It's really not too hard to imagine.

There was a time, not too long ago, when the earth was a much different planet. I'm talking only about 200 years ago. Think about what North America looked like before the industrialization—urban and rural, concrete and agricultural. The natural world was much different. There was much, much more of it. Not just here in the United States, but around the world.

Now we have entire states covered in corn. We pay farmers (you and I, through our taxes) to grow corn. We have an incredible amount of corn on our hands. As few as fifty years ago there weren't gas stations full of hundreds of options of carbonated water and corn syrup in convenient single serve bottles for sale. Not to mention corn is even in the gasoline! And we pay for it again...

At a premium! $1.29 (plus tax), maybe even a couple times a day. And our health suffers on top of it all...not only making the individuals weeker, but the strength and morale of the country as a whole. This is not national security, this is national stupidity.

But who's to blame? The people for being pigs about it? Or are we, we the people, so weak that marketing can actually play these kinds of tricks on us? Are our minds that small that we can be duped into believing things that are simply not true? Like smoking being something that you WANT to do...frequently, at a premium! Or eating food that makes you fat, lazy, and unhealthy. We PAY to do things that make us feel like crap. Uh...Hel-LO? Anybody home?

Look, I'm not trying to pick on anybody, and I know all weight problems aren't that easy to solve. Some are even unsolvable. I'm just sayin'—we've got a problem here and we've got to fix it. Didn't I learn that Rome fell because they all got fat and lazy? Or is that an old wive's tale? Look around you. I'm not talking about any one person here...I'm talking about almost all of us. A stroll through any Wal-mart is a sad, sad stroll. Unless you can turn it off, and most of us can. Or we'd go nuts. Or are we nuts?

Eating is fundamental. The way we eat is directly related to the sustainablility of our culture, and perhaps the future of the human race on our planet (that's a heck of us claim—is it a stretch?). Together, we have a huge impact on the environment through the agricultural methods we support with our food purchases. Please, if you haven't already, stop purchasing genenetically modified food and food produced through chemical (conventional) farming practices. Unfortunately, this means most of the food that's available to you. It means you can no longer eat Doritos or do the Dew. No more Hamburger Helper, no Frosted Flakes, no Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. But that's okay. All that crap's really bad for you anyway. Do something good for yourself, your country, and our planet all at the same time.

Consider shopping at your local food co-op. Hopefully there's one around, and if there's not, there probably will be one soon. You'll probably find out that the people working there appear to be generally happy, helpful, and welcoming. That's because they're happy and they can believe in what they're selling. It feels good to feel good.

Imagine what it would be like if everyone felt better.

And now a brief update on studio-related activity

Been working on a series of 80 collaborative collages with three other artists from other parts of the country—Lisa Chun, Brian Mishoe, and Lynne Mori. We're considering turning the collages into a book when they're all done. You can see some of the collages in progress at the HDP Facebook page, if you're a Facebooker.

Other exciting news is we are in the early stages of planning to resurrect the Crux project, possibly publishing Crux 3 in autumn of 2010, thanks to a new friend, Mr Dave Jarecki in Portland, Oregon.

Lastly, I am tying up other loose ends around the house, like hanging off-center basketball hoops on the tired old garage, and polishing the web site so I can put the whole thing down and focus on setting up a printing press in the months ahead.

BUCK MOON 2009 Tapped

STRAWBERRY MOON 2009 Green tip no. 1

FLOWER MOON 2009 Evolution of an ego.

PINK MOON 2009 Love is in the air.

WORM MOON 2009 Pobody's nerfect.

SNOW MOON 2009 Let's kill two birds with one stone

WOLF MOON 2009 Welcome to the future, Mr Koppa.

COLD MOON 2008 My friend, Steinke, R.I.P.

BEAVER MOON 2008 How do you say love?

HUNTER MOON 2008 What's up and why do you care?

HARVEST MOON 2008 Hopping across Wisconsin

STURGEON MOON 2008 Summer #40: Check!

STRAWBERRY MOON 2008 The Floody Mona Lisa

FLOWER MOON 2008 Organically Speaking

PINK MOON 2008 Oh, the iron(y).

WORM MOON 2008 Reflecting on The Sphere(s)

SNOW MOON 2008 Have I failed?

Check out the ALL the guest blogging of 2008!

Mister Sloppa's 2007 Log