1.0 - Commentary

    1. Life Update
    2. Pathway Tracking
    3. Participation Record
    4. Managing Time and Promises
    5. Project integration
    6. Skillflex Assessment

Life Update

Gaia U

My intention is to complete all of my OP work by October and present my 'End of Year Presentation' by December so that I will be ready to graduate by the new year in 2017. I still have to present my 'Middle of year presentation' which I plan to do in late July or August depending on the schedule I work out with my advisor, Jen English. I plan to tie up all loose ends including incomplete work and/or gaia radio calls in November of this year 2016. 

Music, Life, & Work

Progress and development of my band, Ecstatic Union, is going really well. We've played 6 live shows this year and have been payed for all but one of them. We've been organizing photo shoots to create a press package, scheduling shows, and are preparing to shoot a full-length music video in July. My new album is presently being mastered and Im making preparations to present it to potential record labels, managers, and any other people, projects, or organizations whom are able to help us progress professionally and financially. Im working with my girlfriend Kasie, whom is the keyboardist of Ecstatic Union and leader of 'Coyote Run' (which I play the drums in), to record her full-length album through the month of June. 

Pathway Tracking

In my LIPD I planned for OP4 to be about recording my 2nd album but I instead moved the subject into OP3 so that I could focus on the band for this report. According to my updated timeline made in April, I am on track with my OP completion deadlines and am planning to get ahead of schedule and submit this report for the June OP bus so that I can give my full presence and attention to working on the Coyote Run album mentioned above. 

Participation Records

Other than my last phone call in with Lauryn Bellafiore (an off program Gaia associate) in February, I haven't been in touch with any fellow Gaians other than my advisor Jen English and Ava Klinger in March when I evaluated and re-constructed my timeline, tracked my pause months, and gathered necessary information around missing assignments and radio calls so that I could catch up and get back on track. 

Managing Time and Promises 

After re-evaluating and re-constructing my timeline in March I have been on track with my OP work. I had missing assignments from my TALC 6 (transformative action learning certificate), during orientation of my first program cycle which I re-joined in order to complete it. This element was called 'growing leaderful communities' and focused primarily on leadership in relation to intentional community, organizations, and activism. I attended the initial calls for the element, did the first readings but my attention shifted away to focus on organizing and playing shows for Ecstatic Union as well as wrapping up (recording & mixing) my second full-length album. I plan to complete the remaining assignments for this element in June and July. 

Skill-flex Assessment 

Click here for my skill-flex assessment located in my LIPD.

- Professional - 

Since June of 2015 up to now, I have been oriented professionally more than any other point of time in my life. Since my stepfathers' passing last year I have been faced with the reality of finance and the importance of creating income so that I am able to truly establish myself independently as a professional artist and music producer in the world. After self-recording my second full-length album I feel ready to help others' record their music and to be compensated for my efforts, developing my career as a professional music producer. I am learning how to lead a band in a sustainable way, with organized foresight, realistic appraisals of goals and projects, and investment in promotion, media, and lucrative enterprises which will benefit myself and all other members the band. We are creating income through performances, merchandise, and album sales. 

- Peer - 

Through leading a band as well as creatively collaborating with others' to record and perform their own music I am learning to refine my own organizational processes, communication dynamics, and creative application of my abilities. On a more personal side, my relationship with my girlfriend and bandmate, Kasie, reflects my choice to become more grounded in my relationships, choosing ones that truly support my innermost development, creative expansion, and professional integration in the world. I am learning about the beauty and benifit of commitment in art and relationship, both to my own self-development as well as the deeply intimate connection with anothers'. I am feeling incredibly nourished, supported, humbled, grateful, clear, and focused throughout the process.    

- Political/Patrix - 

Other than my work with music which I utilize as an art form for patrix dissolution and deconstruction, I have been following the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders more than any political figure ever. I feel deeply moved by his vision and presence in the world and this will be the first election I have had any interest in voting in. To me he is the only true archetype of Patrix de-construction whom has made it this far and gathered this much momentum, notoriety, and popularity in any presidential primary in history. I am registered to vote and trust that it counts no matter what the outcome may be.

- Planetary/Personal - 

I feel like I am preparing to truly enter the world, become independent, and embody my offerings of art, music, and leadership in service to the greater community of the world. In September of this year I will have been incubating in my hometown of Avalon on Catalina Island for two full years, marking a completion of a cycle dealing with an understanding of my roots, responsibilites, and home, and the blossoming of a new journey, moving to the mainland to focus on work, musical community, and professional development.