Back when we first had the idea of creating a fictional neighborhood to tie together a common comic story narrative based on those initial collaborations with participating urban youth, we set out to figure out what to call that fictional neighborhood.  And we thought what better source to draw upon for such a name than […]

I had a dream the other day. And this is the honest-to-goodness truth. I had a dream the other day that Paul Simon … you know, Paul Simon from Simon & Garfunkel?  Okay, so maybe many of you born after 1985 don’t know, but here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Simon. CliffNotes Summary:  Paul Simon is a treasured […]

Back some time ago, when this project was still in its very nascent stage, we decided to produce a little video to help explain the project’s mission at the time.  And although this project will undoubtedly continue to evolve as we collaborate further with youth and artists alike, we still think this early video production […]

Okay, so this has nothing to do with anything, but it happened on one of my many bus rides home from those early after-school comics collaborations with the youth, and still amuses me when I think about it every now and then. It was a brutal winter’s evening that particular day in Chicago.  And as […]

The room looks like so many other high school classrooms with a high table counter extending in front for the teacher to use for various presentations, and corresponding rows of single desks lined up parallel with one another from the front of the room to the back for youth to sit.  I stand in front […]

So, given that this is technically the third blog entry for this project, we should probably start with a belated welcome to all that have found their way here.  And what is “here” exactly, you ask? Well we are calling this project Made Collaborative.  And if you read the first couple of blog entries, you […]

As I wrote in a prior blog, when I started this project, I had no clue it would evolve into a comic-based project. But what I did know, or at least strongly believed at that time of starting this project, was that collaboration between participating urban youth and participating artists could lead to something good.  […]

See that guy above?  I guess that’s me some time just before this project started, as illustrated by participating artist John Golden.  Looks like I may be deep in thought. About what you ask? Who the hell knows.  I could be contemplating just how incredible it is that each one of the individuals on this […]