Throwback Thursday: The Leonardo Interview

In 2009 I was interviewed for the ezine Leonardo, which dubs itself as the Virtual Voice of the iRenaissance. The topic was blogging.  

Leonardo: How do you view your blogging? Is it a job or a hobby?
ennyman: I've never considered it in those terms. Definitely not a job, though I feel a certain responsibility about it, much like one who has a job considers it important to show up every day. It's more of an exploration driven by passion.

Leonardo: How has Ennyman's Territory changed since you first began this blog.
ennyman: Initially the blog was simply an exploration of what blogging is and how it could be used. My content consisted primarily of extracts from 30-plus years of journal writing, with pictures of my art to illustrate each entry. The journal notes and quotes would be elaborated on with current feedback to what I had written in the past, amplifying or elaborating upon the initial entry.

Leonardo: What is the origin of your blog address, Pioneer Productions?
ennyman: Being a descendant of Daniel Boone, I have always identified with pioneers. Boone was a "long hunter" or what Minnesotans call Voyageurs. He would go out for a while and return with the goods that provided for his family. But he was always exploring. Even near the end of his life while living in what is now Missouri, he went by canoe all the way up to what is now Minnesota seeking the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Leonardo: Your visual art seems to go in a lot of directions. Do you consider the source of your creative energy to be hyperkinetic or a living spring?
ennyman: Well, to some extent it's both. I believe there's a well in each of us which we can tap into and draw from, a living spring. But yes, there are times when a catalyst sets off a burst of ideas and it does feel a bit hyperkinetic as you put it.

Leonardo: Do you have an aim with Ennyman's Territory?
ennyman: Several. I like to challenge people to look at things from a new angle and to think. Also, the artist in me is always in search of an audience, I believe. For example, when I built my first website in the mid-90's it was in part a place to showcase my stories which I had poured myself into, but continually failed to get published. Putting them online not only gained them readers, it resulted in one being made into a short film, and three being translated into foreign languages -- Russian, Croatian and French. Two of my daughter's short stories which I'd posted got published as well, in California and New Zealand. Ultimately, it is my aim to leave the world a better place than I found it, which I believe everyone should be striving to do.

Leonardo: What are some things you want to write about that you don't currently have time for?
ennyman: The list is endless. Infinite, really. Here's a quick skim of the first ten things that come to mind.

1. Interview my father-in-law in more depth, possibly place it on YouTube. He was the second Minnesotan drafted in World War II, and is currently 89. (This was written in 2009 before his passing at age 94.)
2. Explore in more depth our fascination with stats. Internet stats, population stats, baseball stats, astronomical stats, economic financial stats, number of fights Rocky Marciano had without a defeat, etc.
3. Explore the notion that organized power can only be restrained by organized power based on the idea that Einstein was a pacifist who became non-pacifist due to Hitler.
4. The Owens-Blevins shootout in Holbrook during the 1880s.
5. Why does beauty make us cry? The Grand Canyon… Chopin… the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. 
6. SWAT Team abuse. Who pays for the damage after the wreckage? How much of this goes on that we don't know about?
7. Tina Mion
8. Gordon Lish
9. The crippled newspaper industry. How serious is it? What difference will it make if we lose our local newspapers? The numbers speak for themselves.
10. Life On Mars, the David Bowie song from his Hunky Dory album, not the actual Red Planet.

Leonardo: We'll look forward to what comes next.
ennyman: Yes, it's one day at a time here. Today, sunrise in Sedona... tomorrow, back to the ranch in Minnesota.

Leonardo: Thanks for your time.
ennyman: And for your interest.

THIS POST APPEARED SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY.

EDNOTE: The Leonardo ezine referred to here is not to be confused with the MIT publication of the same name at www.leonardo.info. It is a fabrication.