TOOOOOO Much Opinion, not enough information. So here is my opinion

Article after article, opinion piece after opinion piece, all stating that Trump is an embarrassment,  a loose cannon, a court jester in the Emperor's cloak and sceptre.  These articles do not go so far as to label him the anti-well not Christ because that would not be Christian, have failed to record the one thing that is so obvious to me.  He is a smoke screen, a boil of the ass of the political machine, a temporary distraction so that the Grand Old Party's leading senators and representatives can slip elements of their own agenda under the door while we all pay attention to the dancing clown.

Trump is a smoke screen while those "leaders" who lack integrity, sitting on their gilded chairs sporting smug expressions or looking like they just crapped themselves, systematically try to dismantle the elements of our country that were designed to prevent monopoly, protect the environment, provide for the education of children, ensure our workers are protected from shortcuts to satisfy greed, perform scientific research, stop global climate change, promote the American Dream, protect the fund that was created to care for our older workers and provide a level of medical support after decades of building America (you know the stuff we pay for from every check), protect your investments and your homes from unscrupulous persons in private institutions, send foreign relations back to the cold war (even if just for a weekend), rape the national parks, remove protections against sort of religious influences of government and the manner in which its citizens are guaranteed their rights to choose, maintaining civil rights, and equal rights for women, LGBT, minorities and just plain anybody who thinks differently from them. 

What to do, what to do?  Attend a town hall meeting, do some letter writing, create a blog, do some research and not just regurgitate the news articles that suite your political beliefs. Look at your kids and figure out what type of future you want them to have.  Take a look outside and imagine a government employing eminent domain to take a chunk of your back yard to make life more convenient for a corporation that does nothing for you.  Go to a national park and picture a fancy oil rig cranking away while you watch for bear heading toward an elementary school (that's ok though, we got us some guns there too). 

What not to do?  What not to do?  Drop the With US or A GIN US mentality. Stop the Mansplaining, the Womansplaining (cause that happens too) and just start sharing your opinions in a civil tone and mature manner, using more than just one legitimate source of information (not like an opinion from a snarky article). Stop the SNARK.  If you have something useful to contribute then do so IF NOT Shut Up!   I am sure you have a lovely speaking voice but you needn't always exercise your vocal cords. It may make life a little more quiet but that is a good thing.  Oh there is so much more to do and not to do but, it may be worth your time to think about what works best for you (just think like a human and drop the bravado Murican BS).

Side note: Oh and BTW when in our childhood did we ever have access to this many $%^ing guns that we had to have armed persons in our schools?  Hell I listened when the janitor told me to get my shit together but, he was smarter than I would ever be.  But let's do some math, We have more personally owned guns, we have more people mishandling and incidents everyday with guns, we have more "ACCIDENTS" involving these poorly stored (ok left on the coffee table, in the open purse, in the pocket on the back of the driver's seat in the truck, etc) guns and the victims are those who we are claiming we have them to protect. 

And if it slipped by you while the pot stirring assholes in the Alternative facts media and front men and women had your attention, WE survived a Black President who did a pretty good job despite the meat cake called congress that was hung around his neck and nobody was locked into a WALMART FEMA Death Camp, no one came for anyone's guns, no one tried to force you into tofu infused state of confusion with out your massive sugary drink (not available in NYC).  People around you just pretty much lived their lives and while those you who dreadfully feared him held him at bay through prayer and Chinese made multicolored magic ribbon talismans (only $9.99 while supplies last). 

OK Back to the original point. You know the Trump and Congress thing; Think I am reaching, well go take a look for yourself at the over 1800 pieces of legislation that have been introduced by this 115th Congress and think about it yourself.  https://www.congress.gov/

What I am not putting on facebook anymore.

So what must we do? Regardless of party affiliation it is time to choose more wisely those whom we choose to represent us in government. Local, leads to state, leads to national and it is by no means the loudest voice that should be the only voice heard.

If you want a person to speak for you, you should choose a person whom you truly believe in, not who tells you what you want to hear. A person who looks you in the eye when they speak, who does not tell you something to quell your fear but someone who inspires you. A person who can be approached with an unpopular question and answer it with authority based on knowledge of real facts.

And if you don't well, look what happened this time.

