The MJ O’Neill Internet Place
A Place to Keep Track of Most of the Exploits of MJ O'Neill + Support Said Exploits
THE MJ MJONTHLY MJISSIVE
A monthly text-only email newsletter covering what MJ O’Neill has been up to over the last four weeks.
The MJ MJonthly MJissive – January 2026
Contents
I. Thank You!
II. New Music from a Friend
III. Vulcana & Pals
IV. Health Stuff
V. Doing Things Differently
VI. Some Theories on Art + Commerce
VII. A Roadmap for 2026
VIII. Assorted Recommendations
IX. Some Stuff for Sale
X. An Invitation
I. Thank You!
As of yesterday, Julian and I have a working dishwasher again.
As a disabled person who is specifically allergic to dustmites, this is the type of thing that makes a life-changing amount of difference to my day-to-day experience of the world.
Many times over the last couple of years, I’ve thought I’d never be able to afford one of those again. But, because of the generosity of all of you (whether through actively donating money or just being a part of my community and support circle), we managed to make it work. A beloved friend even did all the uninstallation/disposal/reinstallation.
It feels weird to be so dramatic about a dishwasher but, really, it’s such a relief. When I bought it, I kept waiting for someone to come and take it away. For another shoe to drop. But, it happened. And, couldn’t have done it without all of y’all. Big donations, small donations, sympathetic shoulders, it is all so, so, so appreciated.Thanks so much <3
II. New Music from a Friend
So, I have a casual record label going where I help friends and loved ones distribute music.
One of said friends and loved ones has a new album out today. It’s called 216 and it’s by thommybeats/Thom Browning.
https://thombrowning.bandcamp.com/album/216
If you like instrumental hip hop and eerie political art made by disabled trans kids, this is your jam.
If you want to check out the other things I’ve helped release:
Live at the Cave Inn by Libby Myers (solo guitar pieces)
https://libbymyers.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-cave-inn
One Day by thommybeats (instrumental hip hop)
https://thombrowning.bandcamp.com/album/one-day
Spunkrat EP by Ombie Twist (lo-fi whimsy art)
https://ombietwist.bandcamp.com/album/spunkrat
III. Vulcana & Pals
Here’s what we’ve got going on at Vulcana.
Adult Circus & Art Workshops for the Holidays
Kids Circus Workshops for the Holidays
Paid Creative Residency for Disabled Artist/s
Regular Adult Classes from February
Regular Kids Classes from Late Jan
And we have a Kids Open Day on Sat 17 Jan for Kids & Families. Free :)
Vulcana Pals Polytoxic (who make freaking amazing political dance works) are currently fundraising to get to Edinburgh Fringe. They need 20,000. You can buy their merch or you can go to their fundraiser on Sat 17 Jan in the evening. Details for all fundraising efforts here.
IV. Health Stuff
So, recapping my general theory:
I believe I haven’t got the thing that stops your body from growing. For most of my life, my severe allergy has been holding back the unstoppable growth. That’s not happening anymore.
In terms of updates,
-I spoke to an endocrinologist who told me the drug that I’d like to try to treat the growth is, without medicare coverage, about four thousand dollars a month.
-I found a genomics lab that can test for MSTN gene mutations but said test will cost 1000 bucks
While these are fiscally discouraging, I find them affirming. I know the direction I need to go in and I have ideas as to how to get there. Progress is being made :)
V. Doing Things Differently
When your body and brain start growing at an accelerated rate at age 37, you get a lot of thoughts and ideas very quickly.
And, through that, I’ve decided I’m going to do things differently as an entity going forward.
Mainly, I’m just going to pause and breathe.
I’ve been pretty relentlessly creating and distributing and performing new work for nearly 20 years. I’ve always been tinkering on something. And, while I almost certainly will always be creating and I do have projects on the horizon (see subsequent points), I’m going to pause on endless, wide-dispersal creativity and focus on my wellbeing and dreams.
So, minimal social media, not seeking out stand-up or music gigs. Just focus on my wellbeing and my goals.
VI. Some Theories on Art + Commerce
This is a vastly simplified version of my various thoughts over the last four weeks or so but:
-Value is created by frequent exchanges within a contained system with a diverse array of participants (this is true neurologically, ecologically, and economically, so stands to reason as being true in terms of art/community)
-Work created and distributed without a reflection of value will naturally be deemed valueless by recipients as a matter of default
-Any small number of committed and connected supporters carries substantially more material value than 99% of achievable social media or digital engagement metrics.
-Any brand is more likely to generate connected supporters through small, targeted projects than any broad dispersal approach.
