Posts

April 12, 2021
Pandemic vs Climate Change
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Here’s a new piece for the Resurfaced series. I don’t do much political art, but this project felt important somehow. If not to you, at least to me right now.

Sometimes I feel like a hostage. A victim of hijackers or kidnappers where the culprits are the established media. I don’t think I have an unhealthy ingestion level, but what I do listen to and read, tends to put a large emphasis on two main headline topics: the pandemic and the climate. I find this to be even more true now that Trump is off-center stage.

Granted, both are extraordinarily important issues, regardless of whether or not you believe in all or just some of what the media broadcasts 24/7. If you don’t believe in either, well, there you go.

Like the next guy, I am easily seduced or hypnotized by big fat headlines. And so, I often forget that the media’s business model is fundamentally about generating engagement – just like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, Google, and every other social media outlet out there. The more eyeballs they attract, the more advertising money they rake in.

The main difference between traditional media and “SoMe” is that because traditional media has been around a lot longer and has content produced by a team of purportedly unbiased reporters and journalists, it continues to enjoy a higher level of believability (if not authoritativeness).Folks in my generation still tend to rely on old-school media brands to get their lion’s share of “indisputable facts” and opinions. And since it’s no secret that many – including your’s truly – choose news sources that reinforce rather than challenge opinions, you don’t need a degree in behavioral psychology to grasp how we find ourselves in an echo chamber, shutting out all and any opposing views and thoughts that question our opinions or facts. We become hostages of the media and eventually victims of Stockholm syndrome. Feeling mushy about a media brand is dangerous stuff.

January 15, 2021
Avoiding the Doldrums
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Shot this curious trio yesterday during a refreshing walk in the village yesterday. I’ve realized a few things these last couple of days. Maybe it’s the huge snowfall. Maybe it’s something else. Whatever.

Here we go.

The pandemic has brought forth three positive perspectives.

One, I feel so much more appreciative of all the traveling we’ve been able to do during the last 25 years. I traveled a lot before meeting Charlotte, but once we connected, the traveling increased exponentially. The only other couple I know of that comes somewhat close to us is the Friberg’s.

Once you contract the “travel bug”, you never really get rid of it. At least I haven’t. And while I tend to be more enthralled and inspired by creative folks in general, if they’ve also traveled extensively, we’ll usually hit it off instantly.

We’re all different, I get that. But not filling your life with as many new experiences as possible (as opposed to those that are repetitive, predictable, and safe) is still a life concept I can’t relate to.

Anyway, I know it’s not exactly brag-worthy from an environmental perspective, but since 1997, I’ve logged about 367 000 kilometers of air travel. That’s not including trips before then and not all the domestic distances I’ve traveled via train, boat, car, and bus. In all, 600k is still not too far off from a round trip voyage to the moon (768k).

So, if I don’t ever get to travel again, I’d certainly be disappointed and deeply saddened, but not devastated as in feeling my life had been hollow and boring. It’s been a privileged life and in retrospect, I’m really happy that I’ve thoroughly documented the vast majority of our adventures around the world.

Secondly, because of the situation in my life and obviously in the world right now, I’ve found that I can still appreciate my new, hamstrung boundaries. Living here in the Vejbystrand is also a privilege and though I keep walking along the same paths, beaches, and trails, so far, I’ve not felt the least bit bored.

And this brings us to my third perspective.

The pandemic has provided me with time for reflection. I’m working on a  retrospective-introspective exhibition of sorts. Essentially, I’ve embarked on a journey without an outlined goal or even a decent map. More like a reckoning and inventory of my 57-year-old life. The idea being that this will eventually clue me into how to move forward, stay fluid, creative, and, continue to suck up as much as possible out of life. Most importantly, I need to be mindful of “The Valley of Doldrums” which many old folks tend to not realize they’ve fallen into until it’s kept them, hostage, for so long, they succumb to Stockholm Syndrome.

