Prepping a show at Midtown Arts Center

And wrestling with how to escape the sleazy swamp that Facebook has become

The good news: An exhibit of my hand-colored photographs — both new and old — opens Monday, February 17, and will be up for a month in the lobby at Midtown Arts Center in Eugene.

Midtown, for those of you not familiar with it, is the impressive seven-story headquarters for Eugene Ballet, which, along with offices for a number of arts groups in town, including Lane Arts, Oregon Mozart Players, OrchestraNext and Eugene Opera, occupies a significant portion of the building. The other half is given over to upscale condominiums, whose residents have graciously invited me to show my work there.

As I wrote last time around, I’ve been exploring the joys of working large for this show. For a couple of examples, check out the two stretched-canvas photographs in the picture above. These two, and another two pictures still in progress, will be part of the exhibit.

Midtown is at 174 E. 16th Avenue. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Come on by!

Now for a visit to that swamp

Facebook cartoon generated, at my request, by Dalle-E 3

I’ve been on Facebook for more than 15 years, appreciating the opportunity it provides to keep in touch with friends here in Oregon and elsewhere. I use it to post photos of my cat, Bernstein, and to talk about life in rural Oregon.

In the last couple years, though, what began as a pleasant social diversion has felt more and more like being sucked into a giant corporate cesspool. Every other post on my feed is a cheesy ad for something I don’t want or need; in between is a barrage of fraudulent posts about imaginary missing children and sleazy friend requests from non-existent 20-something babes who are all single, love to pose in revealing outfits and, like today’s friend request from “Violet,” offer that “My heart's compass always points to you.”

I used to report the worst of the scammy stuff. Miraculously Facebook always says hey, no problem! Those scams generate more clicks, right?

Then, as we all know, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos revealed himself last year as a right-wing MAGA-loving tech bro, stopping his little newsletter The Washington Post from endorsing in the presidential election and, in January, standing proudly behind Trump at the inauguration — along with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

So it’s getting time to move on. My question is, to where? I’d like to find a place that allows the kind of friendly social contact that once powered Facebook without the waves of crap that it’s now drowning in. I’m also not looking for a political forum — I get plenty of that at Eugene Weekly — just a safe place to post cat photos and to keep fans of my photography informed about what I’m up to.

Friends of mine are migrating to BlueSky. I’ve opened an account there, which I look at from time to time, but I suspect it’s mostly political, crowded with refugees from X. Not my cup of tea.

My plan is to transition slowly to Substack, which you’re already reading. So I encourage you also to check out Substack Notes, which allows frequent brief posts. To see them, simply follow me on Substack. No cost or other obligation.

And if you have any suggestions for other sites, feel free to put them in comments!

Thanks.