The Work of Matthew T. Marco and the Spazowham Design Group

This is required viewing for anybody who confuses sporting a lapel pin for true patriotism. I question and doubt my government because I want it to be better, because its impact on the world is undeniable. All those baseball games where people stood respectfully and listened to a celebrity of dubious talent sing the national anthem were just practice for this moment. Eddie Izzard said about the American national anthem: “70% of what people react to is the look, you know, it’s how you look; and 20% is about how you sound; and only 10% is what you say.” But that crowd on St. Mark’s Place knew and believed 100% of what they were saying. The awkward pause before ‘banner,’ where the crowd collectively catches its breath to belt out the last three words of that phrase, gives me chills.

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After the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, I became acutely aware of how voter fraud and suppression are perpetrated and how the simple process of tallying a majority can get so damn complicated. I don’t doubt that it happened again yesterday, that there were places where voters were intimidated, places where good citizens were confused for felons, places where the vote just didn’t work. And I don’t doubt that it will happen again. I fear this is just an inherent assumption of the millennial voter.

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I’m going to keep my mouth shut and let (inter)national news media do the talking. House Works on a Bailout — for E-Mail -New York Times (includes a small screen cap of my work). House of Representatives’ Web site overwhelmed -CNN (#1 most viewed story earlier today).

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Hardly five days back from Port-au-Prince and I’m moving the one-quart plastic bag of liquids and aerosols from my rolling suitcase to my duffle bag and filling the rest of the space with clothes appropriate to the current Portland weather—a mild peak of 57 from a low of 52, intermittent rain. And when I return on Wednesday, I’ll have a mere 36 hours before I receive Eric for a two-week stay.

And this seems to be the prevailing pattern for 2008: travel somewhere new, host an old friend.

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Chris: “I love sailing, but some people say it’s a way of going nowhere slowly at great expense.”
Me: “I work for the federal government. I could get used to sailing.”

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Back from a second whirlwind weekend in New York in as many weeks, and there’s a veritable goon squad of deadlines bearing down in the next eleven hours before I leave for Port-au-Prince. Nevertheless, I have a new camera for the trip—93/75 with thundershowers, 6-megapixel sensor and 18-55mm Nikkor kit lens, and the general feeling […]

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I’m back from An Event Apart New Orleans and after a good night’s sleep, much like Chicago before it, I am not only prepared to be a better web designer but inspired to be a better person.

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There are very few things that sour my tone to a shade of violent: talking to my mother about money and anybody about the lack of support for a LAMP infrastructure at HIR are the two of those; PC hardware troubleshooting is a third cause of stress, compounded by the data obliteration.

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