October 31, 2020
Dr Nicholas Christakis: The Enduring Impact Of COVID-19
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Dr. Nicholas Christakis is probably one of the most knowledgeable experts on the ongoing pandemic I’ve heard so far. I embedded Fresh Air’s Dave Davies interview with him below for your listening pleasure. Nicholas Christakis provides a lot of insight into how we got here and where we’re heading. Interestingly, like most other experts, Christakis doesn’t talk about what we need to do to avoid future pandemics. This despite the fact that he also has a Ph.D. in Sociology. It boggles my mind that not even really well-educated and experienced smart people want to touch the 800lb gorilla in the room. I’m not talking here about wet markets or dangerous, unhygienic storage of carcasses. Instead, I’m referring to why these pathogens keep showing up and the unprecedented changes we need to undertake in order to avoid the current and future variants of pandemics. The image above is from my series “Resurfaced“.

July 13, 2020
Groove Salad, Corona & More
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Elle’s here now. Great to see her again. Feels like such a short while ago we were this tightly knit unit living together, eating most of our meals together, chatting, arguing, and just living a fairly ordinary family life in Malmö. Now nothing is the way it was and though we are all dealing with this odd, new reality as best we can, there’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind rewinding the timeline about a year and appreciating how things were more than I did at the time.

Bitte, a brief girlfriend from the early 1980s (a Swedish gal, but with a German name) once advised me to never regret that which you cannot change. Great advice but nonetheless hard to live by. If we just survive this pandemic, something good will evolve. In fact, I’m sure there has already been plenty of positive consequences. Certainly environmentally.

It’s been like five months since I arrived from Spain and I don’t think I’ve stayed put in Sweden this long in more than 25 years. So at least my carbon footprint has gotten considerably smaller.

My younger sister and brother in Alaska have unfortunately contracted the virus. Both are fine so far and as far as I know, don’t have any underlying health issues. So they will hopefully pull through without too much pain or long-term suffering.

I’ve been subscribing to Apple Music for quite some time – three years? I don’t know. Yet I find myself mostly listening to Groove Salad, the electronica channel over at Soma FM. I’ve been a fan since about 2003 and to this day, most of the tunes on their playlist are still an aggregate of instrumental and easily digestible tunes that work perfectly as a backdrop for when I’m writing. I’ve been doing a lot that today and will continue doing just that going forward. Of my creative vents, writing fiction is by far the most challenging. But it’s also the most fulfilling. The hardest part? Avoiding self-editing while I’m writing. It absolutely kills the flow and distract me from weaving my stories. The image above is a redesign of my preferred radio station’s current logo which unlike their musical theme has not aged very well.

May 7, 2020
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Back in Lund today. Sunshine everywhere. Hard to think apocalyptically when the weather is so damn wonderful. Spoke to an old buddy who’s a lawyer and he’s keeping busy. Lots of separations and negotiations. Ae we are holding our breaths? Is the situation going to get a lot worse before getting better?

Another friend told me of a new Swedish airline starting up soon. Sounds hopeful. I feel hopeful. Optimistic, even. Perhaps I’m in denial and not even aware of it. I don’t let my mind swerve too much of Sanity Lane. What purpose would that serve? None. Another friend told me he enjoyed not having to deal with crowds. That he didn’t miss having to share public spaces with others. I totally get that. Like the author Charles Bukowski once wrote, “It’s not that I don’t like people. I just feel better when they’re not around”.

I think that’s pretty much the collective sentiment of my demographic right now.

Shot the above while wandering aimlessly around town this afternoon after the shoot. I tried really hard to get lost today. But Lund is just too small.

April 26, 2020
Forgetful Yet Uneasy
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Thanks to or because of, depending on your choice of perspective, my current workload distracts me from thinking too much about the pandemic and the tsunami of physical, emotional, and financial implications it carries with it. For hours on end, I am so immersed in my work, I can totally forget about it all.

Like most folks that have yet to know anybody that has been directly hit by the virus, it’s the indirect impact I hear of; from one friend in Malmö whom will likely lose his expansive restaurant business, to another pal, scared and hiding in complete isolation deep in one of Los Angeles sprawling suburbs.

The weirdest part of this unfolding drama is our collective uneasiness. We, including all the self-proclamied experts, still don’t know squat about how this craziness will actually conclude. Antithetical to an earthquake and other natural catastrophes, where there usually are plenty of historical precedents and aggregated statistics to help fill the void, map the scope (and to cope), here there are just too many puzzle pieces missing to provide a full picture of what the Covid-19 pandemic will look like going forward. Is there going to be even more radical plot twists? Like not becoming immune even after recovering from the disease? Or, that even if you only experience mild symptoms the first time you contract the virus, will they worsen the second or third time around – after your immunology has been compromised and exhausted? 

