Guys, there is nothing under this cut but an unadulterated plea by an absolute stranger for money. I am honor bound to post this; you are not honor bound to read it.

Please for the love of god, if you have extra coins in your couch cushions, help send my roommate back to school. Leaving this public, on the offchance linkage needs to happen.



Friends, family, loved ones:

I attended my first semester at College of Santa Fe after years of attempting to enter college - I'm 27, and this was a dream come true. My first semester was amazing: I worked on a one-on-one basis with professors, at a college renowned for my study subjects, and got the highest marks available in all of my classes. I'm a perfect student - as uncomfortable as it makes me to say that - and because of financial errors, I have not been able to pursue my work.

The ordeal has been long and arduous, and I will not bore you with the extent of the details. The basic outline is this: I entered school with a series of loans, grants, and scholarships, having been told that my education was paid for through a combination of these things. Then, my work study was denied. I attempted a private loan, and was told that Sallie Mae - in a difference of a matter of days - would no longer represent my school. Then I was denied for a personal loan. Then I was told by my advisors that a government loan, which could help me, would not be issued to me retroactively - even though it was through these same financial advisors errors that I did not receive this loan in the first place.

I am at the end of my rope. I refuse to see my education terminated in this fashion. I have worked long and hard, for almost a decade, to come to this place for the opportunity to learn, and I refuse to see it taken away by bureaucracy and error. I have been saving every dime I earn in my employment, but I fear it will not be enough in time: I have already missed two semesters of school, and I want to clear my debt in time to register for the Spring 2012 semester.

Though it pains me, I have turned to you, my friends, for help. I know that these are hard financial times for everyone, and that many of us are in similarly difficult places for finances. I know that I have no right to ask you for help, when we're all in the same place, looking down the same long road. But I have to hope, and in that hope, I must turn to those who have always supported me and bolstered me: my friends, my family, the extended network of people I have met on my journey to where I am today.

My owed debt is $2,667.

If you can give even $1, that will be one inch closer to my November goal. Please, please help me get back to school.

Please know that I understand that many of you will not be able to give - but your support and love means just as much to me as any dollar amount. I am not a person used to relying on the help of other people - I ask you to understand how difficult this is for me, and know that I thank each and every one of you for all of your help, compassion, and understanding over the past few months, and in the future.

With deep regard,

Bonnie

I just joined starwars_365 
This post will be updated as I make the icons!

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Do you all recall Harlequin, and their recent dip in the vanity pool? Harlequin wasn’t the first or the only formerly-legitimate publisher to go down that road with Author Solutions. No, that honor goes to Thomas Nelson. But, since Thomas Nelson is a “Christian Publisher,” no one noticed at the time. Indeed, Thomas Nelson’s journey to the dark side is even sleazier than Harlequin’s. While Harlequin created a new imprint, “Harlequin Horizons,” as their vanity brand, Thomas Nelson used the name of an existing and formerly legitimate imprint, WestBow, for theirs. Thus, anyone checking up on the publisher’s name before submitting would find a long history of reasonably-selling books by known authors.

This “I Write Like” site isn’t remotely legitimate. No, they aren’t trying; or, anyway, they aren’t trying to analyze writing samples: They’re trying to lure newbie authors to the rocks and shoals of vanity publication.

At:

starwars_lims | starwars_lims | starwars_lims

*17 icons - old and new (including 2 non-BoB) in search of a good home
* comment & credit please
* no hotlinking
*preview:
  


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Resource-post (in dire need of an update, tough ._. )