the Foxy Muppet

     Happy Halloween! 2020 has been pretty scary already, so I haven't found myself getting into the witching season quite like I usually do. Fortunately, I rewatched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer this last Summer, in anticipation that I would be creating art of Willow Rosenberg.      My first formal introduction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer was from my ex-fiance, Scott. We spent a couple days together binge watching key episodes to tell the story, back when we called it a marathon. I fell in love with Willow right away. I identified with her pleasure in knowledge, her gentle nature, and her awkwardness. As her story unfolded, I watched Willow open her heart to the world and fall in love with life.       Another commonality we have is that Willow and I both lost lovers to the mortal coil. Willow lost Tara to a bullet and I lost Scott to a medical condition I still don't fully understand. My grace was that Scott and I had ended our relationship years before he died. Hi

     I didn't know about RuPaul until I was 23. Dallas introduced me to RuPaul's Drag Race during Season 6, shortly after we met. I struggled whenever RuPaul would ask at the end of every episode "Can I get an Amen?" It was a little too close to some of my religious damage and was shocking to see such a prominent drag queen use a blatantly religious reference, but RuPaul was too fun to not watch. Soon we were watching Starrbooty and playing RuPaul's music videos on repeat.      It's easy to get lost in the fun with RuPaul, and everybody loves to have fun, but I learned the most about RuPaul through their book, "Workin' It!: RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style". In it, RuPaul describes part of their spiritual practice.      The idea is that your existential experience is multi-faceted. There is your mortal self, your higher self, and your inner saboteur. Your mortal self is your consciousness and where you make your day t

Despite being a globally celebrated icon and super-legend, I did not grow up with any familiarity of David Bowie. Of course I had heard his name, but his music was on the very long ban list. I hadn't even watched the Labyrinth until I was an adult. Of course, it took years after becoming independent for me to learn of David Bowie, simply because I had no idea where to musically start with the unfiltered world before me.  Confessing that I didn't know about David Bowie has historically been shocking for people. Many people are more shocked by this revelation than when I tell them I'm gay. It's like coming out all over again. Being so culturally naive sometimes makes me feel... alien... which is the appeal to me of David Bowie; embracing the fragile isolation within our impermanent human experience and understanding that compassion and love are all that matters at the end of our existential journey. This portrait of David Bowie is the cover of his album "Young Amer

For as long as I can remember, I've loved unique lighting. Neon lights, plasma balls, black lights, and on and on. In case if you were wondering what my blog background is, it's the inside of my lava lamp. I think my fascination with unique lighting started when I was a kid in Southern Oregon and I got to watch lightning storms with purple bolts. My oldest brother used to have a plasma ball, but until last year I've never owned a lava lamp despite always wanting one. It was a gift from Dallas after I shared with him that I love them. What makes lava lamps unique is that their main feature is not the light source, but rather the atmosphere inside the glass that is altered by the light source. The flow of the wax as it is heated and cools inside the oil creates an otherworldly effect. The atmosphere is warm, soft, and dense. (I hadn't considered this until trying to put it into words, but I imagine it to be rather like being in a womb.) Now owning a lava lamp, I thought i

Remember "Finding Nemo"? The tear jerking and laugh inducing masterpiece made by Disney and Pixar? With the funny blue fish named Dory, who was voiced by Ellen DeGeneres? Remember how nobody wanted to take her seriously, but in the end she gave life saving advice? In the face of COVID-19, this may seem like haphazard or insensitive advice, but please hear me out. At the end of "Finding Nemo", Dory and Nemo were both stuck with a school of fish in the net of the fishing boat. I feel like this is a good comparison for how America (and the world at large) is feeling in the midst of COVID-19. We are on the edge of an unprecedented number of people dying, and we're all in this net together. With unfit leaders like Donald Trump and the greedy GOP at the helm of the "trolling" boat (all pun intended), they are willing to sacrifice us if it will help save their economy. Do you remember how the fish escaped the net? Based on a previous scene in the m

This conversation is inspired by some conversations I've had with friends lately. These conversations have set me to thinking, so I decided to write a blog post on the subject so I could work through my thoughts and figure out how to better speak on the subject. I hope I don't make anybody feel called out by this post and instead hope people can pull away some insight and inspiration. Additionally, I asked Dallas for permission before writing this blog. He was surprised by my idea to discuss this, but Dallas and I have had intimate conversations about this subject even before anybody else brought it to our attention. What I have been stalling about is the subject of Dallas' vocal activism on social media. Dallas' vigilance isn't in question, however there have been questions about the personal cost of being so vocal. There have been concerns about whether Dallas may alienate people who aren't as political, or that his aggression may hurt other people's f

I recently started making jewelry and putting them on the marketplace. I initially wanted to keep my jewelry more generic. For years I wore a chain with interchangeable pendants I made, so I wanted to give shoppers a good starter stone that they could swap around onto necklace cords or chains of their choice, but the sales have not been what I was hoping for. In response, I have decided to personalize the jewelry I make, including the jewelry I personally wear. I've been wearing my own prototypes for the last couple of months and to celebrate the New Year I'm launching 5 pieces made specifically for my patrons to initiate my new jewelry collection... I chose the spelling "Rox" with some hesitation. Of course we know I'm trying to say "Rocks", but I also wanted to express that my jewelry is made for style, not gender. I consider all of my jewelry to be non-binary in design. Anything I make I would also wear, and I make all my jewelry using a female ma