Circus Wisdom

January 4th, 2022

When I was teased, or made fun of, or laughed at growing up, my dad would tell me to laugh with them. Or, if I could, laugh at myself before they had the chance.

That sentiment is terrible for a child. But it’s advice I take more to heart every day I get older.

I think there is a general idea that the things you keep private give you power; that your secrets are cards in your hand that give you some ineffable advantage over other human beings.

I’ve learned the opposite is true for me; that the more I share about myself, the less power others have over me.

I share things like the fact that I’m a better person when I don’t drink, that I’ve made really bad mistakes, that I’ve hurt the people I love but some of them have chosen to keep loving me, anyway — those are the kinds of things we lock away in a closet with the hope that nobody discovers that extra door at the very end of a very dark hallway.

Being honest about myself — sharing and then laughing about the things I hate about myself before anybody else gets the chance to — has both saved my life and given me a life worth examining.

I remember getting picked up at school when I was really young, and I couldn’t stop crying, completely inconsolable. My dad asked what was wrong.

Referring to some kids in class, I told them, “They said my parents were deaf!”

“Am I deaf?” he asked me.

Well, yeah, I replied.

“Then why are you crying?”

I kept crying after he said that. Maybe because that was the moment I realized that the world is both beautiful and cruel, and often simultaneously.

But I was probably crying because he was right. The truth is hard. But accepting it, being honest about it, and being able to laugh at it can be the easiest thing you ever do.

Being serious is for the immature; the best wisdom comes from the oldest clowns.

New Myths

January 3rd, 2022

“Just because something’s been around longer doesn’t make it better.”

This immortal line is spoken by the legendary Johnny Lawrence in the season four opener of the karate-chopping, always-inspiring, instant-classic Cobra Kai.

In either a cosmic coincidence or a divine slap in my face, this quote is a perfect distillation of what’s been on my mind lately.

Last week, I found an old interview with George Lucas on YouTube from right before Star Wars: Episode I was released. George has often been praised for bringing classic myths and structures up-to-date with his franchise; mythographer Joseph Campbell was both his idol and mentor.

Over his lifetime, Lucas has repeatedly spoken on the importance of myth, and how it is our responsibility to keep bringing them with us into the future.

As I look around at the world, and see its chaos and disarray and how, collectively, we don’t even remotely have our shit together, I wonder: what have those myths done for us?

And as a creative person, I can’t help but wonder: maybe it’s time for new myths.

Sure, learn your history and the rules. But learn them to break them; to make a new world with better stories.

Another conversation I’ve had a lot lately is how dumb it is that we don’t use the metric system, which is clearly an easier system of measurement to use. The reason we don’t is because people are stubborn and do not like change, and those people were taught a very stupid way to measure things by people who were also taught that way. And so on.

This goes for many of our systems.

But like Johnny says, this does not make any of them better. And what doesn’t make us better needs to go.

We need new systems. We need new myths.

These Things I Remember

January 1st, 2022

I guess I’m just going to keep trying to remember.

I’ll remember that it doesn’t matter what a person believes in — just what they do with it.

I’m going to remember that my worth has nothing to do with my accomplishments, or lack thereof.

I’m going to remember that there is no nobler goal than to be kind, plain and friendly.

I’m going to be a reminder that words and actions matter.

I’m going to remember that according to the universe, our lives are meaningless, and because nothing matters, everything we do matters.

There are all these other things I learn on a daily basis that I promise myself I’m going to remember. But these are the ones that I think of daily, and will continue to remember in this new year.

Also: dogs are better than people.

Trash is Treasure

December 29th, 2021

It’s kinda funny that, as the world learns how to describe things in increasing detail, as we create smaller and smaller boxes to put our interests in, humans become gatekeepers for drama.

Wrestling is just a soap opera. Soap operas are just comic books without the superpowers. Comic books are just reality shows in a different reality. Reality shows are just period pieces without the funny wigs. Period pieces are just modern dramas that take place in the past. Modern dramas are just sporting events without any equipment. Sporting events… well, they’re just games invented for children that people inject drama into so they can forget that they’re just games invented for children.

These stories are all the same.

They are the stories of human beings. Their trials and errors, their great loves and darkest fears, their elevated peaks of joy and deepest griefs, their relationships with family and friends and lovers and enemies and strangers…

And yet we have a basic need to say some of these stories are better than others. Shakespeare is clearly art and the WWF is offensively not.

Though today, my friend Maurice showed me a comic book that was Macbeth told through the lens of professional wrestling.

And it reminded me that they’re the same damn thing.

I’ve always looked at stories this way. I try to treat Sesame Street with the same kind of thought I would The Iliad & The Odyssey. And honestly, does the Greek Homer have so many more insights than the great Homer Simpson?

I would argue that they both have a lot to say on the human condition, and they need not be mutually exclusive in understanding it.

Thinking this way has allowed me to experience stories in many more ways than I think some people will allow themselves to. Genre exists as a flavor for the same food. There are still things I don’t like. Or even really get. But when I start to take off the outside parts of any of these tale-telling machines, I find the same human engines inside.

