Category: PSA

Not shocked but appalled.

July 14, 2025

activism, art, PSA

I didn’t take a picture of the room in a room. I thought I had.

In the middle of the main gallery at the Eno Mill Gallery for the incarcerated artists exhibition, a room was built. It was the size of the rooms that are used for solitary confinement. You could go in and close the door behind you.

I saw a lot of people give it a shot on opening night. No one stayed very long. I wasn’t sure if they were uncomfortable with the closed space or the fact that other people might be waiting for a turn.

I went in on Saturday when Chuck and I made return visit to see the show without other people around.

The space is small. The only way to stretch out is on the bed. There might be the space of a yoga mat on the floor.

And the light came on randomly. I coudn’t decide if it was triggered by my movement and sounds or if it just came on at random intervals. If it was triggered, it was a hair trigger. You could not roll over in your sleep without setting it off. If it was random, it is even worse. But, either way, that light would be a torture device.

Those who have a sipiritual practice that includes silence and stillness probably had an easier time than those who don’t. But, we all knew we could leave when we chose to.

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21c rest rooms

July 12, 2025

a day in this life, art, PSA, travel

At the end of the hall of restrooms at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham

Every One Always

Little bit of a selfie inside

Privacy is just a click away.

In case it’s not obvious from my photos, the walls turn opaque when you latch the door.

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Untangling from Amazon

March 1, 2025

activism, books, PSA

I was an Audible subscriber before Amazon bought them. I did not like that it made me an instant user of Amazon, but I like audiobooks a lot and I stayed.

I like ebooks a lot, too. I like backlighting and I like being able to highlight a word or phrase I’m not sure about and getting instant answers.

But, I really hate Bezos and his monopoly. So, I’m changing my ways.

Libro.fm is a way to buy audiobooks that pays a local bookstore. I was getting 2 credits a month from Audible for $24.67/month and 2 credits on Libro is $25.61/month. I can afford the extra dollar and I feel better about my purchase.

Bookshop.org is a way to buy ebooks that, also, supports a local bookstore. If you pick a store, they get 30% of the retail sale. If you don’t, that goes into a pot for all the booksellers they work with. They also do mail order of physical books.

Both have apps. I have chosen different bookstores because I like shopping at both of them and that feels fair.

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Apple is sticking it to Patreons

February 13, 2025

PSA
This is copied from the pinned post for Molly Southerden‘s Patreon. Molly is an especially good human in addition to being a glass artist.

Please please please read this before signing up for my Patreon channel!

The Apple monopoly has decided that they just aren’t showing enough profitability yet, (%?&!) and they’ve decided to wave their corporate overlord energy around by tussling with Patreon. What sucks is that if Patreon wants (or needs, let’s be real, because we all are capitalism’s pawns on some level) for their app to be in the App Store, they have to agree to Apple’s TOS.

Those TOS will take a 30% cut out of new patron signups somewhere if said new patron signs up using the iOS App Store to sign up with. (Luckily, there’s a toggle I can utilize to ensure that fee is only tacked on within the iOS app, and believe me, I’ve turned that sucker on ‘cause I make way less than Apple does, so if you’ve got big feels about it, aim them Apple’s way. Not mine. Not Patreon’s.

Please note:
- This should affect ONLY new signups using the iOS store.
- You can avoid those fees by utilizing a browser window (yes, even one on an iPhone) to sign up for Patreon and my channel (or anyone else’s channel here cause there’s a fair amount of awesome folks to give your coin to, let’s be real) and then migrate the app onto your phone after you’ve concluded your signup elsewhere.
- Android users should be unaffected, obviously .
I have adjusted the language within my tiers to reflect what amount you should be seeing as my charge, if it differs dramatically, like, oh, by THIRTY PERCENT, then you are somehow signing up through the iOS store, which hey, if you choose to sign over that extra money to Apple, that’s your call.

But I wanted to be transparent about what’s happening behind the scenes here, and make sure any new signups going forward make the best financial decisions for themselves that they can with full knowledge and consent about how the metaphorical sausage is made.

(And hey, if you aren’t a paid subscriber yet and are reading this? The posts behind the paywall are way more interesting, and I hope you’ll come join the tribe! There are cute dogs and epic fails with glass and lots of entertaining art stuff… But maybe sign up somewhere other than the iOS store, eh?)
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