#bc they are living with the direct results of what human technologies have done in those ghost dinosaurs

[earlyspringtranscendence]

well, i found something good about the slip arc. it’s the idea that homesickness in the future will be a physical illness that manifests in those especially who will never have the chance to return to earth. cause im gonna be real i wasnt paying attn because i didnt want to but the way i understand it people on new kinshasa weren’t affected by this, people in the upper echelons of sarasvahti (ie people who had money to spend and lives to lead by doing so) weren’t affected by it: only Brahma pests and those too poor for earth to ever be a dream in their hearts were ailing with a homesickness so potent and concrete that it led to physical symptoms.

and i fucking love that. i love that so much, i think theres this divide btwn ppl who would love to go to space and who love the idea of aliens and whatever and then you have those who get sick thinking about the idea that for years the planet has existed with a certain number of souls less than it’s supposed to have because theres always been people on the space station and i FIRMLY belong to that second category so like... this is SO good to me, it’s so fucking real

[inumbro]

a collection of some of the ama answers, all the twitter posts, and all of red posts on the boards about zed & some related topics that I can find from the last ~1.5 years (with a few exceptions), so that I have all this info in one spot for reference

organised based first by topic, then by rioter

if anyone has any jhin / xayah / rakan / vastaya related information that I missed I’d appreciate a link so I can add it bc there’s not nearly as much not-officially-canon-canon information on those connections as I remember there being!

Morals:

WAAARGHbobo said:

No. He is, if anything, a hardline nationalist and federalist.

WAAARGHbobo said:

Zed is, indeed, much more complicated than you think. But he is definitely not a nice person.

@miketmccarthy said:

At the moment, [Akali] does not align with [Zed’s] philosophy. He killed Shen’s father and master. Although they are both aggressive, Akali is inherently good and Zed, well, notsomuch.

Shadow magic:

WAAARGHbobo said:

...A wizard has a different, more studious, and analytical way of accessing magic — but arguably a shaman has a more inate connection to spirit magic. While warriors like Zed, Shen, and Kayn have studied a different way to access magical power—

The strenght of the connection, the control, and the narrowness of focus are all important variables...

@LaurieGolding said:

... but Shadow Magic had not been practiced in Runeterra for a long time, before Zed started. Jax hasn't had time to master it in the ~10 years since then!

Kayn:

Scathlocke said:

Kayn's principal conflict is almost not with Rhaast at all, but Zed. It is very likely that his master sent him to retrieve the weapon knowing that it would be the ultimate test for his protege - either it would destroy him, or he would conquer the Darkin and become a worthy new leader for the Order of Shadow.

Basically, Kayn and Zed have a super-complicated "adopted father" type of relationship going on. Rhaast is more like Lady Macbeth, in this current situation.

@LaurieGolding said:

I think [Kayn’s] shadow-form is what Kayn and Zed both hope the outcome will be - he's been given a near-impossible task by his master, as a true and final test of his worthiness to one day lead the Order of Shadow. If he fails, the weapon will consume him.

It's interesting, because both Zed and Swain seem to have engineered their plans for succession into their own rise to power. Both of them seem to say "You can have my job... IF you can take it!"

@LaurieGolding said:

Kayn is a singularly gifted student, but Zed gave him the hardest test imaginable - to withstand the power of a Darkin. ...

Jaredan said:

I wouldn't take the horror of Kayn's experience as typical of Noxus's approach or attitude to recruitment. The Ionia conflict saw some very strange things happen within the Noxian military and beyond. I can't talk about them yet. But that day will come.

@miketmccarthy said:

I think a lot of that will come out later... Zed has had a complicated run in his life, he wants a successor, and I believe he hopes Kayn is 'the one' and time will tell whether or not he can be that. Zed saved Kayn from certain death, trained him, raised him. He cares.

Interlocutioner said:

Link to Zed: Functionally, they're master and apprentice. But in truth, I think they have a deeper relationship than that. Zed sees himself in Kayn. An orphan with a gift and a drive that others can't control, no matter how much they try. No matter how much Zed tries, in Kayn's case, lol. I think Zed might also see something he could never be in Kayn. Kayn's link to the shadow is deep, for whatever reason. Maybe Zed hopes this is a sign that Kayn could do better than him? Ultimately succeed him? And he may have other, darker motives as well.

I think Kayn's respect for Zed is just as deep. Unfortunately, he's in the process of convincing himself that the only way he can prove himself to his father figure is by becoming something more than Zed wants him to be. Stronger than Zed. Strong enough to defeat him, if necessary.

They have a bond, but it will be tested.

...

I just mean their bond will be tested by Kayn's possession of Rhaast, if nothing else.

Kinkou + Jhin:

Jaredan said:

The characters you mentioned [Shen, Zed, Jhin] are very important to each other's lives going forward...

Jaredan said:

Shen, Zed, and Jhin, sitting in a tree. K. I. L. L. I. N. G.

In their history, Jhin is absolutely an antagonist. But Shen doesn't look at Zed with any kind of fondness, only with betrayal. The man he thought was his brother murdered his father, the person that Shen defined himself by.

However, it's true that Shen can't give into his own immediate, visceral anger. Perhaps he even tells himself he doesn't hold that anger against Zed. His job does require him to hold that inner balance to perform it. It's a role that he does partly in honor of his father. Still, if Shen told you he isn't angry, would you believe him?

When he has two worlds balanced on the edge of a blade, how long any man keep his hand steady?

I'm not going to talk about where their story might be headed in specifics, but those are the things that are involved in our thinking.

Jaredan said:

Yup, though Shen and Zed's relationship is a bit more complicated than Tobias and Malcolm's. Zed and Shen also have more complicated personalities and responsibilities than TF and Graves (that's not a challenge when it comes to Graves especially, he's a to-the-point kind of fellow).

