Victorious

This story is going to need a background.

My mother and I have very different opinions about the vailidy choices of my upbringing. it was tough and many of the times i didnt get what i wanted or needed as a creative soul but i was always fed intellectually and learned to understand ALOT about life and the way it works in society. The pressure was on from every angle to be a PhD like the two people I grew up under but i always stuck to my poems, drawings, and designs. no matter how i feel about growing up in that house, my mother ALWAYS showed me that there are options to doing whatever it is you want to do. and ive believed that all of the days of my life, pushing and prodding and fighting against everything to do what it is i want to do because ive always believed that you can do WHATEVER you want to do in this world provided that you are willing to work your ass of in pursuit of it


with that said, i purposely turned off my phone and slept from 9:30-12:30 last night. I didnt watch a lick of news during the ballots because i'm the kind of person just wants to know the end results, not the play by play effect of whats happening. ive spent everyday in the past 2 weeks talking about politics and the angles, isms, and consequences of the Obama versus McCain election and quite frankly I'm tired of talking about it. So I took Chris and his date out to Icon Restaurant, listened to Eric Essix play some awesome jazz while i consumed my beef tenderloin and shrimp.


everyone in the world wanted to talk to me about it, even though i specifically asked them not to. Tatum tried to bring it up twice after i told her not to, Ramina bombarded everyone's phone with random text messages about moving Bush out of the white house, and Nicole called me JUST as I was drifting off into sleepyland to ask me about what i didnt want to know about...a busy day indeed. the entire world was buzzing with the energy of Obamaness versus McCainness and I was just buzzing from lack of sleep for the past 6 weeks on the road. I just wanted to sleep. I just want to rest

I knew Obama was going to win. those of you who actually know and talk to me (and don't pay attention to my status messages that i put out there to fuck with silly minds) know that i predicted a model in which Obama blows out Mccain and Palin returns in 8 years to be president. a model which required the defeat of the republicans on BOTH fronts ad in 8 years they're going to storm the white house because that's the way the legacy of these new double presidents is going to be. Im happy for Barack Obama, and generally like the guy on the occasions that i met him. following him on the road for a while was really cool and I feel like he generally LOVES this country and wants to see it be great.

so why am i not overly emotional like everyone else?

Because I already knew it was possible. Its not a shock to me to have HOPE in something when nobody else does, to believe in the unseen future and then let everyone else fall in line as they see it become a reality. And I think for some people Barack become a faux symbol of hope because they think that he is more than just a man, for people who have never had a TRUE sense of hope because theyr faith is physical and hence a fleeting one. being a hero is dangerous ground, because as you succeed your fans succeed, but when you FAIL then your fans die. Barack is going to be a great president, possibly one of the greatest in our history...because at this very moment he HAS to be no less than that for the sake of MILLIONS of people who have now improperly placed their hopes upon him

you have to believe in yourself.

You have to believe every single day that you can DO this no matter WHO is president, no matter HOW hard the economy is, no matter WHAT the person next to you is stealing from you, and no matter WHERE you are in your life. The core of what we face as a people and a nation isnt as simple as who runs it, because WE allowed the shit after Katrina to happen, WE allowed the whoring of our country after 9-11 happened, WE allowed the housing market to go apeshit and get people in houses that had NO business owning a house (they tried to get me too), WE have allowed the gas prices to be almost 4 dollars a gallon. Internal, and looking at what is the CORE of the problem then its all about what WE have been unwilling or unable to do.

The true power of a "democracy" is the idea that the people can control and run it...and we have allowed that healthy power to be slipped from right under our very noses and replaced with corn syrup flavored fast-fed bullshit. Chewing and tasting and thinking to ourselves "man this is good" and knowing somewhere in the back of our minds that "this...tastes...off..." If Barack is a symbol of hope for you and you USE that symbol to begin the change within yourself, then thats awesome and i commend you. But IF Barack is your only hope for change and a new future...then I think you need to read this over again.

I'm glad that Barack was elected, I'm infinitely glad that WE elected him, I'm glad that people are starting to realize in trickles how much power there IS within the idea of organizing and BELIEVING within one's power. now lets hold on to that and learn to REALLY harness the power of assembly. Let us CHANGE the very ideas of what we are and what we do and how we affect the world around us for the better

"People should not be afraid of their govenments, The government should be afraid of its people"
-V for Vendetta


With Love,

Andrew Thomas Clifton

Today was

An interesting shooting day. Pictures to come soon as I get everything to wprk

The show

Today is the day.

I've been ripping and running for about two weeks now to prepare the world for the events that approach today... My black and white photography exhibition is here,the stage is set, the orchestra is ready, nowcan I dance?

13 pieces of work ranging from 4x6 to 16x19 and a full jazz band to play the music that I love so much while I show what I love so much and why I love it so much

I'm ready, let's do this.

Gaining Ground

me and chris doakes sat back at the beginning of 2008 and said

"this is the year, cant you feel it?"

we honestly had NO idea HOW much of our year it would be and so ive seen growth in every area of my life.

im overly thankful for the business that has thrived and gone up and down but GAINED GROUND for the entire year so far. made better contacts, forged better relationships, cashed larger checks, helped people MORE, im grateful for it all. Im grateful for the people who have allowed me to capture for them, pieces of their future and to use those pieces as memories and the stuff that dreams are formed and molded of. without the memories of the world i would have nothing to love, i would be dead.


seen KISS grow despite the declining magazine market. seen our work expand it into new territories and capture new ideas. seen people stare in awe who once stood in mockery at the idea of what it could be. Meand Sean have taken 2 major trips this year to two International functions for the magazine and they were both about learning, becoming, and BEING greater than what we are. touched people who run billion dollar companies and keep in contact with those who run million dollar companies...success.

staying positive in spite of what people say about me, being able to see the future in spite of people telling me it cant be done, standing when those around me just want to sit down. being the kind of man that does not yield to the temptation often but when he falls, gets up and keeps moving. failure is just a lesson to get it right the next time and errors are just ways of telling you to think harder.

this is our time. this is our future. this is our tomorrow.

and so for every person who ever stood right here, right on the edge of the great beyond of the greatness of the future and said i dare to not, i say

I dare to.
not because i have to
but because i choose to

thank you god for the gifts you have given me
thank you god for the people who have carried me
thank you god for the wisdom you have instilled in me through pain and suffering
thank you god for...now

for everything

no matter how painful
or burning within
there is ALWAYS truth
and it will always shine stronger than darknes
always

so at another crossroads in the journey
i have decided to no longer risk my soul for the sake of what i want
im going to start playing it safer like everybody else
maybe the universe has been trying to tell me
that all this time
i'm not so different after all...

a whole new world
crafting a WHOLE new world.

its a feeling that ive been avoiding for a while now, but its time to spend some time at home with my mom and dissapear for a year.
detox and such.

the little steps

I think in effect that I didnt even see it coming
man, Satan is slick
conforming small parts of the whole unit until nothing was left of me
but an echo
i wonder why i cant sleep at night
i wonder why I cant sleep at all
because i let the little thing spile up and here i am
a complete contradiction of what I said I would be
of WHO i said I would serve
not even myself anymore
no friends around
no foes around
surreounded by something in between
something scary and unfamiliar about the steps ahead
something that makes me wonder if i'll even survive at all
or if they can all forgiv eme
if my friends will be able to lov eme again
im such a fool
such an idiot

I ponder.

I am absolutely unsure what the future holds for me
but I do know, that THIS isnt it just yet
I've got more evolving to do right now.