What (and why) is Becoming Whatever?

Becoming Whatever exists to serve as the central node by which many of my tendencies become interconnected — philosophy, leatherwork, and photography being the main three. I bring them together in this form so that I may communicate the things that I do to you, the reader.

An aside: My writing only makes up one facet of this website —  I try to stuff as much content as I can into every nook and cranny, and so I highly encourage you to explore thoroughly. There is lots to discover. Click all the hyperlinks. It is a toss-up between whether they lead to an explanation, or a joke, or a niche reference. But regardless, I put them there for a reason. The links are just as much a part of my writing as my writing itself.

For me, it is not enough to merely do these things in isolation, from one another and from other humans. I can sit in a dark room, think my thoughts, and let them dissipate in the air. I can take my pictures, only letting them be seen by the darkroom developers and myself. My wallets can only see the inside of pants pockets, my camera straps the backs of necks. Or, I can organize my thoughts, my pictures, my craft, and post them for the world to see and respond to. These things are not borne of isolation, and so neither should they live and die in isolation.

I put this out into the world hoping for a response. To that end, I truly welcome all comments, suggestions, criticisms, and interaction — positive or negative, kind or mean-spirited, everything in-between.

Who are you? You care deeply about the mundane, the niche, the oft-overlooked. You want to know, simply for the sake of knowing. You are someone who is deeply dissatisfied with merely knowing — you want to put your ideas into practice, see them play out in the world, and echo back to you in an iterative learning loop. Who are you? You are thinkers and doers. Emphasis on the “and.” You think about things, and that influences what you do. The things you do in turn generate new insights about the world and the state of affairs in which we find ourselves. Hopefully, selfishly, your thoughts and actions make their way into the comment sections of my site.

Perhaps there is nothing more self-centered than publishing my writing in this way, and openly soliciting engagement. It hinges on the belief that my thoughts are worthy of the audience’s time and energy, uniquely worthwhile. These beliefs plague my work, and are always on my mind when I add something to this site. And yet, I accept this folly and write and publish nonetheless. If you shall aim such judgements at me, then I have no choice but to submit. However, I will also say, that maybe there is no escaping these trappings, but maybe also we should not need to seek escape. Maybe this self-centrism is merely the price we must pay for participating in creative society, a toll that we all always pay as we are all always engaging in the act of creation.

Welcome to my website. Enjoy your stay. Come again.