Bob Ross is a legendary historical figure in American pop culture. Between 1983 and 1994 his PBS television series The Joy of Painting taught viewers of all ages how to create colorful landscapes with oil paint. Bob used a "wet-on-wet" painting method, coupled with his nature-inspired memories from living in Alaska, to help teach painting techniques to his audience, while simultaneously opening their mind. There seem to be two schools of thought on the legacy of Bob Ross: Those who admire his painting and teaching techniques, and those who consider his methods to be tricks designed to show viewers how to paint in a specific manner which can't be translated in any other way. Was Bob Ross genuinely helpful to artists? In my opinion, very much so.

Some of my earliest memories of being exposed to art were from Bob's soothing voice and easy-to-learn style. In fact, I still own some of his step-by-step books. Recently, I noticed that Bob's estate is running a Bob Ross Youtube channel through which full episodes of The Joy of Painting are being uploaded on a daily basis. I've been watching in my free time and still find them to be enjoyable and helpful. Listening to Bob Ross as an adult gives me new insight into his life experiences and how he used painting as a conduit to convey his personal truths to the world. Bob Ross taught how to create the illusion of spacial distance using vibrant colors and a strong understanding of light sources. Bob Ross also took the time out to explain why he created certain colors, chose certain brushes to paint with, and why he was applying the paint in a certain manner. In conjunction with this, the way he taught does well to open the viewer's mind not just to painting itself, but to a way of thinking about life.

In the embedded episode, "Autumn Glory," Bob explains that when painting a mountain, each highlight is flat without it's adjoining shade and one can't live without the other. That is a wonderful truth about life! Our internal highlights are only highlights because of their adjoining shade. We are human because we experience both rapture and struggle, but we can't experience anything without personal creation. At some point while living close to nature in Alaska Bob got it. He realized that all of our internal questions can be answered by connecting to the external world.

To Bob Ross, each canvas was a world that we were free to do anything with. He wasn't just teaching painting techniques, he was conveying a viewpoint about the universe. There's a reason Bob Ross has remained so popular for over thirty years. While his critics profess that he taught tricks and that his methods weren't technically sound, his warmth as a human continues to overwhelm his naysayers. It's part of why The Joy of Painting is still shown in reruns. Bob also taught how to complete paintings within a half-hour using a method that people could reproduce on their own. We don't need to overthink everything. Sometimes we just have to get out there and create some serendipity, or as Bob liked to call it, happy accidents.

This post was originally published here.

I think most of us would agree these aren't the most financially stress free of times in this world. Sure, the reported U.S. unemployment rate is currently down to about 5.5%, but with freelancers making up over 34% of our work force, and that number on track to balloon to 50% by 2020, many of us have to work harder than ever just to stay afloat because we're responsible for paying the grand total of our own Social Security tax, for our own health benefits and free time, and for our own retirement funds. More than ever, it's important for us to find the similarity—not the differences—we share with people, and band together. We need to do this for social reasons which will have massive economic effects. Life's more fun with shared connections! The only thing we all have to do is take little risks, try new things, and meet new people. Perhaps that seems cliché, but don't we all enjoy life around people we care about? I think we just need to be willing to care about even more people. It's true that sometimes when we're willing to care about people we get burned because of it. It happens. It's even more important that we don't take the experience of getting burned by someone and apply it to the next person we meet in a similar circumstance. Replaying hurtful memories over and over in our minds only furthers to isolate us. The stronger our sense of community, the more empowered we are.

I'm going to make a hypothesis: The secret to fixing our world's economy is to make strong social connections with each other.

When we have a stronger sense of community we feel like we're an important member of a group. That's why every organization, team, club, or gang is formed. Everyone wants validation and no matter who we are we're all striving for internal peace. I'm of the opinion that we're closest to the that feeling when we're around people we care about. My mother recently got married. I can honestly say it was one of the happiest days of my life because I was happy about something that had nothing to do with me. How my opportunities do we get to be selflessly happy? Those moments are some of our happiest because we're a part of something much bigger than ourselves. It's what a strong sense of community can do. How can this adjustment fix the world economy? We'll spend less money trying to acquire things in order to make ourselves happy, which will get us living more closely to our means, and we'll spend more of our free time doing things we enjoy with people we love. Perhaps less of us will have the brand new toy, but who gives a damn about the latest toy if we have no one to play with?

