Janelle A. Monroy
Bio
Artist
Creator
Queer
Educator
Advocate
Student
Cat Addict
Stories (3)
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Creek Breeze
I had already been walking three miles when I arrived at was once the old gas station. I hadn’t been there in years, but always remembered it as the space we as kids hid behind to exchange trading cards and make fun of teachers we couldn’t stand. Everything was -literally- greener back then. The trees shaded us from enormous heat waves, and we hid from monsters, both real and fictional, in bushes and overgrowth. I remember the relief of the breeze now only in my dreams.
By Janelle A. Monroy5 years ago in Fiction
Flowers for the People
My introduction to social change was a subtle one, more specifically stumbling across the book "Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change" by Vincent Papaneck in a local used book store when I was 15. For the first time in my life, I felt like there was a certain amount of social change that was within my capacity. Coming from a working class background, I felt removed from the creative students who had access to the technology that allowed them to create digital images, build 3D models, as well as the classes, background, and instruction that allowed them to hone in on those skills. "Design for the Real World" provided a practical guide to material minimalism and rethinking design and generative practices in a way that also catered to human needs. And for the first time, I had been introduced to design and creative means of practice that didn’t glorify excess or destruction for its own sake. Previously, I believed that design and generative practices were only possible through ceaseless and rapid production of “new” goods and that a “trade-off” needed to be made between the creation of “new” things, the majority of people living “well”, and being able to maintain a livable environment free of exploitative competition.
By Janelle A. Monroy5 years ago in Earth
