Shane Patrick Boyle I would like to dedicate this piece to a fallen friend and neighbor, Shane Patrick Boyle. Most folks in H-Town's arts underground remember Shane as a director/facilitator of Zine Fest Houston. Some remember him as the self-described queer anarchist who wrote a column in the Daily Cougar during his student years. Apart from his literary pursuits, I remember him as an avid bicycle commuter who until recently lived in the building next to mine.
While it saddens me to report Shane's passing from diabetic complications, it relieves me to report that he is not the latest casualty of an auto-bike collision. We have had too many of those in Greater Houston just in the last few years.
Shane had left Houston and relocated to Mena, Arkansas, to be with his mother in her last days. For the last few months, he had no income or health insurance, and had started a GoFundMe page to solicit donations for insulin. The page is now repurposed for defraying funeral expenses.
Insert rant about our crying need for universal single-payer health care here. Until recently, the whole notion of having to start a GoFundMe just to survive a chronic illness in these United States was somebody's idea of a dark joke. Now that I've actually seen this phenomenon, it's an even darker reality.
While it saddens me to report Shane's passing from diabetic complications, it relieves me to report that he is not the latest casualty of an auto-bike collision. We have had too many of those in Greater Houston just in the last few years.
Shane had left Houston and relocated to Mena, Arkansas, to be with his mother in her last days. For the last few months, he had no income or health insurance, and had started a GoFundMe page to solicit donations for insulin. The page is now repurposed for defraying funeral expenses.
Insert rant about our crying need for universal single-payer health care here. Until recently, the whole notion of having to start a GoFundMe just to survive a chronic illness in these United States was somebody's idea of a dark joke. Now that I've actually seen this phenomenon, it's an even darker reality.
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