Scathlocke said:

Shen is most likely seeing quite a few parallels between Zed's path, and Akali's. There is some significant crossover in their ideology, and they both rejected the Kinkou Order in some way... but Zed rejects the notion of "balance" as weak, and is more than happy to use any/all means at his disposal. Akali is certainly not there, yet!

Thermal_Kitten said:

Akali knows the cost of Zed’s break with the Kinkou. Zed was training alongside Shen, but after their first run in with Jhin, Zed began to have second thoughts. (We updated Zed’s bio to add more context and details surrounding this.)

...

As far as the Order of Shadow and the Kinkou, they don’t exactly work together, it’s more they tend to keep out of each other’s territory and see to Ionia’s future in their own ways. If it came to a direct disagreement, it could come to blows.

WAAARGHbobo said:

Jhin give us a chance to show that Ionia is in transition. The attack on their nation changed them. They are embracing technology they had previously thought unnecessary, and they are questioning their morale foundations. Jhin is the true villain of Zed and Shen's story-- and he represents everything that could go wrong for Ionia.

The Noxus-Ionia war:

Scathlocke said:

Seven years since Swain seized power and commanded the Noxian armies to leave Ionia.

@LaurieGolding said:

Noxus has a HUGE military presence off the main coast of Ionia - the First Lands are so concerned with restoring balance after they "won" the war, they've failed to notice that Noxus hasn't actually abandoned the island of Fae'lor, for example...

@LaurieGolding said:

The Great Stand at Navori was about ten years ago, and she was something like 14 then. Swain seized control of Noxus roughly three years later and ended the war in Ionia.

@LaurieGolding said:

Noxus was originally supposed to be persuading Ionia to join the empire, which of course became an occupation, then a war. They didn't intend to pillage/destroy... But it seems Darkwill was actually looking for magical stuff to extend his life, so who knows? (LeBlanc, maybe?)

@LaurieGolding said:

The death toll was catastrophic, certainly. But also, Ionia has been marked with a big, bloody Noxian handprint that they'll never be able to wash away - the soul of the First Lands has been changed forever... Was that Swain's plan all along? It's hard to say.

Vastaya:

Q&A:

Why is there a rebellion? Is Zed doing something with magic that affects the vastaya and are they dying as a result?

Not dying, but magical essence sustains their continued existence. The less magic there is, the fewer resources there are to support vastayan life and tradition. Other humans tap into or twist up the same magic source that the Lhotlan vastaya need to survive. This is not necessarily a moral thing, good people do bad things for good reasons, unaware of the consequences it causes others. Zed and his people are unknowingly or uncaringly accelerating the drain of the magical energy though they are absolutely not alone in doing this. This is aggravating the growing tension between humans and some vastayan tribes in Ionia - and directly violates the agreements that were forged between species.

Miscellaneous:

In response to:

Then Zed decided to pull a Sasuke because he couldn't deal with someone being better/picked over him.

Jaredan said:

Zed's issues run a bit deeper than that.

WAAARGHbobo said:

[referring to the wild magic video] It is not a part of the timeline. Promotion team just takes inspiration from the lore-- they do not make stuff within the timelines. Because... uh.. Reasons? Well you'd have to ask them.

WAAARGHbobo said:

So as the guy who did this, and Jhin’s lore...

The character you love hasn’t changed.

This simply expands the timeline and shows how Zed’s descent can be understood from his own perspective.

This timeline was actually done during Jhin, and the goal was to give Zed’s fall a slower, more human, less arch, trajectory.

Timeline (rough from my phone):

Shen and Zed are students together and bros. Zed is clearly the better, more talented student.

Kusho takes the two young teenagers undercover chasing “the golden demon”

Jhin crime scenes traumatized zed. (And shen)

Zed begans to struggle with his studies.

Kusho catches but refuses to kill Jhin. Zed loses respect for his master.

Zed begins to study forbidden shadow magic. —gets in trouble.

Leaves.

Noxus invades —zed witness war crimes. Kusho’s refusal to help the war effort is the last straw, Zed is no longer sympathetic or allied to the kinkou. While not directly opposed to them— he begins to view the kinkou as rivals.

Zed forms his own order— related to the Navoi militia group. (Spelling?)

Some vastaya tribes looking for a better deal, ally with the Noxus. Others fight for Ionia. Zed begins hostility with non- humans.

The war is tough, zed returns to the take the last of the shadow magic. Kusho tries to stop him.

Zed kills his master, shen’s dad.

Shen becomes the eye of twilight.

Kayn.

The war ends.

Zed begins consolidating power. Trains kayn. (He continues hostility with noxus, growing hostility with many Vastaya tribes.)

Harrowing mists begin to bother the southern Ionia sea ports.

Kayn gets raaast (around here i think)

Jhin is frees.... by someone

Zed finds out jhin is free. contacts Shen.

Jhin heads to zaun.

[nchyinotes]

the future of wikipedia (katherine maher & lucy crompton-reid)

February 3 2018

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-wikipedia-tickets-42271530285# 

Thoughts: So this was kind of my first foray into open knowledge/culture, and there were two parts to this day - the first was learning about wikidata and how to query it and contribute to it. This was pretty cool and actually what I had initially signed up for because I want to get out of my comfort zone/learn a new skill for research, but I did feel a little over my head haha. The second part I actually just found out about on the day, and stayed for. This was a talk about the future of Wikipedia, and it sounds pretty awesome tbh. I came in knowing nothing about Wikipedia, how it works as an organisation (it’s a non profit!), or how the site is maintained or who contributes, or what its missions are. Katherine is a great speaker. And while the talk was obviously very specific to Wikipedia, I think I was able to learn about all sorts of topics I’m interested in - how NGOs operate and are funded, how huge collaborative projects work, acknowledgment of and potential solutions to structural barriers that promote limited diversity in contributors of the collaborative projects, the bias that results from this, the impact of new technology, and their vision and belief in the public good of open knowledge. Was a very well spent day for me.