Most of what's being advertised to us today is telling us to become more narcissistic and to move faster and faster. Take this 2016 Acura ILX commercial for example. The chorus of the jingle is telling us "don't slow down!" That's insane. How about this famous iPhone6 TV spot. Apple doesn't mention a single product spec because the only thing they want you to know is that the phone is huge, and bigger is better. It's almost like they're saying that if we don't buy this iPhone immediately, we're failures. That is crazy. Bigger is not always better. I think what's better is being genuine, following our instincts, and doing more real things to enjoy life. The last thing I want to tell anyone is not to spend their money. My mother has been calling me "the deficit spender" since I was borrowing against my allowance in order to buy more things I wanted. I've been there on multiple occasions. I do think money is always much better spent when it's spent with someone we enjoy. With so many built-in expenses in life, it's important to remember that happiness has always been a free commodity.

I have always felt the need to be a part of something bigger than myself because it's those shared connections in life that make me the happiest. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that disallowing same sex marriages would be unconstitutional. What a day to be a part of! What was the most important part of this day? It was about something bigger than ourselves: Love. The more love we share, the deeper our sense of community. The deeper our sense of community, the more love we feel. Whether or not we agree with same sex marriage, disallowing it would absolutely be unconstitutional. That's no different than saying that I, as an Italian-Irish American couldn't get married to a Hispanic-American woman because it's amoral. Our American political ideals distinctly separate church and state. I strongly believe that having any discriminatory notions only serve to drive us further apart.

We are, right now, a part of history. Every moment that we're alive is a moment in time. The present tense is being created, which means that it is within our power to create whatever history we want to create. Have you ever known of any sports team or company that thrived when everyone was in it for themselves? Why should it be any different in society? Teams, organizations, and tribes are all microcosms of society as a whole. We might be living in a world megalopolis, but the stronger our sense of community the less fear of the unknown we'll have simply because there will be less unknown. Our lives can be made much easier if we band together with people based on commonality. A thriving community is a beautiful thing. It's always a great time to get out and do things we love. Let's do them with people we care about.

Keep getting out there, and keep breaking those walls!

James

This article was originally published here. Cover photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times.

What is independence? Why do we all seek some form of it?

I've been trying to wrap my head around the core meaning inside both independence and revolution. Revolutions of all kinds are fought for independence and all independence is achieved through a revolution of some kind. Both are so powerful in their ideals that I want to include them in tandem.

I've been wanting to be independent my entire life. We all have. When we're kids, we can't wait to be bigger, taller, and older. As a child, by two weeks after my birthday I'd be telling people that I was a year older than I was. I couldn't wait to grow up. When we're teenagers we can't wait get our driver's license, to go off to college, to live on our own, and to make our own rules. Regardless of how much we love them, most of us have always prefered to not live under the thumb of our parents. When we're children, we can't wait to dictate the balance within our life, and I believe this remains true into adulthood whether we want to run our own business, get to a point where we can travel more easily, or simply to retire to do what we want. 

In a changing economic world, the percentage of freelancers within our workforce is rising to an un precedented number. This is being caused by both necessity and design. While the concept of "keeping up with the Joneses" has been ongoing for centuries, one thing we need to be conscious about is the ideals these rising social norms are creating. We should absolutely want to move forward, but these ideals create a constant need to move forward over and over again, never being satisfied with where we are in the moment. I strongly believe that being present will help bring patience and serendipity into our lives. For years I always felt a need for more and, because of which, I was never satisfied with what I had and, most importantly, who I was. I'm not sure if living like this made me hate myself, but it definitely didn't make me love myself. I feared the unknown and as a result, I wasn't open.

Where are we right now? What are we doing? This exact moment is the only one that exists. By living in the now, I've learned to trust myself more deeply, which in turn has helped me turn my "needs" into "wants." Even if we're somehow not living up to our own expectations we're still right where we're supposed to be because we're learning something about ourselves each day.

I've been reevaluating what independence means to me. I recently took a trip to Austin, Texas to visit a friend for the fourth of July. The trip helped me grow in ways I couldn't have imagined prior to going. It also brought my friend and I closer in ways I didn't expect and couldn't have comprehended until I lived the experience. One of the biggest things I took from the trip is that the "where" we are physically in life is only as important as the "who" we're with and the "why" we're there. Who and why is the reason we're alive. We're no one if we can't share ourselves with others. It's those experiences with other people that shape us. The only times I've felt trapped are when I've felt paralyzed by fear of judgement and/or fear of the unknown. When I stop to think about it, what was I so afraid of? Judgement? Does judgement ever kill us? We get no where in life without taking chances. We can't take chances if we're not living in the now, feeling everything that is around us, and understanding that our instincts are always true. Think about times we spent allowing ourselves to be vulnerable with people we love and care about. In the midst of these experiences do we ever feel trapped? I think we always feel like we're right where we're supposed to. That is the meaning of independence.

