This was taken right before sunset in Valdez, Alaska. Absolutely breathtaking.

I have always loved lighthouses and never really known why. First, let me start off by saying how much I love this site not only because of the free flowing creativity, but also because it challenges me to think critically about art and beauty.

I love how lighthouses emit light at night and serve as a guide for seafarers who would not see obstructions otherwise. Lighthouses protect, they guide, and they keep one on their destined path. This idea also got me thinking about how people could serve as lighthouses. Who's yours?

I was exploring the concept of stars vs. streetlights and I found it ironic that the natural beauty of stars is most visible in wide unpopulated spaces, whereas in cities, people gathered and created their own stars. The natural beauty of stars is hard to compete with, but I also think that city lights are unique products of human creation. They are both beautiful and both are our night lights.

To My Tiny Dog:
Size Doesn't Matter.

<3

I was born and raised in New Orleans. With its unique and distinctive aspects, New Orleans is a city that stands alone. I hope this candid snapshot properly represents the beauty of my city.

Just piecing together some incredible work...

These sonnets are part of a series that I wrote a while back. They all explore the concept of dreams.

Dream Maker

Dream maker, dream maker, make me a dream.
Come and take hold of my hand in your grasp
And wisp me away as part of your scheme,
Leaving my earthly soul under your rasp.
Dream maker, dream maker, conjure me this,
An atmosphere laden with lullabies
As sweet sounding as a mothers first kiss,
Holding me gently under the faint skies.
Dream maker, dream maker, act as my shield.
Keep me in the seas of unconsciousness,
Til my unbroken being has been healed,
Defending me from nights of dreamlessness.
Aware that all my hopes with thee do go,
I desp’rly dream that it is not so.

As I Lay

As I lay and become one with my bed,
The shutters of my sight begin to fall.
The layers of my anxiety shed,
And wonders of my mind begin to sprawl.
Taking me to an untouched dimension,
Letting my thoughts roam off of the straight path,
My dream world takes me on the ascension,
Into the plush clouds where there is no wrath.
Becoming what I am not, shifting gears
To become the person I want to be,
Shedding the words of my insolent peers,
I am allowed to savor joyous glee.
Lo and behold I assuredly wake,
And return to the norm for others sake.

Along With My Mind

Along with my mind, my body does go,
Carting myself carelessly through danger,
Because of the safety netting below.
There is nothing left but to get stronger.
I fancy seeing myself in the haze,
Achieving every isolated goal,
Getting out of the world that’s full of grays,
And being more than a piece of the whole.
The visions are not delusions, they’re real,
Impossibilities become the truth,
Because untouchable things, you can feel,
With no cares in the world, just like the youth.
Why get away if you have to come back?
To a world constantly under attack.

This last one was inspired by an actual dream/nightmare that I used to have when I was a child. Here it is in sonnet form.

Under Attack

The hazel auburn sky in the background,
With one silhouette of a tree in black,
No one except me and myself around,
But then I was under a fierce attack.
This scene has known me many times before,
Yet I unfailingly become surprised,
The creature with ambition to the core,
Inching in closer just as he devised.
I alter between looking at my pain,
And actually feeling it myself.
We hastily move across the terrain,
And one begins to reflect on thyself.
But it is always shattered as I wake,
As he pounces, although I feel no ache.