Fortune's Fool

For a long time I thought I was making art for myself, when really I was making it as though some authority figure, stranger on the internet, dear friend, potential romantic partner, or generally cool person would look at it and disown me, myself. But this is exactly how you betray yourself.

No one else ever has to see it. But the process, the act of making it, there is something healing in that. You have to tell the Truth about your life, at least to yourself.

Today I learned that the Trump Administration has announced plans to effectively destroy large parts of Big Bend National Park, and the neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park, in order to build a "Smart Wall." Customs and Border Patrol says it will be "comprised of a steel bollard wall or waterborne barrier, along with roads, detection technology, cameras and lighting and in some cases a secondary wall – creating an enforcement zone.”

This plan is both unnecessary and absurd- CBP is already all over the place (you cannot leave the area without going through at least one border patrol checkpoint) and building this monstrosity would require slamming down miles of roads through pristine desert and bringing in hundreds of laborers and heavy machines to construct an eyesore that will threaten Big Bend's fragile ecosystem for generations to come.

The Big Bend is not only worth protecting for its scenic beauty, but for the unique plant and animal life that can only be found here, its indigenous archaeological sites, its irreplaceable fossils, its deep dark skies, its locals who steward the land and rely on it for a living, and as a symbol of cooperation and peace between the US and Mexico.

It doesn't have to be this way- if you feel compelled, please sign this petition: https://www.change.org/.../stop-the-construction-of-the...

Call your reps: https://5calls.org/state/texas/texas-border-wall-big-bend/