Well, you shouldn’t. You should go outside and plant a garden. You should start a band! You should go explore every part of the world you’ve ever wanted to see. You should learn Italian, French, or Tagalog. You should volunteer your time to an organization that works with disadvantaged youth. You should go teach an ESL class for immigrants at the local community college. You should spend your time tracking down abusive priests, like some sacred Avenger.
Those are the things you should do. And I encourage you to do them.
Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter because you want to. In addition to doing some of those things above.
How often will this shit hit my inbox?
Weekly.
Do you charge for the newsletter?
Nope. The newsletter is free. You can, however, gimme $2 a month to show your appreciation, and because you want to support independent writing. But everyone sees the same thing. I don’t have special hidden stuff for paid subscribers.
Who did that drawing in your newsletter header, and is it supposed to be you?
My friend, the wonderful Kate Bingaman-Burt. And yes.
This is an old one. 2022 maybe.
This week’s question comes from me, actually:
Do protests work?
Depends what you mean by “work,” but let me tell my story and let’s see if we can come up with a satisfying answer.
I’ve always been more comfortable as the carnival barker that ...
This is Give Trans People Drugs and Money. Just finished it. It’s made of wax and razor blades and feelings. It’s 46x30. It’s born of the idea that we are here to help those who need us, without question, without imposing our morals or ideology on them, and without adding ad...
Something in progress, should be finished next week.
This week’s question comes to us from Ashley Worsham:
What is the best way to organize books in my home office?
TL;DR: however you need to organize them in order to find the one you’re looking for.
Let’s start by celebrat...
This is from 2022, I think. 18×24.
This week’s question comes to us anonymously:
Has it always been this bad or is the bad stuff just more exposed now?
A while back, my friend Anil Dash tweeted (skeeted? posted? I can’t keep up and I don’t really care) that Happy Days, a v...
This is 5 Tall Union Signs. (I think I’ve posted it before, but it felt right today. So you have to deal with it again.)
Today’s question comes to us anonymously:
Can I be happy even if I hate my job?
Absolutely.
Let me tell you about the corner of Duncannon Avenue and Old Y...
I auctioned a couple of these off on Bluesky last week and we raised $1.2k for Trans Lifeline. Thanks to everyone who bid. 🏳️⚧️
This week’s question comes to us from Jason:
I was raised by a couple of very passive people. Because of this, I am deeply uncomfortable asking f...
New thing I’m in the middle of. Going to get bigger and annoyingly more complex, but the message will stay clear.
This week’s question comes to us from Minky:
I stopped making drawings for a couple of months and now everything I do sucks. What should I do?
TL;DR: Keep drawi...
Yeah, I’ve posted this one before, but it felt appropriate today.
This week’s question comes to us from Simo Ferraro:
Why aren’t people protesting in the streets this time as much as during the first Trump term?
First off, I’m not sure that’s completely true, but I get what...
This is my very messy hot plate. This is how I paint. Hot beeswax mixed with pigment. Yes, I burn myself a lot.
This week’s question comes to us from Jamie Thingelstad:
How do you decide which donut to get?
First off, congratulations on your donut. Donuts are fucking amazin...
This is Sad Porky, painted in 2022(?)
This week’s question comes to us from Corlin Beum:
As you get older, what habits do you try to develop to keep your mind young, and fight off cynicism.
Be curious.
When my daughter was a teen, and starting her deep dive into music, we u...
This is Child Killer. It was painted in 2024/5 by me, featuring Adam Villacin (who did the drawing). It is 32×84”, painted with wax and razor blades. At least 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza in the last 14 months. That’s the UN’s number and I guarantee you that it’s...
Wee little union sign I painted in 2022, maybe?
This week’s question comes to us anonymously:
How do we survive being online?
Erika and I bought a radio.
For as long as I remember, my day would start by waking up, going into the kitchen, making coffee, putting on the news,...
Current view of the studio. Work is happening.
Today’s question comes to us from Stevie Bales:
I'm currently in the longest depressive episode I've had in my entire life (roughly 17 months). I'm getting therapy, medical help, and support, but still I find what I used to lov...
