Packaged for me, packaged for the world, primed for your work, and primed for collaboration.
bcp
About more than just myself. No ads, no clickbait, just some semi-decent omnifarious media.
Personal, sometimes painful, but always with purpose. Why I call this corner of the internet, the BSD.
Have something you want to show or say? We can package it together. The world should see.
purpose
Not very iconoclastic, but for me, it's intrinsic
“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed.
But when we are silent, we are still afraid.
So it is better to speak.”
Audre Lorde
THE BLACK SWAN DISTRICT is more than just a portfolio, blog, catch-all for everything I manage to create in spite of my slothful disposition, and my susceptibility to self-doubt.
IT IS A SPACE, inspired by the work of all great collectives, where by offering a little corner of the internet for anyone to share what they want to share, those who may not have an avenue, the tech to bring it forth, and/or think their work, their voice, is not inspiring, may be convinced otherwise.
NOT A PROMISSORY NOTE, a fee-for-service, nor a business transaction, it is funded by the love of art and expression, the need to make and share, and anyone, who agrees to these guidelines, is encouraged to do so.
OPEN TO THOSE WITH ALL skills and passions, technical training and backgrounds. I’m not sure yet if any of this will work. It has for others. For me it’s an experiment and perhaps acute autophobia, but I figured if I were to do this, I may as well not do it alone, and learn a little about collaboration on the way.
BECAUSE DAMN, YOU’RE TALENTED. You really are. I intend to share writing of all genres, adventures via photo-stories, atypical film reviews, interviews, collaborations, and any other random mediation of my thoughts feelings. Intrigued? Go here for a visual list. The hope is not so much about an audience seeking this out - and it's definitively not about making money. I guess it's just about the need to make and share, help figure out this world we live in, and do it somewhat together.
I'LL SAY WHAT I WANT TO SAY and I'll show what I love, and instead of it doing what it does now, sitting lonely on an external hard drive, where I can’t show my mom - it’s housed in this beautiful place under a logo that I drew, that I built from scratch. Packaged for me, packaged for the world, primed for your work, and primed for collaboration. So let’s create like no one’s judging.
you aren't
just a drop in the ocean
you're a tide.
Share your stuff
“Be true to your work, your word, and your friends”
H. D. THOREAU
contributor guidelines
a common set of ideals,
a starting point
contributor + editorial guidelines
EDITORIAL DEFERENCE + OWNERSHIP
The founder, BCP also referred to here as the editor, serves as the first and last gatekeeper of content, but all contributors are owners of their content. Proper credit will be given to all designs, edits, supplemental materials, etc., but the space belongs to BCP, a contributor's intellectual, and artistic work belongs to them. The editor agrees to provide a good-faith answer if work violates a guideline or is deemed unfit, and taking responsibility for - but again not ownership of - everything that appears on the BSD. All site content thus far is the original creation and property of BCP.
Since this is a side-gig, and there is no money to be made here, the editor cannot commit to set response times, suggests all artists always keep a dated record of their original work, and reminds all visitors and contributors that I reserve the right to suspend or unpublish the BSD and all content, at anytime, without warning.
TLDR: Contributors own their content, while BCP owns the site. All work will be properly credited, and although the internet is forever, the editor reserves the right to unpublish this site at anytime.
AUTHENTICITY + NON-COMMERCIALITY
The BSD will contain only original work. As such, all contributors (individuals or groups) must be sole owners and creators of their content, and after publication, bylines regarding formatting, editing, and any gifted supplemental content (photos), will be properly and thoroughly cited. BCP is not responsible if a contributor maliciously or accidentally claims someone else's work as their own. If one does plagiarize, that's an oh, no, no, and all said content will be removed and the user banned indefinitely.
The BSD will never sell a product or market an artist's work directly. A contributor may point to their site, shop, social media, contact info., etc. in their contributor bio/and or content byline only. There will never be an ad on the BSD, and we will not sell products. I stake no claim on exclusive content, and though new work or first-looks will be described as such, duel-publication on a personal or another site is always encouraged.
TLDR: The key to this site is that there is no money to be made here. We pledge allegiance to truth, have no qualms barring those who plagiarize, and actually encourage you to put your work in multiple spaces.
INCLUSION, MORALITY + VERACITY
THE BSD commits to create a space dedicated to equity, diversity, safety, inclusion, freedom of thought and freedom of expression. Content deemed hateful, violent, or inappropriate by the editor will not be published. I reserve the right to act as the only calibrator with the BSD as dominion, and will provide a confidential reason in writing if such a refusal is required.
In an era of relative truth, all content will adhere to certain veracity standards set by their intended genre. Non-fiction must be non-fiction, and by observing such generic standards, must have research properly cited to be presented as such. Again, falsification or appropriation of work in any form will not be tolerated.
