For Sale: Lieberman Autographed Book
Update (2007-01-27): If you’re here at Spazeboy.net because you heard about and want to help Spazemom, that mission is accomplished. I’m no longer taking contributions for Spazemom, but a good friend of mine, of the local blogosphere, and the 4th CD Coordinator for the Lamont Campaign is still on the mend. You can contribute toward Maura’s medical bills by clicking on the PayPal link below:
Details on Maura here and an update here
Back to the original post…
I received a call from Spazemom yesterday. The short story is that things are not good in the heartland.
The long story is, well, much longer.
Nearly ten years ago, my family and I moved from Oregon back to Sioux City, IA. At the time, Spazemom said it was because the schools were better–it turns out that while not very many high school grads in Tillamook went straight to college, neither would I (nor my brother and sister). So much for that.
In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that we moved back to Iowa so that Spazemom could do better for us kids. Before we ever left Iowa, she’d earned her nursing degree–no small feat for a single mother of three. At Tillamook Care Center Spazemom was a Resident Care Manager, but at Indian Hills Nursing Home in Sioux City she was taking a step up.
Then it happened.
Right by the nurses’ station was a small puddle that had gone unnoticed. She stepped on it and slipped, breaking her back and changing our lives forever. To take creative license with a popular bumper sticker from many years ago, “Spit Happens.”
Since that time, Spazemom has been unemployable. Multiple back surgeries have made her spinal x-ray look like a tackle box. Her back is fragile and painful, so to help manage the pain she has an implanted and refillable medication pump–further disqualifying her from employment (Rush Limbaugh’s job–though compatible with painkillers–is unfortunately not up for grabs).
Despite all this, my mother has only once asked me for help. Yesterday. Her one asset is an old Buick, and it needs to have the transmission replaced. I feel mostly helpless here, because there’s nothing I can do to help my mom.
This book, In Praise of Public Life is absolutely not worth the dollar amount that I am asking for it. I paid one cent for the book. The June 10th edition of the Bristol Press that I’m including was picked up from the stack of free papers that the Press delivers to my school every day. The Kiss Button that I’m throwing in was a gift from Keith and Ed. I’m setting the reserve for the auction at $200 because that will go a long way toward helping fix Spazemom’s transmission.
Some of you will remember the story I wrote about the day I got the book signed. I went to one of Lieberman’s rare and poorly publicized public appearances at a diner–you know, the backdrop he uses for all of those campaign ads to make it look like he’s just dropping in for a coffee and a chat with the locals–and waited patiently for him to both sign my book and answer my question: “Will you rule out an independent run?”
Check out the auction. The point is to sell this for enough money to help my mom, which is why I’ve set a reserve of $200. She’ll need more than that to fix the transmission, but I want to help her make a dent in the cost of repairing it. If you aren’t interested in the book yourself, I would be forever grateful if you could pass the word on to others.
E-mail me if you’d like more information, or if you know how to get a good deal on fixing a car’s transmission.