The New American Boogeyman

Here we have a man. A man who has been given all the advantages in the world, including huge amounts of wealth, through cheating and fraud. He did not earn this wealth. He was privileged to it, because he is white and his father was very rich. This man now sits atop a government of suspicion and division. An ineffective government to be sure, but one so ineffective it’s reverberating disaster in many areas of our public life that will be with us for decades. And this man, so weak in his leadership, so steeped in his racism and bigotry, he cannot lead by example. No great speeches, no unity, no examples of appealing to our better nature. No, instead, he chooses to attack the most vulnerable, the most powerless, those without a voice, without a home, without a country. I give you the new American boogeyman: the refugee. 

Careful which side you pick in all this, you’ll be judged for it.

Less Capitalism, More Humanism

I’m asking for a design profession less focused on commerce. Less about higher billable hours and maximized profits. Creativity spent in the mission of moving goods and services is limited. It’s constrained by monetary structures that may or not have the best interest of creative work in mind. Where’s the heart? Where’s the community? Where’s the human?

Can we create a design community built on a human foundation rather than a capital one?

Why did I spend so much time doing this?

I’ve just finished my 7th (and final, at least for now) essay about America. I’m not a writer so it did take me awhile. And the stories aren’t as good as if an actual writer did the same project. But I still think they matter. Why? Short answer: because they’re timely, personal, and as political pieces they were written by someone who doesn’t (really) work in politics.

So here are my notes. Why I spent so much time working on these stories. And full discloser, I did enjoy all the reworking, restructuring, and refining. As a person who spends most of his days concerned with images it was nice to be so concerned with the words. 

And why so concerned with America? Well, because:

  • I think these times are extraordinary. Whether you whole-heartedly support what’s been happening to America in the last two years or you whole-heartedly don’t, I really wanted to go on the record in all this madness. While it was still happening. Without much distance for reflection. Instead, a gut level response to the events that will shape our lifetimes for decades to come.

  • I’ve always (and I mean always) been very concerned with what it means to be an American. From a very young age. My grandfather, like so many others, fought against fascism in WWII. When he was 22 he was fighting Nazis. When I was 22 I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do with my life. He did something consequential, how was I going to do that? The fact that I live in America at this moment in time, seems to me, that I should do something that matters. Still working on what exactly that is.

  • I’m not professionally qualified to write on any of the topics covered aside from the finer point that I’m an American citizen and I think every American citizen should do the same thing I did. Meaning, don’t just root and cheer or bitch and moan in the privacy of your own head. Get your thoughts out there because the process of doing so is beneficial to both you and others.

  • Even though I’m professionally qualified to be a graphic designer, and after all these years that’s where I put on the most comfortable hat, I do technically work in politics. I’ve designed for activist campaigns, politicians, and other political efforts. The highlight? President Obama’s re-election campaign. But still, I speak the language of design, not politics. So when I have taken to long form writing, it’s typically been about design. And process. And projects. Things I am, in fact, an expert on. But I suppose I brush up close enough to the world of politics where I felt I needed to evolve a bit. And that I had something interesting to say.

  • I’m super liberal. I’m quite an informed citizen—NPR, the New York Times, all sorts of political podcast. I live in a very Republican red state. And I grew up in a super duper conservative small town where Democrats were referred to as baby-killers, terrorist-sympathizers, and anti-America. It was great. Mashing all that together for a series of stories about America, that should be interesting, yeah?

  • Just something to note. If you’re a conservative, don’t let your kids grow up listening to punk rock. There’s no telling what will happen.

  • Also, note. These stories were written for readers. My editor really pushed to also make them scannable with a good amount of subheads. In the end, I always agreed with her. I mean 16 minutes, whose gonna read something that long?

  • I wanted to work on my writing. This was as good an exercise as any. Hence, I worked with an editor and each story was fine-tuned so it was presented in the way I fully intended. Not just spouting off on Facebook here and there.

I think that’s it. If you’re interested, you can read all 7 stories on Medium.

So Choice

This year’s SHOW featured the best graphic design work in the state. Designers entered, they were judged by three tough critics, and if lucky, they won an award or two. JKDC won three this year. One being the highly-coveted Judge’s Choice, awarded by Lakota graphic designer and advocate Sadie Red Wing.

Many thanks to AIGA Nebraska for putting on another great event. They always do such a nice job.

See you next year!

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Right now America is a fucking joke

– My latest on Medium –

As Americans, we debate whether or not climate change is real, despite hard scientific evidence it is. We debate how hard we should make voting because of voter fraud, which is very much not a thing. We debate constantly the benefits of trickle-down economics, how having more guns makes us more safe, and maybe Nazis aren’t that bad. We’ve even found a way to debate whether or not debating civility is more important than separating kids from their parents.

Read on Medium »

The Passion Project

What am I passionate about exactly? According to my interview with three design students from Seattle, it goes like this:

He loves design as a tool for making things happen, especially for the things he believes in, which means supporting his community and actively engaging in aggressive politics. Even better is the fact he gets to go through it all with his lovely wife. 

Anthropocene

We have reached an unprecedented moment in planetary history. Humans now change the Earth’s systems more than all natural forces combined. This is the central argument of the proposed current geological epoch: the Anthropocene.

An exhibition now on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario by photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. A spectacular set of photos and film focused on our human impact on the Earth.

It was a lot to take in. The images were quite beautiful while at the same time, the subject matter, whether the slums of Nigeria or the mining of American landscapes, was heartbreaking. It’s clear humans are impacting the Earth in a transformational way. The exhibition itself was more about presenting the facts rather than a point of view of what to do about those facts. That, of course, is up to all of us.

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