Author: dtpennington


  • The West Was Always Queer

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    I’ll be straight with you, it was a lively scene. For those of you who may not yet know, Orville Peck is a bit of a hero in the LGBTQ community. He plays country western music, takes the stage in leather pants, an undershirt, and his trademark mask under a cowboy hat. The rest of…

  • In The Studio with Violet – May 27, 2024

    In The Studio with Violet – May 27, 2024

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    More exploration with the brush pen.


  • Ink Is A Forgiving Medium

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    I’m still on a quest to figure out why drawing ended up being the answer, but I’m still at it and improving, I think. Whatever the case, my workspace is a perpetual mess of papers and inks and stubs of pencils. More brushes keep surfacing. Maybe, through it all, I just wanted to sit across…


  • Collage, without the mess.

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    Taking the tools I have and pushing them a little further to see what else I can do with them. Digital collage, photoshop, scanning, and making something out of the bits on the cutting room floor.


  • The Need for Nothing

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    The greatest insult to a capitalist culture is to want for nothing. Sounds nice. The past few weeks I’ve been embracing this idea of “nothing new.” I’ll write more on it later. The gist: where possible, I will acquire nothing new. Do without or buy secondhand. But there’s another kind of nothingness in addition to…


  • It’s a Wet Heat

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    We’re hitting the first hot and wet days here in Asheville. And as uncomfortable as it is, I tell myself that it could be worse. I know the Piedmont and coastal regions are easily 10 degrees warmer and 40 percent more humid just by being. I’ll never forget our late-July trip to Wilmington for a…


  • The Visceral Romance

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    I guess I could take a video of this so you can see it and share it. There are a pair of brown rabbits in the rose garden doing that jump-around thing that animals tend to do in the springtime. It rained aggressively last night, so the ground is covered in pink and red petals…


  • The Universal Reminders

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    Because sometimes you wonder if this is all worth it. Because doing your own thing, running your own business, sharing your story, making it matter, and going out of your way to try something way off base from the norm tends to fail far more often than it succeeds. Because sometimes you find yourself looking…


  • Tulum Trash

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    I had to nose the ATV gently through the gutter that had formed in the middle of the dirt road. I would have raced right through it, but Carly was hanging onto the back seat, and I could feel her clench everything down whenever I hit a bump. So, easy does it. We’re in Mexico…


  • Spending 2024 with Infinite Jest – Notes on the first readthrough.

    • That Dead Week 2024 vibe

      The inboxes are dead, but everything else seems somewhat lively. We spent the week in Atlanta in a basement apartment with a thunderously stompy family living upstairs. I spent a fair amount of time wandering the Beltline, dropping in on breweries and galleries, drinking my fill until about three, having my siesta, and then rousing…

    • I Will Send You A Postcard

      It might be a vintage one I pick up at a garage sale. It might be one I draw or paint myself. Maybe it’s some photo artwork. Whatever it is, you probably haven’t gotten something like this in a while. Shoot me an email with your mailing address david at dtpennington dot com.

    • Hiya, Tybee

      It shocks me how docile, chill, and well-behaved a dog can be. We hadn’t planned on a pit-mix. We hardly planned on a dog this soon. After a week without a dog in the house for the first time in 16 years, the change was too harsh. Winter felt too cold. We met Tybee in…

    • App Zero – Progress Update 12.2024

      I mean, who doesn’t love a fancy new app? I mean, isn’t that what so much of the industry invests its resources to? Creating something that looks incredible and feels like it adds some kind of value too your life? So often, the value is a verified distraction. The value is in the mood boost…

    • The Loss of the “Literary Man”

      The headline is simple but does what it can to rattle the alarms: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone. The author spends a lot of the essay pointing out how the numbers and proportions of male/female students, writers, readers, etc. have changed over the decades. Yes, duh. They’ve dropped across the board. Oh,…

    • Why Kids Can’t Read

      I have no patience for podcasts. I leave it to my wife to decide what gets listened to on long road trips (or, in the winter, when a 1,000 piece puzzle is littered all over the dining table). During our drive back from Savannah, where we spent the week of Thanksgiving and adopted our darling…

    • Affiliate Arbitrage

      Theory: search and referrals rarely deliver consumers results for the “best” product or service they are looking for. Just about every link on any “buyer’s guide” page goes through several hoops of affiliate reference codes. So you have to ask: is this product really the best? Or is the publisher getting the most incentive to…

    Four months, one reading. And I’m not finished yet! Time to flip this over and see what else it can tell me.