Oh I am not talking about POTUS only (who still makes me throw up a little each time I hear him speak). The gerrymandering of congressional districts has brought us a whole crap load of politicians who would sell off public lands, dictate your rights into as small a package as possible, step in line in front of deserving veterans for health care, produce nothing but a number of bills that are used to line their pockets and produce as much wealth for themselves as possible to prepare for the day when we finally wake up to their intent. And if you are expecting POTUS to veto these bills well just look at the EOs that have been signed already.

I am not proposing anything more than education about whom you would cast your vote for. I watched a "grass roots" movement fail because people listened to lies produced about perfectly competent leaders and chose obstructionists backed by the rich using the promise of real change in government (tea anyone) to promote their agenda.

I have heard politicians collapse under the weight of a wave of popular opinion because they have grown tired of the fight and allowed themselves to be swept along with the fear mongers and racists (never Trump movement you say? Well not really), because they can use this guy to get what they really want.

I have seen religion hijacked.

I have seen oppression covered in the frosting of a wedding cake in the name of a savior become a bill in congress.

I have seen the signing of a document that closes the door to a group of people who follow the teachings of one prophet (or is that profit) over another.

I have seen the ill defined loosening of restrictions for Qualified people to carry concealed weapons across state lines, if its okey dokey with where they are taking them. (And who is it that deems them qualified, the gun dealer at a gun show?)

I have seen the suppression of the media, the alternative fact presentation, the demand for the answer that suits the ego of the Empirer (crowd size matters, I won but, I could have won better, cheaters).

And all this happened in just one week. What the hell do we have to look forward to for the next 93 days?

I stand by my position to encourage everyone to take the time to read what our legislators are proposing for the coming years. 

http://www.congress.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov

Do you Have a website

This seems to be a question that I hear over and over again so the answer is going to be simple, "Which one?"  Yeah I know answering a question with a question is always a crappy way to go but hey its something I have to clarify.  Well that raises another question, Why?


Ok I do not often blog because I feel I have little to say other than "I do stuff,"  I make stuff, I sell stuff, I use stuff; its all just about stuff.  I am not terribly innovative, I do not break any ground in any of my endeavors, I am just a regular guy scratching out a living and trying to dig myself out a hole or two in the process.  But I have a blog and it often sits idle.


Do I have a sales website?  Sure do.  I use ETSY because it is cheap, easy to search, easy to do transactions on and it is easy for me to populate and do sales on.  Are there limitations?  Sure, but they are few and until I can figure out how to do this stuff in another way then its ETSY all the way.  I am greeted with disappointment sometimes when I tell folks I am on ETSY and I am not sure why.  If they really want to find my stuff I have made that very easy, I put it on my business card and I put it on my FACEBOOK page.  Can't get much easier than that but it still does not seem to be enough.


Do I have a website where I talk about my process and have videos of me making stuff?  No, though I am kind of a show off, I do not want to do a video of me doing anything unless I can get a voice over and I think Morgan Freeman is out of my pay scale.  Hey if you are gonna do a voice over why not go big. 


What do you do to promote your stuff?  Well there is that FACEBOOK thing that features Today in Clay posts and What's Good in Wood posts that show off my work as part of the process and how much I am producing and what it looks like at various stages of the game.  Well this should all be enough right?  I should be reaching people in all areas of the world, with my products and my processes and my face should be on billboards and buses right?  Nah.  I am just not that interesting or do not put enough effort into it. 


So here we go, I am reviving the blog, I am going to post more process stuff on Beastly Woodworking on Facebook, I am going to load the Shawn B. Riley artist page with paintings and ceramics and carved pieces and get the world all hyped up about me as an artist so I can gain the interest of those looking for my web and social media presence, and then I will wonder why I am not producing as much art, why I am not posting more stuff on ETSY (sorry its just ETSY), why I am getting fatter than before I started SNAPCHATTING, TWEETING, INSTAGRAMING, YOUTUBING and BLOGGING, because the web and social media presence is just that important. 


Well you can call me all sorts of things, old school, stodgy, defeatist, fearful of technology but it really comes down to this,  I am one guy, who is trying to produce some artwork, doing some sales at certain local venues and on ETSY or if someone sees something I am bragging about on FACETWEETSTAGRAMCHATUBEBLOG. 


