Give

Who are you? Why do you wear those crazy clothes? What's with those seedy bars where you hang out?

Wellllll?

Probably you all have different answers to that question. But, your answers will all employ the past tense at some point or other.

Get it?

It's all about history, folks. Our history. Those who have gone before us.

History is a tricky thing. There are as many histories as there are historians. Did Kennedy get us into Viet Nam? Was America in the 1950s a spiritually bankrupt cultural desert or a time of morality and civic pride? Did FDR have advance knowledge of the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Intelligent and knowledgeable people can disagree.

And that's fine. Because History is an on-going conversation.

But, you've gotta have something to talk about.

And that's why the work of the Leather Archives and Museum is so critically important.

Why chaps? What's with those goofy contests? Left = Top and Right = bottom.

This is not just any history. This is our history. And if the conversation is going to continue, or take place at all, it's going to depend totally on the Leather Archives and Museum providing a repository for that. there's no other way.

And the work is urgent and critical. Our history is passing away as you read this. Like sands through the hourglass.

And they need money. Y'see, they're trying to buy a building.

"Well!" you think, "isn't that a bit extravagant?"

Actually it's not.

Trust. A non-profit organization is only sure to be around as long as their next lease renewal. Let's say that Greenview Avenue in Chicago, Illinois gentrifies incredibly. The landlord sees an opportunity he can't pass up. Surprise! The rent is going up 350%.

Oh heck. We'll have to box everything up and send it to storage while we try to find new space. That shouldn't take too long.

But the hunt drags on. And on. And on. This place would be perfect but it's not up to code. This place is badly situated with respect to public transportation. Commitment to the endeavor--and funding--wanes.

Alas. It would have been great.

And it's all gone.

I'm hard pressed to believe that anyone reading this is in more dire straights financially than I am right now. But y'know what? I'm sending them a check. Not a huge check. I wish it could be more. But as my saintly white haired grandmother used to say, "Well kid, people in hell want ice water." I mean... She said that, but she also said, "Pennies make dimes, and dimes make dollars, and dollars make millionaires."

Write a check. Figure out how much you can give, increase that amount by 50%, and drop that check in the mail to them.

Do it now, before you forget.

No. Don't wait till after you get your tax return. Send one right now. Tonight. Off it goes in tomorrow's mail. When you get your tax return, you can send another check.

Till it hurts.

I hear you have a pretty good tolerance for pain.

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