I’ve been thinking a lot about nostalgia lately. As an artist, to a certain extent you don’t want to lean on nostalgia. It feels lazy. You should always be pushing the envelope, trying to be edgy and provocative. Original in some sense.
But nostalgia can be a worthy muse if you let it. The moment you cross over from old & tired to retro & vibrant isn’t always easy to pin down, but it’s absolutely real. And to master the subtle art of the throwback, the revival, the clever pastiche…well, there’s nothing lazy about that. #creativity
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Look, I get it. You already subscribe to too many newsletters. So much to keep up with. But guess what? I only send out a newsletter once a week. And if you‘re feeling curious, peruse the Creator Class archive. You might find something that resonates with you! It’s a great way to stay current with what I’m publishing, and newsletter recipients always get some extra insight just for them. So what are you waiting for? Let’s roll!
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This is for my fellow Yanks out there: Take care of yourselves and your loved ones this weekend.
I just want you to know I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all of the people out there who have even more reason to be afraid come January 20th than I do (being a white man). I know how hard this must be for you, because there are people I love very close to me who—if you pay attention to the rhetoric—are living with MAGA targets on their backs. It’s shameful. It’s appalling. It’s #politics with very few guardrails left.
And yet…we will get through this. We must. I keep telling that to myself every day. We have to keep going. Because the alternative is…unimaginable.
So I wish you all good wishes, and know that you are not alone. Millions upon millions of your fellow Americans are just as appalled as you are, and this ain’t over. MAGA can believe they “won” all they want, but the war for the soul of this nation continues, and we live to fight another day. Resist! ✊
I tuned into the final presidential address by Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the American people.
I tuned out after a few minutes.
And therein lies the unfortunate legacy of this administration. Perhaps unparalleled in modern history has been this president’s impact on the lives of everyday Americans, making their lives substantially better in a myriad of key ways—and at the same time, so little impact on the hearts and minds of these same people. Biden was an anachronism the moment he stepped into office—a politician forged in an era which was rapidly fading from view. Yes, as many pundits (including myself) were keen to point out, Biden is only a few years older than Donald Trump. Yet somehow, in some fashion, Trump felt “of the times”—times being that we live in a world transformed by Twitter, by YouTube, by TikTok, by #politics being reduced to nothing more than rapid soundbites, savage texts, and “owns”. Biden still lived in the world of 60 Minutes.
And even when he made his generous, noble act of stepping away from the limelight in the 2024 race to give Kamala Harris a real shot at winning the thing, he doomed her to repeat the same error: assuming that the way Americans get their news and collectively process what’s going on in the world around them was to trust journalists, trust institutions, and trust traditions.
Hate to break it to ya, but Americans in 2025 don’t give a fuck about “journalists”, “institutions”, and “traditions”. The old ways are dying…some are already dead. And MAGA is gloating that it gladly wielded the knife.
I fear for our future—not because I think Trumpism is all-powerful. Trumpism, as just another two-bit fascist ideology, contains legitimate weakness at the heart of it all. That’s why it must remain so noisy, all the time. The grift must never end.
No, rather I fear that the institutionally-minded Democrats are unable to grapple with this new reality. They expect business-as-usual in Washington, D.C. They assume in 2026 or 2028, there will still be a 60 Minutes for a candidate to appear on. They assume the delicate balance between various branches of governments, departments, committees, and lobbyists will continue in a similar vein to what has occurred before.
I just don’t know if Democrats understand Trumpism’s true agenda: which is to tear everything down to the studs and rebuild an entirely new world order. And by the time the Dems finally get it through their thick skulls…I fear it will be too late.
I’m not saying all of this is Biden’s fault. Yet Biden represents that wing of the Democratic Party which failed to meet this moment. It’s a shame, it really is. Because the truth our collective amnesia failed to grasp is that, on a pure domestic policy review, President Biden was one of the great leaders across the entire history of the United States.
And thus I salute you sir. Thank you for your service.
(And now the next four years begin. May God have mercy on our souls.)
One of the most distressing things I am challenged by as 2025 kicks off is the realization that a significant percentage of people enjoy being deceived and want to keep being deceived.
There’s that pivotal moment in The Matrix where Cypher is commenting on the fake nature of his unreality:
You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.
Just as Cypher is yearning to return to eating fake steaks and living a fake lifestyle of fake comfort and adulation, many people seem to yearn for fake news and #generativeAI slop and the ceaseless noise of scorched-earth online #politics. They think nothing of the technologies and platforms actively engaged in mass deception as well as industrial-scale theft. Who cares if you have to strip mine the Internet in order to make a “funny” meme featuring fictionalized people concerning an event which likely didn’t even happen but whatever because you’re owning the libs?
In times past, we would worry about singular governmental officials such Joseph Goebbels becoming a master of propaganda for their cause. Today’s problem is massively scaled out in ways Goebbels could only dream of: now everyone can be their own Goebbels. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between an “influencer” holding a smartphone and…a propagandist? Because I simply can’t see the distinction anymore.
Mark Zuckerberg has claimed “There isn’t a physical world and a digital world anymore. We’re in 2025. It’s one world.”
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
In the film world of The Matrix, humans were able to escape the Matrix and experience true reality. We seem not to be afforded that same luxury today, because in this reality, The Real World and The Matrix are one.
Recent events online have been truly sucky, but as always the one shining light has been the #openweb (and by extension, the #fediverse—run by independent operators of course).
