I have a camera, I have a computer, and I have two feet. I've taken it upon myself to make a visual record of the beauty and the ugly of this oft-ignored town...which I believe to be highly underrated. Hopefully you can find something of value in this.
Ninth Blog Post
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I might not suck at marketing after all.
A Yelp review I wrote made something of a difference to a local restaurant—so much so, in fact, that they felt compelled to tell Facebook and Instagram all about it.
I think the Downtown Fresno Partnership made a mistake in its attempt to “rebrand” the old Fulton Mall as some sort of upscale entertainment and dining district—something it’s clearly not . What’s particularly egregious is that what it is is in many ways so much better than that: a blank slate, ready for your masterpiece. Or at least, it could be, if only City Hall got the hell out of the way. If the municipal government can’t fix what ails Downtown (and make no mistake: They can’t ), they should consider primum non nocere —“first, do no harm” and let property and business owners make more of their own decisions without their benevolent interference. The problem with trying to force something or someone into being something that it isn’t is you end up destroying the good of what’s already there. Downtown has suffered enough under the thumb of decades of the well-meaning, unilateral, and costly visions of a small handful of people who think they know better than bu...
When I left the house this morning, I left with a specific agenda. I decided to photograph empty lots. All of these lots have the following three things in common: All are (presumably) privately owned lots located in Downtown Fresno, as defined by the following boundaries: South of Divisadero Street. West of Highway 41. North/East (both technically apply) of Highway 99. None of them are being put to any productive use (one has a couple trailers hanging out). Not a single “for sale” sign was to be found among them. There are plenty more than these, but I stopped at ten on purpose. If I were a betting man, I would assume they’re being held by land speculators, people who have correctly surmised that, due to existing taxation laws, financing structures, and land use regulations (among other factors), they have far more incentive to simply hold land and wait for prices to go up than do anything with it. This is not their fault; nobody can be...
“…I will crawl on my belly over broken glass [in order to be someone worthy enough for you to hire].” I actually told this to somebody yesterday. Upon further examination, I realized that this is actually more or less what I’ve been telling everybody as part of my job search. In fact, I might even say it does a good job of summing up the lion’s share of the world’s job-seeking advice. This is strange considering the job market today technically favors job seekers. At least, that’s how it seems to me; I can’t know for sure. The only thing I do know for sure is this: I haven’t been doing right by myself for a very long time. It’s true that I’ve exhausted my last dime. It’s true that I both maxed out my credit card and depleted my savings just trying to survive the last two years. It’s also true that I’m under-qualified (on paper, at least) for most design job openings as they’re posted on job boards. It’s true that my cell phone is broken and I can’t afford a new one. It’s true I...
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