About

In our world, absolutism exists only in change; change in the way we obtain, devour, absorb and regurgitate information. Nothing is delivered nor is present in an immutable, solid state. From edicts, laws, and even entertainment, all instances have many angles of reference and are served on various plates.

With that said, i wanted a way to counteract the transitory existence of my thoughts and “written” words. This blog serves as such: as both my outlet and library; a public display of internalism and the cataloged thoughts and opinions on the daily happenings in and of the world.

And, in case you’re wondering why i don’t capitalize ‘i’ throughout my posts except when starting a sentence, check out thoughts of self: conventions of naming. It’ll, i hope, lessen the tweets or comments about misspellings 🙂

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Be forewarned, this bio shies on the long side. So, for the short attention span generation: i write and i design. Simple enough. If you are in need of web or graphic design services, check out what i offer and feel free to contact me.

 

Macario is a self-described designer: of images and of words. He does not consider himself a poet, but a writer; one with calculated diction, ambiguous at times yet keen. An astute reader and stickler of the English language, he began writing at a young age, having published his first articles in teen magazine New Youth Connections (NYC). Often remarked as having “a way with words,” [by peers and Professors, alike] he continues to foster his love for the written form.

Ahh!—writing one’s biography: so much trepidation, yet so much fun.

What’s important? What’s trash-bin material? Who cares, anyway, about me?

It’s presumptuous to think someone does. It’s borderline pretentious.

Regardless, these About sections are staples of websites. We must have—and, better yet, follow—tradition, for what is life without tradition? And over the past ten years, i’ve seen website culture, practices, and traditions evolve. The web and i have both come a long way since 2000, when i coded and designed my first “commercial” website, a videogame review site called Dreamcast Otaku. (It’s not pretty to look at by any means lol, but it was fully CSS-based, no tables used for structure at all.)

Looking back at years and years of writing, and years and years of coding and designing websites, i see it was inevitable these passions would marry (or hook up, at least). One of these flings produced something, not only cool, but actually jump-started my interest in search engine placement (securing my name and website’s ranks during search results).

I’d like to finally thank those unknown NYC public school teachers who used my articles in their classrooms; if they hadn’t, i probably wouldn’t be as obnoxiously concerned with ensuring i control all of the results associated with my name for Google results.

This obsession has a technical name, SEO (search engine optimization), and will be the offspring of the above pairing: i’m writing an ebook on the ability to secure your web presence, to help raise ranks when Googling or Binging or Yahooing your name or website; hopefully, your search will turn up within the first two pages of results.

Many companies, people and websites claim to have a 24-hour quick fix. Not gonna happen. Misleading. By following that mirage, it’s too easy to have your hopes puffed up, leading only to disappointment. Giants don’t form overnight.

With this ebook, I seek to give people a better understanding of how the web works, while at the same time showing simple examples of building a lasting web presence. Be sure to subscribe to this blog so I can inform you of the book’s release.

Everything is about marketing. Or, so i’m told.

‎The fatal flaw of the writer: we are lazy no-goodniks, forever hopping from project to project. – Chuck Wendig

So, having been encouraged to write, i have a lengthly laundry list of goals and projects. Some of them are (more) books to write, some of them are websites and businesses to launch, and some of them are irrelevant to writing.

As for the books, perfectly echoing Chuck Wendig, i’m currently in some stage or other of several projects: but you’re not Black, a memoir of sorts, chronicling my life being a multi-ethnic male raised by a single Black mother, and my quest to discover familial truth with help from DNA testing and genealogical fact-finding; Conservative Bohemian, the unlikely (odd?) amalgamation of politics and individualism, showing how two seemingly contrasting ideas are actually complimentary; dust, the first collection of my poetry; and the untitled book i subtly mentioned earlier.

And, i am developing my first WordPress theme, tentatively named “Scholar.” It will be free (as in beer and speech!) upon release.

As a designer Macario practices what he calls “visual sampling,” a graphic and image version of the ubiquitous musical technique. Akin to a gumbo, he mixes an assortment of digital ingredients, delectably tasteful to the aesthetic palate, to produce his unique designs. As is true for many “creatives” or artists, he is meticulous and eschews potboiling due to the love for his craft.

I don’t do it for money; i do it for the love. Cliché, sure. Truth? Absolutely.

Renowned poet, Ezra Pound, once said, “Any work of art which is not a beginning, an invention, a discovery is of little worth,” and i am in absolute agreement. I like to take what is old, what has been used before, to create something “new,” something fresh. The neologism visual sampling is that in itself. If i cannot have liberty, i will not take up the project. Unless, of course, i find myself in dire financial straits, then all bets are off. Unfortunately, I gotta eat and pay rent (and loans and buy cool gadgets, like the PSP 3000 and Kindle 3!).

Ahh!—the universal plight of the artist: constrained by the almighty bartering medium.

Art is a fulfillment of personal education, of internal growth and introspection. It is taking the subjective within and crafting something existential. Whether it’s digital or physical is of little consequence; it’s still outside of one’s mind. The tag of self-knowledge i attribute to the artist and the intellectual. The creative brigade of artists and the intelligentsia both desire enlightenment. I’d eat my keyboard if anyone of either group were to disagree. Even the third group, those of us who have a finger or a limb in both groups, shan’t protest.

This autodidactism, designing, and writing combinate fulfills within me a youth-originating desire to be a quasi-neologism with “Mac-of-All-Trades, Master of Some.” I was defiant and incredulous with the notion behind “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” Even as a youngster, i didn’t believe in following the historical trends of others when it came to limiting one’s ambition. I think i still have a long way to go, but i will continue fulfilling my goal of being a 21^st Century Polymath (Renaissance Man).

You’ll notice logos/badges at the bottom of every page. They are for my other sites.

NTFN (No Time For Negativity) will be a website geared toward communal question and answering of topics (think of the new Facebook Questions feature or Ask.com or Lunch.com, from which you’ll see some of my posts are on this site’s sidebar).

NTFN (No Time For Negativity) will be something—haven’t quite figured it out yet.

Mental Ephemera is my blog containing lengthier posts and essays—ranging from politics to technology, physical and intellectual freedom to gadgets—as well as, reviews of films, videogames and books.

Creative Dust and Ashes is an online magazine focusing on the arts, but really for anything creative that is inspirational, e.g., a dance routine, spoken word poetry, a traditional written poem, a film, etc.

It’s almost always the most difficult to end something (smoothly), but I think i’ve covered the basics and fleshed out a solid About page.

If you are in need of web or graphic design services, check out what i offer and feel free to contact me.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why all of my pronouns for self are lower-cased, please read my post on Mental Ephemera, thoughts of self: conventions of naming.

(The grey blockquotes are from Andre Maurice Press. Written by, well, me.)