TLDR: If the content is deemed hateful, it won’t be published. We adhere to moral and generic standards, so a short story can’t be 500 pages, and everything best be your true original work.
media is magical
thIS IS WHAT i LIKE TO CREATE - How about you?
PHOTO-STORIES
tv/film reviews
short film
INTERVIEWS
OPINIONS/essays
MEMES/ GRAPHICS
fiction/non-fiction
VOCAL THINGS
art
what do you like to create?
FROM AN IDEA TO A FINISHED PROJECt, let's publish it
HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SHOW OR SAY?
Fill out the form below
ACADEMIC
MA Communication Studies
BA Writing + Rhetoric
NOT YOUR TYPICAL BIO || TLDR HERE
I graduated in 2012 from the University of Rhode Island, leaving with a minor in English, a major in Writing and Rhetoric, a little bit of debt, and a lot of indirection. For four years in Kingston, I learned how to write and communicate professionally, aesthetically, and practically, in every genre. I studied the Sophists to short stories, to history, and teaching, my BA was built upon becoming a writer, thinker, and orator with a bunch of tools in the toolbox, ready for any job that required them.
Determined to pursue a graduate degree, I searched for a field that would allow me to study media and rhetoric, and that could swing me towards both a professional career or a PhD - the answer was Communication Studies. I worked two official part-time jobs, the non-official job of applying to programs, and submitted applications in the winter of 2012. In the early spring of 2013, I was admitted to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Having never taken a communications, political science, or statistics class ever, and with GRE scores that would make you think I was in 2nd grade math, I was happy to be waitlisted for an assistantship. One of those more assured, and I’m assuming, communication students, eventually passed on my school, and I was given the chance to study, teach, and research in the definitively most random but perfect place, UNCC.
SELF-TAUGHT
Photography | Film + Still Editing | Design
With that waitlist chip on my shoulder, I graduated with a 4.0 in the spring of 2015, interned for the City of Providence, and began working as an administrator at Brown University. Not yet ready for a PhD, but never too far from an institute of higher learning, I enrolled in some self-technical education made possible by the resources gifted by Brown and my Center. Having 4 years admin. experience already, I quickly found time for my media hobbies, learned my way around electronic devices, made damn good use of my research skills, and with the help of the lovely instructors on Lynda, learned how to navigate Mac OS, WordPress, and the Adobe Suite.
Bill gifted me a Nikon D3300 for Christmas, and I was a goner. Although I contrived the BSD in 2014, and purchased the domain in 2015, it wasn’t until I had the DSLR that year, that I wanted to share the result. Convinced it was time to actually do what I’ve said I was going to for so long, I invested in Magneto (my MacBook), and finally, built the bones of the Black Swan District. My education, both academic and technical, bought and self-taught, is multidisciplinary, ongoing, and indeterminate. It is one of the most sound pillars of my identity, and I am forever grateful for every opportunity to learn.
TLDR: In 2012, I earned a BA in Writing and Rhetoric from the University of Rhode Island. I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2015 with a MA in Communication Studies. My undergraduate and graduate education focused on my personal and professional development as a writer, researcher, and theorist, while my technical and media skills, which bore this site, my photography, and all graphic designs, are fully self-taught. Behind only my family and friends, my education is what I am most thankful for. It is one of the most sound pillars of my identity, and I am forever grateful for every past and future opportunity to learn.
INTERESTS
both fluid + constant,
THE stuff that FILLS MY HEAD + HEART
INTERESTS
ESSAY
I am the definition of a consumer and producer, and I'm sure you are too. I read a lot of news, I compose a lot of emails, I watch a lot of shows, I learn a lot of history, I’ve taken a lot of pictures, I've seen a lot of movies, I've read a lot of books, I write a lot of paragraphs, I’ve spent A LOT of time building this website, and I do a lot of research on just about anything and everything from law to acne face maps to how to astral project like Dr. Strange. In short, I'm a media-maker, a thinker, and a researcher, and we all have our tools, hobbies, and favorite things that help make-up who we are.
The thing about what interests me, is that, it’s less about what things are on the surface and on their own, and more about what they say in relation to one another, in a context influenced by all in space and time.
My brain is sometimes an exhausting web of contemplation, where said interests, favorites, and flavors of the moment, strengthen, weaken and change because of how everything imported and exported is pulled by the tides of everything in the sea, and the seas themselves.
That sounds too grandiose for a blog that will indefinitely feature a fair amount of pieces on The Office, but that’s the beauty of it. Things can be both epic and quiet, serious and flippant. I believe there is humor in everything.
That you have both extreme agency and sometimes no control. Those most fortunate, have the power of choice - to choose between contemplating your existence watching a funny cat video, and everything or nothing in-between.
If you’re lucky enough to have them, how will you use such tools? How do you put to work such power that is to like what you like, freely, hopefully one-day without any judgement, and devote your precious energy to it?
