Road Trip

Baltimore is cool. It has history. Real history. It goes back hundreds of years. Has great universities. Has world class hospitals. And it's convenient. And it's not nearly as hot there with four seasons! Affordable too. Compared to New York and such that is. The architecture there is wonderful. Old and new. The harbor is great. Actually the inner harbor shares the some of the architecture of the Jacksonville landing. People are everywhere. Federal Hill is great. I have family that lived there decades ago. Their old brownstone is now worth over a million I'm sure. Really, Baltimore is a cool town. And it's smack dab in the middle of the northeast. You're a stones throw from DC, Philly, New York, and Richmond. If art is your thing that's a good place to be.

And then we meandered down to Lynchburg, Virginia. A small little town. 65 thousand souls. It has a couple of universities. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University is huge there. And everyone
loves and misses him dearly, liberal and conservative. Seems he did a lot for Lynchburg.
The only thing I could compare it to is how Tallahassee would react if Bobby Bowden died. It would be a sad day in our states capital. Anyways. I really thought Lynchburg was going to
be lame but it snuck up and bit me. It's affordable and historic. They've done a great job restoring their downtown. It's thriving. Loft apartments and little cool restaurants. We ate Indian for lunch. A really great children's museum called the Amazing Square. Also, I saw
a really great artists coop building across the street. Ten stories tall with contemporary art galleries and 25 artist's studios. Also housing an art store. Really, really cool. Right on the water. And there are hills, and it's really just a great little town. Liberals are thriving there. It's a miracle.

And then we stopped through Asheville. I want you to know I've heard chatter about Asheville
for close to ten years now and have never had the chance to visit. I expected a lot out of Asheville after all of this talk, and it delivered. It's just an amazing little town sitting right at
the foot of the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. You can see wonderful scenes with billowing
mountains right from downtown. Breath taking really. Not to sound giddy. But it's really
awe inspiring for someone like me who's from Jacksonville to see mountains. And the architecture is great downtown. The very contemporary right next to the very old. People walking around all over downtown. All over. Musicians playing on corners. Jazz, blue grass, folk. Right there. Like waiting for a subway in Times Square. All free. All culture. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant that had an entire menu of wonder. Everything could be ordered vegan also if so wished. They even brewed 6 organic beers.

I mean if Jacksonville had a place like this it would be a landmark. And in Asheville it's just another restaurant. The parking was affordable and easy to get to also. To sum it up I was so impressed with Asheville that it took me a day or two for it to register. They even have a really cool arts district in a warehouse area down by the river. The only thing negative about Asheville I might have to say would be that it's too cool. One could easily feel uncool. I did feel a bit old.
But it really is made up of all types. Sort of like Atlanta, San Fran, or New York. A microcosm of culture at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains.

And then we had a little visit in Greeneville, South Carolina which was an absolute surprise. I had no idea that Greeneville was as frickin cool as it is. I mean for Pete's sake they have a waterfall creek running smack dab through downtown. Kids and such playing all over swimming and screwing around. The river park goes for like half a mile! Along the stream are several band shells shaded by trees. The downtown is really developed. I mean many many blocks. Enough developed blocks that we were tired as hell after walking for three hours. There's a trolley car that goes all the way down Main street. There's even an arts district right on the river where several artists have rented studio spaces. I mean it's developed. Big money. Great restaurants. Great hotels. Very historic. Historic markers all over with associated statues. And while looking at the real estate for the city I found houses for 150K. New construction. Really amazing to find deals like that in a city with that much culture.

And if that wasn't cool enough after messing around in Greeneville for a few hours we drove only about a half hour or so and we were up in the Blue Ridge Mountains to watch the sunset. I want you to know those mountains are amazing. They aren't as impressive as the Rocky Mountains, but they are gorgeous in their own right. Not a bad batch of mountains to have in your backyard. The mountain biking there must be out of this world.

So anyways. That's it. A little road trip. Several cities with bustling downtowns. What are they doing that Jacksonville isn't? How long will it take before we can catch up? Are we playing catch up? If so, why? Hope you all get to get out of Jax for a bit when you have a chance. Check out the other cities. Get an idea of what works there, and bring that idea back here and implement it. Our Southern neighbors are doing it. Let's use them as examples of how it can be done here.

