NO SHORTAGE OF WORDS

i am pleased to announce a new partnership between myself and the hard working gang at mabuhaycalgary.  as i've mentioned in previous posts, i have made contributions to the filipino news-magazine over the last few years on an as needed basis, focusing on the local community sports scene as well as serving a pseudo beat writer for anything manny pacquiao.

after some discussions with the editors and conference meetings with my agent, i was approached with an offer to write on a more regular basis, as a columnist rather than a journalist.  following in the footsteps of the greats such as bill simmons and rick reilly, how could i say no?  of course, i will do my best to put some sort of sports spin to whatever it is i write, but you can be sure that no matter what, it will be 100% authentic opinion whether you agree with me or not.  i have this sneaking suspicion that my following will be slightly less than simmons or reilly.  just slightly.

some of you may not know this, but i wrote a regular column back in 2000 for a small sports website based out of california. i was paid peanuts (literally....which explains my addiction to peanut butter) but despite payment, it was fun just writing and throwing my opinions out there for all to read.  some people didn't like me, but i also had a small (very small) following of regular readers that were fans. either really didn't matter as my young naive self preferred to be masked under a pen name so i was virtually anonymous to everyone.

to celebrate that first experience in "journalism", my feature column with mabuhaycalgary will be named exactly what i called it 12 years ago - "order amidst the chaos (OATC)". only now you know it's me writing and there is no pen name to hide behind. feel free to agree/disagree with my opinion, but either way please read and support us. it is hard work for our editors to put this together each month and we rely on your interest in keeping it going.  mabuhay yoke loves calgary.

originally printed for the Dec 2011 edition

de jesus. OATC. out.

P4P: MAKING AN IMPACT

photos by dennisdejesusjr.com

a shout out to my brother at pound4poundboxing who recently got covered in the december issue of mabuhaycalgary.  andrew is a certified boxing trainer in alberta and through the club, is doing some great things with local charities.  he also recently partnered with a facility in town (MMA University) to help develop his stable of fighters into competition ready shape - both physically and mentally.

i've attended many of his classes and let me tell you, it's not easy...but it's definitely a great way to relieve a bit of stress.

contact andrew if you are interested in learning more about trying boxing out for fitness or for competition.  

de jesus. punching out.

PROJECT 366

at some point or another, you may have come across a friend posting daily photos on facebook and/or twitter. many of the photos seem to have no rhyme or reason and they typically aren't of self or anyone in particular. but there they are, every day, at least once a day.

welcome to the world of project 365.  photography enthusiasts from all walks of life armed with any sort of image capture device are snapping photos of absolutely everything. the half empty beer at the bar with a lipstick stain? click.  the lonely dandelion growing out of the crack of a sidewalk?  click.  the strange orange and pink hue of the sun going up (or down)? click.  the dog looking unimpressed as he is caught doing a number two? click.

  

 

i love it.  browsing through the hundreds of images every day is purely inspirational and helps me appreciate how other people see things.  it is their perspective, their journal of daily life without the need of a written word.  it doesn't matter if the image is blurry, not composed correctly or the white balance is off.  it is simply an image that speaks a thousand words and creates just as many questions. each image independently beautiful and wonderfully unique - there is no need for a theme because taking the photo is the theme.

because of this inspiration, i am participating in project 365 this year and because of the (quad-annual?) occurrence of leap year, 2012 is christened as project 366. find me on facebook, twitter or instagram to follow my story this year and see what crazy random images i try to come up with.  as you can see from the handful i have taken so far - some will be terrible, some will be great, but all will be original and straight from my iPhone for all to see.  some days it will be a challenge to find an interesting image, but the point is not to impress...but to create and find the essence of what goes on in a typical day and how i see it.  much like what i wrote about in a previous post, sometimes all you gotta do is shoot and the body of work might be more valuable than the image itself.  make your lens create.

de jesus.  354 more days.  out.