After or before I make or consume anything, I try to think critically about why I like it. Those strings, that cadence, those trends that loop things together, is something I’ve learned to embrace rather than fight, because it helps me understand me. Early versions of this section listed various content, (it is still a damn long list), but simply cataloging, isn’t enough for me to understand myself or connect with others.
What is much more helpful is to think about the why - why we like something - what has influenced those feelings - what is it really that interests us?
Because if we discover that, that which really drives us, we have the potential to fully empathize with one another. That doesn’t mean there won’t be conflict, but perhaps it will allow for a greater understanding, and, with the exception of fundamental moral abstentions, help us reach our empathetic potential, to truly co-exist.
So why do I like the things I like? I list some genres and why I think I like them. To give you an idea, sort-of like looking into someone’s Netflix if it was cleared of the things you just added but will never watch, and housed not just film and television (love you Netflix). Forreal, they are mostly media, but alas, they’re beautiful vehicles for exploring the themes and motifs below.
INTERESTS
ESSAY TLDR
TLDR: A lot of things interest me for a lot of reasons. I love things that are complex, have substantial meaning (more on this later), and are deviceful examples that push the limits of their genres. I love innovative talent, hard work, and raw love, and I identify these features in everything that I devote my energy to.
Rather than only cataloging titles and leaving it, I also offer why I like a particular media/thing. I divide them by some of my favorite types and genres, sharing some of the broader concepts and themes that move me the most about each, and the actual things I consume that I see these threads in.
Some things cross, some may disagree, but that’s why we’re an audience together. I think this method not only promotes understanding of my ties to my interests, but how those interests may tie us together. I list some below to give you an idea.
INTERESTS
NITTY GRITTY
A far from exhaustive list of the kind of things I like
SITCOMS
Place | Buoncy | Continuity | Nostalgia | Development | Satire | Community
The Office, Parks + Recreation, Brotherly Love,
New Girl, Cheers, The Mindy Project, Episodes, Community, Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Big Bang Theory, Wings, The Brady Bunch, Friends from College
SUPERHERO FILM + TV
Authenticity | Humanity | Faith | Power | Fantasy | Cross-Over
The Marvel Cinematic Universe esp. The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: Ragnorak, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy. Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy, Netflix' s The Punisher, Jessica Jones, + Daredevil. Hellboy, Arrow, The Flash, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, The Amazing Spiderman
MUSICAL THEATER + FILM
Narrative | Revival | Composition | Performance | Staging | Legacy | Remix
Hamilton: An American Musical, The Phantom of the Opera, Oklahoma!, An American in Paris ('51), Les Miserables, Camelot, South Pacific, Chicago, Carousel, Singing in the Rain ('52), On the Town ('49), In the Heights, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Producers, Moulin Rouge!, Funny Girl
HISTORICAL PERIOD FILM, TV, + WRITING
Place | History | Drama | Romance | Time | Perspective | Dominant Narrative
Pride and Prejudice ('05), Stalag 17, Sense and Sensibility, Turn: Washington's Spies, The Alienist, Sherlock Holmes, Downton Abbey, Reign, Penny Dreadful, The Paradise, When Calls the Heart, Crimson Peak, Atonement, Inglorious Basterds, Public Enemies, everything written and touched by Jane Austen, and the work of and about the Lost Generation
APOCOLYPTIC / DYSTOPIAN, FILM, TV + FICTION
Spectacle | Disaster | Anarchy | Consequence | Change | Technology | Identity | History | Revolution
Mad Max: Fury Road, The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games Trilogy films + fiction, Watchmen film and graphic novel, V for Vendetta, 1984 by George Orwell, The Handmaid's Tale, Ender's Game, Altered Carbon, Escape from New York, This is the End, Edge of Tomorrow, etc.
POLITICS, JOURNALISM, + SPORT
Policy | Truth | Spectacle | Tradition | Competition | Rule | Win/Lose Dynamic | Team Mentality
American Politics and Policy, Civics and Bureaucracy, esp. constitutional law, voting rights, urban planning, and foreign relations. Journalism commissioned and published by ProPublica, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Axios, NPR, Politico, The Atlantic, Slate, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, CNN, and others. Professional sport, esp. Basketball/the NBA, Football (the NFL contentiously), and The Olympics.
VOCALISTS + MUSICIANS
Rich + Steady Tones | Orchestral Elements | Poetic Lyrics | Vibrato | Catch + Rhythm
Michael Buble, Lorde, David Bowie, Lana Del Rey, Paramore, The Lumineers, George Ezra, Imagine Dragons, Borns, Jason Mraz, Barbara Streisand, Transit, Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones, Fall Out Boy, Neon Trees, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Hozier.
...Other things that interest me...
Cats + Dogs, Nature, Singing, Sunnies, Lemon Water, Higher Education, Sage, DIY Nail sets, Walks, Hair health and color, Thrifting, Lectures, Sustainability, Research, Home movies, Pincurls, and Coffee.
SUPPORT