Cheers....

House Hunting

The market is down, and there's lots of frowns. But we keep on looking. Looking for a house that's affordable, adorable and almost livable.

American dream, apple pie, white picket fence, and all. For all. Their are open houses all around town. Everywhere you look, homes are for sale. Balloons are a flyin. The reports have started tricklin. About adjustable mortgages adjusting thousands of incomes and weighing heavily on their outcomes of life, liberty, and the pursuit of their realities.

As the flag keeps on flying, as our kids keep on dying in the same old foreign lands. While walking on the same old burning sands. As their oil stained caskets get shipped back across the ocean. Back to their mother's land.

Even with all this confusion, a fusion, I'm still wanting in. I'm still wanting to have a place where we can plant our own seed. Where the children grow like weeds. Where I can plant my family crest and do my very best to be an honorable man. And try my very best to be a good example for the little ones around. But for now, I'll just keep looking in town.

Went for a walk today

with my little girl. We have one of those backpacks for strapping your little ones in and just going. It is a sunny day in Riverside. I absolutely love the architecture here. It makes me feel like I'm in another city. That's a good feeling because Jacksonville can be a bit depressing at times. Especially when you know friends of yours are out and about in great cities like New York, Seattle, and San Fransisco.

We went to Memorial park after a stop by our neighborhood Starbucks. There isn't a mom and pop coffee shop in the area. I don't think folks would go there if there was anyways. Starbucks is so accepted by everyone. All types. Folks were there who just got out of Sunday school. Folks were there who were just waking up from a Saturday night binge drinking session. Piercings, tattoos, and Sunday school. All in one happy environment curated by the all knowing Starbucks cultural committee.

The park was interesting. My little girl Claire had a blast trying to get as far away from me as possible when I put her down. Walking fifty meters away then she was returned by the invisible leash she has for her parents, she has yet to understand. Security being something she needs. Something we all need.

Homeless folks were gathered in a little secret corner of the park. Picking flowers it seemed. I heard one mention a caterpillar. They were rough looking with beards, and such, but were picking flowers in the park. What a great scene it was. I wondered about the homeless situation in Jacksonville. I wondered about art making and how it fits into social issues such as homelessness. To be honest I feel a bit stingy directing my creative energy towards a canvas that folks will judge and talk about, and eventually put above their couch. I feel it is possible that artists owe it to themselves to use their creative energy for the good of mankind. Possibly?

My mind began to drift towards the issue of low pay for school teachers for some reason. That's an issue that everyone understands. Knows about. Talks about. Yet nothing is done. Folks have decided that that's just it. The reality is that if you decide to serve your community as a teacher you will struggle to make a living the rest of your life. I really don't understand why everyone accepts it as a reality and doesn't try to do anything about it?

I have decided that if we really want to make change on issues then we must act individually. Since our government will not make change on the issues that we care about then we must act publicly as a whole. Or not? What do you think? Can we make a change? Do you want to make a change? How should we begin?

You sure do have a pretty mouth.

I've been wondering why I've seen representations of deer in so many visual artist's work lately?

I think it is one part fashion and one part folks getting tired of being surrounded with this modern world. I have observed more animals in general being portrayed since 911. The deer to me is a symbol of the way it used to be. Billy bob hunting with his cousin. The movie "Deer Hunter" makes me think of good old boys growing up in small towns, growing old, and being happy about the little things. Their favorite team winning the Super Bowl, etc.?

I did a series of work (click here to see) investigating this in 2001 before 911. The dot com bubble had burst, and to me their was a sense of getting back to my roots that I was investigating. I believe a lot of folks were doing the same at this time. I never hunted but I grew up in a small town in the south where hunting and fishing were as much a part of growing up as sports were. I somehow was able to escape hunting and fishing camp weekend trips with my friends. And really was just never invited. Maybe I wondered why, or how I never became a part of that lifestyle?

Deers are tough. They are roughed. They make me think of surviving. Feeding my family. Taking care of my own. Taking care of your own. Now the the icon of the trophy deer is on gallery walls, and kitsch campy t-shirts. It abounds as a truly American icon. Maybe in a few years American artists will see another icon as fashionable?

