disorder | The Direction of Intention

Weird Sh*t [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on August 20, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Two weeks ago we popped a sweet potato into some soil. Today its vines reach nearly halfway across the deck. The message is clear: don’t sit still next to the sweet potato plant if you value your freedom. We don’t think it is a carnivore but neither of us is willing to test the theory.

Over the years we’ve developed a shorthand phrase, a catchall for the unexplainable stuff of life. Our phrase is a leveler, a way of making the edges less edgy. For instance, after a particularly harrowing medical emergency, Kerri looked at me, knowing I was scared, and said, “Weird sh*t.” I laughed. My blood pressure dropped several floors. Suddenly, the unknown, the terrifying, the mind-run-amok-with-fear had a solid anchor. A simple explanation. Nothing to worry about, it’s just more weird sh*t.

It’s a phrase that comes in handy with the news of the day, the family zoo, the unexpected stuff of life, and the sweet potato plant that is rapidly entwining the house. “What do you think of that?” I ask, amazed at the plant reaching for my feet.

“Weird sh*t,” Kerri says, stepping back.

And with that pronouncement, the unexplainable is explained. Sense is temporarily restored and we allow ourselves to believe that all is right with the world.

from the Logos series, 23″x32″ acrylic on hardboard

read Kerri’s blogpost about SWEET POTATO VINE

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Wander In Wonderland [on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on February 1, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve re-read his email several times. Skip’s explanation of the development of the computer. Subject/Object. Noun/Verb. Items/Action. It’s a story of cause and effect. This causes that. I’ve learned more from this single email than from my very expensive graduate degree. And, it’s sent me down the rabbit hole and I am currently in a world easily as miraculous as Alice’s Wonderland.

Does the moon cause the tides? It does if you are an English-speaker. Causation is the foundation structure of the English language. An action needs an initiator. The noun is king. He kicked. The sea rocked the boat. The moon causes tides. If you speak Mandarin, the moon and the tides are inseparable, not perceived or described as separate events but as interconnected. The same dance, differentiated forms.

Where does an action begin? A consequence end? I warned you. A rabbit hole.

Our perception of the world has everything to do with the language we use to describe it. Our creating of the world has everything to do with the language we use to imagine it. In a world where actions are separate from items, verbs from nouns, this causes that, it’s easy to believe that order is separate from disorder, cosmos is separate from earth, humans are separate from nature. Death is separate from life. Is it?

Each year that passes I’ve noticed the world of written communication includes more emojis and fewer words. Attention spans are shorter – mine, too. Tweet and text. Images carries the bulk of the message. If you could see the analytics on my blog you’d note that if I use more than 600 words, you are less likely to read what I write. We are slowly moving toward ideograms and slowly away from alphabets. Whatever will we do, what might we see, when nouns and verbs blend into image? When the eyes of dedicated separation begin to see through the eyes of interconnectivity – or, as Skip says, “When actions become central.”

It’s called a Wolf Moon, I read, because wolves are particularly loud and vocal during the first months of the year. One questioner asked if the moon causes the wolves to howl. Noun/Verb. Subject/Object.