lucy

global movement for open knowledge

non profit

free and open access to info/knowledge = driver of social/cultural/economic development, fundamental right

work with cultural + educational organisations to enable them to contribute to a democratic understanding of the world

3 programs:

1) diversify editing community + content

not reaching + representing every community, voice, sum of human knowledge

gender gap, minorities

2) promoting open knowledge

3) education and learning

reach and impact?

metrics: people we reach, editors we have, ??

social bias + impact? how open knowledge genuinely improves society

katherine

wikimedia is based in san fran

300 people at the foundation, all over the world

“a world in which every single human can share in the sum of all knowledge” - aspirational statement, room for everyone to participate (+ create knowledge), not just consume

asymptotic, active

the more info on wikipedia, the better resource it’ll be

people who contribute to wikipedia, if they come with a partisan view over time become more neutral

wikidata (structured and linked data), wikimedia commons, DBpedia

populations are shrinking - japan, russia, europe - where wikimedia is well known + prominent

sub saharan africa

means of knowledge production hase been changing over time

the way we consume, faith / trust / research in institutions is on decline and shifting into influencers/personal trust networks, interfaces are changing (go beyond browser)

internet: info —> communication medium

native > additive experience in their lives

how do we want to evolve in response to the way world is changing?

hopes + fears for free knowledge

wikimedians

talked to experts (futurists, technologists, policy, arts, etc) - how they anticipate the change to be

what did we learn?

knowledge gaps + biases = highest concern

wikimedia doesn’t serve the entire world (language coverage, breadth of coverage, representative)

structural inequality prevents us from achieving ^ mission

who is creating the reliable sources that wikimedia relies on?

adapt to world’s changing knowledge needs

leverage new technology (video? open ML?)

more people in institutions (science, cultural, edu) want to join but dk how

direction:

becoming an essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge

anyone who shares our vision will be able to join us (barriers)

knowledge as service - how to serve more people, ??

knowledge equity - ensure that info that exists doesn’t just have large numbers but a breadth and depth that is truly reflective of the world and serves it in a meaningful way

Panel

at a personal level, what do you want to see for open knowledge by 2030?

more people to know what open knowledge means

successful in communicating value of what this means to a broader audience

more entities participating, the more healthy the ecosystem is

—> advancing the concept of it

structural barriers that exist?

leisure time, literacy, gender inequity, marginalised communities are not usually secondary sources because historically haven’t been able to challenge dominant narrative — still replicating canon (way they evaluate sources, relies on means of knowledge production which is very traditional)

awareness, access (affordability)

where in that hierarchy do we sit?

balloons for the internet (some big tech companies ??)

incentivising local language production?

how to identify these gaps / barriers and breaking them down so more people can participate

notability? deletionism? guidelines as a community, when they’re appropriate? where to strike that balance to make sure it’s accurate + reliable, but also easy to contribute.

community conversation

oral citation? how to rely on this, which is far more prevalent than we give it affordance for

what does notability look like in a community, language, culture? their own validation methods within different areas?

NYT - considered newspaper of record? lawsuit in california by gay softball league of san Francisco. NYT wrote about the case, but never mentioned their ethnicity. everyone that wasn’t decided gay was POC. — active exclusion happening in sources we think are reliable. what are our paradigms for liability anyway? even though that was the crux of the issue of the case.

hidden, implicit bias

fake news

how we enable people to be more aware of bias (not our own, but in interpreting/analysing the media and recognising it)? how important that foundation has a educational ???

should wikipedia position itself as alternative to mainstream media?

wikipedia ranked more trustworthy than BBC, 1 survey, by 2 points —> horrifying

wikipedia relies on secondary sources. if trustworthiness in BBC declines, that’s bad for wikipedia!

i want you to use wikipedia, but you need to ask those questions and CHECK CITATIONS to become a participant and not a consumer - be a critical reader

what can we do to advocate on the need for media literacy, more funding for research??

engage with educators, learners (and not just uni) - how to google stuff, read + edit wikipedia

wales community!

investment in science community - impact of brexit?

wikimedia engaging in the culture community - partnership with cultural + educational institutions

how is scientific information actually diffused in society?

natural partner for us

how do we bring that community into the wikidata community?

corresponding investment in open science

working with researchers / research community

lots of communities struggle with open data structure, how to maintain catalogues, etc - we are building the tools that do that, but not thinking of it as tools beyond wikimedia. wiki base can be used as an asset by so many other institutions - more info to be available to the world, helping other orgs, etc. —> makes everything better for everyone

automation of content creation?

vietnamese - automated almost all stubs?

stub articles = incentives to create (what is this - short wikimedia article)

wikimedia is fundamentally a human pursuit

machines can augment human work in ways that can be quite helpful - washing machine

multilingual people!

entirety of the ecosystem and identify gaps across all language communities we have

who decides what those gaps are?

opp of wikidata to reveal that

resources - implicit in convo - the fact that there are so many resources invested in western world + global north, what do we need to do to create equity ?

tremendous asymmetry - agency, power in decision making

when they see problems, wikimedians are highly incentivised to make a change

all the more reason to have more voices in the room

1) "human project" - neural machine translation, challenges of ML and machine content creation. challenges of people knowing about machines involvement (turing test?)

