Go to: sketchbook recent journal entries rondak.org site index references web essayists media / journals / e'zines LEGAL & DISCLAIMER NOTICE: ©: 1999 / Will Brady //
I hope you’ve found this site interesting, even thought provoking. Most of
the links are up-to-date, but I can't always guarantee the state of activity
for other sites. Please don't write to me about the content of sites linked
from here. On the other hand, please let me know of any inactive links.
Constructive comments, suggested links to add, are welcome. This website is maintained by Will Brady / wbrady@rondak.org / Last update: 6 february 2002
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yeah? so why a journal?
I’ve been keeping a journal since 1980 when a friend, Mike Takas (where are ya Mike?) gave me a pen and blank book for a Christmas gift. I took it as a challenge and never looked back. Since that time, I've diversified in my image making from pen and ink, to include collage, calligraphy, watercolor, oil and acrylic painting. I've even curated a few shows -of my own work as well as the works of others. Tackling the web seemed like the next logical step.
and what’s taken you so long to go online?
Well, we all get busy.
I got active in speaking out against mistreatment of people who found themselves in mental hospitals …or community treatment programs. Frankly, I got so active at that work it became a full time job. Some of the links I’ve provided on the supplemental pages will tell you more about this. That, and (believe it or not) I actually preferred to learn HTML myself before putting my own page on to the Internet (this fact alone probably reveals my masochistic tendencies, eh?). well what makes your site so different?
Hummph. Well, I don’t have any pictures of cats or the vehicle I drive or big jpg files of my 23 kids and 49 close family kin. And I have tried to stay pretty plain and simple about the presentation style. Hence, (also) no frames, no dancing bears, no rocket ships blasting off into outer space, and no MUSIC!!! These days, that is different.
why do you have the linked URLs displayed on the page?
Quite simply, I like to visit sites that
turn out to have interesting links on them but which I may forget to bookmark,
or when I’m using someone else’s system, and I will just print out the page
to keep a record of the URL address on paper. So I fashioned my own page to
reflect what I’d do when going to some other site.
and do you consider this completed now? will you now go on to other things, cyber crocheting or virtual gardening?
No, this page is a work in progress, like most everyone else’s.
I do plan to provide some more graphic intensive pages.
The arts pages, which shall link to other people’s sites, will
probably take lots of time to download. And when I go into full swing with my new scanner, I’ll be putting up some original work online, adding it to my Personal Journal pages. I also plan to do some scanning of USA civil war artists
why do stuff on the civil war? there are a lot of sites for that already?
And few (if any) showcase the illustrations, etchings or engravings or the "Specials" who gave the world its first visual depictions of war in a mass-produced manner. About the only Civil War artists people have heard of are the watercolorist Winslow Homer, and the editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast (who stole many battlefront artists’ work and took credit for it). For that matter, even now, popular civil war history magazines uniformly neglect to credit the artists for the works they produced.
Now, many folks will be able to recall the works of the civil war photographer Matthew Brady (no relation so far as I can tell) but –truth be told- most of his work was for the War Department and remained classified until after the turn of the 20th century. So the work I plan on showcasing include things from people like Alf and William Waud, Edwin Forbes, Theodore Davis, Conrad Wise Chapman, Henri Lovie as well as numerous others who made renderings on site and forever etched into humankind’s memories the first real images of modern warfare. well, that’s all very nice <yawn!> but …what’s that commie stuff you talk about?
It’s not commie stuff. It’s more that I’m not motivated by the great greed factor that’s driving the people in power these days. And it will catch up with them. Actually, it’ll catch up with all of us sooner or later.
It really comes down to maintaining the ethic that if even one person
is starving when others live with great wealth, then injustice and
cruelty is prevailing. There is absolutely no need for anyone to
suffer or do without. Ironically, this is not so different from what
those who espouse massive accumulation of wealth might say they believe.
Problem is –that so few people who are wealthy have actually labored
honestly to get that pile of goodies they hoard so greedily.The stock markets, the practice of exploiting the less advantaged for what they need (food, clothing, shelter, decent education and health care) by overcharging them, legal maneuverings and –outright theft- are more clearly what the world’s current amassed fortunes are based upon. Legalized gambling, though no one actually calls it that. Only, the "pot" that is bet with, is the belief that others shall labor and toil in the future, to create the value to the wealth the market economy pretends to have amassed. Those who are living to great advantage over others have gambled the future of humanity - they have not gotten wealthy from even a day’s worth of honest hard work. what’s that? You got no faith in corporate governance?
You said it better than I would have.
I’ve written quite a bit on that as well, which shall also be put on display online eventually. Treatises on Economic Treason and on social control, already written but in need of scanning to get online. At any rate, when the proverbial hits the fan, (probably some time in the early 21st century) and the gleaming toothpaste ad people in their SUVs have to start washing dishes for a living ….only there won’t be any jobs for ‘em, the impact of corporate largesse will finally be a force reckoned with. It’s going to be an interesting century, that. And we are going to have to be prepared for it.
so how is your webpage gonna help me do that?
It won’t, really.
You’ve got to do that part yourself. For each of us are going to have to find our own way and gather the tools available for our survival. …for the survival of the species. What the site will offer might be links to survivalist tools or technical resources for anything from how to produce electrical power while off the power grid (this’ll be real important in North America and western Europe); canning vegetables or growing tropical edible plants in Minnesota. What have you. The actual material will change, reflecting the ephemeral nature of the Internet. But I think (or hope) you’ll get the idea. so aren’t you going to tell us about your work?
Well, I have some plans for that.
I’m working on ghost authoring a page for Connecticut Valley Hospital,
since no one else at the place seems inclined to do so. It will be
fairly straight-forward and descriptive in a manner that could satisfy the
concerns of the hospital superintendent (who prefers to be called the CEO).
I see no reason for making a parody style page about the place.
It’s a mental hospital, which is enough to scare most people who
don’t really know anything about such places.
No, it’s not the infamous Snake Pit (the 1940s film with Olivia DeHavilland) nor is it anything like the Cookoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey’s book), 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam) or even Clockwork Orange (Kubrick’s film) though there are present some components of each at times. Most mental hospitals are places take a great deal of psychic energy out of a person …this applies to both staff and patients. All such places would. But they remain a microcosm of how people feel it’s acceptable to treat people who are truly hurting. Kind of like society in general, only with wall. …and security cameras …and meds. One thing’s for certain, once you know what such a place is like, you either become totally jaded (and develop an extensive collection of very exotic sex toys) or completely numb emotionally …or you work extra hard at developing your discharge treatment plan. Now, being the grievance officer in such a facility is no simple task. But I manage to keep going, even if the work’s end result doesn’t satisfy everyone. It’s the kind of job that –at one time or another- you are going to piss off most everyone, even though there isn’t much they can do about it if you do your job right and keep focused on fairness, equity, reasonable compromise and you are honest with yourself.Any other questions about the job? Write me if you want to know more. If you can convince me that your interests are legitimate in knowing more, I’ll write you back so what else do you have to talk about?
I dunno. Why don’t you stop with the questions and look around the website already? If you see anything offensive, just deal with it or turn the page.
Though, to be honest, I hope what I’ve put up here will make you think, about something. Anything.
Now, if you’re through with the interview, I have to go get
something to eat.
Out Fer Now ~Will Brady 6 april 1999 |