The fight to be a Monterey Bay artist
Being disabled is absolutely not easy. But there are a few things that have made it a lot more enjoyable for me.
Community is the number one need for humans, but those of us with chronic illness or disability especially. We need help and we need to help others.
A major stressor or source of stability is housing. Many in California are already familiar with the housing crisis, but if you are not, or are of a certain social class and not aware, I would like to inform you.
There is a low inventory of affordable housing because development and priority has been given to the landlord class and the ultra wealthy by city and county planning for a generation. Something like 20% of current housing sales are to people planning to live in that home — the rest is by investors and landlords. Meanwhile, apartments remodel, kick out families, and only accept tenants that make 3-4x the rent. Trying to attract tech corporate workers has contributed to massive homelessness, and the rise of homeless families during the pandemic.
Since 2018 my rent has risen 42.5%. I split a 5 bedroom home with multiple problems, slumlord special.
Of course this contributes to my disability. I was working 6 jobs when the rent was 42% lower. Now I can “only” work 2 as a disabled artist and I still rely on crowdfunding for my survival.
If you are a landlord I really need you to look in the mirror. If you are an employer you need to look at payroll and then in the mirror.
Anyway, if you have a lead on affordable and accessible housing in Monterey County let me know before I too have to leave the area.
I can’t “work harder” and I don’t deserve to be told that, nobody who is low income does. I guarantee that everyone low income works 10,000x harder than those making 7+ figures. Full stop. I grew up here. I have met the gamut of incomes. I KNOW rich people. If it was about merit, we wouldn’t be here.
Why do I bring this up on my art blog? It’s extremely relevant to my art practice that I can’t spend my disabled time on my own body of work and instead am spending all my time on survival funds. Of course making art work is part of that, but I am unable to afford the kind of art making that would add to my Ouvre at what this point in my career is “supposed” to happen.
Let me know in the comments how you feel about our cost of living.
a truth about my art.
The art gatekeeping is coming from inside the house….
What do you do when you know about a wolf in sheep’s clothing? When a monster hides among us? How does Cassandra feel reading the headlines?
I don’t doubt that many of us, especially marginalized people, have had these experiences. Someone lauded by a larger community singles us out personally to be a predator to. These abusers design themselves a web of no accountability and no possibility for criticism.
Intersectionality has become unfortunately a word that privileged “activists” have used to deflect their Whiteness by over emphasizing any minute personality trait that may make them seem marginalized in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth.
Mother Theresa and white money tried to train my art and my truth.
It’s just too bad that THE TRUTH is the strongest.
Autoimmune Disease - Diagnosis Journey & RubyFEST
Hello friends and followers.
I feel that it is time to share on my public art platform about more details of my current life.
The first thing that I want to say is that, literally every moment of a day I am physically able to work on art, I am streaming it on my Twitch.tv for you to join in! So please follow me on twitch as MeheenRuby.
I’m actually typing this during a stream.
It’s a good way to boost my mood while “working” - I am on medical leave from all work at the moment and using art as a therapy tool to cope with my illness rather than a way to generate income since the first week of May.
In April I began to feel some serious health symptoms. The symptoms have progressed to the point where after early May I was physically unable to drive or complete my job tasks and many common household tasks.
As some of the physical symptoms have alleviated, specifically the pinched nerve injury, I still have serious symptoms from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Uterine fibroids and potential Endometriosis, and an Autoimmune myopathy, potentially myositis in some form.
Over the next several months I have many scheduled appointments including a consultation about proceeding with a diagnostic surgery.
I am optimistic and heartened by the love and support of my community.
Please clear your calendars for Friday, September 13th. I would like to share with you not just my work but the work of my support system of loving and talented artists, musicians, writers, scientists, and teachers.
I have received nothing but help from my community. Whatever ails me, I plan to adjust and heal as much as is reasonable. For now I have secure access to health care. However that may not always be the case if I am unable to do some serious fundraising. Shockingly my first needs fundraiser to cover housing costs and medical bill support became fully funded within 3 days and exceeded my expectations.