A Quick Request for April

Hey friends,

I am very embarrassed to do this during Triduum. But quickly, before Holy Thursday liturgies begins, in between all the actualy Triduum-related content I’ll be posting all weekend, I have to write the monthly post where I remind people that Steel Magnificat (and my family) run almost entirely on tips. I try to keep these down to one a month, not just because I hate writing them.

I get a very small paycheck for clicks in the United States from Patheos, sometimes as much as three figures, and everything else my family lives on right now is tips from satisfied readers– think of it as tipping your Uber or DoorDash driver and curse the gig economy. Or, think of it as a magazine subscription where you pay what you think I’m worth and can keep reading even if you can’t afford to. Some months we get a lot of gratuities and some months we make very little. Last month we were rescued when everyone sent tips at the beginning of the shelter-in-place order, and we’re very grateful, but tips dropped off again since the beginning of April, so we’re scrambling again.

Life is getting EXTREMELY interesting, and expensive, for the Pezzulo family this April because we usually depend on the bus for transportation and usually buy non-food things we need from thrift stores. Suddenly, with the COVID-19 crisis, the bus is running on an abbreviated schedule with a passenger limit. We’ve got to either walk for miles or order things more expensive online– and there’s only so much Michael can get on foot, not to mention the product shortages. And we’ve still got to cough up rent and utility bills this coming week– even though there won’t be shutoffs during the shelter-in-place order we’ll still be charged late fees and those pile up. I never do know in advance how we’re going to get through a given month, and now I know even less.

So, as always, I ask: if you like what you read, give me a tip when you can! Just go to the donate page here, click on the bright yellow button, and PayPal will walk you through the rest.

And now back to posts worth reading!