A Special Issue
Ben Ashby
I did something...for me. A million years ago I had a really cool job that like kept me insanely busy and happy and like alive. But I didn’t know what the hell I was doing...like I was 21 and didn’t have a clue. Flying by the seat of my pants was an understatement. But it was a really cool time. During those years I learned more about myself, about society, and humanity than I really realized I could. But then it was just too much, I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know how to do it. And I stopped. I gave up. And I crawled into a hole and I was pretty okay with never coming out. I hated everything about makers, and small towns, and American made, and everything I had once loved so deeply and profoundly. But it opened a new chapter for me...one as one of the original “instagrammers” (that’s an old school word) and life became about adventures and travel and living authentic. And that was amazing. But then with the rise of influencer culture it got really hard, and I like hated it. Nothing was authentic. Everything was controlled by agencies in cities with staff that had never even attempted to live authentic other than protesting for oak milk at their favorite over priced coffee shop (yes, I know that statement is ironic, #liveauthentic). So I stepped away, I went to work for someone else...and the past year has been the greatest form of therapy I could imagine. I got to slowly dip my toe back into that maker/American made/small town/little things world. I got to resurround myself with those people I loved so much in the beginning....but I got to take my new world with me. I got to come back to life after learning every single lesson that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Sometimes you can’t go around it....you gotta go through it. Back in December I came to Kentucky for Christmas and I decided I was going to do a special 1000 copy issue of folk. It would only be available in small businesses and online. I would save my pennies to make it happen and I would know exactly where every single dollar went and I would do so much of it myself. It was the final step in my self prescribed therapy. It’s available now. I’ll post a link in my story. ❤️