This is all to say that even though the people around you might get their stories in a different way, what they want are the exact same things you want — if only a little deeper under the surface.

We can be satisfied and disappointed and enraged and elated by genre.

But it’s the love of a story that makes us ridiculously human.

Don’t worry about the bacon.

December 24th, 2021

I want to tell you a story about bacon.

Last night, we ordered a chicken bacon artichoke pizza to bake at home.

When we opened it, there was no bacon on it.

I didn’t call them to say anything. I ate the pizza and I was grateful.

Now, I feel like even the most well-meaning person would say: “Well, you should have let them know they made a mistake.”

Why?

I have ordered countless pizzas from this place and they have never made this mistake before. When I got the other pizzas exactly how I ordered them, I never once called them to let them know they got it exactly right, even though their batting average is just about .999.

When you hear about the world going mad right now, that’s no lie. People are getting arrested in record numbers on airplanes. Families and friends are on edge and relationships are splintering and breaking every day. I can’t remember a time in my life when I have heard the phrase “worst service ever” with such regularity.

Which is a loaded thing to say. Think about it: “worst ever” describes an event that happens only once in your life. Once. Ever. And I would guess an actual “worst ever” experience would probably lead to death.

I’m listening to my neighbor outside right now on the phone, talking to a restaurant about how, while she understands it’s a busy season and the industry is severely understaffed, she still didn’t get the service she deserves. She’s wondering how long it will take to get the gift card.

This is just a reminder to take inventory of who you are right now. Think about your tone. Think about the words you say. Think about your level of gratitude.

We think about our big legacies a lot. How the people we know will remember us. But the truth is, you will meet most of the people in your life just one time. Which means you have a lot of tiny legacies, and I would hope that you’d want them to be kind.

The universe has been around for billions of years and you mean nothing to it. So it’s up to you to make something of it.

Don’t worry about the bacon. It is just. freaking. bacon.

inspo facto

December 23rd, 2021

As every year ends, we tend to curl up in our chair, stare out the window, and reflect on who we are, where we’ve been, and what the hell we’re even doing.

That is definitely what I’m doing right now.

As I learn more and more about people who make an actual difference on this planet, heroes like scientists and doctors and trailblazers in technology, I worry more and more about whether writing and art has any real importance at all.

I stand on that fence a lot, to be honest.

But this year I’ve been able to renew my vow to the thing that makes me think that the writers of words and worlds have a place in all this chaos: inspiration.

I read several pieces this year that spoke on the importance of people being inspired to be the people they become. Whether it’s science-fiction that brings the future to life, or tales of selfless heroes that seed courage and morality into the hearts of young readers, stories not only entertain, but shape the world we live in.

And it’s always been one of the rings on the dartboard, but it’s the bull’s-eye now for me.

I want to inspire you to remember that we’re all complex individuals, and we can do bad things, but it doesn’t make us bad people.

I want to inspire you to dream, and to be active in those dreams; to fight, to learn, to reach across the stars and reality to anybody else who dreams, too.

I want to inspire you to run away, and I want to inspire you to stay.

I want to inspire you to find out that your defects can reveal strengths, and that no matter how weird you are, there are other weirdos out there who are just like you.

I want to inspire you to be real, and to tell your own story, because no one else will do it like you.

(And this is just from the books I’ve written so far.)

I have a lot more inspiration in me, that I want to share with you in 2022 and beyond. I hope you’ll come with me, because you are my secret weapon; you are what inspires me.

Announcements soon, but for now, have a holly, jolly holidays. Hang in there. All my love.

Not a Trace Of Doubt In My Mind

December 22nd, 2021

I can’t stop thinking about one relevant difference between faith and science.

I try to be as respectful as possible to those who are religious, because I hope for that same respect in return, and I have seen the good that believing in someone or something can create.

That being said, there is something that needs to be remembered:

The difference between faith and science is that faith needs you to believe in it.

Science will exist whether you “believe” in it or not.

This feels more important than ever to remember, but I have a feeling that it’s something that has always been a problem.

Something you cannot prove is not a fact. Something you feel is only a fact to you.

“If you believe in science” is a nonsensical phrase, because if you don’t believe in science, guess what? The internet and your TV and your car and your watch and medicine and space shuttles and airplanes and boats will all still work.

And, sure, they break down, but that is science, too. The second law of thermodynamics. Entropy.

Something that exists only by belief loses its power when people don’t believe.

Something that exists here by the grace of physics and quantum mechanics will exist whether you think it does or not.

So when I talk about respect, I have to include common sense in the mix. Sense to recognize what is universal and what is personal. What is otherworldly and what is here.

Sense to know that we live in a magical world and some of that magic is provable, and that kind of magic is often ignored, overlooked and taken for granted.