Independence isn't a thing we can purchase. It's not a place we're yet to go. True independence is independence of thought and emotion. It's the ability to appreciate what we're living as we're living it, and the ability to be grateful for the experience we're going through. Each experience is something that is designed to help us grow. Independence is right now. So is happiness. All we have to do is be willing to be vulnerable enough to achieve it.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article called "Why, More Than Ever, The Importance of A Strong Sense of Community is Being Highlighted." In the article I mentioned a few commercials I had recently seen which were instructing us to move faster and faster. Instead, let's slow down and look around at what we're seeing. Life is absolutely not about the destination. We can't get anywhere without the journey and if we don't pay attention to the journey we'll never understand why we're here. Why would anyone bother to go anywhere if they didn't enjoy the trip?

The next time you feel like you're about to spin out of control pause and take a deep breath. Stop yourself dead in your tracks and really look around at what you're seeing. Notice that we're living in a beautiful, lush world that's teeming with life. If there is something that you're truly not enjoying the best way to begin to change it is to change your perspective on it. Every experience is an opportunity to grow. If we're not growing, what are we doing? Do not fear the unknown. The unknown is just happiness we're yet to realize.

Many people are struggling for various reasons, be they financial, social, or spiritual. I truly believe that by banding together with those we care about we can get rid of all these problems. It took me years to realize that independence can only be achieved with others. I feel most independent when I'm around people I love, allowing myself to be vulnerable by expressing love with them. Every single hardship we have in life comes from a place of what's we think is missing, when in fact, we can always look at what's here. What's here is a wonderful world filled with dynamic life that has limitless potential. All we have to do to experience it is be willing to live in the moment and surround ourselves with people we care about. The only thing we can take with us are our experiences. Our experiences shape who we are. Our experiences are what make us independent. It's just that true independence isn't independence from you or I, it's independence from fear, insecurity, and stagnation.

We all seek inner peace and happiness. What's the best way to achieve it? Get out there and break some walls.

This article was originally published here.

When people think of Norman Rockwell the term "human rights activist" doesn't necessarily come to mind. That's not to say that his name evokes a sense of racism but, he's considered by many to be the embodiment of Americana during a time when America wasn't the land of equal opportunity it so claimed to be. Like a baseball bat, a slice of apple pie, and a Thanksgiving turkey, Rockwell's art was part of a vernacular within mainstream American advertising. In fact, it is partly because of he that we associate these things as icons of American culture. The man's art created an ideal which captured a romanticized view of everyday life. His paintings show a portrait of America in a way that it "could" have been, even if perhaps it wasn't. It's also important to remember that he, like so many other artists, was painting under the art direction of the magazines through which he was hired. When given the opportunity, like in his 1943 "Four Freedoms" series and the 1960 painting called "The Problem We All Live With," Rockwell had the creative drive and the sense of social consciousness to rise above an art director's safe-haven and accurately capture public sentiment.

I believe Rockwell's mastery begins with his understanding and use of light sources and color theory to create emotion within the design of his paintings. These two elements draw us in. Another of Rockwell's biggest strengths was his ability to encapsulate romanticized notions of life within a single piece of art. Paintings like "Saying Grace," "Walking to Church," "The Runaway," and "Going and Coming" are familiar pieces of American iconography. 

Freedom of Speech.

Freedom of Worship

Freedom from Fear

Freedom from Want

Painted in 1943 during the height of World War II, The Four Freedoms were inspired by the 1941 State of the Union Address by United States President Franklin Roosevelt delivered to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941. During the speech, FDR identified four essential human rights (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want and Freedom From Fear) that should be universally protected and serve as a reminder of why America was fighting in World War II. I don't think this excuses the discrimination being suffered by African, Latin, and Japanese Americans in America's 1941 cultural climate, but I would argue that the personal emotion conveyed by Rockwell in the quality of these paintings show a man who believed very strongly in full human rights.