Maybe they will focus on the strip malls, and gas stations that are everywhere. Who knows really. One thing I believe is that there is a collective unconscious in the symbols that are used throughout from East coast to West coast. No one started it. It always was. We think together. We feel together. And now it seems Americans wants to go hunting together. Don't you?

brain drain

ideas. invent. define. refine. this world.

I want to have roof gardens in Five Points.

I want biofueled RVs that are totally off the grid and can sustain life fully, forever.

I want to start a cooperative art boutique.

I want to curate local storefront windows with local contemporary art.

I want R.A.D.O. to develop an arts community that uses all green building supplies surrounded by sculpture parks and live work spaces for local artists.

I want to go to graduate school for arts administration in order to learn more about nonprofit arts management.

I want to start a nonprofit that develops an after school program that is run by emerging local artists.

I want to start a flourescent light bulb door to door sales program.

I want to open a green products local hardware store.

I want to buy a historic home and restore it fully.

I want to be involved in social programs that use art as a vehicle for social change.

I want to buy a trailer and use it as a traveling gallery of contemporary micro art.

Don't you?

Apology

Clean eating. Clean drinking. Water. I apologize for my past behavior. I apologize for my rants and negativity. Into thee. I have such passion. A lasting. It keeps me motivated, and associated. Competitive in nature. I have become a bully. Praying on the week. And dishing out judgement and I'm tired of such activity with it's ferocity.

Teacher, I apologize for my outburst in class. I apologize for not raising my hand before speaking. I apologize for looking at you and silently judging. I apologize for talking about you behind your back. I apologize for looking at your life's work and snickering inside. I apologize for I have no right to. No fight to. And I give up.

What step am I on? The step where I wake up and realize I have been an asshole many times and have not known it. I have left dirty messages. Wondered why things couldn't be better. Why? Everyone is trying their best. Who am I to judge? Who am I to fudge on common courtesy? I am tired of dishing out negative synergy. I am tired of thinking I know best. I am tired of forming an opinion on everything. I am tired of trying to back it up.

I want to be involved in flow. Surround myself with those who are not struggling against the current. Surround myself with those who have given up and have let the stream take them. Surround myself with positivity. With friends who are not out to get anything from me. And in return be that friend to thee. This is my apology.

Horizon Line

Approaching my birthday and I'm brewing in my stew. Of life. Of mights. Of my personal fights. How much do I have left in me? I look at my mountain top that I have not nearly climbed. I must reach the peek by night fall this time. I want to stand tall, and view the horizon line.

Ten years have quickly passed. And I have amassed a collection of adventures. Not many pictures. But many images that are in my head. Images I will take with me until I'm dead. And this mental photo album will grow and grow. Until a force data dump obstructs it's flow.

I'll illustrate animals for generations to come. Drawing the icons we forget as we grow old. Make sure the little one knows which ones will bite. Make sure she knows not to quit without a fight. She will not reach her mountain top for years to come. I hope when she reaches it she'll find us standing tall in the sun.

Little one we are all on this journey and sometimes you'll find yourself alone. Sometimes along the way you'll find yourself a home. Sometimes along the way you'll find yourself a friend. All you can do is pray that your friends stick around till the end. And hope when it's all over we will all find that same mountain top, that we all climbed. We can all look at the same horizon line. And we will see our life's work as it stretches through time. Then we can all pray for that moment not to end. Or maybe once there it will just start all over again.

Tower View

I'm taken a back. Taking a wack to the head, Jack. I look in side and it no worky here no morey. Words are not coming out easily, fluently. I sit and stare at a blank canvas. A line. An idea that has little idea. And there is no beauty. And there is only hard work.

Wishing that things would flow. Like the flow of my fingers knowing where the keys are hitting the keyboard. Knowing how to, when to, automatically, auto pilot. Flowing water down mountain top drip through rock, stone, hard substance. Finding it's way. Drip. Drop.

Wanting ideas to shine, mountain top beam truth. Wanting to set an example for myself to live by but not wanting to make that example impossibly difficult, perfect. Know that you are going forth. Slowly finding truth, but not beating yourself up over it. On it.

Thinking of icons. Towers. Built for little nuggets. Chicken fried. Tied. Peeping out of their plastic side. vibe. I see it in the distance. It is perfection. We are all gathered round. Laughing. Well rested. Well fed. And it was all worth the test.