So, what now? Learn from it, I suppose, and continue my never-ending quest to be a better human.

This feeling of having hurt someone, even accidentally, is terrible. Zero stars. Do not recommend. But that feeling is important, because it will ultimately cause lasting behavior change. If causing harm to others didn't make us feel bad, where is the incentive to change? Is that all there is to caring about other people? Are there people who never feel this way?

​Maybe I don't want to know.

I do know that there are those who avoid this guilty feeling, not by changing their actions, but by denying that their actions were a problem in the first place, by taking offense to anyone drawing attention to the fact that they might have done something wrong. If you've never done anything wrong, you can't feel bad about it, right?

I can relate. My own self-image includes the assertion that I am not, in fact, a jerk. If someone provides evidence that I might be a jerk, my instinct is to resist, deny, rebut. You just don't know me well enough yet! Look at all these ways I'm not a jerk!

It takes practice to sit in that discomfort, acknowledge its presence, and see that the way through it is in realizing that we are all works-in-progress. My goal is to not be a jerk, but my actions have shown that I am not there yet. I am occasionally, unintentionally, still a jerk. Maybe I'll never completely get there, but today I have learned how to be one step closer to non-jerkitude.

​I am grateful for the lesson.

along with photos of her beautiful bookshelves and cozy reading space.

Ugh. I love it. I have more books in my house than I know what to do with, but this is just *heart-eyes emoji*. I love all of the non-book items that have found their homes amongst the books. I'm a sucker for a good library ladder. And do her plants have... names? 

Enter my QT:
BRB, gonna go live in @RachelMiner1's living room now. #LibraryGoals 

​I have many library goals, as yet unattainable in my current living space, but floor-to-ceiling bookcases wherever I can fit them will have to do for now. I designed and built the bookcase below (left) to house a fraction of my ever-growing book habit, which then expanded into the hallway. I try to keep those two bookcases, containing fiction and literary non-fiction, down to about 500 books. Other bookcases throughout the house store science books, field guides, humor, children's books, reference, travel, how-to, graphic novels, and others.

More delicious libraries...
(all photos from Architectural Digest, BookBub, BuzzFeed, Condé Nast, and SpaceWise)

Everything is more fun to watch in zero gravity! The Global Space Education Foundation sends books for astronauts to read from various locations within the International Space Station. Their website includes curriculum for educators to align with and support Next Generation Science Standards.  

Jedediah Corwyn Voltz is an artist based in Los Angeles who works as a movie prop builder. This project—making miniature tree houses for houseplants—is called Somewhere Small.

Follow Jedediah Corwyn Voltz on Instagram: @jed_voltz
Shop on Big Cartel: https://jcv.bigcartel.com
Portfolio: https://cargocollective.com/jedediahvoltz/

Restarting things can be so invigorating, much like a walk on the Oregon coast in November (or, you know, a swim). As I restart so many things, I am reminded why they petered out or stopped suddenly the first time through.

Stepping back from the inundations of rapid information overload (even when you only see each tweet a single time) is refreshing and necessary. This series of photographs comes from a lovely few days on the beach surrounded by friends. This same group of people embarked on this retreat after just having spent almost a week together in the mountains. It clearly wasn't enough.

My categories went from 16 to 24—many were more specific, and the total number of photos in each category was closer to equal. I ended up re-naming a few of the categories several times as I went (because, at this point, why not start something over AGAIN again...). These still fit nicely into 4 over-arching categories: Animals, Plants, Objects, and Scenery.

Old Category: Charismatic Megafauna
Previously contained mammals, usually large, but there were some small ones in there as well. The small ones were breaking the category. They couldn't be mega-anything. There was also a combination of wild animals and pets / livestock. This has now been split into two categories.

Old Category: Under the Sea
This one had become too large, and so it is now split into two categories: "Swim & Float" (animals that generally don't touch the bottom of the ocean) and "Tide Pool & Seashore" (sessile animals or crawling animals you're likely to find in or around tide pools). 

Old Category: Flowers of the Wild
For a long time, this category had only 5 photos. I have now expanded it to include wildflower photos taken in the city (flowers whose garden-version and wild-version would be indistinguishable, even if that particular specimen had been planted by a human). This category also contains wild (or could-be-wild) fruits.

Old Category: Forest Flora
Now split into two categories—one for general plants and one for moss, lichen, and fungus.

Old Category: Bridges, Buildings & Boats
Turns out that's really 3 categories. When I started, it made sense to lump them together, but living in a city with 12 bridges, and visiting many other bridge-heavy cities makes the bridge category pretty big. Buildings are everywhere, too. I don't have that many boat photos, but for some reason I have a handful of truck photos (formerly in the "Everyday Objects" category).
​Boats + cars = ways to get from point A to point B.

Old Category: Creeks, Rivers & Oceans
So, like ALL the water ever? Now divided into essentially salt water and fresh water.

Old Category: Into the Sky
Now two categories—one to highlight interesting cloud formations and sunsets, and one for the night sky.

I got the following response:

Normally, taking my original vision for a photograph and wanting the colors altered would rub me the wrong way a bit. I spend time making sure the colors in a photograph are exactly how I want them, while also reflecting the mood if not the reality of the original scene.

But, I could see where she was coming from. Warm-colored image on a cool-colored shirt would just clash. It wouldn't take me long to adjust the hue a bit. I added one more shirt to the CafePress site, and sent her a message.

Four messages followed (I have added some line breaks for clarity).

I have no idea what colors "Nepal" and "Botticelli" are, and this customer is awfully specific about what I should do to my art. Except for the parts that are totally confusing:

I would prefer that the background color be in a grayish color.
The sky is in Grey.
The background to provide depth is kept in black.
Again, just a quick reminder that the background for you that the sky is in Grey.

So, the background and the sky are the same thing, which should be grey. But black.

I looked up the colors, and this is what the series of buildings would look like:

With colors specified for the eaves and trim and... stairs?

So, basically, "I love your art, but can you change everything about it please?"

I responded with this:

"I changed the colors of the original to "cool" colors by adjusting the overall hue. I am not willing to change the colors of each house individually, as adjusting the overall hue was already compromising the integrity of my piece of art.

If I were willing to do so much to it, the time involved in such a process would make the overall price of the shirt skyrocket beyond what you would want to pay for it."


If I were to do all of the things she wanted me to do, and make it look good, and make it a piece of art I was still happy with and willing to put my name on (not actually possible with her color choices), it would take hours of work.

And then, this:

Le sigh...