ML already exists on wikipedia

how do we use it in a way that’s consistent with our values

3 things

it has to be open - difficult in AI, because transparency doesn’t mean much bc we can’t think the way machines do. intention, legibility, explainability - why was this software made, what should it achieve

inclusivity - biases in datasets we’re training. open, transparent around datasets using

can receive feedback from public

consent - making sure people working on projects consent to the way ML is being used in projects, know how/why it’s happening [ no one wants something being done to them]

2) future financial sustainability of the movement

71.6M USD to keep foundation running this year

very little money for world’s 5th most popular website

created an endowment in last two years - trying to raise significant one to protect it into the future

even if cannot build on it, want to keep it at least open

what resources we require to keep this running into future? gap between where we are and want to be? sustainability in long run?

model is amazing, no one owns it bc of open licensing, building a life long relationship with people for what wikimedia stands for

3) china

blocked in china

people don’t write in chinese only in china - from variety of places in the world

we want to be there for when we’re unblocked, ready + present for chinese public to have access in meaningful way

deliberately trying to effect policy in org to support the description of these things in public? significant portions of UK not represented in publicly meaningful sense. difficult for wikimedia to address that issue.

rural-urban gap in wikipedia bc of nature of secondary sources, media

concentrates around population density, where communities not urban are not represented

even within communities in city - marginalised communities are not recorded in

who creates culture? it just is, what we live.

stuart hall - nature of who creates culture and where it comes from, production of culture (high brow > the one we all live, which isn’t documented)

oral citation project in india - traditional game kids play, no ones ever written it down

daily lived culture is not good at documenting, haven’t found way to address this

reflection of the world

what does knowledge equity really mean? and how do we program for it?

when thinking about core articles, how to raise quality of those and to keep them relevant?

tool - ores?? to evaluate article quality

opp to see what those gaps are, assess in more automated way, based on verifiability (not just density of info)

build tools to help editors maintenance function, or where quality gaps are, so there’s a continuous effort to update + maintain them

can do this not just for one language, but for all

project tiger - with google. how to identify main drivers of traffic (specific pages etc), and make sure the quality is good, and point people to work on that.

worried about losing relevance in the future? things to do to stay relevant?

we don’t know why people leave / fall out of contributor pipe line

give ourselves metrics to be able to evaluate that, so we can focus on retention as priority

rateability -

no one knows that simple english wikipedia exists!

how it’s being utilised by third party reusers

the way we’re composing info so that it becomes reusable! that it offers a service - answers the question, solves the problem

broken connection - maintaining consistency between wikimedian + re users. complying with licensing terms?

Seeing the work you’ve done being credited - for retention.

why based in US?

affordances from a policy POV that do not exist in other places in the world (USA) - hosting controversial or illegal content

intermediary liability protections (nuisance lawsuit)

rotating figureheads of leadership?

awareness + participation

knowledge equity as a priority, yet to determine how that looks like and what changes we need to implement to get there

global secretariat that could be stationed around ??

recently identified 6 countries where there is gap between awareness and ??potential - india, nigeria, iraq

marketing - in language of the community, “awareness raising videos”, ads written by communities themselves

changing what we think contribution + dedication looks like?

data typology on wikipedia that presents different types of data ?? presenting as much info in symbolic / visual forms?

multimedia integration

blockchain?

generally don’t think it’s good for wikipedia (from engineers)

persistence of information - revision history, revisions

feels like a diversion from existing stack

lots of arab wikimedians to be are refugees, with videos, names, locations, sitting on so much data that they want to put on open source etc. lack workshops in camps, any way to get into camps?

how to seek external funding on migrant communities?

big funder didn’t recognise that digitisation of stuff and getting it onto wikipedia was cultural preservation

institutional POV: do they actually want us to come in?

cultural heritage component

wiki loves africa + wiki med + wiki deutschland - building offline editing environments?

when there’s momentum as a community —> generally leads to structure

[artdjgblog]

Innerview: James Hoskins / World of Forms

April - August 2011

Art: Jean Fouquet / The Taking of Jerusalem by Ptolemy Soter / ca. 320 BC

Note: I’ve had the pleasure of being interviewed by James Hoskins several times over the years, as being a live-in designer for his Kansas City band Elevator Division back in our basement dwelling days. These nuggets in particular are fairly significant in my initial retirement / death of DJG Design and transition into personal art. The following is a two part interview for a blog feature. The first part is via email Q&A, the second morphed out of a discussion over coffee a few months removed.

PART I:

1) What do you feel are the biggest challenges to working a "day job" while being an artist? What are the benefits? Has maintaining a day job affected your art in any way, positive or negative? If so, how?

Anyone who has something cooking at home base is applicable to the challenges of a day job (I'm certain the interviewer can attest to this). And I think it's easy for one to think he or she has something special waiting on them while in the monotonous thick of the daily grind. But, you have to keep a level head. I believe in a healthy balance of being a human first and an artist second. If right, you can mix the two. Sort of a "Have Brain, Will Travel" mindset. Anything and everything is good meat and day job placement should be no stranger. I am always a working artist, yet I don't wish for myself to be the work of art nor play God with it. 

As an artist in an office or cleaning an office (the two climates I've been kicking at the past decade), I try to intake what I can, smell what roses I can find and bring back home to the table inspiring meat. Of course, as a janitor, I was literally bringing things home! (Probably not so much fun for roommates or wife, me thinks.) Anyway, my nature has always managed to maintain employment or casual servant/observant at places where I'm still able to keep locked inside, somewhat. I've just never had any means to climb another man's ladder. Rather, I show up, stay on the ground and help out the best I can while still tinkering within. I believe every man is wired a certain way. I'm a starving artist in the sense that I am always hungry to create and nothing can stop me, not even a day job.