-Social media and digital distribution platforms cannot be trusted to deliver any consistent form of meaningful engagement and, in actual fact, have a vested interest (and documented history) in not truthfully reflecting audience behaviours.
-Social media and digital distribution platforms should be treated as amplifiers/documents of tangible engagement, not creators or facilitators thereof.
VII. A Roadmap for 2026
Basically, everything oscillates around the idea of The MJ O’Neill Support System and the basic belief underpinning it – a belief that every individual deserves to be supported within our society.
Phase 1: Stabilise MJ’s Support (Jan-April)
Secure more donors through direct, small-scale artistic/creative/educational/social opportunities for community connection until MJ can afford medical bills and living expenses.
Phase 2: Expand Support System (April-Sep)
With the stability of a fully supported life, create more opportunities for connection to secure more donors and support other disabled/marginalised people on an ongoing basis.
Phase 3: Formalise The Support System Platform (Sep-Dec)
Having built a community of people explicitly and tangible committed to supporting everyone, we start a political party on the same premise. The political party and the community initiative cross-promote and strengthen each other, advocating for a world of unconditional support for all.
This is a big project and, in some ways, an impossible dream. But, it feels very clear in my head. And, I think, regardless of success, the efforts will yield rewards.
If you’d like to become a donor to the current support system, you can still sign-up to regular tiny donations here. If you can’t manage it or just don’t want to, I fully, fully understand. There is *NO* pressure or guilt-tripping or obligation here. Enthusiastic consent or none at all :)
And, if all you can manage is a dollar a week, don’t feel any need to apologise or explain. Some have, and I love them for it, but I don’t need that explanation. If you give a dollar a week, all I’ll feel is absolute gratitude and love <3
VIII. Assorted Recommendations
Been getting into Terry Pratchett audiobooks again lately and, boy, that dude had it figured out. So many mindblowing works full of love and laughter and, at all the right times, anger. Most recent reads were Feet of Clay and Hogfather. Currently redoing Nightwatch.
This recent piece by Emma Madden about the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir is one one of the best pieces of music writing I’ve ever read. Check it out.
I have been pretty obsessively playing Fallout 3 again which has been both enjoyable and dispiriting. I never realised quite how nationalist it was and, with the expansion packs, it’s eerie how pro-America it is for a game where the main villain is supposed to be the American government. Buuuut, it reminds me that Fallout 1 + 2 were SUCH magical games and you should play them.
IX. Some Stuff for Sale
I’m stripping down things (per all of the above) and going to be selling a bunch of vinyl records and music gear soon. If you’d like to be informed about said stuff going on sale, just reply to this email and let me know.
X. An Invitation
All of 2026 is going to be about connecting with people 1-1 and presenting art/creative work to small audiences. If you want to grab a coffee for a chat, or just chat over email (including just asking a random question about anything above), or be a part of a small creative art audience, just let me know by replying to this email or emailing me directly :)
The MJ MJonthly MJissive – December 2025
Contents
I. Stuff What I Be Doing in December
II. Stuff What I Gone Done in November
III. How I Be Going Right Now
IV. The MJ Support System Update
V. A Bunch of Things I’m Thinking of Doing
VI. Some Stuff You Could Go See In Magandjin in December
VII. A List of the Single Best Episode of Each Season of Law & Order So Far
–
I. Stuff What I Be Doing in December
Stand-Up Comedy: I’ll be doing a set at the final Tick-Ya-Box of the year at Pip Theatre in Milton. It’ll be MC’d by Lily Mitchell and she’s rad. I’ll also be trying to do a replicable five-minute set but let’s see if I stick to that ambition. It’s on Friday 12 Dec. Tickets here.
Market Chats: I’ll be at the next Handmade Horizons Artist Market on Saturday 13 Dec. Last time, I did a thing where I was like a human ChatGPT that people could ask questions and seek knowledge from. I’m planning on evolving that a little bit, with some products/artworks/music things to sell and some different iterations of Knowledge Merchanting. (e.g. I tell a story, I answer a question, I give advice, that sort of thing.) Still working it out. Details for said market are here.
Vulcana Stuff: I knock off for the year on December 12. Until then, I’ll be talking about Vulcana’s holiday circus workshops for kids (including circus camp!) and Vulcana’s new paid residency for First Nations artists. I’ll also be talking about one-off circus workshops for adults before I knock off. If you’d like me to let you specifically know about those, just reply to this email and say so. (You don’t get added to any special list, I just send you the link when I have it.)
