starstruck

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ventured to red rock canyon state park—one of my favourite parks in californa— to make an attempt at astrophotography. this was my first attempt at photographing the stars & it was mostly a big failure, but now I have a better idea of what to do for my next trip!

first & foremost I need to find a buddy to go out with me, because it is very dark out there at night & it’s a little disconcerting!

on joan

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23 december 2021 - journal

rain.

joan didion died today.

I ordered two of her books.

the cats work up at 3 am running & jumping through the apartment.

it's the kind of grey morning that hangs in the air. everything is dim — its foreign to LA. the city wears it awkwardly. like an ill-fitting coat.

it’s quiet. almost feels like a town. the cars hum at a lower decibel — more space between them — like when molecules slow down & spread out. maybe you can find something in the spaces. like she did.

I turn my little heater on & the rush of its fan soothes me. the sun is up but you can’t see it. it’s hidden. a lot of things are that way.

big valley

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big morongo canyon preserve is one of the 10 largest cottonwood & willow riparian habitats in california. managed by the bureau of land management, the reserve is a 31,000 acres. it is located in the transition zone between the mojave desert & the colorado desert.

salvation

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recently I found a handful of rolls of used film. with no memory of what might be on these I sent them off the be developed. this selection is from a road trip to salvation mountain about 5 years ago.

a little longer than expected

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spent some time yesterday lost in the mojave in red rock canyon state park. things could have gone very badly, but I had adequate supplies & the skills to navigate my way out & back to the highway. but it turned my 5ish mile morning hike turned into a 10+ mile trek.

I love the desert & a big part of that is the way it can be both dangerous & beautiful, as well as its unpredictability. the desert can be a hostile place but it’s also thriving & full of life. I still love the desert, but I’ll take a break from 10 mile hikes for a couple of weeks at least!

now on sale: fleurs de l'espace oracle deck!

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Over the past year I’ve been working on creating an accessible & easy to use oracle deck for card readers of all skill levels & today that deck–Fleurs de L’Espace–is released for purchase!

I created this 33 card collage deck inspired by my 90s childhood intro to divination: the Magic 8 Ball. I wanted to create an oracle deck that was cool as hell but also easy to use–so that anyone could use it to get started on their cartomancy journey. This deck is all about building your intuition without the rules & regulations we sometimes ascribe to oracle cards of all types. There is no guide book, no rules, & your interpretations can go as deep as you feel is right! Use it as quick way to answer daily yes or no questions (it's small enough to carry in your bag) or sit with its short words & phrases a bit longer to dig into how you really feel about a topic. Fleurs de L'Espace is for everyone, from beginners wanting to get their divination feet wet to advanced readers who want an easy-to-use daily deck.

It was important to me to make the deck as accessible as possible, so I strove to keep the price point below $40. To save on overhead costs, you can purchase your copy of Fleurs De L’espace directly from the printer!

Oracles

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if you know me you know I have been an avid tarot & oracle card reader for nearly two decades. over the past several months I’ve been developing my first original oracle deck to be released to the public. I wanted to create something that was fun & approachable to people with any level of experience reading & working with cards. fleurs de 'l’espace is what I came up with!

this is a 33 card collage deck designed & created by me. it’s meant to be used fast & loose, without the pomp & circumstance some other decks expect. to that end, there is no guidebook & no rules about how you use these funny little flower cards. the deck was inspired by my divination gateway drug: the magic 8 ball, & can be read as straightforward answers to simple questions or explored further, depending on your mood.

fleurs de l’espace will be available for sale SOON. stay tuned to my tarot insta (@nobullshittarot) & website (nobullshittarot.com) for launch details & more card previews on the way.

llano

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Perpetual politician Job Harriman lost his 1911 race for mayor of Los Angeles & turned to Antelope Valley to put his socialist principles into practice.

Harriman, along with a handful of other socialist peers, purchased some 9000 acres that had previously belonged to a temperance colony just 45 miles north of Los Angeles in the high desert. The group formed a corporation wherein each had an equal share & set about financing a new socialist colony to show the capitalist outside world what was possible. By 1914 the Llano del Rio company was born.

Membership of the colony was advertised in several nationwide socialist newspapers & required the purchase of 2000 shares in the company at $1 each. Applicants required references & an interview before they were accepted. They needed to be industrious, sober, & caucasian: Llano del Rio was whites only. The company had this to say about their segregation: “the rejection of these applications are not due to race prejudice but because it is not deemed expedient to mix the races in these communities.”

Community members were drawn to the colony on the promise of good wages, vacation days, & the allowance of personal property. These enticements were met only partially & the promised wages of $4 a day never materialized. Despite its goals, Llano was not utopia.

The community’s political stability was threatened by internal power struggles. Governed by a board of directors, Llano’s stockholders & residents (known as the general assembly) began to resent the consolidation of power at the top. Direct democracy also proved to be a logistical issue. Long discussions were held on every aspect of colony life, include when to harvest crops. An inability to reach consensus on a harvest timeline led to some crops rotting in their fields.

Water also proved to be an issue. Though the company had purchased water rights when they acquired the land, they needed to apply to the state for permits to build a dam for irrigation. The California commissioner of corporations, adamantly against socialism, denied the permit request. Neighbors also began to sue the company for water access, most were spurred to action by their dislike of socialist principles.

By late 1917 Llano del Rio was collapsing. Drowning in debt & with more legal troubles on the horizon, the company sought a new location in Louisiana. A handful of colony members made the cross-country move. By 1918 California’s Llano del Rio company had declared bankruptcy. Ruins, directly off the west bound side of route 138, are all that remain of this vision of a socialist future.

Watch my mini doc about this place.