Boldly Do Both

December 20th, 2021

This will not be my most popular post or opinion (though when have I ever cared about being popular, I’m kidding, please everybody love me), but I’ve been reading Stephen Hawking’s work lately, including his last book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, and I believe, like he does, in one controversial attitude:

People like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are doing what we need to do in order to ensure any future for the human race.

Hold on, hold on, before you throw any red paint on me (this fur isn’t real). This is not me saying anything like Jeff’s business practices at Amazon are not abysmal and horrific. Nope. This has nothing to do with that.

No, Hawking knew that if commercial money found its way into the hands of the scientific community, then we could make progress in space exploration and travel. And we have to learn how to leave Earth.

Why?

Well, I’ll list the most pressing.

Our environment is likely past the point of no return. Even if we threw money at it and told people what had to be done, events like the pandemic have shown us that you can tell humans the right thing to do, and a lot of them will refuse to do it, especially if it is an inconvenience.

In the late 60’s, when the space program was popular, it inspired kids to get into science and the public admired and respected the scientific community. As the program fell out of the light now cast on societal issues (which we definitely fixed back in the 70’s, right?), people started to minimize and ignore those in science, an attitude that has fluctuated in a downward wave, as can be seen in the absurd mistrust certain groups now have for people in science (which includes people in related fields, like healthcare.)

Basically, the human race as a whole can not get their collective shit together as a mind.

We are under massive nuclear threat at any time, as those weapons exist, are still here, and available for anybody to use.

Another asteroid will hit Earth. That isn’t an alarmist guess. It is an inevitable fact based on physics probability.

Over-population is real and within a blink of the universe’s lifetime, we will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our fellows under a 450-degree sun.

If this all sounds scary, it should. Boo. And if you’re saying we should use that money to fix our problems here, I join Stephen Hawking in saying: why not both? He proposes using a quarter of a percent of the world’s GDP on space, as it’s a global goal. The rest can be used for the present.

If we want a future, we have to boldly go — and we can boldly fix this place, too, if we rediscover some common ground and return science to its rightful place of respect and prominence.

No Easy Way

December 18th, 2021

Don’t worry: there is not a single spoiler for the new Spider-Man movie here, besides that it’s one of my favorite films of all time and you should bring everyone you know.

I just want to talk about one of the inherent qualities of Peter Parker — Spider-Man himself — that bears repeating, time after time after time, which is why we have so many issues and episodes and movies about him. It’s a theme that never gets old.

It’s not the great power, great responsibility thing, which is an enormous lesson in itself.

No, Peter’s nature can be defined by one code:

You don’t do good things because they are easy or because you expect good things back. You do good things even if they make your life harder because that is the right thing to do.

It is possibly the most relevant lesson we can learn.

I look around at this place we live and I see so many people finding every excuse they can to not do good things, or even the right one. They find exceptions in what they claim to believe and live by because — guess what? — doing the right thing sometimes makes life harder, and people who have distorted views of what freedom is and means don’t understand that for some people’s lives to get significantly better, theirs will have to get slightly more inconvenient.

We praise those who sacrifice but how much do we give?

Peter’s strength and flaw is the same, depending on who you ask — he always does what’s best for others, and it’s often to his detriment. We’ve seen him be selfish, and it’s his downfall every time.

I have always, always said that everyone should read comics, and this is the reason why: you learn how to be a better human with each page. (I stand by the belief that we would have never elected any Lex Luthors if the rest of the world could have identified the clear signs of a supervillain.)

So next time you’re caught between the choice of “easy” and “right,” I hope you weigh the consequences and think of Peter. I don’t always get it right (and have been as selfish as him at his worst), but nowadays I try to give it a shot every single time.

#artvsartist2021

December 13th, 2021

A lot of my favorite people — my artist friends — have shared their #artvsartist year, and I am nothing if not a wannabe waiting outside the house party, watching my breath freeze in the cold, so here is mine. These posts are also often about gratitude, and I have no shortage of that.

I decided to do an original piece with all original characters; you might recognize some or none of them, but if you recognize them all then you have definitely been a fan (or friend) for a long time.

This framework accurately represents what my brain is like: the Brady Bunch meets Fight Club. And you know the first rule: Marcia cannot catch a football.

Now for the gratitude part.

I have said it at least a million and one times, but there is not another feeling out there like the one you get when someone “gets” your work. There just isn’t.

And there’s a difference between an overall appreciation of art or the work we do (which is the bulk of what we receive), and when a person really understands something to the particular wavelength it resonates on.

I have been unbearably lucky to have met people who truly get what I do, and as an artist, I can’t actually express how much that means. I just want to tell you thank you — thank you for taking your time on me, thank you for being patient with me, thank you for keeping me alive.

These characters are a big part of the Vogenverse (I’m just gonna keep calling it that until it sticks or dies), and I have plans for all of them in 2022 and beyond. Who are you excited to see? Who am I missing? What kind of merch actually gives you warm fuzzies when you find it? Let me know in the comments.

And I hope you’re either basking in the glow of the holiday season, or hanging in there like I know you can. I am literally doing both, so I see you.

All my love.