 I do not have a production staff, I have a job, I am trying to enjoy a couple hours of my day with food I make or hanging out with my cat or talking to friends and family on the web or phone so there may be less presence than most social media people want on channels that are their choice and not mine.  If there are any volunteers out there who want to promote my stuff, help with videos, know Morgan Freeman, take great photos, want to cook for me or play with my cat so I can chain myself to the web well then Step Up and be heard,  I will add this disclosure, I know people who are really good at all the stuff I mentioned but I am not and though I am happy for them for their success I am not capable of joining them in their success because I am just not that capable of completing all those things as well as them.  This is by no means a condemnation of their efforts, this is by no means an excuse of my lack of presence, it may seem vaguely like a cry for help but, really it is just an explanation of why I do not do what more successful people do.  I just am not that good at this stuff. 


So here is the URL for my ETSY site:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoundbyRiley?ref=search_shop_redirect


Here is my art Facebook page, follow but I am not accepting friend requests from people I do not personally know:  https://www.facebook.com/shawnbriley1


Here is my woodturning page, same rule applies:  https://www.facebook.com/sbeastlyr/


I am the solo artist in a show in the Neil Britton Gallery at Virginia Wesleyan College:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1694607757467345/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&action_history=null&source=3&source_newsfeed_story_type=regular


And finally here is a picture of something I made:

Something I have painted:

 Something I have thrown:

and Finally My Cat; P-Kitty

And me doing something that I do.



Change is a comin!

     No I'm not climbing Mt Schmatterhorn, nor inventing anything new or different, nor changing my marital status (you gotta get a date first).  Nope I'm just moving.  I have decided that in order to effectively complete my degree in art at age 53, I will have to limit my distractions.  I am going back to basics with nothing but a pile of wood, a few necessary tools, lots of cans of finish, and painting and sculpting supplies.  And a really good camera.  You should  see the photos that come off this thing, really awesome. Oh you will in a couple of weeks.  See this is just the warm up, the tease, the bait on the hook as it were.

     OK "What good could come of that?"  you ask.  Well I find that when I have things that everyone finds essential to living, furniture, pictures on the walls, a television with 900 channels of nothing on, a lawn, a garden, a grill; well I get complacent.  My creativity is stifled.  My brain becomes idle and I get fat.  I grew some really awesome vegetables but it was a drag to weed the garden with this 20 extra pounds riding on my gut. 
    
     So next month, I am loading up the Car and RV and moving down the road to a one bedroom with a garage.  It is going to be an adventure as I do everything on the cheap, minimally and with little more than inspiration and a little luck.  Yes I am keeping my connection to the interweb but it will be limited to twice daily checks of email, the occasional trolling of the FaceSpace and posting here the projects that take me from frontiersman living (in a climate controlled 1 bedroom flat) to luxury of the reused refuse of woodworkers and new stuff by me.  Pictures will be posted from start (10 Aug move in) to finished and some interesting developments along the way.  Pinteresting enough I will be building a board to accompany this blog so you can check the progress.

     Is this a social experiment?  Will the DiscoveryDIY channel be filming?  Can we count on a book at the end?  Will these new items be available to purchase via the interweb?  No. No. No. Hell Yeah everything is for sale and hopefully some free stuff will be available for the faithful followers.  See now that I have included the words free stuff, you will all be flocking in to gather ye rosebuds.  Bait again.  I am shameless. 

     There is a good chance that this will lead to all sorts of attention and some admonishment.  Brands will be promoted, techniques will be shared in a limited capacity, sponsors will be sought out (the free stuff part) and I will be willing to explore the possibility of the government monitoring my blog too.  Hey everybody wants to Upcycle so why not the nice people at NSA too. 

     I will be happy to entertain comments, critiques, guest appearances, but be polite will ya?  Nobody likes an interweb idiot and unfounded comments by dumbasses will be dealt with by use of the deletion key or some public flogging if it gets really stupid.  So remember what your mother, grandmother, great grandmother of some wise aunt told you once, "if you don't have anything nice to say, then keep your pie hole shut ya moron".

     Enjoy, get excited about the prospects, leave comments and by all means send Upcyclable ideas.  I can't think of everything you know.