Welcome to The Quiet Shadows

I’m here to focus my lens on both— the light and the dark. The sun and the shadows. Through my filters, we’ll explore all the glorious and terrifying aspects of this human experience together.

Through images, words & motion, I translate the human condition into art as a form of resistance. My fight is to show the world as I interpret it and challenge our notions of reality. Notions created from our family, our education, our peers and our community. 

I resist the powers controlling our lives by shedding light on the issues I'm passionate about-- by pulling these elements out of the shadows and into some sort of daylight.

If we begin to question why we believe something, maybe we can allow compassion to help us better understand someone who is different from us. Racism, poverty, inequality of all flavors are tools used by the powerful to divide and control the population. But what if we resist-- rebel-- through the simple act of seeking to understand something that goes against our programming?

I'm not here to tell you what to think or believe, I'm here to simply show you another vision so you can decide for yourself.

Our society finds itself starting into a dangerous abyss. A world where facts are viewed with disdain and completely ignored. Racism and greed are the prominent influencing factors in our government and many in our society are simply too poor to live.

We are bombarded by information from all angles— all day long. We have timelines that we allow to steal our attention and remove us from the present. We have amazing technology that is so profound and mind-boggling, that it can leave is bewildered and in a place of fear and overwhelm.

We’re fighting to stay balanced and grounded in a world that is far from mindful. We’re struggling to maintain love and compassion in a world seething with hatred, ignorance and nationalism. We’re fighting to simply live a simple life with the ones we love— free from fear, worry and scarcity.

I believe strongly that information is the key to empowerment. The more you know— the less you fear. My role here is to help you explore the things we fear and elevate the things we celebrate.

Together, we’ll elevate the conversation. We, as a country, as a community and as individuals, must arm ourselves with actual facts. We must diligently filter the information we consume, the sources who provide this information and we must build strong internal filters to sift the massive volume of news flying at us everyday.

In The Quiet Shadows, I've filtered large volumes of news through my extensive internal news filters and provided a way to consume valuable news to help you stay informed about what's happening around you. This is a two-way conversation, but it's not a place for political trolling or divisive behavior. I've opened the community up for thoughtful conversation so we can have a healthy and safe place to explore and better understand the issues impacting our communities and our planet.

For democracy to survive the current threats from corruption and greed, the electorate must be informed and engaged-- with facts and trustworthy sources of information. Period.

I believe we can collectively elevate the conversation in our communities to do the heavy lifting of saving this planet from the greed and power that are destroying all elements of our existence.

I believe that together we can take action to bring peace and hope to those who need it most-- even if that happens to be just us. I believe that together we can use facts, civil disobedience and collective action to navigate the daily chaos that we all are living within and struggling to process. Together, I believe we can find solutions to better navigate and possibly remove that chaos.  

We do this by gathering. By sharing opinions and facts. By supporting one another and showing up to be a physical presence in support of what we're passionate about changing in this world. Quiet Shadows provides a safe space for collective action-- through chat rooms, event information, information about current and past acts of civil disobedience and more.

Resistance isn't easy. Resistance has no clear definition. We resist by helping someone in need with a kind gesture or an unconditional gift. We resist by letting our voices be heard at protest and marches. We resist by volunteering at a food pantry or a rape center to support those at their darker moments.

We resist by placing our bodies on the mechanisms of the machine and saying NO. Not today. We resist through creation, community and knowledge.

You'll find resources here for resistance- in both theory and practice. Stories of resistance, information to protect yourself, events to participate in and a community of like-minds seeking to support one another as we collectively take action and make a stand.

I believe that knowledge is the balm to fear and I’ve cultivated my internal information filter for the past 2 decades for this very reason. I studied journalism and political science at one of the top universities in the country. My mentors are award-winning journalist and scholars who’ve devoted their lives to documenting the voiceless, creating and studying media agenda setting theories and supporting community journalism. (Image by Ryan Smith)

I’ve worked as a documentarian in countries with hostile governments who kill dissidents and journalists on a regular basis. I’ve worked on community newspapers photographing the daily life of small towns. I’ve spent years wandering the country, and the world, engaging with all walks of life to better understand our amazingly diverse planet and my role on it.

I’ve spent 10+ years using Twitter as a means to consume, filter and understand the world-- from journalists on the ground covering issues up to the publications that run their stories.

I’ve kept my finger on the pulse of our society for many years-- out of a sense of civic duty and to assuage that perpetual curiosity. Understanding current events in such a way helps me sleep at night. It’s odd, I get that, but knowing helps me reduce fear.

But all of this knowledge is useless if it’s not shared. I normally share this information in conversation with people over coffee (or bourbon when needed) but now, I’m blasting this bitch wide open and educating as many people as possible.

It's simple really. I've designed The Quiet Shadows to function like a magazine, an art gallery/classroom + community hall on steroids. You can simply engage with the Topics-- carefully curated news, essays and art by yours truly or participate in live and virtual Events for community gathering. 

Or you can go deep. I've set up Studios that take a topic and look deeper into the nuts and bolts. Like virtual art galleries, artist's classrooms or town squares. Each studio is totally different-- some are free and others require a small cover charge to access information and live sessions with me. 

Invite your friends. Launch an event of resistance. Learn about documentary art or attend a film debut. The sky's the limit. But please join me. We need to gather, learn, support and resist if we're to survive the chaos of modern life.