Of course, owning up to a day job doesn't come without trials. As I grow older the major seemingly stackable factors are time and energy. A year, even five years, is sucked away so fast now and I can no longer do the all night artistic marathons like I could at 22. But, at a younger age I was also dealing with design deadlines for clients. Something that isn't a factor now that I've gone the route of solo artist. I'm still making as much stuff, just on my own time 'n' dime and staying smart with getting to bed early/getting up early. Still, there is never enough hours in a day or life span to amount for what I'd like to leave behind in this life. I guess I am content but there can always be more content! 2) Why the change from graphic design to visual artist? What led to the change? What is your new vision/direction? Lack of time and energy, the want to develop and explore elsewhere, loss and change of who I once was to who I am now, poor business skills, the soul sucking of self-promotion and marketeering, the changing of the design guard, technology takeover, everybody being a designer now, personal betterment, a shift in heart/gut...many factors stack up to my decision. I explain further in a letter to the public on my web site. It was a grueling three year process and those close to my calls can now nod collectively. Though, as the human I am, I'm no stranger to inner struggle and I'm a pretty emotional being. I guess that's why my voice is what it is in speaking through art? I realize now that all the inner back 'n' forth from 2007-2010 was the result of something dying within. And when I kind of came-to around the first of February 2011, I found an immense feeling of freedom. I guess compared to most in my position as a graphic artisan for hire, I displayed an unlimited amount of freedom in the last decade. Just something inside me was shifting and I had to listen and let it take shape or be consumed completely. It's hard to explain and most people are either genuinely supportive or sorta saddened and confused by it. I'm feeling good about it and really it's not that drastic of a deal this side of the decision. Also, my stuff will still be seen on a few things here and there for others if it feels fit and my voice is right. Everything I've ever done has been leading to this. I'm excited. I'm still making art. I always will and always expect there to be many a shift in me. Ultimately, my goal is to make art full-time and I'd like to eventually have an agent or someone to help me in the areas I lack so I can better focus on what I should be doing. But, for now, my goal is to not think and just make. From day one I've never set restrictions on how I make art. I do have certain ideas I've been kicking around for a long while. My back burner has become a bonfire the past 8 to 10 years! We'll see though, as it's a process that can't just be point-click-ship and I don't really like to leak out too much beforehand. I'm currently piling things up and plan not to reveal much for a while. It's nice to just sit and play mother hen. Though, I can say I'm working on exhibitions, books and online printing/purchase shops with the work that I've produced up to my artistic shift. Just chipping away at the boulder, mostly. What I don't want to be is the guy who lives in the future on past merits. I'm proud of what I've accomplished, but there is a lot of gas left in my tank and I'm looking forward to a hopefully long and fruitful life in and outside of the arts. It's nice to take a breather though and sorta have a time out. It allows a man to slow down, see and appreciate what he's already got and the foundation to the black and white up ahead. 3) What advice would you give to other artists? It could be practical, artistic, or spiritual. This is your chance to wax eloquent. I believe in just following your heart and gut. And if you have to work a day job, do it, and don't stop creating. Turn frustrations into fruit. So many people give up or are all blow and no go. Even if time/energy/life doesn't budge, do what you can and when you can. Document everything and leave your dots down here. Find the tap and drink from that. There is a vast, unlimited reservoir there for the taking. There are so many things going on and on top of each other right next to you. Be true. The best and most pure art is of the moment and can't be repeated. Crawl back into why you began creating in the first place. Listen to yourself or your elf...or that thing ticking and walki-talking above you. Ear wax eloquence. Amen. 4) If there's anything I didn't ask that you really want to say, say it! If you're happy and you know it clap your hams.

-djg

PART II:

0​1) "One's passion can become a monster sometimes."

No matter what you're doing, there are certain limits. There is a monster in all of us and we feed it in different ways. A practical discipline and taming comes into place. There is one monster in particular people are especially over-feeding, the online world. Kids of the future will never have their umbilical cord cut. We're all becoming our own iCons of self-promotion and iBrand building. I'm guilty to a degree (I have tons of stuff online and am slowwwly thinning things up a bit) and there have been times where I've tried to take a step back. It's hard. One big thing that has helped has been making art and nesting up on it and not immediately putting it online for those few that care. It's become the norm to constantly be beating brows but I'm less and less impressed with where we're headed and I tend to butt heads with it. I have to take it in small doses as an overload of focus on "me" takes away from the purity and intent of creating art and community. I guess it depends on the individual, and again, the balance. Some people are good at it, but I wasn't wired for it. I have noticed myself doing better with it since retiring my DJG DESIGN name and approaching things differently. I love sharing my art as much as the next guy, but sometimes the artist can become the work of art as opposed to the bigger thing they're channeling. That's a dangerous beast I'd like to avoid. ​0​2) "I never want to be someone who milks the same cow. Because I'm changing every day, and it would be untrue to myself for my art to stay the same and not reflect that change." Though I try not to set rules, there's probably an umbrella of look and feel to the way I'm creating. But, I've never been concerned with that as what shakes and bakes the viewer, or me. Ultimately, it's up to them if they're up for opening up to it. If not, no big deal as we can't all see the same way. We all see through different shades and with our own set of wiring. As humans we should be evolving yet never enveloping and I find that whatever mood or feeling I'm in per given day, that's what is fueling my creativity and how I make. It's all part of the process. Even still, I wouldn't feel right doing the same thing artistically every single day and/or finding the spaghetti that "sticks" and always waking up and doing that. That's what day jobs are for, I guess?! I tend to find it odd when artists have detailed artist statements already mapping out what they do, what they intend to do and what it all means. Some are cool and all but there are many days out of the week where I'm not impressed by them. Boxing in a corner can pigeon hole or suck fun and discovery out of art for me. That's just never been on my personal radar or to-do list.

​0​3) "With technology, anyone can be a designer. That leaves me without a place. I wanna make art with my hands."

