YEAR: 2018
START DATE: February 25, 2018
END DATE: June 1, 2018

 Journal covers were created from rubber stickers that’d been donated to 29 Pieces. I dis¬like these rubber stickers and don’t put them out for students to use. I wondered if I could amuse myself by using them for the covers. Journal contains ongoing responses to questions from the University of Nebraska for a story that the university alumni magazine was doing on me for the 2018 Alumni Achievement Awards. “What did it feel like to win the Pulitzer?” “How did the Pulitzer change my career?” “What did it mean that a graphic artist’s work was recognized?” Justification of visual storytelling, art. “What about the transition from newspaper to freelance?” Question to myself: What makes me “glow” now? Back to interview: “What do I love abut community art?” The role of fate/destiny in my career. The chapters of work. What art does in a community. The responsibility of artists/or not. “Where do I go for inspiration?” “What are current proj¬ects?” The murder in the front yard and the origin story of 29 Pieces. Personal metamorphosis. What is Chap¬ter 3? “Advice to students?” “What’s a word that describes your career thus far?” Beautiful. The hope that the best is yet to come. “What are my lasting memories of UNL?” “What do you love about illustration and design?” I shy away from labels. Leonardo and Michelangelo were both illustrators. The universal language of art and design. Something happened on March 4, 2018 - a super hero movie - and too much popular culture. Shelley’s visit to Texas and changed plans. Evaluations of friendships. My choice of broadcasters as friends. Disappointment/feelings of betrayal in pullout of a project partner. Desire to see the end of 29 Pieces. Word¬less/lots of words. Various left hand written ‘talks with my higher consciousness.’ Weighing the scales of what Alumni Achievement weekend would turn into. Confrontational episode of “This is Us” or chance to forgive and remember? Alumni Achievement weekend at UNL. The art of conversation is rare indeed. Curiosity is rare. A week after the weekend - it ended up as a good memory and experience - not without challenging moments. Shine Through Us. Dallas lit up for NRA convention. Moments of a little, content life. Memorial Day. Jessie Richey’s death.

Receiving the Alumni Achievement Award at the University of Nebraska. Anxiety about a convergence of friends from Nebraska plus Gretchen and Jody flew in from New York. Beginning of collab¬oration with Momentous Institute for Piece 10 and then their pullout. Disappointment. One of a number of times I was on the ledge with 29 Pieces, said “I’m done” to myself and wanted to throw in towel. Jessie - Will Richey’s mother - died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Preparation for Alumni Achievement weekend at UNL. I felt honored. Prior to hip surgery and in constant, chronic pain, using cane. This journal covers my fears about the coming together of old friends within the context of feeling happy about the honor. Then there was the disappointment of the changed relationship with Momentous Institute.

We were in the middle of plans to begin Piece 10. We’d invested a lot of planning, strategizing, meetings in doing the piece with teachers and students at Momen¬tous Institute, on a site at their school. It seemed like the perfect partnership, and they suddenly pulled out due to a change in plans for land use. Another in a series of 29 Pieces gut punches.