This is not the standard Q&A newsletter, those will resume next week, but I just wanted to share a story before this year ends.
Yesterday, I was hanging out in the studio working on a painting of a hideous man and a song came on. It was a song I’d heard hundreds of time,...
This week’s painting is a reminder that police unions are not unions, cops are not workers, and they don’t protect or serve you. They protect and serve power. They break picket lines. They steal our children’s education budgets. They perp walk us. They’re not like us.
Today...
This is Political Painting for a Centrist to Hang. (It’s the finished version of last week’s painting. I did NOT fuck it up!
Today’s question comes to us from Cheesed Off in Albuquerque:
Some friends and I were discussing the best way to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It s...
Here’s a painting I’m in the middle of. Posting it because I really enjoyed painting it and I’m probably about to fuck it up.
This week’s question comes to us from John O:
How do I maintain hope and optimism in a world that old men seem hell bent on destroying?
I’m afraid I...
This is for something bigger in progress.
This week’s question comes to us from Alan McCoy:
Do you feel it's better to fight with all of your being for a single cause or spread your energy to support several causes?
Yes.
I mean, yes, we will fight with all our being for a s...
This is a union painting in progress in my studio.
This week’s question comes to us from Jared Spool:
What do you think we should do about Thanksgiving?
TL;DR: We should spend it with people we love and who love us back.
My family didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving when I was a ...
Beloved friends.
Last week’s newsletter contained a broken link to my book, for which I’d created a discount. For you. This bothers me. And I’d like to make amends:
TL;DR: It is fixed.
Slightly longer explanation: right after I sent out the newsletter, I found a typo in the ...
This is Union Season. I think I painted it in late 2022?
This week’s question is from myself:
What now?
I have opened and closed this newsletter a dozen times since Wednesday. I have written it angry, I have written it sad, I have written it powerfully, and I have written i...
This is what my paintings look like before razor blades.
This week’s question comes to us from Ashley Chapokas:
What’s the right order for eating your Halloween Candy?
Great question. I’m going to attempt to answer this as my 12-year-old self who just got home after Trick-o...
Glow-in-the-dark skulls, 2022, wax and razor blades
This week’s question comes to us from Maria Arango-Kure:
How do you get past the utter disappointment in everyone and everything, and the feeling that you can’t make a difference, to pick yourself up and try to make things...
3 Dead Kids, 2024. These will find their way into something bigger.
This week’s question comes to us from Andrew Norcross:
How do you handle a situation knowing that good news for you is inevitably bad news for someone else?
First off, take the time to celebrate the fact th...
4 Guillotines, 2023, 8×8” ea.
This week’s question comes to us from Betsy Streeter:
Sometimes my family has a terrible time selecting a movie to watch. Everyone seems to want something different. How can we shorten the process so we don’t just scroll menus all night?
This s...
Felix Relaxes, 2023, wax and razor blades
This week’s question comes to us from Milly Schmidt:
How do I learn to relax?
I’ve been debating how to answer this question for the past week, and see-sawing between two different ways to tackle it. One is probably the helpful answ...
Little painting of Porky from 2022, maybe
This week’s question comes to us from Kio Stark:
What do you do when you accidentally wake up at 4:30am?
During the early days of the pandemic we all learned about biphasic sleep, which is just sleeping in two shifts. We found out t...
Courage Comes from Palestine (featuring Adam Villacin) 100×64”, wax and razor blades, 2024.
This week’s question comes to us on behalf of Anonymous:
Why can't white men in positions of power/privilege handle criticism? And why can't they stop digging when people call...
Couple little paintings I did this week for reasons.
This week’s question comes to us from Gord Fynes:
How many hobbies is too many? There's only so many hours in the day, days in the week, etc.
One. One hobby is too many.
I hate hobbies. Rather, I hate calling things hobbi...
Bullshit in progess. 2024.
This week’s question comes to us from Mathias Rechtzigel:
What should I get my dog for his birthday?
Fifteen years ago today, we went out for brunch and came back with a dog. My wife and I had just moved in together. Our apartment was still floor-t...
Subscribe