Gendered Content Stuff: I made December’s Top 10 playlist and it rocks hard. Smoothest flow of any playlist I’ve ever made. New music from people of marginalised genders. You can listen to it here. I have been making a list of the top 30-50 metal songs of 2025 from non-cisdudes and I’ll probably post that on the Gendered Content account before the year is out. I also want to make a submission form, so people can submit their work for coverage on Gendered Content :)
Music Stuff: I’m taking 3 weeks or so off to make music. I plan to finish up my Motor Groove single series, at a bare minimum (so five dance songs, five headphone songs). I also have a bunch of other ideas on the cooker but we’ll see about those. Main thing is just to tick off the last five singles of Motor Groove. Ideally, in spectacularly noisy fashion.
Other Stuff: I have taken to emailing pharmaceutical companies suggesting that they pay me and benefit from researching my body’s superhuman qualities (this sounds like a joke, but it isn’t – at least, it’s not a deliberate one) and I suspect similar experiments will continue.
II. Stuff What I Gone Done In November
Vulcana Stuff: We had our last major shows of the year in Open House (youth circus show) and Body Code (Disability circus show). Both were amazing things to be involved in and featured incredible moments but Body Code, in particular, blew my mind. I helped arrange interviews for Body Code from Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, Radio National, and 612 ABC (around 1 hour 27 minutes). I also made a really fun video on the show’s lifecycle that you can see here.
Gendered Content Stuff: I made the November Top 10 playlist, I did a review of Sorry’s awesome album COSPLAY, a feature on the work of non-binary comic writer Vita Ayala, a review of New Zealand comedy movie The Breaker Upperers, and a list of every woman to appear in Law & Order who never did anything else in their career (there’s 104).
Other Stuff: I wrote stuff for International Men’s Day, Trans Day of Remembrance, and breaking down AI investigation. I also set up the MJ O’Neill Support System platform to allow people to donate to support my health and my work. And, I worked on figuring out my health and self-care stuff.
III. How I Be Going Right Now
There’s been some fragile times. Over the last month, I’ve had quite a few more suicide and self-harm scares than I usually do.
However, I feel a lot of that was prompted by a lot of good stuff. I started figuring out how to manage my inflammation and, overall, I think I’ve figured out why my body/brain is the way it is (short version: I don’t have the thing that tells your body to stop growing, my allergy used to do the job of keeping growth in control, without allergy growth is going crazy). I also have a treatment option in mind, even if it’ll take me a while to get doctors to understand/action that. But, it could fix a LOT of stuff.
I also have had a lot of generosity from my Support System callout (thanks all!!!) and that has taken the edge off things a bit.
I’m still not in ideal or even sustainable health or finances and that takes its toll. But, I’m getting there :)
IV. The MJ Support System Update
How It Went Over The Last Month: Only a few people have signed up to the regular donation setup. (And, again, I judge *nobody* for not signing up; these are difficult times and I trust every heart you have <3). But, a number of people did one-off donations to help me and, between that and the people who did sign up, I felt very fortunate.
How I’m Thinking of Evolving It: I think it’s hard to commit to any indefinite repeating payment in this chaotic period of the world, even a small one. So, when I have the spoons, I reckon I’m going to create some 3-month, 6-month subscriptions with no auto-renewal. Make it easier to give a little for a little while.
A Random Thing I’d Love You To Know: So, the way it’s set-up, I get an email every time a weekly or monthly or yearly donation is processed. And, man, whether that donation is 1 dollar or 400 dollars, that email makes me feel *amazing*. Because, I see one of your names and I just go ‘yeah, they believe in me’. So, if you think donating one dollar a week won’t make a difference to me, you’re wrong. The regular reminder that you care means the world to me :)
You can still sign-up to be a part of the MJ Support System here: https://mj-oneill.com
V. A Bunch of Things I’m Thinking of Doing Weekly Residency for a Year: I want to do a thing where I do a little mid-morning or early arvo concert/stand-up/powerpoint presentation for a year, just drilling material and sharing things.
Bird Song Improv: I want to do some live performances where I DJ from a selection of 700 australian bird song recordings and musicians play with me. I’ve spoken to some already.
Gendered Noise Dance Music: I want to take live noise performances from gendered noise artists in Magandjin
Gendered Content Submission Form: I want to make a submission process and editorial policy for Gendered Content so it can start spreading from something only MJ does and start building more pathways for contribution.
Law & Order Sound Project: I want to take the first 30 seconds of sound in every Law & Order episode and just see what happens. Because, those 30 seconds are all scene-setting vignette things. I think it’d be super fascinating.
Pop Songs & Singing: I just need to do more of that.
