Jeska Wood, Writer

Hi, y’all. My name is Jeska Wood. I’m a writer and photographer with two wonderful children and an amazing partner.

I’m going to be honest and say I haven’t been doing very well lately. No one in my family has. My oldest daughter has thrown up almost every day since the last week of August. She hasn’t made it through a full day of school yet. Last year, she had a 4.7 GPA, and now she’s failing despite documentation from doctors about what’s going on. We’ve seen a bunch of doctors at this point, and they agree it’s stress. She wakes up in the middle of the night to vomit. Apparently, we can hold onto our stress so much that when we lay down and close our eyes, we’re not actually resting, so she’s always exhausted. She’s now going to therapy twice a week, and anxiety meds are probably on the horizon. The thing is, I can’t blame her for her anxiety. There have been daily fights at her school, gun threats, and no mask enforcement. They keep doing prep rallies and assemblies where they yell at them for fighting. Her anxiety won’t go away until circumstances change. If this was a job, she could quit, and who wouldn’t? I am anxious, too, to the point where I don’t have the spoons to do… anything. It affects my disability, making it so much worse.

I’m miserable here. My partner and my other child are too. Shreveport is literally one of the worst places in the country. It was the lowest growth, in the top ten of crime, most obese but one of the worst places for foodies, and the worst schools in the countries. There are nightly shootings and drive-bys. And it’s getting so much worse. We don’t have a future here. My children and grandchildren won’t either if we don’t get out now.

So, we’ve decided to drop everything here, get a big loan and probably a bunch of credit cards, and move across the country to Washington. My partner has a degree in computer science with 20 years of experience. There are 100x the jobs, making more. And I might be able to get a part-time job or do professional photography because I’ll be able to use public transport. There isn’t any here. There aren’t even sidewalks here, so I can walk half a mile to the store. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, though.

This place is the opposite of disabled-friendly. I have nerve damage that results in near-constant movement and muscle pain. I was already isolated before COVID. I need access to better doctors. My oldest and my partner does as well. My children deserve to be healthy and happy. And I do, too. I’m tired of feeling useless because of a lack of accessibility.

The money would help us pay for the expenses of moving across the country. We won’t be taking much with us, and we’ll need a new (to us) car because ours is 20 years old. We’re hoping to do this around mid-January to early February 2022.

I would be forever grateful for any help. This would mean a better life for my family and me. I feel horrible for asking, but for my children, I have to. Thank you in advance.