and give my family safety and warmth. Please, help us today , your support can save us from the streets and give us hope in this very difficult time.🙏😔💔
Every day we wake up to the same reality: destroyed homes, no safety, no stability, and needs that keep growing. People think the pain paused… but for us, it never did.
Even with a so-called “ceasefire,” nothing has really stopped. The explosions, the drones, the fear — the violations never ended. And our suffering definitely didn’t.
Your support is the only reason many of us manage to keep going.
Your donation 🙏🙏 — no matter how small — can mean medicine, food, warmth, and a little bit of dignity in a life that’s been stripped of everything.
Please, stand with us. Don’t let this struggle fade from the world’s attention.
We still desperately need you to get back on our feet.
i think part of the reason lost media videos are so fun is that it more ethically scratches the same itch as true crime. a bunch of people online being amateur sleuths and going down rabbit holes is a lot easier to enjoy when theyre looking for a cereal commercial from 1991 instead of liike bothering the families of murder victims