In 1960 Rockwell, who had been painting almost exclusively for The Saturday Evening Post since 1916, painted his first cover for Look Magazine. It was entitled "The Problem We All Live With." With Look he was free to produce work with the kind of sentiment he'd been wanting to since he created the Four Freedoms seventeen years prior. America was changing and so was Rockwell. When his last painting for the Post was published in 1963, it marked the end of a publishing relationship that had included 321 cover paintings. His work for Look quickly began showcase civil rights, poverty, and space exploration. It's interesting to think that some of his later work was also part of the changing sense of American iconography in the 1960s.  

Ruby Bridges integrated the New Orleans school system in 1960. The Problem We All Live With is a depiction of Ms. Bridges being escorted to her class by federal marshals in the face of hostile crowds. Her's is the only face we can see. Her white dress and dark skin are in stark contrast to the beiges and grays which surround her. Her pose and expression are stoic. If there's fear in her eyes stemming from the fruit exploding around her—or the ignorant scrawling on the wall next to her—we can't see it. Compositionally, Rockwell bookends the painting with a pillar of men surrounding Ms. Bridges. He positions her slightly to the left of the center of the frame, making sure our eyes notices the word on the wall beside her as well as the exploded tomato. Ms. Bridges, however, has walked past those words and that hate. Rockwell wanted to make sure we knew this. She's triumphant.

This painting invokes feelings of hope, defiance, and anger from within me. I feel Rockwell's sense of hope for American civil rights. I feel the defiance and pride of a little girl on her way to school. I also feel the anger within the country. All these same emotions still exist in today's America.

Paintings like these show how much Rockwell had to say about socially progressive current events. Years after his passing his work is still just as recognizable. Seeing a Rockwell in person is like a sensory overload. He even spent hours on full-size charcoal studies prior to painting. In 1977, Norman Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor. It is very important that we remember Rockwell for the work he produced in his last fifteen years. It shows self-awareness in what America was going through during the 1960s.  

This article was originally published here.

“Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.” – Vivian Maier

Have you seen Finding Vivian Maier? It's an incredible documentary directed by John Maloof. Maloof grew up in a family that was very familiar with auction houses, storage units, and other forms of wholesale foreclosure sales. While researching old photography for a thesis paper, Maloof attended an auction sale. At that sale he purchased (for less than $400) a massive collection of negatives. The negatives weren't the type of photographs he was looking for, but what he found forever changed the direction of John's life.

We now consider Ms. Vivian Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) to have been an American street photographer born in New York City. In life, she was a nanny that lived under many assumed aliases, drifting from family to family (closely touching no less than one-hundred lives throughout her career). Although she was born in the U.S., it was in France that Ms. Maier spent most of her youth. When she returned to the U.S. in 1951, she took up work as a nanny and care-giver. It's also been confirmed that Ms. Maier spent her later years alone, possibly feeling misunderstood. 

As I watched Finding Vivian Maier, it became increasingly clear that Vivian Maier chose to be a nanny because it afforded her the ability to be out in the world, seeing life as it was happening. Consistently taking photos over the course of five decades, she would ultimately leave well over 150,000 negatives, most of them shot in Chicago and New York City. He obsession with documenting memories didn't stop with photography either. Maloof has also found hundreds of homemade 8MM films, audio recordings, and massive collections of everything from old newspapers, to receipts, too any kind of item that held some emotional value to her. This collection is a fascinating window into American life in the second half of the twentieth century through one person's lens.

How do we quantify the accomplishments of Vivian Maier? She seemingly lived her life in the name of art and creative progress, but her true talent was unknown except by those with a personal connection to her. She shot photographs for almost fifty years with zero fame or notoriety during her own life. Does this signify that she cared nothing for money or fame, but instead cared only about the art of the photo? Was she most concerned with the human condition she was able to capture, closely documenting that these moments in time took place? Was it her fear of failure that stopped her from showing her photography? Was it some combination of all three? This is incredibly important to me. For years now I've been working to align my art in some way with my financial necessities without losing my own personal and artistic integrity. I think that all of us trying to create great art for ourselves, will work entire lives to balance a sense of what true art is with the sense of the validation we need on a socio-economic level.