I'm not against others exercising their creative chops and I'm not against advancement in the art of computer graphics. There's a place for it and I use a computer as a tool when need-be. But, there are times where technology (and just because it's there, accessible and convenient) takes over causing other areas to be void. It can put an artificial filter on things. It can also cause everyone to undermine and undervalue art per our era of instant commentary. Everyone is a professional commentator and judge. There also seems to be founder's rights flung across quickly in a world where everything has been done under the sun/son. I want an experience that lends time to chew on before sending it out to the world and I don't want one in which it's critiqued, commentated upon and microscoped within the first 5 seconds and then moved on and buried like the road out west. But, that's just the way of the beast that many people find is best these days. We can't just accept that "E.T." came to Earth like Elliot did and form a special bond and find love in that, in him, we have to roll in and put him under with our holy thunder. We're reducing everything down to a science and I dont think everything needs to be put under, tagged and bagged. You can scratch 'n' sniff everything down (but I would love to see true scratch 'n' sniff technology on something like an iPad!). But, why not just make things because you feel something hit you a certain way or came down on you and out and leave it at that. I appreciate an exploration and searching with childlike eyes and pouring out what needs to be said within while transmitting something much bigger. And sometimes I can tap into that with digitally slick oil spills. However, when approached like a business man because he's got a machine to desktop decorate, it typically has the greater ability to lose something, at least to me. I guess I've never had a business man's mind? But, there are always two sides and there are some who are great at business and art with heart. "Have heart, will translate and travel", isn't working as much as it once was. I guess the happy medium I'd like to see more of is still in the shop. There are some out there finding it and that's great. And I don't think I'm too far off with all of this falling somewhere in the, "What if God instantly installed within us a machine-like activation button to love and instantly know a tangible Him and make the purest of choices in His name and all that." I'm no scholar, artistically or Biblically, but that's some meat I tend to chew on a great deal. We're swiftly headed towards an age of the union of man and machine and that scares me. Interesting though as it brings to mind the fascinating dichotomy of a movie/character like WALL-E, a man-made machine who also has a heart. I found myself in WALL-E and his little world as it reminded me of my own...until the humans came along plugged into their machines. Personally, I don't think they should have gotten Earth back. But, I guess this is a morale tale to maybe trigger something within us? Or, maybe they're showing us that we can smash our cake to the ground and still eat it too. I believe in forgiveness, rehabilitation, a second chance and all that...but I've my own ending in mind for that one. I'll just make my own director's cut. ​0​4) "I like to notice squirrels and butterflies - these little worlds that are buried beneath all our junk. That's a theme in my art - the human element buried in 'junk' - found objects that others have thrown away." It amazes me what we pass by every second, even in our own homes. There is so much to our daily landscapes, inside and out. There is so much buried on top of each other and many different worlds interacting and conversating. I feed off much of this junk (natural and man-made) and try to tap into it as much as I can on my journeys or while in the act of making art. I don't really consider myself a political or "message" artist by putting the amount of found objects and trash into my work like I do to prove a point. I just see the potential or beauty in something and run with it. Naturally, I miss being a janitor because I got paid to rummage physically and mentally. Our things are our souvenirs. The documentary "Wasteland" fits in well with all this...art/trash/life/love/God. I grew up in rural Missouri. Animals were at my feet. Living in a big American city, it's nice to get this when I can and mostly with squirrels playing, butterflies flapping and the occasional praying mantis buzzing by or quietly creeping. Walking to work is a big plus for bookending my day job life stuck inside artificial air. I'm thankful for the shelter, but I just can't help but think it wasn't meant to be this way. But, we should also smell the roses when and where we can. About a year ago something in me said to take a different pathway home from my day job for the first time in over 5 years. Because of this I happened upon a tiny, sightless baby squirrel on the sidewalk on one of the hottest days of summer. He must have fallen from the tree nearby but I couldn't see a nest or any other squirrel activity. He was scared to death. So was I. I was conflicted though on what to do in the whole nature vs. nurture category. But, I couldn't let him suffer or become food for another animal or even stepped on or ran over by a human. It was quite the emotional experience (for both the squirrel and me) but I brought the little guy home and my wife took him to an animal rehabilitation center the next morning. I still wonder a great deal about that squirrel. A few months ago I was walking to work and apologized to a tiny bunny in a tiny patch of yard because we had built all this concrete and junk in his way. I told him to be careful. The next day around the same spot I saw a smashed bunny in the road. It was sad. Were we in his way or was he in ours? ​0​5) "With the squirrels, are we in their way, or are they in our way? The same with the Internet, is it in our way or are we in its way?" I love watching squirrels and other critters. Especially in the city. It's a treat. Though, I can't help but look at both perspectives of it. While driving long distances my wife and I love to play "Hawk Spot", the art of spotting hawks on the side of highways. It's interesting to see them stoically surveying what we've built. There are so many just sitting there, watching us driving to destinations. We should probably take a good look at the information highway the same.

