Joey Sweener

Manifesto

If our mind is like a switchboard, who is pulling on the wires and knobs?In that moment when pouring your morning brew from the pot pours with it the aches and memories of the night before, is it because an intern has accidentally plucked a wire from your switchboard that she wasn't supposed to? Did the piston that fires to mechanize your joints to pour coffee need more energy transferred there? And who indexed your switchboard, anyway? Who told the workers which wires take priority over others? Are there even still workers at all, or has the plugging and pulling been transferring to another department, consolidated under a different roof, automated through code? Who does your thinking?Does this, then, make thinking for yourself an act of revolution? When you call upon your memories, do you summon striking Luddites who seize power back from the machines that sought to automate you: your storytelling, your half-recalled anecdotes? Does free thought itself help wrestle back control of your switchboard, a machine you already know so intimately, from long before we were all given the boot?⌘We are all homeless, in a way. We take on the look of businessmen, artists, banks, teachers, learners, doers. But we're all adrift, left to the devices of those more powerful than us. Bankers don't own their homes; the banks do. Artists don't own their art; the world does. We're the only species that spends money for our continued existence. We're the only species to invent money. We pay to live in a world that is not ours; we rent our time at th funeral of planet Earth, knowing full well that this is not our home to begin with. Nor was it ever. Not really.Our manifesto for these desperate times, then, is this: As you're able, put one foot in front of the other each and every day. Give what you can; if it isn't money, give your kindness. Do the next right thing until everything's over. This is all that we can do. Breathe, grieve, love, and repeat.This is what we have to do.

More About me

I graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and an Art History BA from SUNY Oswego, here in beautiful upstate New York. It's landed me jobs for the Oswego County Business Magazine, Syracuse University, and more. I am the youngest sitting board member at the Oswego County Historical Society, where I get to geek out about art history, Victorian-era Oswego, and design while making local history more exciting and approachable.When I'm not working, chances are you'll find me buried deep in a book (even though the stack of books on my nightstand says otherwise...), jamming out to some hardcore music, doing some personal art-making, or buying novelty coffee and craft beer (a particular guilty pleasure of mine!).If I weren't a designer, I'd probably take up life as a cartographer and draw maps all day long. Doesn't that sound rad as hell? Anyway! If you wanna view my resume, you can do that here (last updated: Sept. 2022).Thanks for stopping by. Make art, make rent, and help others do the same.

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