MAC and Brie Make

I’m turning 30 today (woo!). Here are 10 things that I love, for one reason or another, and have really impacted me. I know that, usually, it’s “30 Things that…” when you turn 30, but 30 things is way too many. So without further adieu, here’s 10 things.

1. Realize That You Are A Creative Badass, by RafiWasHere

2. Clementine Hunter’s artwork. She’s a major inspiration to me, and here’s a video about her.

1. Love and Math, by Edward Frenkel
   • In Love and Math, renowned mathematician Edward Frenkel reveals a side of math we’ve never seen, suffused with all the beauty and elegance of a work of art. In this heartfelt and passionate book, Frenkel shows that mathematics, far from occupying a specialist niche, goes to the heart of all matter, uniting us across cultures, time, and space.
   • This book is what got me back into college after initially flunking out, and is why I became interested in math.
2. The Rogue Artist’s Art Marketing Guide, by Rafi Perez
   • An undisciplined and honest approach to demystify marketing for artists. Don’t follow the cookie-cutter courses that most art marketing “mentors” love to pawn off on artists who are desperate to understand marketing. This book is going to go against the grain of most typical artist marketing courses. I am going to defy the standard and go rogue and hopefully show you that marketing is not this mysterious thing that is beyond your understanding. My hope is that by the end of reading this book you will find that the most powerful, one-of-a-kind, and creative marketing can be fun and part of your unique creative journey.
3. A Wilder Time: Notes from a Geologist at the Edge of the Greenland Ice, by William Glassley
   • Greenland, one of the last truly wild places, contains a treasure trove of information on Earth’s early history embedded in its pristine landscape. Over numerous seasons, William E. Glassley and two fellow geologists traveled there to collect samples and observe rock formations for evidence to prove a contested theory that plate tectonics, the movement of Earth’s crust over its molten core, is a much more ancient process than some believed. As their research drove the scientists ever farther into regions barely explored by humans for millennia—if ever—Glassley encountered wondrous creatures and natural phenomena that gave him unexpected insight into the origins of myth, the virtues and boundaries of science, and the importance of seeking the wilderness within. An invitation to experience a breathtaking place and the fascinating science behind its creation, A Wilder Time is nature writing at its best.
4. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
   • Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet’s five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.
5. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
   • Suddenly, condemned arch-swindler Moist von Lipwig found himself with a noose around his neck and dropping through a trapdoor into … a government job?
   • By all rights, Moist should be meeting his maker rather than being offered a position as Postmaster by Lord Vetinari, supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork. Getting the moribund Postal Service up and running again, however, may prove an impossible task, what with literally mountains of decades-old undelivered mail clogging every nook and cranny of the broken-down post office. Worse still, Moist could swear the mail is talking to him. Worst of all, it means taking on the gargantuan, greedy Grand Trunk clacks communication monopoly and its bloodthirsty piratical headman. But if the bold and undoable are what’s called for, Moist’s the man for the job — to move the mail, continue breathing, get the girl, and specially deliver that invaluable commodity that every being, human or otherwise, requires: hope.
6. Zombies, Run!
   • Only a few have survived the zombie epidemic. You are a Runner en-route to one of humanity’s last remaining outposts. They need your help to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and defend their home. And you have another mission — one they don’t know about…
7. Khan Academy
   • Khan Academy helped me get through college. Love the math videos especially.
8. The Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY
   • I took an Art Start class here, which is just a self-contained, 1-off art class. It was here that I met Bobby Padilla, who got me back into painting and helped me realize that I have the right to call myself an artist. If it weren’t for that Art Start, I wouldn’t be on the artistic journey that I’m on.
   • The Memorial Art Gallery is also where I learned about Clementine Hunter, who is a major inspiration to me.