0​6) "I'm not anti-technology, but I've never been completely comfortable with it. I just need to put some of myself into my art." I'm a fan of hands-on media. Just the other day I was watching an '80s horror movie and loved the tangible effects created. "Woah, Freddy just totally crawled out of that dude's body!" Today, more than likely, these would be computer generated. It's not that I don't find an esteemed art or appreciation in computer imagery. I think there definitely is when it's done well. But, it's becoming so easy now to do it that after a while it starts to dumb and numb everything down. I prefer something I can tell a human made it. I'm both excited and a bit bothered that another "Jurassic Park" movie is in works. And my only bother is the possible loss of the late Stan Winston's wonderful ideas with the dinosaur puppetry. In design school (Missouri State University) I was placed on a computer and I just couldn't get passed the screen barrier. I struggled so much that I considered changing emphasis, perhaps even a retreat from the arts altogether (which, I had no clue what would be). I stuck with it and eventually had to rediscover myself and my love of creating in the first place. I had to crawl back inward, get my hands dirty and only see and utilize the computer as a tool. It helped too that my instructors all came from Eastern European/Russian backgrounds and with a great push for art/design history. All of this inspired and influenced my work as well. I began seeing and tasting differently. I found my former self again, the boy who just enjoyed making art and fused with a whole new sense of discovery. I was hungry. I still am! However, I didn't feel comfortable with consuming a life in an actual design company as another person behind a computer shuffling images around like a desktop decorator. They're not all bad guys, just not for me. I would come back from visiting design firms with a complete sense of failure and disgust. It just wasn't for me and I had to listen to that. I wanted to make my art and my way and without anyone owning me. I wanted to lock myself in a room, pour myself into the work and pour the work out...make art and share with people in a different way. I've always looked at design as an artist first. I've never really considered myself a designer. And of late I've morphed and felt more comfortable with just going the way of the visual artist. But, I don't really care for the classification of "artist" either. I just do as I do. My recent morph has confused a lot of people but I don't see much of a change. I will still do design if it's a good fit for both my voice and a client's. I just need to be a healthy human first. ​0​7) "Our collections help us see our own timeline of growth and development. We don't have that with the Internet. Everything is electronic-instant-throw away. Everything's a la carte. Maybe that's good for the environment, but it's bad in another way." I can see positive aspects in technology with the hunting and gathering of culture. Blogs and online areas of round-up are like lockers of curing meats. But, I'm so thankful to grow up when I did as kids growing up right now don't know a life without the internet or instant gratification or instant audiences. I'm also thankful to grow up where I did in rural Missouri, yet still have have access to finding pop culture and not to mention parents who allowed me to do so. In the end, it's not the culture/media/things that get man across his or her desired county line, but there is something special about them. There is no denying the things we love help define us. I just never want that to be why and who and what I'm living for. But, when there are unlimited resources at man's side all the time, they start to become the controller. Something to chew on... My parents have many Amish families/communities living around them now. Apparently, they use more technology than my dad does. I'm slowly warming up to the idea of music floating in space, the mp3. Though, I still don't find a connection to it like I do with something in my hand, with art accompanying...the total package and the intent of the artists who made it. There is something special about that. I like that there is more access to music that I may not have heard otherwise, but after a while it becomes too much of a good thing. I listen to something and then forget about it because I've got so much to eat. "I haven't quite absorbed that one yet." is a great line from the movie "High Fidelity." I've a big appetite for consuming culture, but I still find myself not spending enough time with things like I used to because there is so much and/or I know it will always be there so it's easy to put it off and just keep eating because I can. Also, I'm getting older and there is more in a day now than there once was, yet the days are so much shorter. I love and appreciate how a band like Radiohead can all of a sudden come from behind their computer curtains to drop a new album digitally the day after they reveal they've even got a new one to drop. But, it actually stresses me out and knocks some of the fun out of it for me. There was something special about saving up money, cutting a college class, driving to the record store salivating after months of wait and cryptic campaigns, making my purchase, sitting in my car, cracking the seal, looking, listening, smelling, smiling, going home with it, making popcorn, getting under the covers, hitting PLAY...making something special of it. And then seeing your own timeline on that album years later and seeing the ebb and flow of the musical landscape in your head, in the air. The complete package. I have fond memories of many albums (and movies). I still try to get the hard copies from certain bands (Radiohead definitely), but there is something missing...maybe that's a theme they're embracing and experimenting with all-around in their music and marketing too? Also, the idea of the album is being pushed and pulled these days. I think there will always be a place for the complete package, regardless, but I'm still iffy about where things are headed. And I'm not even going to get into the loss of the video store generation, something that has a deep grain in my formative years and still helps fuel my art today. I realize that every generation changes or breaks the mold and what we have serving the majority now will be obsolete very soon. But, I just personally prefer a want to be in an impressionable age of real user activity, not an impressionistic one. In the end all of this stuff means nothing in comparison to people starving to death from actual food (not cultural food). I've too much to be thankful for. ​0​8) Difference b/w being force fed music and art and being hungry and finding "food." I slipped into the poster business at a unique time right before social media boomed. The passing of information via poster or tangible object isn't completely dead, but it is out in the cheap seats as people receive and share information online and/or have it force fed to them instead of satisfying a hunger in what I find to be a more meaningful way. Almost like an angelic stumble. It is fascinating the number of people you can reach and share with a single item of imagery and information online. I get that. Still, too much of a good thing isn't a good thing. It's overload in a new way to where so much of it is just filler. But, I can flip the coin and see there is so much filler in the window or bulletin board of a coffee shop. But, I love it when something substantial can smack a person out of the flesh of day to day overload and touch them in a certain way that becomes more personal. This creates a more special kind of world wide web to me. I guess it's like when a bunch of seeds are cast into the wind and only a small percentage of those "take" and sprout future seeds. I just find the experience of a poster or piece of art in person to be more genuine. I used to come away from places like Urban Outfitters so frustrated for pop culture and discovery. There's been a nostalgic branding of what is deemed cool and hip. I've come to accept it. I just don't get it and maybe I do when for convenience's sake. Maybe I'm just mellowing out more the older I get with these filters of cool. It's just