the thought is what matters ’cause matter is every thing-
from bricks to snow as much as being a no thing;

no thing is the thing that makes up your mind-
to say it doesn’t is like saying that you’re blind;

your mind is blindfolded, you’re not actually blind-
unfolding vision is when you ask questions like why?

seeing is not a measurement made by your eye-
it’s only measured when mirrors are all that you find.

the human brain is so interesting,
so i sew myself in with eternal strings;

the progress of nature resulted to hu man,
the progress of life was left in the two hands;

interesting enough i make my own plans,
to make it far enough i hold a core stance;

escaping complexity is not a vacation cruise,
it’s finding joy in strings that beg to be used.

to be continued…

if you read my last post it’s a great explanation for my action

View a series of photos that I took after my day-long chore that I feel proud of

I think I’m not a designer. I think I can design but I don’t think I like that label. I say that I’m a poet and philosopher, but those don’t even fit me because I’m not practicing either one — I’m not educated enough in those fields to call myself that. I’m not a spectacular designer by any means. I think there are so many other designers that do much cooler things and have a lot more talent and skill both by hand and the computer. I think a lot and I like people. I enjoy the company of others as much as I enjoy the company of myself, but I also like to help others. Sure, I can do that being a designer but that word design itself makes me think graphic designer, then I compare my work to other people’s work and then it becomes all about who has more talent. I don’t think I’m the only designer that thinks about design and comparison. I think people are in a constant mode of comparing themselves to others and lose sense of who they really are.

I like what I like and that’s words. I like words, letters, sounds, sentences, paragraphs, statements, books and I like it when people talk and express themselves. I like it when people are open and people care. I like when people smile and ask questions because they are interested and they comment and voice their opinion. I like rhythm: I like poems, lyrics that communicate an idea, rhymes, spoken word. I like writing: the interplay of words with meaning and objective. I like to make sense. I like to understand. I like to know and learn and do. I really do. So, why should I just call myself a designer? I don’t understand why I should do that. Would people know that I like all that stuff when I say I’m a designer?

And, I like all that cool stuff too. I love those edgy, eye catching, funny, vibrant extremely well executed and refined pieces of work and their presentation. But why is it that I don’t want to be that? I don’t want to be like what’s going on out there in the front line of design and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t because my heart isn’t there. I just follow my heart — I really do. I’m pretty passionate about everything I end up doing and I make those decisions. I’m in charge of those decisions where my heart will enjoy what it feels.

What I know now is I just love people. I’m a happy person and all I really want to do is make a difference and contribute to a difference. I really really care about people and I’m interested in everyone I meet. And I choose to meet those people for who they really are. I like changing the way people perceive things by setting an example — which is by doing. If I don’t do it, no one will know what it is that I want to do or hope to do or have thought about doing…no one. It actually doesn’t matter at all, unless you do it. Then you can explain what you did and people will say, “whoa, you did that…you have guts man”. Yes, it’s about the risk. I live a life of seeking to find joy in everything and I can do that because I…

a) don’t watch tv
b) don’t go shopping
c) don’t compare myself to an idealogy
d) spend a lot of time to myself
e) talk to a lot of people
f) ask a lot of questions
g) spend time thinking about my work and what it means to me and it’s reason for making
h) listen to a lot of people

Most important thing is…I don’t even think I’m living a healthy life. My room is a mess, I have a million things I think about, I don’t spend enough time with my family eventhough I live with them. I put my work first — which is where my passion lies and I don’t do some of the basic things in life, like organize stuff or read more of the books that I have and actually schedule my time properly. I’m addicted to the Internet and I hate it because I love it. I sometimes just stare at the screen and repeat going to the same sites and I don’t even do any work. I don’t go to the gym, I don’t play any more sports like I used to years ago and I don’t

I wish this and I wish that. I wish and I forget I have. I wish people did and I wish people cared more to do. I wish I stopped writing about and thinking about what I think I should do and just do it. I wish I knew how to stop thinking about everythign at once and I wish that I stopped being so hard on myself…

Wait, I don’t know if I want all of that…

Maybe that’s why I’m writing instead of doing what I should be doing.

I think if you relate or you have something that you’d like to admit about yourself, you should reply to this because I would like to hear it and I’m sure others would too.

I am taking a Think Tank 3: Action class here at OCAD with Bruce Hinds in conjuction with Lewis Nicholson’s class working on the same target. Our class’s project is about making a difference in a community and the community we are working with is Bloorcourt in Toronto (from Bloor & Christie to Bloor & Dufferin). The neighbourhood needs revitalization. It is a targeted neighbourhood that needs improvement and a group of city workers / volunteers in the area assemble the Business Improvement Association (BIA) in Toronto. Keith Rushton’s Think Tank class last year got a great deal of recognition for what they did with Ward19 and the solution they presented to the City of Toronto was what has gotten OCAD a lot more involved with the City; they want our thinking to solve their problems.

The third week of class we had members of the BIA come in and we had a panel discussion on what the problems and issues were in the neighbourhood. We then all wrote a response to that meeting and started discussing possibilities for our approach to the project. I must say…this is what I love doing. I love listening, observing, discussing, coming up with ideas, researching then discussing more and coming up with more ideas and loop loop loop. We traveled to the site many times, took photos, and talked some more. The neighbourhood has many great qualities to it: 3 parks (one of which is Christie Pits: one of the largest most active parks in the city), local residential community, lots of ethnically authentic stores and restaurants, lots of diversity, full of artists and inarguably full of potential. The downsides are just like other downsides of a neighbourhood in demise which includes empty storefronts, drug dealing, bad lighting, no visual interest…basically nothing that really puts an identity to the neighbourhood to make it a destination.

We are about to change all of that.

We had a meeting that we had prepared a presentation for yesterday first with the City in the morning and then with the BIA in the evening. They both went exceptionally well and the room was filled with so much energy and excitement.

We ended the presentation with this:

“We propose to design a plan for holding a (possibly annual) festival event using the street and Christie Pits Park. The festival’s engagements and activities will be entirely based on the collaborations we make with local places including highschools, elementary schools, community centres, restaurants as well as current and former residents.

We intend to hold discussions, create excitement, document submitted ideas and creative input, and feature the results in a gallery/studio within Bloorcourt to encourage the revitalization of the neighbourhood and establish a genuine and visible vision
with a unified identity for the BIA of Bloorcourt Village.”

They are so excited and so are we. This is going to be such a fun project and you bet it’s going to hit the press; and it’s going to take it by storm.

Watch out OCAD and Toronto…here comes Think Tank.