Comic Series

The Only Constant

Posted on 01/30/2020 by Jon

Hello.

If you’ve been here before, you’ve probably noticed that the site has undergone a bit of a change. That’s because after roughly seven years of a standard webcomic design, I finally decided to update things and fix up the site. When I started the site, it was originally meant as a place to post the pages of Secrets & Shadows (hence the name of the website). I had no real plan other than put the comic online and be done with it. It had been something I’d mainly wanted to share with my Dad and when he died, a lot of my enthusiasm for it went with it. So I made this site as a way to get it out where people could read it because the team had worked hard on it.

Of course, I ended up continuing to make comics and posting some of them here as well as using this site to promote myself. But I never really had a plan for this site other than a place to dump finished pages for comics that might not see print (though they all eventually did). Because of this, I never really put any real effort or thought into the look of the site. It just kept the same thrown together design it had when I first put it together.

As time went on, I ended up moving away from the site. I shifted over to promoting myself more heavily on Facebook and Twitter before shifting again to a weekly email/newsletter. During that time, this website languished and figuratively collected dust. For three years, itwent untouched and un-updated.

Until now.

Last year, I just found myself kind of burnt out with social media. It can be great to be where all the people are, but it’s also nice to have a space to yourself. And then I remembered that I had my own space. So here I am.

When I logged in, I really looked at the site and knew that something had to change. The original layout was fine for when I was starting out, but it hadn’t aged well. It was hard to read the posts and the color scheme was too much. So I made the decision to switch the theme from a webcomic focused one to a more conventional one. I went back and forth on this many times, but I ultimately came to the decision to remove the comic aspect because all of the comics posted here were now available elsewhere. That wasn’t the case when I started out, but you can find my stuff across several different sites like Gumroad and Storenvy.

After considering making some announcement or easing into things, I decided that it would be better to rip the band-aid off and just do it. And here we are. It’s a cleaner look, more easy to read posts, streamlined, and easy to navigate. It’s a marked improvement in my opinion and I hope that you agree.

I can’t promise that I’ll making daily updates or anything like that, but I do plan to ease into posting on here more frequently and move a little bit away from being social media focused. So be on the lookout for posts and updates.

That’s all for now.

  • Jon Parrish

Blackboard Chicago

Posted on 11/18/2017 by Jon

The past weekend, my brother and I went do a program headed by one of our mother’s friends. It’s called Blackboard Chicago and is a summit for black men from all walks of life to come together and try to help each other be better men (both for the family and community as well as ourselves). When my mother pitched it to me, I will admit that I was hesitant. I didn’t necessarily know what all of that would entail but in my mind, I envisioned a day full of older men complaining about rap music and why the boys were skinny jeans.

Still, I was trying to get out of my comfort zone so I agreed to go.

I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t what I feared at all. It was a good mixture of men from the area and beyond of all ages allowing themselves to be open as well as a little bit vulnerable. There was an emphasis being yourself and not the self you present to the world which is something we don’t often get to do. There was also a no judgement rule so people could share their opinions and grievances without feeling nervous.

Many of the exercises revolved around finding common ground with one another, looking inward, and opening up with a person you might not know. There was also space to brag on yourself a little bit which I needed to remind myself that I’d done a lot of incredible things.

When it was all said and done, my brother pointed out that it was probably one of the few positive experiences we’d had with older black men in a church and I realized that he was right. So many of our interactions with older black men came were in a church environment and often the interactions would be flat or patronizing. There was always a wall or coldness to it that I sort of became used to and expected. So it was refreshing to be around men who could allow themselves to be open enough to voice their doubts and insecurities which often mirrored my own.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I am glad that I went. I will admit that I didn’t completely let my guard down and I regret that, but I would definitely go back next year.

BLACKBOARD WEBSITE

BLACKBOARD ON FACEBOOK

Don’t Let Them Steal Your Eulogy

Posted on 11/10/2017 by Jon

[Originally written for my email list/newsletter back in April.]

Around the anniversary of my father’s passing, I was speaking to my mother and she reminded me of something that happened that I had honestly forgotten about but is still an interesting story.

At my father’s funeral, I delivered the eulogy. Leading up to this, I had put a lot of time and effort into putting it together. It was my final farewell to my father and I wanted to say what he might not have gotten to or share things people may not have known. When I was finished, I felt I’d made something very real, very heartfelt, and incredibly personal.

After giving the eulogy, I left the paper on the podium and forgot to get it as the casket was carried out. When I went back the paper was gone. Originally, I had just thought someone from the church had picked it up while cleaning. This was not the case.

A local man went up, took my eulogy, and slipped it in his pocket. I repeat, he took the words I wrote for my dead father and walked out with them. To be honest, I wasn’t even offended, just confused. What was the purpose of that? Did he like it that much? I could have printed him out a copy. I joked that maybe he liked it so much that was going to retool it for someone else’s funeral. I don’t think it was malicious, but it was pretty strange.

To this day, it just struck me as such an bizarre thing to do. I was proud of the work I put into it, but I didn’t think it was worth taking. But I guess the lesson I learned was that if you put enough work into something, someone will come along and try to take it.

So when I say don’t let them steal your eulogy, what I really mean is don’t let people just take things the you worked hard on or hard for. Don’t let people take something you’ve put your heart into (intentional or not) without your permission. I see this happen on the internet to lesser degrees (cropping out signatures on art, etc.) and I feel the same way. Don’t let them do it.

But if you happen to give the eulogy at a loved one’s funeral, be sure to put the paper back in your pocket.

[If you found this just a little bit interesting, consider subscribing to my weekly email list. By signing up you get a copy of one of my newer (and not widely available) comics.]

SIGN UP FOR WEEKLY EMAIL LIST