To put our current situation in a comically contextual perspective, it’s kinda like having a really bad stomach flu. Even several days after the last time you had diarrhea, you feel uneasy about letting out the tiniest fart. It’s just so friggin’ hard to relax these days.

The above photo of a pineapple themed tapestry is totally unrelated to this post but works as a decorative featured image nonetheless.

March 29, 2020
Summer Time
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When I opened my eyes this morning, I saw a sliver of bright yellow sunlight protruding through the blackout curtains hanging over our bedroom window. I went to sleep unusually early last night and felt initially a little confused by the light. Had I slept in? It was Sunday, so no big deal if I had. For some reason, I remembered about the time change, that we are now officially in the summertime.

Though the pandemic is omnipresent online and in much of everyday small talk, I find that it still easily falls out of focus. I suppose that’s because we are here on the coast in Vejbystrand, so near to nature in an environment barely stirred by humans. I’m thankful that the reminders are few, at least when compared to urban dwellings. On the other hand, we kind of miss the “comfort” of having an abundance of neighbors – to share fears and hopes with – and we are at least a half an hour from the nearest ICU, if or when the shit really hits the fan.

Aside from probably lacking the emotional capacity and having zero skills, I still wish I had something to contribute to the healthcare field with right now.

The other day, a friend pointed out an interesting aspect of the unfolding situation to me. During her maternity leave, the restaurant she worked for as a manager went bankrupt. Just as her yearlong leave was about to end – but before the coronavirus took center stage – she had several interesting job offers, was hired by a bakery/café chain and set to go back to work in early March. Three weeks ago, her new employer laid her off. But with the fallout from the virus, she now feels somewhat relieved for having an unquestionably valid explanation of why she’s still not able to find a job.

I think we’ll be hearing more of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s thoughts on “UBI” a Universal Basic Income, a citizen’s dividend where a government guarantees that everyone receives a minimum salary. Defining “citizen” will obviously become a sticking point and while I think most sensible people in the world will abide and adjust to just having enough means to survive, it’s going to be really tough for most Americans to grasp what the concept of “basic” even means.

Shot these Easter flowers during a long beach walk the other day. Heard via the BBC that Kenya’s flower industry is disastrous with approximately 500.000 directly and indirectly affected and now out of work. As if life wasn’t already tough enough for them. Fuck.

March 27, 2020
Hugless, Kissless and Shakeless – but not Hopeless
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Wow, are these weird times, or what? Who would have thought that streets in entire cities would be more or less empty, seemingly abandoned? That even the most basic human social behavior would take such a colossal hit? Are we the last of those that will remember what a superficial cheek kiss, a fleeting hug, and a vigorous handshake feels like? Will this make even the slightest physical contact feel forbidden and therefore somehow even erotic? Post-coronavirus social ordinance might just well dictate a whole new set of judicial and social rules to abide by. Or, to totally disobey. If the virus is really a threat to our very existence, then I think disobedience is the only option. We’re fucked, so who cares, right?

Seriously though. This pandemic will probably leave long-term social and financial disruption in its wake. Social distancing, virtual offices, online meetups as well as homeschooling will leave the fringes and likely become preferable and dominating alternatives in our new, hunker down, shelter in place society. Maybe we’ll even abandon our megacities and migrate en masse back to the countryside, where a rural, agriculturally focused and physically demanding, yet healthier lifestyle, awaits. Or, maybe we’ll stay in our urban environments but isolate ourselves even more than now. Transform our apartments into bunkers that we rarely leave.

Speaking of bunkers…

The above collage is from photos I took at an old Stasi headquarters on the outskirts of Leipzig, Germany that I visited a few years ago during a press trip. I shot most of the photos deep down in a bunker intended for polittruks in Erich Honecker’s DDR. Interestingly, there were exercise bikes hooked up to supply electricity to the bunker’s phones as an alternative to the facility’s diesel generator.