Life Lines no. 16
"Which voice is mine? ego asks. All of them. Self insists.
Wednesday, April 22, 8:09 PM. That is when I started writing this last issue of Life Lines.
It has been at least 4 months since the last one I sent, and so much has happened. Before getting into any of that, I just want to say thank you for opening this email and still remembering what Life Lines is. This digital place is important to me. Even if I have not been sending it regularly, I never really stopped making new art. I do not think I know how to stop. Always making something is the only way I know how to go through life.
Two main things made me pause the newsletter.
The first one was simple. I was burnt out. I felt it clearly, and I knew I had to follow that instinct and take a beat. I just did not know how long that beat would be. I guess I still don’t.
The second reason is harder to explain, but maybe this quote gets a bit close:
“I am walking forever on the path from the border to base camp. It is taking a long time, and I know it will take even longer to get back. There is no one with me. I am all by myself. The trees are not trees, the birds are not birds, and I am not me, but just something that has been walking for a very long time…” Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
It might read as a little sad, but it feels true. Hardship is part of life. Sometimes it comes from the outside, and sometimes we are the ones who create it. For the last few months, I have been attending to that. Quietly, fully. Trying to give it my full attention.
Time has passed. Things are not entirely resolved, but life keeps moving. It keeps happening. And at some point, we have to step back in and do what we are here to do.
So here I am.
I am excited to tap into this burst of creative energy and get Life Lines no. 16 out. It may not be the happiest issue I have written, but it is an honest one.
Truth suffers from too much analysis. Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert
Something else that has been happening is that I have been reading a lot more. In 2025, I think I read maybe two books in total. This year, I am already on my seventh, and that feels exciting. I have also been intervening some of the book covers I am reading. I will share a few of those on this issue, along with some quotes that have stayed with me.
If you have a book you think I might enjoy, please send it my way. I would love to know.
I spoke to Myself sternly, telling Myself that it was no good bewailing the Past; what was needed now was a plan for the Future. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
In other news.
A few weeks ago I was back in the Bay Area working on two new murals. One as part of the Mural Initiative at Palomares Elementary School, and another at Menlo Park Middle School. Beautiful walls. Big too.
I really enjoy these projects. Getting input from students and building the mural around their voices is something I want to keep doing. There is something very real about it. Very alive.
Other photos with tiny descriptions.
I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I’d ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I’d see it was Tommy, and he’d wave, maybe even call. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Thank you for being here! 🖤
Never feel like you can't reach out...there is always someone...including myself...willing to just listen.
Welcome back!