BLOGGING IS FIGHTING

It’s a lie that “people stopped reading blogs.” There are plenty of people reading blogs, and writing them. It’s just that there’s no giant smoke-and-mirrors machine at work convincing everyone of the fact – that’s what social media has been doing.

  • The product makers (Apple, Samsung, etc) all convinced us we need the best new phones.
  • The cellular companies convinced us we needed unlimited plans and 5G speeds.
  • The social media companies kept us scrolling, watching, liking.

Three collosal industries working together to keep you consuming, and making it seem ludicrous to consider anything else.

Which is why all those “I left Instagram” and “I switched to a dumbphone” articles are so popular. They’re like the Matrix allowing certain people to leave the system, knowing so many other people will accept the program as it’s built.

Make your blogs. Link to other blogs. They’re not back, they never left.

MAKING PHOTOGRAPHS

Nathan Pearce seems sweet and nice. This is quick glimpse of a fella doing live and making photographs. Making zines and hanging with friends. So sweet.

“Nathan Pearce (born 1986) is an artist based in Southern Illinois. Pearce works in book and zine making and photography. Pearce’s publications are held in several artists’ book and library collections including those at MoMA, The Met, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Center for Creative Photography.”

(link, Bradley)

NO MORE CORPORATE TREATS

The other night I went to Starbucks, as a treat. You know, a $6 Nitro with sweet cream… really hits the spot.

But I stood there and waited. And waited. There were two kids in front of me. Waited. Waited.

A barista came by and made eye contact, but they were tending to a drive thru order. Someone else just had their head down making drinks.

I get it. I don’t fault those baristas one bit. The company is shit. The CEO is shit. And holy fuck, I’m shit for believing that a treat is giving a corporation money.

Like a chat I had with a friend a bit ago, about boycotting Target. Oh, how we all loved going to Target. But wow, after a bit, we don’t miss it. Just like I don’t miss visiting Twitter or Instagram.

We’ve been so conditioned by the marketing and the culture and the branding that treating ourselves is contingent on giving corporate behemoths our time and our money.

Look at apps, order in the apps, take a photo and upload it to the app – “this is living,” they say.

Anymore I’m becoming a cranky “I got food at home.” I got coffee at home.

Expecting any corporation to brighten by day is a foolish notion in 2025.

PHOTOS ARE FOREVER

I think about skate magazines a lot, mostly because of the photographs. And then I think of how much I love photography, and how little I care about the actual cameras. I mean, I like cameras well enough. I have a few. But the last thing I want to see a photo of is another camera. Or a photo along with what camera was used to take said photo.

I just feel like photographs are literal moments in time, captured, for ever, or at least until the power goes out, or the basement gets flooded (and ruins all your old photo books).

THE PORCUPINE TALKS TO ITSELF

Got in a nice six mile run up to the Appalcian Trail. One new trail took my upwards, and I just off onto another which promised me a spring, but it was not well traveled, so I got off course a bit. Thankfully I recently purchased the All Trails app, which set me straight.

I came out to this firebreak, as you can see above. It was quiet and still. Nothing rustling in the underbrush because, well… there was no underbrush.

As I was descneding from the 1000-ish feet I climbed, there he was, a prickley porcupine on the side of the trail. I stopped, and slowly made my way around them. In my youth I heard they can shoot their quills, but nothing of the sort happened. He just went about his business.

Then my pal Kato commented on my Note “‘The porcupine talks to himself.’ Bill Staines PLACE IN THE CHOIR,” so I did a search and found this video:

That about sums it up. This is the second porcupine I’ve seen on my adventures around the Appaclian Trail in the last few years, and really the porcupine just talks to itself. It paid me zero mind. Didn’t scatter off. Wasn’t spooked. Just kept talking to itself and I made my way around him and continued on my run.

ENGAGE YOUR CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS

Had a nice live chat with Sarah Fay today on Substack – and actually uploaded to YouTube for once.

I really enjoy these sorts of live chats, because I get to talk about stuff I’ve loved talking about for like… decades. LOVE. I love this nerdy stuff. This media outlet stuff. This creative journey, and how it aligns with the machinery of the internet.