Virtually everything I hate, hate about the modern Internet has less to do with the design and featureset of the Web technically-speaking and much more to do with the fact that increasingly people are only accessing a mere handful of domain names as filtered through a mere handful of apps. I’ll go a step further: even while online spaces dominated by Big Tech slide further into hellscape territory, it’s never been easier for plucky individuals to build amazing experiences for the Web. The capabilities of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a plethora of cheap/free hosting options are so incredible today, my brain would have melted 10 years ago—certainly 20 years ago—if I’d been shown this kind of raw power.
And therein lies the disconnect…never before has The Indie Web been such a glorious platform for building anything you might dream of and sharing it with anyone you like, yet never before has The Corporate Web been so awful and damaging to the body politic.
I wish I knew how to deal with this cognitive dissonance, and how to convey to mere mortals out there that The Indie Web is alive and kicking and that The Corporate Web doesn’t have to define their experience of being online. This seems to be the challenge of 2025, and not a single day goes by when I don’t think deeply about this problem. It’s mentally and emotionally taxing—but again, I’m grateful to know there are others out there in the same boat. We’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure!
Well kids, I did it. I’ve concluded my first four weeks—a month essentially—of daily blogging. I announced back on December 7 this would be a major goal for me in 2025, and I actually started on it right then and there. So even though we’re only on Day 4 of 2025, I’ve already gotten this #writing habit well underway.
In publishing regularly on this #website and elsewhere, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions thus far:
It’s easier than I expected. For such a “lofty” goal that I’d spent so long fantasizing about without hunkering down and just doing it, I’m rather amazed it’s been—to put it plainly—a nothingburger. OMG OMG OMG I’m going to become a daily blogger! 🥹 And then suddenly you are and…OK? So where are the fireworks? Where are the balloons? It’s so, it’s so…ordinary? Huh. (And that, my friends, is the dark underbelly of content creation. There are no parades. “Nobody” cares. So you really need to get your head on straight and find your intrinsic motivation. “You HAVE to create—because you CAN’T NOT create”—that’s all there is to it.)
It’s harder than I expected. And by “harder” I mean…damn, I don’t get to be lazy anymore. Do you think I want to be writing this blog post right now on a rainy Saturday afternoon in January? Hmm?!?! Seriously though, that relentless need to switch on your brain and come up with “the thing” that’s worthy of being published that day is a lot. And writing isn’t even a hard medium comparatively speaking—I have absolutely no idea how people like Casey Neistat did daily vlogging for all that time. Real quote: “he had uploaded videos to his channel for 534 consecutive days”. Sheer insanity! And yet…I wish I could do that!!
So there you have it. A handful of thoughts after daily blogging for 29 consecutive days. Here’s to at least 361 more days! 🥹
I have no memory of ten years ago. It’s just…a blank space. A void. Weird, no?
I definitely remember the year before, 2014. It was the year my younger daughter was born, and it was also the year we moved from a house in the suburbs to a house in the country. While that ended up very problematic in some key ways (can you say rat mites & arsenic poisoning?!), I did really enjoy living on the outskirts of a small town. (Not saying I’d rush to do it all over again, but I’m grateful for the experience—and the redwood trees.)
I also remember the end of 2015 vividly—I was simply feverish with anticipation for the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Yeah, can you believe it? The entirety of the Disney era of Star Wars can fit inside of the last 10 years. That is absolutely bananas.
Somehow 2015 just feels impossibly long ago to me. We were still in the Obama era. While now in January 2025 the nightmare of epic proportions that is the second Trump administration is nearly beginning, ten years ago Trump 1.0 hadn’t even happened yet. In fact, we weren’t even entirely out of the Bush age yet—remember Jeb!?
Perhaps the reason I can’t picture 2015 in my mind is that it was the last full year of my delusional period when I fancied myself an “apostle for Jesus”. You can read my “exvangelical” story here if you’re so inclined, but the facts are that 2016 was definitely the beginning of the end for me. However, in 2015 I hadn’t quite escaped the cult, and unfortunately my blogging suffered because of it. I mean, I actually interviewed a guy who I later ended up falling out with because he encouraged what I would call outright child abuse. (Beat the devil out of the little brats or something to that effect.) What the actual fuck?!
I suppose I’m glad to be living in 2025 and not 2015. It’s hard, but my eyes are wide open. I was blind, but now I see. My idea of what America is, what faith & #spirituality is, what family is, and what my life should be all about is radically different now than it was ten years ago. And, on the whole, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I write this, we’re just two days, two hours, and change away from January 1, 2025. 🫨
I think a lot of people have a complicated relationship with the passing of time in this manner. While it can be comforting to feel a sense of closure, the end of a chapter in a person’s life and the fresh beginning of a new one, there is also serious trepidation over the future. And given the unprecedented lolololz events of the last few years, there’s no doubt that a great many of us are fighting off despair and depression as we contemplate how this next year might unfold.
I’d be lying if I said I personally am “excited” about 2025. That’s just not a word I can trot out in all good conscience. But one thing I can tell you is I feel as grounded in the core of my being as I ever have, and I’m as committed to the values I hold dear as I ever have been. I know what I stand for, I know what I’ll fight for, and I know who is with me. I’m not in the least bit conflicted.
And that, truth be told, is a pretty fucking great feeling.
Happy New Year & ¡Viva la Revolucíon!
My brother is in town, because hey-o, my life completed another revolution around the sun recently. (Yup, I’m a December baby.) So me and kids and their uncle have all been gallivanting around #Portland today, and the city feels cute and cozy. I must say it’s a very pleasant end to what has been a very unpleasant year in many respects.
I’ll be coming out with my “hopes for 2025” spiel soon, but for now, I’m sincerely grateful to be surrounded by family and appreciating the place where I live.