VI. Some Stuff You Could Go See In Magandjin in December
This weekend, you have three amazing gigs going on. One is a music gig for Gaza featuring a bunch of my mates. Details here. Another is an end of year showcase from the Brisbane Pride Choir. Or, you can go to the messy cabaret gloriousness that is Galore’s NO XMAS show.
Next weekend (if you don’t go to my standup thing), you can catch my mates Chaos at Circus for Humanity. After that, you could catch my amazing mate Tara Pattenden playing live as Phantom Chips at Cyber Bunker.
I can’t guarantee I’ll make it to any of these but they’re all good craic and you should go.
VII. A List of the Single Best Episode of Each Season of Law & Order So Far
I made this list out of curiosity and had nothing to do with it. So, here it is. If you’ve ever wondered ‘hey why do people watch this show’, these 25 episodes will show you what’s what. Not *all* of them are hands-down bangers – some seasons are dogs (looking at you, 14 and 20). But, most of them are incredible. And, the Season 6 highlight is one of the best pieces of television you’ll ever see.
Series 1, Episode 1: Prescription for Death
Series 2, Episode 18: Cradle to Grave
Series 3, Episode 4: The Corporate Veil
Series 4, Episode 8: American Dream
Series 5, Episode 8: Virtue
Series 6, Episode 23: Aftershock
Series 7, Episode 11: Menace
Series 8, Episode 9: Burned
Series 9, Episode 11: Ramparts
Series 10, Episode 3: DNR
Series 11, Episode 17: Ego
Series 12, Episode 7: Myth of Fingerprints
Series 13, Episode 7: Open Season
Series 14, Episode 20: Everybody Loves Raimondo’s
Series 15, Episode 4: Coming Down Hard
Series 16, Episode 5: Life Line
Series 17, Episode 6: Profiteer
Series 18, Episode 15: Bogeyman
Series 19, Episode 7: Zero
Series 20, Episode 16: Innocence
Series 21, Episode 3: Filtered Life
Series 22, Episode 2: Battle Lines
Series 23, Episode 6: On The Ledge
Series 24, Episode 18: Inherent Bias
Series 25, Episode 5: Bend The Knee
The End!
THE MJ O’NEILL SUPPORT SYSTEM
Sign up to regularly donate just 1% or 0.1% of your weekly, monthly, or yearly income to help MJ manage her healthcare and medical expenses as a disabled transgender woman.
Join The MJ O’Neill Support System
With lots of little donations, a community can make a massive difference. All donations below are derived from 1% (or 0.1%) of each income bracket discussed in this article. Each link will take you to a checkout to set up your donation plan. This will let you decide when each donation is made.
Weekly Micro-Donations
Micro-Donation I ($1.10/week)
Micro-Donation II ($2.30/week)
Micro-Donation III ($3.40/week)
Micro-Donation IV ($5.10/week)
Weekly Donations
Low Income ($8/week)
Part Time Income ($11/week)
Full Time Income ($17/week)
Median Income ($23/week)
High Income ($28/week)
Very High Income ($34/week)
Monthly Donations
Low Income ($35/month)
Part Time Income ($51/month)
Full Time Income ($75/month)
Median Income ($100/month)
High Income ($125/month)
Very High Income ($150/month)
Annual Donations
Low Income ($420/year)
Part Time Income ($620/year)
Full Time Income ($900/year)
Median Income ($1200/year)
High Income ($1500/year)
Very High Income ($1800/year)
Each donation will come with a monthly email update on how donations are being used to support my wellbeing and help me support others.
GENERAL STUFF ABOUT MJ O’NEILL
MJ O’Neill is a woman who does lots of things. She has made a lot of music, published a lot of writing, done a fair whack of theatre/comedy performances, and worked as a strategic consultant for global business brands and grassroots community organisations alike. She is disabled, transgender, and neurodivergent. She likes making people laugh, helping people believe in a kinder world, and seeing little kids dance to her music at gigs.
Some Examples of MJ O’Neill’s Work & Accomplishments
-All of my released music can all be heard and purchased on Bandcamp.
-You can read some of my trend analysis work via Tasmanian consultancy The Project Lab’s newsletter The Tasmanian Approach.
-Earlier this year, I helped raise $10K in a week for Vulcana Circus
-I’m a member of the board of not-for-profit arts org Cyber Bunker.
-I run a DIY media platform focusing on creative work made by marginalised gender artists (women, trans, and non-binary voices) called Gendered Content.
-I put together a global mega-trends report for PRovoke’s Global PR Agency of the Decade Weber Shandwick in 2019 called Connecting The Trends: New Humanity
Get in Touch with MJ O’Neill
MJ O'Neill 