James Johnson, Part 2

Last month I made a video for James Johnson and he just made one for me!


The Holding Cell (for Jamie Burkart) by James Johnson, 2009.

James Johnson and I have been friends since first grade. He's a painter and a musician. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa with his girlfriend Carla. They filled sandbags when it flooded. He's exploring the idea of becoming a nurse. He works at a preschool. I've met Carla a couple times.

Encryption by James Johnson, 2009.

James and I had sleepover birthdays with the movie and the board game Clue. We started clubs. We made videos. We walked all night in the August air to find our impulses to organize, initiate and create with taste and care.


Would I Rather by The Newport Pleasure (James Johnson & Jeff Keeling), 2002.

I love that Mom knows my whole story. She's followed my narrative from the start. She gets the humor in my life choices.

After Mom, there is a small and ever growing cloud of family and friends who remember who we are. And I remember them. And as I turn into each and every me I can be, I fall back on the cloud from time to time to see with relief that our perspectives can still overlap. I know that we aren't in the same place. We follow the possibilities where they lead. But I can see as far as we've gotten.

I'm proud of all my friends and geniuses.