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Jan 7, 2025 | 
medium.com | Jason McBride
Don’t treat poetry like it’s sacred — treat a poetry book like an issue of Seventeen MagazineIf you want to start reading poetry, the best thing you can do is forget what you learned in school, grab a book of poetry that looks interesting, and then start flipping through poems like you would the pages of a magazine. Like most people my age, the education system did a thorough job of killing any spark of interest I may have once had in poetry.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
You need to gaze into eternity to remember to live in the nowJason McBride·Follow6 min read·--All illustrations by Jason McBrideWhether I die instantly in a supernova or perish from a slow exhaustion of all of my fuel, I hope that, like the stars, everything that is most precious inside of me will illuminate the darkest moments of my descendants’ lives as they fix their course and navigate uncharted waters.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
thetaoist.online | Jason McBride
Nothing is the most important thing you can doThroughout my accidental career as a poet-cartoonist, I’ve explored lots of unlikely themes. I’ve written about everything from pirate love letters to the end of the Anthropocene. But, when I look back at the thousands of poems I’ve written and the hundreds of comics I’ve made, one theme keeps surfacing. Nothing. Nothing allows me to live in the moment, and it’s the pure essence of mindfulness.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
I refuse to hustle & grind until I dieJason McBride·Follow8 min read·--All illustrations by Jason McBrideMany people preach the gospel of hustle and grind. They come in many forms, from the aging, middle-class suburbanites to the young tech bros and gung-ho freelancers. They have millions of disciples and a huge influence in online spaces and on our economy.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
There is wonder in every daily occurrenceJason McBride·Follow7 min read·--All illustrations by Jason McBrideI have never seen this sunset before.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
medium.com | Jason McBride
Humans love sharp contrasts. We instinctually see the world as a set of binary choices: good versus evil, left or right, hot or mild, and employee or entrepreneur. But reality is more complicated. The actual world is full of nuance and innumerable options. I haven’t received a paycheck from someone else in more than twenty years. I undertook my first stint of self-employment almost thirty years ago, when I was 19.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
Art is made of art — the machines are stuck with dataJason McBride·Follow8 min read·--All illustrations by Jason McBrideEvery creative act is influenced directly and subconsciously by the creative acts of thousands of other artists. As Pablo Picasso put it:Collage comic by Jason McBrideAuthor, blackout poet, and cartoonist Austin Kleon’s best-selling book, Steal Like an Artist, explores this part of the artistic process in fascinating detail.
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Jul 15, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
Apophenia is the human tendency to see patterns or connections in random things. It's one of our most beautiful and troublesome traits. It's one of the reasons we are so prone to conspiracy theories. The universe serves up a ream of data demonstrating a series of random, unconnected coincidences, and our brains immediately focus on two unrelated points and concoct a story before we are consciously aware of what our brains are doing.
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Jun 18, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
By Jason McBride Seeing ourselves as part of natureIllustration by Jason McBride You've most likely learned that poems in traditional Japanese haiku are about nature or the seasons. This is not quite right. Traditional Japanese haiku are about how the poet observes the changes in nature throughout the year. This key shift makes all the difference. Embedded in this definition of...
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Jun 17, 2024 | 
jasoncmcbride.medium.com | Jason McBride
By Jason McBride Breaking out of a rut and pushing through fearCollage illustration by Jason McBride The terror of the blank page has nothing on the fear that comes from waking up and understanding you can never retire. I'm comfortably in middle age. The oldest of my four children is in high school, and my youngest is now a teenager. I have no money saved for retirement, and recent life events combined...