not worth it in my typically short-changed day to be so concerned with it anymore or even trying. I'd just rather blow holes in my own jeans because I wore them out. Satisfaction guaranteed! ​0​9) "I can't get attached to music as much when it's floating in space. I like having it in my hand." I like going to a museum to see art, not downloading a PDF of it." I'm slowwwly warming up to the idea of the mp3 or movies on demand. I appreciate it but still find it odd and at times very fleeting. It's easier to forget about something when it's downloaded out of thin air and stored in a data bank and there any time you want it like a self-serve drive-thru. I finally got home internet and instant Netflix this year. Really cool and all, but I find that I still don't get too jazzed by it as it is always there waiting. I can see circumstances where vehicle video monitors would come in handy. Though, more and more I see parents switch them on for short distances. We're numbing ourselves straight out the chute. After attending a live musical production recently the parking lot was suddenly illuminated even more by screens on the backs of seats. Are we that bored? Just the other day I saw a truck drive by with a whole batch of little dogs stretching necks to look out. It was quite something and touched me more than most humans do. We don't seem to appreciate the air we breathe or recognize a blue sky unless it's in a Pixar cartoon on the back of the seat in front of us. 10) Almost born at home b/c of a blizzard. Mom had to be transported by a tractor through snow drifts. Hometown: Chillicothe/Wheeling, MO/Farm. Why am I here? What's my purpose? These are questions I've always asked myself. 1979, my birth year, seems like an old world compared to now. I guess a far removal from any day and age has such a haze. Same applies to the melting of a big blizzard. But, as far as I can tell, we're all the same coming in as we are going out. As in, we all get the bite in the same. I'm fascinated by coming into the world. Actually, it perplexes me more than the being here and going out. Maybe because it's a memory that can't be weighed? Why me and why that time and place? Yeah, you can boil it down to a mom and a dad, but there is something more to it. Something kinda freaky-beautiful-mystery. It all adds up to who and what I am now and I still can't make much sense. I'm nobody special, but I was made and I made it and I'm making things to counter react. That's saying something. We've all got something to say. I don't know. Most people seem to go without bothering about this stuff. They just put on their boots and start marking or mucking up their timeline. Not a bad way to go about it, I guess. But, I've always carried this stuff. I guess it lends to why I do as I do and the next guy does as he does? I was in line at Target and the cashier was well "with child" as her stomach hung over the counter and the scanner area. Pregnant women are intimidating, but this was also fascinating. All I could think about was the little thing inside hearing a part-time to full-time parade of "beeps" and "blips" and odd mumblings about prices and products. What a weird thing before you have to come out of the comfort. 11) "Art is my way to communicate what's going on inside.... I don't know if I really believe in cliches, cause their all true. It's like guilty pleasures." For a long time I've felt something inside of me and around me that I've needed to say and I say that with my art. And if it doesn't make much sense to the viewer, then no big deal. If it sounds cliche to the viewer, then good for them. I wasn't blessed with a vocal personality on the outside. I've always adapted more with the back row corner crowd. I don't know, art is my outlet for sharing. It's weird though as I've had social phobia since I was first put around other humans yet spend so much time alone making art that it causes me to have more social problems. But, the art actually helps me. It's a weird world I live in. Eventually, I'd love to do art for a living, but in the end it will never be about that. I will be making art no matter what until my number is up. I don't believe in the term "guilty pleasure" unless it's really affecting your life and others in the process like an addiction to drugs or other activity. If you like the new Katy Perry single because it's catchy pop then so what? Why feel guilty about that? It baffles me that we have to put up precursors of cool to protect and project our cultural DNA. I think there is truth in cliches and at some turn they can become classic. I guess my main beef is when people go for cheap shots, lowest common punches or don't push themselves or their own voice intertwined. But, then again it just depends. I still giggle like a schoolboy when people get punched where it counts in movies. 12) "I'm a believer in God, and I have faith through Him. If anyone is creating, they've gotta believe there's something bigger than all this, whether they believe it's God or not. I've always liked the idea of finding God through childlike eyes, and that I can tap into that through art and discovery." My favorite and most purest of makers are folk artists. There comes a truth in that with the connection to something bigger in their work. They have something to say, are typically prolific and hardworking, art oozes from them. I see a very special kind of balance within to Him. One that is seen worked out through images and the act of creation to help further an understanding and taming. They have to create and say what needs to be said. I'm no folk artist, nor anywhere near, but I find a kinship with these kinds of creators. The way a child creates, looks at the world and plays is vital resource material as well. And not just for an artist, but for everyday living/profession. We should all be more like children. I can't connect with much of the adult world. Even as a child it didn't make sense to me. I was so freaked out about dating and marriage in the first grade. It's sad to me when we get caught up in games that push purity away. I'm no purist or saint. I think we're all tainted at birth. We come out of the cannon and are instantly thrown into the thicket. But, art and looking at things with a spiritual lens just helps me reconnect and see Him a bit clearer. I can't not see Him. Anybody channeling something within to make something on the outside is tapping into something big. There's a reservoir out there that all of our individual reservoirs are connected with. It is there. I'd be another wreck on the highway if it wasn't for my belief in all of this. 13) "I grew up in a very white bread church with no instruments. A lot of artists chuck their childhood or religion to the curb. I'd rather tap into it. You learn a lot of important life-things in your early years." I won't go too far into this, but it's weird when we set man-made restrictions upon the simplest and purest of things like worship. I've never understood that. God can be found in everything and the world isn't painted black and white. Again, this is like putting a microscope to it and staking a one way flag. Stuff like this causes many a more colorful outlook to run. I've never understood how people can just stop being childlike or creative just like those that decide to bury their past. It's kinda like knocking the foundation out of a building. I wouldn't do as I do without those early years. But, I can admire those who can re-invent themselves with what they've built. I love playing Legos. I just find it sad when we chuck things to the curb. But, I can also see why as life and other lives can be pretty darn hard on some folks. 14) "I love the idea of a timeline through my art - to see how I was developing and growing." It's important to have a human identity, to say something of value in art and that goes with anything we're pursuing and leaving behind. And it's neat to see this physically in something like a body of work with art. I look at stuff from years ago, heck, even last week, and think, "Wow, what inspired me to do that? Something was thumping in me and had to come out like that!" I also love how each thing leads up to the next, like marks on a height chart or a traveled map. Everything in life got me to the end of this interview... -djg