I find I feel most like the truest version of myself when I'm surrounded with life. For me, it's not necessarily where I am, but why I'm there. I think Vivian Maier understood that internal growth is created from reactions to occurrences happening around ourselves. There's so much life in the world, all we've got to do is look for it. New York has always drawn artists towards its hustle and bustle for this reason. Photographers like Berenice Abbott, Ted Croner, Saul Leiter, and even Stanley Kubrick, are remembered as part of the important and influential group of the artists working within the New York School of Photography that helped document street life in a city of forgotten names and faces. Although unknown at the time, Vivian Maier is now deservedly being mentioned in the same breath as those photographers.

Check out the trailer to Finding Vivian Maier above. As of this date of publish, iTunes currently has the documentary available to purchase for $14.99. It's well worth the price.

Chantal Barlow is an incredibly talented painter with a spirit so free that positive energy radiates from her like a Tesla lightbulb.

She almost never existed.

On the evening of June 13, 1975, Chantal's grandfather shot and killed her grandmother in a drunken rage. The couple had been recently divorced. Chantal's grandmother and then sixteen year-old father had fled their home, running from flying bullets. Somehow Chantal's father went unscathed, but her grandmother, to whom Chantal bears a striking resemblance, was mortally wounded, dying in her son's arms.

Peace was eventually found in the Barlow family. Years after Chantal's father (and five aunts and uncles) were scattered upon the streets of Los Angeles, her grandfather—who was never brought to trial—found God, and spent the rest of his life trying to make up for the terrible trauma he brought to his family. He became a man of wonderful actions. Chantal never knew the truth of her grandmother's story. There were almost no keepsakes of her grandmother around. The only two photos of that exist belong to Chantal. Her grandmother's Trail of Existence was almost completely wiped out. When Chantal finally found out the true history she had to do something about it.

Another thing I've recently learned about Chantal is that like her grandmother, she too was once a victim of abuse from an ex-girlfriend. In a world where people sometimes stand by witnessing abuse or being victimized by it, Chantal knew she couldn't let that be part of her own trail of existence, not only for herself, but for her grandmother as well. Someone needed to help give women a voice, an outlet, and some closure.

When Chantal's grandfather died, he left a present to her which would go on to have a profound effect: the beloved camera he used to document all the happy moments he had with his family. Chantal is using the camera as a tool to photograph other women whom have broken their silence on their own history of living in an abusive environment. She launched The Unconventional Apology Project which is rapidly growing in deserved notoriety.

I'm so proud of Chantal! Not only is she using her grandfather's tool to help right the wrong he committed almost forty years ago, but she's providing a burst of clarity and a breath of education about abuse, victimization, and how past victimization can end today. She's spreading consciousness. Also, not all abuse is romantic male to romantic female. Anyone can be a victim of abuse: men, women, children, same sex couples, and it's important to open up. The abuser is, in my opinion, always fighting some sort of extreme insecurity and taking their own self-loathing out on those they should embrace. When we abuse someone, it takes its toll on them physically, emotionally, and psychologically. It's a cancer that needs to be cut out before it's too late. This energy can also get passed down from generation to generation. It's also important to look for ways to help both the abused and abuser, if possible.

I have been an indirect victim of abuse. My father's father was incredibly abusive to his entire family in every way imaginable and, because of which, my own father couldn't cope with his own victimization, move on, and fully grow. Those insecurities passed down to me were ones I have felt the need to end. I am very grateful for growing up with my mother and her side of my biological family, being sweltered with the kind of love that I will pass down to my children. Chantal has had similar wonderful luck in her life, because of which, she has the strong foundation necessary to be a beacon of light shining down such a dark path.

The stories on the Unconventional Apology website are both heart-wrenching and empowering. They serve as a reminder that no matter what happens in our lives our own final act isn't written until we say so. It's also important that we not allow an abusive environment to dictate what happens in our lives. There's always hope. If you are currently in an abusive environment, please say something. The world cares about all of us. 

I have included below, portraits of six women who's stories Chantal has released in the Unconventional Apology Project, along with their names. I have not included their stories. They're not mine to tell, they're Chantal's and their own. What strikes me most about the photos is how breathtakingly beautiful, both inside and out, all of these women are. They have been victims in the past, but they will no longer allow themselves to be victimized. That doesn't make me want to cry tears of sadness. It makes me want to cry tears of joy. By the way, Chantal was on the domestic violence summit panel hosted by Good Shepherd Shelter and the USC School of Social Work! Please take a look at the portraits of these amazing women below, and give someone you love a big hug today. Let them know you care. #TrailofExistence